Must see TV - June 2017 - Better Call Saul - Veep - Versailles

Must see TV Shows Summer 2017 - Is Bob Odenkirk the weak link in Better Call Saul?

"Its been quiet over there in Treedown world" many people are rarely heard to say on Boris’s cable car ride to nowhere. Is it because the nights are short and hot, or is it due to exceptional TV viewing keeping our writer from the laptop face? Well, Netflix is having a boom time in TG domain now I am truly hooked on ‘Better Call Saul’ Series 2.

Where Series 1 was slightly direction less and unsure of itself – is it a comedy with nasty sub plots or vice versa? Series 2 has the Breaking Bad team giving it their full attention. And we now have two evolving plot lines with Mike taking on Hector’s Mexican cartel, and playing fast and loose with some seriously dangerous characters. Jimmy is still the eternal lawyer with a desire to fail, even though he has a fabulously talented lawyer girlfriend called Kim Wexler. Jimmy is hard to like and its typical of Vince Gilligan to base this spin off series around the worlds biggest loser. One of Breaking Bad’s greatest bad guys has already banged heads with Mike, and although Tuco is locked up for many episodes, his uncle Hector is out to threaten all witnesses – well Mike – so Tuco doesn’t have to do too much time. The whole is thing is barreling towards more carnage and another edge of the seat denouement, to be followed by Series 3, already announced in the States.

There is one tiny thing that troubles me about BCS. No, its not that the character called Saul is yet to appear. What Breaking Bad proved beyond everything, the brilliant plot of one mans plan to make a quick buck out of the drug trade snowballing out of control. Like an avalanche the story sweeps all before it, the friends and family of Walt are dragged into the vortex and are forced to change or leave. The fabulous setting, the clever use of music and editing. Above all, it was the casting that was truly amazing. How did they know Brian Cranston was a leading man with so much charisma and gravitas? His main claim to fame was playing the bumbling Dad in a comedy aimed at kids. So when I tell you I have serious doubts about Bob Odenkirk in the main role, you have to question why would they cast an actor who seems to have so little range. One moment he is playing the grifter, tricking travelling salesmen out of their savings. The next he is admitting committing fraud and felonies to a foe, all because he has really got a heart of gold. Believable? No. Would another actor make it work ? Fassbender, Hardy, Gyllenhall, Ryan Gosling ? Err yes, Ryan Gosling would be better. A lot better. So why base the whole series around Odenkirk? Vince Gilligan is a clever fella, so I am going to look for the answer spending some more time thinking on it. Unless any of you voyagers on the cable car can help ?

Now on BBC2,‘Paula’ is two episodes in and has followed ’The Fall’ in using Ireland as a backdrop for some nasty scenes involving violence against women. But the pace has been unrelenting and the tension grips like a vice.

Jamestown is preposterous fun with the boat load of women newly arrived in the European claimed American lands causing havoc everywhere they go. The arch toff “Lady in daft hats” knows no true emotions, but schemes and manipulates everyone stupid enough to listen to her.

“What is this I hear about a map of buried treasure, governor?”

“I don’t think you should worry your pretty head about it, lady”

“But its so much more fun than farming …”

Max Beesley is on his way back from Indian lands with a burnt face that must smart. Its like goo to look at but doesn’t seem to bother him any. I thought he might not be dead when he got blown up, because, well, because his character is played by Max Beesley!

Comedy is not in its heyday, but I guess it’s hard to be funny in these times of the PC police and Trump clodhopping about the world like a giant marshmallow, with a smaller marshmallow in his head for a brain. Thank goodness for Veep – now in its sixth season, still as brilliantly cynical and hilarious as ever. , If you want to have a laugh, do not be put off by the subject matter. The American president (POTUS) and Vice President (VP or Veep) really are rich pastures for sharp writers and producers like Armando Iannucci.

‘3 Girls’ was gripping and a superbly well done drama about the grooming of young girls by a group of Asian men in Rochdale. The ever remarkable Maxine Peake stole the show and did so much with a small part as the sexual health worker who tried to alert the authorities about what was going on but was continually ignored.

