On 4th October we attended the concert for the re-opening of Birmingham Town Hall. We were actually very lucky to get tickets for thsi heavily oversubscribed event - the wonders of Internet booking! The Town Hall is one of oldest purpose b

 We went to see Nanci Griffith on Sunday (15th). A wonderful night as usual - I am often close to tears when listening to and watching Nanci. She played at the Alexandra Theatre rather than Symphony Hall - so we swapped the airiness and light an

   A superb South Bank show documentary on Marianne Faithfull; film from a recent concert, and a couple of interviews, the main one being conducted by Bragg (not a favourite of mine but I must admit this was a good, fairly self-effacing int

Another diary blog, covering in haphazard form the past few months. I have in fact at various times during these months felt capable of blogging, if only at a rudimentary level, but have desisted beause I have felt that any blog should reach a certai

Dreamgirls is the best film I have seen at the cinema for a good while; this may not be that much of a recommendation since sadly we rarely go the cinema nowadays! But most trips over recent years have left me sadly disappointed.At the heart of Drema

  Widely reported in the British press has been a 'survey' of people's choice of song to be played at their funeral. As with many 'surveys' of this kind the actual basis is extremely thin - it is a result of  a poll by digital TV channel Music Choi