The Hills are Alive

Viva Lewes had the opportunity earlier in the week to give the eminent Cuban film-maker Enrique Colinas a whistlestop walking tour of Lewes. He was fresh off a transatlantic plane but his bleary eyes shone with appreciation of the town. He especially commented on the proliferation of small businesses in the High Street, something he sadly missed in Cuba, where most all concerns are state-run. Ironically, the global free market is looking like putting paid to such shops here, too, as rents go up and chains move in. What can be done? Not much, apart from individuals spending more time and money on local goods in locally-run shops. Viva Lewes supports such behaviour, while guiltily admitting to occasionally indulging in a trip to Waitrose and supping a coffee in Caffe Nero. As usual we welcome your comments on this and other issues at info@vivalewes.com, as well as any feedback on our webmag, now in its third edition. This week, highlights include a visit from the fabulous hillbilly-swampthings the Curst Sons, a classical concert from the Musicians of All Saints, and a rare screening of David Lean’s weepie classic Brief Encounter. Enjoy.

To receive a free weekly edition of Viva Lewes in your inbox every week, please click here.

• Campaign: The Town Clock
• Cinema: On the Run; Brief Encounter; La Cage aux Folles; The Aristocrats; To Have and to Have Not
• Classical Music: MAS Haydn Season
• Folk: Shirley Collins; All Day Singaround
• Flamenco: Yasaray Rodriguez
• Football: Lewes v Carshalton
• Hillbilly Blues: The Curst Sons
• Jazz: Le Trio Perdu
• Litter Clearance: Friends of Tide Mills
• Meeting: Lewes Flood Defences (right)
• Photography: Telscombe Tye
• Restaurant: The Rose Inn, Alciston
• Travel: Sitges
• Walking: Lewes to Barcombe Cross

Contact Viva Lewes

Editorial (alex@vivalewes.com)
Marketing (nick@vivalewes.com)
Design & Technical (dave@vivalewes.com)

Open Meeting - Flood Defences

Some people are still recovering from the damage caused by the great flood of October 2000. And the government’s response? Blair and co’s spending plans on national flood defences are £700 million short of what their own team of experts said will be needed over the next ten years. Cliffe High Street and other low-lying areas of Lewes are regarded as low priority by the government. They are still as prone to flooding as they were five years ago. It’s become a case of flood defences: what flood defences? Norman Baker, the Liberal Shadow Cabinet Secretary for the Environment and Rural Affairs, is tabling a Parliamentary Early Day Motion later this month to highlight the issue, supported by a massive letter writing campaign from the public. There is an open town meeting tonight at the Town Hall to discuss the extent of the problem and what can be done to pressurise the government to take more action.

If you can’t make the meeting, but still want to take part in the campaign, ring Sue Atkins on 01273 476230 or e-mail her on sue.atkins@lexmasterclass.com.

Folk - Shirley Collins’ ‘I’m a Romany Rai’

Shirley Collins is an icon of the British folk music scene, ‘the first lady of folk’ who first started recording in 1955 and produced countless albums pioneering the use of traditional instruments to back up her unique voice, which has been described as ‘an extraordinary combination of fragility and power.’ Billy Bragg called her ‘one of England’s greatest cultural treasures’. She is also something of a historian of folk music, and tonight at the Royal Oak will be presenting a multi-media show she has put together about the gypsy folk singers of South East England, using original recordings made in the 50’s by the likes of Ewan McColl and Mike Yates, together with a slide show of the musicians in their encampments (one of which was just outside Lewes).

The show was a resounding success at its only other outing in the Tenterdon Folk Festival in the autumn, and will be attracting some important visitors, including the head of contemporary music at the Arts Council, who is looking into funding another Collins project for a tour of the country.

Cinema - On the Run (Cavale)

Cavale is the first part of a bold experimental trilogy by the French film director Lucas Belvaux. Each of the three films is set in Grenoble; each is of a different genre. All three films take a different look at the same situation: the peripheral figures in one story become the protagonists in the next. Cavale is a political thriller; Apres La Vie is a comedy; Un Couple Epatant is a melodrama. Belvaux himself is the protagonist of the first story: he plays a Red Brigade-type political activist on the run from the police having escaped from prison after 15 years inside. He wants to continue his armed campaign against capitalism but finds that his former activist friends have settled for a life of bourgeois normality.

