Stewart Lee, star of BBC 2’s hit show Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle, came to Harrogate last night claiming he had nothing funny to talk about any more. He currently spends his days driving around, looking after his son and watching Scooby Doo cartoons; he says the best inspiration for comedy. However, as the 90 minute…
Last week I dragged the girlfriend along to go watch Stewart Lee’s ‘Carpet Remnant World’ at Canterbury’s new Marlowe Theatre. We didn’t have great tickets; we were in the Upper Circle, one row from the very back. However, thanks to great designing, we could still see the stage brilliantly due to the elevated seats. The…
Four days before this trio recorded The Bleeding Edge at St Peter’s Whitstable last May, they played in The Cheltenham Jazz festival’s now abandoned improvisation strand, playfully accommodating the rhythm of a resonant roof leak, as it rang into a downstage bucket. St Peter’s is a favorite venue for free improvisers. Perhaps it’s dry. The…
The Seventies prog survivor Peter Hammill is stripped of the embellishments of Van Der Graaf Generator, naked but for piano or guitar, on seven recent live cd’s. Hammill’s declamatory plainsong refutes standard rock procedure, and when he touches your heart, it’s usually via the cerebral cortex. His piano pieces have an epic Weimar whiff, whilst…