Entries by Norman Warwick

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Sidetracks and Detours present PASS IT ON weekly walkabout Sunday Supplement 22 Sunday 15th October 2023

The Adsubian Gallery is one of our favourite galleries even though at the moment it is an item in our bucket list,  that we have marked to visit before we die. I think it is perhaps because everything about the venue that we have learned about on-line and from their newsletters suggest they are a kindred spirit of the The Touchstones Arts and Heritage Centre, where I used to work as a facilitator with my Just Poets educational group.

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A WHOLE LOT OF ELVIS

This cool, unhurried movie, as it is described on the RogerEbert.com web site, is firmly anchored by a spectacularly modulated performance by Caillee Spaeney.. The 25-year-old plays 14 so damn well that the viewer almost doubts that she’ll be able to credibly age into a woman nearing 30. But she does, beautifully. As Elvis, Jacob Elordi towers over her; the contrast is an exaggeration from real-life but an effective one. This Elvis is soft-spoken, given to discomfiting bursts of anger as he comes to rely more and more on medications to boost energy and get to sleep; all the stuff that killed the man, in the end, is here in ostensibly more manageable form, but Coppola’s storytelling does convey its insidious creep. The movie enjoys getting into some of Presley’s early ‘60s idiosyncrasies; he goes through a Bible-study phase, reads the Autobiography of a Yogi, and even experiments with LSD with Priscilla. Coppola’s brief depiction of their trip is one of the more credible accounts of psychedelic experience in recent film. And all this time, even through movie-set affairs rumored and/or real, he keeps Priscilla chaste until after marriage. And then knocks her up immediately.

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ONLY SHADES OF GREY

Nevertheless I think both dad and I learned something about ourselves and others through watching the film,….though we perhaps couldn´t have articulated that we now had an understanding of stereo-typing and the dangers it presents. It was our first small step on the road to understanding and tolerance (although even that word can be misconstrued as being pejorative, surely?).

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ON TOP OF OLD SMOKEY

Whether you’re singing the original Appalachian song about losing out on love because courtin’ was too slow or singing about a mountain of spaghetti covered in cheese with a single elusive meatball, the song remains delightful and fun. It’s one of the most enjoyable tunes to sing.

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JAZZ: THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

What’s notable for anyone who sees Jorge Roeder of or hears him is that he does everything with such love and care and warmth … and risk! Jorge is a catalyst for great music-making and has a definitive voice as a musician. He’s a star´.

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