WILL STONE fact-checks the colourful life of Ozzy Osbourne
‘Songs always boss you around’
Indie hero KRISTIN HERSH talks to Susan Darlington about her new album's musical demands
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
IT'S not the most propitious start to her short British tour, but Kristin Hersh appears sanguine. “These things happen,” she responds, when asked about the airline losing the Gretsch guitar of former Throwing Muses bassist and current support act Fred Abong. “Often!”
The US alt-rock and folk musician, who also performs in power trio 50FootWave, is in the country to perform at Robert Smith's Meltdown Festival. “A lovely man,” she enthuses. “All love, no stress. What a great way to be a person!”
She’s no stranger to the musician-curated festival, having played at Patti Smith’s in 2005. Despite the show’s prestige, to her it’s just like playing any other. “I do the same thing every time I play, whether it’s in a garage, a rock club, a hotel bathroom, a theatre or a festival. Music is focus. If anyone listens, it’s communication, but that can’t happen without focus.”
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SUSAN DARLINGTON highly recommends a novel setting for a play that is a rip-roaring yarn about kindness and helping people to belong
SUSAN DARLINGTON is charmed by an arena show that crosses Great Gatsby glamour with Jane Eyre madness
SUSAN DARLINGTON is bowled over by an outstanding play about the past, present and future of race and identity in the US
SUSAN DARLINGTON enjoys, with minor reservations, the Northern Ballet’s revival of its 1992 classic
