Gather round the firepit, help yourself to a drink from the flasks – or the coldbox if you prefer – then please tell everyone : what have you been listening to, watching, reading, playing, seeing, exploring, whatever ?
Blogger Takeover CXXVII
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Films I enjoyed:
Eddington
Joaquin Phoenix in a violent, dark-comedy-contemporary-western type thing. Overflowing with contemporary references, particularly Covid-related, it seems at times like it’s trying a little too much to capture the 2020 zeitgeist. But overall I thought it was great fun and Phoenix has never been better.
Eden
Jude Law in Ron Howard’s latest film based on the true story of a small group of people who went to live on an uninhabited Galapagos island and didn’t get on very well. I found it entertaining and intriguing enough to further investigate the actual events (there’s a documentary on YouTube).
Caught Stealing
Darren Aronofsky’s latest is clearly very influenced by Guy Ritchie, marrying gangster violence with sort-of-comedy. The supposedly comedy elements (mostly revolving around a pair of Heredi mobsters who are religiously observant but morally unscrupulous) aren’t funny and spoil it a little, but overall I found it entertaining.
Films I didn’t enjoy:
Hamlet with Ian McKellen
What on earth was the point of this? Actually, it’s not a bad production, with plenty of interesting choices and excellent performances… apart from 85-year-old McKellen playing the titular young prince. His performance is ok (though he sometimes looks as if he’s reading from an autocue) but casting an old man in the role means his relationship with the other characters, especially Ophelia, simply doesn’t make sense. I think I’d find it less jarring to see Christopher Biggins star in a remake of Terminator.
Nobody 2
I don’t remember that much about the first film except the fight on the bus scene, which is my favourite screen fight ever. This sequel is just appalling, like a cross between National Lampoon’s Vacation and Home Alone. Not helped by an ultra-hammy performance from Christopher Loyd.
Freakier Friday
Don’t ask. I don’t often give up on films, but I had to give up on this one after 40 minutes or so, because it was just too unbearably crap and also because I couldn’t keep track of who was supposed to have body swapped with who.
I’d rather see DAve Lee Travis play MacBeth.
The week after next I’m going to see a production of Hamlet in which Suzy Eddie Izzard plays, well, everyone as I understand it. Which should be interesting.
“Forgive me, but you’ve got shit shoes on – you shitty shoed bastard!”
I’d be interested to read what you think of Izzard’s Hamlet.
A friend who’s an English teacher saw it recently and said it was excellent. I’ll be interested in your views on it too.
Christopher Biggins seems to have time on his hands since he retired from being the Dame* in the Cambridge Arts Theatre panto, and rides his bike whilst painting watercolours. Well, I assume he stops riding to paint, but you never know… Try speaking to his agent?
(*) not David Bowie. Now, that I would like to see…
Are you not mixing him up with the similar wearer of colourful shirts and oversize glasses, Timmy Mallett, who seems to have made a graceful departure from the limelight in this way?
I met him, Timmy, a few times when we were both students at the same university. He was like his TV persona even then. A genuinely nice bloke.
Ah, you’re right, I’m mixing up my luvvies.
Timmy Mallett was the Dame in 1987/88, and now rides his bike and paints. Christopher Biggins took over for, seemingly, decades afterwards. I don’t know if he owns a bike, although I used to see him regularly on my bike ride home from work.
I was stay at a B&B last week and that awful GB News was on in the breakfast room. Biggins appeared on that a couple of times with his views and opinions
SEEN
No films this month, and TV has been a bit thin on the ground…been eagerly awaiting the return of Slow Horses but too early to comment on that just yet.
The Girlfriend (starring Robin Wright and Olivia Cooke) is an Amazon Prime mini series that Mrs L decided we should watch. It didn’t look promising but an enjoyable hammy performance from Robin Wright (to a great extent reprising her “high flying and ruthless” role from the American House of Cards but with added nutjobness) ended up being an enjoyably fun if slightly predictable watch.
