Issue 9 of Viva Lewes goes to press on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, when much of the rest of Europe is recovering from a massive hangover and clearing confetti and other party detritus from the streets. In Italy, Spain, Germany, Holland, Poland, Belgium, Portugal, Croatia and Austria Carnival (probably from the Latin ‘carnem levare’ - stop eating meat) is a massive celebration with floats and fancy dress, music and drinking, masks and fireworks. It’s great for kids, it’s great for adults, everyone lets loose: there’s plenty of community spirit. And what do we do in England? We toss a few pancakes around in our kitchen, if we can be bothered. Pancake Day, frankly, is as flat… as a pancake. Over here we have generally lost the habit of community partying: we don’t look forward to major events where we can communally let our hair down: perhaps this is one of the reasons why so many people binge drink on such a regular basis. Of course Lewes is different, of course we have Bonfire Night, a well-prepared, well-executed town festival which sets the tone for the rest of the year. Lewesians are pro-active, hence all the events arranged in the town. This week is no exception. There’s cinema, music, football, art and comedy. Best of all, there’s the annual Lewes Arms Panto, a dash of Bonfire spirit in theatrical form. We say: go out and enjoy these events. We say: get involved. We say: party on. Enjoy the week.

• Art: Icelandic Art talk (13); Sarah Grisewood (15); Nick Bodimeade (22)
• Blues: Little George Sueref (11)
• Bricks and Mortar (23)
• Cinema: Battle of Algiers (7)
• Classical Music: Kungsbacka Trio (6); East Sussex Bach Choir (14); Roedean Singers (19)
• Comedy: Barnstormers (4)
• Dance: Henry Oguike (20)
• Folk: Simon Ritchie (5)
• Food: Farmers’ Market (9)
• Football: Lewes v Thurrock (10) Lewes v Sutton (21)
• Gig: LedZepToo (12)
• Hillbilly Blues: Curst Sons (16)
• Legal: Crown Court (24)
• Kids: Nick Sharratt book signing (8); Middle Farm (17)
• Panto: Lewes Arms Panto (18)
• Photography: Photo of the Week (25)
• Travel: Arundel (25)
  

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Star Jump: Henry Oguike Dance Company at the Gardner Arts Centre (page 20)

Comedy - Barnstormers

When Nick Doody was at college he was commissioned by the student rag to do an interview with the great radical American comedian Bill Hicks, nicknamed ‘Noam Chomsky with dick jokes’. When he mentioned that he was interested in becoming a comedian, Hicks invited him to be the supporting act, in front of several hundred people, at his next gig. Needless to say he did it, needless to say he died. “The only lines which got a positive reaction were ‘Ladies and gentleman – Bill Hicks!’” remembers Doody, who went on to become the now-late Hicks’ biographer. Fourteen years on Doody has become one of Britain’s top stand-up comedians, known for his sick, satirical sense of humour, and often likened to Hicks and his rival Denis Leary.

Doody is one of three comedians headlining tonight at the monthly Barnstormers Comedy Night at Pelham House. One of the other two is yet to be announced (Barnstormers always hope for a last-minute star name), the other is Andrew Clover, a very physical comedian of whose Fringe performance the Scotsman raved ‘the best fun I’ve had in Edinburgh with my clothes on’. Clover has had his own Radio 4 series, Storyman. Choose your seat carefully: he’s fond of audience participation numbers.

Folk - Simon Ritchie

“One day I saw someone playing a squeezebox, and I thought ‘I’ve just got to have one of those’” says Simon Ritchie, who is appearing at the Royal Oak tonight. He taught himself the art listening to traditional players who once frequented the country pubs in Suffolk and rural Essex, where he lives. He’s been playing ever since, and has established himself as one of the country’s foremost melodeon players, both in his own right and with The Posh Band, much loved by DJ’s such as the late John Peel, Andy Kershaw and Phil Jupitus.

