Chambers Beer Festival

Managed to try most of the beers and ciders at the Easter beer & cider festival held at Chambers in Folkestone. There were three beers and a cider that had turned up late and needed a day to settle before they could be sold, one beer hadn't been delivered and one cider I'd been warned to avoid! But that still left 6 ciders and 8 beers. If you are in the area it's worth checking out and runs until Monday 1st April. But check out the beermats from a local brewery... (some got squirrelled away for a Halloween party!)

Of particular merit is the chilli cider.

Friday 29th March 2013

Peter Cushing on Vinyl

Well not a complete list... as he did recordings of audio plays... but I finally managed to get a copy of the 1991 7" single called 'No White Peaks.'

I remember this being played on Radio 1 when it came out at the end of the lunchtime news as an oddity feature - legendary horror actor does rap! It's not exactly rap, but a recording of an anti-war poem written by Peter Kayne right at the end of the 1960s over which an early 1990s dance track has been added with some backing vocals.

I found a friend with a record player and listened to it this week and it wasn't as bad as I remembered. It obviously sounds of its time (i.e. late 80s / early 90s pop) but I've heard much worse. It failed to chart, but there were plenty of other acts out at the time that successfully produced similar fare (e.g. Soul II Soul) so I don't let its lack of chart success affect your judgement!

Whilst trying to track this item down, I did pick up a CD single a couple of years ago with the poem recited without the dance music backing track. This was for a while available in Whitstable's museum and raised money for a charity. But this recording I found to be somewhat of a disappointment after having heard the record. Instead of it being just the spoken word which for me would have been preferable, the CD features fairly immemorable instrumentalisation underneath with the end of the track segueing into a version of a hymn more reminiscent of the American Civil War than the Vietnam era that inspired the poem. The vocal track used of Peter Cushing's voice too is not of great quality and whereas the dance track covers up such limitations, on the CD it's more noticeable. So despite both being very worthy attempts at charity fundraising, I think I'll stick with my 7" single for listening pleasure.

Sunday 17th March 2013

Dr Syn at The Grand 2013

It is good to see that Terry Anthony is exhibiting his paintings and prints at The Grand in Folkestone again. The exhibition is free to enter and runs from today until Sunday 24th March. This year there are some old favourites but also plenty of new paintings inspired by Russell Thorndike's character and some new prints for sale too with also a charity auction in support of the local Folkestone branch of 'Mind,' a mental health charity.

The local artist Terry Anthony is known in these parts for his paintings of the Romney Marsh area - from his paintings of churches, sunrises and sunsets, to his depictions of the smuggling antics of the local literary legend called Dr Syn. As mentioned for last year's exhibition, for those not in the know, Dr Syn was a character created by Russell Thorndike in a series of seven books. Local vicar of the village of Dymchurch by day, but a potentially murderous smuggler by night. The character of Dr Syn, also known as the pirate Captain Clegg, has also been immortalised in 3 films (including ones by both Disney and Hammer Horror in the 1960s), and more recently in BBC radio dramas.

If you can't get to the exhibition at The Grand during March, Terry has, last year, opened a small gallery at the Red Lion Square end of Hythe town where his art can be purchased and there is also a Dr Syn themed café next door.

Saturday 9th March 2013

Postcards from Salem

Following on from yesterday's post about 'The Crucible,' here are just three postcards from Salem that I picked up in the US and probably meant to send at the time but forgot!

The second is of Tituba telling the local children her mysterious tales and the last shows Giles Corey being pressed to death.

Thursday 7th March 2013

The Crucible at The Gulbenkian Theatre

I went to a fabulous amateur production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible last night and if anyone is looking for an enjoyable production to see and is free tonight or Thursday then it is certainly worth seeing on its final two performances at The Gulbenkian Theatre, University of Kent, Canterbury.

I must admit to not having read the play, but I was aware of the story of the Salem Witch Trials and have visited Salem some years ago, so the material still felt familiar to me. I was also aware or the play being a thinly disguised parable of the McCarthy Communist witch hunts in 1950s America, but this is really secondary to the gripping nature of the story.

The play is in four acts running to just under 3 hours excluding interval and has been put on by the T24 Drama Society.

For me I thought the actors who played John Proctor (Liam Horrigan) and Giles Corey (Christopher Grace) were superb. The former stole the show with the power of his performance alongside his wife Elizabeth Proctor (Georgie Barwick) and when in dialogue with Judge Hawthorne (Joe Fort). But I especially the Giles Corey performance when during huge periods on stage with no dialogue kept character brilliantly with all his facial expressions - the trembling lip - and other quirks. But also so many others of the cast too were excellent. Although not warming initially to the Rev Parris, (probably due to my own workings out of the structure of the play and initially who the characters were) as things hotted up he became delightful with his obsequiousness.

I would definitely support this drama group again based on last night's performance, and would encourage more people to support such local groups to ensure they continue producing such gems.

Wednesday 6th March 2013

Philip Glass Dracula World Premiere

I decided to have a bit of a spring clean as I am running out of storage space, so I have plenty of images scanned and ready for uploading on the site during the year!

I did put the front of this flyer on here back in August 2010 with some more text, so please read that post. However now I've scanned in the reverse of the flyer too for any interested parties, as it does seem to be a popular post.

Tuesday 5th March 2013