- Sep 30, 2022
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: COST OF LIVE CRISIS
From pandemic closures to limits on audiences to liberation once more, live music has had a rollercoaster ride over the past two and a half years. As the autumnal chill creeps onwards, venue owners and promoters are anxiously awaiting clarity on how the promised help on energy bills will be delivered. You can hardly put a show on without power while no one wants to freeze while waiting for their favourite band to appear. This is to say nothing about the rising costs musicians
- Sep 23, 2022
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: I READ THE NEWS TODAY
Oh boy. A day in the life hardly goes by without me reading the news. I thought of The Beatles 1967 opus “A Day in the Life”, a seminal song taking its cue from actual news stories, as I juggled with what seemed the more dispiriting – Putin’s mad conscription drive or our new Chancellor’s ‘Fiscal Event’. Life was simpler when a story about 4,000 holes in the road made the front page. Write about what you know. That advice is often given to would-be authors toying with torturo
- Sep 16, 2022
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: A SENSE OF PASSING
Whatever individual feelings might be about the monarchy, there is no doubt that we have all shared a sense of history, past and present in the making, laid out before us following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Earlier today we went up to London to see the flowers and tributes in Green Park and took the slow walk along the Mall to Buckingham Palace and onwards up Constitution Hill to Hyde Park. As a nation we seem to have been divided on so many fronts for a long time. It
- Sep 2, 2022
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: BLUE ON BLUE
Time being somewhat at a premium as we prepare to head off for a week’s holiday in Norfolk, it’s a slightly shorter than usual Fifty3Fridays today [and earlier - Ed]. So, no further pontificating about the broken energy market or that never ending take-me-to-your-leader story (despite today's title) but still some exceptional music for you all of which shares a common thoughtfulness and artistry. Photo of Alicia Blue by Tammie Valer We start across the pond. After releasing a