Peter Viney's Blog

RCA post 1968 45s design

18/10/2024 by Peter Viney

On Around & Around:
The 45 design sections are in the first two RCA articles, but the RCA post-1968 is much longer, so the designs merit a separate article.
https://aroundandaroundcom.wordpress.com/rca-post-1968-45-designs/

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RCA and Elvis Presley

13/10/2024 by Peter Viney

At AROUND AND AROUND, RCA & Elvis Presley (follow link)
The sections on Elvis from the other RCA pages are here, with extra material throughout and an extensive post-1977 section on the reissues, aka The Elvis Industry

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Ben Portsmouth: This is Elvis, review

13/10/2024 by Peter Viney

An unusual last minute choice for us at Poole Lighthouse. BEN PORTSMOUTH: THIS IS ELVIS (follow link to review). A major Elvis tribute act, nearly filling the concert hall. I’ve been immersed in Elvis while working on a section in AROUND AND AROUND so we thought we’d give it a go. This guy really has a huge fan following. An odd evening all in all!

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Redlands – review

12/10/2024 by Peter Viney

Review of REDLANDS by Charlotte Jones at Chichester Festival Theatre (follow link to the review). The play is directed by Justin Audibert, Chichester’s new artistic director. We thought it a triumph. It’s a play with lots of live music rather than a musical, and follows the tale of the 1967 Mick Jagger & Keith Richards drugs bust. However, Jones weaves the story of their lawyer, Michael Havers and his family as an intertwined parallel. In all of it, perhaps the most important character is Marianne Faithfull, brilliantly peortrayed by Erma McDaid. There are songs, dance and Justin Talbot (on his debut) channels Mick Jagger on stage superbly. We both gave it five stars.

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The Cat and The Canary

11/10/2024 by Peter Viney

Review of the Told by An Idiot / Chichester production of THE CAT & THE CANARY (follow link to review). It’s the classic drawing room spooky whodunit from 1922, which was made into four films over the years. Adapted by Carl Grose from John Willard’s original play. A hilarious evening at Chichester’s Minerva Theatre.

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The Taming of The Shrew Globe 2024 – review

06/10/2024 by Peter Viney

Review of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW at Shakespeare’s Globe (follow link). This production is playing in repertory with Princess Essex with much the same cast. It’s an extreme absurdist take on the story, as if they’re afraid to play it for what it is. Now I usually give higher ratings than most, but they don’t count unless you give a really bad review when you feel it deserves it. This does, It’s pretentious tripe.

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Princess Essex – review

05/10/2024 by Peter Viney

Review of PRINCESS ESSEX (follow link to review) at Shakespeare’s Globe. This is a hard one to judge. There are strong elements of pantomime and end of the pier show and yet the play is about the first black woman to enter a British beauty contest in 1908 at Southend. Racism is a major theme. It’s juggling a lot. Sadly the night we were there, the Globe pit (capacity 700) had only sixty people in it. The theatre in all had little more than a 100. One fifteenth its capacity. This is a mountain the cast climbed with gusto but it did greatly lessen its impact.

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Time for A Song (revised)

02/10/2024 by Peter Viney

For ELT people. The latest copy of rock magazine ‘Shindig’ has a review of Jeremy Harmer’s 1974 set of teaching songs, ‘English Tea.’ It was an LP for Macmillan in Mexico. As it happens, I have a copy. The review mentions that the songs were inspired by Ken Wilson.

The LP is mentioned in my article TIME FOR A SONG (follow the link) on using songs in ELT. I went back and revised, extended and re-illustrated the article as a result.

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1984 – stage, review

27/09/2024 by Peter Viney

Review of George Orwell’s 1984 in a stage adaptation by Ryan Craig (follow link to review). This opened at Bath Theatre Royal and will now go a nationwide tour. Directed by Lindsay Posner, with Mark Quartely as Winson Smith and Eleanor Wylde as Julia. Keith Allen plays O’Brien. The staging uses several more actors on the projected ‘Big Brother Is Watching You’ screen. The adaptation is clever- it keeps whole sections, then rewrites other. That works.

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A Life in Cars …

25/09/2024 by Peter Viney

An excuse for pictures of the cars in my life to 1985, interspersed with pictures of us in various outfits befitting the eras, and anecdotes on the memories they bring up. You don’t have to be interested in cars to read it. Follow the link to the A Life In Cars page.