Stan Graham's Leisure Guide for North and West Yorkshire
Another week, another Orpheus. You would think I would be getting a bit bored by the story by now after having reviewed so many takes on it in so short a time, but each has put its own twist on the tale making it seem fresh every time. The story started life as a myth…
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Is your regular supermarket trip like doing your ironing, when you go onto automatic pilot to get the job done as quickly as possible, or do you savour the experience, taking your time to contemplate and meditate as you struggle to keep your trolley progressing in a straight line? Should you be in the first…
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I am getting to be a bit of a Courtney Pine groupie, having seen him last October at Howard Assembly Room touring his album SONG (The Ballad Book) This time he was playing pieces from his new offering, Spirituality. I am pleased to say that the incredibly talented pianist Zoe Rahman was with him again…
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On Monday, 17th October, it will be 60 years to the day since a spotty, overweight East Leeds slum kid sat down with his mum after tea to watch the local ITV regional news programme, People and Places. There were only two channels back then, both in black and white, and very little popular music…
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I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Keranjeet Kaur Virdee, the CEO and Artistic Director of South Asian Arts for an article I wrote for Welcome to Leeds. When I arrived she asked me if I would like to accompany her to Opera North’s rehearsal room where they were having the first run-through of a…
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How cool is this? This morning, the rapper, human beatbox, writer, singer and all-round great guy Testament, did a pop-up performance at Released Records in the wonderful Leeds Corn Exchange. The event was supposed to kick-off at 9.00am but because of conditions on the car park aka M62 it was a bit late in getting…
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Some words get overused or expanded to include those not worthy but Linton Kwesi Johnson is a luminary, in not just one field but two. His poetry has seen him become the first black person to have their work included in Penguin’s Modern Classics, and only the second living poet to be so honoured. His…
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I had been looking forward to seeing this play for some time but that can sometimes mean I set myself up for a disappointment, not here however. As it happens the evening proved to be an education, and I am not just referring to the drama on stage. I have mentioned before that press nights…
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In the words of the old song, what a difference a day makes. On Saturday night I was in Howard Assembly Room with blood trickling from my ears due to the megadecibels of I Like Trains and here I am on Sunday listening to the plaintive sounds of the acclaimed Scottish folk singer Siobhan Miller…
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In 1974 I was at the flicks when there was a gasp from the audience as the whole place began to shake. The reason was that it was an old cinema which had been converted into a double screen place and the movie showing in the other auditorium was called Earthquake. It used a new…
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Tyke It To The Limit 