Art opening - The music photography of Jim Simpson

This week I was lucky enough to be invited to the opening of a fabulous photography exhibition, that I would encourage anyone to drop in on if they get a chance.

Havill & Travis is a new art gallery opened on Lonsdale road in Harborne, run by music promoter Dave Travis and fine art printer Gerv Havill.  The light and pleasant space is home this November to some spectacular photography from Jim Simpson, who was a musician himself, and later manager of the legendary Black Sabbath (represented here, photographed in Simpson's garden).

The black and white images, all captured in the 60s, show true global rock royalty on trips to the West Midlands.  There are hugely striking photos of Little Richard, at his most impish and mischievous, as well as unshowy portraits of Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, Chuck Berry, The Move and an frankly stunning picture of the wonderful Nina Simone.

What is great in this small collection is not just that it adds to the iconic images we already have of these greats, but that there are also more intimate, candid shots of the musicians in full flow.  The late Jack Bruce grinning with a silly hat, or his drummer in Cream, Ginger Baker, lost in solo.  Also powerful is the inclusion of the audience in a number of the pictures, close to the performers, not always the flower-children we associate with the period, but ordinary Brummies, enjoying a show after a hard day (one imagines) on the shop floor.  One picture especially stuck me, of the Moody Blues performing in a club in Erdington, with the slightly dangerous-looking 60s lighting display stripping away the rock and roll legend and reminding us that these venues and people were real and despite seeming it, perhaps not that far removed from us today.

A Streetcar Named Desire - National Theatre Live @ The Electric Cinema

OK, so it wasn't live, live as I couldn't get tickets for that, but this was an "encore performance" of a live transmission of show, which was seen at over 1000 cinemas worldwide, live as it was performed in front of an audience at the New Vic, London.

Now I know what we have great theatre productions here in Brum, but let's not be too precious here, anything that extends access to these shows has to be a good thing, right?

The Electric is just perfect for this sort of thing too, such a wonderful building, and anywhere you can get served beer and olives whilst at your seat can't really do anything wrong in my eyes.


So, what's it like going to see a play at a cinema?  Surprisingly good, I felt.  My main worry was whether the sound was going to be poor, echoing unnaturally and detracting from the nuance of the performance.  I needn't have worried, the sound, and visuals, were captured well, whilst not trying to pretend that this wasn't live theatre - the audience were visible throughout, bringing the viewer into the experience.

As for the production?  A really electrifying performance all around, with Gillian Anderson especially powerful as the doomed Blanche, all self-delusion and fluttering movement.  It's not an easy watch, dealing as it does with some pretty grim subject matter, but leavened with moments of humour that just about make it bearable.

I imagine an actually live performance (as opposed to pre-recorded) would add an extra frisson to proceedings, really bringing the cinema viewer into the audience as much as those in the theatre itself, a feeling perhaps slightly distanced from those watching a recorded performance.  However, whether live or recorded, this is a format which has a lot of potential, and kudos to the Electric for embracing it.