READ
Robert Elms “Blitz…The Club That Created The 80s” is a well written and observed chronicle of London’s late 70s and early 80s new romantic clubbing scene by one who was there throughout. To me it always sounded frightful and elitist, (and it was…I went to one of the later spin off clubs, The Wag, once or twice) possibly even slightly Thatcherite, but Elms does a good job of reframing it and even this old sceptic was convinced. However, it does irritate slightly that this is yet another book claiming to define the 80s. Well it didn’t define mine, which was much more Smiths, Red Wedge, Bunnymen, Early REM etc.
HEARD
The Chameleons “Arctic Moon” is a terrific return from the Manchester band, with most of the original players present. Icy and atmospheric it has something of the very early Simple Minds in it too. (Not the flag waving later stadium straddling version.)
The Divine Comedy’s Rainy Sunday Afternoon is a good listen, beautifully executed, and although I’m enjoying it at the moment I have a feeling it might outstay its welcome before too long.
David Byrne’s Who Is The Sky I really wanted to like but there’s just something I find slightly irritating about it. Hard to pinpoint exactly but it all feels just a bit overthought perhaps?
I had a similar feeling with Robert Forster’s Strawberries album…lovely sound, nicely played, but just a tiny bit “ooh I’m going quirky on this one” for me. I say this as a long term Go- Betweens fan.
AOB
Health update…after a total right knee replacement in late 2023 I now need the left knee doing at some point in the future. Damn.
Work update…I love being self-employed with my vintage clothes business. It’s almost a year since I left my job/career in Education and although the disposable income has shrunk somewhat I am happier and more content than in years. Met some nice people too. I do always realise I’m very fortunate to be able to do this.
@nick-l Jury is out for the new Cams album for me and my mates. A few classic moments but a bit one paced too. Maybe the annual Manchester Christmas gig will be a revelation
That’s interesting to hear…I’ve usually found their other albums long term growers, not immediate at all, but found this one very quick to like and sink in. I can see with hindsight what you mean about the one pace thing but it added to the atmosphere for me.
Never seen them live, always kind of admired them from afar. Definitely my loss I think.
Almost the end of the festival season, with Bromyard and Banterfest. You know the drill; I don’t see much on stage, ‘cause I’m usually singing or dancing, and at Bromyard I was. As is often the case, it was the collaborations that caught my ear. Mike McGoldrick with Tim Edey; of course, McGoldrick rarely makes a false step, but it was the tone of Edey’s guitar which really lifted the whole occasion. Sandra Kerr & James Fagan renewed a friendship with Tim van Eyken to great delight. Both collaborations drew influences from Canadian traditions, which always seems to work for me.
Banterfest was a new festival for me, and I was impressed. A village hall with, effectively, only one venue means you are stuck with what you’re offered, but there was no filler and narey a dull note. Simon Care has been in the business long enough to be an excellent curator and his guest list was striking – Reg Meuross, Urban Folk Quartet, Steve Knightley, the Young ‘Uns, The Wilsons. Phil Beer was a constant presence – he obviously just loves being there – and what with Miranda Sykes giving a solo set, one just wondered whether we might get a treat from the past, but I guess the wind is not blowing that way yet. What struck me was how, in just four years, this little festival has developed such a tight knit, loyal and enthusiastic audience; they’ve already sold most of their tickets for next year. The audience also made for some delightful post-gig sessions, with Banter and some of the artists also getting in on the act.
Oh, and I heard the same song sung at both Bromyard and Banterfest, but by quite different artists, and it went down a storm. It’s official; Solsbury Hill is now a folk song.
Elsewhere, I had a long weekend cycling on the Isle of Man. It’s 23 years since my last visit, which is crazy given how close it is to the northwest of England. I am fascinated by what makes places tick, and how life works, especially on islands, what with them being, y’know, insular. I like my architecture, and Douglas is full of grand residences and the magnificent prom. This suggests there was always money here, long before tax avoidance became popular. Where did it come from on a small rugged island bobbing about in the middle of the Irish Sea? If it wasn’t for difficulty of access, it would be the most sought after town in the north. Anyway, I had a fine old time, cycling around looking at ancient Celtic crosses, bonsai unmodernised churches and fabulous coastline, squeezing in a trip to Ramsey Folk Club and a session in Laxey Sailing Club, and what a generous welcome I was given wherever I went.
