Mostly music, and some crazy golf, as summer arrives

A mega-musical week, with Frome Busks filling the town centre with young talent, so we'll start there, as eight acts from the College, some soloists and some groups, rotated from 11 till 2 around eight locations. Ages ranged but the sound was superb in each case. Here's Hushwind, a very accomplished duo,  Becca who sang with verve and confidence, and classical music student Ollie, fantastic on guitar. The organisation was impressive too, with routes & changeover times all planned and equipment and power needs all covered. An impressive display of young talent, and a very enjoyable day.

        

Still with local young talent, Monday's  SOUNDCHECK   session on Visual Radio Arts featured Afraid of the Dark,  the band who caused a sensation at the last Nunney Acoustic Cafe. All four members are studying music at Bath College, and as well as playing some of their stunning original songs - lyrics by Gwen Sutterby, pictured - they talked in interview about what each brings to their collaboration. This brilliant session will remain on the VRA site here, (screenshot includes some listeners' comments) 

Rosco Shakes brought their hi-energy jazzy blues to town again on Wednesday as these five performers lit up the night in Bar Lotte. Pictured here are Dom (guitar) Ned (vocals & drums) and Tim (keys & wild leg-dancing) but Josh (base) and Steve (sax) enhanced the band's terrific sound too.

A movie recommendation now: Phantom of the Open, showing at Frome's Westway this week, a delightful true story from the 1970s.  The lure for me was that Mark Rylance plays the central role of Maurice Flitcroft, the Eddy-the-Eagle of the golfing world - appearing in different disguises as he is repeatedly banned from competing in the British Open Golf Championship. Mark is impressive, evoking humble tenacity and care for his family as well as delusion bordering on idiocy. Loyal wife Jean (Sally Hawkins) and his dancing twin sons (Jonah and Christian Lees) are excellent too. 

 Curiously, despite finding similarities to Paddington Bear, none of the reviewers have pointed out that the format is exactly the same as for The Duke, recently reviewed on this blog. Eccentric quirky Northerner takes on the Establishment - golf, this time, not art - to snatch a trophy, with support from his son/s and after struggle that's poignant and funny in equal measures, all ends well and the movie ends with snapshots of the real individual to affirm the truth of the tale... check out the link here - then go see the movie! 

An away-day trip also this week: to Tewkesbury, which - as the town's website reports - is 'an historic riverside town in Gloucestershire with an abbey, medieval streets and a high street full of independent shops', which (apart from the abbey) makes this Cotswold town sound rather like Frome. In fact it has far more shops and is generally less poky than Frome, but the vibe is the same: relaxed and friendly, with quirky pubs and a jazz tea-room.  Here's the splendid interior of the abbey: the stained glass windows are impressive too.

And as the wind drops and days fill with sunshine, a chance once again for long walks around Frome as the banks beside the river paths fill with blue and golden wild flowers. ... and speaking of blue & gold, here's my Mother's Day necklace from son number one - how well he knows me! (smiley-face)

Wishing all readers peace and sunshine as summer time officially arrives.

Snow, sounds, & a sumptuous show in Salisbury

Another posting of mostly snapshots.... the music scene in Frome right now seems even more incredibly rich than usual.Here, without much comment, are some of the terrific sessions in town, starting with the Frome Busk, a day of young talent on show all around the town. They were all excellent, but to give a taste of the day here's the Front Runners serenading buyers around the market stalls, youngest performer Scarlett Brudnell, Archie Ttwheam who I reckon we'll all see more of, and Fresher & Angel, who won a spot at a Sunrise festival for their set.

In other music news, Crossing the Rockies did a great set at Three Swans and Phil King was epic at the Grain Bar Root Session - I keep playing Do Not Surrender...to your past, do not surrender to your king, do not surrender to your fears, do not surrender anything...
Three Acres and a Cow, which I've long wanted to see, came to the Rye Bakery with a provocative compilation of songs and narratives of the ongoing struggle of the people against their rulers, re-telling the legends we call 'history' with the authentic experiences through the ages. An excellent practice, and a sad outrage that it's not part of what we call our education system.

And then we had snow again... and some things got cancelled, but not all. The Black Swan Arts 'Young Open' exhibition presented 190 fantastic images from 350 entered by young artists aged from 8 to 19, in an incredible display of vibrant pieces showing extraordinary imagination and skill.  The Long Gallery had been especially prepared by one of Frome's favourite street artists Paris and the whole room looked fabulous.

Also at the weekend, a reunion with an amazing group of writers who met on a Skyros course at The Grange ten years ago, and continued to inspire each other with online support and intermittent meet-ups ever since. Sometimes I'm invited to join their session, held this time in Frome as snow flakes whirled softly pass the Cornerhouse window and slowly claimed the town.

A good production of  The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde's witty, contemptuous, critique of upper-class obsession with status and birth, can never fail to delight. Original Theatre at Salisbury played it perfectly, on a superb fin-de-siècle set with gorgeously lavish costume, a visual treat throughout. (Designer: Gabriella Slade.) Gwen Taylor as the imperious Lady Bracknell looked amazing, like a steam-train in taffeta, and her scoffing mirth during that famous 'handbag' exchange was a brilliant touch. The men were fine, especially Geoff Aymer as Canon Chasuble, but it was the women who really owned the show. Susan Penhaligan's Miss Prism's brimmed with suppressed lasciviousness and Louise Coulthard deliciously evoked Blackadder's Queenie in her bored, impetuous, Cecily. Director Alistair Whatley has created a well-paced production which not only looks sumptuous and maximises the absurdity and wit of the script but also reminds us of cruelty of English society in 1895 - only months before the lionised playwright became himself a victim.