CurlyBex’s blog

Pics from last Friday, 16th October

I went to see Berthold Brecht’s play “Mother Courage and her children” at the Olivier in the National Theatre on the 7th October.  I can’t emphasise enough how lucky I feel to live in this city – so many plays of such incredible quality on so frequently that I could practically go to the theatre 25-30 times in a year and not see any rubbish!  This production made it into my Top 20 – and the competition’s pretty stiff! 

The set was this free wheeling crazy raggedy landscape of bland porridge coloured canvas and metal; plain, brutal, littered with random people and scraps of filthy human detritus, all constantly changing, moving, flowing with no perceivable pattern.  It seemed to me to be a stark visual representation of what all out all encompassing war, one that involves every scrap within a society, would be like.  Not having lived through one.

Striding on to this stage comes earthy, ruddy, passionate and yet entirely graceful and beautiful Mother Courage, hips asway and face glowing with life, full of humour and charm.  Fiona Shaw.  A woman, fully aware of the costs of war, yet full of life and faith and the expectation that she has the wit, strength and guile to see herself and her family through safely and profitably.  That she will be able to keep all their heads above the mire of war, keep them floating safely above the dark and heaving chaos that surrounds them.  

And slowly she finds she can’t do it.  You see her sink further and further, step by step, into the mire, you see her wit and charm and over whelming faith in the positive power of her actions turn to cynicism and bitterness and a sour clinging on by the fingertips to the tiny elements of connection and family that remain to her, to hope and the future.

Interspersed into this grim landscape is Duke Special’s music.  A man whose voice is as clear and as strong as hope, even whilst singing in illustration of the reality and gall of war.  The music provides a much needed counterpoint to the chaos and darkness on stage, and at the same time emphasises the dread, power and passion of the production.  It’s blissful, and full of tragedy, all at the same time.  I clearly recall beautiful passages of waterfalls of notes from a clarinet, and his voice ghosting above the crashing noises and emotions on stage..and leaves you wanting to hear more.

And ultimately, Mother Courage can’t do it.  She can’t rise above it all, she can’t escape.  War is an all devouring machine, a fire.  And she is devoured.

Yet, in the last minutes, Kattrin, her mute, silenced, silent daughter finally finds a voice, and beats out a warning that ultimately saves her mother, a town, children, a future, from annihilation. 

Or does she?  Or does she simply call them TO war, TO destruction and annihilation?

March 22nd, 2007:
I don't know where I've been the last few months, but this band came onto my radar some time back in October.  Maybe I wasn't ready to listen back then, but I did 3 days ago and have since suffered all the above symptons - absolutely BLISSFULL! The only way I know to get to their music online is through their myspace page:

One Republic by Jason Reeves

http://www.myspace.com/onerepublic  

And you really should take the digital walk in that direction......try "Mercy", for starters, or "Apologize", or "Dreaming Out Loud" or.......Goodness, try it all!  Just be prepared to be inspired, aurally besotted and overall impressed!

(Photographic rights belong to 1R's friend Jason Reeves, with thanks!)

I find it miraculous how good, even outstanding music can make it's own way into my life by so many routes, and I'm consistently blown away by how many talented people there are out there.  How on earth does it ever transpire that any one group/band/person makes it into the conciousness of the world?  But if I can possibly help make it happen, I'd like one of those music makers the whole world knows about to be One Republic.  So there.  And I'm not being paid a THING!

February 6th 2008:
 Well, since then OneRepublic have released their album, had one top 10 hit in the US and the UK, are releasing their second single and are about to tour Australia, NZ and play a couple of dates in Europe!  Bliss. So, how many readers have heard of OneRepublic NOW but hadn't back in March 2007?!!!! ;-)

Led Zeppelin will finally offer their music online starting next month.   Of the music you buy, about how much of it do you download and how much do you buy on physical formats (CDs, vinyl, etc.)?

40:60, download:cd

Truly

You still can't beat owning the artwork, the physical object and seeing all the care and attention the bands put into their albums, the CD is a physical manifestation of how they feel about what they're creating.

I just can't keep them to myself anymore.

Fantastic band.  Top guys.  Great music.  Huge fun to see live.   Playing at Glastonbury.  Jo Wylie of Radio 1 RATES them.....and so does this lady from the London Metro Newspaper:

SFG

Don't take my word for it, have a listen:

Their music

I've decided it's time to share them with the world.  Well, with any Voxer who crosses this page anyway. You know, if you love something, set it free?