The film has been designed as a self-contained unit as well as a part of the trilogy: it is one of those movies which provoke vastly contrasting reactions from audiences. It was originally released in this country as ‘Trilogy: One’. The title as well as the work calls to mind the ‘Three Colours’ set of Krzysztof Kieslowski.

Jazz - Le Trio Perdu

In the early part of the twentieth century in the United States a fusion of European and African folk music took place and blended into a new and exciting genre of music which became known as jazz. Belgian threesome Le Trio Perdu have taken on the ambitious task of explaining how this occurred by playing examples of the different types of music which went into the melting pot, from Transylvanian gypsy swing music to Jewish klezmer. The band, who have played in festivals all over Europe and are planning a major UK tour this summer, will use a variety of acoustic instruments; bandleader Kalvin will explain the history of jazz between numbers.

Take a little French quadrille, a bit of walz, a little bit of mazurka and a little bit of polka. Add in some blues, some gospel and some work songs. Throw in a ragtime rhythm. Mix them together on a stage in Seaford. And that’s jazz.

Folk - All Day Singaround

The Lewes Arms Folk Club’s popular annual all-day singaround, which has been held in the Ram in Firle for the last ten years, has been moved this year to the Skittle Room in the Royal Oak in Barcombe. The singaround is something of a marathon, starting at 11am and going on until last orders at the bar at 11pm. The session starts with an overture of sorts, with an hour of instrumental jamming as singers from quite a wide area arrive. The first part of the day is dedicated to individuals singing traditional English folk songs, with the rest of the audience, of course, joining in the choruses.

There is an hour’s break between 6pm and 7pm, after which the choral singing section of the day kicks in, led by the irrepressible Peter Collins. Other singers appearing include George Oakley, Sandra Goddard and Valmai Goodyear. Harveys Best and Old is available at the bar to wet the vocal chords and dull the inhibitions.

Football - Lewes v Carshalton Athletic

On paper a home game against the team propping up the league would appear to be an easy win. But, as Brian Clough used to say, football is played on grass, and Carshalton aren’t the pushovers they were earlier in the season. The Surrey-based team, managed by former Palace man Dave Garland, made a dreadful start to their campaign, unable to notch their first win until the butt end of November. However the Robins come to the Pan unbeaten in nine games, inspired by the goalscoring form of former Lewes striker Luke Fontana. Lewes will be banking on tired Athletic legs: they played an FA Trophy replay up in Accrington midweek.

Lewes moved up to 5th in the table after an edgy 1-0 win over Yeading last Saturday. The Rooks’ goal came from former Middlesbrough striker Jamie Cade, freshly signed on a month’s loan from Crawley, where he hadn’t got a game since the arrival of John Hollins as manager. Cade, who struck in a pass from Kirk Watts, is a speedy forward who can play on either wing.
Viva Lewes prediction: 2-1.

Film - Brief Encounter

David Lean is generally remembered for expensive and expansive epic movies like Lawrence of Arabia and Dr Zhivago. However he cut his directorial teeth making adaptations of Noel Coward’s gentle plays reflecting on the social mores of inter-war England. Brief Encounter (1946) is his fourth film, and by some distance his most subtle, moving and profound. The film is told in flashback by Celia Johnson, who plays a suburban housewife whose humdrum routine takes her by train to the local market town every Thursday. One week, in the station cafe, she gets a piece of grit in her eye. A kindly doctor, Trevor Howard, gets it out for her. The following Thursday they bump into each other again. They develop a passion for one another, and start meeting every week.

The passion turns into love. But both are married with children. They are faced with an awful choice. Do they stop seeing one another, or do they destroy their families to stay together? There’s a wonderful noirish feel to the film, and recurrent snatches of Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto no.2 set the stirring, passionate tone. If this one doesn’t bring a tear to your eye, you’re made of sterner stuff than most.

Classical Concert - The Musicians of All Saints

One of the most beautiful love songs ever recorded is being performed tonight as part of the latest concert by the Musicians of All Saints. Sir Andrzej Panufnik’s Song to the Virgin Mary, based loosely on a medieval Polish Gregorian chant, was in fact penned for his second wife Camilla Jessel, and inspired by a visit with her to Machu Picchu in Peru. It is typical of the MAS, directed by Andrew Sherwood, to mix lesser known pieces with old favourites, and tonight’s concert also offers a rare chance to hear EJ Moeran’s neo-classical Sinfonietta.

