Live Performance Review: Ladysmith Black Mambazo (Edinburgh International Festival (E.I.F.) 2014), Saturday 09.08.2014 20:00 The Edinburgh Playhouse, Edinburgh 

I'm going to do something I don't often do, and that is assume people know who Ladysmith... are. I, like many ignorant western whities, became aware of them when they were the best thing about Paul Simon's 'Graceland' album in 1986 when I was 10 years old. 

From start to finish this was an utter joyous delight of perfect singing and harmonising with some funky moves and amusing larking about. Several of the songs caused waves of joy resulting in water leaving my body with disturbing regularity. When they sang 'Homeless', the best piece from the 'Graceland' album, it was all too much. A wondrous night. 

Tomorrow night I get to see Ladysmith... provide the music for the Zulu ballet Inala, I anticipate that this should be a blast. 

Rating: 10/10.   

Live Performance Review: Josie Long: Cara Josephine (Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2014) Friday 08.08.2014 20:40 The Stand Comedy Club, Main Space (Unreserved Seating), Edinburgh

THIS IS NOT REVIEW. 

The Following statement should make clear why I don't feel I can review this show.

Josie; Sweet, intelligent, vibrant, optimistic with an abundance of vitality, and above all a definite geek by the sheer will of her individuality. Sexier than a Hollywood A-Lister, her entire being enchants and beguiles, I am besotted.    

The link below takes you to a complete recording of Josie's previous Edinburgh show. Romance and Adventure: 2012.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9WBd_yvrg0

Film Review: Finding Vivian Maier (12A) (U.S.A. 2013) (Directors: John Maloof & Charlie Siskel), The Cameo Cinema Screen Two, Edinburgh, Tuesday 05.08.2014 18:00

I was curious about this documentary and was aware of a lot of chatter in regard to it. I landed up going as a friend asked if would like to join him. 

The starting point for the film was a student attending an auction to see if he could find and purchase old photos of Chicago that he could use in his dissertation. He took a punt on a box of negatives which turned out to be no use for his studies, though was the beginning of his discovering and collating the photographic work of one Vivian Maier. No one appeared to be aware of this lady as a photographer of note, her work never gaining exposure during her lifetime. 

The film shows a considerable sample of her work, and to my eyes her work certainly captures complex scenes that are both desolate & beautiful, tragic while hopeful, tender and aggressive, and so on. It could easily be seen that she was interested in capturing images that show expression on differing levels.  

The film once showing the nature of her work, moved on to track down and meet people who knew her. Miss Maier had worked for various families as a nanny over the years, and the accounts from some of the children (now grown up) who had been in her care, suggests that she had a very harsh side, though that she also had a very fun and exploitative side to her. The film throughout builds up a  picture of a very private, in ways possessive lady who now would have been considered as a hoarder. I commented to my friend after the film, that although it is very rarely said in regard to females, though she displayed a lot of traits of someone who could be considered quite high on the autistic spectrum. 

I feel the film was a very interesting presentation of acutely perceptive art and the intriguing character who created it. I would recommend to people who are interested in photography and people who plow their own furrow. I was taken by work enough that I have began to look into what books have been published of her work.   

Rating: 09/10. 

Live Performance Review: Mark Thomas: Cuckooed (Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2014) Saturday 02.08.2014 20:30 Traverse Theatre, Traverse One (Unreserved Seating), Edinburgh

Another year, another Mark Thomas show (He is one of few people I consider to be a hero of mine). This one focused upon upon the Campaign Against The Arms Trade, of which Mark has been involved for many years, who some time back became aware that they had been infiltrated by a spy, who Mark had previously thought to be a close friend. It is strongly suspected that the spy was working for B.A.E. Systems, the U.K.s largest weapons manufacturer. 

The show was very engaging and focused upon betrayal and the resultant need Mark had to do a 'revenge fuck', meaning that he took actions that lead to the shutting down of several of the U.K.s weapons manufacturers. Bravo! Towards the end, Mark allowed the focus to widen to consider spying in general and incidents such as the family of Stephen Lawrence being spied upon. 

I don't consider this to be quite up there with his best work, that has to be performances such as 'Coca-Cola', 'Extreme Rambling' and 'Bravo Figaro!', though it is a return to performing with a single focus which I feel his performances benefit from. 

I suspect that part of the reasoning for it not being quite up with the best of his work, is that I have heard him cover some of the same details of his activities with the 'Campaign Against...' previously throughout the vast amount of M.T. Product that I have consumed (I still have more than 24 Hours of his programmes from Chanel 4 on video, all of which I have watched several times). So in that sense this was not entirely fresh material for me and if memory serves correctly that is a first in terms of seeing Mark Live. 

To consider the show, without regarding how I relate to it due to my eighteen year devotion to the master, it is hard not to concede that this is another show of the highest caliber from a passionate and committed performer who continues to be at the top of his game and the comedy tree. I find it hard to imagine it possible that there could be another 'comedy' show in the 'Edinburgh Festivals' this year that would top this. If you have not seen Mark before this is good entrance level stuff. The devotion continues...

Rating: 10/10.          

Film Review: Of Horses and Men (15) (Iceland/Germany 2013) (Director: Benedict Erlingsson) (Icelandic/Swedish & English with English Subtitles), Filmhouse, Screen Two, Edinburgh, Saturday 19.07.2014, 18:15

I had gone to see this due to what appears to me to be very odd circumstances. My father phoned me one evening to inform me of this film he had been reading about and ask if I knew of it. My father has very little knowledge of contemporary cinema and it is even stranger that he is informing me of a film that I had not noticed up until that point. While he was on the phone, I noticed that it was going to be coming on at the Filmhouse in approx three weeks from then. 

