Ten Things to do Before Your Die (A Play, a Pie and a Pint), Traverse

 Claire (Dani Heron) is introducing herself to us.  She's a very conventional 29 year old from Paisley.  With one extraordinary element to her life.  She's dying, of an aggressive brain tumour, and now she has to figure out what to do with what's left of her life.  So she does the conventional thing and writes a bucket list.  Going about achieving all the items on her list gives her a set of problems to overcome, to occupy her mind with.  But there are two problems she doesn't know what to do about.  Who's going to look after Milo, her cat, when she's gone?  And how does she break the news to the people closest to her?  How does anyone do that?

With Claire as narrator to her own life, we watch her chase down her ten things, all the while avoiding the big questions.  It's a whirlwind trip through life, with death a constant companion.  But this is also a very funny fifty minutes, with pathos always lurking underneath.  A smart script jaunts through a host of common taboos, bizarre situations and awkward personal encounters.  But the central theme is always there, courtesy of the coffin centre stage, which does time as doctor's desk, bar, security desk and kitchen table.  And a silent funeral director who haunts his way through scenes.

A strong performance from Heron, with good support from the other three who all turned up in multiple roles.  Julie Wilson Nimmo makes good use of her various parts to get a lot of the laughs.  Very enjoyable, and a reminder of the unfairness of life.

Oscar (A Play, a Pie and a Pint), Traverse

Oscar (Brian James O'Sullivan) has come to the island looking for... Solitude?  Inspiration?  Does he even know?  He's had his piano moved up here from London, so he's taking it all seriously.  But what is 'it'?  He's a successful composer, but all that success came from working with his brother Freddy.  And Freddy is dead now, suddenly.  Can he write Freddy's memorial piece by himself?

Except he's not completely alone, because Miriam (Kirsty Findlay), his landlady for the next fortnight, isn't going to let him be.  She knows a bit about grieving, having lost her father and being left alone to look after her mother with ever-advancing dementia.  Whether Oscar wants her to or not...

A sparky relationship develops that brings forth pathos, romance and some kind of understanding.  If it verges towards sentimentality on a couple of occasions, that's well counterbalanced by the humour that runs all the way through.  There are a lot of good one liners.  And songs too.  Regular readers will be aware of my antipathy for the stop/start musical format, but the songs in Oscar are well thought through and the lyrics always help move on the plot, feeling like an integral part of the whole.  Good performances, and piano playing, from both cast members, and Findlay has a gorgeous singing voice.  

Written by O'Sullivan, the script, and songs, and performances, deliver a lot of laughs, moments of drama, reflections on the nature of dealing with grief, and a bit of a twist in the tail.  What more could you ask for from a 50 minute drama? Well worth seeing.

PS  Vegan haggis sausage roll was today's comestible of choice - pastry was a bit stale!

Melisa Kelly and the Smokin' Crows, Scottish Blues Weekend, Assembly Roxy

 

It's all about the voice.  I used those words in my review of Kelly and the Crows back in 2018, and they still hold good.  I also said that she had no need to aspire to be Chaka Khan or Etta James, because Melisa Kelly is a powerful singer her in her won right.  And that, nearly four years on, applies even more strongly now.  

The Crows are a solid professional band - drums, bass, guitar, keyboard and sax.  The songs are a mix of self penned, and blues and soul classics.  Numbers from Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, and the aforementioned Khan and James all feature, and were generally the highlights of the show.  Other than Devil's Luck, the title track form their new album, their own material lacks punch, sounds characterless in comparison.  But that voice means they are never uninteresting.  Power, long notes, variations in phrasing, an instrumentalist in full control.  Kelly's introductions are less assured, in contrast to the self belief exhibited in her vocals.  But she's funny and flamboyant, and that makes up for the lack of slickness.

To be clear, I really enjoyed this gig, and the beat and rhythms kept the feet busy.  No complaints in terms of entertainment.  But.  There was a sense of frustration.   Late on in the evening each band member got a chance to show off their talents in a solo.  All competent, but only bass player Kieran Savage stood out in showing any real imagination, giving us something that contained a hint of surprise, of unpredictability.  And that's true of the whole performance.  Kelly has a voice that deserves better.  Better arrangements, better songs, more imaginative accompaniment.  The last act I saw in this venue was Scots blues guitarist Sandy Tweeddale, and I kept wondering what this performance might have sounded like with his creative influence injected.

Yes, it's all about the voice.  But it needs more to hit a higher level.

Belfast

 Set in 1969 Belfast, right at the start of the euphemistically named 'Troubles', other critics have labelled the movie sentimental, romanticised and self indulgent.  All three are true in their way, but not to the detriment of the story.  This is being told by an adult, through the memories of the nine year old boy he was at the time, with a child's perspective on the world.  A world that mixes the love of family with the fear and danger of the developing crisis.switches to monochrome to take us back in time. 

Buddy (Jude Hill) lives in a working class area, predominantly protestant but with catholics often as neighbours.  He knows everyone, everyone knows him, it's a safe welcoming community.  His father (Jamie Dornan) works away in England most of the time, so he spends a lot of time with his grandparents (Judi Dench and Ciaran Hinds), while his mother (Catriona Balfe) struggles to pay the bills.  Life changes, dramatically and fearfully, when unionist thugs descend on the street, attacking the catholic homes and accusing all who are against them as collaborators.  Which includes Buddy's Pa.

