

- Jun 26, 2020
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: IT’S A CROWDED BEACH
According to CNN, the organisers of a Wisconsin music festival scheduled for July with the Trumpian title of the COVID Herd Immunity Fest has changed its name this week to the innocuous, though scarcely inoculated, July Mini Fest after a social media backlash. Back here in Blighty, while we can each enjoy safe, socially distanced memories of past Glastonbury Festivals this weekend via broadcast and online media, it seems some people just can’t resist lining up the deckchairs


- Jun 19, 2020
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: A VIRTUAL GLASTONBURY
Next weekend would have marked a true cultural milestone; the 50th anniversary of the Glastonbury Festival. There might be no camping this year, other than in your own socially distanced back garden, but the BBC has come to the virtual rescue by hosting a number of classic sets across TV, radio and online. Among the choice cuts promised, David Bowie’s 2000 show stands out, not least because it will be the first time this iconic performance has ever been broadcast in full on T


- Jun 12, 2020
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: LIGHT, CAFES, FIRES
Scarcely prolific in terms of recorded material, but invariably high on quality, Andrew Maxwell Morris has announced a new album, Save The Light, available now digitally with a vinyl release to follow soon. A criminal lawyer by day, Morris was born in Australia but for some years has settled in suburban Surrey, a mite handier for Waterloo Station. After a promising debut EP in 2007, Upside Down, Morris has built a steady reputation as a strong live performer with a bevy of tu


- Jun 5, 2020
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: LET’S MOVE ON
"Let’s move on." We’ve heard that a lot recently from the UK Government in relation to the travels and travails of one Dominic Cummings while the phrase can now even slip into to discussions about Covid-19 fatalities. Such pronouncements are sweeping only in deference to carpets but in a world where populism is readily fed by two or three-word slogans, should we not worry about how easily they can be swallowed? Earlier in the year, the Trump administration took steps to unwin