I thought if I did not go to see the film and he were to ask about it in future, how could I then expect him to put up with me dribbling on about other films. Though I did take the opportunity to recommend to him that he tries to seek out 'Le Quattro Volte' (2010), the charming, nearly wordless film about a goat-herder and his goats in northern Italy. 

Of Horses and Men focuses upon very rural communities in Iceland and how these people relay upon the relationships they have with their horses. Some of these communities and their horses interconnect. It is the depiction of these connections, their sub-groupings and further splinterings that provides the meat to what would otherwise be a very slight film. 

The film feels quite honest in it's depiction of how in rural life there are times when nothing is as interesting as the lives of those who live near by. The film is quirky, it has scenes that are warming and several scenes that are laugh-out-load funny. It has beautiful cinematography, or should that be, beautiful landscape that has been captured on camera. It was refreshing after some of the shit I've seen recently (Godzilla, Spidey etc.), though at the same time, I cannot claim this to be a cracker. Though again you could do a lot worse than spending 80 minutes with this very pleasant film. 

Rating: 07/10.    

Live Performance Review: Abdullah Ibrahim,  The Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Friday 18.07.2014, 20:00

This gig was part of the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival 2014, and due to this there were two other performances on the bill. The performances were under the banner of 'Mandela Day Concert'. I have given the headline to Abdullah as he is the only one I landed up seeing.

For those who don't know, Abdullah is regarded as the master Jazz musician of South Africa. He is now 80 years old and has had a career of international renown for well over 40 years. I first heard him perform on BBC2's Later...with Jools Holland in 2000.  

Some weeks back, I had looked at the programme for the Jazz & Blues Festival and for yet another year I thought there is nothing that catches my eye. A colleague had caused me to look again at details, and it was then that I spotted Abdullah was performing. That was a prospect I was not going to miss, so with literally a couple of days to go I got a ticket for the middle of the second row. It was only at the venue that I realised that Abdullah was on first. 

It was just him on piano without any accompanyment. It was one of those performances that was quite remarkable and faultless; a slinky-soulful-funky-joy from start to finish. He performed what my 'untrained-ear' took to be, a semi-improvised long piece that appeared to cover different periods of his enduring career. The only criticism is that I would have preferred for him to have played for longer (though then I never expected to be able to see him perform, so mustn't grumble). 

Why did I not stay for longer? Well sadly that it appeared somehow that the gig had drawn what can only be described as the most ignorant and disrespectful bunch of knuckle-dragging numpties that I have come across in a very long time. That was certainly the impression from where I was sitting. During the performance the amount of people who were glued to their illuminated-dumb-phones while being completely ignorant as to how distracting the enchanting-glow of this is, was quite staggering. Even worse was the amount of noise from people banging seats while happily taking themselves elsewhere; are people no longer encouraged to stand quietly during a performance? Is it me who is the weirdo for wishing to have hush while an absolute legend of jazz demonstrates his considerable skill? I could not tolerate these neanderthals any longer and there was too many guilty parties for me to tackle during the break. - Regrettably this made me grateful he had been on first.  

My comment previously about wishing he could have played for longer, this would only stand if we were fortunate enough to have a respectful audience. I don't think it fair to subject him as a master-musician to the level of dunderhead behaviour he sadly was having to put up with that evening.

Despite this considerable and legitimate gripe, I still consider his performance to have been impeccable, this is why the rating is what it is, and why I feel very fortunate to have been witness to this despite the circumstances:

Rating: 10/10.           

Film Review: Godzilla (2014) (12A) (U.S.A/Japan 2014) (Director: Gareth Edwards),  The Filmhouse Cinema Screen One, Edinburgh, Sunday 13.07.2014, 20:30

I don't know much about Godzilla and only recently saw the original in the cinema. I enjoyed the original, thought it was well acted and impressively inventive when considering how old it is. I have only seen snippets of the version from '98, the one which Japan disowned and refused to acknowledge as Godzilla, of which I rather liked what I saw. The most I know of Godzilla comes from the cartoons that were on t.v. when I was a whippersnapper. 

In regards to this new version...Firstly there were other monsters, which I had not known about. This in itself is not an issue. The issue I have is that Godzilla is now being portrayed as the benign creature who actually saves San Francisco from the other monsters. 

What sort of message does this send. With the original, Godzilla was meant as a warning of what could happen if people were not careful with their use of nuclear power. Now we have a creature who survived an attempt to destroy it with the use of nuclear weapons (those so-called ocean based nuclear tests in the '50's) who now is happy trying to defend those who tried to destroy it. So kids, those evil baddies of the future, if we try to destroy them, they will either die or they will turn and help those who were just trying to destroy it. Because children, that's how the world works, Doh! 

Secondly there was the staggeringly obvious such as, a bus of schoolchildren being driven over the golden gate bridge while it was under attack. Of course they survive, and I chuckled at the heavy-handedness of it all. 

The other issue I have is Arron Taylor Johnston. As a leading man he is about as expressionless as it is possible to be. Less emotion and we would have been reaching to diagnose as catatonic. The fact he was twined off with Elizabeth Olsen, who can act, just through into sharp focus even more, how truly awful he is as an actor.   

Sadly I found the film to be tediously dull without a shred of suspense, though not as annoying as the horrendous 'The Amazing Spiderman 2'. On a more positive note, Gareth Edwards first film, 'Monsters' (2010) is far more inventive and engaging with people you actively give a toss about rather than just recognise from the latest t.v. fad. 

Bring Back Godzookie, all is forgiven!

Rating: 03/10.