Love’s Labour’s Lost
RSC
Courtyard Theatre
Stratford-Upon-Avon
30th October 2008
I keep wanting to say that is an ordinary production….. but that isn’t true. In fact, in many ways, the production is extraordinary. The stage design, the colours, the movement are all of a very high standard indeed. I don’t even get to say that David Tennant was either extremely good or extremely bad. His performance as Berowne is run-of-the-mill, no better, no worse, albeit very good in parts.
Tomorrow is the first part of my two-legged consideration of David Tennant’s role in the works of William Shakespeare. Any one who reads this journal on a regular basis (there must be someone!) will know that I’m pretty committed to the RSC and try to take in all of their productions. So Thursday, I journey to Stratford-Upon-Avon to see the latest production of the rather slight "Love’s Labours Lost". Then in December on its London transfer I have the rather more substantial "Hamlet". Anyone who follows the papers (tabloid or broadsheet) will know that the good Doctor takes the lead in these two – indeed in Hamlet, he is paired with that other star-crossed traveller, Patrick Stewart. Don’t know what I think about this. I’m not keen on the RSC doing productions where the lead actor outranks the play – even before its opened. When Patrick Stewart works with the RSC normally it barely raises a ripple of interest unless the production is really good so this is obviously about Tennant. I hope by the time I return on Friday, he will have done Shakespeare proud……..
Natural Progressions is a magazine that I edit and also write for. You won’t see it in your newsagents as it is mail order only. It will appeal to people who like a certain kind of music. Issue 38 is now available.
It features:
Full coverage and reviews of the Eagles on tour.
Coverage of recent interviews with Don Henley and Joe Walsh
An interview with Poco founder and solo artist, Richie Furay
Bernie Leadon of the Eagles and Flying Burrito Brothers writing about the rivalry between his band and Poco
An interview with Michael Georgiades of the Bernie Leadon – Michael Georgiades band and Zoe
44 pages, colour when appropriate.
Drop me a line if you want more details or a subscription.
I have always add an interest in graphic novels, comics and related art. This dates back to a childhood spent reading Batman in DC comics. One of my current favourite writers and artists in the field is Paul Grist. Paul has had several titles published, first by his own independent imprint, Dancing Elephant and now by the good folk at Image.
I commissioned Paul to do a piece for me featuring the 3 principals of his comics: Burglar Bill, Jack Staff and Kane. Here it is:
I think it’s rather good!!
Spent a lot of time over the last couple of weeks listening to this "new" Bob Dylan cd "Tell Tale Signs" which is proving a very worthwhile experience. More than anything this compilation of outtakes from 1989-2005 has made me realise how much I appreciate Dylan’s back catalogue. I have a fairly unusual take on Dylan’s albums in that against the prevailing trend I see a lot of worth in his albums of the early to mid Eighties – seeing only the period around "Down in the Groove" as the time that he really lost his vision of his music. Couldn’t choose which of his albums I’d take to a desert island so here’s a complete list of what I think of as his crucial records, in chronological order:
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde on Blonde
Blood on the Tracks
Street Legal
Slow Train Coming
Saved
Shot of Love
Empire Burlesque
Oh Mercy
Time Out of Mind
Live 1961-2000 (Japan only)
Modern Times
If I was going to round it out to 15, then the contenders would be "Bringing it All Back Home", "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid", "Infidels", "Knocked Out Loaded", "World Gone Wrong", and "Love and Theft". Oops, that makes it 20. Really poor Dylan albums: the aforementioned "Down in the Groove", "Desire" (sorry, awful production), and a number of the official live albums.
More on Tell Tale Signs when I’ve lived with it a little longer – and yes, I do have the three cd set and don’t feel I was robbed……..
It’s been a quiet year on the live front for John Foxx. That’s why it was doubly good to catch him and Louis Gordon and Steve D’Agostino at the Cargo in Shoreditch, London last night.
