Latest news with #BlindedbytheLight
Scotsman
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Theatre reviews: Blinded by the Light
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Blinded by the Light, Barony Theatre, Bo'ness ★★★★ Mistero Buffo, Oran Mor, Glasgow ★★★★ The playwright Sylvia Dow is a Bo'ness woman through and through, profoundly devoted to the Forth shore community where she taught and still lives. She is also fascinated by its history, as a place so rich in shale and coal that it once found itself in the very forefront of Britain's industrial revolution; and her new play Blinded By The Light - premiered in Bo'ness this week, with the Kinneil Brass Band playing up a welcome - is probably best understood as a passionate tribute to that community, and to the ways in which the current crisis in human history resonates through its past, present and future. Blinded by the Light | Contributed Presented by Dow's own company Sylvian Productions, and directed with great skill and feeling by Philip Howard, Blinded By The Light works in two time-frames, telling the fact-based story of the 1982 occupation of the underground tunnels by a group of 12 Kinneil miners determined to prevent the closure of the mine, and also - in a bold shift of perspective - imagining the fate of two young people who have grown up in those same tunnels, in a future where the people of the area have had to take refuge underground from catastrophic climate change. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The connections between the two stories are sometimes obscure, sometimes ironic, sometimes powerful and poignant. In both cases, though, the play tells the story of ordinary people buffeted by the forces of history, often 'kept in the dark' both literally and metaphorically, and yet somehow surviving, laughing, fighting, loving, telling stories, singing their songs. All of this is beautifully captured and held in focus by a fine company of five, featuring Holly Howden Gilchrist and Reece Montague as young Lily and Freddie, with Barrie Hunter, Rhys Anderson and a charismatic Andrew Rothney as the three 1980s miners, representing Kinneil's 'dirty dozen'. And if Blinded by the Light is a play about working people betrayed and betrayed again by those in power, it is also a life-affirming tribute to their astonishing resilience; and one respectful enough not to flinch from the depth of the crisis we face now, as the machinations of the powerful threaten to rob us even of the beautiful, habitable planet that was once our birthright. Lawrence Boothman in Mistero Buffo | Tommy Ga-Ken Wan First written by Franca Rame and Dario Fo in the 1960s, the great radical monologue Mistero Buffo also offers a working-class view of a world shaped by the greedy, cruel, and over-mighty; but here, the target includes religious institutions that often pervert the message of Christianity in pursuit of wealth and power. The speaker is a giullare or joker - a man who was once a husband, a father and a peasant farmer, but was robbed of everything by a wealthy baron, and became a travelling player. His stories tell of encounters with the sacred, loving and miraculous, as he journeys among the poor people of Italy; and in a strangely timely reflection on this moment of transition between two popes, Lawrence Boothman delivers an extraordinarily vivid and athletic high-camp performance as the joker, culminating in an almost frenzied encounter between a vain, self-aggrandising Pope Boniface, and Christ himself, carrying his cross to Calvary. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Somewhere in the heart of the show, though, there is a sequence about the massacre of innocents and the death of children that might have been written for this moment in history, the fierce strength of Fo and Rame's dramatic writing ringing out through Joseph Farrell's brilliant Scots translation, now revised for our time. And if Boothman's performance is sometime so frantically physical that it distracts from the force of the text, there's something about its desperate energy that also matches the moment - wild, despairing, and driven to the limits of rage and scorn, bitter laughter, and devastating grief.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Rockabilly rover Mick Rogers on playing with Frank Zappa, touring with Kiss, and rootsy jams with Jeff Beck
