Butch & the Sundance
17
Jul
‘Kid, next time I say “let’s go some place like Bolivia”, let’s go some place like Bolivia ..’
Category Archives: arts
From bitter searching of the heart
16
Jul
A villanelle has nineteen lines and just two rhyming sounds, in this case “ain” and “art”. Frank Scott’s Villanelle for Our Time was set to music by Leonard Cohen on one of his more unusual albums, Dear Heather. Years ago I heard Cohen tell BBC Front … Read More »
The man who turned into a sofa
22
Jun
Today on BBC Radio 4, told from the alternating perspectives of family members where dad is laid low by clinical depression: a moving and creative exploration in prose monologue and rhyming verse. It even ends well. One of those rarities … Read More »
His Purpleness …
21
Apr
… the impossible, the outrageously and stratospherically talented Artist Known as Prince has died this day. Sometimes it snows in April. I just heard someone on the radio offer that “he played guitar as well as Hendrix, wrote songs as … Read More »
Enjoy yourself (it’s later than you think)
19
Apr
Guy Lombardo was first in with this Sigman & Magidson song in 1949, but it was too good not to be followed by others: Doris Day and Bing, for instance, and much later The Specials. For life affirmative chutzpah, though, … Read More »
Learning the Russian alphabet
19
Feb
We all know Stalin’s USSR was unrelievedly grim and sexually repressed, right? So what would you expect when Sergey Merkurov, People’s Artist of the USSR and creator of the three biggest statues ever of Uncle Joe, was asked in 1931 … Read More »
Is Photoshop cheating?
1
Feb
was as likely to be let down by failure to control light at point of exposure as by failure to edit afterwards.) When challenged on their refusal to master the tools of their chosen craft, they’d tell me they were … Read More »
Blowin’ in the Wind & Monday Greens
1
Feb
Universe. Instead of Jai Guru Deva, she’d always heard Kangaroo Days. Which IMO is better. John was always at his best with a straight-from-the-shoulder style uniquely his – and always below par with that devotee godswallop. (In fact you get … Read More »
Film Review – Spotlight
31
Jan
I’ve now seen Spotlight and it’s very good. Fine acting and strong but subtle characterisation, splendid dialogue and tight story telling without sensationalism – even the use of music is restrained – make it so. That and an edge-of-seat tale … Read More »
David Bowie – an older man’s view
11
Jan
January 12. Thinking that was me talked out on the matter I went to bed, only to wake up with more to say. I was not too young to choose Bowie who, half a generation older than me and half … Read More »