John dipped deep into his current songwriting and back catalogue last night. A handful of songs from his days with Ultravox! all those years ago including Young Savage. It’s brave to attempt this on synthesizers and I’m not sure it quite works but it sure was fun. As John spat out the lyrics with gusto you could forget that punk was thirty years ago and that Johnny Rotten now advertises butter.
Loudest cheers of the night were reserved for Underpass and No-one Driving from Foxx’s debut solo "Metamatic" but musically the high points may have been the rarely-performed "The Garden" and another Ultravox! classic "The Man Who Dies Everyday". Particular credit also goes to encore "Broken Furniture" which debuted on John and Louis’ "Crash and Burn" in 2003.
The evening coincided with the release of two new limited edition Foxx / Gordon albums – the studio set "Impossible" and a live document from last years gig at the Luminaire entitled "Neuro Video".
Set List:
WALK THIS WAY
A MILLION CARS
DISLOCATION
THE MAN WHO DIES EVERY DAY
CAMERA
UPTOWN/DOWNTOWN
UNDERPASS
NO-ONE DRIVING
BURNING CAR
SHADOW MAN
THE GARDEN
TRAVEL
BROKEN FURNITURE
YOUNG SAVAGE
MY SEX 1/
MY SEX 2
ENDLESSLY
SHIFTING CITY
Footnote: Foxx is usually pretty considerate of his audience but last night a show that was billed on the website to begin at 7 pm saw John take the stage at 9.15 – a tactic which is perhaps best avoided in future as the natives were getting restless by that time. Interestingly, following Shifting City the house lights were left down for what seemed like an interminably long time given the impression that an encore was coming which never arrived. Wonder what was going on backstage?
Louis Gordon had been kidnapped and replaced by that guy who used to play Nigel in Eastenders………..
I was involved with "An Evening with Roger Moore" at the British Film Institute yesterday. The evening was split into two sessions and looked at Sir Roger’s work in television, for the most part. So in the first section we looked at some of Mr Moore’s classic TV perfomances and in the second Roger chatted about that period of his life. Well, Roger is a good interview and, unlike on Mr Ross’s television show last week, when allowed to talk he has some fascinating stories to tell. His memory for detail at 81 (today! Happy Birthday, Sir Roger) is quite astounding. But for me the highlight by a country mile was watching episodes of The Saint and The Persuaders on the large cinema screen. Great, great, television, tremendous scripts and larger than life performances fron Roger Moore and his cohort in the latter, Tony Curtis. These programmes are so evocative of watching them in my youth so I find it hard to be critical but I just don’t think you can make television like this anymore.
There was talk a little while ago of reviving The Saint for a 4th (?) attempt on television, if they do then they must do it well. It is a shame that Leslie Charteris’ books are out of print and that haloed stick man is seen so little these days but "The Saint" is more than just a brand and a logo. If they remake it they must do so with an eye on Charteris unlike the Val Kilmer film of a few years ago which took the name and the image but none of the content. As I personally own all of the Charteris’ books and helped administrate his charity "The Saint Club" for a couple of years, I have a vested interest in this. Similarly, with The Persuaders but with that title there is no guide book as it was created for the televison and didn’t run long and it is perhaps permanently left alone. There was talk a heartbeat ago of a revival with Steve Coogan which sounded wretched and hopefully this has been forgotten.
So, thank you brave Sir Roger for your derring-do. It still has a place in our hearts.
Roger Moore, yesterday
and some years ago………..
The bullpen came up with the goods in the last month – but let’s face it they had to. The starters were prone to only delivering 4 or 5 innings and with exception of Mussina and Aceves, the rotation was a mess.