They kicked off their first ever tour of the UK this month.  And it's EXTENSIVE (I don't envy them, they're covering a lot of ground in 5 weeks, in a little sweaty [probably] white van) - so if you get a chance, go go go go go. 

They're worth every penny I promise!  If you don't enjoy seeing them play - you must come and tell me so!

Here's a review of their last gig, just in case you doubt me: Review: Scouting For Girls Hoxton Bar & Kitchen 15 May 2007

They're going to be playing so many places.  A quick list would include Brighton, Stafford, Hatfield, Canterbury, Glasgow, Leeds, Nottingham, Birmingham, York, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Cardiff, Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Oxford, Leicester, Swindon, Exeter and Southampton.  Oh, and 4 times in London during this period (boys have to go home so they can get their socks washed you know!) and of course that seminal trip to Glastonbury. 

All between now and July 3rd!

There's an amazing building on the South Bank of London - the National Theatre.  It's thought of by many as something of a Brutalist monstrosity - it was designed by architecht Denys Lasdun.  I personally think it's a beautiful thing and think, rather like the Sydney Opera House, that it adds originality to the London skyline. 

National Theatre London - courtesy of Andrew Dunn, 19 Sept 04

The place is amazing - it comes alive in the summer with street performers on the promenade along the river, there's a huge second hand book market where you can browse for hours, there are cafes and restaurants galore.  There's the National Film Theatre just next door, with it's cafe/bar full of arty film types discussing the mores of films old and new. People stroll up and down under the trees, sit on benches, read, cycle.  It's where they filmed that scene from Four Weddings where Hugh Grant finally confesses "I think I love you"...and best of all it's got three theatres in it that show some of the best plays you can find in London..I even got to see Hugh Jackman play there, a long time ago!

They usually light the fly towers (the big blocky things sticking out the top, that house the drop down scenery for the stages) in colours at night, so you have the impression of cubes of light floating on the skyline.  Sometimes they project photos onto it, like a giant projector screen. 

Royal National Theatre London - courtesy of Michael Reeve, 23 Dec 03

Last year they screened a film on it.  THIS year they've decided to do something entirely different - and I can't wait to see the end result.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/04/16/btharvey116.xml

At the moment the main tower is covered in scaffolding and protective netting, so you can't see a thing, but as soon as it's uncovered, I'll be whipping my little camera out to make a photographic record.

AND they're being environmentally friendly - finally finding a use for the waste water that collects below the building.

Awesome!

And here we go:

1 National Theatre Fly Tower Green

2 National Theatre Fly Tower Green

3 National Theatre Fly Tower Green

I snapped these from my mobile home on my way home from the office after working late last night.  They took the scaffolding down the very day I posted this! The London cabbie very kindly slowed to a crawl, but they're still not fantastic quality.  Hopefully they're enough to show the kind of impact the sprouting grass is having on the look of the building.

I've just finished reading this fantastic book - the writing was as clear as glass, the imagery was gloriously evocative, the language took me inside the head of the protagonist and as a whole it totally subsumed me in the world I lived in when I was 11.  HIGHLY recommended....but the main reason for this post is a piece of text I found inside the book.

Black Swan Green

David Mitchell

Contrary to popular wisdom, bullies are rarely cowards.

Bullies come in various shapes and sizes. Observe yours. Gather intelligence.

Shunning one hopeless battle is not an act of cowardice.

Hankering for security or popularity makes you weak and vulnerable.

Which is worse? Scorn earnt by informers? Misery earnt by victims?

The brutal may have been moulded by a brutality you cannot exceed. Let guile be your ally.

Respect earnt by integrity cannot be lost without your consent.

Don't laugh at what you don't find funny. Don't support an opinion you don't hold.

The independent befriend the independent.

Adolescence dies in its fourth year. You live to be eighty.

Courtesy of David Mitchell, Black Swan Green.  From Mr Kempsy's paper of interest.

I just thought these words rang so true, and not only for children, for we find bullies in all walks of life.

Share a story about your sibling(s) or a family member from when you were a kid. 
Submitted by Jenny Marie.

Hmmm.  First thing that springs to mind for me is a bit of cultural type weirdness: way back when I was 6 and my brother was 4 we had full on Guyanese Caribbean accents, all curvy and lilting and musical.  And what was really odd was that when their backs were turned to us, neither of our parents would know it was us talking - because THEY couldn't hear the accent, as they spoke with us every day. Isn't that strange? 

Is there a recording of us I hear you ask?