Twin Peaks has returned after 25 years and is still mining the same weird worlds of Laura Palmer, Agent Cooper and little men who talk backwards/forwards in a parallel universe of red curtains and now a tree with a talking brain on one branch. These scenes were so much more powerful last century because they were used sparingly and held a tone of mystery and unease. Now they are longer and although superbly well done – the scenes with Laura Palmer were deeply strange and unsettling due to her undefinably unnatural way of walking, speaking and blinking – dont carry as much weight. Twin Peaks was masterful in its power to subvert and crush the sense of normality of the world in which it is set. Cooper has a dark side to his character which seems intent on evil doings in the twilight world of motels, runaways and hustlers. The other Cooper is still besuited and neat, but he inhabits the nether world of red curtains, and spends far too long running around with no purpose or end product. I am only up to Episode 2 so there is plenty of time for David Lynch to iron out any rough edges and let the weirdness really flow.

Finally Versailles has been great in the depths of depravity to which most of the action has sunk. Although Sun King Louis has apparently found God and has taken to the battlefield in Flanders as a sop to the almighty, you feel his heart, as well as his scene stealing brother, are still in drug filled Versailles. The Queen – pious and Catholic – has been left in charge and has outlawed fun, the parties and orgies continue, with the fabulously corrupt Chevalier chief organiser, and Madame de Montispan (a career high for new star Anna Brewster - now dominating all her scenes) defiant in the face of her adversary. One is chief Mistress Number 1, the other is Queen and wife. One gets the feeling they are both doomed as the court is brim full of young, eager arrivistes aristocrats with nothing but the aim of hitching a rich husband to concentrate on. This has been beautifully staged and has been packed full of down and dirty poisonings, stabbings, backs stabbings and wicked human behaviour of the most greedy and self-serving kind. Which always makes for great TV.

Cabaret Playroom - Deptford Albany

Cabaret Playroom at The Albany Deptford– 18-04-17

Curators Tricity Vogue and Lisa Lee have been running this twice yearly event for a fair few years in one of the small studios at The Albany in Deptford. It’s designed as a showcase for new acts and for more experienced performers to try new material out. Seeing as you pay what-you-decide is fitting at the end, you cant go far wrong by attending. Of course, I went close…

I have walked past The Albany many times going to or from Deptford High St. But finding it by car is not so easy, so I missed the first half which included cello player Mark Bunyan, the Naked Stand Up Miss Glory Pearl and Clare Benjamin trying out a new character called Marlene; she was still in character speaking in a German accent when we chatted in the interval. I was given a warm welcome by Tricity Vogue so I was horrified by my loathing for the opening act of Part 2 of the evening’s entertainment. Lord Hicks walked on sporting a bizarre costume which put in mind Malvolio and his yellow cross patch pantaloons Shakespeare invented for maximum laughs.

Such was Lord Hicks demeanor he took to the stage to silence. He had no patter or jokes to break the ice, just an apparent misguided self-belief in his brilliance and beauty. There followed three interminable songs accompanied by a ukulele including a version of a well known pop classic with new words referring to his main theme; the 50^th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in England. Its all very worthy Lord, but funny or entertaining it aint. What is more, the whole thing went on far too long. We should have been given an opportunity to vote for a third song, in case the majority of the audience was experiencing feelings closer to being tortured instead of entertained.

This idea gained strength in my mind when the next act – a duo called Kate Like - went through a bizarre opening “number” which started as a silent mime of I know not what, and ended with the audience being asked to write down words on post it notes. They were collected on a board with fifty words required before the first song proper began. This included all the words collected. Why ? I don’t know !

It got better. Sarah-Louise Young is a super talented singer who has Kate Bush perfected, especially her voice. Babushka was performed with tweaks to the lyrics and introduced with a story from a fan who had posted it on social media. Matthew Floyd Jones was equally inspired in this mixture of mime, dance, music and song. Some of it worked, some of it fell flat; the first number was just confusing, but by the end they had won the audience and myself round. There was no doubting they are both talented performers who are at home on stage. When I remarked to Matthew afterwards that some of the Kate Bush stuff went over my head as I am not an expert, he explained the act is primarily about fandom and not Kate B. Fair enough, I look forward to seeing the long version when they have it finished. In the meantime he can be seen at the Brighton Festival and in his other role as the male Carpenter of the 70s AOR / MOR partnership. I just hope they don’t start the act with another word association game. They got some polite suggestions tonight, but Karen Carpenter might bring out the worst in people. Eating problems like anorexia often does that; there are funnier people to portray after all.