His set is comprised of “traditional songs famous in East Anglia for the last 100 or 200 years, learnt from performers who are still remembered if not still alive”. He often accompanies step-dancing (and occasionally plays and steps at the same time ‘if only for 45 seconds’). But his set is varied and changes according to his and the audience’s mood. “I’ve been known to cover The Kaiser Chiefs,” he says: on his latest album ‘Squeezebox Schizophrenia’ he performs melodeon covers of the likes of Johnny Rotten (‘Anarchy in the UK’), Smokey Robinson (‘Tracks of my Tears’) and Boney M (‘Rivers of Babylon’). John Kirkpatrick says of the LP ‘the perfect English World Music Record: bonkers.’

Classical Concert – The Kungsbacka Trio

Last week blues guitarist Kent Duchaine appeared at the Lansdown Arms playing Leadbessie, his 72-year-old National Steel guitar. Tonight Jesper Svedberg, of the Kungsbacka Piano Trio, arrives in town with a rather older instrument – a Grancino cello from 1699. Jesper is joined by the other two parts of this fine ensemble, fellow Swede Malin Broman, who plays a 1748 Gagliano violin, and Englishman Simon Crawford-Phillips, on whatever piano he finds at the venue. These are three extremely accomplished musicians indeed whose other commitments in the 2005/6 season include performances at the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Purcell Room. They have recently played in many of the world’s major concert venues, including New York’s Carnegie Hall. And tonight… the Sussex Downs College. One should never underestimate the hard work of the Nicholas Yonge Society in bringing quality classical music to this town.

Tonight the ensemble are playing piano trios from Beethoven and Fauré and Rachmaninov’s ‘A la Mémoire d’un Grand Artiste’. Expect to be wowed. “It is an exhilarating experience when an audience knows it has just been enthralled by a performance from young musicians early in their career who are inevitably destined for greatness on the world stage,” rave The Inverness Courier, who know a good Piano Trio when they see one.

Cinema - The Battle of Algiers

The most time-relevant political movie you’ll see all year was made in 1965. The Battle of Algiers, commissioned by the Algerian government, directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, is a masterpiece about Muslim insurgency in Algeria in the last decade of the French occupation of the country. Hiring only one professional actor, Jean Martin, who plays the French military commander, Pontecorvo paints an incredibly vivid picture of the bombings and retributions which afflicted the country in the run up to independence in 1962. Some of the scenes are so well choreographed you can’t believe that the Italian director didn’t use documentary footage.

Former rebel leader Saadi Yacef excels in a role similar to that which he played in the real revolution; Brahim Haggiag, playing a prisoner politicised by witnessing police brutality in jail, is excellent in the central role. The movie’s timeliness was not lost on the Pentagon, which showed the film to military staff in 2003 as a field guide for countering terrorism in Iraq.

World Book Day Event - Nick Sharratt

World Book Day (WBD) is celebrated on April 23rd in most of the world, apart from here, where in our own quirky British way, we celebrate it on March 2nd. The origins of the event, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, go back to a Catalan tradition of giving books and roses to loved ones on St George’s Day – maybe as this years event falls so close to St David’s Day we could give daffodils instead? Our local schools get involved, handing out £1 tokens exchangeable for one of six special WBD books, ranging from the pre-school ‘Here Comes Harry with his Bucketful of Dinosaurs’, through to ‘Koyasan’, a horror story targeting an older 11+ audience. Most Lewes booksellers also accept them as a discount off any other book of your choice.

To celebrate this years’ event, Bags of Books, South Street’s wonderful children’s bookshop, are bringing acclaimed author and official WBD illustrator Nick Sharratt to town. As well as signing copies of his own work, Nick will be taking part in a Q&A session and demonstrating his award-winning illustrative skills, as featured in well over 100 books. Last years event was apparently great fun, so we advise you to get there early.

Farmers Market - Cliffe Precinct

At some point over the last twenty years, supermarketeers decided that we couldn’t live without pre-packed stunted non-seasonal vegetables flown from around the world. They offered us cheaper lamb if we accepted stock from New Zealand and persuaded us we’d be better off buying bacon from Denmark. Any doubts could be washed down with a remarkably cheap bottle of Chilean Chardonnay, as we tucked in to a bowl of exotic – and probably ‘baby’ – fruit. ‘Now you get more choice,’ they boasted.

