Blondie Archives - charleshutchpress

December 3, 2022December 28, 2022

More Things To Do in York and beyond, from an Old Granny Goose to Grayson. Hutch’s List No. 108, courtesy of The Press

Goose by the Ouse: Dame Berwick Kaler, centre, with Martin Barrass, left, AJ Powell, Suzy Cooper and David Leonard, gathering again at the Grand Opera House, York, for The Adventures Of Old Mother Goose. Picture: David Harrison

KALER on the loose, Christmas music, art and crafts and a stellar trio on the horizon have Charles Hutchinson hopping between diaries

Berwick’s back: The Adventures Of Old Granny Goose, Grand Opera House, York, December 10 to January 8

THE script is complete, as of 6am on Thursday morning, for writer, director and perennial York dame Berwick Kaler’s second year at his adopted panto home, presented in tandem with the Grand Opera House’s new partners in pantomime, UK Productions.

At 76, expect a greater emphasis on the verbal jousting from Dame Berwick, but still with slapstick aplenty in the familiar company of sidekick Martin Barrass, villain David Leonard, principal gal Suzy Cooper, luverly Brummie AJ Powell and ever-game dancer Jake Lindsay in his tenth Kaler panto, me babbies, me bairns. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York.

*Angel With Gift, linocut print by Anita Klein, part of The Christmas Collection at Pyramid Gallery, York*

Exhibition launch of the week: The Christmas Collection at Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, today until January 12, open daily

YORK ceramicist Ben Arnup opens The Christmas Collection, the last exhibition of Pyramid Gallery’s 40th anniversary celebrations, at midday today. He will be exhibiting 12 new trompe l’oeil ceramic sculptures too.

Gallery curator Terry Brett has invited London printmaker Anita Kelin to fill the walls with 15 large linocut original prints and two paintings in her 28th year of showing her depictions of family life at Pyramid. Exhibiting too will be printmaker Mychael Barratt, sculptors Christine Pike and Jennie McCall, ceramicist Katie Braida and glassmakers Rachel Elliott, Alison Vincent, Keith Cummings and David Reekie, plus 50 jewellery makers.

*Sara Davies: Crafty ideas for Christmas at York Barbican*

Return to York of the week: Craft Your Christmas with Sara Davies, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

DRAGONS’ Den entrepreneur Sara Davies, who founded her Crafter’s Companion company in 2005 while studying at the University of York, offers practical demonstrations, creative ideas and a healthy slice of down-to-earth know-how.

Taking you from gifts to garlands, cards to crackers, via a peek into the Den and a sprinkling of Strictly Come Dancing sparkle, Sara will help you to create your own unique handmade Christmas. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

*The Ebor Singers: Christmas music from America and Britain at St Lawrence Parish Church*

Christmas concert of the week: The Ebor Singers, A Christmas Celebration By Candlelight, St Lawrence Parish Church, Lawrence Street, York, tonight, 7.30pm

PAUL Gameson directs The Ebor Singers in an evening of beautiful choral arrangements for Christmastide that also marks the launch of the York choir’s CD recording of Christmas music by contemporary American composers, Wishes And Candles.

Pieces from the disc, featuring works by Morten Lauridsen, Eric Whitacre, Dan Forrest, Abbie Bettinis and Matthew Culloton, will be complemented by festive compositions by John Rutter and Bob Chilcott. Expect audience participation in carol singing too. Tickets: eventbrite.co.uk and on the door.

Festive musical duo of the week: Aled Jones and Russell Watson, Christmas With Aled & Russell York Barbican, Tuesday, 8pm

ALED Jones and Russell Watson are reuniting for Christmas 2022, combining a new album and tour. Performing together again after a three-year hiatus, the classical singers will be promoting their November 4 release of Christmas With Aled And Russell.

