Hi and welcome to the blackroom. My name
is Pauline Black, lead vocalist with The Selecter.
This past week has been a hectic time. Monday evening (22 February) saw me down at the Belgrade
Theatre for the opening night of American writer Neil Simon’s play, ‘The
Prisoner of 2nd Avenue’, starring no less than Hollywood
superstar Richard Dreyfuss.
As you probably all know, Richard Dreyfuss starred in ‘Close
Encounters of the Third Kind’, ‘Jaws’ and
one of my favourite films of all time, ‘Tin Men’.
Bob Eaton, artistic director at the Belgrade very kindly got me some
tickets for the packed first performance.
Neil Simon plays are notoriously hard to sell to English audiences,
but you would never have thought that judging by the packed enthusiastic audience.
Needless to say, Richard Dreyfuss was excellent, along with his co-star, Marsha
Mason and the supporting cast. A great evening’s entertainment and a chance
to see a master craftsman at work.
Later in the bar I had a chance to talk Richard Dreyfuss, who seemed like a nice guy.
His opening question to me was, ‘Where’s a good restaurant in
Coventry?’
Now Coventry is not exactly renowned for its cuisine, so I was a bit
stumped, but I managed to burble on about how Browns did great homemade
cooking.
Well what do you say to a man who probably dines out in LA’s finest restaurants
every night of the week? ‘Try the local Indian?’ Well actually I did suggest
that he check out the rather splendid, but basic Indian restaurants on Foleshill
Road, so whether he took me up on that idea or not, I don’t know!
This week also saw me rushing around the local live music venues
having a look at the talent on offer and I must say I have been pleasantly surprised by
what I’ve seen so far.
I made it to the Hand and Heart, Far Gosford Street, the Golden
Cross and the Colin Campbell. I’ve seen the Superheroes
twice, Mirrorphase, Blag, Murph, Karma
(feature band for next week), Hypersucker and The Vow.
Stand-out band for me (I can hear you all saying, ‘Well she would like
them, wouldn’t she!) have been the Superheroes. I make no excuses
for my choice. I like ska music and that’s an end to it. But to be
fair the other bands I saw, were all having a serious go at getting something together.
I’ll be following their progress in the coming weeks.
E-mail me on blackroom@cwn.org.uk with your
opinions and questions, which will be answered on these pages.
Next week watch out for an interview with Dennis Lahoorier, the voice
of Dr Hook, as he likes to be known and a review of their gig at Bedworth
Civic Hall. Plus more local bands and the Selecter’s exploits in Paris,
for Behind The Scenes.
