Monday 29 February 2016

Crescent Theatre Folkin' Great Festival Review


Yesterday the Crescent Theatre in Brum had an excellent day festival Folkin’ Good. It was a new festival of folk and acoustic music which had two stages, one in the bar and one in the main stage.

The music kicked off in the bar with a 20 minute set from The Velvet Underarm who are The Crescent’s acoustic house band. They were played a great set which ended with a good cover of Wagon Wheel.

At the end of that set began an afternoon of shuttling between the bar and the theatre. I really liked the system of putting the sets in the bar on to cover the change between acts on the main theatre stage.

The first act on the main stage was The Empty Can an indie folk band who mixed covers by the Verve and Elbow amongst others with their own material. A lot of their own material came from their second album Sonic Boom.

As the bar had limited seating the crowd in the theatre sat on the ends of rows ready to leg it through at the end of the main set. As we entered the bar we heard Ruth, Jimmy and Sue playing. The name was a little confusing as all three were women. They played some excellent Americana and our favourite number was Jilted which was a comedy number which seemed very fitting for three women of a certain age looking like they were rocking three very different looks from M&S. They were probably my favourite act on the bar stage all day.

A programme of music is not something you normally find at a folk gig but it was what Soundboard provided for their mix of instrumental and folky numbers. I have to say I found some of their set a bit pretentious but the music was excellent and the trio were incredibly proficient.

Then it was back to the bar for Ashland. This was a duo which saw Kathryn Marsh and David Sutherland (who is also in Kim Lowings and the Greenwood) playing some excellent numbers. This was my husbands favourite bar group and we bought the EP which says something about how we felt about it.

Part of what this event was doing was showcasing local up and coming acts. One of these was ChrisCleverley. He is a growing name on the national scene but comes from Brum and it was clear that in some ways this event saw him coming home to part of the folk family who had nurtured him. His music was good if generally a bit on the dark side but occasionally there was real humour there. Most of his material was his own but there were some covers in there.

We made our final venture in to the bar for Twenty B& H a duo who are very much new additions to the scene. They played well and were great but by this point the bar area was too small for the crowd and so it seemed like time to stay in the theatre between acts.

The next act on the main stage was my favourite of the evening. Kim Lowings and the Greenwood were an amazing foursome. Kim has an incredible voice and song writing talent as well as being really musically versatile and amongst the instruments she was playing was an Appalachian mountain dulcimer. Among those in the band supporting her was the immensely talented David Sutherland who was on double bass this time. Cuckoo was one of the songs I loved in her set. She reminded me very much of a young Eliza Carthy and I look forward to hearing much more from her.

The penultimate act on the theatre stage was Edwina Hayes who I think can best be described as a northern Joan Baez. She again played a good mix of her own material and covers (including numbers by Richard Thompson and Barbara Dixon). I really liked this singer with a captivating voice and a good stage presence. She would have made a good headliner.

Now, before I go into the real headliner I have to caveat what I am going to say with a few things. Firstly, the sound crew at the Crescent had put in a cracking effort all day and worked really hard. Secondly Francis Mallon who put this together had done an amazing job and the day had all worked really well. Thirdly I had seen Duke Special a couple of times at Greenbelt and he is a good musician who can really take a crowd with him. Unfortunately last night was not his night.

I think there are a few reasons for this. The first is there were some microphone and sound issues as he prepared to go on stage. The second was he didn’t really fit the event. Now, I know this is a difficult balance to get but often (not always) putting something more contemporary on after proper folk without some decent fiddle in it doesn’t work. I remember the same thing happening a few years ago at Cambridge Folk Festival when Divine Comedy played. People left because they just seemed weak in comparison to so much talented musicianship and they were somehow out of place. This is part of what was going on last night.

Also, the Duke is very good act in a festival field or a crowded small venue. This was not how it was working. To his credit he did move the crowd forward and invite them on stage to get some intimacy. I don’t know what then happened because we chose to leave because it was to be honest getting painful to watch. We were both of the feeling we wish we had chosen to leave straight after Edwina Hayes.

A great day though and really good value. We got 7 hours of music and a large number of acts for just £15 each.

There are a few things that I think could have improved it slightly:

1)    More seating in the bar area. This could have been achieved if the stalls had been located elsewhere (perhaps in the foyer of the building)

2)    More food options and something selling more “normal” food

3)    A more folky headliner

 

As I say though we had a wonderful day and heard some amazing music and will certainly be seeking out some of the music again. Looking to returning to The Crescent Theatre in a fortnight to enjoy their free acoustic night when I suspect we may hear some of the voices from the bar again.
                                                                                            

 

 

Friday 26 February 2016

Museum and Gallery Memberships - Money Saving or Money Draining?




Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse is an exhibition on until 20th April at the Royal Academy. It is a stunning exhibition that I caught a couple of weeks ago. Whilst the two artists mentioned are key features of the exhibition, particularly Monet it is so much more than that. There are works by a range of major names of late 19th and early 20th century art world on display.

The show features some of the documents involved in planning Monet’s garden at Giverny and so is much more than your standard exhibition of pictures. It also gives the some of the specific background to what you see.

If you can’t get to Paris to see the art there this is almost as good, particularly as there is one of three part giant murals on display.

I can highly recommend this exhibition to two distinct groups of people: those interested in art and those interested in horticulture.