The album features new recordings of traditional carols such as O Holy Night, O Little Town Of Bethlehem and In The Bleak Midwinter, alongside festive favourites White Christmas, It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, Little Drummer Boy and Mistletoe And Wine, complemented by a duet rendition of Walking In The Air. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk

*York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust cast members in rehearsal for A Nativity for York. Picture: John Saunders*

Nativity play of the week: York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust in A Nativity for York, Spurriergate Centre, Spurriergate, York, Thursday, Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, Sunday, 3pm, 5pm and 7.30pm

A NATIVITY for York returns to the Spurriergate Centre following a two-year enforced break, staged by York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust (YMPST). After directing the Last Judgement plays on the city streets in 2018 and 2022, Alan Heaven has created a fresh, vibrant and magical retelling of the Nativity, combining “music, dance, sorrows and joys and some audience participation”.

Heaven’s company of actors, dancers and musicians is drawn from a wide range of community volunteers, in keeping with the YMPST productions of A Nativity for York in 2019 and A Resurrection for York in 2021. Tickets: 01904 623568, at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or in person from the Theatre Royal box office.

*Solomon’s Knot: Christmas Cantatas at Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, in York Early Music Christmas Festival 2022’s concluding concert*

Festival of the week: York Early Music Christmas Festival, mainly at NCEM, Walmgate, December 8 to 16; online box set, December 19 to January 31

MUSIC, minstrels, merriment, mulled wine and mince pies combine in York Early Music Christmas Festival 2022, to be complemented by an online box set of festival highlights post-festival.

Taking part will be La Palatine (Fiesta Galante); Ensemble Augelletti (Pick A Card!); Solomon’s Knot (Johann Kuhnau’s Christmas Cantatas); Spiritato and The Marion Consort (Inspiring Bach); Ensemble Moliere (Good Soup); Bojan Čičić (Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas); The Orlando Consort (Adieu) and Yorkshire Bach Choir & Yorkshire Baroque Soloists (Handel’s Brockes Passion). Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

*Guitarist Tom Bennett and baritone Sam Hird, outside their training ground, the Royal College of Music. On Friday, they perform a Christmas recital in York*

Homecoming of the week: Sam Hird and Tom Bennett, A Winter Night’s Recital, All Saints’ Church, North Street, York, Friday, 7pm to 9pm

YORK baritone Sam Hird and his fellow Royal College of Music graduate, guitarist Tom Bennett, perfrom classical songs from around the world, by Schubert, Faure and Britten, complemented by festive favourites such as Adeste Fideles, O Holy Night and A Cradle In Bethlehem to stir the Christmas spirit.

The 15^th century All Saints’ Church will be the “perfect backdrop” to this candlelit concert, Hird’s professional solo debut. A glass of mulled wine and a mince pie is included in the ticket price of £10 plus booking fee, available from samhirdmusic.co.uk and on the door.

Big jumpers, big songs: Alistair Griffin presents The Big Christmas Concert, St Michael le Belfrey Church, York, December 9, 10 and 17, 8pm; doors, 7.30pm

BILLED as “the biggest Christmas concert in York”, singer-songwriter Alistair Griffin’s winter warmer returns with classic Christmas tunes, carols and bags of festive cheer, heralded by a brass band.

The Big Christmas Concert takes a festive musical journey from acoustic versions of traditional carols to Wizzard, Slade and The Pogues, as audiences sing along and sip mulled wine while enjoying the fairytale of old York. Christmas jumpers and Christmas attire are encouraged; a prize will be given for the best costume. Box office: www.alistairgriffin.com.

*One way or another, you’re gonna get ya ticket for Blondie at Scarborough Open Air Theatre next summer*

Booking ahead: Blondie, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, June 22 2023

LOWER East Side New York trailblazers Blondie are off to the East Coast next summer to play Britain’s largest outdoor concert arena.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame icons will be led as ever by pioneering frontwoman/songwriter Debbie Harry, 77, guitarist/conceptual mastermind Chris Stein and powerhouse drummer Clem Burke, joined by former Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock, guitarist Tommy Kessler and keyboardist Matt Katz-Bohen.

Blondie join Sting, Pulp, rock supergroup Hollywood Vampires, N-Dubz, Olly Murs and Mamma Mia! among Scarborough OAT’s 2023 headliners, with plenty more to be added. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

*The Waterboys: 40th anniversary celebrations in 2023, taking in York Barbican*

Booking ahead too: The Waterboys, York Barbican, October 12 2023, 7.30pm

GREAT, Scott will be back for yet another evening with The Waterboys at York Barbican, this time to mark the Scottish-founded folk, rock, soul and blues band’s 40th anniversary.

