The Event - Issue 179

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Art Fashion Film Music Television

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Inside... Sin City Norwich Fringe Festival Totally Frank

Contents

Features TV  4 Film  5 Music  7 Art  9 Fashion  12  &  13 Regulars Listings  6 Creative  Writing  8 Horoscopes  8

Hello

Hopefully,  by  the  next  issue,  this  section  will  become  a  thought  provoking  and  renowned  passage  that  intellectuals  will  sit  down  with  a  tumbler  of  whiskey  and  a  thin  cigar  to  read.   Currently,  however,  due  to  the  masses  of  blood,  sweat  and  tears  that  have  been  splashed  on  every  page  of  this  pub-­ lication,  its  turned  into  a  brief  hello.  So  here  goes-­  hello  all  you  Event  readers,  I  hope  you  enjoy  the  following  pages!  If  you  do,  then  please  tell  as  many  people  as  you  can  about  them.  If  you  don’t,  then  please  don’t  tell  anyone  at  all.  Despite  deadlines  being  tighter  than  Tom  Jones’  pants,  it  has  all  been  a  lot  of  fun  and  everyone  involved  deserves  an  extra  scoop  of  icecream  and  a  hardy  pat  on  the  back  for  all  their  great  work.  Several  nights  that  could  well  have  been  spent  down  the  pub  were  instead  spent  infront  of  a  glowing  monitor,  tippy-­tappying  away  into  the  small  hours.  Although  they  were  undoubtedly  worth  it,  its  still  a  difďŹ cult  sacriďŹ ce   for  we  students  to  make.   This  leads  comfortably  on  to  the  huge  list  of  thankyous  that  I  have  to  make.  Without  masses  of  help  from  more  people Â

Cover  Story Interview  with  SFA  bassist,  Guto!  10  &  11 Reviews TV  14 Art  15 Film  16  &  17 Music  18  &  19

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than  I  can  count,  this  magazine  would  have  rather  more  empty  pages.   First  of  all  Tom  Stevens,  who  was  twice  am-­ bushed  at  the  last  possible  moment  to  write  features  for  us  and  produced  the  goods  on  both  occasions,  is  certainly  owed  a  frothy  pint.   Secondly,  all  the  editorial  staff  on  The  Event,  who  cut  their  summers  short  by  a  good  week  to  sit  in  a  dreary  ofďŹ ce  and  do  paper  work,  snaps  for  them.  Keep  it  up!  Finally,  a  mention  of  last  year’s  editorial  team,  great  friends  and Â ďŹ ne  writers  who  have  all  gone  on  to  conquer  new  hori-­ zons.  I  hope  they’ll  all  miss  the  late  nights  and  the  coffee.    Â

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Art  Editor  3PBOOB #POE $POUSJCVUPST "MFY 'MVY 5PN 4UFWFOT

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Win  a  set  top  box  and  Woody  Allen  DVDs

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Feature

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t’s  a  long  established  TV  fact  that  standards  are  allowed  to  slip  considerably  during  the  summer  months.  Major  music  and  sporting  events  make  for  great  schedule Â ďŹ Â ll-­ ers,  and  the  balmy  evenings  mean  that  the  primetime  7-­9pm  slot  can  be  spent  sipping  Pimms  in  a  beer  gar-­ den  rather  than  fuming  on  the  sofa  about  the  drivel  on  the  box.   This  year  has  been  no  exception,  with  the  same  mind-­ less  trash  dominating  our  screens.   There  were,  however,  one  or  two  shows  worth  remembering.  Big  Brother  took  over  Channel  4’s  summer  schedules  once  again,  thrusting  another  parade  of  society’s  misďŹ Â ts  on  an  unfortunate  watching  audience.  Attempts  made  to  inject  a  bit  of  interest  into  proceedings  included  introducing  new  housemates  randomly  and  trying  more  feverishly  than  ever  to  get  the  participants  to  sleep  with  each  other,  with  mixed  results.  Partway  through,  plans  were  made  to  pull  the  plug  on  the  series  after  racist  comments  were  hurled  at  Makosi,  but  the  public  voted  in  droves  against  the  chav  perpetrator  Saskia  and  she  was  kicked  out,  ending  the  cringe-­inducing  feud.  The  problem  at  the  heart  of  the  matter,  which  producers  failed  to  spot,  was  that  interest  in  the  programme  peaked  at  this  all  too  trashy  point.  The  annual  ubiquity  of  Big  Brother  in  Chan-­ nel  4’s  summer  schedules  was  tiresome  as  always,  with  some  programs  on  the  channel  even  being  edited  at  the  last  minute  due  to  important  things  happening  in  the  BB  house  that  were  obviously  deemed  more  important.  The  constant  rabble  of  groaning,  unwilling  BB  victims  would  seem  to  suggest  that  the  public  is  tired  of  seeing  Jade  Goody  wannabes  attempting  to  become  famous  through  acting  up  for  the  cameras  –  al-­ though  the  7.8m  viewers  that  tuned  in  to  see  Anthony  win  this  year  would  probably  disagree.  On  the  subject  of  wannabes  attempting  to  be-­ come  famous  through  acting  up  for  the  cameras,  ITV  unleashed  Celebrity  Love  Island  –  a  dire  cross  between  I’m  A  Celebrity  and  a  dating  show.  Twelve  ‘stars’  such  as  tabloid  favourite  Abi  Titmuss,  ex-­TOTP  host  Jayne  Middlemiss,  club  owner  Fran  Cosgrave  and  Callum  Best  (famous  through  ex-­footballer  and  alco-­ holic  father  George  Best)  were  isolated  on  a  remote  island  in  the  program,  as  viewers  voted  off  those  that  they  deemed  unin-­ teresting,  with  the  over-­

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all  aim  being  to  leave  the  two  that  seemed  best  matched.  Despite  the  attraction  of  the  celebrities  prancing  around  in  swimwear  and    irting  with  each  other,  the  program  (which  ITV  had  declared  as  being  one  of  the  year’s  biggest  shows)  had  so  many  viewers  turning  off  that  it  was  nearly  ended  several  weeks  prematurely.  However,  enough  of  an  audience  tuned  in  over  the  course  of  the  series  to  sustain  interest  and  lead  to  Jayne  Middlemiss  and  Fran  Cosgrave  winning,  even  though  they  weren’t  a  couple.  As  the  intention  was  to  form  a  celebrity  couple,  the  show  ultimately  seemed  pointless.

Comedy  highlights  included  the  excellent  Australian  sitcom  Kath  and  Kim.  Following  the  lives  of  a  mother  and  daughter  in  suburban  Australia,  the  subtle  humour  was Â

-PTU QSPWJOH PODF BHBJO UIBU "NFSJDBO JNQPSUT DBO QSPWJEF UIF NPTU FOHSPTT JOH DPOUFNQPSBSZ ESBNB reminiscent  of  Frasier  and  the  deliberately  exaggerated  ac-­ cents  were  hilarious  (‘look  at  me’  –  the  show’s  catchphrase  –  became  ‘luke  et  moy’).   Kath  and  Kim  also  served  to  re-­ mind  audiences  that  good  television  can  sprout  from  other  countries  besides  the  US.   The  series  will  hopefully  open  the    oodgates  for  a  barrage  of  varied,  quality  programming  from  some  more  exotic  corners  of  the  earth.            After  a  lacklustre  third  series,  Bo  Selecta  creator  Leigh  Francis  brought  us  a  sitcom  based  around  The  Bear  called  A  Bear’s  Tail,  which  perfectly  parodied  the  established  sitcom  format  and  included  cameo  appearances  from  classic  characters  like  Craig  David  and  Avid  Merrion.  However,  it  wasn’t  particularly  funny  or  entertaining  –  the Â ďŹ Â rst  series  of  Bo  Selecta  remains  the  best  thing  to  have  come  from  the  franchise.  Ricky  Gervais  returned  with  Extras,  following  the  life  of  TV  extra  Andy  Milman  as  he  struggled  to  get  even  a  speaking  role  on  any  show  he  featured  in.  Stars  like  Ben  Stiller,  Samuel  L.  Jackson  and,  less  impressively,  Les  Dennis  were  wheeled  out  in  front  of  the  camera,  only  to  perform  with  a  bare-­minimum  level  of  energy.  There  were  some  amusing  moments  (Ben  Stiller’s  bragging  about  how  he  had  touched  up  Cameron  Diaz,  Drew  Barrymore  and  Jennifer  Aniston  was  hilarious)  that  redeemed  it,  but  it  never  came  close  to  the  genius  of  The  OfďŹ Â ce.  The  third  series  of  the  excellent  Scrubs  was  also  shown  on  Channel  4  and  proved  that  it  is  still  one  of  the  best  American  comedies  of  recent  years,  due  to  it’s  combination  of  hu-­ mour  (ranging  from  slapstick  to  very  dark),  drama Â

and  characters  that  you  actually  care  about.

In  August,  Channel  4  brought  us  the  superb  Lost,  prov-­ ing  once  again  that  American  imports  can  provide  the  most  engrossing  contemporary  television  drama  (like  Desperate  Housewives  and  Six  Feet  Under).  Created  by  Alias  writer  J.  J.  Abrams,  the  series  followed  the  lives  of  the  survivors  of  a  plane  crash,  left  to  fend  for  themselves  on  a  remote  desert  island.  Instead  of  going  for  a  simple  Lord  of  the  Flies-­esque  drama,  elements  of  sci-Â­ďŹ Â Â and  mystery  were  thrown  in  as  the  group  discovered  polar  bears  and  invisible  monsters  in  the  jungle  and  a  spooky  radio  signal  that  has  been  broadcasting  from  the  island  for  16  years.  The  structure  of  the  show  was  original  too  –    ashbacks  for  each  character  occurred  once  an  episode,  explaining  more  about  them  and  why  they  were  on  the  aeroplane  before  the  crash.  Each    ashback  revealed  more  secrets  and  motives  for  each  person,  as  well  as  throw-­ ing  up  even  more  questions  in  a  show  already  packed  with  unanswered  mysteries.  These  plot  twists  and  cliffhangers  made  the  series  truly  addictive,  making  the  viewer  want  to  carry  on  watching  to  discover  the  answers.  With  a  second  series  about  to  be  shown  in  America,  Lost  was  a  deďŹ Â nite  rare  highlight  of  the  summer  TV  schedules.  Various  music  events  of  the  summer  were  brought  into  our  homes,  including  Live  8,  which  was  shown  in  it’s  entirety  on  BBC1,  attracting  6.6  million  viewers.  It  features  perform-­ ances  ranging  from  the  amazing  Scissor  Sisters,  to  the  pre-­ dictable  efforts  of  David  Walliams  and  Matt  Lucas  milking  their  fame  with  a  boring  Andy  and  Lou  sketch.  Highlights  of  this  year’s  muddy  Glastonbury  were  shown  on  BBC2  and   were  particularly  entertaining  in  that  we  were  shown  things  other  than  the  music  –  a  series  of  features  into  Glaston-­ bury’s  other  aspects  exposed  carnivals,  New  Age  tents  and  Victorian  style  ghost  trains,  amongst  other  things.  Some  of  the  highlights  of  the  weekend  were  Basement  Jaxx,  Brian  Wilson  and  The  Kaiser  Chiefs  –  seeing  so  many  people  sing-­ ing  along  conveyed  the  festival  atmosphere  perfectly.  With  the  Christmas  period  approaching  (when  produc-­ ers  tend  to  whip  out  the  best  that  they  have  to  offer),  TV  will  hopefully  be  providing  lots  of  entertainment  in  the  next  few  months.   Sadly,  however,  other  than  Lost  there  is  lit-­ tle  programming  venturing  outside  the  parameters  of  the  tried  and  tested.   The  breath  of  fresh  air  that  Kath  and  Kim  provided  illus-­ trates  the  variety  we  need  in  order  to  pre-­ vent  the  plethora  of  Celebrity  Love  Is-­ land  style  dross  from  bringing  good  telly  to  a  grinding  halt.

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hile  a  recent  crop  of  French  and  Brit-­ ish Â ďŹ Â lms  has  prompted  a  steady  but  ultimately  contained  debate  over  the  issue  of  onscreen  sex,  it  has  taken  but  one  American Â ďŹ Â lm  to  put  all  that Â ďŹ Â rmly  on  the  back  burner.  Sin  City,  released  in  cinemas  last  June,  kicked  up  a  controversy  around  its  graphic  movie  violence  that  pervaded  nearly  all  levels  of  the  media,  drawing  ranging  and  often  extreme  reactions  from  both  critics  and  cinema-­ goers  –  an  opinion  con  ict  that  was  revisited  this  week  with  the  DVD  release.  On  the  small  screen,  of  course,  Sin  City  is  a  less  provocative  prospect,  but  the  question  remains:  nihilistic  sadistic  exploitation,  or  morally  confrontational  neo-­noir?  Or  perhaps  both?   The  type  of  violence  that  Rodriquez’s Â ďŹ Â lm  deals  in  is  American.  Or,  more  precisely,  it’s  generically  American:  it’s  the  violence  of Â ďŹ Â lm  noir,  of  gangster  pictures,  and  of  hard-­ boiled  graphic  novels  (the Â ďŹ Â lm  adapts  Frank  Miller’s  cult  comic  series  of  the  same  name).  Everything  that  happens  –  from  the  one-­man  rampages  to  the  large-­scale  gunďŹ Â ghts  –  is  determinedly  artiďŹ Â cial,  sealed  tight  in  the  noir  genre  by  expressionistic  black-­and-­white  (mostly)  photography,    am-­ boyant  costumes,  and  continuous  voice-­overs.  Where  Sin  City  does  diverge  from  the  1940’s  and  50’s  noir Â ďŹ Â lms  is  the  way  in  which  violence  is  represented  onscreen.  In  classic  noir,  the  most  atrocious  crimes  were  nearly  always  kept  off-­ screen,  lurking  at  the  back  of  the  narrative,  and  the  edge  of  our  consciousness.  The  victims  of  Harry  Lime’s  poisonous  scheme  are  never  shown  in  The  Third  Man;Íž  Sin  City  presents  us  with  an  entire  room  full  of  recently  severed  heads.