So that’s two depressing stories Ive remarked upon in this review of a Cabaret evening. I think there may be a better time and place for this kind of material. Cabaret is fun. It you aren’t fun and you aren’t funny, I suggest youre not a Cabaret act. Just listen to the song lads n lasses and you wont go wrong. Well, not far wrong anyway.

Elle

Elle –director Paul Verhoeven  2016

Isabelle Huppert is today's Euro superstar,  there is no actress like her, anywhere. Such are the extremes to which she will go, she was the only credible candidate to play the lead in Paul Verhoeven’s Elle. The book on which Elle was based - "Oh..." by Philippe Dijan - had already been spotted by Huppert, but she was not Verhoeven’s first choice. The Dutch director of Basic Instinct, Total Recall, Black Book and Robocop had originally intended to make the film in the US, but could find no actress to take on the lead. Once he relocated to Europe, Huppert was in, as was his luck. Had something similar happened in the development stage of Showgirls, a better choice of lead may have been forced on him and a different film may have resulted.

The character - Michelle Leblanc - is a new kind of woman she has said in the press. This is debatable, I would say she is a 21st century woman in control of her destiny, who has a unique way of dealing with disaster. Having been raped by a hooded intruder in her modernist home, she dusts herself down and carries on with her routine. She doesn’t cry, call the police or ring a friend. However, she does look at her work colleagues with suspicion when it becomes clear her attacker moves in her everyday circle. She tells her closest friends what has happened at a restaurant, but it is without emotion or need for sympathy. Such is the steely way she relates the events, it is apparent she can deal with such an outrage as another nasty problem, no more. Huppert radiates power, confidence, success and inner strength in another remarkable performance. So much of her emotional life is stored away inside; her face gives little away. Such is her charisma, you can believe she would do some of the more bizarre things in the plot, like go into a basement to see a new boiler with the chief suspect. Nevertheless, you do have to wonder why she would do such a thing.

This incredible film is up there with the best of both Huppert and Verhoeven’s careers. It works like a mirror on the audience, how you react depends on you and your values. A panellist on Radio 4's Front Row condemned the film for the way she doesnt report the rape to the police. The other panelists found themselves apologising for having praised it. Leblanc has a thoroughly modern life, running a video game company which produces violent games laced with sexual imagery and dialogue. She has a complicated love life and a difficult mother who comes to a dinner party with her toyboy lover. She also happens to have been involved in a killing spree her father went on when she was ten. Normal she is not. Yet Huppert is mesmeric in this most difficult of roles. Having already triumphed in The Piano Teacher, Michael Hanneke's raw tale of sexual extremes and perversion, and Ma Mere, a less well received story of incest, Huppert is believable as the cold and controlling protagonist in Elle. Only Asia Argento could have carried this part off and still retain an audience’s interest without tittering or groaning in the wrong places.  This film is a must see that will revive Verhoeven’s reputation. Huppert's reputation is already gold plated, but she was nominated for an Oscar for her performance, so in some ways she has gained from this fortuitous partnership too.

Happy Meal Ltd - 100 Club 07-03-17

Happy Meal Limited (HMLTD) – 100 Club 7-03-17

Return of the Batcave ?– heaven forbid

I am old enough to know what I’m talking about when I tell you reader about the times of the Batcavists. I regularly frequented Alice in Wonderland at Gossips on Monday nights circa 1985 / 86. The Dr of the Medics fame would play all the music I most loved – The Stooges, T Rex, David Bowie, Lou Reed, The Monkees, Fire by Arthur Brown, Wheels on Fire by Jackie someone and then some more contemporary stuff like Bauhaus, The Saints, The Scientists. What he never played was Specimen, the band formed by the kings of the goths, the daftest, most outrageous darling, full make up and big hair group who were Batcave supremos. What a desperate bunch of non-starters. Sigue Sigue Sputnik came along, looked even more daft than the rest, and disappeared down the music industry plug hole never to be mentioned ever again. Until now.