Mike Scott, 63, has made a habit of playing the Barbican, laying on the “Big Music” in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018 and October 2021, since when The Waterboys have released 15th studio album All Souls Hill in May. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

*Grayson Perry: A Show All About You…and surely about him too at Harrogate Convention Centre?*

A brush with an artist: Grayson Perry: A Show All About You, Harrogate Convention Centre, October 1 2023, 7.30pm

ARTIST, iconoclast and TV presenter Grayson Perry follows up A Show For Normal People with A Show All About You, wherein he asks, “What makes you, you?”. Is there a part deep inside that no-one understands? Have you found your tribe or are you a unique human being? Or is it more complicated than that?

Perry, “white, male, heterosexual, able bodied, English, southerner, baby boomer and member of the establishment”, takes a mischievous look at the nature of identity, promising to make you laugh, shudder, and reassess who you really are. Box office: 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.

Also recommended but sold out: The Cure, The Lost World Tour 2022, Leeds First Direct Arena, Tuesday, doors, 6pm

ROBERT Smith’s ever-changing band play Leeds for the first time since September 21 1985 at the whatever-happened-to-the Queens Hall. Expect a long, long set of all the heavenly, hippy pop hits, the gloomier goth stalwarts and more than a glimpse of the long-promised 14th studio album, Songs Of A Lost World, pencilled in for 2023.

November 9, 2022November 9, 2022

Blondie drummer Clem Burke to play York gig with The Split Squad at The Vaults

*Clem Burke, second from right, keeps the beat with The Split Squad*

BLONDIE drummer Clem Burke is in York tomorrow, playing with The Split Squad, “one of the finest all-star you might never have heard before”.

New Jersey-born Clem, 67, will be on sticks duty at grassroots music venue The Vaults, alias the Victoria Vaults, in Nunnery Lane, with support from Johnny Seven and Indignation Meeting from 7.30pm.

Here CharlesHutchPress drums up some questions for Clem.

How come you are playing York as the only venue outside London, Clem?

“The offer to play The Vaults came through our UK agent and we’d heard it was a great venue, so we thought, ‘why not?’.”

When did you last play a venue as small as The Vaults in York?

“We often do club venues in the States as well, and it’s always fun to get together with my mates in the band. We’ve also done quite a few festivals around the world.”

What do you like about venues such as The Vaults by way of contrast with the big arenas and concert halls for Blondie?

“I do enjoy playing smaller venues but I enjoy the arenas as well.”

What’s the story behind the formation of The Split Squad in 2011?

“With The Split Squad, we’re a group of mates who enjoy each other’s company, so when the opportunity for a few gigs comes up, provided time allows for everyone’s schedule, we go for it.

“We all have similar musical influences, Motown, New Wave, power pop, garage rock, R&B, so it’s always a gas to get together and do some gigs.”

Aside from you on drums, who else is in the line-up?
“The Split Squad was put together by our lead singer, bass player and main songwriter Michael Giblin, who was a mutual friend of all the other group members.

“The other group members are Keith Streng, from The Fleshtones, on guitar, Josh Kantor on keyboards and Eddie Munoz on guitar.

*The poster for tomorrow’s gig at The Vaults, York*

“Mike wrote some brilliant songs and gathered us all in the studio to record our first album. After the record came out, we began to get some radio airplay and then the offer for some gigs started to roll in.

“It wasn’t really supposed to be a ‘real’ band, but we’re almost ten years on and have two albums out [2013’s Now Hear This… and 2022’s Another Cinderella] and an EP [2018’s The Showstopper].”

How would you describe The Split Squad’s music?

“The sound of The Split Squad is the sound of the history of rock’n’roll. Our various influences are diverse but always rockin’.”

What do you recall of Blondie playing to 25,000-30,000 people on a race day at York Racecourse on July 22 2011?

“I do recall that gig. It was a beautiful day with a great reception from the fantastic crowd. With Blondie, we’ve played a few racetracks, as we call them in the States, a few times over the years. Most famously in Yonkers, New York State, when Parallel Lines was first released.”