With  its  un  inching  depiction  of  excessive  violence  Sin  City  makes  for  uneasy  viewing  at  times,  but  there  is  something  provocative  about  its  full-­blown  approach,  and  the  shifts  from  exhilarating  aggression  to  sickening  cruelty  highlight  the  pleasure  we  take  from  certain  sorts  of  violence,  no  questions  asked.  Most  American  action  cinema  does  its  level  best  to  achieve  the  opposite  –  to  make  pleasure  in  violence  seem  natural,  and  valid.  We’re  right  behind  John  Wayne  when  he  takes  down  his  rivals,  because  shooting  them  is  heroic,  honourable  even,  and  we  are  usually  entirely  unaware  of  any  suffering  on  their  part.  Modern  action-­thrill-­ ers  contain  huge  amounts  of  violence,  but  because  it  is  dished  out  by  American  heroes  (agents,  soldiers,  maverick  cops),  and  because  the  recipients  are  the  enemy  (criminals,  often  foreign,  often  terrorists),  it’s  simply  something  that  has  to  be  done  to  save  innocent  people.  Most  of  the  violent  American  genres  are  built  around  the  gun,  a  very  American  symbol  of  power,  and  vital  equip-­ ment  for  action  heroes.  Of  course,  the  gun  and  American  gun-­culture,  where  anyone  is  free  to  buy  a  deadly Â ďŹ Â rearm,  has  come  under  increased  scrutiny  in  the  wake  of  recent  high-­school  killings,  and  several Â ďŹ Â lms.  Most  prominently  Michael  Moore’s  Bowling  for  Columbine,  and  Gus  Van  Sant’s  Elephant  have  re  ected  upon  the  tragic  violence  that  guns  enable.  Thomas  Vinterberg’s  recent  Dear  Wendy,  un-­ burdened  by  a  speciďŹ Â c  source  of   ‘true  events’,  is  a  more  playful Â ďŹ Â lm  than  those  two,  but  its  satirical  take  on  the  ro-­ mantic  myths  of  Westerns  is  never  less  than  piercing.  The Â ďŹ Â lm  tells  the  story  of  a  band  of  misďŹ Â ts,  residents  in  a  (ďŹ Â c-­ tional)  Southern  US  mining  town  where  the  opportunities  for  young  people  are  about  as  extensive  as  the  tiny  town  quarters.  Their  leader  Dick  (Jamie  Bell)  works  in  a  shop  and  is  one  day  obliged  to  buy  a  present  for  a  relative  of  a  friend;Íž  he  buys  a  toy  gun,  keeps  it,  and,  upon  discovering  that  it  is  in  fact  a  6.65  double-­action  revolver  (the  Wendy  of  the  title), Â

becomes  fascinated  with  the  object  and  forms  a  secret  soci-­ ety  in  which  to  test  and  discuss  guns.  The  society  is  named  The  Dandies  and  is  only  open  to  disempowered  paciďŹ Â sts  –  they  are  ‘paciďŹ Â sts  with  guns’.   Dear  Wendy’s  criticism  of  a  violent Â ďŹ Â lm  genre  is  highly  self-­conscious  where  Sin  City’s  was  only  ever  inadvertent.  As  a  Dogme Â ďŹ Â lm  that’s  to  be  expected,  and  Lars  von  Trier  (who  wrote  the  script)  has  done  this  sort  of  thing  before,  caus-­ ing  calculated  uproar  in  2003  when  his  feature  Dogville  was  perceived  to  paint  America  as  an  inherently  arrogant  and  violent  nation.  The  anti-­Americanism  in  Dear  Wendy  (which  Vinterberg  denies  exists)  is  less Â ďŹ Â erce,  but  there  is  certainly  a  constant  mocking  of  Dick  and  The  Dandies’  sense  of  no-­ ble  heroism.  Dick  seems  completely  unaware  of  the  irony  that  resides  in  a  group  of  paciďŹ Â sts  worshipping  guns,  and  conďŹ Â dently  tells  his  friend  Stevie  that  the  use  of  his  gun  is  to  be  strictly  recreational.  Stevie  is  in  complete  agreement: Â

History  of  Violence  (a  title  that  quite  possibly  refers  to  cin-­ ema’s  history,  as  well  as  the Â ďŹ Â lm  protagonist’s)  as  ‘speciďŹ Â cally  American’,  and  the Â ďŹ Â lm  looks  at  how  classical Â ďŹ Â lm  stories  are  built  upon  heroic  violence,  whilst  also  building  its  own  story  around  violence,  and  presenting  audiences  with  some  shock-­ ing  moments  of  gory  brutality.  Not  nearly  as  outrageous  as  the  Sin  City  stuff  of  course,  and  Cronenberg’s Â ďŹ Â lm  is  unlikely  to  generate  the  same  amount  of  controversy.  But  if  the  hy-­ per-­stylised  hermetic  world  of  the  former  represents  modern  cinema’s  most  perfectly  fantastic-­generic  take  on  American  violence,  then  A  History  of  Violence,  and  Dear  Wendy,  speak  compellingly  about  cinema  in  general,  and  the  violence  there  that  we  some-­ times  take  for  granted.

4JO $JUZ OJIJMJTUJD TBEJT UJD FYQMPJUBUJPO PS NPSBMMZ DPOGSPOUBUJPOBM OFP OPJS 0S QFSIBQT CPUI ‘Hey.  I’m  a  paciďŹ Â st  too.  So  I  would  never  dream  of  shoot-­ ing  anyone.’  The  Dandies’  characters,  though  elaborately  dressed  in  19th  century  style  dandy  cloaks  and  big  hats,  are  based  partly  on  the  cowboy  heroes  of  1960s  Westerns,  who  carried  guns  and  killed  people  in  the  name  of  freedom  and  honour.  Dear  Wendy  recreates  the  violent  shoot-­outs  of Â ďŹ Â lms  like  The  Wild  Bunch,  but  ridicules  its  own  heroes’  do-­ the-­right-­thing  posturing  with  a  scene  that  sees  Dick  and  his  gang  risk  their  lives  for  the  sake  of  a  bag  of  coffee.      There  is  a  sense  in  Sin  City  that  violence  is  a  seductive  affair,  particularly  for  men,  who  cannot  grasp  the  mystery  of  women  and  can  only  properly  express  their  passion  through  a  series  of  violent  acts.  (Marv,  played  by  Mickey  Rourke,  spends  the  whole Â ďŹ Â lm  avenging  Goldie,  the  gorgeous  blonde  girl  that  he  spent  one  night  with,  and  thinks  he  loved.)  In  Dear  Wendy  it  is  the  guns  themselves  that  are  seductive.  The Â ďŹ Â lm  starts  with  what  sounds  like  a  love  letter,  which  is  in  fact  addressed  to  Dick’s  gun,  Wendy.  Other  links  between  the  guns  and  sex  are  more  explicit:  Dandy  members  ‘marry’  their  guns  in  strange  rituals,  and  the  act  of Â ďŹ Â ring  to  kill  is  so  forbidden  that  it  cannot  be  referred  to  directly,  and  so  the  word  ‘killing’  is  replaced  with  ‘loving’.  The  most  startling  thing  about  all  this  is  that  guns  are  cast  as  active  temptresses;Íž  they  want  to  be  ‘loved’  (i.e.  to  be Â ďŹ Â red),  to  kill  –  and  they  will  do  their  best  to  convince  people,  even  paciďŹ Â sts,  to  kill  with  them.  Consid-­ ering  how  packed  America  is  with  guns,  it’s  a  particularly  unnerving  thought.

Violence  in  American  cin-­ ema  seems  to  be  something  that,  currently,  a  lot  of  people  want  to  discuss.  David  Cro-­ nenberg  has  described  the  type  of  carnage  in  his  forthcoming  A Â

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The  Sounds  of  the  Summer

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hoever  we  are  and  whatever  we  are  into  our  lives  will  always  be  deďŹ ned  by  the  music  which  has  shaped  them.  Experi-­ ences  are  always  remembered  by  the  music  which  accompanied  them.  Love,  loss,  success  or  sadness  are  always  landmarked  by  a  track  or  song.  Epic Â ďŹ lms  need  epic  music,  great  romances  need  great  ballads  and  three  months  of  summer  2005  needs  three  months  of  classic  nostalgic  soundtrack.   Whether  you  were  washed  away  at  Glastonbury  or  lost  in  Asia,  here  are  some  of  the  highlights  to  the  soundtrack  of  our  summer.

It  seems  so  long  ago  now,  but  summer  was  kick  started  by  the  Live  8  big  names  proclaiming  world  aid  on  a  huge  scale;Íž  London,  Philadelphia  and  Tokyo  united  in  song,  Will  Smith  clicking  his Â ďŹ ngers  every  three  seconds  and  the  like  -­  all  very  eye  opening,  all  very  idealistic.   But  what  better  way  to  get  a  message  through  than  by  the  universal  language  of  music?  What  better  spokesperson  than  a  rock  god?  What  better  soapbox  than  being  live  to  11  major  international  cit-­ ies?   If  you  were  there  you  were  apparently  involved  with  his-­ tory  in  the  making.  But  then  again,  instead  of  being  hailed  as  a  ground-­breaking  charitable  event,  Live  8  was  consid-­ ered  a  political  lunge  at  the  selďŹ sh  Western  government.   Broadcasting  regulator  Ofcom  banned  the  “3  second  clickâ€?  advert  from  television  and  radio  as  it  breached  their  political  advertising  guidelines.  Perhaps  these  preaching  celebrities  do  not  have  the  political  immunity  that  initially  gave  them  the  air  of  righteousness.

One  of  the  acts  beneďŹ ting  most  from  the  Live  8  gigs  was  a  humble Â ďŹ ve  piece  from  Leeds  who  came  from  nowhere  earlier  this  year,  only  to  epitomise  their  talent  by  opening  the  world  televised  gig  in  Philadelphia.   Unheard  of  in  America  they  didn’t  fail  to  make  their  mark  on  the  US  audience,  but  more  importantly  they  overshadowed  Mercury  prizewinners Â

Franz  Ferdinand  who  had  been  ruling  the  britrock  roost  since  last  year.   More  important  to  the  development  of  bri-­ trock  was  the  return  of  the  genre-­deďŹ ning  Oasis  after  three  years  away  from  the  helm.   Other  emerging  artists  this  year Â

*U XBT PG DPVSTF UIF GFTUJ WBM TFBTPO UIBU CSPVHIU BMM UIF TVNNFS CSFBLUISPVHIT UP MJHIU included  a  dominance  of  female  vocal  artists  such  as  Jem,  KT  Tunstall  and  Kelly  Clarkson,  all  making  waves  in  the  pop  world.   For  the  politically-­charged  rap  enthusiasts  Chuck  D  and  the  Flavor  Flav  returned  to  the  streets.   And,  not  forget-­ ting,  the  evermore  self  assured  Ian  Brown  is  back  to  stay,  it  seems,  touring  with  his  greatest  hits  album.  But  no  hint  of  a  Stone  Roses  revival.

It  was,  of  course,  the  festival  season  that  brought  all  the  summer  breakthroughs  to  light.   Glastonbury  saw  the  sinking  of  over  400  tents  and  for  the Â ďŹ rst  time  it  looked  as  if  the  mud  would  actually  act  against  gig  going  morale,  but  Michael  Eavis  proudly  proclaimed  that  in  fact  “the  sun  makes  people  lethargic  and  rain  stimulates  the  character.â€?   And  what  better  to  dance  the  discomfort  away  than  the  di-­ verse  tones  of  Basement  Jaxx  with  some  classic,  timeless  cultural  dance  tracks  that  exempliďŹ ed  the  ethnic  diversity  of  the  Glastonbury  concert  as  a  whole.

Elsewhere,  in  Staffordshire  and  Chelmsford  for  instance,  those  rockers  more  inclined  to  cleanliness  were  bigging  it  up  at  the  ever  more  popular  V  festival,  armed  with  portable  hair  straighteners  and  disposable  toilet  seat  covers,  the  armies Â

of  nu-­mod  fashionable  types  gathered  to  see  the  best  of  true  English  metrosexuality.   On  the  other  side  of  the  coin  was  the  Carling  weekend  at  Reading  and  Leeds  and  at  the  latter  the  return  of  antisocial  trouble  making  reinstated  the  hardcore  image  of  the  festival.   Not  even  Mean  Fiddler  could  harness  the  wills  of  angst  inicted  youths;͞  their  change  of  venue  three  years  ago  meant  little  to  the  clientele.   The  Carling  weekend  still,  however,  remains  one  of  the  most  authentic  summer  fes-­ tivals,  partly  because  of  its  evermore  diverse  line  up;͞  one  of  the  only  times  quality  hip  hop  and  dance  is  acclaimed  along-­ side  classic  rock.

More  recently  the  Mercury  Music  Prize  was  awarded  to  Anthony  and  the  Johnsons  only  a  few  weeks  ago.   The  Mer-­ cury  Music  Prize  is  voted  for  by  a  panel  of  industry  experts,  journalists  and  artists  and  is  said  to  reward  originality  and  creativity  rather  than  sales  success.   Anthony  was  up  against  the  likes  of  Bloc  Party,  Kaiser  Chiefs,  KT  Tunstall  and  even  the  multimillion-­selling  band  Coldplay,  who  had  headlined  the  Glastonbury  pyramid  stage  earlier  this  year.   Damon  Al-­ barn  once  famously  likened  the  Mercury  prize  to  “carrying  a  dead  albatross  around  your  neck  for  eternity�,  but  the  prize  has  never  been  linked  to  popularity  -­  perhaps  a  good  thing  for  the  Magic  Numbers,  already  a  sell  out  here  at  the  LCR,  who  look  to  be  rising  to  the  forefront  of  the  music  scene  this  year.   Not  so  much  credit  for  Seth  Lakeman,  the  folk  musician  who  hammered  out  quality  riffs  on  a  viola  whilst  haunting  the  audience  with  his  romantic  vocals,  skills  which  were  severely  underrated.

Summer  of  2005  may  have  been  no  Summer  of  ’69,  but  this  was  our  summer  all  the  same  and  it  was  epic  none  the  less.  There  is  nothing  quite  like  the  feeling  you  get  when  you’re  young  and  free  for  the  next  three  months,  not  to  put  a  downer  on  the  autumn  term  of  course.

