15/06/2016

Bristol still loves his beloved... Cary Grant


Funny Cary Grant still means so much to Bristol!! I guess it's because he left...

I do feel he's not the city's "most famous son" anymore nowadays; Banksy must be, except for those who still quote him as a Londoner (what?! I know, but surely you heard that too!) or... as an American!!! (I swear I heard it on a very prestigious radio...).

That does not mean Cary or Banksy are Bristol's FAVOURITE son however.

Or mine, for that matter :)

Though he's the closest person who almost shared my birthday date (January 19 anyone?)...

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Anyway, if you're a fan, you'll be able to enjoy this festival dedicated to his film in Bristol in July:



Cary Grant Festival programme revealed






Bristol's most famous son, Cary Grant (sorry Banksy), is celebrated in the third annual Cary Grant Comes Home for the Weekend festival next month. This includes screenings at venues as diverse as Avery's Wine Cellars, the Watershed and the new Everyman Cinema. The grand finale is a gala screening of the classic 1938 screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby at the City Museum and Art Gallery.
This year's event also runs alongside the Bristol Harbour Festival, offering an ideal opportunity to highlight the role Bristol's maritime heritage played in transforming young tearaway Archibald Leach into Hollywood icon Cary Grant.
The whole thing kicks off with a curtain-raiser screening of Hitchcock's Notorious at Avery's Wine Cellars on Friday, 8 July. Naturally, this includes a tasting of wines inspired by the film.
A special Cary Grant marquee in Millennium Square during the festival weekend of July 16/17 explores the great man's relationship with the city docks and allows punters to take the inevitable selfie with his statue, as well as offering the opportunity to buy a range of official merchandise.
“In his autobiography, Grant reveals that he spent many hours watching ships come and go from the harbour, dreaming of sailing away with them," says programme co-director Charlotte Crofts. "He also talks about the excitement he felt on making his first transatlantic crossing and of discovering that the film stars Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford were fellow passengers. So it’s perfect to have a celebration of his roots, life and work happening when the harbour is so lively: a wonderful chance for locals and visitors alike to find out more about one of the city’s most famous sons and enjoy some of the glamour of his world and times.”
The Everyman cinema has two screenings: a 4K restoration of Howard Hawks's Only Angels Have Wingson Saturday and the classic romantic weepie An Affair to Remember (co-starring fellow Bristolian Deborah Kerr) on Sunday.
On Saturday, the Watershed has two fascinating talks under the banner The Man from Dream City. In Kiss Him For Me: Cary Grant and Onscreen Love, Kathrina Glitre of UWE explores Grant's snogability with reference to his many leading ladies. And in an appetite whetter for the Sunday evening gala screening, Mark Clancy explores the making of Bringing Up Baby in Liberating the Leopard.
In a separate Watershed event on the same day, The Making of Becoming Cary Grant, Bristol filmmaker Mark Kidel unveils footage from his upcoming Cary Grant documentary and discusses the challenges of creating this new first-person insight.
If all that's not enough Cary Grant for you, there are also regular guided open-top bus tours of Bristol making special mention of places associated with Cary Grant (possibly not including the girls' toilets at Fairfield School, into which he once snuck, leading to his expulsion), as well as tours of the Bristol Hippodrome, where the young Archie got his introduction to showbiz. For further information and ticket details of all events see the festival's official website.

