British Music Experience/O2

Friday. The first treat of the evening was the boat ride to O2 itself. Rather than chug along the Thames at the expected leisurely pace, this clipper bombed it down at a speed I'd never experienced on the River before. London still looks like a fabulously wealthy city despite current problems.


We're welcomed to the British Music Experience by Harvey Goldsmith who asks (pleads..?) the assembled guests not to forget to buy stuff at the BME shop which, needless to say, is the first thing you encounter as you walk through the doors. Sex Pistols tumblers! I ask you.


But it was the BME's main attraction we were there for, the very functional Soundstage, its medium sized concert venue which tonight was hosting short sets from the American flugelhorn player, Dominick Farinacci and British jazz's wunderkind, Jamie Cullum .


Disappointingly most of the assembled music industry people chose to talk through Farinacci's melodic offerings . But they did shut up with the arrival of Jamie, the first big name to perform at Soundstage, who was using the opportunity to roll out some songs from his up and coming album (his first in four years...).


Cute though some people find him, his songs are full of knowing pops at the world around him, not least the record industry. It's that wry detail that will ensure he'll always stay clear of boy band blandness. That and of course his piano playing which has lost none of its exuberance. He and his band were on driving form who clearly relished the chance to showcase some great new songs, in particular a disco number which ought to be a hit.


While Jamie rocked - and he really was - I slipped out to look at the BME's exhibition. Rather than dividing British pop music into decades it settles instead for musical shifts - 1962-66, 1970-1976 etc. Each get its own room with plenty of interactive stuff that can be - ingenious this - saved on your entrance ticket which you can download at home.


I made full use of this on Dance the Decades; you get to dance to a track by monkeying the dancer on the video screen in front of you. Embarrassing really but what the hell....


http://www.britishmusicexperience.com/index.cfm?PageID=10 (click on Dance Video)



If that isn't a big enough draw there is also a room stacked full of guitars, keyboards and drums for punters to test out, complete with a video guides on chord changes etc. I admit I lost myself a bit on a lovely electric piano but no harm in that.

Bellowhead/QEH

This pleasingly unwieldy group of 11 multi instrumentalists first caught my attention at the Beeb's out door Folk Day last summer. Don't be put off by the 'folk' tag though; Bellowhead are far more versatile than that, as was much in evidence at their lively showcase at the QEH on Saturday. Jumping (sometimes quite literally) from sea shanties to music hall, Kurt Weill and then jazz (with the help of a stripper), Bellowhead demonstrated why they are one of the most engaging and good humoured ensembles around. Think of Loose Tubes, The Bonzo Dog Band and The Albion Band all in one and you've kind of got it. And if you're old enough to remember who those groups were, good!

Richard Rodney Bennett/Pizza on the Park

Richard Rodney Bennett and singer Claire Martin have been co-hosting evenings of show tunes, cabaret music, standards etc at Pizza on the Park for several years now. Softer, more refined and middle aged than its sister venue on Dean Street, Pizza on the Park is as good a place as any to experience the exquisite and startlingly intimate songs that Martin and RRB have a knack of unearthing. Last night they rummaged through Cy Coleman's back catalogue spurning some of his best known tunes in favour of those that had fallen by the way side, usually from musicals that never quite made it on Broadway. Total gems, particularly the one with lyrics penned by Coleman himself. As RRB pointed out, it was only when he discovered the importance of words that he really felt he had come of age as a song writer - 'it's not just about the chords'..

The South Bank Show/Messiah (6)

Finished. Well, almost. We now have a 50 minute film about three choirs from Yorkshire and their connection with Handel's Messiah. What's left to do is the colourisation of each shot - grading - which is all about improving the picture quality and where required, convey a particular visual mood. Then the online, the technical bit that ensures the programme is suitable for broadcast, followed by the sound dub which, a bit like the grade, buffs up the audio quality (I'm sure dubbing mixers think they're more than just buffers-up of sound but it'll do me). From my point of view this last week of the edit is the least creative part of the process. That happens beforehand in the off-line over a four week period (it used to be 5 at the South Bank Show, how times change). This hasn't been easy, especially with the amount of footage we shot in the proceeding two months. Each day myself and the editor would sit down and trawl through the rushes, pulling sync (the bits of the interviews we most liked) and then arranging it into a time line (sync assembly), a sort of 'greatest hits' of all that has been filmed. Once you've done that, the narrative is 'decorated' with action sequences, performance, general-views, archive material, that sort of thing so each time you run your rough assembly, another layer is added until, almost like magic, the programme finds its own logic. It's a long old business and at times frustrating especially if the narrative you're looking for doesn't hang together.

