Andrew Crowther

Hi, my name’s Andrew, no not that one

(indicating the consideration of an interesting and possibly vital idea)

Hmmm!

Poor old Vivaldi, pushed into second place, and for what?

I know, I know, I’m being terribly unfair—but sometimes it is irresistible!

(To be marginally serious, I wonder if that rather clenched English Tenor Sound is connected to the traditional English repression of emotion?)

Yes, I agree on this for normal purposes… but I will have to send a lot of mail out to unusual places shortly, and for certain reasons access to a larger branch would be very useful … (and I would very much resent having to go over to Leeds!)

They were such nice quiet lads before you turned up...

A very local issue, and almost certainly the wrong place to raise it, but: now that the main post office in Bradford has closed, where is the nearest big local alternative? The one on Sunbridge Road is tiny, and apparently doesn't even open on Saturdays! Perhaps Shipley?

I wonder what the "English songbook" of Warlock, Quilter, Vaughan Williams etc would sound like sung by a Pavarotti or a Carreras, rather than in the strangulated tones of your typical English tenor

Something rather exciting is coming in three short weeks – a beautiful collection of excerpts, poems, short stories, scenes from all the authors we’ve published in our first five years.

📚 All proceeds to our Bookbanks scheme.

renardpress.com/books/renard...

#beautifulbooks #booksky

Thank god, I was just thinking it’s been several hours since the last Wagner overture

It's a hidden influence on most of my plays, especially "Welcome to Paradise" (which is still the play I am proudest of writing; it's not my best, but it's my boldest). A play can be anything, even a wild, hallucinatory vaudeville like "Love Life". The only limit is the limit of your daring. 2/2

It's probably all too obvious that I am a little bit obsessed with the Weill-Lerner musical "Love Life", which has now received its first full recording. Hearing @operanorth.co.uk's first production of it on R3 in 1996 (!!) fundamentally changed my ideas of what can be done on stage. 1/2

Is anyone aware of any issues or unexpected delays with this recording?

Getting a little bit concerned about my ordered copy of the new @operanorth.co.uk recording of Weill’s “Love Life”. It’s allegedly in the post but is taking a dashed long time arriving; most sites (e.g. Naxos) are stating this brand new CD set is “out of stock“!
www.naxosdirect.co.uk/items/kurt-w...

Oh gawd

A motto to live by.

By the way, I enjoy both techniques.

An American comedian will let you know they're being funny by yelling the funny bit so loud it can be heard in Beijing.

A British comedian will let you know they're being funny by varying their quiet monotone by a subatomic fraction unmeasurable on any known scale.

Ian Skelly is in the building!

Seeking Situations, painting by Ralph Hedley, 1848-1913 (Shipley Art Gallery). Best known for portraying scenes of everyday life in north-east England. #NorthernArt

Excellent news! (And I see in that pile several titles that might tempt me further...)

I’m going to look through the list more carefully tonight but these are absolutely *sparkling* designs and very interesting titles.

They even have options to send small paperback books for Christmas instead of Christmas cards!

Cartoon by Stephen Collins for the Guardian. [Scene is BBC BREAKFAST with two presenters and a guest on the sofa]. 1 PRESENTER: Now - some disturbing new research has shown 2 PRESENTER: that as many as 10 non-Reform political parties may currently operating ‘under the radar’ across the UK. [Show on screen logos for Greens, Lib Dems, Conservatives  3 PRESENTER: In the studio to discuss this, Nigel Farage [We see the guest on the sofa is indeed Nigel Farage] 4 PRESENTER: Nigel, what’s your view?  FARAGE: Well I think this very worrying. 5 FARAGE: And just another reason why we should ban all immigration. 6 PRESENTER: I won’t push back on that FARAGE: Absolutely! 7 PRESENTER: Funnily enough, this is what your new show’s about, isn’t it? FARAGE: Oop - plug time! PRESENTER: Ha ha 8 FARAGE: Yes it’s a 12-part BBC documentary called ‘In Search Of The Political Parties That Aren’t My One’. 9 [Show on the TV screen Farage presenting a documentary series titled In Search Of The Political Parties That Aren’t My One. He is wearing his farmer's getup and looking dreamily at the UK from hillsides, visiting pubs and chatting with the locals, etc] FARAGE: It’s a really emotional journey  10 FARAGE: with lots of dreamy footage of me looking relatable...  11 FARAGE: as I answer the question: *Am I the only option for Britain?* 12 [Cut back to studio] PRESENTER: I won’t push back on that FARAGE: Absolutely! [ends]

Les Divas d'Offenbach Véronique Gens' talent as a storyteller needs no introduction; she is an eminent ambassador for French mélodie and tragédie lyrique around the world. "Make us laugh! "says this sparkling programme, de...

Taken from this new album - which is on my Christmas list

outhere-music.com/en/albums/le...

For once, BBC Radio 3 is playing some Offenbach that isn't the Barcarolle or the "Can-Can" (Galop Infernal) - vive la Grande Duchesse!

A very quick search brings up this snippet from actual research into Star Trek fandom (dating from 2011):

Females: 57%
Males: 43%

subspacecommunique.com/content/2011...

YouTube video by John McGlinn - Topic Overture from Oh, Kay! (Orch. Anderson)

Sometimes, only the overture to Gershwin's "Oh, Kay!" will do

youtu.be/MnT75g_SvFQ?...

The correct title is "Unchained Melody From Off Of 'Ghost'", surely

A herd of sheep in Leeds Road, Bradford, July 1921.