I caught Tim Robbins in piratical mood at London’s Barbican last night. Sporting a jaunty bandanna on his head and strumming his guitar with a buccaneering swagger, he was one of a motley crew of musicians, including Martha Wainwright, Suzanne Vega, Eliza Carthy and Robyn Hitchcock, performing a rum collection of pirate ballads, sea songs and chanteys on the Barbican stage.
Called Rogue’s Galley, the event was the offspring of a project dreamed up by Johnny Depp and director Gore Verbinski while they were working on Pirates of the Caribbean 2.
Steeped to the gills in the pirate culture and songs of the era, they approached legendary producer Hal Willner, who set sail in 2006 with a crew of rock, pop and folk greats to produce a 2-CD album of songs. Now, two years later, their notion has become a series of concerts in New York, Dublin and London.
Whether singing solo or duetting with Shane MacGowan, Robbins proved a good salty sea dog last night. OK, so his voice doesn’t have MacGowan’s boozy slur, the gravelly gargle of Baby Gramps, or the bluesy rasp of Sandy Dillon, but at least he can carry a tune, unlike some other thesps turned singers. (Prepare to be keelhauled, Pierce Brosnan!)
Here’s a glimpse of Robbins the singer in this Dylan-inspired clip from his 1992 satirical movie Bob Roberts, in which he played a right-wing, folk-singing millionaire seeking a seat in the US Senate.
Everyone always talks about the news drought this time of year. Especially journalists. As if that would justify making, say, SJP’s disappearing mole front page news. Oh, pur-leease! And if I see one more pap shot of a sunbathing celebrity I shall scream. Just because they can afford to go on holiday five times a year.
But the news story this week that was stretched out and contorted like one of those balloon animals must have been Christian Bale’s domestic at the Dorchester. If you haven’t heard (you must be living inside a box), the Dark Knight star allegedly had a big row with his sister when she asked him for money. His mother kindly butted in and Bale allegedly lost it and allegedly shoved her. The ladies then reported him to the police for assault, the day before the big movie premiere. So Batman had to go to the police station to get arrested and tell his version of the story. Then Bale got bailed just so that the tabloid headline writers wouldn’t have to think too hard about next day’s front page.
If the film wasn’t already breaking all box-office records, I’d almost feel inclined to think it was a PR stunt.
But do you know what the creepiest thing is? Bale’s mother works as a part-time clown. Uhu. Talk about life imitating art, or is it the other way around? Well, I for one have a clown phobia. Ever since I watched Stephen King’s It.
I have to confess, I haven’t dared watch The Dark Knight yet. I have however seen plenty of clips and photos of Heath Ledger in full make-up. And that’s putting me off a while longer.
Watch Steve Martin clowning around. by clicking here.
How do you generate interest in the second big screen outing of a TV series which ran out of steam almost a decade ago? Well, according to the trailer for The X-Files: I Want to Believe, you have some people running, Billy Connolly revealing he hears dogs barking, and David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson treading on very thin ice, literally…
Little is known about the movie’s plot – assuming there is one – but the trailer indicates this: people go missing in the snow, Billy Connolly has bloody visions, and former FBI agents Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson) are reunited to investigate.
The film’s director and co-writer Chris Carter has revealed that the movie will not focus on the monster and alien mythology that ran through much of the TV series. That said, the film looks set to include the things that made the show a massive hit in the Nineties: scary things moving in the dark, Mulder going out on a limb and Scully being huffy.
So what is dragging people through the snow? Is the truth out there? Billy Connolly certainly seems to think so near the end of trailer: ‘It’s here!’ he shouts in one location, ‘It’s here!’ in another, and ‘It’s here!’ in another. Thanks Billy, that’s a great help.
The X-Files: I Want to Believe will be released in August.
