Silent Sunday

3BT: Palladium memories are made of this ...

Having spent a thoroughly enjoyable two hours in front of the telly last night, watching The Story of Musicals and 100 Years of the Palladium on BBC4, I remembered ...

That the first full blown musical I ever saw was 42nd Street.

Seeing Clodagh Rodgers as the eponymous heroine, with Ronnie Corbett as Buttons, in Cinderella, the Palladium Panto in 1971. Ok, my mum helped me remember that one.

That the first time I visited the Palladium on my own was to buy tickets for my parents to see The Two Ronnies. No credit card back then, so I hopped on the Tube, living, as we did, in the East End. I'd emptied my piggy bank, dumped the assorted loose change into a bag and set off. For Argyll Place, King's Cross. The Palladium, as you may know, is in Argyll Street, off Oxford Circus. Anyhoo, so I get out at King's Cross and ask a nice policeman very nicely, where Argyll Place is "you know, where the Palladium is." He looked me all up and down and then said, in a very fatherly way: "I don't think that's the Argyll place you want, love, get back on the tube to Oxford Circus."

I thanked him, as you do. It wasn't till I got home that I found out what kind of show I might have seen in Argyll Place, King's Cross!

X-Factor - I know, I know ...

.. but I somehow managed to catch a bit of it on Sunday and have to say I was impressed with the clip I saw of two of the acts. Marcus singing Stevie Wonder's Lately, the first half a bit dodgy I thought, but from around 1.30, excellent. Think he was holding back a bit at the beginning to maintain control but once he let himself go, wonderful.

And I know one contestant doesn't appear to be very popular, but if Mary J Blige were to do Movie Week *coughs*, this is how it would sound: Misha B with Out Here On My Own from Fame. I'll overlook the wobble at the end, it was the sing off.

And the charity single is out - the final 16, plus JLS and One Direction - and their version of Wishing on a Star. Which is newsworthy because of the charity - Together For Short Lives. The accompanying story was totally heartbreaking: imagine having three children and living with the fact that you may lose all of them within a short time of each other? You can't, can you, it's too awful to contemplate. Donate here to help families make the most of their precious time together.

On a ranty note, Dermot - when a judge has two acts in the sing off, wouldn't it be fairer to leave that one till last? They may not need to make a decision then. It's not rocket science is it?

One final note, if only to self - Beyonce, 9pm ITV Sunday.

Calling all composers!

Kent Arts are looking to commission an exciting musician/composer to create a 20 minute work celebrating Maidstone's part in the Cultural Olympiad next year.

With £5000 up for grabs, you don't want to miss out on this opportunity!

Maidstone is one of only two locations in Kent that will see the Olympic torch passing through it and the musical piece will premiere at the Olympic Torch event on 19th July at Leeds Castle.

'Maidstone' should be the theme and whilst the Olympics Games themselves need not influence this, the Olympic priorities should. The Arts development team are keen that the piece should be as eclectic as possible to appeal to as large an audience as possible.

Interested applicants should submit a CV, a recent piece of work both on CD/MP3 and scored and a short description of the kind of work they would like to produce for this project. Please bear in mind that this work should be accessible for a large number of performers.

The team will be shortlisting and interviewing in December 2011 and a final decision on the successful applicant will be made in January 2012.

For an informal discussion please call Mandy Hare on 01622 602178. For a full brief on this project please contact – mandyhare@maidstone.gov.uk

3BT: Rochester Castle

Rochester Castle, and the campaign to restore it, have a busy month planned!

First up, there's a Haunted Tour of the Castle on Wednesday, 26th October. Tickets are priced £7 and the event takes place between 4.15pm and 7pm (leaving you time to check out Late'n'Local in the high street till 8pm!) Only 20 spaces available though, you'll have to beat me to it!