New York Yankees – Pitching – Month – September
Name GP IP H RA ER BB SO W L Sv ERA OBA
Bruney, Brian 10 10.0 3 0 0 2 12 2 0 0 0.00 .091
Robertson, David 4 4.2 2 0 0 3 7 1 0 0 0.00 .125
Coke, Phil 12 14.2 8 1 1 2 14 1 0 0 0.61 .160
Rivera, Mariano 9 9.0 4 1 1 0 7 1 0 7 1.00 .125
Marte, Damaso 9 6.2 4 1 1 3 7 1 0 0 1.35 .167
Hughes, Phil 2 12.0 9 3 3 2 10 0 0 0 2.25 .209
Chamberlain, Joba 10 11.1 11 3 3 3 14 0 0 0 2.38 .250
Aceves, Alfredo 5 28.0 25 8 8 10 13 1 0 0 2.57 .240
Mussina, Mike 6 34.0 37 12 12 8 35 4 2 0 3.18 .282
Veras, Jose 10 9.0 10 4 4 7 11 1 1 0 4.00 .286
Sanchez, Humberto 2 2.0 1 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 4.50 .167
Pettitte, Andy 4 22.2 29 14 12 6 21 1 3 0 4.76 .302
Ponson, Sidney 5 19.1 24 15 14 6 9 1 0 0 6.52 .296
Pavano, Carl 5 23.1 31 19 18 8 9 2 2 0 6.94 .326
Britton, Chris 6 7.1 11 6 6 6 3 0 0 0 7.36 .367
Ramirez, Edwar 6 5.1 8 5 5 5 6 1 0 0 8.44 .364
Giese, Dan 5 5.0 11 8 6 1 4 0 0 0 10.80 .423
Rasner, Darrell 4 5.1 7 7 7 6 3 0 1 0 11.81 .304
Pluses
Brian Bruney. Bruney was a treasure this season whenever he was fit. A little lost weight and a little more consistency has led a good member of the bullpen to being a great member of the bullpen. His .091 OBA in September says it all.
Phil Coke. Coke had to eventually give up a run but it was only 1. There are signs that opposition were getting a little more used to him but here’s hoping he can roll into 2009 at the same level.
Mariano Rivera. Rivera got the last out at the old Yankee Stadium on a night which will live in the memory for a long, long time. He has had an excellent season and September was more of the same.
Minuses
Carl Pavano. Pavano was very lucky in his starts to pull off 4 wins. I don’t think there was one, he really deserved but he got lots of run support. There have been some disastrous signings of starting pitchers over the last 20 years – Andy Hawkins and Tim Leary come to mind – and Pavano is right up there with the worst.
Darrell Rasner. September finally saw him bounced out of the starting rotation as he achieved a season high 11.81 ERA on the month. Part of me thinks that a lot of this is down to a coaching staff who left him to wilt until it was too late. Most of me knows he won’t be in pinstripes in April.
Chris Britton. Britton was finally reduced to ninth innings in games we were winning by a considerable margin and he still struggled then. .367 OBA. He allowed too many hits and walked too many.
Surprises
Dan Giese. Giese did well in relief. Giese did well as a starter. Giese came back from injury well. And then in September it all fell apart. 10.80 ERA and leading the team in OBA on the month.
Damaso Marte. We finally found the right role for Mr. Marte who had struggled to find consistency since arriving from the Pirates. A good month for him and part of a package with Bruney, Chamberlain and Rivera which worked very well indeed on a number of occasions.
Humberto Sanchez. Sanchez’s arrival in the Bronx has been talked about for two or three years. Injuries got in the way on a number of occasions. He finally made it in the final week of the season and was …….ordinary.
No, I’m not griping about the Yankees not being involved in this stage of the season. We had a good and interesting season but we weren’t quite good enough but there is much reason to be optimistic for 2009.
No. At this time of the year, my problem is always the same. This wild card system doesn’t seem to work. Too often the wild card team gets through the short 5 game series which begins the post-season and then goes on to more success than they deserve. I was very glad last night that the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (boy, that’s a mouthful) managed to bounce back and at least take Boston to 4 games and hopefully the full 5.
Solutions? Don’t really have any – take the leagues to two divisions each and eliminate the need for a wild card? Make the Division series seven games and at least introduce some equity in making that first round as difficult to win as the others?
