South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela left South Africa after the Sharpeville massacre 53 years ago. At the Manhattan School of Music, he met a pianist from Harlem called Larry Willis. They’ve been friends throughout long, successful careers, collaborating often since forming their first band in 1963. Seeing two such stellar performers together in such a small venue is a rare privilege. It sold out instantly and I missed getting tickets (put the onsale date in my diary then forgot…). Luckily, I was able to land the slot reviewing it for The Nottingham Post. This is an extended version of my review for them. Zena Edwards opened with an impressive, varied forty minutes: the highlight was her poem ‘Settle Down’, with kora accompaniment. She has a…
Glasvegas first headlined Rock City over four years ago, on the NME tour. Their Phil Spector meets The Jesus and Mary Chain sound saw them on the verge of being huge. But it was third on the bill Florence and the Machine who went on to headline arenas. Glasvegas made an underwhelming second album and had personnel changes. Tonight, promoting a strong third album, When The TV Screen Turns To Static, they have everything to prove. Lead singer James Allan has lost the shades and is a more relaxed, if still often unintelligible stage presence. New drummer Jonna Löfgren wears the raybans instead and the basement’s brick wall backdrop suits the group. With Löfgren standing to play, they look like the Velvet Underground…
Laura Cantrell should have been the next Nanci Griffith. She has a better, sweeter voice and writes songs of a similar, yet less sentimental calibre.However, she’s had the misfortune to peak at a time when there’s a glut of great female singer/songwriters. So many that it’s hard to keep track of: although the Cosmic American Music Club does a great job of bringing the best to the city.New album, No Way There From Here, is as good as anything Laura’s done. Yet I suspect this brief tour takes place in time snatched from her day job as a banker. Fine guitarist and backing singer Mark Spencer finished touring with Jay Farrar on Sunday and joined Laura the next day. On this opening night, it…
Today marks the end of the first stage of eBook publishing by East Lane Books, a digital imprint named after the location of our allotment. It’s designed to bring some of my Young Adult novels back into print and open them up to a new audience, who missed them because they were marketed for teenagers. While the one-off Point Crimes and some of the other novels that I’m not currently bringing out are primarily for teenagers, books like The Beat series and Festival seem to work just as well for most adults, and have distinctly adult themes. Indeed, Love Lessons often found itself in the adult fiction sections when it was first a bestseller, back in 1998. It took until the mass market edition in 2001 for…
Bill Bailey sells out arenas, but prefers to play theatres. Lucky for us. This sold-out show at the Royal Concert Hall might be on the last leg of a long tour (the DVD comes out in November) but still feels fresh. There’s no arrogance about Bailey, who introduces himself as being from the West Country. “I didn’t keep the accent because I wanted to get on in life.” He’s very clever, but never makes his audience feel stupid. His running gags work whether or not you know who Alberti or Chantelle is. The latter provided some of his best running jokes, like the question about the name of the upper part of the foot. I wonder if the guy who immediately shouts out the answer was at the…