In truth, we get less choice, as butchers, bakers and fruit and veg shops around the country close down, unable to compete with the all- consuming greed of the global corporations. A tipping point has been reached: all is lost. Or is it? At the monthly farmers’ market you can buy locally grown, often organic and usually un-stunted produce from the people that grew it. The more you buy, the more they sell, the more the balance is redressed. And, in this era of food scares and genetically modified products, isn’t it comforting to be able to talk to the people who actually produced the stuff? This way, you get some decent, local, seasonal food and they get a bit more cash by not having to sell at below cost price to the supermarkets.

Lewes v Thurrock

Thurrock come into this game on the back of eight straight defeats, so anything short of a victory for the Rooks will be a major set-back to their play-off hopes. ‘Fleet’ (until a few years ago known as ‘Purfleet FC’) have only scored three goals in those games – all from striker Kris Lee – and have plummeted down the table out of play-off contention. The Rooks’ play-off hopes are still looking healthy after a 3-2 away win at Newport County last weekend. Lewes have recently acquired the knack of nicking results in tight contests despite not playing particularly well, and the game against Newport was no exception. Lewes played the first half with a gale force wind behind them, and were 2-0 up at half time, then 3-1 up on 89 minutes, but a second Welsh goal meant for a nervous five minutes of injury time, with County twice inches from an equaliser.

So Lewes stay fifth, one of six clubs realistically chasing four play-off places, with 12 games to go. Failing to get maximum points this afternoon would be disastrous: but Rooks being Rooks don’t expect the win to look easy. Viva prediction: 3-2

Blues - Little George Sueref

Now Dig This Magazine have said that he has ‘the best voice in Europe’ and while that might be pushing matters a bit far it’s certain that Little George Sueref is one of the best bluesmen around in the UK, a guitar and harmonica player as well as a fine singer, who has shared the stage with some of the legends of the USA including Lazy Lester, Big Jack Johnson and Homesick James, picking something up from every one of them. His music – mostly self-penned – is deeply rooted in the downhome blues style of the 50’s and 60’s: his voice is soulful in the style of Johnnie Taylor and Clay Hammond. Throughout the nineties he played harp and sang in Big Joe Louis and His Blues Kings, winning Blueprint’s ‘Harp Player of the Year’ award three times. Then he started up his own band, and in 2000 he went his own way, subsequently releasing the LP ‘Little George Sueref and the Blues Stars, which was in Mojo’s top five records in their 2001 year review.

London-based Little G, of Greek descent, has immense stage presence and is as unique a blues act as you’re likely to see, ‘one of that select few who are able to take their chosen influences and craft them into their own, strongly identifiable sound,’ according to fRoots Magazine.

Art - Star Gazing: Paintings from Iceland and the Imagination, a talk by Mary Anne Aytoun Ellis

People confess to Mary Anne Aytoun Ellis that they are scared of mountains. Looking at her work, you can see why. The artist has spent the last three years painting landscapes that go beyond brooding to menacing and spiritual. Dark things far away, covered in ice, are closing in, or you are just about to fall. The paintings she did in Scotland are full of red. The ones she did in Iceland are blackish blue, and the light is windstorm or moonlight. A delicate question: how does she avoid kitsch? Her subject matter is dangerous territory for a serious artist. How does Ellis paint moonlit caribou beside mountains that do not end up like something air brushed on the side of a motorcycle?

"I hate that kind of thing," says Ellis. "Cliché, camp - I have to be absolutely rigorous with myself and honestly paint what I think and see." So far she has succeeded. Her paintings are being shown at the Portland Gallery in London and this weekend she is giving a talk at the Paddock Art Studios. Ellis grew up in Lewes, and says her favourite, most dramatic landscape is still the South Downs. "There is so much pressure to build on them" she says "It makes them even more precious."