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Creative Writing TAXI Cabby’s Corner

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Cabby’s corner is a new addition to the creative writing section, it is dedi-­ cated to the taxi drivers of Norwich with their endless facts, stories and anecdotes.

#HINA $AINTY

5BLF UIJTy 5PVDI QPSDF MBJO

Yeah those thin ones where you can’t even whistle for laughing. Me and the lads had a whip round after poker and got a crate of them, we thought they’d be like a Peter Kay dip-­a-­biscuit-­thing but they’re just the same as the thin ones. Jaffa’s though now there’s a biscuit, can’t compromise on a Jaffa – they’re a meal. I had someone in last week who told me they’re a cake.

You don’t pay tax on cakes. Linkins!

What about Linkins, you remember Linkins? No, here’s your mission – try and find a packet of Linkins, that doesn’t matter, bet you can’t. I’ll tell you what else you can’t go wrong with – fig rolls, grandma biscuits;; no you can’t go wrong with a fig roll and a cuppa. Am I alright to drop you here? £4.50 then luv.

!NNA 3TEWARD

Take this…

Touch porcelain oblong dish, and moss cloth where clipped toes pot.

Red yourself.

I pale petite local touch star snow.

Shuffle golden down white and grey under villages My dark diverse family pleasures, Their roofs, ethnic silk Curl crafts shoulder.

Rules made small Clip rich hands from food The poor painted the pearl: the land, the rivers, and home countryside sky in boat village, vast black.

Take this.

Bind it.

Brake bones back.

Red yourself.

Flag Etiquette A wonderful trick that the way her tongue tips up the thread dips in wet as one and it loops through ‘Easy.’

Easy like I never could.

A simple thing yellow to red thread through and slip into a rhythm of stitches.

‘It’s nearly two’ She sighs, lifting the corner of fabric and whips it up like magicians flick their cloaks, it arches then settles like a serviette light, flat across her lap.

!NNA 3TEWARD

9/52 34!23 &/2 4(% &/24.)'(4 !RIES -AR !PR 4HE HANGOVER HAS BECOME YOUR NORMAL STATE OF MIND AND YOU ARE LEARNING HOW TO OPERATE SUCCESSFULLY IN A WORLD OF DEHYDRATION AND BLURS 7ATCH OUT FOR 6ENUS PASSING THROUGH THE AUTUMNS SOLAR ARCH FOR THIS SYMBOLISES A PHASE OF SOBRIETY AND SELF REFLECTION $O NOT FEAR SOME IMMEDIATE HEAVY DRINKING IS BOUND TO MAKE 6ENUS TAKE ON THE FUZZY REDDISH GLOW OF -ARS A PLANET RENOWNED FOR ITS DEBAUCHERY AND INEBRIATION 4AURUS !PR -AY 4HE LAST FEW WEEKS HAVE SEEN YOU BECOME SELFISH VAIN AND RUDE 7HAT S MORE THIS HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR STARS !CCORDING TO 3ATURN S FLIGHT THROUGH 4AURUS THIS FORT NIGHT WE SHOULD SEE A KINDER AND MORE GEN EROUS YOU "UT AS YOUR BEHAVIOUR REPEATIDLY FLIES IN FACE OF THE PLANET S PREDICTIONS YOU@LL PROBABLY JUST CONTINUE TO BE A TWAT 'EMINI -AY *UN 7ELL ISN T LIFE FULL OF SUR PRISES 4HAT WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU EXPECTED TO SEE IN THE ,#2 BUT YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST TRIED TO LOOK COOL ABOUT IT (AD YOU STUDIED LAST WEEK S STARS YOU WOULD HAVE HAD TIME TO PREPARE

SO LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES AND LISTEN TO THIS FORTNIGHTS WARNING DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT DARK NIGHT

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#ANCER *UN *UL 0LUTO IS HEADING BACK AROUND TO OUR SIDE OF THE SOLAR SYS TEM RIGHT INLINE WITH CAN CER FORETELLING A CHALLENGING COUPLE OF WEEKS AHEAD 9OU WILL HAVE TO LAUGH AT AN UNFUNNY JOKE IN FAVOUR OF ETIQUETTE RECEIVE TWO LUMPS OF SUGAR DESPITE SPECIFICALLY ASKING FOR ONE AND FINALLY HAVE TO LET YOUR NEW FRIENDS INTRODUCE THEMSELVES AFTER YOU TEMPORARILY FORGET THEIR NAMES ,EO *UL !UG 4HAT FRESHER S FLU HAS TAKEN AWAY YOUR LIONS ROAR BUT A FEW ,EMSIPS AND A NIGHT OFF THE BOOZE SHOULD SEE YOU PROWLING AGAIN IN NO TIME %ARTH S PATH THROUGH ANOTHER TURBULENT CONSTELLATION WILL BRING A CONTENDER TO YOUR THRONE AND YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF FACING COMPETITION EVERYWHERE YOU TURN &OR YOU COMPETITION IS NOT HEALTHY SO PLOT YOUR OPPONENTS DOWN FALL 6IRGO !UG 3EPT 9OU RE INNOCENT HONEST AND HUMBLE 4HAT S WHAT YOU VE TRICKED THEM INTO BELIEVING "EWARE THE ALIGNING PLANETS

THEY HAVE A HABIT OF SHATTER ING FALSE IMAGES AND THIS FORTNIGHT MIGHT SEE YOU GET YOUR COMEUPPANCE 4HE POSITIONING OF .EPTUNE SUGGESTS THAT THESE QUICK AND EASY PHRASES MAY COME IN USEFUL @) WAS DRUNK @) WAS ASLEEP AND @1UITE FRANKLY ) M HURT THAT YOU D EVEN SUSPECT ME

,IBRA 3EPT /CT 0ERHAPS IT WILL BE THE WORRY ING OBSESSION WITH WARTIME 'ERMAN ARTIFACTS OR THE AMOUNT OF TIME YOU DEVOTE TO MEMORISING THE .ORWICH BUS TIMETABLE OR MAYBE IT WILL SIMPLY BE THAT FOUL SMELL EMANATING FROM YOUR ROOM %ITHER WAY YOU RE NOT GOING TO MAKE MANY NEW FRIENDS AT THE START OF THIS TERM AND NEITHER THE PLANETS NOR THE STARS LOOK SET TO HELP YOU OUT )T S ALSO TIME TO READRESS THE RELATIONSHIP YOU HAVE WITH YOUR MOTHER 3CORPIO /CT .OV ,ET S ADMIT IT ACADEMICS WERE NEVER YOUR STRONG POINT

BUT WHY SHOULD THAT STOP YOU SAILING THROUGH UNIVERSITY WITH FLYING COLOURS 6ENUS ALIGNING WITH 3CORPIO WILL MAKE YOU SUPER SEXY THIS FORTNIGHT MAKING IT ALL TOO EASY TO USE YOUR BODY TO GET THE GRADES YOU NEED 9OU WILL SOON DISCOVER THAT SOME WELL TIMED SULTRY BREATHING CAN PERSUADE THAT NERVOUS SWEETIE FROM THE FLOOR BELOW THAT THEY REALLY WANT TO WRITE THAT ESSAY FOR YOU 3AGITTARIUS .OV $EC 4HE STARS HAVE TRULY BLESSED YOU 4RUE LOVE SHOULD REVEAL ITSELF AN UNEXPECTED WIND FALL SHOULD LEAVE YOUR WALLET BULGING AND THE PASSING OF *UPITER THROUGH A SMALL SOLAR STORM WILL ENHANCE YOUR CONFIDENCE AND CHARM NO END !LAS THE STARS ONLY WORK FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN THEM AND YOU ARE ONE DEEPLY CYNICAL BASTARD /H WELLx

#APRICORN $EC *AN h7HY ME v h7HAT DID ) DO v AND h(OW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED v 4HESE MAY ALL SEEM LIKE REASONABLE QUES TIONS TO ASK YOURSELF BUT IT REALLY IS TIME TO MOVE ON !ND WATCH OUT FOR 3CORPIOS AND 6ERGOS n THEY HAVE GROWN VERY SUSPICIOUS AND ARE LIKELY TO START ASKING QUESTIONS SOONER RATHER THAN LATER 9OU HAD BETTER FIND A NEW HIDING PLACE FOR IT !QUARIUS *AN &EB 9OU CAN T ARGUE WITH GRAVITY 7HATEVER YOU DO YOU CAN T CHANGE %ARTH S ORBIT AND BY THE END OF THE WEEK *UPITER WILL BE FULLY INLINE WITH -ARS !S LONG AS THE RED PLANET REMAINS UNPOPU LATED BY !MERICANS IT SHOULDN T CAUSE YOU TOO MUCH HARM BUT BE WARY OF OLD ENEMIES *UPITER WILL CAUSE THE MOST HASSLE RESULT ING IN ONE BAD HAIR DAY AFTER ANOTHER "E WARY OF FALSE PROMISES AND FALSE WIGS 0ISCES &EB -AR )F ONLY YOU COULD ALIGN YOUR LEFT FOOT WITH YOUR RIGHT ELBOW AND THUS BRING BAD FORTUNE TO THE CONSTELLATIONS FOR A WEEK 5NFORTUNATELY FOR YOU IT WORKS THE OTHER WAY AROUND AND THE MOVEMENT OF THOSE DAMN BURNING BALLS OF GAS HAS CREATED SOME REAL CHALLENGES AHEAD "UT AS YOU TRY TO NEGOTIATE BETWEEN FEUDING FRIENDS TOUGH DEADLINES AND FINAN CIAL RESTRICTIONS THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS THAT YOU ARE NOT A MASS OF FUSING HYDROGEN ORBITING IN THE ARM OF A DYING GALAXY

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Fringe  Festival  Follies

5IF /PSXJDI 'SJOHF 'FTUJWBM JT XFBWJOH JUT XBZ UISPVHI UIF DJUZ SFBEZ UP CSJOH PVU UIF DSFBUJWF TJEF PG JUT QPQVMBUJPO 'PS UIF OFYU GPSUOJHIU JU XJMM CF EJGmDVMU UP NPPDI BSPVOE UIF DJUZ DFOUSF XJUIPVU FYQFSJFODJOH B MJUUMF PG UIF GFTUJWBM nBWPVS BT 5PN 4UFWFOT BOE "OOB 4UFXBSE EJTDPWFS wich  City  College  have  work  displayed  that  is  also  striking,  it  sits  seamlessly  with  all  of  the  rest.  What  is  so  great  about  The  Fringe  is  that  the  organizers  insist  on  new  work.  Marion  Catlin  proudly  told  Concrete  that  established  artists,  such  as  Self  and  Zacron,  could  only  exhibit  work  if  it  included  new  pieces.  Due  to  this  no  artist  has  simply  submitted  work  from  last  year’s  festival  and  in  this  way,  the  Fringe  is  not  merely  an  opportunity  to  exhibit  work,  it  seeks  to  inspire  artists  and  encourage  the  creation  of  new  pieces.

With  this  in  mind,  the  Festival  provides  the  opportunity  for  participation  too.  Why  not  attend  a  Drama  workshop  at  The  White  House  on  Saturday  the  1st  of  October?  Or  do  you  like  to  draw?  At  the  Fringe,  everyone  has  the  chance  to  get Â

5IF *OQSJOU QPFUSZ HSPVQ IBWF BO BSSFTUJOH JOTUBMMB UJPO JODPSQPSBUJOH B DJHB SFUUF NBDIJOF UIBU EJTQFOT FT QPFUSZ SBUIFS UIBO GBHT

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f  in  the  upcoming  weeks  you Â ďŹ nd  yourself  reclining  in  a  poetry  cubicle,  knitting  and  designing  hats,  then  there’s  only  one  place  you  can  be  –  a  disused  shoe  fac-­ tory!  This  is  the  main  exhibition  site  for  the  Norwich  Fringe,  the  annual  arts  festival  that  is  taking  place  be-­ tween  the  24th  September  and  9th  October.

The  Fringe  Festival  is  home  to  over  50  artists,  both  na-­ tional  and  local.  They  range  from  the  well  established,  such  as  Pop  Artist  Colin  Self,  to  the  less  well  known  local  talents.  Most  of  the  art  is  exhibited  in  The  Old  Bally  Shoe  Factory  in  Hall  Road,  but  as  chief  organizers  Sarah  Cannel  and  Marion  Catlin  are  keen  to  stress,  this  year  the  festival  is  branching  out.  The  Fringe  has  found  its  way  into  various  corners  of  Nor-­ wich  city,  taking  up  space  in  the  usual  artistic  haunts  such  as  Elm  Hill  and  Take  Five.  Yet  it  is  also  penetrating  some  more  corporate  venues  such  as  Habitat  and  the  U.C.I  cinema.  This,  according  to  Marion  Catlin,  typiďŹ es  the  Fringe’s  inclusive  at-­ titude.  It  is  a  festival  without  funding,  relying  on  sponsors  and  a  group  of  dedicated  volunteers,  and  rather  than  selecting  art-­ ists  and  artwork,  it  is  open  to  anyone  willing  to  contribute.

This  is  why  the  work  on  display  at  The  Factory  is  so  di-­ verse.  International  artist  Zacron  is  an  obvious  highlight.  Zacron’s  exhibited  work  includes  the  famous  design  for  the  Led  Zeppelin  III  record  cover.  Yet,  when  Concrete  got  a  sneak  preview  around  the  gallery  the  work  of  local  artists  was  equal-­ ly  impressive.  As  one  might  expect,  the  work  from  Norwich  City  Art  College  is  terriďŹ c,  but  Lowestoft  Art  College  and  Nor-­

scribbling  with  The  Big  Draw  workshops  (in  early  October).  In  addition,  there  is  the  Mad  as  a  Hatter,  Hat  Self  Portrait  Competition;͞  all  entries  will  be  eligible  for  the  Hat  Parade  on  Sunday  3rd!

