The media-mad edition - hits, misses & surprise-surprise...

This has been a week of unexpected occurrences.  The first was landing in Birmingham on my flight home from Dublin, and the biggest surprise came on Friday.
On Wednesday, Frome enjoyed the long-awaited reopening of Frome's Westway cinema with all the promised perks: viz bar and £4 entry for all. I missed the party atmosphere (also La La Land but no problem with that) as Alison Clink & I were being interviewed on the 'Afternoon Spot' on Warminster radio hosted by Richard Platts, talking about using personal experiences in writing.
The much bigger miss came on Friday...
Richard has a genial approach ('I'm not Paxman') and a relaxed broadcast style ('People tell me they like rough edges') for our enjoyable session of chat and readings.

Frome Art corner now: there's an exhibition of photographs 'From the corner of my eye' at Black Swan Arts, and there's also Tim Gander's impressive Routes exhibition in La Strada Cafe: This collection of portraits of those using this facility for 'young people looking for somewhere to go or someone to turn to' is an urgent attempt to save a Drop-In facility under threat. The youngsters' portraits each have a personal plea: "They really are the only safe space in Frome for people like me, and I’ve found a wonderful volunteering opportunity there in their youth cafe" says Mona Vaas.  Donations valuable & much appreciated.

In an outstanding week for live music in Frome, Wednesday's Roots Session at the Grain Bar had a fabulous double bill with Julian (Bugs) Hight launching his new CD Independent State of Mind, and indie-folk band Velvet & Stone back from Devon. Plus, for bonus, an afternoon drop-in too from Dreadzone at Raves from the Grave to sign copies of their powerful new album Dread Times.

On Friday, for Mutartis Boswell's poster as well as the 'post punk / alternative rock sound & visuals', I'd have booked for Are We Still Alive at the Wheatsheaves, but I was guest poet in Bath's poetry cafe
What a Performance at St James' Vaults - a cracking night of song and storytelling as well as poetry. Here's Dexter Selboy & the Shonky Trio, the band who make 'indescribable' a good thing. Thanks for making me welcome, small audience, and for buying all my books!

And Friday was the night Foo Fighters played in Frome - yes, really, live and rocking. TV's Points West featured the leaked-on-the-day secret visit, Frome Standard had a live feed outside the Cheese & Grain as rumour became reality, and facebook fizzed with excited snaps, selfies, and sensationalism all night.  The band left a public message as well as a big gloaty grin of delight for all of Frome. HEY.... (they wrote in a font that Mutartis would approve) STILL BUZZING FROM OUR FIRST GIG IN 1 YEAR, 3 MONTHS, AND TEN DAYS - SHAKING OFF THE DUST FOR THE SWEET PEOPLE OF FROME WAS THE BEST WAY TO DIVE INTO ANOTHER YEAR... AND MANY MORE SURPRISES...

This would be a good note to end this post of hits & misses, but there's a useful footnote I don't want to omit: our famous Independent market restarts next week and, to prove the cultural importance of Frome's first-Sunday-of the month celebration, Great Western Railways posters now feature it as an inducement to grab a train and head along. As their rail links extend from London to Taunton and to Cardiff (with a connection to Fishguard and Rosslare), be prepared for crowds. Best bring a thermos & leave the dog at home...

Setting out to Ithika and other marvellous journeys

Nobody's Home, developed in California by Theatre Témoin & Grafted Cede Theatre, workshopped with war veterans, greeted on Broadway with 5-star reviews as the sort of masterpiece which deserves not to go undiscovered, is now touring UK and came to Salisbury Playhouse this week. You might think anyone choosing a play billed as 'a moving exploration of post-traumatic stress disorder in a modern retelling of Homer's Odyssey' would expect some fairly gritty imagery and action, but six people walked out (we were in the Salberg Studio so their exit was not discreet) as the ex-soldier wrestled with epic perils and living nightmares.
Set in and around a bath, with brilliant lighting & sound and two terrific performers, this sixty-minute drama is a fantastic piece of theatre. Will Pinchin as Grant graphically shows the nightmare of his war and the terrible place it has left him, and Dorrie Kinnear is superbly chameleon as his helpless wife, the monsters & foes he faces, and even - in an exquisite final tableau - as the billowing sails of his final journey home. There was an after-show talk too but we were too wrung-out & overawed to stay. I may feel squeamish about my next bath though, and won't be eating watermelon for a while.

Last Tree Dreaming has been on a long journey too, since Frome artist Barry Cooper found this 250 year old fallen oak in Stourhead, realised it could once have been part of Selwood forest, and conceived the idea of a heritage project creating art from & around the tree. This community project has involved talks, story-telling, carving, drawing, and other activities, and the outcome is currently on display at Frome Museum. I saw the first work in situ last year, then at the Community Day last November, with Helen Moore & Azeema Caffoor, Julian Hight and others. The current exhibition has even more contributions - carvings by Anthony Rogers, video from Howard Vause, and a great display of all these elements with a social history of the times by Anthony Lacny and Helen Langford.  Massive credit to everyone else involved too - there were many. "I wanted the project to have enough room for everyone to have their own personal experience" Barry told me - actually while the picture above was taken (thanks Helen Moore.)

Wednesday was a busy night, with not only the exhibition preview but the Roots Session at the Grain Bar where three-woman band Velvet & Stone - two great guitar/vocalists and an exquisite violinist - were simply superb, and also the inauguration of a new mayor: for those who follow the progress of the Peoples' Republic of Frome, this year we welcome Back Wood Redeemer Toby Eliot (guitar, mouthorgan, vocals), seen here with lovely Lady Mayoress Rosie of Nevertheless fame.

Bruton Poetry Platform, a new initiative for Bruton Festival of Arts organised by Bryony Brook, had its inaugural session on Saturday with slam queen Liv Tork as compere & performer.  I was privileged to be a judge as in the elegant setting of At the Chapel, 18 readers shared poems on the theme of 'Life'. First prize winner was Megan O'Neill, here receiving Liv's congratulations on an impressive debut performance.

Back again in Frome, rehearsals for the Nevertheless Fringe Theatre festival production Time Slides are now firmly underway, with updated cast (Tiffany Burr now joining Gabrielle Finnegan and Matt Harrison) and integrated live music designed by Patrick Dunn.
And finally this week,  Frome Writers Collective website now includes a short video of me in conversation with Gill Harry Tdiscussing the writing scene and our town's renaissance over the last twenty years, with help from the festival and an inspirational community spirit. Literally scores of people are named and acclaimed throughout the story: it was fun to pull out all the old flyers and amazing to recall how we did so much on a shoestring, and somehow made a truth of the myth that  Frome boasts more creative artists than any other small town in the country...