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Bravery of our pub and club entertainers

PAV’S PATCH:

IN the wider scheme of things, I reckon there can’t be many jobs more daunting than that of the pub entertainer. You’ve got have some guts to get up in a pub, or a club, and to start singing or telling jokes.

I suppose the rewards must be good if you can make it but I really do wonder how the turns manage to motivate themselves.

What is it inside them that convinces them people will enjoy their act? Perhaps they mistake jeers for cheers.

A mate of

Date published: 18/03/2010

Hitman throws in the towel

CHANNEL HOPPING: 

WITH a string of smash hits, 50 number ones and an OBE to his name, song-writing supremo Pete Waterman now feels the time is right to throw in the towel. Fair dos.

The original Hitman might not grab as many headlines for doing so as nickname-sake and former world boxing champ Ricky Hatton. After all, who wants to bow out a loser?

It looks like...

Date published: 17/03/2010

Musical not quite on song

SWEET CHARITY, George Lawton Hall, Mossley

THE trouble with this Sixties musical is that it isn’t half as good as it might be, given a script by Neil Simon.

The show was written when musicals were undergoing big changes, when three acts and obvious scenes were giving way to long narratives almost arbitrarily chopped into sections with no obvious start, middle or end —...

Date published: 16/03/2010

Magical arrangement is simply irresistable

Oldham Symphony Orchestra, Salvation Army Community Hall, Failsworth

THE Oldham Symphony Orchestra transformed the Salvation Army Community Hall on Manchester Road, Failsworth, into a feature-packed musical gallery of vivid portraits, exotic landscapes and compelling visions with “programme” music for all the family.

It filled the air for fully two hours...

Date published: 16/03/2010

Customer service? Pull the other one

WHAT KATI DID NEXT:

“Its my internet, I’m afraid, it just won’t connect and for some reason I can’t,” “Sorry can I just put you on hold for a moment?” “Oh OK.”

Woah whats this? Music? Far too loud, too dull, too odd.

“Surely not sir? We pay a company, somewhere down south, thousands of pounds to choose the most uplifting music we can find, for what is a basic...

Date published: 16/03/2010

Motown magic of the legends

BEATS:

MOTOWN fans are in for a real treat on Sunday when a quartet of musical legends descend on the Manchester Arena.

The Four Tops, The Temptations, The Drifters and The Three Degrees have come together for a very special UK tour.

The Four Tops helped define the Motown sound of the 1960s with hits such as “Reach Out”, “I’ll Be...

Date published: 16/03/2010

Faith in Paloma

BEATS:

SHE’S worked as a magician’s assistant, a burlesque performer and a dancer but Paloma Faith is definitely best known for her unique voice.

The Hackney-born singer draws on influences from her colourful past to give her stage shows an edge.

The 24-year-old, who comes to the Manchester Academy on Friday, released her debut album, “Do You Want...

Date published: 16/03/2010

Don’t miss Editors

BEATS:

You may not see the platinum-selling rockers stumbling out of nightclubs or splashed across the tabloids with a Page Three girl but they sure know how to put on a show — as you can see at Manchester Apollo tonight.

The band — Tom Smith (vocals, guitar, piano), Chris Urbanowicz (guitar), Russell Leetch (bass) and Ed Lay (drums) — sprang into the...

Date published: 16/03/2010

News Extra

BEATS:

LEGENDARY Brit poppers Suede will stage an intimate gig at the Manchester Ritz.

The show will act as a warm up for the band’s much heralded reunion gig at the Royal Albert Hall next week in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The Manchester show, on Sunday, will be the first time Suede, led by Brett anderson (pictured) have played together for over a...

Date published: 16/03/2010

Gig Guide

Beats:

TONIGHT: Editors — Apollo; Lucy and The Caterpillar — Moho Live; Eliza Carthy — Band on the Wall; Gold Teeth — Deaf Institute.

TOMORROW: For the Fallen Dreams — Moho Live; Delphic — Sankeys; Picturehouse Choir featuring The Lovenotes — Band on the Wall; Frank Turner — Academy; Times New Viking — Sound...