And  if  that  doesn’t  appeal,  how  about  a  spot  of  Creative  Writing?  You  can  always  get  inspired  at  The  Factory.  On  the  bottom  oor  the  Inprint  poetry  group  have  an  arresting  instal-­ lation,  incorporating  a  cigarette  machine  that  dispenses  po-­ etry  rather  than  fags!  UEA  lecturer  and  poet  Tim  Lenton  has  told  Concrete  that  he  would  love  to  install  one  on  campus;͞  it  is  nice  to  imagine  drunk  students  paying  for  cigarettes  and  getting  poems  instead.

The  organizers  have  also  set  up  a  Fringe  in  the  City  Vis-­ ual  art  trail,  which  maps  out  the  twenty  nine  locations  of  all  Fringe  artworks  on  show  in  Norwich.  These  include:  a  projec-­ tion  with  music  at  the  NewMu  Bar,  Mountergate/King  Street;Íž  a  poetry  exhibit  by  Inprint  in  The  Forum;Íž  Sculptures  and  Pho-­ tography  at  The  Granary  in  Bedford  Street;Íž  and  textiles  and  paperworks  at  Boarman  House,  Redwell  Street.  Many  of  the  locations  making  up  the  Fringe  Trail  incorpo-­ rate  speciďŹ c  events.  At  Norfolk  and  Norwich  Hospital,  for  ex-­ ample,  local  artist  Tara  Sampy  will  be  creating  artwork  on  site  on  the  26th,  27th  and  28th  September  (but  for  those  reading  this  a  little  too  late,  it  will  still  be  on  show  until  12  October).  And  if  art  just  doesn’t  oat  your  boat,  then  there’s  always  performance  in  its  various  guises.  The  Factory  features  open-­ mic  busking  between  4-­5pm  each  day;Íž  and  Factory  ‘Plugged-­ in’  on  Thursday  6th  October  7-­10pm  is  an  evening  of  poetry.  The  Fringe  New  Music  Showcase  brings  the  best  of  local  bands  -­  two  nights  have  already  passed  (26th  and  27th),  but  visit  the  Waterfront  on  the  28th  and  29th  if  seeing  some  qual-­ ity  live  music  is  your  thing.

There  really  is  a  lot  to  do  at  the  festival.  If  you’re  interested  in  anything  even  remotely  arty  -­  from  pottery  making  and  writ-­ ing  to  knitting  hats  and  mask  making  -­  then  visit  the  festival  and  indulge  in  your  creative  side.  7JTJU XXX OPSXJDIGSJOHFGFTUJWBM DP VL UP mOE PVU NPSF

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Feature

SFA’s  Guto  Gets  Grilled 8JUI UIFJS OFX BMCVN -PWF ,SBGU SFDFJWJOH SBWF SFWJFXT GSPN GBOT BOE DSJUJDT BMJLF UIF 4V QFS 'VSSZ "OJNBMT IBWF HPU B MPU UP TIPVU BCPVU #FGPSF LJDLJOH PGG UIFJS OFX UPVS CBTTJTU (VUP UBLFT UJNF PVU UP DIBU XJUI 5IF &WFOU T PXO 5PN 4UFWFOT BCPVU HPMG DBSUT IPX UP TQFBL 8FMTI BOE UIF JEFBT CFIJOE UIFJS MBUFTU BMCVN

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here  is  a  loud  cracking  sound  as  a  golf  cart  crashes  through  the  doors  of  LCR.  ‘Nooo!’  cries  Guto,  bassist  of  The  Super  Furry  Animals,  as  he  jumps  out  of  the  driving  seat  to  check  the  dam-­ age.  I  hand  him  a  smashed  wing  mirror  and  he  laughs  sheepishly,  refusing  to  let  it  dampen  his  mood.  It  is  September  13th  and  the  band  are  here  at  UEA  for  the Â ďŹ rst  night  of  their  new  tour.  They  have  been  setting  up  for  three  days  and  have  found  the  campus  ideally  suited  to  test  driv-­ ing  their  brand  new  cart.  It’s  pretty  nifty  too.  They  keep  it  plugged  into  the  wall  of  LCR,  charging  it  up  like  a  mobile  phone.  Their  only  worry,  Guto  tells  me,  is  UEA  security  who  chase  them  if  they  drive  on  the  grass.  ‘We  don’t  want  to  take  the  piss’  he  says.  Having  just  spent  an  hour  as  Guto’s  passenger,  driving  around  and  relaxing  by  the  lake,  the  band  are  living  up  to  their  reputation  as  Welsh  eccen-­ trics.  I  am  taught  a  little  Welsh  (Iawn!  means  ok),  and  I  have  a  deep  discussion  about  the  merits  of  sweet  po-­ tato.  So  far;Íž  s o  stu-­

10

Event The

pid.  SFA  seem  as  relaxed  as  ever.  When  I  put  it  to  Guto  that  the  band  are  truly  bonkers,  he  sets  me  straight.  ‘We’re  deadly  serious  about  our  music,’  he  says,  looking  like  a  man  who  means  it.  And  it  is  hard  to  disagree.  Their  seventh  album,  Love  Kraft,  was  released  this  year  to  critical  acclaim;Íž  some  crit-­ ics  comparing  it  to  ‘White-­Album’-­era  Beatles  and  others  declaring  it  the  deďŹ ning  record  of  their  career.  Not  bad  for  a  band  that  formed  back  in  1993.  I  ask  Guto  how  they  keep  inspired  and  he  replies  without  hestitating,  ‘we’ve  not  stopped  doing  stuff  –  either  recording  or  touring’.  He  is  keen  to  tell  me  about  the  making  of  the  album,  about  the  people  and  places  that  have  shaped  the  sound.  It  was  recorded  in  Catylunia  in  rural  Northern  Spain,  a  land-­ scape  of  sunowers  and Â ďŹ elds.  Guto  only  wishes  that  they  had  had  their  Golf  Cart  with  them  then;Íž  ‘that  would  have  been  fantastic!’  he  grins,  going  on  to  tell  me  about  the  con-­ trast  of  mixing  the  album  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Brazil,  a  city  which  he  describes  as  ‘twenty  four  hour  madness’  and  the  place  where  they  worked  with  Beastie  Boys  producer  Mario  C.  Mario,  is  a  ‘lovely,  mellow,  balanced  guy.  He  really  en-­ couraged  us  just  to  keep  things  simple  and  to  play  a  song  well’.  Guto  agrees  that  the  relaxed  sound  of  Love  Kraft  can  partly  be  attributed  to  his  input,  as  well  as  the  change  in  lo-­ cations.  But  Mario  isn’t  the  only  outside  inuence.  Another  individual  to  leave  their  mark  is  Sean  O’Hagan  of  The  High  Lama’s,  who  created  the  lush  string  arrangements  on  the  album.  When  I  ask  Guto  whether  working  with  other  people  has  helped  the  band  keep  fresh  for  so  long,  he  hesitates,  ‘Kind  of.  We  have  a  lot  of  strong  ideas  ourselves‌  we  can’t  just  hand  things  over  to  people.  So  when  we  work  with  a  producer,  say  Sean  O’Hagan,  we  might  whistle  him Â

a  tune  then  he’ll  go  away  and  do  it  in  a  way  we’d  not  thought  of.  It  gives  it  another  dimension’.  This  method  of  working  seems Â ďŹ tting  for  a  band  so  dedi-­ cated  to  melody.  Their  last  release,  prior  to  Love  Kraft,  was  a  collection  of  their  singles  in  all  their  catchy  hummable  glory.  However,  as  Guto  tells  me:  ‘sometimes  the  radio  plays  them,  and  sometimes  they  don’t’.  He  says  it  without  an  air  of  bitter-­ ness,  shrugging  casually  and  taking  a  drag  on  his  cigarette.  I  get  the  sense  of  a  band  at  ease  with  the  music  industry.   He  tells  us  about  appearing  on  Top  of  the  Pops,  ‘We  insist  on  miming.  That’s  the  record  you’ve  made.  We  get  drunk  and  have  a  laugh.’  I  push  him  further  on  his  views  about  more  manufactured  pop  and  he  tells  me  ‘I  like  it  if  it’s  produced  well.’  When  I Â

A* EPO U XBOU UP CMPX PVS PXO USVNQFU CVU UIFZ SF BNB[JOH TBZT (VUP A5IFZ MPPL MJLF EJDLT XJUI BOUMFST disparage  fellow  welsh  star  Charlotte  Church,  Guto  leaps  to  her  defence,  ‘I  think  she’s  spot  on!  She’s  been  very  successful  as  an  opera  singer  and  rightfully  so.  She’s  very  talented  and  she’s  also  a  teenage  girl  who  likes  drinking  Barcadi  Breezers  and  smoking  fags.  Her  music’s Â ďŹ ne.’    It  is  a  view  in  keeping  with  a  band  so  unassuming.  Right  from  the  start  of  the  interview,  Guto  has  been  nothing  but  good  humoured,  offering  us  a  drink  from  their  impressively  stocked  rider  and  taking  us  for  a  trip  in  his  beloved  golf  cart.  Perhaps  this  is  to  be  expected  from  a  band  with  a  history  of  daftness.  Last  time  at  UEA  they  encored  dressed  as  yeti’s  and  they  once  owned  a  tank  which  they  drove  at  festivals.  ‘We  don’t  have  the  tank  anymore’  says  Guto,  when  I  ask  if  next  time  I  could  ride  in  that,  ‘it  was  too  expensive.’  Perhaps,  for  the  sake  of  the  UEA  campus,  this  is  no  bad  thing.  Besides,  the  band  is  funny  enough  without  the  gimmicks.  As  Guto  puts  it,  ‘We’ve  never  wanted  to  be  wacky  and  laughed  at,  but  we  can  laugh  at  ourselves.’ The  ip-­side  however,  is  the  bands  attitude  toward  their  music,  and  as  Guto  is  keen  to  stress,  ‘there’s  nothing  more  serious  than  that’.  With  a  sense  of  melody  and  a  penchant  for  the  surreal,  the  band  is  never  less  than  imaginitive.  Lyrically,  there  is  also  a  darker  edge  to  The  Super  Furry  Animals.  In  the  past,  on  albums  Rings  Around  the  World  and  Phantom  Power,  their  songs  have  been  overtly  political.  Guto  explains  that  ‘this  is  because  of  the  history,  because  of  Bush  coming  through’.  Though  he  sees  Love  Kraft  as  a  step  away  from  poli-­ tics,  it  doesn’t  mean  the  band  are  any  less  cynical  about  cur-­ rent  affairs,  ‘it’s  just  we’re  not  a  political  band  we’re  a  musical  band.  Sometimes  we’ll  just  sing  about  dinosaurs’.

Given  this  eccentric  streak,  it  is  perhaps  not  surprising  that  when  performing  at  the  Reading  Festival,  SFA  brought  onto  the  stage  another  bonkers  welsh  band,  Goldie  Lookin’  Chain.  Guto  tells  me  that  they  have  been  fans  of  GLC  since  before  the  band  had  a  record  deal.  ‘They  gave  out  their  stuff  on  the  internet  and  got  a  following  in  South  Wales  from  that‌  we  became  fans’.  I  suggest  that  being  a  bit  eccentric  might  be Â

Feature a  part  of  being  Welsh,  but  Guto  doesn’t  think  it  is  as  simple  as  that.  ‘If  you’re  Welsh  your  role  models  are  either  fucking  Max  Boyce,  Tom  Jones  or  Rugby.  That’s  why  Howard  Marks  was  great  because  he  was  a  Welsh  anti-­hero,  who  wasn’t  an  all  singing  rugby  playing  bloke.’  I  sense  a  touch  of  the  Super  Furry  cynicism  creeping  through,  and  I  am  again  reminded  of  how  contradictory  the  band  can  be.  As  easy  going  as  the  band  all  seem,  they  are  not  short  on  passion  or  opinion.

Guto  is  also  quite  self-­conscious.  For  a  man  who  is  lat-­ er  to  take  to  the  LCR  stage  dressed  in  a Â ďŹ bre-­optic  suit,  it  strikes  me  as  odd  how  uncomfortable  he  is  with  being  pho-­ tographed.  ‘Some  bands  are  really  good  at  pulling  shapes  and  poses  and  looking  cool.  We  always  look  rubbish  in  pic-­ tures.’  He  says  this  is  why  they Â ďŹ nd  other  ways  to  appeal,  by  dressing  up  and  driving  tanks  and  golf  carts.  Without  a  doubt,  part  of  the  band’s  identity  has  been  forged  in  their  visuals,  not  only  in  their  elaborate  live  shows  but  also  in  the  artwork  of  long  time  collaborator  Pete  Fowl-­ er,  who  throughout  their  career  has  designed  their  album  sleeves,  websites  and  merchandise.  ‘He  visualises  our  music’,  says  Guto  with  admiration,  ‘He’s  totally  reliable.’  Included  amongst  the  gig  merchandise  are  hand  painted  Pete  Fowler  snow  domes.  Based  on  the  Love  Kraft  album  sleeve,  they  are  exquisitely  detailed  and  don’t  come  cheap  at  a  cool  twenty  quid.  ‘I  don’t  want  to  blow  our  own  trumpet  but  they’re  amazing,’  says  Guto,  ‘They  look  like  dicks  with  antlers!’  He  also  gives  us  a  preview  of  the  band’s  costumes  for  the  gig.  ‘They  look  amazing  in  the  dark,’  Guto  says,  point-­ ing  to  an  electric  suit  which  is  lit  by  thousands  of Â ďŹ bre  optic  lights.  Surprisingly,  he  assures  me  they  are  perfectly  com-­ fortable,  if  a  little  hot.  I  think  to  myself  that  there  can’t  be  many  jobs  in  the  world  in  which  a  person  can  go  to  work  in  an  electric  suit.  No  wonder  SFA  are  so  passionate  about  what  they  do.