The wee boy sees the terror, the changes, the arrogance of the suddenly imposed British military, without understanding.  His elders try to shield him from the realities of the bigotry.  But he does know the bad men want to harm his family, and that there is a big decision to be made - stay or leave?  He finds himself sucked into criminal activities like looting which he views as games, albeit risky ones, ones he's been told are wrong.  But he also continues to find joy in his surroundings, his relationships, and, big treat, going to the fantasy world of the cinema.  Which in turn is used as a clumsy metaphor.  His father trying to take a stand against the local thugs is paralleled with Gary Cooper in High Noon.  The sense of dropping into the unknown that the barricades and soldiers offered becomes the doomed, plunging Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - which goes on to fly into the blue yonder of course.  

This is a nostalgic, rose-distorted view of the times, which offers no insights into the underlying causes of the problems which would lead to all the violence and unhappiness of subsequent decades, but that's not the point.  It's a nine year old's contrast between the comforts of home life and the evil he is not equipped to understand.  This is a feelgood film about childhood, without pretensions towards political or social comment, and, taken as such, makes for good entertainment.  It's far from perfect, but it is engaging and beautifully acted.

(But I couldn't help wondering if  the real 1960s Belfast ever featured such a good looking family as this one!)

Brian Finnegan with Ross Ainslie & Tim Edey, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Celtic Connections

 Three very differing sets to this gig, which had been moved into the wider spaces of the main concert hall.  

The opener brought some confusion.  Two woman, a harp and a fiddle.  I immediately recognised them as Rachel Newton and Lauren MacColl, but neither organisers nor the performers themselves made any introductions so if you didn't know who they were to begin with you were no better off by the end.  A strange omission.

Rachel did introduce the work they were to play, four musical interpretations of Mairi Kidd's stories about Scots women who were persecuted as witches.  Not the cheeriest of subjects, but the music, with Rachel's vocals, was accompanied by short films on the screen above their heads and provided some thought provoking moments about one of the darker corners of our history.

Another duo followed, and they soon made it know that they were Tim Edey (guitar and button accordion) and Ross Ainslie (whistles and bagpipes), in case you didn't know already (I did).  Edey is well know, not just for his outstanding musicianship, but as one of the zaniest characters on the British folk scene, and he did not disappoint in providing entertainment.  His grin was wide before they'd settled into their seats and expanded with joy as the set progressed.  The giggling laugh is pretty infectious as well!

But it was music we were here for and these guys deliver.  A well balanced set of differing tempos and styles, some of it lightning fast.  Ainslie is always an imaginative and varied player, but it was Edey's guitar work that stood out most.  Not just constant chord changes, but style changes too, so that one number might feature folk, jazz and blues guitar all jumbled up, but never inappropriate and always adding to the whole.  Tunes of their own were joined by compositions from the likes of Donald Shaw (Mr Celtic Connections of course!), Charlie McKerron and Tommy Emmanuel (aka God according to Edey!).

Wonderfully entertaining, and Edey's smile would bring sunshine into a blizzard.

Finally the main act of the night, Brian Finnegan and band.  The Irish whistle virtuoso performing material from his acclaimed new album, Hunger of the Skin.  With him on stage were John Blease on percussion and Liam Bradley on drums, Sean Og Graham on guitar, Patsy Reid on fiddle, Paul Dunlea blasting out the trombone, and Conor McCreanor on bass.  Plus, for a couple of numbers, being joined by Finnegan's Flook partner, Sarah Allen on Flute.  All that and some recordings of poems, with images, being played in the background.

Brian, as he admitted from the off, likes to talk to audiences.  Which is a plus, for he's an engaging speaker and keen to explain the thinking behind the various pieces of music and poetry, all on the theme of togetherness.  The music provides strong melodies and even better arrangements, Finnegan's incredible flying fingers back by strong and imaginative rhythms, and lovely harmonies and solos from the others.  We had a battle of the percussionists, which was fun, and Allen intrigued with her stance, a style tribute to Ian Anderson and a stork.  

Life enhancing.

Jack Badcock, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Celtic Connections

 Transferred into the main concert hall for covid reasons, Badcock looked overjoyed to be playing to the larger venue, which was better suited to the size of band he had accompanying him.  Overjoyed, but not overwhelmed, and we were given an hour of smooth vocals and equally smooth string accompaniments.

Michael Biggins on keyboards, Alyn Cosker on drums and Jack's guitar provided the rhythm section.  The lushness came from the string section, headed by ace arranger Seonaid Aitken on fiddle, with Patsy Reid (viola), Su-a Lee (cello) and Charlie Stewart (fiddle and double bass).  

Badcock talked about the theme of the interconnectedness of human beings that provided the common link though the songs, a mix of (mostly) new material with some from his last album.  A couple of pieces went well beyond the usual 3-4 minutes length, allowing for development of themes, both verbal and musical, and the resulting richness is hopefully a sign of things to come from him in the future.  

Always enjoyable, and often beautiful.

Aidan Goatley, The 12 Films of Christmas, Dock Street Studios, Dundee

 Up to Dundee to see the ever reliable Mr Goatley.  With a similar format to his popular 10 Films With My Dad, this show takes us through his top twelve xmas (related) films.  But first, being the friendly chap he is, Goatley gave us an update on his life.  He's recently moved from Brighton to... Middlesbrough.  Suffice to say it's a change to a different world, but one which provides a seemingly unending fund of funny stories.

Goatley lays down the three rules of 'what makes a xmas film,, the most important one being that it invoked the 'spirit of xmas'.  So his selection extends beyond movies set at the end of the year, to embrace some that are traditionally associated with xmas screenings on UK TV.  And which trigger stories from his past.

It's all very entertaining, he gets a bit of audience interaction going, and who could argue with It's a Wonderful Life as his number one choice?  Good fun, occasionally confounding expectations, but always warm and inclusive.  And anti Tory as an added bonus.  Good stuff.