No, this isn’t me trying to desperately prevent Boston making the World Series again. As I said, I have this problem every year. Too often the Wild Card team from one or both of the leagues, who really are an also-ran in my mind, find their way to the Series in a way that their performance during the 162 games, which is the real meat of the season, doesn’t merit.
Anyway, I hope Anaheim pull it off. Both Los Angeles teams have impressed me this year and deserve to make their Championship series.
So the regular baseball season is over and my most recent trip to the Bronx seems quite a while ago. The playoffs continue without the Yankees for the first time since 1993 (we would have won it all in ’94 if it wasn’t for that damn strike). My hopes are pinned on the LA Dodgers principally because of the Joe Torre link.
Anyway time to survey the second half of September.
New York Yankees – Batting – Month – September
Name AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BB SO SH SF SB BA SLG
Cabrera, Melky 13 3 6 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 .462 .462
Miranda, Juan 10 2 4 1 1 0 0 2 4 0 1 0 .400 .500
Jeter, Derek 76 15 26 9 1 0 3 12 11 2 0 2 .342 .474
Betemit, Wilson 30 4 9 5 5 0 1 0 9 0 0 0 .300 .567
Cano, Robinson 94 13 27 12 8 0 1 2 12 0 2 1 .287 .404
Gardner, Brett 53 9 15 7 3 1 0 2 11 1 0 6 .283 .377
Rodriguez, Alex 79 16 22 23 2 0 6 13 20 0 1 2 .278 .532
Abreu, Bobby 87 19 24 17 4 1 5 14 16 0 1 7 .276 .517
Ransom, Cody 38 6 10 3 2 0 2 6 11 1 0 0 .263 .474
Moeller, Chad 16 3 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 .250 .313
Damon, Johnny 88 16 22 14 1 1 6 9 10 0 0 4 .250 .489
Rodriguez, Ivan 37 5 9 1 3 0 0 1 5 0 0 3 .243 .324
Matsui, Hideki 43 2 10 5 2 0 0 2 11 0 0 0 .233 .279
Giambi, Jason 84 11 19 12 6 0 4 12 25 0 2 0 .226 .440
Nady, Xavier 103 11 23 17 4 0 4 7 16 0 1 1 .223 .379
Molina, Jose 28 3 4 3 0 0 1 1 11 1 1 0 .143 .250
Cervelli, Francisco 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 .000 .000
Pluses
Derek Jeter. Jeter saw the season out with his strongest month at the end of a season where he seemed a little jaded. No such problems in September when .342 BA on the month edged him over .300 for the season
Brett Gardner. Gardner also saved his best to last. He was a big threat on the base paths and with .283 on the month was able to use that threat more often. Little in the walks column though.
Robinson Cano. Cano was so inconsistent this year. The benching that Girardi dealt him was too late in the season but at least it upped his personal endeavours.
Minuses
Hideki Matsui. We gained nothing from delaying Matsui’s surgery. His power dissipated and he looked distracted at the plate. Hope his surgery doesn’t hinder his role in April or we will have really lost.
Jason Giambi. Still produced something in the power columns and had patience at the plate but .226 BA was way lower than acceptable for what is hopefully his last month in pinstripes.
Xavier Nady. Spent too many nights at DH in September and had by far his worst months in pinstripes.
Surprises
Melky Cabrera. All the signs are that he may well be done in the Bronx but with a strong final month with Scranton and then his .462 when recalled by the Yankees, it is hard to see why they don’t intend to persevere. Defensively he is strong and even after a poor year, he still outhit Gardner.
Juan Miranda. I saw his debut in Pinstripes and seemed to be the only guy in the Stadium who knew who he was. Given that, I didn’t expect him to be in the lineup that night or this season or to hit as well as he did. Likely to end up in a trade in the close season but he has, at least, increased his value.
Wilson Betemit. He would have been on my list of players that I wanted to see shipped out of the Bronx at the beginning of the year but he has had an excellent second half of the season and should be allowed to come back in a bench role next year.
