Bob Dylan

Friday 1st May 2009 (Liverpool Echo Arena)

Set List: Watching The River Flow, Don't Think Twice, It's All Right, Things Have Changed, Boots Of Spanish Leather, The Levee's Gonna Break, Sugar Baby, Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum, Po' Boy, It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), Just Like A Woman, Highway 61 Revisited, Something, Thunder On The Mountain, Like A Rolling Stone, All Along The Watchtower, Spirit On The Water and Blowin' In The Wind.

Liverpool’s impressive new waterside arena has seen numerous big names come through its doors in the last year. It would take a convincing argument to say that there has been anyone more stellar than Bob Dylan taking to its stage.

As a veteran attendee of numerous gigs down the years, the folk troubadour’s name was the one that had escaped the list of bands and musicians that I had seen; this gig gladly rectified that glaring omission.

Despite this being my maiden Dylan gig, I was well versed in what to expect from his set list; as a prelude to the gig I spent the afternoon listening to a few of his older hits. The expectation that I would hear these songs in the form that I was familiar never crossed my mind.

In some instances you were unsure of a particular song until you heard snippets of familiar lyrical couplets, It’s Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) again was one song that differed to the original version so much, that I only realised what song it was when he sang, ‘He not busy being born, Is busy dying’; Even that was difficult to discern beneath Dylan’s rasping vocals.

When arguing with those who don’t appreciate the nature of his vocal abilities would probably have had a field day tonight. In truth the voice has never been a thing of greatness and given its limitations, it has mainly been a vehicle for his poetry and lyricism. Though that said there is something heartening in hearing the lived-in croak of his voice.

The song arrangements of today have no doubt been changed to enable the songs to work with aging Dylan vocal range, like a Rolling Stone is another example of song that on records lifts from the opening bars and swirls away into the stratosphere; today’s version is a lot more restrained but it still gets the crowd going.

Probably the only arrangement that sounded familiar all night was All Along the Watchtower and that was only because the impressively assembled band had opted to perform Jimi Hendrix’s version of the Dylan penned song.

Dylan barely spoke throughout the evening but this wasn’t to be construed as a display of surliness or contempt on his part. It was merely the consummate professionalism of the artists that got on with the job in hand as he rattled through 17 songs in just under two hours.

Any perceived aloofness could be countered with his gesture of playing to the crowd with a cover of the Beatles’ Something - no doubt in tribute to his friend George Harrison. As you can imagine that was well received by the Liverpool audience.

Unconventionally the gig stated early and saw the crowd depart into the balmy Liverpool night at a time when most gigs would usually be starting. Though most would have enjoyed what had gone before, hopefully I can make it to a second Dylan gig sometime soon.

Fade out

Previous blog posts this month have mentioned the Scriptwriting challenge that I had somehow found myself signed up to. Having toyed with similar challenges in the past, I have always managed to talk myself out of taking part in them at the last moment. So I set myself the task of 100 pages in 30 days - not really expecting to succeed.

God knows how I got here but I crossed the finish line with 10 days to spare. How did I do it? Well there was certainly no daily work ethic it was mainly a case of 10 page splurges here and there. The last few days probably saw me write 30 pages just so I could complete and put the thing to bed. Not that I was getting fed up with, just that I needed to concentrate on other more prosaic things…such as work!

I have not really had time to stop and think what I have taken part in, as back in March with only a weekend to gather my thoughts I set out on this journey. It has been an interesting and rewarding period that has know seen the completion of my first full-length script; which I plan to edit and redraft. I will do this along with the script from the scriptwriting course that I have recently completed. When I’m happy with both, I will look towards sending them off to see if they can be performed.

Another good aspect of the month was meeting a vibrant community of writers in the Liverpool area. We have met at various points in the month to encourage and support each other. The plans are to continue meeting up and getting involved in other projects. One is the Nanowrimo In Novemeber which I’m seriously contemplating taking part in. For or now it’s a period of non-scriptwriting….though I’m sure I said that at the end of the last one.

Get in!!!!

After 14 years in the cup wilderness Everton are in the FA Cup Final, following their win over Manchester United today.

Woo and indeed hoo!

Record Store Day

When it comes to shopping the tactic is usually in and out with a minimum of fuss; this is different when it comes to book stores and in particular record shops. The tendency usually is to linger as long as I possibly can, until I have parted with some cash.

This thrill is something of a dying art as local record stores disappear from our high streets - as the Internet and in particular stores like Amazon take away the serendipitous thrill of browsing through racks of compact discs and vinyl. There has been many a time where I have browsed the stock and muttered to myself ‘I can get that cheaper online’. The quick dispatch and relative cheapness has changed browsing habits with wish lists and suggestions based on previous purchases. Which is never good after you have bought your mum something at Christmas – ‘you’ve bought Mama Mia, you will probably like Michael Ball‘. I don’t think so!

There has many a documentary recently lamenting the loss of the humble record store, there has even been a book written by Graham Jones called Last Shop Standing: Whatever Happened to Record Shops? – Which details the decline of the humble record store (Incidentally it is on my Amazon wish list waiting to be purchased). There is awareness that these are the last days of the record store – something that has been taken for granted for many a year.

