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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 2024).

The Things They Say!

Hudson Music: Lance's "Bebop Spoken Here" is one of the heaviest and most influential jazz blogs in the UK.

Rupert Burley (Dynamic Agency): "BSH just goes from strength to strength".

'606' Club: "A toast to Lance Liddle of the terrific jazz blog 'Bebop Spoken Here'"

The Strictly Smokin' Big Band included Be Bop Spoken Here (sic) in their 5 Favourite Jazz Blogs.

Ann Braithwaite (Braithwaite & Katz Communications) You’re the BEST!

Holly Cooper, Mouthpiece Music: "Lance writes pull quotes like no one else!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. Business as usual!.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 27: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sat 28: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 11:30am. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 28: Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy, Rich Herdman & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Stepney Bank, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sun 29: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 29: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Thursday, April 05, 2018

The Last Ship @ Northern Stage, Newcastle - April 4

I almost made one of the biggest mistakes of my life! I almost didn't go to see The Last Ship, the musical written by Sting and in the last week of its 4 weeks run at Newcastle's Northern Stage Theatre. The same theatre where Sting learned his craft as a bass guitarist with the Newcastle Big Band although the theatre was called the University Theatre back then.
I'd heard songs from the show on radio and seen clips on television which, away from the overall picture didn't even go close to revealing the experience it turned out to.
As I set off it was raining, no ordinary rain but such as brought to mind the expression "Not a fit night out for man nor beast".
I hesitated. Did I really want to sit in a theatre in wet clothes watching a musical about the closing of a shipyard?

I didn't, although having agreed to go with Cormac Loane, another alumnus of the Newcastle Big Band, I felt obliged to 'bite the rivet'. I discovered he too had had similar thoughts!
Both of us cast those thoughts, and the weather, aside after the show started.
From the opening Irish style folk dance by various shipyard workers to the triumphant finale the standing ovation received at the end was well-deserved.
The cast were brilliant both as actors, dancers and singers whilst the storyline managed to combine mirth and melancholy treading the fine balance between laughter and tears.
The script is very political. How could it not be given the subject matter? Just as Billy Elliott had the Miners Strike, The Last Ship has the end of shipbuilding in the northeast at its core.
That multi-millionaire Sting is able to write such a strong indictment of the  'them and us' society we live in could be regarded as hypocritical - I prefer to see it as, someone who has seen both sides of the coin.
The writing is powerful, the songs are melodic several of which could stand on their own merit away from the show. 
I'm not going to single out any one performer - they all contribute magnificently and, not surprisingly, several have parallel careers as singers as well as actors.
I'd willingly see the Sold Out show again.* 
Lance.
*There's an open-air performance at Spiller's Wharf on Newcastle Quayside on May 28 otherwise, it's next week in Liverpool (April 9-14); Birmingham (April 16-21); Northanpton (April 24-28); Leeds (May1-5); Nottingham (May 8-12); Cardiff (May 14-19); Dublin (June 4-9); Edinburgh (June 12-16); Glasgow (June 18-23); York June 25-30); Salford July 3-7).

1 comment :

Tom Hanks said...

One of my favorite putlocker movies. It made Movie Night the other night a great success and everyone wanted to know where I found the movie in the first place since it's from 2001 megashare9.me and no one in the room had heard of it.

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