The Next Big Thing

The Panopticon is an incredible place and it’s amazing that there are shows allowed in there at all. In these days of risk assessments, health and safety and needing to be insured up the wazoo just to breathe. Anyway, The BMX vs Pearlfishers set was short, sharp and practically accapella. The essence of timeless pop from a bygone time, recreated in a venue in a place that anybody with a sense of history ought to try and visit. I’d lose the artwork if it were me and concentrate on making it a music hall shrine but anyway, it’s still here so we need to be thankful for that at least.

The Arthur Kane documentary NEW YORK DOLL is a moving piece that’s already out on dvd in the US but is on limited theatre release here and that’s the way to see it. It includes Nina Antonia, Sylvain and Johansen et al and even Rick Rivets and Sirius Trixon. However, it’s about Arthur's redemption more than The Dolls. How he spiritually squared his troubled existencw with realising the dream of the band getting back together. He was looking a bit like Bill Nighy and you may well come away from it thinking that we could all take a leaf out of how dignified he was and what he achieved beyond the trappings of material gain. On the trailers prior to NYD, The Devil and Daniel Johnston was also previewed and it includes his appearance on The Cutting Edge with one Peter Zaremba. I’ve raved about this to anybody who’d listen since I saw it in Edinburgh last August. These are both intense portraits of very special people as is the upcoming You’re Gonna Miss Me. More of which next weekend…