MikePadgett.com

Last year, we managed to get tickets for the Buena Vista Social Club presents date at Sheffield City Hall but we were in the cheap seats. Having long since learned that the band was due to return this year, I was better prepared and booked early!

As far as it was possible to tell, the thirteen band members were unchanged this time around.

Starting with the veterans: supercool Manuel Galbán on guitar, the dextrous Barbarito Torres on laoud, cuddly virtuoso Guajiro Mirabal on trumpet, Amadito Valdes in cracking form on percussion, Orlando ‘Cachaito’ Lopez looking a little less frail this year on double bass and Jesus ‘Aguaje’ Ramos running the show on trombone.

Don Guajiro played alongside Luis Alemañy on trumpet and Javier Zalba on saxophone and flute; Amadito was joined by Filiberto Sanchez and Angel Terry. The younger generation was represented by singers Idania Valdes and Carlos Calunga, whilst Ronaldo Luna proved a brilliant pianist in several solos including a special “duet” with Cachaito.

This year, the set included notably fewer of the “old favourites” and the concert was better for it. The crowd was still treated to Cuarto de Tula and Dos Gardenias but newer additions such as Isora Club were tightly executed with a nice touch of jazz swing in the mix.

Word is that the band’s ungainly moniker of “Buena Vista Social Club presents…” will be replaced later this year with “Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club”, which may mean that some studio recordings are in the offing. With the introduction of a considerably wider repertoire and such dependably sharp performances as these, I certainly hope so!

Most people remember John Savident as Coronation Street’s recently deceased butcher Fred Elliott.

Fred was a self-made man, a local personality, a mainstay at the Rotary Club. A character on the cusp of extinction in today’s Britain: part of the local Con club scene, part of the furniture along with the photos of once successful football teams and dusty plaques commemorating long forgotten charity events. Fade to brown.

Happily, unlike his character, the actor is still with us and though there are similarities between the affable meatman and the grumpy old cobbler, it was the welcome return of Savident as arch-thesp that made this production of Hobson’s Choice a prospect to relish.

Indeed other people - myself included - remember the actor as a scene-stealer extraordinaire in Remains of the Day and a fistful of other period dramas.

So John Savident was right here, treading the boards at the Sheffield Lyceum as Henry Horatio Hobson, widower, cobbler, father of three aspiring daughters.

Those who remember David Lean’s 1954 film adaptation may recall that Charles Laughton didn’t really play Hobson for laughs, but the stage script was rendered duly hilarious as soon as the starting gun cracked.

Savident’s Hobson rightly dominated the play despite appearing in relatively few scenes, with the unlikely pairing of assistant bootmaker Willy Mossop (an excellent Dylan Charles) and eldest Hobson sister Maggie (Carolyn Backhouse) gelling particularly well. The wedding night scene was beautifully and affectionately played.

Indeed, the performances were all superb, as The Stage pointed out, this was “a cast which never gives less than best” [1].

Another exciting feast of photos. As usual, please don’t rip these off or hotlink them. The copyright notice is over on the right if you need a reminder.

8ch darkens our door again

The restaurant here is Que Tal? on Glossop Road in Sheffield. I made it ten years since I’d last been. Turns out the owners are Chilenos!

Back at Casa Mono, where Claudia - Marcia’s friend from Chile - has been visiting for a short while.

J’s visit to Magna

Don’t ask me what any of this stuff is. I have absolutely no idea as I didn’t go myself - J went with her sister and mother. What I can tell you is that Magna is an unusual science (physics and chemistry mostly) museum in Rotherham where many of the exhibits are tactile.

Nice toilet seat! Apparently, they’re all different. At least as far as could be said for the Ladies anyway!

It’s all very satanic mills, isn’t it?

And finally, a few outdoor shots, just to prove it still looks like a steelyard!