Fifty love

The Guardian Saturday supplement published an article by Jess Cartner-Morley last week, her choice of the 50 'best dressed over 50'. Now part of me wants to take issue about the whole idea of it being a challenge to even think of such a list, or that over fifty year olds are forced to rely on snappy dressing to make any sort of impact. Also, the list  was heavily weighted in women's favour, 34 in all, so I'd like to consider a bit of parity here; if it's important to flash style in your fifties, then blokes should too.  I also smarted on reading her introductory explanation about how 'when youth and beauty are taken out of the equation' there is suddenly a level field. So I'd start by saying that at least some of her choices are beautiful, and that beauty is possible after fifty, especially when it comes from inner qualities of calmness and experience. So, the 'nominees' I would agree on would be (her number one) Helen Mirren, Tilda Swinton, Judi Dench (whose name now is a by word for great in urban slang), Joanna Lumley, Kirsty Walk, Kristen Scott Thomas, Charlotte Rampling, Chrissie Hynde, Catherine Deneuve, Julianne Moore, Aung San Suu Kyi and yes, Mary Berry. But what happened to Meryl Streep, Susan Sarendon, Michelle Pfeiffer,  Nigella Lawson, Christine Lagarde, the glorious Maya Angelou who was eighty-five today (4th April) to name a few. And even Jo Brand is looking trendy and restyled nowadays. While we're on comediennes, what about Ruby Wax?
As for the male suggestions I agree with Jess on, the short list would be Willem Dafoe, Bryan Ferry, Paul Weller (the mod's mod!),Bill Nighy, Christopher Lee and Barack Obama. So a few I'd add to swell the ranks would be  Christopher Walken, especially as he can dance so well in a suit, David Bowie, Danny Boyle, who has been everywhere lately looking dapper to promote his new film, Jonathan Ross, yes the old bright jackets included, Tom Cruise and Ralph Fiennes both just scraping in at 50, Pierce Brosnan, Robert Palmer, whose name is surely synonymous with suits, Robert Redford, Michael Douglas, Patrick Stewart, Roger Moore, Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson,  Michael Caine, Lenny Henry when not wearing a red nose, Jon Snow, and Jools Holland.

Not quite 50, a few vacancies for later ideas!!

One million faces

   The above photo is from PORTRAIT SALON, a collection of portraits that have been entered for the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize at London's Portrait Gallery, the ones that didn't quite make it, or as they describe it a ' form of Salon des Refusés - an exhibition of works rejected from a juried art show - which has a long tradition as a fringe way of showcasing artists’ work that may otherwise go unseen.' A collection was highlighted in the Sunday Independent, and a larger sample was projected in venues in London, Brighton, Cardiff and Leeds last November. They can still be viewed at portraitsalon.tumblr.com. Since 99 per cent of entries don't make it to the Portrait Gallery, many by professional photographers, it's obvious there's going to be a lot to interest and impress among these, an amazing record of people in the 21st century.

Of course the other excellent way to view modern portraiture is to take a look at the many 'Humans of' Sites on Facebook, though the best is still the original Humans of New York by Brandon, who even covered a recent trip to Iran on the site, a very interesting project http://bit.ly/UGUtMx  .
But now he's back in New York, and he has an eclectic mix though his favourites seem to be lovers of all generations, children, and the most colourful residents. What's so impressive about Brandon is his ability to relate to his subjects in a very sympathetic but simple way, with his posts made more intriguing by short explanations or stories.

Joni Mitchell, Woman of Heart and Mind

I've just watched a documentary film 'Woman of Heart and Mind' (not a recent one, about 10 years old), about Joni Mitchell, who I've always been a fan of, but love all the more now.

There were several surprises for me in the documentary. Firstly, (to name a few) what a hard childhood and adolescence she'd had; I never realised she had had a relationship with Graham Nash, though I knew there were musical links between her and CSNY; I didn't realise she never went to the Woodstock festival though she penned the most famous song about it .

 She had a small town upbringing  in Saskatchewan, Canada, experiencing a lonely childhood watching the railway line and dreaming of one day escaping. When she eventually did, it was to art school, the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, seeing music merely as a way to support herself.

 However in 1964 she was pregnant; the baby was given up for adoption and kept a secret, though some of her songs obviously refer  to this : 'Your kids are coming up straight; My child's a stranger; I bore her, but I could not raise her'. Her and her daughter were not re-united until 1997.

On meeting Chuck Mitchell, she married him in the hope that they would take her child out of the foster home, but this didn't happen. They became a performing duet, moving to the U.S., but Joni wasn't fulfilled or happy with this partnership, a couple of years  later leaving Chuck to explore her own style and write her own material. As a solo artist she also arranged her own bookings, unusual for that time especially as a woman, working the coffee houses and folk clubs. Her innovative guitar style was partly due to a left hand weakened by polio as a child; her lyrics were seen as puzzling and impenetrable. She says that hearing Dylan personalizing lyrics was like a key opening a door for her. 'I feel every bit of trouble I'm grateful for you know, bad fortune changed the course of my destiny, I became a musician.'