Classical Music - The East Sussex Bach Choir

2006 is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. To celebrate this the East Sussex Bach Choir are performing a concert at the Town Hall comprised of four works by WA, and one by Leopold Mozart, his father, whose trumpet concerto is one of a smattering of fine works that survive. Mozart senior sacrificed his talent in order to nurture that of his prodigy son, the enfant terrible of classical music and very possibly the most talented composer yet to have emerged. The choir start off with an early Mozart symphony (No 22) followed by his 'Laudate Dominum' and 'In Diesen Heilgen Hallen'. Leopold's trumpet concerto completes the first half of the concert. The second half is taken up entirely with Mozart's magnificent C Minor Mass.

2006 also sees the 20th anniversary of the ESBC, which specialises in works from the Baroque and early classical periods but prides itself on its versatility. Tonight they are joined by the Sussex Classical Players led by Julia Bishop from the ensemble 'Red Priest'. The soloists are singers Sarah Jane Davies, Elizabeth Watts, Mark Curtis, and Michael George and trumpeter Neil Brough. The Musical Director is John Hancorn.

Art - Sara Grisewood

The 100-year-old Wenban Smith timber yard between Waitrose and the river might not seem the most aesthetically pleasing of buildings but for artist Sara Grisewood it represented one of the last tangible links with Lewes’ industrial riverside past. “I saw a letter in the Sussex Express just over a year ago complaining of ‘this hideous building’ and decided to do a project on it,” says Sara. She spent several months sketching and taking photos there last spring and summer. “I became the artist in residence. The light in the building is very particular as it shines through from either side as it would through a barn”. In her studio she turned those preparations into acrylic paintings, which are on exhibition at the Thebes Gallery for the next two weeks. The results, post-impressionistic in style, are very striking, and rather beautiful.

On Saturday 11th March Sara is running a workshop at the Thebes Gallery teaching participants to convert sketches and photos into acrylic and mixed media paintings. The day costs £20 including materials. Tickets from the Thebes Gallery or from Hannah on 01273 484400.

Hillbilly Blues - The Curst Sons

In the sleeve notes of their latest album ‘Hell Awaits You’ hillbilly blues band the Curst Sons write little round-ups giving a précis of their song narratives. For ‘Graveyard Dirt’ read “Southern woman uses underhand methods to attract lover”; ‘On the Road Again’ has “Husband complains about poor domestic catering and infidelity”; and ‘Hobo’ boils down to “Gentleman-of-the-road informs young woman he is poor husband material.” You can get the gist of the band’s where-with-all from these little nuggets: Brighton based, their heartbeats are powered from somewhere between the Louisiana swamps and the Appalachian mountains. They sing of up-to-no-good check-shirt-wearing white trash in the Depression era Southern States of America.

Of course there’s a banjo, of course there’s slide guitar, of course there’s a washboard, rhythm pole and slide mandolin. And, of course, there’s a whole load of infectious energy from this exuberant threesome, who wowed the same venue six weeks ago. What you don’t expect is that once the band get into their foot-stomping swing, a dark spirit occasionally takes over, and hollers menacingly amid the whoops.

Take a trip to… Middle Farm

The Viva Lewes team unashamedly favour our produce locally produced, so we are therefore very sympathetic to the ideology behind Middle Farm. It works like this: you are invited into the heart of this 625-acre working Sussex farm and allowed to see its managers in action, surrounded by their menagerie, which includes ducks, spotted pigs, donkeys, rabbits, guinea pigs and perhaps more surprisingly a fair few cats. There are also a variety of locally bred chickens as well as a herd of prize-winning pedigree Jersey cows, which get milked every afternoon. The farm also has outdoor and indoor play areas and a nature trail around the farm to burn up any excess energy on display.

Additional attractions include a shop selling traditional children’s toys and an excellent farm shop and restaurant where you can taste a selection of their home cooked wares. Even better, perhaps, is the fact that Middle Farm is also home to the marvellously named National Collection of Cider & Perry, where over 100 different draught ciders are on display – you can try before you buy – and importantly, there is also fresh apple juice for the kids and the designated driver…