Rebellion, madness and masses of music

With local elections coming up, everyone in Frome is probably aware that community issues are high on the town's agenda, so it will surprise no-one that Extinction Rebellion riders en route for London came through our town to rest overnight and swell their numbers for the cycle ride ahead. Here they are on Saturday morning, about to set off.
Excitement continued to ripple around town as Raves from the Grave celebrated Record Store Day with new releases, DJ sets, and in-store visit from Ethan Johns, legendary songwriter & performer. His short and much appreciated song set included Ruskin's Farthing, a tale of the 1878 libel case brought by Whistler against critic John Ruskin for referring to his night painting as 'flinging a pot of paint in the public's face.'  At a time when aesthetics were shifting away from Victorian representationalism, the court case aroused massive interest - as did the verdict, which went in favour of Ruskin but with no costs and only one farthing damages awarded. Basically, they thought Whistler's painting a mess but Ruskin was just being spiteful. It's a great song, I wish I could find it online to share with you. Ethan's new album is Revelator with Black Eyed Dogs - you can hear it in new-location Raves' great new listening booth!
Another Record Store Day feature, Frome's hard-core punks Sick Ones introduced their new singer with an intimate and rowdily popular session at Ramshack Barbers- here's Kristie Easterbrook with Charlie & Andy launching the new look.

The Cornerhouse gave us a diversely musical weekend, with Nasty Habits playing classic rock numbers on Saturday and next night a fabulous Frome Jazz Club event - Keith Harrison-Broninski with Al Swainger on double bass and Billy Weir drums with John Martin guest saxophonist, in a session of the 'infectious and irresistible grooves, with catchy riffs' of Cape Jazz.

Sunday afternoon brought the monthly Nunney Acoustic Cafe, always varied and this time with an interesting mix including traditional folk songs and original material, also with a satisfying waft of protest music - I particularly enjoyed Francis Hayden playing Blowing in the Wind (pictured) and Nathan Lewis-Williams' version of the Reg Meuross song England Green and England Grey.  Here's Francis, and Al Cosnett with Jo Munroe from Desmonds Dawn, with lively original songs in style they 'like to call flunk.'  Young singer-songwriters were also well represented - look out for Dan Williams and guest of the day Danny McMahon.

Concluding this panoply of performances, Kevin Brown brought his Shackdusters and his personal magnetism to this week's Grain Bar Roots Session. Not only brilliant on slide guitar, Kevin is a witty raconteur and brought us tales from Goa to Texas, via Lancashire, with a song about two Preston lads who died at the Battle of the Alamo, then back to earth with a pollution protest. A great night.

Book corner: A visit with Frome writer friends Alison Clink and Frances Liardet - whose own recent novel We Must Be Brave is making big enthusiastic waves from America to Australia - to Bath's lovely venue Burdalls Yard for Novel Nights last Friday. This great initiative of Grace Palmer follows an excellent model: there's a chosen theme for short interviews & readings with local writers first, followed after a break by a more extensive interview by Colette Hill of a guest writer - on this occasion Maggie Gee whose new book is a black comedy entitled Blood.  'Britain is in a very farcical state'  says Maggie, 'and the way I let off steam is in writing humour.' As a bonus for me, my co-writing-group friend Debby Holt (first picture) was one of the local writers also demonstrating fluent use of humour for characterisation as she shared a scene  from her upcoming novel The Perfect Couple.

Bedlam was the name chosen by Stina Falle for her exhibition at the Silk Mill last weekend of her lifetime's artworks - sketches, collages, portraits, and personal artefacts. Stina was selling all and any of the artefacts for charity (though sadly her cardboard-replica-Duchamp's-loo collection- box was nicked from the front door along with its donations) and this 'celebration of spring madness' is another fascinating example of the diversity of creativity in Frome.