And  they  do  it  well  too.  Later  that  night,  the  crowd  await  the  band’s  entrance.  With  accompanying  fanfare,  the  show  begins  with  a Â ďŹ lm,  projected  onto  a  giant  video  screen.  In  it,  the  Super  Furries  appear  like  superheroes,  lit  up  in  the  dark  by  their  electric  suits;Íž  and  just  as  Batman  has  the  Bat-­ mobile,  the  Super  Furries  have  the  SFA  golf  cart,  they  speed  across  UEA  in  a  montage  taking  in  the  campus  sites.  Even-­ tually,  when  the Â ďŹ lm  ends,  the  Furries  make  their  entrance  with  style,  driving  the  cart  onto  the  stage.  As  they  step  out,  their  costumes  shimmer  green.  Guto  was  right,  they  do  look  amazing  in  the  dark. Â

The  set  begins  with  the  seven  minutes  of  lush  psychede-­ lia  that  is  Zoom!,  the  opening  track  from  Love  Kraft.  With  trademark  wit,  Ghryff  croons  the  punning  lyric:  ‘Kiss  me  with  apocalypse,’  and  it  sets  the  trend  for  a  gig  dominated  by  tracks  from  the  new  album.  In  favouring  their  most  recent  material,  the  band  might  disappoint  anyone  hoping  to  hear  more  of  the  hits  collect-­

5IPVHI (VUP TFFT -PWF ,SBGU BT B TUFQ BXBZ GSPN QPMJUJDT JU EPFTO U NFBO UIF CBOE BSF BOZ MFTT DZOJ DBM BCPVU DVSSFOU BGGBJST ed  on  last  years  singles  album.  Yet  the  quality  of  the  new  material  is  testament  to  the  bands  work  ethic;͞  just  as  they  take  their  music  seriously,  so  should  we,  and  it  is  hard  not  to  with  tracks  like  Frequency  and  Atomik  Lust  sounding  so  sublime.

Not  to  say  that  old  favourites  are  totally  in  absence.  Gh-­ ryff  chews  celery  into  the  mic  during  Receptacle  for  the  Re-­ spectable,  before  throwing  the  offending  vegetable  into  the  audience.  Later,  Juxtaposed  With  You,  perhaps  the  bands  most  famous  single,  is  performed  by  way  of  a  ridiculous  ro-­ bot  helmet;͞  one  which  makes  Ghryff  look  less  like  a  furry  animal  (which  he  actually  does  in  real  life)  and  more  like  a  seven  foot  power  ranger.

The  whole  gig  is  performed  in  surround  sound  and  it  is  deeply  impressive  too,  particularly  so  on  Slow  Life,  perhaps  the  closest  the  band  come  to  a  full  on  dance  track.  As  the  base  rumbles  through  me  I  am  reminded  of  some  of  Guto’s  words  earlier  that  day.   When  I  asked  him  how  he  would  best  describe  the  band,  he  replied  ‘come  see  us  live  and  you’ll  have  an  assault  on  your  ears  and  your  eyes’.

On  the  basis  of  this  gig,  it  seems  he  is  right  about  that.  As  easygoing  as  these  Welshman  appear,  they  don’t  take  the  business  of  being  a  band  lightly.  As  the  band  leave  the  stage,  their  reputation  as  eccentrics  remains Â ďŹ rmly  intact.  But  it  seems  they  are  more  than  that  too.  Seven  albums  in,  and  the  Super  Furry  Animals  are  never  less  than  professionals.

Event 11 The

Fashion

Welcome  Freshers!

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Let’s  Get  Fresh!

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12

Event The

MPWJOH BMUFSOBUJWF NVTJD BOE BOZUIJOH HPFT DMPUIFT TIPX VQ BU 1P /B /B T BOE 8BUFSGSPOU "OE JG ZPV CBU GPS OFJUIFS TJEF JO QBSUJDVMBS TQPSU ZPVS IFFMT BOE TIPSUT XIJMTU SPDLJOH XJUI UIF BMUFSOBUJWFT BOE DMBE ZPVSTFMG JO EFOJN BOE CMBDL BU -JRVJE "OE OPU GPSHFUUJOH UIF XFFLMZ -$3 XIFSF EJTDPVOUFE WPELB FOTVSFT ZPV XPO U FWFO SFNFNCFS XIBU ZPV XPSF PS JG ZPV BUUFOEFE BU BMM "U VOJWFSTJUZ BOZUIJOH HPFT BOE OP POF QBSUJDVMBSMZ DBSFT 8FMDPNF UP UIF CFTU ZFBST PG ZPVS MJGF +VTU CFDBVTF BMDPIPM JT OPX MFHBMMZ nPXJOH JO BCVOEBODF BOE ZPV IBWF B CJH GBU MPBO CVSOJOH B XIPMF JO ZPVS QPDLFU UIFSF T OP OFFE UP MFU UIF TJEF EPXO 'PMMPX UIFTF UJQT UP FOTVSF ZPVS TUVEFOU EBZT BSF BMXBZT TUZMJTI 8IBUFWFS MJHIUT ZPVS GBTIJPO nBNF UIFSF BSF DFSUBJO FTTFOUJBM JUFNT FWFSZ GSFTIFS NVTU PXO

Fashion

1.A  Scarf A  long,  winding,  woolly  scarf  is  ideal  for  keep-­ ing  snug  on  chilly  days.  Choose  one  in  a  cheer-­ ful  shade  with  a  soft,  comforting  feel  and  com-­ pliment  with  gloves  in  a  clashing  colour  to  perk  up  your  dull  winter  warmers.  A  scarf  is  also Â

great  for  hiding  those  mysterious  hives  that  erupted  on  your  neck  after  an  encounter  with  that  second  year  of  whose  face  you  have  no  rec-­ ollection.

P.S. *NQSFTT UIF 6&" XFMM ESFTTFE Wrap  your  scarf  around  the  collar  of  your  Sgt.  Pepper,  military  style  jacket.  Keep  warm  in  a  deliciously,  comfortable  fabric  like  velvet,  and  opt  for  hues  like  midnight  blue,  sludgy,  khaki  green,  and  jet  black,  and  if  your  lucky  enough  to  beat  the  crowds  -­  blood  red.

2.Pretty  Pjs At  least  one  pair  of  decent  nightware  is  needed  for  cohabiting.  From  chatting  in  the  kitchen  to  letting  in  the  cleaner,  have  a  pair  for  every  pos-­ sibility!  Shorts  and  vests  are  cute  for  autumn,  and  when  winter  hits,  keep  cozy  after  lights  out  in    eecy  sets.

You Â ďŹ Â rst  years  are  as  yet  unaware  of  the  time Â

some  people  will  spend  in  their  bed  clothes,  as  they  embrace  student  life  some  won’t  dress  for  the  UFO,  the  bar  and  if  they  get  there,  lec-­ tures.  All  you  well  dressed  freshers  would  never  behave  in  such  a  way,  although  if  you’re  lucky,  entire  weekends  will  be  happily  spent  never  get-­ ting  dressed  at  all.

P.S. *NQSFTT UIF 6&" XFMM ESFTTFE Standards  shouldn’t  fall  once  night  does.  Keep  your  bedware  as  sleek  and  smart  as  day,  Desperately  fashionable  sleepy  heads  will  still  be  saying  Autumn  ‘05  even  in  their  dreams  by  wearing    oral  print  camisoles  and  hot  pants,  and  for  extra  warmth,  soft  cotton  shrugs.

3.Perfect  Outfit An  outďŹ Â t  that  emphasises  your  best  assets  and  showcases  your  own  unique  style  will  be  paramount  for  last  minute  party  invitations.  A  timeless  uni  outďŹ Â t  will Â ďŹ Â t  in  at  any  location,  something  that  you  can  throw  on,  add  a  slick Â

of  lipgloss  to  and  still  feel  fabulous  in  is  fun-­ damental.  If  original  ideas  escape  you,  a  pair  of Â ďŹ Â gure    at-­ tering  jeans,  some  pointy  heels,  a  vest  and  the  new  no-­  brainer  for  every  outďŹ Â t  –  the  shrug. Â

P.S. *NQSFTT UIF 6&" XFMM ESFTTFE This  season’s  most  aware  will  gather  gleeful  stares  in  lean  jeans.  Yet  if  you  do  like  to  eat  oc-­ casionally,  there’s  the  summer  staple  –  shorts.  See  them  right  through  to  winter  with  tights  and  rounded  heels.  Add  a  silky  vest  or  a  Victori-­ ana  blouse  and  sprinkle  with  sparkly  jewels.

Event 13 The

TV

Primetime

Totally  Frank $IBOOFM QN 4VOEBZ Totally  Frank  started  on  T4  on  Sunday,  providing  something  a  bit  different  from  the  current  dross  on  TV  (Lost  excluded).  The  concept  of  the  program  is  that  four  girls  (Charlie,  Ta-­ sha,  Neve  and  Flo)  are  trying  to  start  a  rock  band  and  it  follows  their  efforts  to  become  accepted  by  the  rock  press,  get  a  record  deal  and  become  The  Next  Big  Thing.  The  characters,  to  this  reviewer,  all  seem  to  have  been  plucked  from  the  Big  Book  of  Music  Personality  ClichĂŠs.  The  singer,  Tasha,  is  the  one  that  pushes  the  band  forward  towards  new,  different  and  better  things.  Neve,  the  drum-­ mer,  has  been  ‘on  the  scene’  for  years  and  knows  everything  about  every  band  ever.  Flo,  the  bassist,  is  unsure  about  wanting  to  become  big  and  would  prefer  to  stay  at  home  with  her  comfortable  life  there.  Finally,  there’s  Charlie,  who Â ďŹ lls  in  the  mould  of  stereotypical  short-­tempered  and  com-­ petitive  guitarist  who  wants  to  become  a  solo  artist.  Add  to  this  an  assortment  of  roadies,  recording  studio  managers  and  band  managers,  and  we  have  another  program  about Â

Let  Loose  is  the  latest  endeavour  by  Hollyoaks  producers  to  entice  an  older  and  (supposedly)  more  mature  audience  to  tune  in.  The  premise  is  fairly  basic-­  Ben  and  Lisa  now  have  an  entire  programme  to  themselves,  one  which  focuses  largely  upon  their  relationship  and  its  current  trials  and  tribulations.  It’s  on  in  a  later  time  slot  -­  coming  to  our  screens  at  the  post  watershed  time  of  9pm  and  lasting  for  an  entire  hour.

The  late  night  showing  is  the  most  signiďŹ cant  incentive  to  entice  the  viewers  to  switch  on  in  their  multitudes.  It  allows  for  deeper,  darker  plot-­lines  and,  most  signiďŹ cantly,  a  healthy  dose  of  sexy,  sultry  action  to  reward  our  insatiable  appetites  for  lust.  There’s  nothing  like  living  vicariously  through  the  en-­ joyment  of  others  and  Hollyoaks  provides  this  kind  of  sofa-­ bound  fun  by  the  bucket  load.  The  later  time  also  means  that  if  you  nip  to  the  uni  bar  for  a  swift  half  after  your  late  after-­ noon  lecture,  you  can  still  catch  it  without  having  to  rush.

The  new  late  night  licence  basically  means  that  they  can  in-­ clude  everything  they  could  never  include  in  Hollyoaks,  giving  the  shows  writers  a  free  reign  to  go  as  wild  as  they  feel  like  with  ideas  for  storylines.   Let  Loose  picks  up  the  slightly  more  porno  friendly  bits  of  Hollyoaks  that  used  to  be  saved  for  late  night  specials  that  were  full  to  bursting  with  naughty  goings  on.  As  well  as  being  broadcast  later,  Let  Loose  is  also  a  full  -­  count  them-­  sixty  minutes  worth  of  soapy  entertainment  for  you,  compared  to  the  pithy  half  hour  Hollyoaks  episodes.   This  means  that  Ben  and  Lisa  can  get  up  to  twice  as  much  as  their  small-­town  pals  and  still  have  time  for  a  few  steamy  scenes  thrown  in  for  good  measure.   Overall  then,  we  should  expect  a  slightly  more  detailed,  more  intimate,  and  generally  more  risquĂŠ  version  of  Hollyoaks.  If  you’re  a  fan  of  this  show’s  forefather,  then  it  should  be  well  worth  watching.  There’s  more  action,  more  melodrama  and  more  crudity.  Bring  it  on.  3PBOOB #POE Â

Event

$ISJT )ZEF

" #FBS T 5BJM b 3FMFBTFE

:PVS EPTF PG TPBQ OFXT

14

TV  show?  It  all  seems  a  bit  cynical  that  the  group  are  using  the  show  as  a  way  to  launch  their  career.

It  is  completely  harmless  viewing  and  even  entertaining  in   parts,  but  it’s  all  been  done  before  and  the  feeling  of  exploi-­ tation  in  that  the  band  are  using  their  audience  somewhat  hangs  over  the  proceedings.

TV Â DVD

Suds

The

rock  musicians.  The  problem  with  this  program  is  that  it  has  been  done  before.  At  Christmas,  Channel  4  showed  ‘The  Last  Chancers’,  starring  Adam  Buxton  of  ‘Adam  and  Joe’,  which  followed  the  vain  attempts  of  Bux-­ ton’s  David  Brent-­esque  character  as  he  tried  to  catapult  his  band  (The  Chocolate  Factory)  into  the  big  time.  A  few  years  ago,  we  had  ‘The  Young  Person’s  Guide  To  Being  A  Rock  Star’  on  the  same  channel,  which  followed  a  band  of  teenagers  trying  to  break  into  the  charts.  And  now,  we  have  this.  The  twist  with  ‘Totally  Frank’,  however,  is  that  the  girls  in  the  band  are  actually  in  a  real  band  together,  and  are  using  this  program  as  a  vehicle  to  get  to  the  charts.  The  question  is;Íž  where  do  the  boundaries  between  reality  and Â ďŹ ction  end?  In  the Â ďŹ rst  episode,  for  example,  we  meet  their  manager  –  is  this  actually  the  band’s  manager  or  an  actor  simply  for  the Â

The  concept  behind  the  series  is  that  Bear,  of  x-­rated  Bo’Selecta  fame,  has  been  adopted  by  the  Hennerson  fam-­ ily,  played  by  Patsy  Kensit,  Sean  Pertwee  and  Yasmin  Kerr.   Writer  and  star  Leigh  Francis  is  obviously  a  huge  fan  of  sit-­ coms,  as  the  program  deliberately  takes  all  the  stereotypical  sitcom  staples,  like  ‘wacky’  neighbours  and  canned  laughter,  and  exaggerates  them  to  the  point  of  ridicule.  It  doesn’t  take  itself  seriously  for  a  single  moment  –  one  plot  device  is  that  the  script  writer,  played  by  Dexter  Fletcher  of  ‘Lock,  Stock  and  Two  Smoking  Barrels’,  lives  in  the  cupboard  under  the  stairs  and  is  often  asked  by  the  characters  to  alter  the  script  to  suit  them.  This  sense  of  fun  adds  to  the  show  and  is  remi-­ niscent  of  the  subversion  of  series  1  of  ‘Bo  Selecta’.