Date published: 16/03/2010

Warming look at life on the home front

WAR-TIME songs . . . from left, Anna Doolan, Laura Norton, Katherine Dow Blyton, with Simeon Truby on the piano

And a NIghtingale Sang..., Coliseum, Oldham

CECIL Taylor had a fitful career: one acknowledged masterpiece with “Good” — about the Holocaust — but quite a lot of...

Date published: 15/03/2010

A hiding to nothing for the moody

THE ART OF SULKING:

As a general rule, there are two kinds of sulks. Those which come on all of a sudden and begin with a dramatic crossing of arms or a big storm off and those which arrive gradually as you basically mutter yourself into a stew over time.

However you come to begin sulking, at the moment you decide that’s what you’re going to do, you have to...

Date published: 15/03/2010

Is it art, or will it get you arrested?

THE FRIDAY THING

LIFE AND OTHER BITS: UNTIL you go round Oldham market on a wet Saturday morning and examine the assembled throng, the idea of 1,000 people willingly stripping off to have their picture taken might sound appealing, if only in a kinky, fat-fetish sort of way.

If you or I walked up to folk in the street and asked them to take their clothes off and pose...

Date published: 12/03/2010

Kiss and tell tales of the past

PAV’S PATCH: DON’T ask me why, but I recently found myself thinking about kissograms.

Around 25 years ago they were massively popular and now, in 2010, I can’t remember the last time I heard of one. Do they still exist?

I think they were originally meant to be funny — a woman might get Tarzan coming to sing her a song, or somebody dressed as a bee.

But as time went...

Date published: 11/03/2010

Five Days is a long time in tellyland

CHANNEL HOPPING: AN array of acting talent, intriguing storyline and prime-time on the BBC five nights a week... so why did “Five Days” promise so much then go all skew-whiff at the end?

This tense mix of seemingly unconnected events — an abandoned baby, train journey from hell and underlying terror plot — was gripping from day one. And two. By day...

Date published: 10/03/2010

TV’s ‘Joseph’ winner is play’s star attraction

LORD ARTHUR SAVILE’S CRIME, Palace, Manchester

VERY much second cousin to Wilde’s “Importance of Being Earnest”, this tale comes from a short story rather than a stage play — which gives adapters a fair amount of scope.

The adapter of this version, Trevor Baxter, and director Chris Luscombe, appear to have taken all the scope available then pinched a bit from somewhere...

Date published: 09/03/2010

Acrobatic skills a thrill to watch

Traces, Lowry, Salford

ENERGY and youth abound in one of the latest takes on the newly revamped circus scene made popular again by the world-wide hit Cirque du Soleil.

But while Cirque excels in big show stoppers and high gloss, circus group Les 7 Doigts de la Main (The 7 Fingers) bring a more personal touch and intimate acrobatic experience.

The four male and one...

Date published: 09/03/2010

Enough to drive you potty

WHAT KATI DID NEXT:

You have no idea how hard we have worked over the past few months. Every day struggling and getting nothing back.

It’s been a nightmare. I can hardly talk about it without welling up. Finally, three weeks ago, without any prior warning, I had a text message, well it was more a picture message really.

This picture that I received via mobile phone,...

Date published: 09/03/2010

Andre cashes in on Jordan love split

BEATS:

WHEN Australian muscleman Peter Andre released “Mysterious Girl” in 1996 he was seen as a bit of a laughing stock with his spiky gelled hair and outrageous six pack.

Several number one singles followed before Pete faded into obscurity never to be heard of again until his stint on ITV reality show “I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of...

Date published: 09/03/2010

Don’t miss You Me At Six

BEATS:

Manchester Apollo, Friday

The Surrey quintet —Josh Franceschi (vocals), Max Helyer (guitar), Chris Miller (guitar), Matt Barnes (bass) and Dan Flint (drums) — have stints at Download, Reading, Leeds and T in the Park under their belt and now they’re ready to head out on their own headline tour.

They got together in 2004 and rose to fame three years later...

Date published: 09/03/2010

Punks make a comeback

BEATS:

JAKE Burns was so moved by a Clash performance that he set up his own band and started making music . . . fast-forward 22 years and Stiff Little Fingers are still going strong.

The Belfast band became the first group ever to hit the UK top 20 album charts on an independent label with their 1979 debut “Inflammable Material”.

Stiff Little Fingers...

Date published: 09/03/2010

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