The intrinsic insanity of human nature brings me nicely to the current production of Equus from English Touring Theatre & Theatre Royal Stratford East at Bristol Old Vic till 20 April - it's been touring since mid-February but there's no flagging in this 'electric re-imagining' of Peter Shaffer's award-winning play. Written in 1973 and redolent of the the psychological interests of that era, the play is long and very wordy but complex beyond the apparent characterisations and with a strong unexpressed homo-erotic element. The central character is a teenage boy with an obsession to worship which has through childhood events become subverted into a passion for horses: ‘he’s trying to become a centaur’ laments his psychiatrist, enviously, seeing this burning desire for something both physical and spiritual as an element missing in his own life. This is an impressive production. The set is nowhere, literally, just a stage. A few props come on sometimes and the lighting is atmospheric, but you are basically left in your own imagination, listening fascinated to the complex internal and external conflicts evoked by voices and the interaction between Alan and his equine alter-ego and god, Nugget, unforgettably portrayed by Ira Mandela Siobhan. (Image: The Other Richard)

Buzzy week in Frome: bells, blossom, bands, books and boxes

A crowded week in Frome began for me with another Word Play, Visual Radio Arts' quarterly digression from music to poetry, and an excellent session from four Bristol poets: Paul Deaton, Pauline Seward, Elizabeth Parker, and Bob Walton all have new books out and their varied voices and thoughts combined to a create a great session - you can hear it live here. Thanks again to Phil and Mags, for this amazing facility, another of the specialnesses of Frome.
Mark Steel reckons he's finally perfected the Frome accent. He gave us a sample at the opening of his show at the Cheese & Grain: "Basically, when we bought it, it was just a farm," intoned in deepest North London merchant-banker-ese. He got a roar of appreciation for what was probably the funniest gag of the night (the ones that hurt usually are). Mark's political satire is always snigger-worthy but his attempt to stir up local small-town rivalry with Trowbridge met an uncomfortable silence. It seemed a bit like asking a swan if it was bothered by a beetle. And there far was too much about his recent divorce, so I took advantage of the interval to head for 23 Bath Street and bop along with Subgiant at the official warm-up party for Once Upon a Time In the West festival.

Other music this week: Chris Jagger Trio at the Wednesday Grain Bar Roots Session, showing how different two brothers can be, and the indescribably marvellous Beef Unit turning the air punk at 23 Bath Street.
SickOnes, back from their debut tour of America's West Coast, gave Frome a raucous free taster of their at Gents Street Sneakers, and rock tribute band Purple Fish came back to Cornerhouse for landlord Martin's birthday bash.. I might've got a better image but was too busy dancing...


With the arrival of May bringing sizzling sunshine just about everywhere in the UK  ~ we topped 27° here ~ our monthly Independent Market had a seasonally floral theme, as masses of sprigs of fresh blossom were entwined into hundreds of crowns and headdresses in workshops provided by a team from Somerset Garden Day ~ one of the best features the ever-inventive Marketeers have yet provided. Popular Boss Morris from Stroud brought a nice pagan touch and bright lime green socks too.

The Frome Book Fair at the Silk Mill returned for another successful event, attracting bibliophiles from far and wide with collectibles from children's illustrated fables to rare military histories. And as a footnote to the RAISE (Refugee action in Somerset East) art auction in February, the exquisite composite artwork representing 'Home' which was created by visitors' contributions during that event has found a permanent home at Black Swan Arts. Here's us celebrating this with Kate Cochrane whose guiding hand completed the compilation.

In a bulletin already too hectic (this is Frome-related, though, as the Merlin provided rehearsal space) I'm including in this post an impressive one-man show at Bath's Rondo: Too Pretty to Punch is the concept of Edward/Edalia Day whose 80 minutes of analysis and rhetoric on being trans is engrossing and seriously entertaining. Edalia is a superb performer: narration is mainly dialogue ~ with himself/herself, with imaginary others, and with the audience ~ blended seamlessly with poignant poetry, and the focus explorative rather than political, finding new ways to share old understandings: "We play at being adults until we’ve learned it off by heart… we’ve farmed ourselves into the shapes we are now." For Edalia, trans is not a dysmorphia that leads to surgery, it's about whatever you need to do to cope, and everyone who finds themselves boxed in by a rigid conformity should get out of that box and make their own. Basically it's about being human. The graphics (by B. Mure) are brilliant - there's a taster here.