Happy Meal Ltd are doing all of the above, all over again. The singer wails, postures, strips off to his PVC trousers, wails some more and the rest do much the same while playing an instrument. When the first songs chorus is “Choo Choo Train, get on the Choo Choo Train “ you know the night is not going to bother the cerebral cortex too much. And yet there is a willing crowd joining in, singing the words, moshing, surfing, loving it. The songs generally have a jungle beat lifted from Adam and the Ants Sioux warrior phase (Dog Eat Dog, We Are Family), and sometimes it sounds great. If only the songs would go somewhere. But they all seem to stop just at the wrong moment, pause, and then the groove goes again. Just as you are ready to let go , go with it, start to bounce, the song stops. Just as my legs propelled me skywards when I saw Adam and the Ants doing Cartrouble last year, this lot could do the same. They’ve got something, they just don’t seem to know what to do with it, yet.

Shame because there is a ready audience for a band who are a bit of a laugh and know how to play. HMLtd might get there, but at the moment they are a work in progress. It seems Sony music think they have got something having given them a record contract. There are some records and videos out there, check youtube. Well done the manager who swung that one, I would have run a mile if i were the record company . Just remember what happened to the Batcavists fellas, sunk without trace. Ditch the posturing, its desperate attention seeking and it was all done 30 years ago and everyone got egg on their expensive clothes. Thank god for the Stone Roses and Shoom, Frankie Knuckles and Bones. Acid House wiped the poseurs off the earths surface, no-one laments their loss, dont let it happen to you.

The Seven Acts of Mercy + Radical Sounds - 02-03-17

The Seven Acts of Mercy + Radical Sounds

No mention has been made so far on this oft talked about blog about a play I went to Stratford-Upon-Avon to see. Anders Lustgarten's The Seven Acts of Mercy’s main subject matter was the last days of Caravaggio – the revered painter and brawler.

We’d heard mainly bad things about the rock-hard benches at the Swan Theatre. However the seats in the Lower Circle were fine, although to have been at ground level in the stalls would have improved the experience two-fold. Located within the enormous main RSC theatre complex on the river, I was slightly green around the edges with envy regarding those going to see the Shakespeare play in the main theatre; Henry V.

The Seven Acts of Mercy started well with a darkly lit violent scene involving Caravaggio and an aggressor who had been sent by some dangerous Sicilian brothers to seek him out. They were after blood after the artist had killed one of their family while holed up on the island. Swarthy, vicious, swearing like a trooper, the famous artist dispatched him with a sword drawn warning, but also, he had been warned; his life was in danger. It was an effective opening, my mind was taken to a world of cutthroats and thieves, lurking in the shadows and doorways of Naples back streets.  Every time the action returned to 16^th century Italy, my interest revived.

But the play was mainly set in the present day, centring around a grey haired Scouser and his grandson, the elder endlessly educating the teenager on the rights and wrongs of the universe according to SWP doctrine. Need;ess to say it was dry as a bone but there was some humour; the biggest laugh of the night was at the start of part two, after the interval. His prodigal son has returned and the three generations of the family are watching a football match on TV. The son is a baddy because of his job, but far worse is the fact he is a Liverpool fan in the midst of Evertonians. Grandfather then goes into a speech in which he compares each political party to a football team. “Ukip are Chelsea “ he announced to great laughs. Eh ? How do you work that out? Man Utd were the greens, City were Lib Dems and sin of sins, Liverpool were  New Labour. The scene went down well but I was seething, already bored by the tedium of this story overloaded with leftie lectures delivered in scouse. What this strand had to do with Caravaggio I had no clue - but i am told it was to do with using street people as models for his mainly classical paintings, as was the case in the present as the young lad took pictures of other characters on his phone, The play has far more scouse than Italian art and I was completely bored well beyond the end. Its one thing to ram political views down the audience’s necks, but to alienate so many by insulting so many teams seemed crass in the extreme.

Radical Sounds at Senate House 02/03/17

Orlando Harrison did a great job organising this interesting event in a large lecture hall in Senate House. The sound quality was spectacular, especially used well in the last segment regarding Baader Meinhoff. The sounds went round the room using a quadrophonic set up skilfully, and when O took to the synth, playing along live, we were momentarily in the realms of gorgeousness. A soundscape accompanies words and a picture, Huey Newton of the Black Panthers was the main subject of another section of words and sounds.