The price for the exhibition is £17.60 with donation, £16 without. Whilst I can understand why these type of prices are necessary they always remind me of why, where possible, I get a year’s friends membership of somewhere and try to make the most of it if I am going to see one of the big exhibitions. And so it was I have become a friend of the Royal Academy for the year (having worked out I could just about afford it). Aside from the fact I may well (if in London again before it closes) want to see this exhibition again & with my husband I am aware I have never been to a Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and it’s something I fancy doing. Then there is the clinch factor for me…Two:23 has moved from a location near the Tate Modern to a location not too far from the Royal Academy. To me when looking at these things one has to be practical, and the reality is on a day when I am going for the soul food that the worship at Two:23 provides I do like to start at a gallery in order to chill and connect with God in that way first. For me wandering round a gallery getting lost in beauty or challenged by social comment is a spiritual experience. Taking into account the likelihood of going with Karl too it works out more economical over the year.

This is not the only reason I like having a membership though. In addition of allowing you to queue jump (which was a real asset for this exhibition) there is the member’s tea room. Now, these are interesting places where the yummy mummies meet with the genteelly old and artistic third agers who seem to have something of Peter Pan about them.  My favourite was the Tate Modern when you used to be able to lounge about and sun bathe on the terrace roof (going back to just after the millennium).

The Tate Britain realised the benefit of this and in a recent renovation opened a gorgeous one replacing the rather quaint one they used to have.

I was not prepared for the Royal Academy’s version though. They don’t have a friends room they have the Keepers Cottage which is a whole building on the other side of a door. There was something of a feel about Alice in Wonderland in this one.

Then there are the magazines you get as a friend/ member. The Royal Academy (RA) one arrived today and I have to say that whilst I like it I do prefer the typeset of the Tate Magazine. There is less of a coffee table feel to the RA one compared to the Tate but then again you do feel you are reading something very grown up rather than pretentious with the RA one. I have to say I love both because they both actually contain excellent articles which make art even more accessible to the enthusiastic yet untrained visitor (or at least that’s my experience) and widen my knowledge. One thing the RA magazine did have the edge on was the book reviews within it.

Finally you get a 10% discount on most items at the shop and whilst this may not seem to make much of a difference if you add up the odd bits that comes to (through buying things like fridge magnets) together with the exhibitions it makes you realise that this really is a cost effective way to do things.

It’s not just the London Galleries which make membership worthwhile though. As I have previously mentioned one of my first purchases in Birmingham was membership of the Birmingham Museums membership scheme.

This one does not give you a magazine but it does give access to all the main exhibitions at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery together with access to a range of other heritage sites. You also get 10% off in the Edwardian Tea Rooms. Four months in and I think this membership has already paid for itself through multiple visits to the main exhibition (some alone and some with Karl), a couple of meals at the Edwardian Tea Rooms and a visit to the Jewellery Museum for the two of us recently.

Whilst the visit to the Jewellery Museum was a spur of the moment thing and we missed a tour we know we can go and do that again and that to a certain extent we are sorted for the year on local trips out especially when the warmer weather comes and some of the heritage sites closed in winter open again.

So museum and gallery memberships are they worth it or are they a bit like gym memberships where you end up paying over the odds for each visit. Well, in my experienced definitely the former. They can end up providing excellent value for money is used well and provide an excellent form of escape for people who have limited spare time they need to use well. 

Saturday 13 February 2016

Lucinda Williams - The Ghosts of Highway 20 Reviewed


The Ghosts of Highway 20, Lucinda Williams’ latest album was number 2 in the UK’s first official Americana chart launched last month according to this article on the Americana Music Association Website. This reflects one guesses the way in which Americana is becoming a distinctly recognised and respected genre of music in the UK. However, there is a question mark about what exactly Americana is and who should and shouldn’t be included. According to an article on the Americana UK website the definition being used by the chart company “contemporary music that incorporates elements of various American roots music styles, including country, roots-rock, folk, bluegrass, R&B and blues.” Personally I think the definition should be ‘would BobHarris play them on his Radio 2 Country show?’ On the subject of Bob Harris it seems he is hosting his own festival in May, the Under the Apple Tree Roots Festival where you will be able to hear a number of acts which might well fit the definition.

Lucinda Williams is somebody who he does play but listening to The Ghosts of Highway 20 one senses where the blurred edges might come in. Listening to disc two of this double CD one was clear that Goth and Americana can actually be very close. I found this fascinating because it was clear this was essentially a country record but the feel and sound was not too far removed from listening to a stripped down version of The Sisters of Mercy.

The first disc has elements of this but also has more elements of blues in it too particularly in tracks like Doors of Heaven which is essentially a R&B (old definition) number.

Whilst not a happy album it is a moving set of songs several of them including Louisiana Story and Death Cake could be regarded as genuine songs of lament. If you like modern day Psalms which speak the truth of pain.

My own favourites on the album were Factory which has a real intensity to it and Doors of Heaven where as I say the gloom lifts in the music at least (although the words are still deep and Psalm like).

Would I recommend this album? Yes, but I would say it may not be to everybody’s taste. If you like throw away pop and candyfloss cheerfulness this is definitely not for you but it you don’t mind reflecting on the darkness and like more mature music go for it. Personally, I think it is a great album.

Looking at Williams I see she is over in the UK in the summer playing the Original Cornbury Festival in July where you will also be able to catch Wilko Johnson and Mavis Staples amongst others. I would be pretty sure there must be other gigs in this country to be announced, which I’ll certainly be keeping my eyes open for.