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The Cary Grant Timeline
The Cary Grant Comes Home for the Weekend festival has produced this fascinating timeline tracing young Archie's journey from Horfield to Hollywood.
1904:  A boy is born on 18 January at 15 Hughenden Road, Horfield, Bristol, and given the name Archibald Alexander Leach (shortened to Archie). He is the second but only surviving son of Elsie Maria (nee Kingdon) and Elias James Leach, his older brother having died in infancy.  His mother suffers deep depression as a result of the death of her firstborn and is considered over-protective of her new baby. By contrast, Archie’s father, a tailors’ presser, is rumoured to be a drinker and womaniser, possibly with illegitimate off-spring
1908: Young Archie becomes a pupil at Bishop Road Primary School, Bishopston and, briefly, at North Street Wesleyan Primary School, Stokes Croft, before transferring in 1915 to Fairfield Grammar in Montpelier. At Fairfield, he meets the science class assistant who will later take him on a life-changing trip into central Bristol. [B24/7 note: by now, Archie was living with his father and grandfather at 21 Picton Street.]
c1914:  Archie, now aged nine or 10, comes home to be told that his mother has gone away for a long seaside holiday and, later, that she is dead. In fact,  Elsie has been committed to the Bristol Insane Asylum (now part of UWE’s Glenside Campus) where, unknown to her son, she will remain for the next 20-odd years. 
c1917:  Because Archie shows such an interest in electricity, a part-time teacher and electrician takes him to see the lighting system he has installed at the newly-built Bristol Hippodrome theatre. Archie is captivated and begins working at the theatre after school as a backstage ‘gofer’. Here, he meets Bob Pender who runs a travelling troupe of knockabout comedians and at 14 leaves home to join the troupe.
1920:  At 16, Archie is still with the troupe when it enters the USA via Ellis Island for what turns out to be a successful run on Broadway and tour. At the end of the two-year visit Archie opts to stay in the States and the name Archie Leach starts appearing on vaudeville bills and in the cast lists of Broadway plays and musicals. 
1931:  With several Broadway credits now on his CV, Archie decides to head for Hollywood and is signed by Paramount Pictures. The studio insists, however, on a change of name. Archie’s first suggestion is Cary Lockwood – a character he’d played on Broadway - but while the studio accepts ‘Cary’, it asks for a different surname: enter, Cary Grant.  Later, his birth-name will crop up in the dialogue of His Girl Friday. It also appears on a gravestone in Arsenic and Old Lace.
1932:  Cary Grant gets his first major screen credit as co-star to Marlene Dietrich in Blonde Venus.  His performance is liked by Mae West who casts him in her 1933 film She Done Him Wrong, which she also wrote. The film is a Box Office smash, gets nominated for an Academy Award and sets Cary Grant towards becoming a Hollywood favourite. In all, he appears in more than 70 films before retiring after Walk Don’t Run in 1966.
1935: Archie’s father Elias dies in Bristol and the lie that has held since 1914 is shattered when Archie discovers that his mother remains alive in a local hospital for the mentally ill. A reunion swiftly follows, Archie arranges for his mother’s release and when she declines to join him in the States, he buys her a house in upmarket Westbury Park, Bristol, and visits her often from then until her death in the private Chesterfield, Hospital in 1973, aged 96.
1939:  Following the outbreak of WW2, Archie tries to join the British Navy but is ruled too old.  He may, however, have become a British spy - possibly reporting on Nazi sympathisers in Hollywood and possibly recruited by his friends Noel Coward &/or Ian Fleming both of whom definitely did work for the British Intelligence service.
1942:  Archie Leach becomes a US citizen and adopts Cary Grant as his legal name.  He also marries one of the world’s richest women, Barbara Hutton, earning the couple the nickname ‘Cash & Cary’. Hutton is his second of his five eventual wives (and Grant the fourth of her eight husbands!).
1947:  King George V1 presents Cary Grant with the King’s Medal for his services to the British war effort and for his gifts to war relief funds. Grant’s donations include his entire earnings from The Philadelphia Story.
1962:  After his performance in Notorious reportedly inspires Ian Fleming to create his debonair spy James Bond, Grant is the first actor asked to portray 007 on screen. But he turns the role down, saying he is too old to commit, as required, to a series. The Bond films franchise goes on to exceed all expectations and by coincidence benefits at least three other former Bristol residents: the locally-trained actors Caroline Bliss, Samantha Bond and Naomie Harris who all appear in different Bond films as Miss Moneypenny.
1965:  Now aged 61, Cary Grant gains his fourth wife: 28-year-old Dyan Cannon (later to earn an Oscar nomination for her role in Bob & Carol, Ted & Alice).  In 1966, Cannon makes Grant a father for the first time when she gives birth to a daughter, Jennifer. Grant then announces his retirement from film to concentrate on parenthood. Ironically, fan sites claim that a photo on a desk in his farewell film Walk Don’t Run is of Grant’s own parents, Elsie and Elias Leach.
1966:  The luxury goods and cosmetics firm Faberge appoints Grant as a director and brand ambassador, with access to the company’s private jet. Grant starts using the plane to drop in on his Mum and visit favourite places in around Bristol. His Faberge work keeps him in the public eye, as does his support for various good causes and his attendances at some very high-profile funerals including that of Princess Grace of Monaco.
1970:  After decades of failing to bestow a main prize on Grant’s many nominated films and roles, the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences finally gives Grant a special Oscar for ‘his mastery of the art of screen acting’.
1974: Arriving in a British-style double decker bus, Grant unveils a plaque in New York’s Bristol Basin commemorating that the foundations of the city’s East River Drive are built from the remnants of buildings destroyed in WW2 bombing raids on Bristol - the Bristol Blitz – which was later taken to New York as ballast for ships. A duplicate plaque stands near the Bristol Harbourmaster’s office.
1986:  Cary Grant embarks on an international tour of a one-man show. Would it have come to Bristol and perhaps to the Hippodrome? No-one will ever know because just before the show’s 37th performance, in Iowa, on November 29, the 82-year-old suffers a cerebral haemorrhage (stroke) and dies.
2001: A life-sized bronze statue of Cary Grant sculpted by Graham Ibbeson is unveiled in Millennium Square by Grant’s fifth wife and widow, Barbara.
2014: The first Cary Grant Comes Home festival takes place and attracts visitors from as far afield as Australia and the USA with a programme of events which includes a gala double bill at Bristol Hippodrome, the theatre where young Archie Leach caught the acting bug as a lad.