David Crosby saw her playing and took her to Los Angeles to introduce her to his music circle, managing to persuade Reprise Records to release her first album, Joni Mitchell, or Song to a Seagull, without the folk-rock overdubs, just pure Joni. In 1969, Clouds included her songs that had already been covered by other artists, including Both Sides Now which had been recorded by Judy Collins in 1967 (and is now her most covered song numbering 587 versions); she painted the artwork for the album and has carried on doing this on ever since. She has viewed painting and music as being like crop rotation, with painting clearing the head after an intense bout of composing.

Ladies of the Canyon included piano in addition to guitar, plus her own version of the song Woodstock, written when she missed the spectacular event because she had her first television interview, though she seems to prefer smaller more intimate concerts so may not have been that comfortable there.

David Crosby says that 'by the time she did Blue (1971) she was past me and rushing towards the horizon.' But Mitchell herself  describes the experience as feeling 'so thin skinned and delicate', honest but vulnerable, put on a pedestal by her popularity, but wobbling! Uncomfortable with large audiences, she moved to the Canadian back bush, living with kerosene but no electricity for a year. After that period she returned to the city; Court and Spark was released in 1974 and by then she was experimenting with jazz and jazz fusion - she didn't want to be stereotyped as the 'magical princess' of folk,  creating her own 'gang' in the band L.A. Express.

Searching for a new vocabulary, she sang 'duets' with the bass guitar of jazz virtuoso bassist Jacob Estorius; this partnership later led to Wayne Shorter also joining her. Charlie Mingus contacted her when terminally ill, choosing  to do his final project with her.

Her next albums saw a return to pop songwriting, recording with bassist Larry Klein who she married in 1982. The eighties also saw her experimenting with synthesizers and drum machines, and collaborating with Peter Gabriel, Tom Petty, Willie Nelson, Billy Idol and others. Many of her songs included elements of protest. Her real return to form in terms of popular songwriting was with Turbulent Indigo in 1994.Taming the Tiger in 1998 was promoted by a return to regular concert performances, a final set of original songs before a decade of other pursuits. It has been suggested that she possibly lost interest in composition after her reunion with her daughter.


So what has she been up to since that incredibly moving dvd? Apparently she has the mysterious Morgellons syndrome, so is working to help public understanding of that; she has produced an album of  orchestral remakes of old material, Travelogues; a concept album of covers and own material, Both Sides Now; and Shine, the first album of new songs in 9 years. Though her voice has less range and is lower as she gets older, I prefer it; she herself maintains that it is more expressive, and that any limitations are more a result of the after effects of polio than a life time of smoking. Who knows. But her songs and music have always been a result of experience and adversity, so you just have to accept them for what they are. And enjoy.

April 2013 sees the publication of a new book on the poetry of her songs, Gathered Light .

Songbirds

It's great that vocal harmonies seem to be making a big comeback, with people like Laura Mvula whose single 'Green Garden' is from the album 'Sing to the Moon' out in March 2013. Flash mobs are breaking out all over the place and choirs are sprouting up all over the country.

Doo-wop, or barbershop harmony with beat, is making a 'guest appearance' on Beyonce's new album; Aaron Neville's solo album, 'My True Story', celebrates doo-wop and the music of The Drifters and the Flamingos. Meanwhile in Britain the Overtones (a 5-part harmony group from England, Ireland and Australia) and the Magnets are enjoying success. The Swingle Singers were started in Paris by Ward Swingle in the 60s, moved to London in the 70s and continue to rejuvenate year in year out.

Doo-wop developed in African American communities in the 40s, and was widely popular by the 50s; it had a high tenor lead and a talking bass, simple rhythm  and lyrics, with nonsensical syllables. Acapella groups on street corners imitated instruments with onomatopeia ; brass was mimicked with doo wop wop. Early exponents were Bill Kenny and the Inkspots (My Prayer) closely followed by the Mills Brothers (You Always Hurt the One You Love).



In the late 40s and early 50s were the 'bird groups', The Penguins, The Swallows, The Ravens, The Crows, The Larks, The Orioles, who developed the doo-wop sound. In the 50s doo-wop groups helped usher in the rock and roll era,  when 'Gee' by the Crows and 'Sh-Boom' by the Chords, two big rhythm and blues numbers by vocal harmony groups, crossed over into the  pop music charts. In 1955 'The Great Pretender' by the Platters reached number one.

 Mark Crawshaw from the Overtones reckons doo-wop and acapella are going to be around for some time - let's hope so!