Finally, one gig at the folk club: Sally Ironmonger and Brian Carter, who were at their very best with their pithy lyrics, gentle stage bickering and Brian’s fretwork on top form. They are probably not on anyone else’s radar on this site, but I can honestly say I would rather have been there than at many a festival headliner.
Chesh! If I’d known you were on IoM, we could have had the first ever Afterword mingle on the Isle! I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.
Are you resident there? I never picked that up.
Yes, indeed! Moved over in 1991 to work at the local hospital, not necessarily intending to stay…
…and I’m still here!
At Hartlepool, in the middle of storm Amy, for their folk fest. Amongst the many no-shows is Tim Edey, which is a pain, as I find him such a fine player, if so very odd.
Off now to see if the Rheinland Sisters have made it…
Good to know: hang in there, man…
Read:
Fox by Joyce Carol Oates. She is someone I’ve been aware of for years (she’s published 45 novels, for god’s sake) but never read before. This is a tour de force about a paedophile schoolteacher who comes to a sticky end. Oates imagines herself into the minds of the teacher, his various victims and the cop on his trail. It’s a difficult and uncomfortable read, as you might expect, and a long one too, but I read it with what a former colleague of mine described as palsied fascination.
The Broken Afternoon by Simon Mason – the second mystery featuring DI Wilkins, sexy black cop in Oxford, following A Killing in November. Atmospheric and very very good.
Departure 37 by Scott Carson. An engaging paranoid SF thriller in which airline pilots all over America are called by their mothers, many of whom are dead, and told in no uncertain terms not to fly tomorrow – in case something happens. A case of mad Cold War chickens dreamed up by mad scientists coming home to roost. Nonsense, but enjoyable nonsense.
Seen:
The Hack: not in the same league as Mr Bates…largely because the details are horribly familiar to anybody who has read Private Eye or The Guardian over the past 20 years. But compulsive and enraging. David Tennant and Toby Jones are immense.
Not just Fred Dagg, But Also John Clarke. Brilliant doco about the puckish (but also deadly serious) NZ/AUS humorist/satirist, made by his daughter. Actually saw this in the cinema – all four of us who were there laughed till we cried and vice versa. Clarke was beloved in A/NZ, not much known elsewhere – but do watchit if it ever comes your way. https://youtu.be/Un2XZGTJsK4
There must be other things, but buggered if I can remember.
Heard: the usual smorgasbord of this and that. Been listening to a lot of Archie Roach, prompted by an interview I heard. He was one of the stolen generation, and his stories of the struggles he went through were riveting and moving. His music ain’t half bad either.
Other news: I seem to have taken up busking in my old age, raising funds for the local community centre, with a friend who is young enough to be my son. Our rendition of The Gambler makes old beardies driving past in their utes cry, and you haven’t lived if you haven’t heard me murdering Perfect Day.
More John Clarke, a tribute after his untimely death of a heart attack while out bush walking.
Seen: the Diplomat ahead od Season 3, and Andor ahead of Season 2 (yes I know i am behind the times).
Had never seen Knives out till just now, and they were great fun so off to the premier on Wednesday (the Bradford City of Culture one, not the big one).
Listened: Beta Band in Leeds – fine if a bit heavy on bongos (to my surprise). Gene at The Brudenell were brilliant.
Finally listened to the first Boygenius The record which is great.
Bought the new Idlewild today (bargain download at £5 from their website). Seeing them week on Saturday. Will listen later.
Read: Nick Harkaway Sleeper Beach builds on Titanium Noir, but loses a little because we are now more familiar with the world. Orbital by Samantha Harvey may have won the Booker (and is generally fine) but lost me with getting the Earth/Sun distance wrong. Fairly basic. An enjoying a History of the Bible by John Barton. Not making me religious though.
Other stuff: watched Salford V Swindon as a neutral, which was a good game. Apparently Becks was there. Got into trouble for applauding Salford’s great first goal. Think I was forgiven (on account of me driving everyone there). Quite fun being about 10 ft from the goalkeeper.