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Bristol can't be stopped!


From the Bristol 24/7 website.

Interesting news!!




Bring European Capital of Culture to Bristol

Laura Collacott, June 14, 201 




With mayor Marvin Rees committed to a bid from Bristol to become European Capital of Culture in 2023, Bristol24/7 today pins our colours firmly to the mast to support the bid. In the first of a series of articles, we look at what the accolade could mean for the city.

Can Bristol bidding to be European Capital of Culture sit alongside new mayor Marvin Rees’ ambitions for social inclusion within Bristol? There certainly won’t be all-expenses-paid fact-finding jollies for the usual suspects.
The bid – if it comes – also arrives at a time when the city council is tightening its purse strings, St Paul's Carnival looks likely to be scaled back in any future incarnation, and artists are being pushed out of areas such as St Paul’s and Montpelier and perhaps even out of Bristol itself due to gentrification.
The Capital of Culture bid became a political pawn during the recent mayoral campaign with undoubted cultural champion former mayor George Ferguson and then-challenger Rees both promising to back a bid for the initiative, designed to highlight the richness, diversity and common ground of cultures across Europe. 
True to his word, the newly elected mayor convened a meeting of the city’s leading cultural lights in his first full week in office to find out what the title could do for Bristol and what a bid could look like. 
"Bristol has a reputation as being a city with a thriving and innovative cultural heartbeat, something that is of fundamental importance to the city's economy and how Bristolians feel about where they live,” Rees told Bristol24/7 before the meeting, committed to a project which he hopes will "inspire and involve our communities in learning and celebrating our diverse and complex heritage".
Bristol mayor Marvin Rees: "I want to promote creativity and innovation in the city whilst making sure it includes all of our communities"
"I want to promote creativity and innovation in the city whilst making sure it includes all of our communities and people from a range of backgrounds," Rees added – and these last two points will be crucial for a mayor whose campaign literature said he enjoyed listening to epic film soundtracks.
It’s easy to see the appeal of being Capital of Culture: cities chosen so far have reaped bountiful rewards. A 2004 report commissioned by the EU found that the programme is “a powerful tool for cultural development” that “acts as a catalyst for change” and brings significant socio-economic benefits, not to mention a moment in the spotlight.
Participant cities report an average 12 per cent hike in tourism, and for each euro invested in Lille in 2004, it is estimated eight were generated for the local economy.
As well as cold hard cash and prestige, previous cities have reported regeneration, a measurable increase in civic pride, increased engagement with cultural attractions and the development of new cultural offers and opportunities. 
"Having a vibrant, excellent, diverse artistic and cultural life is good for urban life, good for mental health and good for economic growth," says Thangam Debbonaire, Bristol West MP, shadow culture minister and former professional cellist, who is likely to be spearheading Bristol’s proposal.
Bristol West MP Thangam Debbonaire: "Bristol’s got the talent and skills to do it and win it"
Tim Bleszynski, the Arnolfini's head of brand, marketing and culture believes that a bid "will enhance the idea of our strength as a cultural capital,” adding that in times of "huge funding challenges, the more we can do to highlight the importance of [culture] to the powers that be, the better".
For the Arnolfini, it also comes at a time when the gallery are finalists for the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2016, with their campaign #InspiredbyBristol aiming to share what makes Bristol’s wider cultural offering so special.
The exposure and boost to Bristol’s cultural profile from being Capital of Culture are major selling points for creative leaders across the city. 
"The profile that a bid - and hopefully a win - will give the city will be great for championing the artists, creatives and cultural organisations that make this city so special," says Clare Reddington, creative director at the Watershed, emphasising the inclusive, people-centric nature of the Capital of Culture initiative and its resonance with the Bristol spirit.
"A winning bid will forefront audiences rather than projects, and will celebrate the counter-cultural attitude of this city, as well as its more famous cultural landmarks.”
Watershed creative director Clare Reddington: "The profile that a bid - and hopefully a win - will give the city will be great for championing the artists, creatives and cultural organisations that make this city so special"
It's that attitude and the city’s rich cultural offering that are so attractive to tourists, luring in and sometimes trapping visitors.