The following evening, it's the Knight of the Living Dead, as Oliver's Wine Bar hands itself over to the Restore campaign for a Halloween party, fancy dress optional but let's make the effort - any excuse to dress up! Tickets for that are just £7.50 in advance, or £10 on the door (£8 if in costume) see more details here.

Finally, on Saturday morning 5th November, there's a sponsored walk in the grounds of the castle - if you would like to take part in the event itself, or help out in some other way, please do contact the group via email or Facebook.

Friday Flower

The trouble with meandering through your own picture galleries - finding one you like and wondering what to do with it!

3BT: I know what it is! Don’t tell me ...

You know when you hear a song and you can’t quite place what it’s called or who it’s by? That.

Paul Anka swings rock ...

Alexander Stewart turns blonde ...

re:jazz keep things movin' ...

I know, it's been awhile since I posted here and as you can see the blog has had another re-design! I actually really like this template and background, wishing I'd found them sooner now. Lots of stuff's been happening, England are number one cricketing test team in the world, the McLarens are keeping up in F1 - but it's moving to Sky next year, boo, so we'll forget all about it. C'est La Vie Bernie - you wanna be the biggest spectator sport in the world you gotta be on the station most of us watch - BBC. But then, you're probably veiwing on the way to the bank, so whatever.

Ashes Win for England, Whoop Whoop!

Not just retaining, mind, but a proper outright win in Australia for the first time in twenty-four years! That makes it three out of the last four series I believe - and Captain Andrew Strauss reckons they've yet to hit their peak!

The 3-1 victory was sealed in the final test by an innings and 83 runs slaughter; read all about it courtesy of those nice sports people at the BBC!

R.I.P Teena Marie: Long Live the Ivory Queen of Soul

I wasn't expecting my first post on this blog in over a month to be such a sad one.

Regretfully it is - Teena Marie, aka Lady T aka The Ivory Queen of Soul and aged just 54, was found dead by her daughter on Saturday night. No cause is as yet known, possibly a heart attack; Teena was also reportedly recovering from a Grand Mal seizure she had last week.

Teena's music first came to my attention in 1980, when Behind the Groove completely sold me on her unique style. I sought out the album, Lady T, and then her previous, first album, Wild and Peaceful, produced by mentor Rick James, also sadly no longer with us. With beautiful ballads and infectiously catchy dance rhythms, I was hooked. Her following Motown albums - Irons in the Fire and It Must Be Magic cemented my appreciation of her soulful yet jazzy, powerful yet gentle, pure and classy angelic vocal.

I'll admit she lost me when she went a bit rocky and the Motown years remained with me as the Epic years passed me by. I was fortunate enough though, and eternally grateful now, that I made the trip to Indigo2 earlier this year to see and hear Teena live: Incredible doesn't cover it. She knew her audience; it was made up mostly of people like me, those who had switched onto her during her early Motown years. Whilst the latest album Congo Square did hark back to her earlier, soulful roots, she concentrated on giving us everything she had on those songs most synonymous with her: Fire and Desire; Portuguese Love; I Need Your Lovin' to name just a few. And her voice was just as stunning live, thirty years later.

I'm not particularly religious, but Teena was devout - so God Bless you Teena, and your family, and may you rest in peace, forever missed but leaving us all the richer for having shared your beautiful music.

McLaren Watch!

A terrific 2nd and 3rd place in the final race in Abu Dhabi for Lewis and Jenson respectively wasn't enough to lift them into the top 3 overall, although it gave McLaren 2nd in the constructors championship. Vettel took the win (and will have the mickey taken out of him till the day he dies, for his emotional reaction!) and the title, as Alonso, unable to get past Petrov to mount a challenge, finished in 7th place on the day and 2nd in the championship. Mark Webber took 8th on the day, enough to secure 2nd place overall.

Final leadboard:
Sebastian 256; Fernando 252; Mark 242; Lewis 240; Jenson 214

Constructors:
Red Bull 498
McLaren 454
Ferrari 396

Watch the GP in 90 seconds!