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 Last Field Place Roundabout |
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Friday, November 05 2004 @ 08:21 AM GMT
Author: Sebastian. Views: 760
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It was Friday 29th October at Field Place, Worthing and the glitter ball shone its constellation of swirling lights upon the disappointing turn-out for the last ever Roundabout at Field Place. The Halloween theme did attract a few new visitors who made the effort with costumes and make-up, but it was mostly performers, their friends attending and the regular Roundabouters. With Nathan Bean's excellent 'pigs heart in a liquidizer' video playing in the background, there was a heart crushing aspect to the evening.
Having said that, the acts were on top form maybe some of the best ever!
Compered by the ever-entertaining poet, Steve Carroll, it kicked off with a fun set by the Bamboo Band with James Fryer sporting his new hair cut and fiddler Sue Hockleyford dressed as a vampire. (Apparently her purple hair was a mistake the bottle said 'black', but when it came out purple she didn't complain and was pleased by the serendipity).
Sue and Jen from the Bamboos backed the man with the best surname in show - business, Russ Bravo, on 'The Monster Mash', which ended his fine set of music and poetry. Many of Russ' songs were his own compositions and it was great to see original material being aired at Roundabout. A highlight for me was Russ' young son Daniel, who brought his own miniature art gallery along to the venue. This was a 1.5 foot x 8 inch cardboard model which looked like an art gallery when you crouched down and looked through the doorway. Daniel followed his father with his own poetic composition 'A Ghost Story' which charmed everyone.
More poetry came from Wendy Greene of West Sussex Writers Club with a selection of serious and humorous poems that kept the audience entertained.
Steve Carroll read a couple of John Cooper-Clarke works on a horror theme and then a main set of original works and two from a rediscovered hero, William Blake. He read 'Jerusalem' (That's right 'Jerusalem') and dedicated it to RAGs vision for a Creative Quarter in Worthing. The most memorable piece by Steve was 'Population Explosion' which was a minute and a half of him shouting "BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!"
However, the highlight of the evening, in my humble opinion, was a new performer to Roundabout David Pickersgill. Professionally equipped, David sang an acoustic set of covers including 'With or without you' by U2 and some Jeff Buckley numbers including Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' which was quite fantastic. The audience was completely enthralled and David was asked to perform a second set.
Why is it that one of the cheapest, most entertaining and so passionately organised events in Worthing's history is so weakly supported even by those claiming to encourage the arts? There is a chance to sample the magic of Roundabout at St Matthew's Church on Tarring Road on Friday 3rd December. Entry will be free and it will be accompanied by the traditional Christmas Artists & Makers fair.
Let's all make an effort to support it. Don't let Roundabout slip into the annals of history!
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Bottling the early 21st century zeitgeist, Roundabout is brought to you by a gang of edgy artists, renegade rockers, wonderful wordsmiths and acoustic acrobats.
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moving tribute to the late great John Peel in the style of
WH Auden.
John Peel is dead, long live John Peel!
---
artist, writer, thinker