"People often find their way here short-term, then end up staying for the foreseeable - our cultural offer is a large part of this attractiveness," says Emma Harvey, centre manager at Trinity. "Enhancing it should have them hammering the door down."
Even without a win, the very process of putting a bid together would be advantageous for the city, says Reddington.
"The collaboration that producing a bid like this involves is of huge benefit to any city, and will be a really exciting opportunity for organisations and individuals from all parts of Bristol to work together to reach new audiences, not just those who are already attending the larger institutions."
To Bristolians who proudly hold our prolific seam of cultural offerings to be the best, selection as Capital of Culture might seem like a no brainer, but we have to convince the outside world. So what makes us stand out? 
"I was proud to stand on a stage in central London and say that I believed Bristol to be the best place in the country to make work," says Ali Robertson, outgoing director at Tobacco Factory Theatres. "The intervening has two years has reinforced my belief.
"Artists are flooding to Bristol in ever-increasing numbers. That we're able to make such incredible work, despite a slightly dodgy level of infrastructure, is testament not only to the artists that we've been able to attract, but to the incredibly engaged and supportive audience that there is in the city."
Outgoing Tobacco Factory Theatres director Ali Robertson: "I was proud to stand on a stage in central London and say that I believed Bristol to be the best place in the country to make work"
Widely recognised as a creative city, Harvey from Trinity believes that it's the variety that stands out. "The strength of our offer is definitely our diversity; we're a melting pot of different cultures and communities. It's what gave 'The Bristol Sound' its unique identity in the 1990s and what made Situations' ambitious Sanctum spectacle work on so many levels today."
However, she does admit that some of our strengths are also our weaknesses: "the city is a hive of independent, grass-roots creativity - this is what gives Bristol its distinct character, but equally it's what makes it very hard when you're trying to mobilise people collectively.”
A divided city is also a point made by Cleo Lake, the former chair of the St Paul's Carnival and the current carnival commissioner tasked with supporting the revival and sustainability of Carnival.
Also deputy leader of the Green Party group of councillors in Bristol, Lake said: "Criticised and pushed out of the previous Capital of Culture bid for being 'a city divided' by the M32 coupled with a lack of acknowledgement for Bristol’s hand in the transatlantic slave trade, I believe the least we would need to do in the lead-up to the new bid is to symbolically rename the Colston Hall.
"As well as contributing to a community event, my agenda is to keep a keen eye on how traffic diversions play out with a desire to take a Carnival procession down a section of the M32 for Carnival’s 50th anniversary in 2018.
"If that ambition is realised and if we can reach out citywide to schools and community groups to be part of that, then surely the bid for the (European Capital of Culture) title will be ours."
St Paul's Carnival's Cleo Lake: "For me, the Capital of Culture bid will be fit for purpose if we can go beyond ourselves and twin in meaningful and positive ways with our 'transatlantic cousins." Read an opinion piece by Cleo here.
Bristol Music Trust chief executive Louise Mitchell, responsible for the Colston Hall, said: "Bristol has a strong cultural identity that is championed by long established venues like Colston Hall, Bristol Old Vic and the Bristol Hippodrome as well as more contemporary spaces like Watershed and Spike Island. Collectively, they combine to create a rich artistic offering for Bristolians and visitors.
"However, Bristol still lacks the investment in infrastructure to fully support the cultural opportunities that exist here. Going for the European Capital of Culture status will give the city the impetus to make sure that we can offer world class facilities. For our part, the transformation of Colston Hall is critical - delivering fully accessible, international standard concert hall and education facilities.
"The arts are big business for the UK, and particularly for a city like Bristol renowned for its creativity. The legacy of the 1990 Glasgow City of Culture clearly demonstrates how recognition on an international platform can have a positive impact for years to come on the success of the city. This bid for the Capital of Culture only serves to further new business opportunities and encourage more investment.
"I hope it will be an initiative that the whole city can get behind – enabling us to embrace our cultural diversity and engage people from all parts of Bristol and every community.”
MP Debbonaire remains resolute in her optimism: "Bristol’s got the talent and skills to do it and win it."
Main photo of Carny Ville by Spencer Dixey





