WILL STONE fact-checks the colourful life of Ozzy Osbourne
Music review: Du Blonde
Du Blonde has a unique yet sometimes meandering way with grunge, glam and classic rock
JAMES CROSSLEY applauds a lucid biography of the German radical preacher who reemerged as a hero in the GDR
Prizes all round: the Bard hands plaudits to the Miners Gala, OT&JC, Joe Solo, Black Sabbath’s frontman and the Lionesses
Star cartoonist JAMIE BRITTON is in awe of a graphic novel of epic proportions that explores class, religion and globalisation via the strange cultivation of Ginseng in the US Midwest
GUILLERMO THOMAS is intrigued by a history of the Middle East that demonstrates how promising post colonial beginnings were snuffed out by Western imperialist interests
MARIA DUARTE recommends the intricate study of a high-performance and highly dysfuntional German family
Du Blonde
Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
BETH Jeans Houghton — aka Du Blonde — is giving every impression of being a disorganised performer.
The Newcastle musician shrugs off her fake fur coat after one song because of the heat. She holds up the set list written by touring bassist Neil to illustrate that it’s illegible. And she turns her back to the audience to wipe her nose on her scruffy black Coors T-shirt, “not because I’ve taken cocaine but because I’ve got allergies,” she insists of her sniffle.
It’s a shambolic quality that’s at odds with her work ethic. In addition to releasing three albums since 2012, initially under her own name but latterly as Du Blonde, she’s directed and animated music videos for numerous artists and has published a comic series that deals with her anxiety.
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