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THE PEMBROKESHIRE HERALD FRIDAY JANUARY 30 2015


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Rock-filled night at the Queen's Hall AFTER a storming performance


at last year’s Tenby Blues Festival, Andy Fairweather Low and The Lowriders return to Pembrokeshire for another rock-filled night on Friday February 13 at The Queens Hall, Narberth.


Andy Fairweather Low’s pedigree


is the stuff rock dreams are made of. He first came to prominence at the vanguard of the new youthful expression of music as the lead singer in Amen Corner. The 60s saw them clock up hit after pop hit. Songs such as 'Bend Me Shape Me', 'Hello Suzy' and ‘Half As Nice' are internationally remembered to this day.


But if you were paying close attention you might have picked up a clue in the magnificent ‘Gin House’ to Andy’s future musical collaborations. Since the early days Andy has gone on to work with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and Elton John, to name just a few of the hundreds of greats.


Now following a solo path, his


first solo album in 24 years Sweet Soulful Music was released late in 2007 followed by The Very Best Of Andy Fairweather Low which was released in the UK in June 2008 and the Live DVD followed hot on its heels. A world tour as musical director


with


Roger Waters band then a European tour with Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings might be difficult to top for most people - but not for Andy Fairweather Low who just segued smoothly into a major solo tour last summer with some of the world’s finest musicians in his band. 2014 started with the band on Bob


Harris’ rock show playing in session, shortly before they appeared for two nights as guests in an all-star cast celebrating Albert Lee’s 70th birthday at The Cadogan Hall. Here they were also enlisted as the house band for a number of household names.


Retrospect review: Guardians of the Galaxy (DVD and Blu Ray)


SOMETHING is lurking in the


By Johnny Vaughan NO LOVER of Super Hero films


am I. I avoided ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ like the plague. If I could sue Marvel for time wasting I would. I reported this back to my paper and was met with derision by many of my team who I believe were about to round up a posee to get me. For months I defended my case for


allowing this film to go un-reviewed, in much the same way as ’50 Shades of Grey’ will (sorry girls - don't expect me to see it!). Finally, under immense pressure from my family now (had they been receiving surreptitious emails from the Herald design team I pondered?), I succumbed and bought the Blu Ray for Christmas. So, on Boxing Day, after the last of the turkey made its way into a falafel, I joined my family on the sofa with a vat of salty popcorn and a bottle of Leffe and sat down to what I knew was going to be an excruciating 2 hours. Oh, how little do I know…. ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is a great


film. It’s got nothing to do with super heroes at all - in fact, it could have been


one of those Disney adventure films from the 80’s as the crew of The Milano whizzed around the galaxy getting the bad guys and cracking quirky one liners all the way. I laughed, a lot, I smiled, constantly, I was mesmerised by some mind blowing special effects. Honestly, I can’t remember the storyline - except to say the goodies beat the baddies, which I think was the point of the whole movie. The characters are great, the dialogue is great, the 80’s soundtrack is genius, the effects are great, and the story is daft but exciting. It’s a Boy’s Own type adventure with an ‘old skool' feel and a rip roaring pace. It’s fun. It’s what cinema is supposed to be when dealing with fantastical space adventures and non human characters. Marvel should use this film as a


blue print for all its films - ditch the boring oh so serious super hero story arcs and have some fun with its film making and actually his plays are a lot more exciting than your average ‘X-men’ movie. Right the turkey is finished, time for a slice of some of that lovely humble pie…..


dark corners of my mind about ‘the banality of evil’. I don’t know much about the ‘evil’ bit, but Celebrity Big Brother certainly gives credit to the idea of the sheer awfulness of banality. A group of children let loose to rummage through grandma’s clothes to play dressing up is be at first endearing but then increasingly infuriating as each little exhibitionist calls for your attention to see just how many ways a bra can be used as a face mask. The same goes for the inmates of the CBB house (interminably, Channel 5). The initial rush of seeing him or her off the telly has long-faded to be replaced by peevishness and then the urge to shout at the television to take that bloody stupid thing off and put it back in its box.


Alicia Douvall has been voted out of the house. Christened Sarah Howes, Alicia’s name is the smallest thing that she has had changed. Legoland is less plastic. But at least she did not look particularly upset or surprised by the public’s ejection of her from the house. That might be a result of one of the allegedly 300 cosmetic procedures Alicia Douvall has undergone. Unbelievably, Alicia Douvall runs a company selling skin care products. A quick wipe down with Pledge would be more useful for her, I would have thought. Broadchurch (Monday, ITV1) is still worth watching for Olivia Colman, but last


week’s episode


sagged more than a little. Matters were little helped by the just so resolution of an equally implausible plot thread from episode two. If you


Span Arts presents: Andy Fairweather Low and The Lowriders. Te Idiot’s Lantern


haven’t seen it yet, I am not going to spoil it for you; however, even the best acting currently on TV cannot do much with such a nonsensical plot development. It is hard what to make of


The National Television Awards (Wednesday, ITV1). These are the awards the public vote for and – as television’s ultimate customer - the public must always be right. As the exception that proves the rule, for the umpteenth year in a row Antondeck were the most popular television presenters. So you have an idea of quite how long ago that is, Michael Barrymore is the last person to have won it before the Geordie duo’s unbroken reign at the top began. The event was marked by a deeply-felt


touching and evidently tribute to the late Anne Kirkbride.


Whether Coronation Street is your cup of tea or not, Deidre was a lynchpin of its appeal. By turns funny and dramatic, seldom can one actress have so successfully ploughed the length of a character’s development. Ludicrous though her character’s on- screen life was, there was something sincere and unaffected about Anne Kirkbride’s performance. Dragon’s Den was back on BBC2


(9pm, Sunday). But, the thought is ‘so what?’ A bright and personable Ally Stevenson persuaded Kelly Hoppen and Deborah Meaden to back her Clean Heels product with £25K each of their own cash. She has hopes for the future, it looks as though Dragon’s Den belongs in the past The programme seems like it is from a bygone age, with Duncan Bannatyne as chief fossil.


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