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14/06/2016

Light and Dark - by Buckley




"Words are really beautiful, but they're limited.

 Words are very male, very structured. 

 But the voice is the netherworld, the darkness, where there's nothing to hang onto. 

 The voice comes from a part of you that just knows and expresses and is". 
 -- Jeff Buckley
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"What Will Become Of Us"... PJ



Sublime.
Final to the June 2016 concerts.



"River Anacostia", PJ Harvey - Porto, Juin 2016




Published on 14 Jun 2016
"River Anacostia", PJ Harvey
Nos Primavera Sound Festival, Porto - 10 Juin 2016


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News from Somali refugees



Read the latest here:


UNHCR calls for investiments in Somalia

BY   · 
Dadaab is the world’s largest refugee camp that hosts more than 350,000 refugees, majority of them from Somalia.
The United Nations (UN) high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi visited the Camp on Friday amid firm government stance that the camp will be closed before the end of the year.
Refugees like Habiba Abdulman have spent nearly their entire life in the camp. She, like many others, wants to return to Somalia one day but only when it is safe for her family.
In 2013, a tripartite agreement between UNHCR, Kenya and Somalia was signed to help Somali refugees with voluntary returns. To date, more than 14,000 have gone back.
“The best solution for Somali refugees and in fact, any refugees, is to go back in safety and dignity to their own country, on a voluntary basis according to international principles and in the context of the tripartite arrangement that exists between Kenya-Somalia and UNHCR as a facilitation agency,” said Grandi.
The high commissioner’s three-day visit includes Kenya and Somalia where he will meet with leaders of nations, refugees, as well as Somalis who have returned to their country.
He assured the refugees that UNHCR continues to stand with them and that it would work to make sure their plight is not ignored.
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Sharing this film by Art Refuge UK: 'Life in the Jungle'



EPISODES / REAR WINDOW

  • SE2E40. LIFE IN THE JUNGLE

    14 mins 
    “Life in the Jungle” tells the true human story of refugees in the Calais ‘jungle’ camp. Filming with art therapy charity, Art Refuge UK, we hear personal stories of people’s experiences, their journeys over to Calais and their life in the camp.




