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Rockabilly rover Mick Rogers has a knack for being in the right place at the right time – usually. Best known as lead guitarist in Manfred Mann's Earth Band between '71 and '75, he's played alongside a host of rock icons. His right-place-right-time good fortune, however, wasn't operating when he left the Earth Band a year before their hit cover of Bruce Springsteen's Blinded by the Light. He did, however, later reunite with them, and in the intervening years he led and played in many bands – most notably Aviator – and was even in consideration to replace Peter Gabriel in Genesis. Can you recall your first emotional connection with the guitar? 'I had a musical family. My dad was a drummer, my auntie was a keyboard player, and my uncle, who lived with us, was a guitarist and double bass player. A big moment came when Elvis hit with Heartbreak Hotel. Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck especially – they'd say it was the turning moment in rock. I remember that day. 'One afternoon I took my uncle's guitar – a Levin acoustic – to a talent contest on the coast at Dovercourt in Essex, and I played Mystery Train by Elvis. When the small applause came, I thought: 'This is exactly what I want to do.'' When did your career take off? 'I performed a lot throughout my teenage years, and eventually moved to London; there were more musical opportunities for me there. I got a tour with the Vision, the backing band for Adam Faith and Helen Shapiro. Then Normie Rowe – an enormous pop star in Australia – asked me to join his band, the Playboys. 'There was something about being an English musician, which meant something in Australia at the time. I don't know what it means now. Probably not a lot! When touring in Australia, we had musicians ask us, 'This Eric Clapton guy, are his sideburns still as long as they were?' It wasn't about the guitar – it was about how he looked! 'In 1967 Normie was called up for national service, so we formed the Procession from members of the Playboys.' What was your go-to gear for Manfred Mann's Earth Band? 'I've always been a Strat cat – I think a Strat can sound like a Les Paul, but it doesn't necessarily work the other way round; in those days especially. I had a Gibson SG that I brought back from Australia, but it was falling apart. When the Earth Band played 10 consecutive shows in Rome to get us up and running, I saw this fantastic Les Paul and I said: 'That's the guitar for me.'' You got one of your most-prized Les Pauls thanks to Frank Zappa. How did that happen? 'Years later when on an Earth Band tour, we supported Frank. His management said to our bass player, Colin Pattenden, 'Frank was wondering if you could step in, because our bass player has to go back to LA.' Colin said: 'I'm not the guy you want. Mick is – he's a bass player and he's a big Zappa nut.' Gene Simmons told me, 'Kiss are either going to be the next biggest thing, or we're going to die on our ass!' 'There I was, all of a sudden, at sound check with George Duke and Chester Thompson; all my heroes. Frank came over and said, 'I've been told you're a fan. The first tune we do is a tune called Pygmy Twylyte.' I said, 'Do you do it in the same key you recorded it in?' Zappa went, 'You really are a fan!' 'The Earth Band flew to Miami the next day to finish the Uriah Heep tour. I didn't sleep that night. I was still pumped up. Zappa's management insisted on paying me for the gig – and with that money I bought a Les Paul Deluxe. 'Years later, when Frank came to Australia, we had dinner. He didn't eat much, though; he lived on black coffee and cigarettes. I never saw him eat anything.' Can you recall the biggest audiences the Earth Band played to? 'It was Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia, with Free and Deep Purple. That was one of the first big audiences. It was a very successful tour for us and we were able to go back and do our own tour. We did an extra gig with Deep Purple, but Free didn't do it. 'Purple were really nice to us. We had a situation over there with a promoter, Sammy Lee, who was a bit of a mafia guy. He wanted us to do an extra concert but refused to pay us. It got really nasty, but Deep Purple were great supporters of ours. They could see that we were going through some strife there. Ritchie Blackmore was great… he's another rockabilly guy.' Kiss supported you shortly after the release of their first album. What was that like? 'I had to use the same microphone that Gene Simmons used with all the blood coming out of his mouth! I remember Simmons telling me, 'We're either going to be the next biggest thing, or we're going to die on our ass!' 'When they went onstage with the makeup and stuff, people were quite silent because they just couldn't believe what they were seeing. Nor could we! They were scary – Gene Simmons was a scary looking image. But he was lovely.' In 1975 you split with the Earth Band. Was it a shock? 'I'd become a real pain. I wasn't grown-up enough, although I should have been. But my head was taken by the Zappa thing. I went to the studio one time, to talk about new material, I thought, and they said, 'Mick, I'm afraid you've been voted out.' 