What do you think of Britain right now? Grate Britain rather than Great Britain?

“The UK is like a second home to all the members of Blondie. We all love visiting and gigging there as often as possible. Like the rest of the world, the UK is going through some trying times, we can only be optimistic and hope for the best.

“It’s very important to have hope and to be nice to one another. We have to stop the hate. Peace & Love, Clem.”

The Split Squad play The Vaults, Nunnery Lane, York, on Thursday (10/11/2022). Tickets: theyorkvaults.com; wegottickets.com/event/561001; seetickets.com/event/the-split-squad/the-york-vaults-venue/2396633

Who’s who in The Split Squad?

Clem Burke

The band’s resident legend. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer, and Blondie

founding member, is still bashing away with the same passion, fury and timing he has had since before he first walked into a Blondie rehearsal session.

Constantly moving and always playing, Clem is still highly in demand as a session musician, having worked with Pete Townshend, Bob Dylan, Eurythmics and, more recently, with The Tearaways, The Rockats and Echo & The Bunnymen.

Michael Giblin

Working from his laboratory deep in the centre of Pennsylvania, Mr Giblin, the

well-dressed bass player, singer, keyboardist, producer and connoisseur of fine cuisine, is the glue that keeps the band together and the fuel that keeps it moving ahead.

A member of 1990s’ power-popsters Cherry Twister, he assembled The Split Squad after his current band, Parallax Project, encountered the other band members on various tours and recording projects.

Michael has seen his stock rise as a producer and engineer, having his hand on new releases from The Fleshtones, The Cynz, and Stupidity.

Eddie Munoz

Eddie might be best known as the lead guitarist of ’80s L.A. legends The

Plimsouls (and he keeps the name alive by touring occasionally), but any attempts to pigeonhole him with terminology such as ‘’power pop’ or ‘New Wave’ pop are futile.

Keith Streng

One of the four handsomest guys in rock’n’roll, an uncrowned king of pop and

soul, Keith and his glitter boots have trodden on stages all over the globe the past four and a half decades as the guitarist and co-founder of one of the most enduring bands of all, The Fleshtones. These days, he also can be found recording with other acts, from Radio Birdman legend Deniz Tek to Swedish garage fiends Stupidity, Strengsbrew and The Vacuum Cleaners.

Josh Kantor

How many people in the biz can say they played with four Rock and Roll Hall-of-Famers (Clem Burke; Peter Buck and Mike Mills of R.E.M.; John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin) and at least one future Baseball Hall-of-Famer (and maybe more)?

When not playing with The Split Squad or The Baseball Project, Josh is the long-time organist extraordinaire for the Red Sox. Yes, those Red Sox, the ones up in Boston. From his perch at Fenway, Josh dishes out arguably the wildest array of songs in the history of the game, many by request, and has been on board for three World Series titles.

Latest album Another Cinderella also features an all-star cast of guests: Jason Victor (The Dream Syndicate); Brian Hurd (Daddy Long Legs); David Minehan

(The Neighborhoods/Aerosmith/The Replacements); Scott McCaughey (R.E.M./The Baseball Project/The Young Fresh Fellows); Joe Adragna (The Junior League) and violinist Deni Bonet.

*Knock-out punch: The artwork for The Split Squad’s Another Cinderella*

Michael Giblin on Another Cinderella

“This generation of Cinderella Men can take a punch and give one back that’s just as hard, if not harder. And they skilfully mix up a variety of punches. They come to the centre of the ring in a hurry and a flurry of relentless power-pop beats (Hey DJ, Another Cinderella and Sinking Ship); rope-a-dope with some deep-fried blues (Palpitation Blues); counter with psychedelia (Taxi Cab and Bigger Than Heroin), then unload a romper-stomper (Invisible Lightning), assault you with a combo of late ’60s-style soulful rock (Showstopper and Trying To Get Back To My Baby); a jab of ’70s hard rock (Not My Monkeys); set you up with a gentle ballad (As Bright As You Are), before catching you and sending you to the canvas with a full-on uppercut to the jaw (Hey (Soul) DJ). A TKO.”