Rear Window: Life in the Jungle




Published on 4 May 2016
“Life in the Jungle” tells the true human story of refugees in the Calais 'jungle' camp. Filming with art therapy charity, Art Refuge UK, we hear personal stories of people’s experiences, their journeys over to Calais and their life in the camp. http://multimedia.telesurtv.net/v/rea...


Art Refuge UK works through art and art therapy with transiting, displaced & refugee populations and local professionals in Nepal and the UK.



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Wonder.land


Cette semaine :



wonder.land

« Bienvenue à wonder.land, où vous pouvez être exactement qui vous voulez être. »

Neuf ans après l’opéra pop Monkey, Journey to the West (2007), le compositeur pop-rock britannique Damon Albarn retrouve la scène du Châtelet pour la création française de wonder.land, un nouveau musical 2.0 inspiré des Aventures d’Alice au pays des merveilles. Le Châtelet poursuit sa mission de création d’œuvres musicales hybrides avec un nouveau musical rock qui, comme le livre dont il s’inspire, s’adresse autant aux adultes qu’aux enfants (à partir de 10 ans).
L’héroïne de cette version contemporaine de l’histoire est la jeune Aly, malheureuse chez elle et à l’école, qui s’échappe dès qu’elle le peut dans le monde virtuel de wonder.land, un jeu en réseau dans lequel chaque participant se crée un avatar. Au sein de cet univers peuplé de personnages étrangement familiers, elle devient Alice, l’adolescente belle et courageuse qu’elle rêve d’être dans la réalité.
CONFÉRENCE par Julien Bordier le vendredi 3 juin à 13h au Grand Foyer. Entrée libre dans la limite des places disponibles.
Manchester International Festival and National Theatre co-production. 
Commissioned by Manchester International Festival, National Theatre and the Théâtre du Châtelet.
Durée : 2h20 avec entracte






Distribution


More here: http://wonder.land/


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13/06/2016

"Bring peace to my black and empty heart"... PJ, who else?



" 'Cause I've prayed days, I've prayed nights
For the lord just to send me home some sign
I've looked long, I've looked far
To bring peace to my black and empty heart"...

PJ Harvey - 'The Dancer' (with lyrics)








'The Dancer'

He came riding fast like a phoenix out of fire flames
He came dressed in black with a cross bearing my name
He came bathed in light and the splendor and glory
I can't believe what the lord has finally sent me

He said dance for me, fanciulla gentile
He said laugh awhile, I can make your heart feel
He said fly with me, touch the face of the true God
And then cry with joy at the depth of my love

'Cause I've prayed days, I've prayed nights
For the lord just to send me home some sign
I've looked long, I've looked far
To bring peace to my black and empty heart

Ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, aaaaaah !

My love will stay 'till the river bed run dry
And my love lasts long as the sunshine blue sky
I love him longer as each damn day goes
The man is gone and heaven only knows

'Cause I've cried days, I've cried nights
For the lord just to send me home some sign
Is he near ? is he far ?
Bring peace to my black and empty heart
So long day, so long night
Oh Lord, be near me tonight
Is he near ? is he far ?
Bring peace to my black and empty heart.


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"I've traveled over / Dry earth and floods / Hell and high water / To bring you my love"


"And I've traveled over
Dry earth and floods
Hell and high water
To bring you my love"...

"To Bring You My Love", PJ Harvey - Paris, Juin 2016




"To Bring You My Love", PJ Harvey
Festival We Love Green, Paris - 5 Juin 2016
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'To Bring You My Love'

I was born in the desert
I been down for years
Jesus, come closer
I think my time is near

And I've traveled over
Dry earth and floods
Hell and high water
To bring you my love

Climbed over mountains
Travelled the sea
Cast down off heaven
Cast down on my knees
I've laid with the devil
Cursed god above
Forsaken heaven
To bring you my love

To bring you my love
To bring you my love
To bring you my love

I know he's gonna be here
He know he's gonna be here
Yeah alright

Forsaken heaven
Cursed god above
Lay with the devil
Bring you my love

To bring you my love
To bring you my love
To bring you my love


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