twilightdawning

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

The Strangest Living Boy You Could Ever Wish To See

Posted on March 22, 2015 by twilightdawning

Who: Gary Numan

What: Convergence 2015

Where: Royal Festival Hall, South Bank, London

When: 20th March 2015

In 1981, after an exhausting two years, two number one singles and three number one albums, Gary Numan retired from touring with a lavish set of final shows at Wembley Arena in London. On Friday night, at Convergence in the Royal Festival Hall, London, for Numan it is now thirty-four years since he returned from retiring from live shows and he has a one-off special concert to mark his influence as a pioneer of electronica. The poster outside the venue doors described him as having “a ever-growing fanbase”. Apparently despite this, his records no longer trouble the top of the charts. Numan’s career has been a regular conundrum and a game of snakes-and-ladders and tonight was just the latest twist.

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Redfearn and Leeds

Posted on March 21, 2015 by twilightdawning

The last time I wrote an article about Leeds United was after Neil Redfearn’s last game in charge as caretaker manager (see https://twilightdawning.com/2014/09/25/ch-ch-changes-2) before Darko Milanic took over the reins for a brief period in charge – which matched the length of appointment at Elland Road previously only associated with the dark days of David Hockaday, Brian Clough and Jock Stein.

Now Redfearn is back in permanent charge (whatever that means under Massimo Cellino – oh, sorry we’re meant to believe that he has no current involvement in the club’s decision-making process as he is an unfit person), I decided it was time to give another survey of how the team has changed and so I will do so concentrating my energies on the two recent home games against Watford (3-2 loss) and Ipswich (2-1 win). Let’s see what we can learn…

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Songs and Stories

Posted on March 13, 2015 by twilightdawning

Who: Judie Tzuke

What: Songs and Stories

Where: Ravenscourt Arts, Hammersmith

When: 20th February 2015

Ravenscourt Arts is a delightful little venue. Seating 160 with immaculate sound reproduction, great lights, an engaging atmosphere and well-thought-out design, it is a great place to host a concert. Consequently, it is the ideal place for the kind of tasty dish that was served up on Friday night.

Tonight is the “secret” launch night for Judie Tzuke’s first ever full acoustic tour in a long and successful career. There’s some joke about the “pineapple gig” that the all-invited audience seem to be in on but we don’t need to dwell on that. What we have is an acoustic set which spans the bases from the debut album “Welcome to the Cruise” right up to the as-yet-unreleased “Woman Overboard”.

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The Shakespearience Too!

Posted on February 19, 2015 by twilightdawning

In the second half of March, our theatre “Ravenscourt Arts” will host “The Shakespearience Too”.

This is the latest venture for our own production company “The Shakespearience” which Darren Hirst founded in 2009 to present an introduction to Shakespeare for young people of pre-GCSE school age.

When the Shakespearience first began to work together, it was actors, a tour bus and props but since our own theatre opened, life has been much easier.

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The New York Yankees Off Season Update 5

Posted on February 2, 2015 by twilightdawning

Well, the New York Yankees have had a weird off-season and it just keeps getting weirder. As we walk through the trades the Yankees made in January, I just keep hearing warning bells ringing that tell me that unless almost everyone who had an injury or a downturn in their career last year encounters a significant upward surge than this team looks worse on paper then the one which won 84 games last season and missed out on the post-season. Unless they give their manager Joe Girardi the right tools to work with, he doesn’t have a hope of turning this team into a winner.

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The New York Yankees Off Season Update 4

Posted on January 5, 2015 by twilightdawning

The last update I wrote saw the Yankees in a peculiar position and making some seemingly bizarre moves. The outfield looked set (if a little prone to injury), the infield had a gaping hole at second base (following the trade to Miami of Martin Prado), the starting rotation looked vulnerable to say the least and missing at least one piece and the bullpen looked fine if a little over-manned.

So it really shouldn’t surprise our readers to see the Yankees making moves which primarily concern the bullpen and leaving the starting rotation and 2nd base quandaries untouched.

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The New York Yankees Off-Season Update 3

Posted on December 24, 2014 by twilightdawning

Sometimes an article changes direction just as you’re writing it and this is one because the Yankees’ progress over the last month has had more twists than the average tornado.

First there was their majorly disappointing decision not to make an offer to David Robertson. If you’d asked me in September who was the most important player that the Yankees must re-capture in 2015 then there would be no doubt in my mind that it would have been Robertson.

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The New York Yankees Off-Season Update 2

Posted on December 1, 2014 by twilightdawning

The second part of our update will look briefly at one change to the infield group and then moves on to survey the outfield and designated hitters. Since our last report, both the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays have made upgrades to their roster whilst the Yankees have been slow to make moves. The outfield looks like one of the few areas that is reasonably well set.

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…I was born to speak all mirth and no matter…

Posted on November 23, 2014 by twilightdawning

What: Much Ado About Nothing (promoted as “Love’s Labour’s Won”) by William Shakespeare

Where: Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon

When: 20th November 2014

So I was back in Stratford-Upon-Avon for the second half of this strange coupling that Gregory Doran is determined to promote as “Love’s Labour’s Lost” and “Love’s Labour’s Won”. In reality, as I suggested in my earlier review these two plays share no common ground other than their humorous tone and those imposed by the director’s decision-making.

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Stay with Me, Otto Preminger, Bob Dylan and The Cardinal, oh and Batman.

Posted on October 30, 2014 by twilightdawning

When I was a young child I remember seeing Otto Preminger play Mr Freeze in the ‘Batman’ TV series, a role he shared with George Sanders (who I would later enjoy seeing in earlier films as Simon Templar, the Saint) and Eli Wallach. I didn’t realise then that I would later come to appreciate his work as a director greatly. Films like Fallen Angel, The Man with the Golden Arm, Anatomy of a Murder, Laura and Angel Face are amongst my favourites of his. He challenged many taboos in the cinema and directed in a way that used lighting and musical soundtrack to wonderful effect.

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