Sport
Rather pleased Notts. pipped Surrey to the County Championship (I can’t stand Alec Stewart), otherwise it’s me 28th football fixture tomorrow, not bad for 4th October!
TV
Dancing’s started on Saturdays, my only concession to prime-time TV, don’t really like it much, and there’s a new series of Shakespeare and Hathaway that I do like.
Cinema
‘On Swift Horses’ – A strange one this. Set in California in the 1950s, it is beautiful to look at (especially the outfits worn by Muriel) but it is instantly forgettable! Really quite enjoyed the two hours, can now barely remember any of it.
‘Deaf’ – Now, this is more like it. A Spanish film about a deaf mother and hearing father raising a baby. Hmm, doesn’t sound great, does it, but will probably be my favourite film of 2025. Wonderful. We were the only two people watching it, while next door they were pouring into ‘Downton Abbey’… the British public, eh, gotta luv ’em… the ‘will of the people’.
‘Hamilton’ – The theatre production shown at the cinema. Loved it.
Pop
Another excellent freebie this month… Dylan in Greenwich Village… it’s been a good year for these, and we had a record fair, the first one for two years. Got a whole load of good stuff (Don Drummond, those late 60s indie LPs by Peter Howell, Twink), and yet the only one I’ve listened to so far is a 1970 compilation on Doctor Bird called ‘Hot Shots of Reggae’ (£4). I’m fascinated by that rocksteady / early reggae period, yet I’m in absolutely no danger of buying a Bob Marley record.
All Seen
Two gigs this month. First was Louis Brennan and Friends at the Betsey Trotwood in Farringdon playing a variety of Louis’ originals and covers. Among the ‘friends’ special praise goes to Hannah Nicholson and Magic Number Angela Gannon on vocals. Angela’s solo take on I Would Rather Go Blind was thrilling. The final number was Knowing Me Knowing You, and frankly I could have lived without the guy behind us who added an Alan Partridge ‘Aha!’ at every opportunity, to his own, and only his own, increasing hilarity.
The other show was Christine Collister at Colchester Arts Centre. Christine tours far too rarely and she’s an outstanding singer. She started her set with a traditional a Capella Manx song (like @fitterstoke she lives on the island), but the majority of the set was built around a project she recorded in lockdown. The songs are themed on Manx myths and due to distancing restrictions, and the fact that Christine was living with her mother who’s Alzheimer’s made having strangers around even more difficult, collaborators’ contributions were created on Pro Tools and played through a laptop for the gig. Although she was at pains to point out that real people had created the music I found the effect of her singing to a laptop backing quite sterile, and was relieved whenever she picked up her guitar.
Finally, only 5 to 10 years behind the curve, we’ve just got Netflix. Gosh there’s a lot of good stuff on there, isn’t there? We’re doing our best not to watch the first episode of a dozen different things and stay focussed on a couple of series at a time.
Christine Collister – was the project “Children of the Sea”? She produced a rather fine CD with hardback book set, beautifully illustrated, in 2023 – sounds like the thing.
And, of course, while we both live on the island, Christine is actually Manx – while I am just a “comeover”! 🙂
Heard:
Suede – Antidepressants
Since reforming, they have released a clutch of superb albums (arguably better albums that their first time round). Antidepressants stomps along full of angst, wisdom, and experience. Maybe not quite at the same level as previous Autofiction but still blinking good.
New albums on order from Len Price 3 and Humdrum Express.
And celebrating the 46.5th Anniversary, a 4 CD + DVD Box Set of SLF debut Inflammable Material due through my letter box next month.
Seen:
The Guest – twisty, turny BBC Drama (set in Wales)
Coldwater – twisty, turny ITV Drama (set in Scotland)
Hostage – Netflix 4 parter that oh so nearly worked, but I felt the ending was too neatly done
The Hack – ITV Drama based on real events – thoroughly enjoying it (2 episodes in)
Read:
Mojo – more out of habit than any real desire to be honest (is it me, or is it getting a bit dull?)
Home Insurance documents
Washing Machine Instruction Book
Nothing else of consequence
AOB(1)
Bought a new Washing Machine – I can work it with my phone (not sure I really need to, but I can).
