it is funny how people can surprise you.
i am not a fan of andrew lloyd-weber, which isn't to say i don't like some of the things he has done.
i remember a terrible period when 'phantom of the opera' was released. i was in the middle of my master's degree; the usual stress between me and the girlfriend; flat was flooded and i was trying to write a paper on something to do with anthony giddens and the theoretical underpinnings of modes of production. so while the girlfriend and the kid slept i was in the kitchen trying to write this paper. the kettle was rarely off the gas oven, the coffee strong and hot. from the front room was the dull hum of the dehumidifier the council had given us to dry out the soaked room and from the radio in the kitchen the pleasing tones of radio 2 (chosen because the reception was clear). the witching hour had come and gone and i was now in the deep dark night. too much coffee and too little sleep. some odd light operatic show was on - the two presenters would talk a little and then burst into song and once the duet had finished they would be back to chit and chat. they were not helping me get my head around transitional forms of capitalism, the agency of change and the superstructure.
as if i were not suffering the dueting presenters moved into 'phantom of the opera' mode.
they talked about it, they played some of it, they talked about it some more, played some more of it and they may have even sung a song from it.
i wouldn't know - i was delirious at the time. i was trying to deide if weber and parsons would have been lloyd-weber fans and whether or not marx, althussar and giddens would have laughed him off of the radio.
my paper was shit.
my performance in class was such that i am still embarrassed by it today.
a few months later i was on the train to coventry to see my girlfriend while she was doing her masters at warwick university. i was going up for the weekend. i was knackered from a long week at work (ah the days of overtime - the money it brought in). some bastard on the train had his discman with him and decided to play 'phantom of the opera' very loudly and very often. i hated him.
i tried to sleep through it.
i may have done. i think i still have nightmares about it.
it turned out to be a very very shit weekend (but that is a tale for another night).
fast forward to the times of the con/dems.
in a way to get us all to be happy (because david cameron is very keen to make sure we are all happy) the con/dems decided to cut funding to varios art councils and groups (not necessarily a bad thing - again a debate for another night) but it seems an odd thing to do when you want people to be happy and to have access to culture.
but we are all in it together so we all have to have cuts together and besides the rich can still afford the opera so there is nothing to worry about.
some big names of the cultural world have stepped forward to complain about the cuts they have said that the government should maintain spending on the arts. most of these noble complainers are successful in their own fields. none of them short of a few bob or two and none of them seem to have anything to say other than: 'no cuts'.
stepforward andrew lloyd-weber.
now andrew isn't short of a few million, he has often featured on the sunday times' 'rich list'.
recently he sold a picasso painting and he has turned over the proceeds from the sale to his arts foundation. so some cultural organisatons in the uk will benefit from some of the £32 million pounds he has raised.
if ever david cameron wanted something that shows his 'big society' in a good light then andrew lloyd-weber is a perfect example. perhaps a few of the moaners can take a leaf out of his book?
so doff a cap to andrew lloyd-weber who has put his money where his mouth is.
it is a gesture that makes up for 'phantom of the opera'.
only just mind you; only just.
i am not a fan of andrew lloyd-weber, which isn't to say i don't like some of the things he has done.
i remember a terrible period when 'phantom of the opera' was released. i was in the middle of my master's degree; the usual stress between me and the girlfriend; flat was flooded and i was trying to write a paper on something to do with anthony giddens and the theoretical underpinnings of modes of production. so while the girlfriend and the kid slept i was in the kitchen trying to write this paper. the kettle was rarely off the gas oven, the coffee strong and hot. from the front room was the dull hum of the dehumidifier the council had given us to dry out the soaked room and from the radio in the kitchen the pleasing tones of radio 2 (chosen because the reception was clear). the witching hour had come and gone and i was now in the deep dark night. too much coffee and too little sleep. some odd light operatic show was on - the two presenters would talk a little and then burst into song and once the duet had finished they would be back to chit and chat. they were not helping me get my head around transitional forms of capitalism, the agency of change and the superstructure.
as if i were not suffering the dueting presenters moved into 'phantom of the opera' mode.
they talked about it, they played some of it, they talked about it some more, played some more of it and they may have even sung a song from it.
i wouldn't know - i was delirious at the time. i was trying to deide if weber and parsons would have been lloyd-weber fans and whether or not marx, althussar and giddens would have laughed him off of the radio.
my paper was shit.
my performance in class was such that i am still embarrassed by it today.
a few months later i was on the train to coventry to see my girlfriend while she was doing her masters at warwick university. i was going up for the weekend. i was knackered from a long week at work (ah the days of overtime - the money it brought in). some bastard on the train had his discman with him and decided to play 'phantom of the opera' very loudly and very often. i hated him.
i tried to sleep through it.
i may have done. i think i still have nightmares about it.
it turned out to be a very very shit weekend (but that is a tale for another night).
fast forward to the times of the con/dems.
in a way to get us all to be happy (because david cameron is very keen to make sure we are all happy) the con/dems decided to cut funding to varios art councils and groups (not necessarily a bad thing - again a debate for another night) but it seems an odd thing to do when you want people to be happy and to have access to culture.
but we are all in it together so we all have to have cuts together and besides the rich can still afford the opera so there is nothing to worry about.
some big names of the cultural world have stepped forward to complain about the cuts they have said that the government should maintain spending on the arts. most of these noble complainers are successful in their own fields. none of them short of a few bob or two and none of them seem to have anything to say other than: 'no cuts'.
stepforward andrew lloyd-weber.
now andrew isn't short of a few million, he has often featured on the sunday times' 'rich list'.
recently he sold a picasso painting and he has turned over the proceeds from the sale to his arts foundation. so some cultural organisatons in the uk will benefit from some of the £32 million pounds he has raised.
if ever david cameron wanted something that shows his 'big society' in a good light then andrew lloyd-weber is a perfect example. perhaps a few of the moaners can take a leaf out of his book?
so doff a cap to andrew lloyd-weber who has put his money where his mouth is.
it is a gesture that makes up for 'phantom of the opera'.
only just mind you; only just.
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