Apart  from  this,  there’s  not  a  lot  else  going  for  it.  Favourite  characters  like  Mel  B  and  Mick  Hucknall  reappear  and  ce-­ lebrities  also  feature  frequently  in  episodes,  usually  with  no  real  purpose  other  than  to  boost  their  popularity  (Harry  Hill,  Bob  Mortimer  and  Doon  Mackichan  all  taking  forgettable  cameos).  These  aspects  give  the  impression  of  tiredness Â

with  the  formula  –  it’s  as  if  Francis  knew  the  show  wouldn’t  be  as  popular  as  ‘Bo  Selecta’  and  got  as  many  celebrities  involved  as  possible  to  raise  its  proďŹ le.  Unfortunately,  this  doesn’t  make  good  television.  Add-­ ing  to  this  are  paper-­thin  plots,  boring  characters  and  oc-­ casional  offensiveness.

If  you  enjoyed  ‘Bo  Selecta’,  then  you  will  probably  see  some  merit  in  A  Bear’s  Tail.  However,  it  can’t  be  recommended  to  casual  comedy  fans  or  those  who  don’t  like  toilet  humour.  Hopefully,  any  future  ‘Bo  Selecta’  projects  that  Francis  is  planning  will  be  a  lot  funnier  than  this  –  although  that  does  seem  very  doubtful. $ISJT )ZEF

Telly  Classics

5IF ,JOHEPN

Also  known  as  Riget,  Lars  Von  Trier’s  The  Kingdom  is  set  in  a  state  of  the  art  Copenhagen  hospital.  The  hospital’s  end-­ less,  yellow  corridors  and  sinister  ambient  noises  play  host  to  some  of  the  greatest  cult  entertainment  of  all  time.  The  show’s  plot  is  a  dense  maze  of  unfathomable  occurences,  some  supernatural,  some  comical,  and  many  quite  unnerv-­ ing,  surrounding  The  Kingdom’s  staff  and  patients.  Much  is  made  of  the  more  brutal  side  of  the  medical  industry,  highlighting  the  less-­often-­trodden  nooks  and  crannies  that  ER  avoids.  For  the  most  part  the  show  walks  an  artful  line  between  controversy  and  ambivalence,  leaving  the  audience  disturbed  but  engrossed.  A  young,  immature  doctor  attempts  to  woo  a  female  colleage  by  leaving  her  a Â

severed  head  he  has  stolen  from  the  morgue  but  his  gift  is  discovered  by  an  already  frazzled  intern.  The  incident  is  typi-­ cal  of  the  off-­beat  humor  the  series  is  dripping  with.

Much  of  The  Kingdom  will  prove  enitrely  unfamiliar  to  contemporary  telly  viewers,  plot  developments  are  slow,  cryptic  and  often  frustrating.  Instead  the  emphasis  is  placed  on  embracing  the  loaded  atmosphere  this  mess  of  loose  ends  creates.  Fans  of  Von  Trier  will  recognise  the  roughness  of  the  editing  and  the  cast  of  undesirable  yet  absorbing  characters  but  the  director’s  tentative  dabbling  with  televi-­ sion  provides  a  rare  chance  to  see  the  medium  used  with  craft  and  innovation.      ,BUF #SZBOU

Art

Theatre

Harry Hill 5IFBUSF 3PZBM

Bestsellers 1 +POBUIBO 4USBOHF BOE .S /PSSFMM Susanna Clarke £7.99 Bloomsbury

2 5IF %B 7JODJ $PEF Dan Brown £6.99 Corgi Adult

3 4DPUMBOE 4USFFU Alexander McCall Smith £6.99 Abacus

As the wide collared figure strides onstage, blinking and nodding ‘mmm mmm yes yes’, it’s impossible not to return the smile he brandishes. Spilling out a constant stream of one liners, running gags and obscure references that will niggle their way into everyday conversations, it’s plain to see that Harry Hill is a masterful live comedian. He is the kind of comedian who cannot possibly ‘turn it off’ -­ simply by walking into a room and taking a seat he exhumes a certain something into the air that is smile-­worthy. Without a wry smile or a slick comment in sight.

With televisions still static from the recent series of Harry Hill’s TV Burp, a topsy-­turvy take of the weeks top shows, and a new childrens show Shark Infested Custard in production, the comic is barely taking the time out for a cuppa. On top of this he’s managed to wedge a national stand-­up tour into his calendar, one night of which will be spent at Norwich’s Theatre Royal. Few other funnymen have managed to straddle both on-­air and onstage success, Ricky Gervais being a prime example of how a successful televi-­ sion career can be a handicap. It seems that we’re not over the Hill just yet.

4 5IF 8PSME "DDPSEJOH UP $MBSLTPO Jeremy Clarkson £6.99 Penguin

5 "OHFMT BOE %FNPOT Dan Brown £6.99 Corgi Adult

6 5IF 5JNF 5SBWFMMFS T 8JGF Audrey Niffeneger £7.99 Vintage

7 5IF 'JWF 1FPQMF :PV .FFU JO )FBWFO

Mitch Albom £6.99 Time Warner Paperbacks

8 3PBTU $IJDLFO BOE 0UIFS 4UPSJFT Simon Hopkinson, Lindsey Bareham £12.00 Ebury Press

9 #JSET 8JUIPVU 8JOHT Louis De Bernieres £7.99 Vintage

10 "VTDIXJU[ Laurence Rees £8.99 BBC Books

,BUF #SZBOU

Books

5IF %B 7JODJ $PEF %BO #SPXO Fresh from hours of languishing on beaches surrounded by people with little to do but read, it is impossible not to reach the conclusion that there must be a copy of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code on every coffee table in England.

Every now and then a book permeates the na-­ tional consciousness to such an extent that you rarely meet an individual who hasn’t encoun-­ tered it. The Da Vinci code has become the sub-­ ject of just such a phenomenon.

The action begins when a prolific art curator is brutally murdered at the Louvre. Our hero, Robert Langdon, a renowned Harvard profes-­ sor of symbology, and heroine, Sophie Neveu, a gifted French cryptologist, are brought in to help decode the cryptic messages written by the curate shortly before his death. What unfurls is a sinister plot to uncover a secret held by a clandestine society from the days of Christ.

Ultimately, The Da Vinci code is a thor-­ oughly absorbing thriller. The pace is superb, the reader left breathless as they rush through the narrative at breakneck speed. With a cliff-­ hanger on almost every page it literally rede-­ fines the phrase ‘unputdownable’.

However, the novel’s overriding flaw is that, in crafting this highly accomplished thrill-­ er, Brown manges to utilise every formulaic cliché imaginable. Consequently, though the theological concepts contained in The Da Vinci Code are truly fascinating, the book suffers from such a mindless lack of originality that it is difficult to become appropriately submerged in the narrative action. The quality of the writ-­ ing tugs irksomely at any enjoyment that might have been derived from the plot.

3PBOOB #POE

$PVOUEPXO UP -PWF %BWJE 5BUJBOB )JOET David and Tatiana Hind’s first book in collabo-­ ration with each other begins with the precept that the most valuable thing in life is to love and be loved. It is split between inspirational writing from David and the Matchmaking Equa-­ tion from Tatiana. The majority part is David’s: Over five sections he has tried to cover every aspect of finding the perfect partner, begin-­ ning with the aims for wanting to do so, going through dating, and finally on to how to reach and maintain a level of intimacy equal to other ‘great twosomes.’ The Equation sections are much shorter. The reader answers a number

of questions to determine their compatability with their partner. The problem is, convincing and simple as David arguments are, ideas on relationships differ from person to person, and the equation only relates to David’s. Granted, what David says is surpris-­ ingly well-­argued, however the implied claim to have a infallible test for the lon-­ gevity of a relationship is flawed and dangerous.

"MFY 'MVY

Event 15 The

Film

Main  Feature

Howl’s  Moving  Castle %JS )BZBP .JZB[BLJ 3FMFBTFE 4FQUFNCFS

Since  Princess  Mononoke  and  Spirited  Away  (which  won  the  2003  Oscar  for  Best  Animated  Film),  the  reputation  of  Studio  Ghibli,  the  production  company  founded  in  1983  by  the  Japanese  animator  Hayao  Miyazaki,  has  been  steadily  growing  in  the  west.  Miyaza-­ ki’s  eagerly  anticipated  adaptation  of  Dianne  Wynne  Jones’  novel,  Howl’s  Moving  Castle,  is  sure  to  earn  the  studio  even  greater  ac-­ claim  and  to  continue  the  development  of  an  Anglophone  audi-­ ence.  It  is  a  good  thing,  therefore,  that  the  English  dub  is  of  such  a  high  quality,  with  Billy  Crystal  particularly  worthy  of  note  as  the  amusingly  insecure  ame  spirit  Calcifer,  who  spends  much  of  the Â

time  agonising  over  the  fact  that  he  might  be  ‘going  out’.

Howl’s  Moving  Castle  relates  the  story  of  Sophie  (Jean  Sim-­ mons),  who  lives  an  uneventful  life  as  a  seamstress  until  one  day  she  inadvertently  offends  the  witch  of  the  Waste  and  is  transformed  into  a  90-­year-­old  woman.  Still  coming  to  terms  with  wrinkles  and  her  arthritis,  she  sets  out  for  the  fabled  wizard  Howl  (Christian  Bale),  who  supposedly  preys  on  the  hearts  of  young  girls  and  lives  in  a  castle  that  walks  around  the  wastelands  upon  ostrich  legs.  On  arrival  at  the  eponymous  castle,  which  is  beautifully  conceived  by  Miyazaki,  she  discovers  Howl  to  be  entirely  unlike  his  monstrous  reputation.  A  sensitive  dandy  and  solitary  drifter,  Howl  has  chosen  to  isolate  himself  from  the  rest  of  humanity.  The  graceful  story  un-­ folds  against  a  backdrop  of  political  intrigue  and  growing  conict  between  two  nations,  sparked  by  the  disappearance  of  a  prince,  and  the Â ďŹ lm  is  underscored  by  an  eloquent  and  sincere,  if  some-­ times  too  obvious,  ant-­war  message,  which  can’t  fail  to  resonate  with  the  current  political  landscape  and  the  war  with  Iraq.  With  a  growing  audience  in  the  west  it  is  perhaps  no  great  surprise  that  Miyazaki’s  latest Â ďŹ lm,  from  its  source  material  to  its  Renaissance  European  architecture,  is  also  his  most  western  inu-­ enced.  It  would,  however,  be  unfair  to  conclude  that  because  of  the  deal  struck  with  Disney  in  1996  (The  Disney-­Tokuma  deal),  which  gives  the  American  giant  global  distribution  rights  of  all  Studio  Ghibli Â ďŹ lms,  that  Miyazaki  has  begun  to  pander  to  western  tastes.  Studio  Ghibli’s  house  style  has  always  fallen  somewhere  between  the  big-­eyed  stylisation  of  Japanese  manga  and  the  more  realistic  renderings  familiar  to  English  eyes.  This  aesthetic,  which  has  made  his  work  so  much  of  a  novelty  in  Japan,  has  also  ensured  the  kind Â

Other  screen 8PMG $SFFL %JS (SFH .D-FBO

Mindful,  perhaps,  that  America’s  movie  backwoods  are  now  so  chock-­a-­block  with  psychotic  working-­ class  bogeymen  that  no  youngsters  in  their  right  minds  would  ever  consider  stopping  in  for  a  holiday,  Wolf  Creek  transposes  the  generic  kids-­in-­peril  saga  to  the  Australian  Outback,  where  the  scenery  is  less  burdened  with  horror’s  terrible  myths.  Nevertheless,  what  emerges  is  the  closest  thing  to  Tobe  Hooper’s  The  Texas  Chain  Saw  Massacre  for  decades,  from  the  documentary-­style  photography  to  the  two-­act  narrative,  which  entails  a  long,  portentous  build-­up,  followed  by  a  frenzied Â ďŹ nal  pursuit.

As  an  Australian Â ďŹ lm,  Wolf  Creek  manages  to  bring  two  original  features  to  its  naturally  deriva-­ tive  genre.  The Â ďŹ rst  is  the  spectacular  Outback  cin-­ ematography,  which  expertly  exploits  the  unfamiliar  contours  of  the  dusty  bush  landscape,  emphasising  vast  mysterious  spaces  and  unusual  wildlife.  The  second  is  a  wicked  reclamation  of  that  most  persist-­ ent  Australian  stereotype:  the  charmingly  unreďŹ ned  but  capable  bushman.  Here  director  Greg  McClean  presents  us  with  Mick  Taylor,  an  appalling  cousin  of  Mick  Dundee  (the  ‘this  is  a  knife’  joke  from  Croco-­ dile  Dundee  is  repeated  here,  with  a  great  deal  more  menace)  who  chats  cheerfully  about  exterminating  ‘pests’,  and  is  never  less  than  genial  even  when  hunting  and  killing  those  unfortunate  enough  to  take  him  at  face  value.  If  Mick  seems  like  a  slightly  unfeasible  charac-­ ter,  simply  because  his  murderous  psychosis  is  kept Â

16

Event The

so  perfectly  hidden  by  a  friendly,  rational  front,  then  the  trio  of  young  protagonists  are  drawn  in  impec-­ cably  realist  terms.  The  three  of  them  joke,  sing,  and  make  up  stories  for  almost  the  entire Â ďŹ rst  half  of  the Â ďŹ lm,  conversing  in  what  must  be  partly  improvised  dialogue.  For  a  large  stretch,  Wolf  Creek  is  content  to  do  little  more  than  subtly  shade  in  its  characters,  and  throw  up  some  ominous  warnings  –  a  strate-­ gy  that  may  come  across  as  tiresome  and  slow,  or  deliciously  anticipatory,  depending  on  your  horror  tastes.  When  the  bloodshed  does  come  though,  all  thoughts  of  restraint  vanish.  Torture,  kniďŹ ng,  shoot-­ ing,  cruciďŹ xion,  enforced-­paralysis  –  the  nastiest  of  acts  are  all  depicted  in  a  grimy,  horribly  convincing  way,  with  little  breathing  space  between  shocks.  The  relentless  sadism  is  particularly  hard  to  stomach  because  the Â ďŹ lm  allows  us  no  ‘Final  Girl’  (the  cen-­ tral  female  hero  present  in  most  slashers,  who  uses  her  wits  to  survive  or  kill  the  monster)  with  which  to  identify;Íž  the  only  survivor  makes  a  desperate  geta-­ way  late  on,  and  never  even  faces  the  killer.

