Monday's Frome Poetry Cafe was special for a number of reasons. We had possibly the largest audience ever inside the Garden Cafe, the youngest Open Mic poet ever (Ibni Padagachi aged 4½, with a rousing rant about plastic waste), and immensely impressive readings by eco-poet
Helen Moore from her new collection
The Mother Country, exploring the concept of dispossession as it has affected peoples throughout history - and also herself, when she was disinherited by her mother. Intimate and compelling, Helen's powerful poems range from Botany Bay's penal settlement to a personal time-travelling journey through Frome Selwood.
Wednesday
Roots Session at the Grain Bar gave us two stunning groups both featuring eye-widening glamour and theatricality as well as luscious singing, as the
Screaming Harlots were followed on stage by featured
Bonne Nouvelle, with virtuoso guitarist John Ruddock accompanying the sultry voice of Coralie Hyde. Special thanks Coralie for concluding with my personal favourite, Nouvelle Vague's delightfully slutty song
I go out on Friday night...
And our Friday night saw another
Bare to the Bones event at the
Cornerhouse, with more musicians than ever as
Crossing the Rockies joined the house band and other regulars. This charity-support project initiated by Paul Kirtley is a moveable feast around the pubs of Frome and always a lively event, this time with
James Hollingsworth in the guest solo spot - here's
Walking After Midnght getting the distinctive
HooDoo treatment. A powerful version of
Wicked Game from new duo Dan Hall with David Goodman, too. This session was also the initiation of a new sound system in town, available for the various bands and performers in Frome. I'm delighted to be a peripheral supporter of this venture, and hope soon to have mastered the art of coiling a cable...
As so often at weekends, a plethora of live music made for a tricky choice on Saturday night with Frome's ukulele band
The Decades at the Granary and
The Uncles from Bristol at the Cornerhouse:
here. Here's ukulelist Helen Robertson, and I was too busy dancing to take pictures of this fantastic R&B band but you can get the idea of their fantastic sound
here.
Also this week:
Black Dog Productions'
Orphan, inspired by the sinister religious cults of post-war America, came to the Rondo. Russell Eccleston who wrote the play also took on the role of Orphan, a young man seeking closure on his childhood abuse in all the wrong ways.
Initially slow-burning, the story combines gothic horror with biblical and bardic tragic themes. Tiffany Rhodes held the crucial central role of Patience securely as the extremes of masculine ferocity played out an inevitably fatal game around her. Warnings in the foyer of extreme onstage violence were not overstated!
Monday's Frome Poetry Cafe was special for a number of reasons. We had possibly the largest audience ever inside the Garden Cafe, the youngest Open Mic poet ever (Ibni Padagachi aged 4½, with a rousing rant about plastic waste), and immensely impressive readings by eco-poet Helen Moore from her new collection The Mother Country, exploring the concept of dispossession as it has affected peoples throughout history - and also herself, when she was disinherited by her mother. Intimate and compelling, Helen's powerful poems range from Botany Bay's penal settlement to a personal time-travelling journey through Frome Selwood.
Wednesday Roots Session at the Grain Bar gave us two stunning groups both featuring eye-widening glamour and theatricality as well as luscious singing, as the Screaming Harlots were followed on stage by featured Bonne Nouvelle, with virtuoso guitarist John Ruddock accompanying the sultry voice of Coralie Hyde. Special thanks Coralie for concluding with my personal favourite, Nouvelle Vague's delightfully slutty song I go out on Friday night...
And our Friday night saw another Bare to the Bones event at the Cornerhouse, with more musicians than ever as Crossing the Rockies joined the house band and other regulars. This charity-support project initiated by Paul Kirtley is a moveable feast around the pubs of Frome and always a lively event, this time with James Hollingsworth in the guest solo spot - here's Walking After Midnght getting the distinctive HooDoo treatment. A powerful version of Wicked Game from new duo Dan Hall with David Goodman, too. This session was also the initiation of a new sound system in town, available for the various bands and performers in Frome. I'm delighted to be a peripheral supporter of this venture, and hope soon to have mastered the art of coiling a cable...
As so often at weekends, a plethora of live music made for a tricky choice on Saturday night with Frome's ukulele band The Decades at the Granary and The Uncles from Bristol at the Cornerhouse: here. Here's ukulelist Helen Robertson, and I was too busy dancing to take pictures of this fantastic R&B band but you can get the idea of their fantastic sound here.
Also this week: Black Dog Productions' Orphan, inspired by the sinister religious cults of post-war America, came to the Rondo. Russell Eccleston who wrote the play also took on the role of Orphan, a young man seeking closure on his childhood abuse in all the wrong ways.
Initially slow-burning, the story combines gothic horror with biblical and bardic tragic themes. Tiffany Rhodes held the crucial central role of Patience securely as the extremes of masculine ferocity played out an inevitably fatal game around her. Warnings in the foyer of extreme onstage violence were not overstated!
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