Some of the poetry reading left me cold, but a ranting and shaking man from Berlin battled his nerves and delivered some well worked scenes from Kreuzberg's squatter scene. It seems the urban guerrillas are still manning the barricades in  2017 Berlin. There was also a display of LGBT, anarchist and revolutionary literature upstairs, for which we had to register and become day visitors to the library. I counted over 100 people in the audience, many of whom were experts in sending bad vibes and the evil eye to others who were trying to enjoy the experience by having some fun. Fun ? No sir, revolution is a fun free zone. Don’t you know that ?

Impressionism and Modern Art Spring Sale - Sothebys

Sotheby's Spring auction started March 1 - Christies began Feb 28 and runs until March 8
Update after March 1 - Magritte and Klimt go for almost £50m in record breaking day (see below preview)

The main auction houses deliberately hold their major auctions on the same day and at the same time. Not just to be difficult, but to make it worth the big spenders from the east time to come to London during the dreary months. So what if a tycoon fancies something from each sale while they are running simultaneously? Hmm, quite a dilemma.

You would need to be keen to run from Sothebys to Christies. We sauntered, chatted, had a coffee and I puffed on a vape until i found someone with a lighter and immediately had a ciggie while averting my eyes from the hideous picture on the uniform pack. By the time we arrived at Christies front door we were only allowed to watch people exiting. The huge posters of two Le Corbusiers and a Matisse and other fabulous looking works only wetted my appetite for more. The Matisse went for over £8m earlier tonight - (28 -02-17) during the first evening auction.
Sotheby's first auction starts on March 1. Theres a mixed bag including a late (1964) Picasso which has a stupendous estimate of only £1m . Bargain !
Sotheby's have produced a very interesting short film about the Plante de Tomates which was produced during WW2. This is expected to go for over £15m, and looking at it in person you can see why. Although I find the hidden meaning attributed to it tenuous, it is clearly a beautifully produced masterpiece. Just as Van Gogh's Sunflowers are said to be indicative of his disturbed frame of mind, the expert suggests the Tomato Plant is symbolic of the dark times in which it is produced, and also the better days expected to come.
Three more Picassos were displayed in their own room, with the Tomato Plant in another room, hung on the opposite wall to a Modigliani portrait of a young man  (Portrait de Baranowski). These are all expected to go for around £10m . As is the Klimt entitled "Bauerngarten", hung on a third wall of this 'stars of the show' room.
In the main room, two Basquiats (see pic) were hung alongside a large Warhol which had a double exposure effect - despite being a painting. My favourite work, a huge Basquiat with a vibrant red emblazoned on a figure with stick arms and fingers held in the air; "One Eyed Man or Xerox Face" 1982 - estimate £14m - £18m. It is pictured below with members of Picasso & Matisse Lovers London group beside.
This work goes under the hammer on March 8 so you may still have time to see it before it disappears into a wealthy persons private world .

Update #1 - After the first auction 2/3/17

Plante de Tomates - 1944 - went for £17m - 12.5% over the top estimate of £15m. Most of the big hitters performed in the same way ;-
Modigliani -  Portrait de Baranowski = £16m
Picasso - Portrait de Femme Nue Assise = £13.65m & Portrait de Femme Assise dans une fauteuille sur fond blu = £12m
But one picture went way beyond, way, way beyond. Like last year, it was a Klimt that the big boys came for in a really big way. Estimated to sell for £15m tops, the hammer eventually fell at an incredible £47.9m ! Entitled "Bauerngarten", the multicoloured bed of flowers is from 1907, painted during the Belle Epoch in Vienna with which he became synonymous. It is certainly an unusual work for the great portrait artist; it has great beauty and a mysterious quality which is perhaps what lifts it into the stratospheric realm it now resides. It may have hidden depths, people were rhapsodising about it as I looked on, but I didnt think it was as special as certain collectors clearly do. The experts at Sotheby's had given it the full marketing treatment, but they would have been pleased with it being the top seller of the day, as it was hung in the same room & manner as the Tomato Plant and Baranowski portrait. To me, this is what makes viewing paintings in this environment so special. The significance of the art work can radically shift from one day to the next. This is an unmistakable sign that Klimt values are going to climb ever upwards, just as a similar record price achieved at Christies for a Magritte signals the same thing for the Belgian surrealist.