Wolf  Creek  ends  how  it  began,  with  some  in-­ tertitles  insisting  on  the  ‘truth’  of  the  narrative  events.  Quite  where  this  truth  came  from  is  a  bit  of  a  mystery,  since  the  only  person  capable  of  telling  it  was  stuck  in  a  small  room  for  most  of  the Â ďŹ lm,  but  then  McLean  and  co.  are  far  more  interested  in  myth-­making  than  documentation,  as  the Â ďŹ nal  im-­ age  of  killer  Mick  literally  disappearing  into  the  open  space  of  the  Outback  attests.  After  such  a  pummel-­ ling,  disheartening  second-­act,  it’s  both  a  welcome  reminder  of  the  disquieting  visual  poetry  that  came  earlier,  and  an  appropriately  chilling  conclusion.

of  mass  cross  over  appeal  that  is  unthinkable  to  the  vast  majority  of  Japanese  anime.  It  is  well-­known  that  Miyazaki  was  heavily  in-­ uenced  by  a  lengthy  stay  in  Europe  toward  the  start  of  his  career,  which  is  perhaps  most  evident  in  Porco  Rosso,  the  story  of  an  Ital-­ ian  WWII Â ďŹ ghter  pilot  who  is  turned  into  a  pig,  also  by  a  witch.

However  Howl’s  Moving  Castle,  like  Spirited  Away  before  it,  still  has  at  its  heart  a  narrative  that  is  quirkily  surreal  in  a  pecu-­ liarly  eastern  way,  in  particular  Howl’s  search  for  his  ‘missing’  heart  turns  out  not  to  be  symbolic  but  literal  to  dramatic  effect.  The  characters  themselves  are  also  highly  unconventional  by  West-­ ern  standards,  for  instance  in  one  delightfully  unexpected  scene  a  jilted  Howl  throws  an  enormous  and  very  unheroic  tantrum,  and  the  choice  to  feature  a  90  year  old  woman  as  the Â ďŹ lm’s  protagonist  turns  Disney’s  celebration  of  youthful  beauty  on  its  head.  In  Howl’s  Moving  Castle  Miyazaki  seems  to  be  playfully  re-­ working  a  number  of  popular  western  cultural  sources,  as  well  as  quoting  some  of  his  own  earlier Â ďŹ lms  (the  Moving  Castle  could  be  seen  as  a  return  of  Laputa,  which  was  in  turn  inuenced  by  Gulliv-­ er’s  Travels).  Of  course  the  most  obvious  source  is  the  book  from  which  the Â ďŹ lm  is  adapted,  which  itself  has  roots  in  a  long  tradition  of  English  children’s  fantasy  writing  (eg:  The  Chronicles  of  Narnia),  but  there  are  also  numerous  references  to  the  Wizard  of  Oz,  from  the  magical  scarecrow  that  helps  the  protagonist  to  the  wizard  himself  who  is  lacking  a  heart.  Add  to  this  the  anti-­war  message  and  it  becomes  clear  that  Miyazaki’s  engagement  with  his  growing  western  audience  is  far  from  simplistic,  and  is  all  the  better  for  it.            %FBO #PXNBO

Film

DVD  Releases 5IF &EVLBUPST SFMFBTFE 4FQUFNCFS The  Edukators,  though  it  begins  by  recording  a  bourgeois  family’s  startled  reaction  to  a  political  act,  makes  no  secret  as  to  where  its  heart  really  lies,  and  that  is  with  its  three  mixed-­up  young  protago-­ nists.  Jan,  Jule,  and  Peter  are  anti-­capitalist  activists:  they  leaet  against  Third  World  exploitation,  inform  wealthy  suburbanites  that  their  ‘days  of  plenty  are  numbered’,  and  arrange  furniture  into  ab-­ surdist  sculptures.  But  as  a  purely  political  force,  the  trio  are  unfo-­ cused,  indulgent,  and  a  little  hypocritical  (after  a  hard  week  rallying  against  consumerism,  they  go  clubbing,  or  book  ights  to  Barcelo-­ na),  and  it  is  only  when  their  idealistic  concerns  give  way  to  human  ones  that  they  start  to  really  engage  as  characters.

As  a  study  of  a  three-­part  friendship  negotiated  against  poli-­ tics,  love,  and  jealousy,  Hans  Weingartner’s Â ďŹ lm  owes  a  speciďŹ c  debt  to  Truffaut’s  freewheeling  classic  Jules  et  Jim,  and  also  to  the  French  New  Wave  in  general  in  its  documentary-­style  photography  of  romantic  landscapes.  The  cinematography  and  editing  here  are  a  triumph;Íž  from  the  intimate  handheld  camerawork  that  illuminates  and  intensiďŹ es  the  more  intimate  encounters,  to  the  spectacular  mountain  panoramas,  which  stop  the  right  side  of  picturesque  thanks  to  the  graininess  of  the  DV  footage.  After  an  assured Â ďŹ rst  half  of  amusing  protest  stunts  and  bur-­ geoning  romance  –  Jule  and  Jan  fall  in  love  while  Peter  is  away  –  We-­ ingartner  moves  his  drama  up  a  notch,  and  his  protagonists  up  a  mountain,  as  the  trio  are  forced  to  kidnap  a  wealthy  businessman Â

who  discovers  them  in  his  house.  Ironically,  life  on  the  lam  turns  out  to  be  a  far  more  relaxed  affair  than  city  life  ever  was.  Together  with  their  ex-­radical  captive  Hardenberg  they  chew  over  political  responsibility   and  play  cards,  with  Hardenberg’s  wry  world-­weari-­ ness  forming  a  welcome  counterpoint  to  the  earnest  idealism  of  his  captors.   But  it  is  the Â ďŹ lm’s Â ďŹ nal  gear-­shift  that  leaves  the  biggest  impres-­ sion,  as  Weingartner  indulges  in  a  brilliant  spot  of  thriller  dramatics  that  recalls  The  Silence  of  the  Lamb’s  house-­storming  scene.  And  in  a Â ďŹ nal  victory  over  the  authorities  and  bourgeois  conservatism,  our   heroes  reveal  themselves  to  be  not  as  naĂŻve  as  you  might  think.  4FC .BOMFZ

.

5IF %7% GSPOU DPWFS IBT B QSFUUZ OBTUZ MPPLJOH TLJOIFBE PO JU *T JU TVQQPTFE UP CF MJLF B #SJUJTI "NFSJDBO )JTUPSZ 9 PS TPNFUIJOH Not  exactly  but  there  are  similarities.  The Â ďŹ lm  was  written  by  David  Leland  as  part  of  a  trilogy  for  television  known  as  Out  of  School,  which  also  included  Flying  Into  the  Wind  and  Birth  of  a  Nation.  They  were  intended  to  be  documentary-­style  dramas  that  explored  antiso-­ cial  behaviour  of  children  in  British  schools  in  the  early  80s.  Made  in  Britain  was  about  a  skinhead,  as  the  cover  implies,  named  Trevor  who  is  played  by  Tim  Roth  in  what  is  usually  called  his Â ďŹ rst  major  role.  The  narrative  follows  him  from  a  court  appearance  for  assault  and  vandalism  to  a  corrective  institute  and Â ďŹ nally  to  Borstal,  where  his  embittered  attitude  to  the  world  is  unchanged. %P ZPV mOE PVU XIZ 5SFWPS JT UIF XBZ IF JT 8IZ IF IBUFT UIF XPSME TP NVDI

Special  Feature

Welcome  to  the  Dollhouse After  the  mixed  reception  to  this  year’s  Palindromes,  where  a  good  few  critics  took  that Â ďŹ lm’s  theme  of  the  impossibil-­ ity  of  real  change  to  be  a  sadly  apt  comment  on  the  direc-­ tors’  own  stagnating  output,  Solondz’s  1995  Welcome  to  the  Dollhouse  comes  as  a  particularly  timely  release.  His Â ďŹ rst  ‘valid’  feature  (his  actual Â ďŹ rst,  1989’s  Fear,  Anxiety  and  Depression,  experienced  an  apparently  compromised  pro-­ duction,  and  is  now  disowned  by  the  director),  Welcome  to  the  Dollhouse  displays  many  of  the  same  traits  that  would  furnish  his  later  works  –  but  it  is  also  a  startlingly  fresh  item,  riotous  and  heartfelt;Íž  and  determinedly  indie  in  its  small-­ scale  tale  of  adolescent  outsiderness.

More  so  than  any  of  Solondz’s  other Â ďŹ lms,  Welcome  has  a  central  and  largely  sympathetic  hero.  Where  Happiness  pushed  us  identify  with  increasing  unease  with  a  gallery  of  sexually  frustrated  misďŹ ts  (a  lonely  wannabe  singer,  a  pa-­ thetic  phantom  sex-­caller,  a  paedophile),  and  Palindromes  stretched  the  whole  idea  of  identiďŹ cation  to  the  limits  (is  it  even  possible  to  identify  with  a  character  who  keeps  chang-­ ing  bodies?),  here  things  are  a  whole  lot  simpler,  and  we  get  Dawn  Weiner  (Heather  Matarazzo),  a  droll,  world-­weary  and  dissatisďŹ ed  seventh-­grader.  Dawn  is  a  particularly  sup-­ portable  character  because  she  is  constantly  under  siege  from  all  the  institutions  she  must  rely  on:  at  school  she  is  ignored,  bullied,  and  maliciously  labelled  a  ‘lesbian’;Íž  at  home  she  harassed  by  her  parents  who  place  her  third  in  their  affections  after  pampered  kid-­sister  Dawn  and  college-­ bound  brother  Mark.  One  of  the  most  provocative  things  about  Welcome  is  the  seemingly  unreasonable  limitations  it  places  on  its  own  protagonist.  Dawn  is  not  a  child  genius  waiting  to  be  dis-­ covered  by  NASA,  or  an  ugly  duckling  waiting  for  someone  to  take  those  glasses  off  and  reveal  her  stunning  beauty,  or  even  just  a  girl  whose  best  qualities  are  hidden  by  shyness.  She’s  just  a  normal,  awkward  12-­year-­old,  with  an  unfortu-­ nate  pair  of  glasses.  Her  natural  ‘way  out’  seems  like  an  awful  way  away  (high  school’s  a  little  better  says  her  brother,  ‘they’ll  still  call  you  names,  but  not  so  much  to  your  face’), Â

Cinefile N o 99 Made  in  Britain

and  her  attempts  to  short-­cut  –  by  engineering  a  romance  with  a  hunky  senior,  and  then  by  running  away  –  simply  fail.  In  a  genre  most  commonly  about  transformation,  or  realising  one’s  ‘true  potential’,  Welcome  can  seem  unceas-­ ingly  downbeat,  misanthropic  even.  Yet  Dawn  does Â ďŹ nd  mo-­ ments  of  grace,  if  not  real  catharsis.  One  of  the Â ďŹ lm’s Â ďŹ nest  and  most  strangely  touching  scenes  comes  when  Dawn’s  biggest  tormentor  at  school,  Brandon,  marches  her  off  to  a  deserted  wasteland  in  order  to  carry  out  his  repeated  threat  to  ‘rape’  her.  In  a  moment  of  unforeseen  openness,  Bran-­ don  tells  her  about  his  brother,  who  is  retarded  and  not  enrolled  at  school.  The  two  of  them  share  an  awkward  but  tender  kiss,  and  Brandon  lets  her  off  the  ‘rape’,  muttering  something  about  there  not  being  enough  time.   Elsewhere,  Solondz Â ďŹ nds  plenty  to  laugh  about  in  the  absurd  milieu  of  middle-­class  suburban  family  life,  where  parents  are  hopelessly  ignorant  of  their  children’s  individu-­ ality  (‘what  kid  wouldn’t  want  to  go  to  Disneyland?’  says  her  mother,  as  if  non-­conformity  was  a  freakish  misdeed),  and  schools  encourage  near-­fetishistic  nurturing  of  the  personal  record.  Nevertheless,  most  of  the  characters  retain  a  meas-­ ure  of  humanity  despite  their  self-­centred  arrogance,  par-­ ticularly  Dawn’s  mother  and  brother  Mark  –  two  beautifully  judged  performances  by  Angela  Pietropinto  and  Matthew  Faber  –  who  stop  short  of  caricature  where  others  occasion-­ ally  slip  over  the  edge.       Solondz  of  course  has  gone  on  to  do  far  more  ambitious  things  with  both  characterisation  and  narrative,  and  Wel-­ come  does  not  share  in  the  dizzying  meta-­narration  of  Sto-­ rytelling,  or  the  avant-­garde  provocations  of  Palindromes.  But  its  rough-­hewn  rock‘n’roll  exuberance,  hard-­edged  poignancy,  and  mordant  humour  shine  through  bright  as  ever,  and  amongst  junior-­high  indies  it  is  conspicuously  without  peer. Â

To  a  certain  extent.  The  dialogue  is  quite  sparse  on  the  explanatory  front,  but  there  are  some  notably  insightful  speeches  from  Trevor  and  from  those  charged  with  looking  after  him.  At  one  point  he  is  locked  in  a  room  after  starting  a Â ďŹ ght;Íž  two  staff  at  the  corrective  institute  are  at  a  loss  for  what  to  do  with  him.  One  of  them  is  frustrated  with  Trevor  and  challenges  his  idea  of  honesty.  Trevor  replies,  “...we’re  not  talking  about  honesty,  we’re  talking  about  sticking  to  the  rules.  All  those  honest  buggers  out  there  are  just  sticking  to  the  rules,  but  they  lie  and  they  fucking  cheat  all  the  way.  They  just  think  they’re  be-­ ing  honest  because  they’ve  swallowed  all  the  bollocks  they’ve  been  handed;Íž  they’ve  been  conned.  But  I’ve  not  been  conned.â€?

