jack and the beanstalk at darlington - l'm not guilty

Another night - another recent theatre trip. This time for Jack and The Beanstalk at Darlington. I can't say it was one of the highlights of my life, but it wasn't me that delivered the hate mail, as even l'm not that sad.

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t.rextasy at darlington 2nd october 2019

As usual, another splendid night with Danielz and the T.Rextasy boys, this time at Darlington Hippodrome.
Go and see them - They are keeping the T.Rex name and songs alive, and are much better live than the poorly recorded videos would have you believe!





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The Beatles at Darlington 10th aug 2019

As it's the 50th anniversary of more Beatles product (Abbey Road at the moment), l ventured along to Darlington Hippodrome to see The Magic Of The Beatles last night, and l have to admit, they were pretty good. It's always good to try and forget what year you are in and imagine you are witnessing a Beatles Theatre show, and watching them do the later stuff such as 'I am the Walrus', it's as close as anyone has got.

Don't know how to turn this the right way round, but better than nothing!

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the summer of love musical - darlington

I moseyed on up to see the Summer of Love musical at Darlington Hippodrome earlier this week, and it was actually pretty great song wise. All of the tunes chosen were excellent, but obviously some were better presented and packed more of a punch. I particularly enjoyed White Rabbit and Purple Haze, but there were quite a few excellent renditions. I would have guessed beforehand that they would probably finish with 'All You Need is Love', but it was a nice touch doing the acoustic singalong of 'Give Peace a Chance'.
I just wish l had been old enough to have experienced it all first hand in the 1960's, especially alongside the drugs and free love, although l did try and make up for it in later years.

And here's a short video



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t.rextasy tickets sorted!

It's a hard job but somebody's got to do it. Just sorted out tickets for this upcoming T.Rextasy show at Darlington, for which l get for free and will be getting paid to attend.
Hurrah!

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recent trips to the theatre

Some recent trips to the theatre - Darlington Hippodrome to be precise. 

The Travelling Wilburys was pretty good, but the worst one of them was 'Bob Dylan', the person l wanted to see the most. However, it was pretty surreal, and had many moving moments, especially watching 'George Harrison' singing My Sweet Lord. I must be getting sadder in my old age (if that's possible).

As for Aladdin - it was just what you would expect from such a show, some moments of hilarity, nothing particularly outstanding, but everyone went away happy, so job done.

I think the next visit there will be for The Meat Loaf Story, even if l will probably be hassled for autographs.

Stone me - what a life.

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priscilla queen of the desert

Had a gay old time last week at Darlington Hippodrome watching the 'Priscilla - Queen of the desert' musical. It was actually quite fast paced, loud, and pretty bright, and a lot better than l was anticipating. Often, I've often seen enough when it comes to the interval, but not in this case. Recommended, even if like me, you are not even bisexual (worst luck!).

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darlington football club (darlington 1883) returning to town

I'm rather pleased to say that work has started on resurrecting Darlington football club's iconic tin shed at their new ground at Blackwell Meadows, after many years of Darlington (rechristened Darlington 1883) playing elsewhere (the folly of George Reynolds' new stadium 'Darlington Arena', and Heritage park, by Bishop Auckland).

When l first moved to the Catterick area, l used to go and watch Darlington (the local team) on a regular basis, as l couldn't afford to go to Manchester for the United games all of the time. I've been back for the odd games over the years, and am chuffed they are now going to be relocated back into their community, as they should be.

More news about the move can be found here.

On a related note, here's an old photograph from the 1976-77 season of Darlington against Hartlepool at Feethams.
I'm circled (very poorly).

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jimi hendrix in darlington

Everyones seen plenty of photographs of Jimi Hendrix over the years, and here's another one, from February 2nd 1967, hand coloured by Ian Wright. Why am l putting it up? Only because he was in super Darlington, near to where l live, as he was playing in Darlington that night (in The Blue Pad Nightclub, part of The Imperial hotel). Now l'm not trying to cast any aspersions about the place (after all, l'm from Bootle), but Jimi also had his black Fender Stratocaster guitar stolen that evening. Supposedly it was later bought for £20 (see here) and sold on, but it's hard to know the truth, especially if you are as cynical and untrusting as me.

Another minor footnote in the history of rock and roll, and as well as Jimi himself, most of the people who attended are probably dead (or in their 70's).

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the wizard of oz pantomine

My first ever visit to a pantomime - The Wizard of Oz, starring Bobby Davro and Dani Harmer (from Tracy Beaker) at Darlington Civic Theatre.
Can't say it was the best thing l've ever seen, but it was a lot more risque and enjoyable than l anticipated.
Plus, Bobby Davro was a lot funnier than l expected, and had the crowd (children everywhere) eating out of his hands (or the other way round, as he was nicking their crisps etc).
Well worth the money.

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jungle's well attended funeral

Now that is what you call a send off - the well attended funeral of Jungle in Darlington.  Told you (in an earlier post) that he was a nice guy.



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the death of jungle

Although there is no way that l was a friend of his, and l won't be going to his funeral, l used to see Jungle (who changed his name from the much less frightening 'George') on a semi regular basis back in the day when l used to drink in Darlington a lot, and he is a character that will be missed by many.
Forget the cliche of bikers all being aggressive gits, most of them are approachable, and very pleasant and funny company if you actually make the effort to talk to them, and Jungle was certainly that (as long as you weren't a git).  

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