Category Archives: arts
The oil paintings of Anne Penman Sweet
On the western edge of Bloomsbury, Conway Street is a four minute walk from Warren Street and busy Tottenham Court Road, and thirty seconds from elegant Fitzroy Square Garden. Here at number 2, close to the junction with Maple Street, … Read More »
Film review: Blinded by the Light
this post also features in offguardian Bottom line: feel-good movie with a dash of musical, transcending its gritty context of racist, recessionist Britain under Margaret Thatcher. Bruce Springsteen is to Blinded by the Light what David was to Bend it … Read More »
About as much use as …
… a chocolate spanner. Caisse à outils, spied last month through a plate glass window in Perigueux, France.
Bob Dylan – one killer of a poet
When people tell me they can’t stand Dylan, I get it. Really I do. He’s not everyone’s cup of tea. (I know women – white, black, of diverse age – who love Dylan, man and music. None qualify as twenty-four … Read More »
The Fab Four: a very personal view
Born in late 1952, my lifelong love affair with The Beatles was pre-ordained. An early sign came when, on a rainswept night in March ’63, a few pals on a council estate on the cusp of Northern Sheffield, and a … Read More »
Two prose poems
Brecht is powerful but it’s Michael Rosen who captures our zeitgeist.
Peterloo and the Realist tradition
THIS POST ALSO FEATURES IN COUNTERPUNCH and in OffGuardian Worthy, sumptuously shot, convincingly acted and not without moments of insight – but a tad leaden. That’s my take on Mike Leigh’s new film, released November 2. I’ll give a more … Read More »
Give me back my face!
The meaning of life – of love, lust, art and the torn and bleeding heart of Civil War Spain – was ripped out and laid bare last night in this flamenco studded bull roar of a drama at the tiny … Read More »
Papa Soul at the Greystones
Fellow SheffieIders from eighteen to eighty-eight – if you want a great night out with live music from top quality musicians who know how to get folk on the floor and dancing, here’s two city bands guaranteed to deliver. Every … Read More »