Sad Café
Discography
(This is not a typical discography. It does not relate to any one country’s releases for the band but where there has been a UK copy, it favours that. It is primarily a listener’s discography, rather than a collector’s discography. It will tell you where to get all the releases, in the most modern formats.)
Albums
What: The Incorruptibles Soiree
When: 7th July 2017
Who: Louise Kleboe and her Society of Imaginary Friends; Darren Hirst; The Astronauts; Martin Wakefield and more
Where: The Karamel Music Club and Restaurant, Wood Green, London
The band who opened Glastonbury
A kind of punky-folky rock band
A poet talking about creation
And the ghost of the white-faced clown holding a teddy and reciting Shakespearean monologues and soliloquies.
In a vegan restaurant and bar.
What could be more everyday? What could go wrong?
What: Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare
Where: The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon,
Who: The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)
When: 4th July 2017
The RSC’s current production of “Titus Andronicus” is a bloody mess.
And that is both a good thing and a bad thing.
“Titus Andronicus” is meant to be violent and bloody and the RSC have achieved that with great aplomb.
However, “Titus Andronicus” is meant (in my view) to be macabre rather than comedic and here too much is played simply for laughs.
The Yankees pitching in June finally settled to a level much closer to what might have been expected when the season began. Add into the mix a few significant injuries and it was not a sweet recipe that was cooking as the month went along.
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.
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.
As we pointed out in our last column, the Yankees are having a steady, productive and successful season so far. The same can be said of their pitching. With the exception of Aroldis Chapman whose struggles led to further medical examination and then to the 10-day disabled list, most everyone is living up to or exceeding expectations. Let’s look in a little more detail:
The Yankees got off to a strong start in April – stronger than most had anticipated. They tussled for the lead in the American League East with the Baltimore Orioles.
In May, even more surprisingly, they maintained that trajectory whilst Baltimore faded slightly and the Boston Red Sox came into the picture. But by the end of the month, there was a couple of games clear lead that the Yankees had carved out ahead of their two rivals. Impressive.
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.
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.
twilightdawning 