Also on the bill are Haydn’s Symphony no. 105, his only sinfonia concertante, and Handel’s wonderful Dixit Dominus, which he wrote aged 22 during a stay in Rome to show that he too could compose with the virtuosity more typical of the Italian style. The MAS, who accomplished a successful tour of Sweden in the autumn, are accompanied tonight by the Brighton Singers. This concert is part of their 2005/6 Haydn season.

Gig - The Curst Sons

Brighton-based The Curst Sons describe their music as ‘a rootsy mix of mountain melodies, hell-fire gospel and dirty swamp blues.’ Think banjos, think slide guitars, think skiffle boards, think one hell of a lot of raw energy dressed up in checky shirts and straw hats. Two members of the band played in the legendary Daddy Yum Yum, who had a house night at Brighton’s Alhambra Club in the early eighties, supported Ian Dury and Wilco Johnson, turned down a record deal from Pete Waterman, and then suddenly disappeared out of sight. This reviewer was a regular at the Alhambra: they were fab.

The Sons have recently recorded two albums, ‘A Day Late and a Dollar Short’ and ‘Hell Awaits You’, mainly their own compositions that owe much more to the Appalachian Mountains than to Brighton Pier; you can sample their unique and vibrant sounds on their website. Oh, and they’d like to point out that they don’t do a version of Duelling Banjos, however nicely you ask. So don’t.

Flamenco Dance - Yasaray Rodriguez

‘Duende’ is flamenco’s equivalent to the orgasm, the moment when the passion of the guitarists, dancers, singers and audience explodes in unison and moves everybody present in the room onto another spiritual plane. Duende is often hard to come by. Yasaray Rodriguez is a young ballaora (flamenco dancer) who is touring the UK after making some headway on the flamenco scene in Spain, having performed in such establishments as the Cafe de Chinitas in Madrid and the Casa de la Memoria in Seville, and appeared at the alternative Espantapitas festival in Almeria. She has an interesting background: she trained as a ballerina in Cuba’s world famous Cuba National Ballet School, then moved to Spain to study to become a ballaora in Seville’s Cristina Heeren Foundation. She likes fusing Latin American movements into her performances, as well as delivering classical rat-a-tat, arm-contorted flamenco dances.

Rodriguez, in a white dress and accompanied by two singers and two guitarists, does not just perform frilly stuff for the tourists, then. It’s more pared down and pure than that. There may just be some duende in the All Saints Centre tonight.

Cinema - La Cage aux Folles

Some comedies make you wryly smile, others are worth a chuckle or two. La Cage Aux Folles isn’t one of these. Don’t wear contact lenses, don’t wear mascara: this classic 70’s farce will have you crying with laughter. A gay couple live a quiet existence running a cabaret bar in the South of France. Ugo Tognazzi is the manager, his outrageously camp lover Michel Saurrault is the main attraction, with an over-the-top drag act. Their peace is disturbed when the son Tognazzi sired in a rare moment of heterosexual love turns up with his fiancée. He announces that the girl’s father won’t allow her hand in marriage until he has vetted her potential parents in law.

What’s worse is that the girl’s father is the vice president of a society promoting moral virtue. There’s only one thing to do. Tognazzi has to learn to play it straight; Saurrault has to pretend to be the mother. They invite the girl’s parents over. The ensuing dinner party is a increasingly hysterical riot. This is much better than the Hollywood remake, ‘the birdcage’. Not to be missed.

Litter Clearance

For several years the Friends of Tide Mills and Newhaven East side have been meeting every month to clear the litter which has accumulated over the years in the area. It’s a bit like painting the Forth Bridge: most of the litter is blown in by South-Westerly winds from the sea. Volunteers will be meeting at 10am this morning and putting in a couple of hours: they usually clear up to twenty sacks of rubbish. Much of this is old fishing nets, and plastic bottles (many of which have foreign labels). They work the area from the East Pier to the Buckle at the Seaford end of the beach.

The Tide Mills were the largest of their kind in Sussex in the 19th century, but stopped grinding in 1883: the site was used by the Royal Navy in the war and effectively destroyed. It maintains an eerie kind of beauty, and is of considerable importance to local historians. If you want to join the volunteers in their endeavour to tidy up the area, meet at the beach end of the road running through the ruins.