4P UIFSF T OP IBQQZ FOEJOH PS SFWFMBUJPO GPS 5SFWPS No,  and  that  is  what  makes  it  so  unsettling.  Tim  Roth’s  performance  captures  how  remorseless  Trevor  is  of  his  crimes  and  of  biting  every  hand  that  would  feed  him.  Many  people  have  claimed  to  identify  with  Trevor  and  the  London  he  lives  in  because  he  embodies  an  extreme  of  alienation  from  the  social  ideals  promoted  during  the  Thatcher  years,  such  as  independence  from  the  state  and  entrepreneurship.  He  ad-­ mits  at  one  point  that  at  school  he  was  given  an  ultimatum  to  “be  the  best  otherwise  forget  it,â€?  and  it  is  clear  he  has  chosen  the  latter.  However,  he  is  never  anything  but  a  product  of  his  society  and  that  is  the  point  –  he  is  rebelling  against  what  he  sees  as  a  failed  country. *T UIF TUPSZ TUJMM SFMFWBOU UIPVHI TFFJOH BT UIFSF BSFO U UIBU NBOZ TLJOIFBET MFGU BOZNPSF The  fact  that  this  one Â ďŹ lm  rather  than  the  other  two  is  available  on  DVD  is  testimony  to  its  relevance.  Also,  regarding  the  culture  of  post-­ war  Britain  in  general,  the Â ďŹ lm  tackles  two  of  the  most  important  factors,  Thatcherism  and  the  punk  movement,  and  how  the  differ-­ ent  views  of  Britain  clash.  It  was  intended  to  be  about  the  moment  though,  and  that  was  1982,  but  if  you  care  anything  about  recent  Brit-­ ish  history  or  culture,  you  should Â ďŹ nd  it  relevant. *TO U JU GBNPVT KVTU CFDBVTF PG 5JN 3PUI UIPVHI There  is  always  that.  Maybe  all  the  youth  culture/rebellion  stuff  isn’t  the  point.  Roth  just  looks  like  a  total  nut-­case,  maybe  it  was  just  for  parents  to  point  at  and  say  to  their  kids  ‘look  what  can  happen  if  you  don’t  straiten  yourself  out...’  On  the  other  hand  though,  it  was  a  seri-­ ous  study  of  a  subject  that  has  long  held  interest  in  this  country,  and  a  remarkable  piece  of  television,  the  rarity  of  which  is  still  clear  today.

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Event 17 The

Music

Goldfrapp Golden Sounds Supernature -FE ;FQQFMJO ***

Recorded and released in 1970, Led Zeppelin’s third album was a definitive milestone in the band’s career and the face of popular music. Moving away from their hard rock sound, folk and blues influences crept into centre stage, resulting in a controversial but successful smash hit both sides of the pond. Opening with the bone-­crunching pounding of Immi-­ grant Song, III then augments its tone perfectly as it moves through its tracks -­ arguably peaking at the mournful and en-­ chanting Since I’ve Been Loving You. The now renowned cover of the album was designed by pop artist Zacron (who will be appearing at Norwich Fringe Festival this fortnight) and features a rotat-­ able cardboard disc covered in pictures that can been seen through holes in the cover. An innovative cover for a timeless al-­ bum. ,BUF #SZBOU

Singles

Alison Goldfrapp, the white witch of glam-­pop decadence re-­ turns to the lush soundscapes of a ‘70s Eurodisco styled fu-­ sion of synth elegance and ghostly vocals that flood through your veins with an icy chill. The uniqueness to Goldfrapp’s style is responsible for flinging the English duo into the forefront of the trendy music scene in both Europe and the US. What’s more it’s 100% their own supernature;; their own designs, image and their own music. Independence in every aspect has allowed them to create an album that’s highly polished and caught between being too melodic for dance music yet too original and arty to satisfy the standard pop market. Goldfrapp are a seriously well marketed band;; they’re hip, they’re stylish and are surrounded by a vail of mystique, their bizarre animalistic imagery for instance.

Alison describes animals as “great metaphors for human emotions and ideas” and as having an unexplainable sensu-­ ality which is really attractive and mysterious”. Hence their live show spectaculars with dancers dressed as stag and the lyrics of Ride A White Horse.

Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory met in 1999 and released their debut record Felt Mountain in 2000 which became a Mercury Music Prize nominee. The Bath-­based twosome had massive success with the Brit Award nominated Black Cherry single, which has since become a landmark in art-­ pop history, but Supernature has gone that one step further to define the band as cutting edge electro house fashion setters. The first single off Supernature was the highly ac-­ claimed Ooh La La;; with a dirty bass line to cushion sultry vocals Goldfrapp may fail to take our ears to places they’ve

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"VEJP #VMMZT * N JO -PWF

It’s been only two years since the Audio Bul-­ lys became a recognised house outfit with the release of Ego War, but their attention seemed to only stem from the most ‘in the know’ house fans. The release of Shot You Down (Bang Bang) was to be their apogee, thrusting them to the forefront of media at-­ tention. It was always going to be a hard task following this success but then I’m In Love doesn’t follow the standard ‘Bullys sound with its smooth piano licks and calming vo-­ cals. Plain and simple are the words that this single screams;; they should stick to rough bass beats.

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18

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Apply Some Pressure conveniently sums up this summer in music as a whole, in this era, where everyone loves to rock, Maximo Park, typical English boys enjoying the music, epit-­ omised the festival season. Reviews have claimed that Maxïmo Park have attacked contemporary culture, mixing art and poli-­ tics with the subversion of good honest pop songs but when it comes down to it their catchy stop-­start jerky heart-­attack beats, all wound up in a pulsating cry: “What happens when you lose everything?” is as pop as any-­ thing right now but they’re not false in any way – just trying to do what they do best. $IBSMFT 3VNTFZ

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Strange choice of comeback single for pops most intriguing character it seems, but then again dark lyrics and double meanings ap-­ pear to be Robbie’s chosen route nowadays.

Tripping may have the classic strings and cocky poise of the Robbie we all know and love but it actually has a light reggae or ska feel and, although the pop hooks that he would normally find in a flash are somewhat lacking, his matured approach to music since collaborating with a new producer last year have taken his music up a step in the pop experimentation leagues. He will un-­ doubtedly continue leading the way.

3JDIBSE "ULJOT

never been but do demonstrate retro production that main-­ tains their position on the fringes of mainstream success.

Tracks like You Never Know and Let It Take You show a mild-­ er side to Goldfrapp’s foot tapping style with silky smooth sounds. Lip-­glossed, multi-­layered, bewitching, sonic-­pop Goldfrapp are too exclusive to be judged on taste alone and should be heard not evaluated. Enter the pure world of Goldfrapp unaltered by any outside sources. $IBSMFT 3VNTFZ

5IF ,PPLT 4PGB 4POH The beautifully groomed hyperactivity of the Kook’s alternative pop rock antics is a breath of fresh air for the uptight rock scene. Set for release on October 17th Sofa Song is the follow up to the success of Ed-­ dies Gun which made it to the commend-­ able spot of 35 in the UK charts. The perky yet dark style of Sofa Song highlights the reputation the band has of being a quality live act but this is in no way another im-­ mature adolescent band, the gritty and emotive lyrics and epic guitar reveal tones of experience even though they are still so young.

5PN #FEGPSE

SE %BO 'BMM 'SPN (SBDF The pristene radio friendly Manchester based pop punkers have long been known for their efficient clean cut music, rock by numbers, but Fall From Grace is a less glossy approach to music. The change creates an intensity and thus a far more powerful message is put across. In a rock scene that demands more and more edgy and spontaneous music 3rd Dan had failed to make it big as perfectionists, Fall From Grace might just serve them the opposite.

5POJ .BMPOF

"SDUJD .POLFZT * #FU :PV -PPL (PPE 0O 5IF %BODFnPPS Te Arctic Monkeys certainly seem to be the best thing since sliced Libertines. Fresh from a tour with The Coral and an enthused festival slot at the Carling weekend they’re currently at number 1 in the NME charts.

The monkeys have clearly earnt themselves a golden opportunity. A cocky song about being useless on the pull, the single is grit-­ ty and true to life, confirming the authentic-­ ity of new and fresh youth with an energetic and fiery spirit. The Arctic Monkeys are surely guarenteed a future of deserved re-­ spect. $IBSMFT 3VNTFZ

Music

Fun  Lovin’  Criminals

-$3

With  the  reggae  warm  up  watching  from  the  wings,  Huey  strolls  on  to  the  stage  in  a  dazzling  white  shirt  and  shades.  It’s  quickly  clear  that  the  Fun  Lovin’  Criminals  are  more  than  at  home  on  the  stage,  and  to  say  that  they  have  style  is  an  understatement.  It  shows  throughout  the  whole  night  as  they  effortlessly  slide  between  old  and  new  with  window  rat-­ tling  bass  and  mournful  trombone  that  provided  a  unique  and  unparalled  sound.  With  it  all  comes  emotion,  from  songs  dedicated  to  Huey’s  sick  dog,  to  the  impressively  in-­ troduced  politically  charged  track  Gave  Up  On  God  –  the  proceeding  speech  not  only  called  George  Bush’s  actions Â

that  of  a  ‘drunken  child’,  but  also  labelled  him  and  Osama  together  as  ‘thuggy  idiots’;Íž  unsurprisingly,  this  went  down  rather  well  with  the  crowd.  Of  course  Scoobie  Snacks  went  down  a  storm  with  its  sam-­ pled  intro  –  including  ‘everybody  be  cool  this  is  a  robbery‌ [I’m  sure  you  know  the  rest]’  from  pulp Â ďŹ ction  -­  and  plenty  of  crowd  participation.  In  all  it  was  a  great  performance  spanning  their  respect-­ able  career  and  inuences  that  gave  the  crowd  the  full  and  inspiring  performance  they  had  all  come  to  see.  1IJM #BOLT

The  Poozies /PSXJDI "SUT $FOUSF

of  Irish  nursery  rhymes  about  johnny  being  blinded  by  a  petrol  bomb;͞  but  despite  the  often  sad  nature  of  the  lyr-­ ics  the  passion  of  the  performers  and  power  of  the  songs  shone  through  making  it  an  enjoyable  night.  They  seemed  to  genuenly  enjoy  themselves  too,  even  going  so  far  as  hid-­ ing  a  crowd  members  pint  when  he  left  it  unattended  on  the  edge  of  the  stage.  Even  if  your  not  a  ‘folky’,  it  was  good  clean  fun.

1IJM #BOLT

1IPUP 1IJM #BOLT

I  never  knew  an  accordian  had  a  use  other  than  accompa-­ nying  morris  men  in  the  middle  of  a  crowded  Gentleman’s  Walk,  but  last  night  proved  otherwise.   The  2  harps, Â ďŹ ddle  and  accordian  both  backed  and  led  an  emotive  chorus  of  voices  through  a  selection  of  tunes  and  songs  from  across  the  British  Isles  and  afar.  The  performers  certainly  wern’t  lacking  musical  skill  -­  anyone  who  can  change  the  key  of  their  instrument  from  note  to  note  is  alright  in  my  books.  The  music  ranged  from  traditional  folk  songs  to  renditions Â

Albums 'BCSJD -JWF %JQMP 7BSJPVT "SUJTUT

The  new  compilation  from  Fabric,  the  London  based  Drum  and  Bass  venue,  highlights  the  history  of  the  electro  and  Miami  Bass  sounds   compiled  by  the  growing  underground  DJ  Diplo.   The  Philly  based  DJ  is  famed  for  his  Hollertronix  sessions  but  has  produced  records  for  the  up  and  coming  artist  Kano  and  this  year’s  starlet  M.I.A.   Diplo  has  also  mixed  records  for  Gwen  Stefani,  Beck  and  Le  Tigre,  a  respectable  back  catalogue  for  an  almost  unheard  of  underground  DJ.   Fabric  Live  24  sets  out  to  prove  that  music  cultures  can  be  merged  with  such  uidity  that  even  the  most  narrow  minded  music  lover  will Â ďŹ nd  a  gem  of  their  genre  here,  albeit  funked  up  to  the  extreme.   The  playlist  itself  combines Â

rock  classics  such  as  The  Cure  with  hip  hop  favourites  like  Outkast  seemlessly,  so  authen-­ tic  yet  of  a  class  so  underrated  in  the  grand  scale  of  musical  geography  that  it  becomes  one  of  those  unique  and  desirable  relics  of  the  underground. $IBSMFT 3VNTFZ

5IF 4PVOET PG .POTUFSJTN *TMBOE 7BSJPVT "SUJTUT The  White  Noise,  Dead  Meadow  and  Man-­ fred  Mann  are  just  a  few  of  the  artists  on  the  volume  one  of  Monsterism  Island  Record’s  compilation;͞  ring  any  bells?  I  doubt  it;͞  this  certainly  is  no  comfortably  generic  British  band  material,  this  is  the  “sound  you  can  see�  arm  of  EMI  and  with  wings  of  lead  it  takes  the  listener  to  new  heights  of  experimental-­ ism.   The  perfect  authenticating  label  for  any  second  rate  relaxation  soundtrack  musician  is  experimentalism  and  experimenting  with  cartoon  style  backing  music  and  echo  effects  is  not  the  best  way  to  stay  up  there  in  quality  with  the  pan  pipe  and  ocean  sound  classics.   Still  if  mellow  Sunday  afternoons  in  the  psych-­

edelic  60s  is  your  cup  of  tea  then  Monsterism  Island  can  meet  you  halfway  providing  a  “bug  eyed  weekend  break  from  reality�. $IBSMFT 3VNTFZ

Event 19 The

WWW UEATICKETBOOKINGS CO UK