THE ONLY WAY WE KNEW HOW TO DO IT WAS THE WAY THAT WE DID IT – AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BELLRAYS

Posted on March 21, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Community, Music That Matters and tagged Alternative Tentacles, America, Black Lightning, blues, bob dylan, Bob Vennum, country, featured, Fireballs of Freedom, Fuzzy Vox, genre, independent, jazz, LA, Lisa Kelaula, live music, lyrics, MC5, mission statement, MTM, music, music review, music that matters, music venue, norwich, Norwich Arts Centre, political music, politics, Punk Fuck Rock Soul Vol 1, Punk Fuck Rock Soul Vol 2, Riverside, rock and roll, rock n roll, self published, Staple Singers, Strokes, The 45s, The BellRays, up and coming, Upper Cut, White Stripes.

by Rowan Gavin

Since their formation in the early ‘90s, Californian Rock & Rollers The BellRays have befuddled the expectations of music media and the industry, just as much as they have thrilled audiences. They’ve taken an open-minded approach to the genre that has defined American music for the past seven decades, and they’ve been an independent outfit that whole time.

The BellRays have self-published their nine albums through a variety of independent labels, including Upper Cut and Alternative Tentacles. 2017 saw the release of EP Punk Funk Rock Soul vol 1, the long-awaited follow up to 2010’s Black Lightning, and last month gave us the album-length Punk Funk Rock Soul vol 2. I caught up with Lisa Kelaula & Bob Vennum, the band’s permanent members, before they went on stage at Norwich Arts Centre last Friday.Continue Reading

LOVE & LOSS, THEN & NOW: READING OVID’S POETRY OF EXILE

Posted on December 3, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Inter|national and tagged Ars Amatoria, AS Kline, Benjamin Britten, bob dylan, Chaucer, David Malouf, displacement, exile, fluidity, home, Latin, literature, loss, metamorphoses, migration, mythology, Osip Mandelstam, Ovid, poetry, reading, roman, Shakespeare, translation, Tristia.

by Justin Reynolds

Two thousand years ago this winter, a heartbroken Roman nobleman died far from home by the frozen shores of the Black Sea.

The poet Publius Ovidius Naso, known to the world as Ovid, had lived a very different life from the millions of Syrian refugees who today find precarious asylum in nearby Turkey, or the Rohingya, further east, camped in the fields of Bangladesh. But he too knew the pain and bitterness of exile.

In Rome, together with his contemporaries Horace and Virgil, he had been lauded as one of the greats of Latin literature. He was certainly the most fashionable. Born into the Roman aristocracy and enjoying the patronage of the legendary benefactor Maecenas, Ovid had won fame with his sly, knowing love poetry, before writing one of the classics of world literature, the Metamorphoses.Continue Reading

LEFT WING CHRISTMAS SONGS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE

Posted on December 25, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged Angela Rayner, art, Band Aid, Ben Elton, bikini kill, billy bragg, bob dylan, Bob the Builder, Bohemian Rhapsody, Bratmobile, clean bandit, Craig Charles, Dan Jarvis, Do They Know It's Christmas, Elizza Doolittle, Elvis Presley, Ethiopian Famine, fight back, Gary Jules, Hillsborough Disaster, JC4PM For Me, jeremy corbyn, Killing in the Name, Kirsty MacColl, L7, labour party, left, Lenny Henry, Liberal Democrats, Madness, Mick Jones, Mr Blobby, music, Nary Creagh, Nelson Mandela, Paloma Faith, Paul McCartney, Paul Weller, Phill Jupitus, political music, political songs, protest, Queen, radical, rebel, Red Wedge, riot grrrl, Robb Jobson, rock against racism, rockabye, Samus Milne, Shane McGowan, Slade, Spice Girls, steel pulse, Tears of Fears, The Beat, The Clash, The Human League, The Smiths, The Specials, X-Rat Spex.

by Chris Jarvis

On Friday it was revealed that this year’s Christmas Number One was Clean Bandit with Rockabye, their names forever written into the record books, joining some truly excellent pieces of music that have shared the top spot over the years. The Beatles scored a hat-trick in the 1960s. Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ beat Wizzard’s festive effort in 1973. Queen managed it twice, with Bohemian Rhapsody, some 16 years apart. We’ve had Spice Girls, The Human League, and Elvis Presley – all deserving the accolade.Continue Reading

A PLACE FOR POETRY

Posted on October 20, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Perspectives and tagged Beyonce, bob dylan, haruki murakami, hip hop, LEMONADE, music, ngugi wa thiong'o, nobel, poems, poetry, rap, tarantula, Warsan Shire.

by Candice Nembhard

The Nobel Prize for Literature is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated and respected arts prizes in the calendar year. Previous winners include Harold Pinter, V.S. Naipaul and Toni Morrison – all of whom have gone on to achieve worldwide and commercial success. This year’s prize was awarded to singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, who – surprisingly – only ever wrote one novel. The Blonde on Blonde singer was awarded the honour over rumoured nominees Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Haruki Murakami.‘Having created new poetic expressions within the American songbook tradition’, Dylan’s surrealist, stream-of-consciousness protest lyrics have been given the Nobel stamp of approval – but what impact does this have on our understanding of this increasingly popular form?

#WORSTGOVERNMENTEVER – AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS T-T

Posted on April 24, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Music That Matters and tagged #worstgovernmentever, Against Me!, Alexander Hamilton, Beyonce, bikini kill, billy bragg, bob dylan, bruce springsteen, echobelly, elastica, fat white family, folk, grace petrie, kings of the south seas, Lin Manuel Miranda, Lynched, mambo taxi, music, music that matters, pete seeger, PJ Harvey, politics, punk, singer-songwriter, sleaford mods, Stick in the wheel.

by Chris Jarvis

‘Worst government ever!’ growls the chorus of Chris T-T’s latest single. The lead track on his forthcoming album 9 Green Songs, set to be released on June 3^rd is a blistering attack on Conservative Britain. The song is emblematic of the reputation that Chris T-T has developed as being a singer-songwriter known not only for the music he produces, but also for the politics that he espouses along the way.Continue Reading

bob dylan

THE ONLY WAY WE KNEW HOW TO DO IT WAS THE WAY THAT WE DID IT – AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BELLRAYS

LOVE & LOSS, THEN & NOW: READING OVID’S POETRY OF EXILE

LEFT WING CHRISTMAS SONGS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE

A PLACE FOR POETRY

#WORSTGOVERNMENTEVER – AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS T-T

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