Atomic Sunrise and Spiders

'Atomic Sunrise', will be screened at the Roundhouse in London on 11th and 12th March, and later a book and dvd may be released. Directed and produced by Adrian Everett, this is footage of a festival held at the Roundhouse in 1970, which includes the earliest known footage of Genesis, debuting songs that would appear on 'Trespass', their second album, just weeks before they signed with Charisma; Hawkwind before Lemmy; and 'The Hype', the band which saw the forming of a partnership between Bowie and Mick Ronson, leading up to the Spiders from Mars. Bowie's 'Space Oddity' had been his first big hit in 1969, released to coincide with the first moon landing, five days ahead of the Apollo 11 launch. As 'Hype', together with Tony Visconti (on Bass), Ronson and Bowie created characters and wore elaborate costumes that prefigured glam style and the Spiders;the recording was just weeks before the recording of 'The Man Who Sold the World'.

No-one knows who was responsible for the original filming, but Everett first heard of it in the late 70s: it was being held against a film processing bill of thousands of pounds. In 1990 it was apparently to be destroyed unless someone footed the bill. Everett salvaged it and spent three days going through 33 hours of rushes; a chance encounter put him in touch with the original sound man at the festival, who helped him to add the music. Everett's financial backer dropped out and the project was stalled for another 20 years.

Following Mick Ronson's death in 1993 and John Mayhew's  in 2010 (the original drummer of Genesis), Everett was determined to get a cut of the film out as a tribute.

It seems good timing, since Bowie has just released 'Where are we now?', his first single for ten years, produced by Tony Visconti; the album 'The Next Day' is due to be released 11th March in the UK and 12th March in thew States; and there's an exhibition of his costumes coming up at the V and A.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/david-bowie-is/

Family and other Albums

With so many fifty year anniversaries tumbling in on us at the moment, it's good to remember one of the longest chart-topping albums, now half a century old: 'Please, Please Me' was number one for 30 weeks, only knocked from the top by the second Beatles' album, 'With the Beatles'. Recorded in only 12 hours at the Abbey Road studio, this event has been 'recreated' by a selection of artists recording the tracks on 11 February (broadcast on BBC4). My personal favourites were The Stereophonics' 'I saw her standing there' and Joss Stone's 'Taste of Honey'.

Adele's 21 has recently become not only the longest UK chart-topping album for a solo artist, but the longest at the UK top for forty years since Simon and Garfunkel's 'Bridge over Troubled Water'. Other Long Sellers were 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts, Hard Days Night, Presley's 'GI Blues', and music from Saturday Night Fever, Sound of Music and South Pacific(115 weeks!!)

People such as Guy Garvey maintain that the album with its specific order of play is still a crucial part of today's music, of the best I would often say it has an entity of its own with its own particular atmosphere, though not many artists go as far as Bowie in changing his persona for different albums. His latest offering, 'The Next Day',coming out in March after a ten year gap, recalls his years living in Berlin.  

Led Zeppelin

As a teenager I loved browsing through racks of album covers, large enough to be works of art, and becoming increasingly flamboyant as the single covers developed into doubles, with more ornate almost 3D designs, especially those of Led Zeppelin, Curved Air, and later Family. Minute tape boxes offered little opportunity for creativity, small cds seemed limited at first but were gradually developed into minature works of art particularly by the likes of Radiohead - 'Amnesiac' had some editions disguised as a library book (don't forget to take your library books back??). And there have been many other gimmicks, secret bonus tracks at the end and even occasionally preceding the start of cds, and the like. 

Vinyl is enjoyed a vintage-fuelled comeback, and hopefully the album will be with us for some time yet, alongside downloads, so that bands don't have to rely on T-shirt sales and other concert paraphernalia to make a living.                                                                                                                                                                                

Southwold in the winter, or roll on Summer...

Last weekend was the annual winter fair in St Edmunds Hall, Southwold, in aid of Greenpeace. This event began several years ago when the Summer one, which no longer happens, was cancelled because of bad weather. The winter fair was such a success it has carried on every year, with stalls in the day time and good local music all day and evening.

In the summer St Edmunds Hall is home to Southwold Summer Theatre, founded by Jill Freud in 1984. This year's offerings begin with J B Priestly's An Inspector Calls on Wednesday 10th July running til 20th July. 

http://www.edp24.co.uk/what-s-on/southwold_summer_theatre_line_up_revealed_1_1934345



Last year the Electric Picture Palace was revamped, and reopened (again) by Michael Palin, who has had links with the town since his mother used to live there - his family holidayed there when he was a child, and his parents retired there in 1966.


Then there's the famous Pier, with Tim Hunkin's arcade of unusual delights,http://www.timhunkin.com/,
 and his water clock further along the Pier's elegant promenade.

Southwold Beach huts

And of course there's always the beach and sea........