There are many a store like this that I have visited down the years sadly too numerous to list here particular favourites such as Penny Lane Records Bold Street and one downstairs by Waterloo station, Crosby – whose name escapes me, that are no more. It says it all when even big firms such as Our Price, Musiczone and Zavvi can’t continue to trade.

That is why today has been designated as International Record Store Day, with countless numbers of stores around the world lining up events to entice those who had not frequented their local record store in a while. Rarely a week goes by without me visiting a record store, in fact I’m still wading through some of the treats picked up having visited my favourite haunts in Manchester of Vinyl Exchange, Piccadilly & Fopp in Manchester last week. My own personal contribution to the day was a visit and the purchase of a couple of cds at St Helens' only remaining independent record store Kaleidoscope Records. Sadly it never appears to be busy whenever I go there but it does have a good reputation as it is often featured in MOJO magazine. It has a good selection of vinyl and compact discs, as well as a selection of releases by local bands.

As I contemplate the replacement of my HIFI (as it increasingly shows wear and tear), the one thing that stops me in my tracks is the fact that new players seldom come with turntables. This is not a Luddite complaining about the changing world, I have embraced the download culture, but I still long to hold music in physical format, with its lyric sheet and cover art. Days like this highlight that these types of store are still there and serving the public.

Happy Record Store Day.

Scriptfrenzy

Thirteen days in and I'm still on course to complete the 100 pages target by the end of the month. I must admit I have had a few slack days when the Scriptfrenzy has seemed more of a whimper, but when I have manged to get on with the job in hand I have made some good progress.

Today I have reached something of milestone in that I'm half way there, tonight I passed the 50 page barrier. Only 50 pages and 17 days to go.

Fade in slowly

And we're off. Just as I'm about to wind down in work for a well deserved Easter break, I have taken on the task of writing 100 pages of script in the next 30 days. Tonight sees the first meeting (write/fade in) of the writers I met on Friday, it should be good. The ideas are flowing and hopefully I will be able to get them on page later today.

The 30 days start now.

The play that I'm about to write

So there was I, having just completed the scriptwriting course and wondering what the next writing challenge I should undertake. With a few ideas knocking around (that I planned to turn into something over the summer) I was expecting April and my planned week off work next week to be a leisurely time doing a few bits here and there. Well that was the plan until Friday night.

One event that had caught my eye was an email that I received a few weeks earlier but in everything else that has been going on of late I had neglected. As per usual I was spending a leisurely Friday clearing out my emails and decided to take a closer look of the one that I had received from Scriptfrenzy. I had signed up for their email list a few months back but for some reason I had mistaken it for another contest - one that insisted on a payment of $50.

Having looked at Scriptfrenzy’s website I thought that this would an ideal way of getting another script written so soon after my first. I planned to sign up the next day once I had had a well earned nights sleep. Well that’s what I hoped; unfortunately my sleep was disturbed by the antics of my increasingly annoying neighbours. Instead of staring at the ceiling waiting for time to tick by until the soundtrack of crap techno abated, I put on my iPod and explored the website further. On closer inspection I decided to commit myself to the task of writing 100 pages of script over the course of the month of April.

The concept is similar to other writing contests such as NANOWRIMO, which I had previously toyed with doing, but November is always a busy month for me so I haven’t managed to take part in that. That said, April is also a busy month for me, what with the marking that comes with the end of term, but on the plus side teaching is winding down, oh and it’s also the Easter holidays. So there is some free time that could be put to good use…well that’s the hope anyway.

On further inspection of the website I realised that there are a number of communities of writers who had signed up for April’s writing challenge. One was my hometown of Liverpool, which has been chosen as a regional hub for this event - Liverpool for these American sponsored events, is normally geographically lumped in with Manchester. I spotted a post on the forum that the Liverpool writers would be meeting that day in the Everyman Bistro and would gratefully be welcoming new members to meet up. Coincidentally, I was planning to be in the Everyman at later that night, to catch up with a mate from University who I hadn’t seen since he moved back down south. So with no great changes to my plans I decided to meet up with the writers' a couple of hours before I planned to meet my mate.

I was glad that I did, as the other writers seem to be a good bunch. They all knew each from other writing contests and recounted tales of their struggles to successfully complete the other writing contests. Instead of feeling intimidated by the challenge, the steely resolve of the group convinced me I was doing the right thing. It was a shame to be drawn away for my other plans (though that was enjoyable in its own right). There are other meetings planned, there is a ‘fade-in’ event on Wednesday that I hope to attend.

Here’s to April and the task of completing 100 pages of script!

Red Riding

There is seldom anything of interest on the television these days, let alone anything that could have been previously classified as 'event tv'. What with the range of channels available and the endless rafts of cuts in the industry this type of show is seemingly at a premium.