Pint-to-pint walk no 2
The Elephant and Castle, Lewes to the Royal Oak, Barcombe

Put on a sturdy pair of walking boots, and make your way to the Elephant and Castle on White Hill/Mount Pleasant in Lewes. Drink a pint; the Harveys here is good. Walk down the hill past St John Sub Castro and the Pells (the first-ever outdoor swimming pool in Britain) until you reach the Ouse: turn left. From here you can follow Ouse Valley Walk signs to Barcombe. Walk along the river bank. You will notice that several herds of cows seem to have just preceded you, hence the need for boots. You are now walking on the view you get from the train to London: check out the llamas on the other side of the bank.

The path turns into a paved road and veers left off the river through Hamsey Village; once through the village take a right turn over a ploughed field; when you come to a junction in the path turn left into Old Barcombe, with its beautiful church and village pond. Continue along Church Road, until you reach a path on your left; this takes you across a couple of fields (be careful of the electric fence) over a wooded ridge, and eventually into Barcombe Cross. You’ll find the Royal Oak by the post office on the main road through town. Here they do a good pint of Harveys Old. Lazier readers might like to try the much shorter walk from the Elephant and Castle to the Royal Oak in Lewes.

Restaurant -The Rose Cottage Inn

As you enter The Rose Cottage Inn in Alciston you notice an Egon Ronay sticker – albeit one from 1993 – stuck on the window, though when you look at the menu you wonder whether some sort of inventive literary award might have been more in keeping. My partner couldn’t resist the ‘ferocious fillet of local cod with avocado sauce’ (influenced by Herman Melville?). I passed over the ‘jolly posh fish pie with salmon and tiger prawns in a creamy spinach sauce topped with potato and celeriac mash’ (Enid Blyton, of course), and went for the rather more prosaic ‘chargrilled 8oz rib-eye steak - locally farmed - with tomatoes, mushrooms, peas and chips’ (Hemingway, no doubt about it). The landlord, a man with some attitude, brought me a frothing jug of Harveys Old to wash it down.

The food was delicious, topped up nicely with a large slice of banoffi pie brought with some panache by our surly-teenage waitress. So we left, minding our heads on the medieval beams, thinking up adjectives to apply to the experience: poetic, perhaps; satisfying, certainly. Above all, highly recommendable.

Cinema - The Aristocrats

Here’s a bad joke. A man, his wife, his son, his daughter and a dog go into a comedy agent’s office. The agent says that he doesn’t represent family acts because they’re too lame. The family insist on performing for him, and deliver a depraved, pornographic and scatalogical routine. The agent, shocked, asks what the act is called. ‘The Aristocrats’ is the reply. Boom boom. So far, so unfunny. The value of a gag, however, is all in the telling, and this one is the joke which professional comedians tell each other backstage and after performances, trying to outgross one another in their version of the middle section.The fact that the title of the film gives away the joke’s punch line is important. Directors Penn Jilette and Paul Provenza got over 100 comedians, from Billy Connolly to Robin Williams, to tell and talk about the joke, which you hear over and over again. The aim isn’t just to make you laugh at the gag. The film is a critique of comedy, an attempt to analyse the art of the funnyman.

It’s filthy, then, and terribly anti pc. But it isn’t shallow. It makes you muse on the nature of comedy. And, of course, it makes you laugh. A lot.

Cinema - To Have and to Have Not

The incredible on-screen chemistry between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in Howard Hawks’ To Have and to Have Not makes the movie a minor classic; their off-screen chemistry was pretty hot too. They married shortly after the film was released. The movie, loosely based on Ernest Hemingway’s novel and featuring a sparkling screenplay part-written by William Faulkner, was 19-year-old Lauren Bacall’s debut lead, though you wouldn’t know it from her assured performance as a globe-trotting pickpocket and nightclub singer looking for bit of fun and an easy buck. Bogart plays a cynical boat-charterer caught up in Vichy-run Martinique during the Second World War, in a dilemma whether or not to use his boat to help out the French Resistance in their struggle against the Nazis.

The film was made to cash in on the success of Casablanca, but stands the test of time, and provides one of Hollywood’s classic lines with Bacall’s instructions to Bogart on how to whistle: ‘just put