'I went back to Australia and performed with some great people over there. I got a lot of nonsense out of my head. Blinded by the Light entered the top 100; then it was 80; then it got to Number One. I remember thinking, 'Maybe I should have hung around a bit!'' I rejoined Manfred Mann after 10 years away. Jeff Beck and I could empty a room – we were just talking about rockabilly. We were both Cliff Gallup fans More recently, you had the pleasure of getting to know the late Jeff Beck. 'I got together with Jeff on Valentine's Day a few years ago. His manager – a great friend of mine, Colin Newman – put us together. The famous white Strat was sitting on the couch so I said, 'Jeff, pick it up and play it!' He was very sheepish, but what a guy! 'We could empty a room because we were just talking about rockabilly and how he grew up. We were both Cliff Gallup fans. I believe I've got the last recording Jeff ever did in the studio; we got together with some rockabilly guys and did an album which hasn't been released.' Why not? 'Jeff was playing through a dodgy Marshall. We played Lucille by Little Richard, but Jeff didn't like the sound. He said, 'We'll do it again later on.' Of course, that didn't happen, and he went on tour with Johnny Depp instead. 'When I listen to the track now, I think: 'Jeff, there's nothing wrong with your sound.' He could have played through a paper cup and it would still have sounded like Jeff Beck! He was just wonderful.' What's your current guitar gear? 'In my solo work I use a red Stratocaster, plugged into a Kemper. I've got a ghost pickup on my Strat, which, with a flick of a switch, changes into an acoustic guitar. I use Rodenberg pedals – I introduced them to Steve Lukather, and he uses them to this day. They're the business. All that and a Hughes & Kettner is everything I need.' Rogers' current live schedule includes a solo tour and dates with the Earth Band.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Yahoo
Jailed Bonanno mobster John ‘The Maniac' Ragano gets 3 more years for making loan victim strip
An imposing Bonanno soldier nicknamed 'The Maniac' got just over three years behind bars Wednesday for forcing a loansharking victim to strip naked in Queens — on top of the nearly five years he's already serving in part for extorting the same victim. John Ragano, 62, who also goes by the nickname 'Bazoo,' was trying to pressure mob-connected businessman Vincent Martino into paying back a $150,000 street loan — even after he'd already been convicted in a case involving that same loan. Martino was wearing a wire for the FBI, though, and Ragano's attempts at extortion came to a head on July 5, 2023, in a scene that could have fit into an episode of 'The Sopranos.' Jurors heard audio from the dramatic encounter during a four-day trial in Brooklyn Federal Court in October that ended in Ragano convicted of extortion, but acquitted on witness harassment and tampering charges. Martino, 47, walked into the lobby that day of A & G Auto Dismantlers in Ridgewood as Manfred Mann's classic cover of Bruce Springsteen's 'Blinded by the Light' played in the background, and stepped into a dark warehouse area to meet Ragano face-to-face. As the two were surrounded by tires and tools, Martino accused Ragano of ratting him out to the feds in a marijuana distribution scheme. That enraged and confused Ragano, who asked 'Are you trying to get stupid on me?' and commanded, started bellowing, 'Take off your f–ing s–t right now. Take off your f—ing pants!' Martino fled the garage, his pants around his ankles and his shirt over his head, but the wire kept recording. The confrontation happened just five days before Ragano was set to start a nearly five-year sentence in a union shakedown indictment that led to the convictions of the entire leadership of the Colombo crime family. Martino was also snared in that indictment, charged with going into the marijuana trafficking business with Ragano and others. On Wednesday, Judge Hector Gonzalez, who originally sentenced Ragano in the earlier case, added another three-plus years. Despite the guilty verdict, Ragano's lawyers, Ken Womble and Joel Stein tried to argue that prosecutors presented a 'false narrative' at trial, instead presenting his efforts as a misguided but friendly attempt to reclaim the principal amount owed, without interest. They were asking for a one-year sentence. Stein said the feds sent Martino into the auto shop that day to provoke a response out of Ragano. 'If it wasn't for July 5, we wouldn't be here today,' Stein said. 'They concocted this plan to upset him, to piss him off, and they were successful.' When Womble suggested that Ragano and his victim were merely 'friendly Mafia individuals,' the judge asked, 'Isn't there something oxymoronic about that?' Prosecutors were asking for an additional 51 to 63 months. Gonzalez said he ultimately went with a lower number, in part because of the conditions at MDC Brooklyn, where Ragano has been held for the past year and change, and in part because he considered the crime as an extension of what landed him the original nearly five-year sentence.