So when something as striking as Red Riding comes along, it deserves more than a cursory glance. The trilogy is based on a series of four books (that I have not read as yet) 1974, 1977, 1980, 1983 by author David Peace, the author of the Damned United (a book that I have read and soon to be released as a movie).

I finally finished watching the trilogy over the weekend and like many of the reviews I had seen; I was baffled, bemused and beguiled by all three episodes. It was a good watch in the context of it being a scheduled network programme - but I think it is something that may need to be watched again when it is released on dvd in the next few months. It will also be worth watching again without the blaring comparethemarket.com adverts that tried to ruin the proceedings.

On the whole despite it being intriguing and challenging it is good to see this type of programme being produced. Well done Channel 4.

All good things come to an end

Last night was the last session of the scriptwriting course that I started last September, after twenty weeks that has now sadly finished.

Having never written a script before, I have to say that it has been a worthwhile and rewarding process. It was also a good opportunity to meet a number of interesting and talented writers. We have exchanged emails and hopefully we can get together to see how we are all progressing - hopefully one of us go on to make something of our efforts on the course.

I hope to complete my play in the next few weeks and see where I can get with that.

Sunny Manchester!

This week sees the last session of the scriptwriting course that I have been attending since October. With only a few minor alterations to see to and I will have completed the assignment. Here's to sending it off and seeing where it gets me.

With this in mind, I have been looking for other similar creative writing courses. I had previously been recommended one by a friend in Manchester calledPaper Planes. Other things had always got in the way of attending and this week was looking to follow a similar pattern. I woke up Saturday morning after a fitful sleepless night I was contemplating not going. Given that it was a lovely springlike day thankfully I overcame this feeling and got in the car and drove to Manchester.

It was a enjoyable and productive experience, I have a few ideas that can be polished into something more substantial in time. It was also good to meet other writers, as well as catch with a couple of people I had met on a similar course last year. The group meets on the second Saturday of each month, in the Fuel Cafebar, Withington - a venue in the heart of the student district of Manchester. I think I might be making this a regular event in my diary.

The play that I wrote

Having had the good fortune to work as a journalist, the discipline of writing is something that I am used to. Even now that I have moved from being a full-time practitioner to being a teacher I still enjoy the idea of writing (well more the completion of the task than actually sitting down to do it). The want to write is still there and to satisfy this desire the occasional freelance gig as a football reporter and the aborted attempts at blogging have had to suffice.

As the first post in my born again blog alluded to the last few years have been slightly frustrating in a creative sense as they have been taken up with having to complete a post-graduate qualification for my job – something that was a contractual obligation. This thankfully has now been completed and I can concentrate on the extra-curricular activities that I enjoy away from my job.

So since October, I have been attending a night school class at the University of Liverpool, the course has been for the Writing for the Stage and Radio course. Time has flown by and that sadly that has two more weeks to run after this week.

This course is organised by the Workers Education Association who have a long standing and good reputation for the many courses they run. I have previous experience of their courses, as I completed a songwriting course in 1997, which was fulfilling and enjoyable. So I had a good feeling that this course would also be of a similar standard, which has been the case.

I had never written a play before, but I have an interest in the theatre so this prompted me to sign up for it. I also thought the course would be a easier way of getting something completed (note when I say easier, I don’t mean easy). I, like many a journalist have a novel awaiting completion on my hard drive - the resolution for 2009 says that will be completed by the end of the year…hmmm we’ll see! But I thought a play should be manageable, which given that I'm on my way to completing the course I think is the case.

The assignment set was to write a 30 minute play for the stage, a draft had to be completed by the end of January on which feedback was given from the course tutors. This was great for a novice like myself and gave me a few pointers as to what I had to do to transform the first draft, which though it's a complete play, is in no shape completed.

Tonight saw the next stage in the assignment to have 5 minutes performed by a group of local actors. Previously in the sessions, the class had performed each other's works but tonight was great as we got to have our work professionally read. This was again a first for me, seeing my words performed before an audience. My intial embarassment subsided and I quite enjoyed the delivery of the performance. It also gave me a few pointers as to what I should change.

It was certainly a highlight in a course that has already delivered so many. Given the inspirational nature of the course I already have a few ideas for my next play - here's to finishing this one first.

Blog 2.0

So where was I? Having decided to set up a blog a few years ago, I then decided to take said blog down and join the ranks of the numerous ex-bloggers out there. Mainly because I was busy with extracurricular stuff in work (which I won’t bore anyone with, but that is now behind me).

Then feeling decidedly guilty (given that I talk about blogging in the course of my teaching), I have decided I should have some sort of blog presence. So the New Year resolution was to start blogging again. Being not one to rush things here we are some two months later - a post (well of sorts)!

So why have I started now? Given that I set out to write something else at my computer today (which I will explain in due course), it is obvious that the reason to do so this will be for the usual reasons of procrastination – to avoid doing the job at hand. I must admit I quite missed the inane jottings that tended to be posted here and part of me wishes I had kept it up given that last year would have been a good year to have a blog - especially with the events of Liverpool's City of Culture.

In due course, I will add more posts and try to add the old stuff that I had taken down.