Entertainment

By Harry Bedford, Music Editor Folk music has been around forever. It touches the soul in ways that soul music could only dream of. Through the greats such as Woody Gutherie, Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger, but also through the ordinary man, folk music is humane music in its purest form. It’s about life. The good, the bad, the happy, the sad, the rough times and the joyous times. Bellowhead are a folk band very much concerned with the joyous...

By Isla Watton and Holly Carter Guests were greeted at the Dominion Theatre on Wednesday night by a shower of fake snow pouring out of the front of the building. This festive display perfectly established the mood for the evening ahead. Set in the 1950s, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas follows the story of Phil Davis (Tom Chambers) and Bob Wallis (Aled Jones), two ex-army pals with a flair for putting on a good show, who now work as successful entertainers....

Mirrorcity – London Artists on Fiction and reality. By Isla Watton, Arts Reporter In early October a council painted over some allegedly racist graffiti. This standard procedure on the streets of Clacton-on-Sea hurled Tendring District Council into the national spotlight and set the fingers of arts critics and bloggers ablaze as it emerged that what had actually been removed was a satirical and valuable Banksy painting. Perhaps on this occasion fiction sat a little too close to home and some...

Satire from Jack Peat.  Bob Geldof has announced he is to re-re-re-release the Band Aid track ‘Do They Know it’s Christmas’ to fight the latest outbreak of Bird Flu. The Irish musician, known for being in the same room as Midge Ure when he wrote the popular Christmas record, said the cull of 6,000 ducks at a breeding farm in East Yorkshire was “bollocks”, adding that it was “bollocks” after further probing from a Sky News journalist. Leeds rockers The...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor In the heart of Soho on Windmill Street, located next to Paul Raymond’s famous Windmill Club and opposite the new Firmdale Hotel, a brand new radio station has evolved and is aiming to revolutionise the air waves in London and beyond. Soho Radio is a street level visible station, broadcasting via a large shop window which is a unique attraction in itself. I met up with Co-founder Dan Gray, 33, whose day job is in music management representing...

By Harry Bedford, Music Editor  Taylor Swift is one of biggest selling recording artists around today. Her evolution from country teen to pop princess has been incredibly successful and her latest album 1989 is already the best selling album of the year. However, the charismatic 25-year-old has caused a little controversy in the music industry this week by removing all of her back-catalogue from the music streaming service Spotify. In 2012, she refused to add her album Red to the...

By Holly Carter, Music Reporter Last weekend Asaf Avidan played two shows at The Islington Assembly. Asaf is an Israeli singer-songwriter currently signed to the record label Polydor. He is well known for performing as part of Asaf Avidan & The Mojos but in 2012 he decided to focus more on his solo career which saw the release of live album Avidan in a Box. Throughout his career he has performed alongside and supported legendary musicians such as Bob Dylan,...

By Harry Bedford Multiculturalism is as much a part of the fabric of London as Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge and that gloried Ferris wheel that resides downstream. In many ways London is a miniature version of the world and all its cultures, so luckily for us we don’t have go far to experience things that would usually require a several-hour flight. Comptoir Libanais is a new chain of chic cafes dotted around the capital that deliver the taste of Lebanon...

By Harry Bedford, Entertainment Editor The civil rights movement and popular music were married together back in the 1950s and 1960s. Artists such as Sam Cooke singing 'A Change is Gonna Come’ and Bob Dylan singing ‘The Times they are a-changing’ were hugely significant at the time. So it makes sense that a musical, set in Memphis, about the integration of black and white culture would work. Memphis tells the story of the over-confident, under-educated young white man Huey, played...