twilightdawning

A writer's thoughts – mainly about music, sport and theatre. Shakespeare, Bob Dylan, live shows, New York Yankees

The New York Yankees – The Batters in June (2017)

Posted on July 8, 2017 by twilightdawning

The Yankees had an amazing month in June. Staggering in the way it came together… and then fell apart.

Through to the 12th of the month, they went 8-3 with the bats exploding. Thereafter, it was 5-12. This left them with a month of 13-15 and a clear leadership swept away with Boston opening, in turn, a clear lead on the boys from the Bronx.

Whew!

A lot of this was due to injuries but also the team saw some of their players returning to the form they might have expected at the beginning of the year. Let’s review it all… starting with the guys with the lumber.

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Going Forth With The Shakespearience…

Posted on July 1, 2017 by twilightdawning

What: Go Forth With The Shakespearience

Where: Ravenscourt Arts, Hammersmith

Who: The Shakespearience

When: May 2017

One day whilst I was in Stratford-Upon-Avon with the Royal Shakespeare Company, I woke up in my hotel room with a fairly fully formed idea for bringing Shakespeare to schools, using professional actors and musicians, and giving young people a first exposure to live theatre.

It’s now 8 years since we started working with local schools as part of their literature programme. We’ve always worked with the schools in the areas of faith and religious education but we thought as well as enhancing the teaching in those areas, we ought to give back to the community in the areas that God has gifted us in. This has meant that over those years we’ve worked on poetry workshops (with Paul Cookson), performances of Shakespeare and more recently, since Chris Jarvis has joined us in a range of other hands-on activities.

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Can you light a fire…

Posted on May 20, 2017 by twilightdawning

Who: Steve Hackett

What: Classic Hackett and Genesis Revisited

Where: The Palladium, Argyll Street, London

When: 19th May 2017

In the last few years, Steve Hackett’s career has found a whole new momentum. Not for him the way of some older artists who peddle their glory years alone. Rather he has record a succession of varied and interesting albums which he brings to venues across the UK and pairs in live performance with a set emphasising that he was once lead guitarist with Genesis.

This way everybody wins…, the venue sells out… and the fans love it.

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A Dish Fit For… Everyone

Posted on May 14, 2017 by twilightdawning

What: Julius Caesar

Where: Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon

Who: Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)

When: 4th May 2017.

This reviewer is confused

The RSC decided in their wisdom to have “press day” for both Antony & Cleopatra and Julius Caesar on the same day. Figuring that seeing two plays on one day would rather ruin the palate for the second, I decided to opt out of one. On the flip of a coin and because I prefer the “Cleopatra” play normally, I decided to come back and see Julius Caesar another day even though my review would appear later than everyone else’s and although it would mean seeing the plays out of sequence. Also, sequentially, it makes much more sense for Julius Caesar to be seen first.

Now I have to say that “Antony and Cleopatra” was horrible and the worst production i have seen from the RSC for a number of years.

Now since there is a director overseeing the four productions in the RSC’s Rome series, I estimated that this production would go in roughly the same direction as Iqbal Khan’s “Anthony and Cleopatra” and would need some fine performances to save it.

I needn’t have worried because Angus Jackson’s “Julius Caesar” is confusingly, truly excellent. Not flawless but truly, truly excellent and you would do well to see it.

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The New York Yankees – The Pitchers in April (2017)

Posted on May 8, 2017 by twilightdawning

The Yankees’ pitching rotation, going into the season, looked quite evidently their greatest weakness.

By contrast, their bullpen looked like their greatest strength.

What would happen if the bullpen lived up to its billing and the rotation was more consistent than expected?

That would be April 2017, which is the way that it has worked out in practise!

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The New York Yankees – The Batters in April (2017)

Posted on May 7, 2017 by twilightdawning

The Yankees went into the regular season with a positive outlook. They had led the league in Spring Training game wins and the young heart of the line-up (Greg Bird and Gary Sanchez) had had a phenomenal spring. There were still large questions about the depth of durability of their pitching rotation but their bullpen was the strongest around. At the very least, they had given themselves hope.

…And then the season began…

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Valli Scales the Heights

Posted on April 28, 2017 by twilightdawning

Who: Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

What: Greatest Hits Tour 2017

Where: Bournemouth International Centre

When: 21st April 2017

A few years ago if you’d asked the average man on the street in the UK to name the legends of rock’n’roll, he would have begun with Elvis Presley and the Beatles but he might not have ever got to Frankie Valli or the Four Seasons. Since then a musical called “Jersey Boys” has become a phenomenon on Broadway and in the West End.

Now people’s awareness of how many great songs Valli and Seasons’ writer, Bob Gaudio are responsible for, has increased beyond recognition. And Valli and his current band, who were once reduced to playing medium-sized venues, are now back in the big leagues as a live draw.

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“a …piece of work; which … to have been blest withal would have discredited your travel.”

Posted on April 2, 2017 by twilightdawning

Who: Royal Shakespeare Company

What: Antony and Cleopatra

Where: Royal Shakespeare Theatre

When: 23rd March 2017

This is the first of four reviews that I will deliver over the coming months on the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) Rome season. We begin with Antony and Cleopatra and then head through Julius Caesar, Titus Andronicus and Coriolanus. The comfort of this is that it gives the RSC three attempts to improve upon this woeful Antony and Cleopatra.

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The New York Yankees in Spring Training (2017) – Part Two

Posted on March 28, 2017 by twilightdawning

The New York Yankees’ pitching situation in 2017 is complicated by their failure to sign a new starting pitcher in the off-season.

Last year, they had Nathan Eovaldi and Ivan Nova to add to their supposedly “big three” of Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia and Michael Pineda. Now Eovaldi is injured and has signed for Tampa should he return to the Major League level and Nova was given away very cheaply to Pittsburgh (where he has performed well). Of the three write-ins, Sabathia is stumbling towards the end of his career and Pineda was hideously inconsistent last season. Tanaka, if he can stay free of injury, is a true ace but this only points up what is the real weakness of the Yankees’ roster.

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Dylan in the 80s – worth more than a second glimpse… and his thoughts on music and film.

Posted on March 25, 2017 by twilightdawning

A little over a year ago I wrote an article about Bob Dylan’s “Saved” album which received a wide readership and was generally positively received:

https://twilightdawning.com/2016/02/15/bob-dylan-saved-reassessed/

My intention had been to write a similar article about the 1981 album “Shot of Love” and then to go on and write a series of articles or a book about the albums and tours since then looking particularly at Mr Dylan’s use of Old Testament and New Testament imagery but also other imagery he used commonly across many years which helps us to understand and appreciate his work.

Unfortunately, I got bogged down in the article on “Shot of Love” which is still not finished although I keep returning to it and tinkering with it. I hope it will be completed as I think I might have some important things to say but who knows when.

This week, as has become his habit when a new album is due. Dylan’s staff published on his website a new interview he has given to Bill Flanagan:

http://www.bobdylan.com/news/qa-with-bill-flanagan/

Mr Flanagan seems to be a writer that Bob particularly trusts and he has given him several important interviews over the past decade. This new one is intended to herald his latest album of standards, the 3-disc set “Triplicate”.

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