Street Theatre, street music, and a birthday

Would you trust this man to guide you around Bristol riverside as dusk drew near, confiding the dreadful secrets of notorious local felons and their victims? About thirty of us did, and thoroughly enjoyed the street-walking saga of Blood and Butchery in Bedminster, another successful production from Show of Strength. Cunningly combined with a pub crawl, our guide Chris Yapp showed us the sites of violent deaths by hanging, lion assault, multiple shooting, concrete waistcoat, and - strangest of all- following trepanning (head-drilling) by a 19th century surgeon who then went on to dissect and tan the skin of the youth who took the blame. Poor John Horwood had his moment of fame though, when “40 thousand people came to see him swing,” as Chris told us with relish before moving us on to point out the Barclays Bank where £13,000,000 of melted gold bullion from the 1983 Brink's Mat robbery was laundered in weekly batches until the Bank of England stepped in - though they never found where the full stash was hidden... Next stop was  the Hebron Burial Ground, the final resting place of so-called 'Princess Caraboo' - as mysterious in death as she was in life as no-one knows exactly where she lies. Many more fascinating historical nuggets were revealed, as always on these history walks with a difference: meticulously researched, strikingly presented and highly recommended.

Moving on to the week in music, and Frome enjoyed its usual rich tapestry including a Wednesday session at the Grain Bar and other excitements that your correspondent sadly cannot illustrate having spent much of the week enduring ulticaria which is the posh word for nettlerash, and now polymalgia rheumatica, neither of which complaints have any place in an arts blog but are both on my mind at the moment.
Not all was forfeit: here's Leonardo's Bicycle at Three Swans, harmonically (sometimes literally) reviving the genuine best of 60s and 70s pop, and the sensational Hoodoos 'on the sofa' in a Saturday afternoon set for 'Humans of Frome', an occasional and very Frome-ish session on Catherine Hill organised & supported by the entrepreneurial Ciara Nolan.

And the Hoodoos were back in our midst again that evening, supporting Geoff Younger and Colin Ashley at the Cornerhouse on another of those nights that turn into a party, with singalong, dance-along songs from Beatles and Oasis eras...;

On Sunday, Nunney Acoustic Cafe celebrated its 12th birthday with no less than four featured guests: local favourites Fried, a strong duo of male voices with guitar,  and Maia who sings original and cover versions with keyboard accompaniment, plus Frome's extraordinary, outrageous, and multiply talented Otto Wilde and finally - all the way from Swindon -  peoples' choice Splat the Rat, hi-energy 'traditional folk' that sounds neither traditional nor folky. Also some great open mic sets, and excellent sound quality throughout the event. I'll leave you with 2 snaps that give some idea of the diversity - experimentalist Otto, and traditional dittyist Ken Lush - and I hope to be back with you soon.

Masses of music as autumn winds whirl...

Starting with music, superlatively good in Frome last week - and there were jazz session and Celtic sessions too...   The Cornerhouse had standing room only on Friday for a sensational blues session from Pete Gage Band, then on Saturday that venue transformed into a Bowey-inspired party night as Rebel Heroes gave a storming performance with atmospheric visual effects.

A walk down the road on sunny Sunday for Nunney Acoustic Cafe, where as well as great local artists we were treated to Swindon's fabulous folk band Splat the Rat and Danny McMahon from Bristol, currently topping the iTunes Country Chart.

When a musical duo takes the name Leonardo's bicycle you don't really know what to expect because it never existed. True, a bicycle sketch purportedly by the C15th Florentine artist inventor was allegedly found in Milan in 1974, but examination revealed that the paper had been folded & glued to hide a selection of penises not thought to be in the hand of the master, though whether that was due to poor craftsmanship or poor likeness hasn't been clarified. The new theory is that the bicycle was forged in the 1960s - (“It’s the sort of thing a bored monk might do,” says Nicholas Clayton, editor of The Boneshaker, the magazine of the British Veteran-Cycle Club) which brings me nicely to the Three Swans on Thursday, where the best of 1960s & '70s music was played live all evening by two amazing musicians who travel under the enigmatic banner of that non-existent vehicle.

Da Vinci musings bring us nicely into art, and the opening of a new show at the HUBnub of work by Susanna Lisle ;- paintings inspired by local landscape and Islamic tradition of geometric patterning, combining both elements in paintings big enough to look striking even in the massive proportions of the gallery in the old Whittox Lane Chapel.

Over now to Theatre Royal Bath, where Ruth Jones, famous for her role as louche, laconic Nessie on TV’s comedy series Gavin and Stacey, is the featured star in The Nightingales, a drama about a song group with aspirations of small-screen stardom. They seem a jolly, ordinary, bunch but nobody is quite what they first seem, and cracks in their cohesion are inevitable when wild-card Maggie persuades them to compete for Britain's Got Talent. William Gaminara's play is tightly interlaced with televisual references as the plot unrolls with several sections of narration direct to audience and bursts of song. The set, a village hall, is awesomely realistic (designer Jonathan Fensom) and this is a slick production which, as Miss Jean Brodie might say, will appeal to those who like that sort of thing.  My favourite character was Sarah Earnshaw's sassy Connie, spitting fury at Maggie's aspirations to be the next Susan Boyle. Now touring in London. Image: Geraint Lewis

So in the week when arguments about poppies replace arguments on fireworks, I'll leave you with an image of my local walk, and the good news that Nevertheless is returning:
Scratchings is our newly-formed combination with Frome Actors Network, with a production of four shorts already planned for the 2019 Festival... here's Becki, Lou and Mark somewhat shocked after our first read-through...