Kiefer's Walhalla at White cube, Gavin Turk at Newport St

Gavin Turk at Newport Street Gallery + Anselm Kiefer – Walhalla at White Cube SE1

The best of 2016 – at the start of 2017

The best of what ive seen in 2016 – quite a lot of art shows, not enough plays, gigs and movies…too much TV !

The best art shows 2016 – I would love to have made it to Den Bosch for the much heralded exhibition of Hierynomous Bosch works at his birth place. Clive Anderson mentioned it on Front row and said it was worth the trip, even though The Prado reneged on its commitment to send the phantasmagorical “Garden of Earthly Delights”- his best known masterpiece. Oh well, Madrid here I come.

London is a great place for art lovers. The Tate is constantly reaching for new heights, which is keeping the competition on their A game. My most disliked show of the year ; Abstract Expressionism was at the RA and had so many admirers. Today I went to The Newport Road Gallery for the new Gavin turk show. I was amazed to see a room of Pollocks, accompanied by the photos of him pouring the paint on to the canvas on the ground, as seen at the RA.

“Is this a Gavin Turk show or a Jackson Pollox show ?” I ask an attendant.

“No, It’s Gavin Turk, it just looks like Pollocks…” she replies.

“Err, yes ,I could have told you that”, quick as a flash, I counter.

“Look at the signatures” she says to my back as I take my leave.

“Blimey, they are just like the originals” I told my buddy. “He looks just like him in the pictures as well”.

Gavin Turk is not only a great artist, he is a good impressionist, and his humorous works generally work, without the joke wearing thin and grating. A difficult trick to pull off. I enjoyed the room devoted purely to a blue plaque dedicated to himself. The Sid Vicious in a Perspex tank is a nod to the host's most famous work – Damien Hirst’s Shark in a tank – “The impossibility of living ….etc“ or is it called “1000 years “? I love Hirst titles.

There are some skilful models like Tussauds waxworks. We were staring at one; A Captain Birdseye type with HMS Ulysees emblazoned on his hat, when it suddenly burst into laughter. Another waxwork – Turk again looking like a tramp, is standing in the middle of the floor, you have to look twice when you walk past. Cool, clever and fun, the self-absorption seems playful rather than self-obsessed, which is how Sarah Lucas’ shows leave me feeling.

“This is the best yet” declares Chris. “And this gallery is fantastic”.

“I liked the Jeff Koons, the artist was impressed with Hirsts’ collection on the TV show they did together.” But yes I agreed, this is the best show so far in this fledgling space, even though parking around here is a whole new experience of one-ways leading to cul-de-sacs leading to estates with strictly no parking signs everywhere you look. All in a zone so quiet you only see learners and the odd Parcel Force van driving around all day.

In stark contrast, I leave my Hornet directly outside The White Cube on Bermondsey St when I visit the Anselm Kiefer show, Walhalla. Forget fun and laughs, this is as heavy a show – literally and metaphorically – as you are likely to see in London this month. A dimly lit corridor is filled with empty beds, the lead covers turned back as if the occupants have popped off somewhere. The galleries are often staggering in the scope, ambition and often stunning finish and effect of the works they contain. Huge works fashioned from lead, shellac, clay and acrylic paint hang from the walls, often depicting a smashed and destroyed urban landscape. Post war German cities come to mind as the bombed out buildings seem to be smoking following a recent shelling. Piles of bicycles and beds are contained in Perspex display tanks. A row of lead dresses hang from a rail in another, then an upside down tree almost touches the ground in the next work. The inventive use of these most difficult, obdurate and unbending of materials to work with is a marvel to behold. The artistic beauty of some of the pictures, with metallic blues and yellows adding to the effect of decay and destruction lends ever more power to this incredible show. Valhalla was a way into the Viking afterlife, the Valkyries were the women who accompanied the dead on their journey. A spiral staircase disappears into  the ceiling of the gallery, the clothes hanging from the steps a clue to the intended meaning of the Germanic titles of the works.

A must see, the best of 2016 ? Kubrick at Somerset House was great fun, as was Art Night by the ICA. Picassos portraits were a treat, but this show would have beaten all comers. Well, art world of 2017 ? You’ve got 51 weeks to go. Lets see what you’ve got .