Delivered and fitted by AO – all good, apart from the Integrated Door Fixing Kit was missing.
Not to worry says AO, we’ll get it ordered for you.
A week later, nothing has arrived. Back on the phone to AO who put me through to Haier who ordered all the parts but say they can’t tell me when it will be delivered.
Another week later – the package from Haier arrives … 2 screws!
Back on the phone to AO, connected to Haier, I suggest incompetence on their part. They agree, and arrange for a new machine to be delivered.
It arrives, AO gadgy comes in to fit it, I suggest he could just nick the fixing kit and save a job of replacing a perfectly function machine with another one.
Turns out he has to replace the machine or the paperwork will be confused (he confesses “that’s mental!” but does as instructed.
All sorted … no, one of the hinges is knackered so I’m now waiting for one hinge to be delivered.
AOB(2)
Fast failing on this seasons Fantasy Football – I feel like a cross between Ange Postecoglou and Rueben Amorim – on paper (or on screen in this case) the Team I have should be dandy, but my selections and transfers just don’t seem to be garnering many points
Re Mojo: it’s not just you…
I bought a new washing machine about a year ago. A Samsung. It has Bluetooth and WiFi, and it plays a pilnky-plonky tune – with a false ending – when it finishes. I chose it because it has a 5-year g’tee, but I’d have been even happier if it didn’t do all that and was 50 quid cheaper. In theory I could set it to email me when the spin cycle is finished, but what would I do with that? Email it back and say “go on, then, empty yourself?”
I’ve also got a stack of unread Mojos (and Uncuts), but I’ve been reading something called ‘books’ instead.
Gigs: The Crazy World of Arthur Brown at The Parish Huddersfield. Always a pleasure to see him and he doesn’t disappoint.
R J McCarty, he plays bass for The Grand Slambovians in Penistone, I’d planned to see him in Stockport with my son but the day it was on my son’s girlfriend had to have an operation so that was out and then he was playing in Sowerby Bridge but that was the night I’d planned to see CWAB so I just saw a support set hopefully I’ll see a full set next year.
Roy Harper at the Bridgewater Hall Manchester another elderly statesman with his son Nick accompanying him. Supposedly a farewell tour but at the end he said he’d hope to return there next year! Good to see and the sound for the Bridgewater was excellent. Made me listen again to some Harper.
I asked the friend who was giving me a lift home where he was sitting, “M9” which was odd as I’d got seat M8 wed booked separately and ended up sitting together.
Watched television, nothing stood out.
Films: Downton Abbey as it was my birthday treat for my wife, I didn’t fall asleep which I’d threatened to do. Guest appearance of Noel Coward, so I downloaded some Coward to play in the car on the way home.
New Spinal Tap, it could have been so much better.
AOB after five months waiting from accepting an offer on our house we had two weeks to complete and organise removals to our new place, luckily we’d had plenty of time to pack. So the last day of this month we finally moved, unpacking will take up the next few months.
September/early October has been an interesting month.
Watching has been largely Australia-specific stuff that I will have trouble accessing in the States – Last Cab to Darwin, Jack Irish, Mystery Road. I’m going to miss Aussie tv
Read…well, ‘1271 – The battles that saved England’ is good. Informative, clips along at a good pace, and manages to keep the granular and the big picture working well together. I started Stuart McBride’s Logan McRaes series. Mixed feelings; the plotting is good, the pace is good. It’s just unremittingly grim.
Listened – the new Milltown Brothers is the only new stuff of note. Other than that, random play on the phone.
AOB – I leave Australia on Thursday, after 5 years in Alice Springs. I’ll probably update more and better next month when the move has settled in., But the last few weeks has been packing, decluttering, and getting ready. I’m not happy to be leaving, as we’ve generally had a good life here. We delayed my flight back so I at least wouldn’t miss the NRL Grand Final, which is nice. But I’ll miss Australia dreadfully. It’s a country, and town, where when you go to the cop shop to get papers certified, they call you ‘bro’ and you call them ‘mate’. Now I go back to sirring and ma’aming everyone. It’s going to be a rough adjustment.