Actually, this particular project wasn't difficult in that respect; we were spoilt with the number of excellent interviewees we filmed not all of whom we were able to feature in the end. No, the difficulty was piecing the different bits of performance to give the impression of one seamless take. Not easy when you're only working with one camera operator.

Anyway we got there. I was a bit reluctant to blog any of this as we went along because I wasn't sure how things were going to turn out. Our second week in the edit was particularly tough; I really thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew given the amount I'd shot and the limited time I had to shape it into a coherent whole. But, I do work with one of the most gifted and hard working editors in London so while I worked myself up into a silly panic, Mark quietly got on with it. God, I was lucky to have him...

I have to be honest and admit that I feel a bit flat now it's all over. You live with all these on screen characters that they feel like friends after a while. I hope they like it.

Now, photos...erm, sore point. I didn't take any..if anyone asks I send them a 'screen grab' which is frozen frame from the rushes but the quality is never as good as a photo. So the best I can offer at the moment are a couple of stills taken by a local photographer in the pub following the Keighley Vocal Union's Messiah performance in Freckleton on Dec 14.

Revolutionary Road

Kate Winslett and Leonardo Di Caprio (?) take the lead roles in this adaption of Richard Yates' book of the same name. Sam Mendes makes a good stab at it this tale of the thwarted dreams of an American couple whose 1950s suburban existence slowly eats them up. In the book this gradual descent into hopelessness unfolds at an agonising pace. Film doesn't have this the luxury and this presents problems, particularly with the Winslett character whose desperation and loopiness is too sudden and dramatic. But it was enjoyable if that’s the right word. Should have guessed it was a Sam Mendes film because of the ‘emotionally isolated American’ piano motif that runs throughout.

The South Bank Show/Messiah (5)

Our big day out with the Keighley Vocal Union. As tradition dictates this choir perform Messiah every Christmas at a small Methodist chapel in Freckleton, not far from Preston.

The chapel is warm and welcoming. Only an organist accompanies the choir as there isn't room for an orchestra, and besides, this Messiah is being performed (if that's the right word) as part of a Methodist service which these days is quite a rarity. It's a reminder of how much Messiah owes to the singing tradition embodied in Methodism although personally I much prefer it served up in a concert hall.

In between Part One and Two the elders at the chapel lay on a huge tea. It reminds me of those pristine spreads I would stare at with envy in Ladybird books from the seventies, all colour and cream. Afterwards everyone goes to the pub and carols are sung at full pelt. On the coach home everyone reverts to good old Abba, the Patron Saints of coach parties.

John Shuttleworth/Bloomsbury Theatre

I saw John Shuttleworth for the first time at a charity gig in Brighton in the late eighties. His act has barely changed since then and I do wonder if this ever worries Graham Fellows, Shuttleworth's creator. I only ask because Shuttleworth and his audience (myself included) have built up such an affection for each other over the years that it's hard to know where Fellows can take John Shuttleworth next. Certainly nowhere too far afield, all his references (Kitkat wrappers, the Austin Ambassador) are simply too English for that. The non-plussed Spaniard sitting behind was assured by his friend that he would get more of the references with the other character on the bill, the morose brummy Brian Appleton. And sure enough he chortled away while Appleton lamented his missed opportunities as a prog-rock pioneer. By the time Shuttleworth reappeared to round off the show the Spaniard was pacing about at the back of the theatre like a caged animal. The rest of us sat back and basked in the nerdy warmody that is Shuttleworth's stock in trade, complete with silly tunes (actually infuriatingly catchy) and daft lyrics. No swear words either, or belly laughs, just a cosy night in.