Birmingham Post

Observing Jerry Is a Joy to Behold ; Razor-Sharp Jerry Seinfeld Might Have Conquered the Tv World, but Matt Lloyd Discovers It's Stand-Up Comedy Which Fires His Passion.

or some comedians life on the road can be a long hard slog - a dog's life. FBut after 37 years in the business - creating one of the most successful television shows ever in the process - it is man's best friend to which Jerry Seinfeld compares his craft.

The Week Ahead ; What's Happening Near You During the Next Seven Days

THURSDAY Fresh from her/his TV success, BRENDAN O'CARROLL returns as the very sweary Irish matriarch in the sell out show Good Mourning Mrs Brown at the Civic, Wolverhampton. On until Saturday. Shakespeare's young lovers play out their tragic tale in Arabic with English surtitles in ROMEO & JULIET IN BAGHDAD at The Swan Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon, until May 5.

Coming Up

ENGELBERT Humperdinck is currently enjoying a profile boost after being named as the man bearing the hopes of Britain at the Eurovision Song Contest. Unlike many of the recent acts who have represented the UK, Engelbert has had a pretty stellar career already, having sold 150 million albums worldwide. Even if he can't triumph over the singing grannies from Russia, his song Love Will Set You Free is a worthy addition to a body of work that includes Please Release Me, Quando- Quando-Quando, The...

A Modest Guiding Light to the Stars ; Walsall-Born Pop Producer Steve Jenkins has Been Low On Profile, but Big On Influence. Mike Lockley Chats to a Family Man Happy to Stay Out of the Spotlight

APOP svengali who rose from humble beginnings to guiding Britney Spears' global chart conquest is grateful for his Walsall roots. Artists such as David Bowie, Bjork, Kylie, The Backstreet Boys and Simple Minds have all passed through his hit-making machine.

Jazz Greats Heading for Cheltenham ; the Cheltenham Jazz Festival Opens This Week and Will Prove a Strong Magnet for Midlands Jazz Lovers. Peter Bacon has a Look at the Programme

Whoever thought jazz was something paunchy, middle-aged men did with a pint of real ale in hand in pub back rooms, has clearly never been near a modern jazz festival. For a mix of glamour and cool, next week's Cheltenham Jazz Festival (Wednesday, May 2 to Monday, May 7) would be hard to beat.

Kenilworth Bar Mixes It with the Big Boys ; Richard Mccomb Feels Like a Suffering Bastard at a Cool Warwickshire Cocktail Bar - and Couldn't Be Happier

Iam sitting in a cocktail lounge slurping a perky Sgroppino and I kind of understand what bar manager Robert Wood is talking about - although I'm not altogether sure. Robert takes the art of mixing a daiquiri and a Dark & Bubbly to a whole new level of anorakdom. He's telling me about barrel-aged hanky panky (which I think is a drink) and how he "maps" drinkers' palates. It's mesmerizing stuff but my focus is wavering, my pulse is slowing and it's not even 6.30pm.

Teen Spirit in the Grandeur of Tuscany ; Marcus Queenborough Finds Fun for the Family in Central Italy.

The Leaning Tower of Pizza, well at least that what the girls called it, and Florence, might seem an unlikely kids-friendly holiday destination, but it certainly made a wonderful break for my family, with a week's stay in Central Italy. We were staying with Vacansoleil in the Norcenni Girasole Camping Village, around 30 miles South of Florence. A lively site with two large pool complexes in the beautiful surrounds of the Tuscan mountains.

Tried& Tested

Polish up your act with a hot cloth cleanser. nspa Beauty Rituals Hot Cloth Polish, pounds 7 (Asda) This cleanser smells divine and smooths onto the skin easily. When massaged off using the muslin cloth provided, my skin felt fresh and only slightly sticky.

Pack Up Your Troubles ; Alison Jones Boxes Clever with These Kits (and Canoodles) Designed to Tackle Your Beauty Needs

The She Said Beauty box is a monthly treat of samples to try that is supported by a "social networking experience". A pounds 9 a month subscription will get you a box of five products (in April there was an extra treat of a choccy egg and a bonus sample) to try, review and share thoughts about online.

Getting Our Kids Outdoors Is Essential ; Nature Notes

Be home for tea! Those words will be familiar to many of you from your childhood, heard in the distance as you disappeared for another afternoon of tree-climbing and den-building. Apparently today's youngsters are increasingly denied this simple pleasure by a risk- averse world which offers them much which is virtual, but little which is reality. According to 'Natural Childhood', a recent National Trust Report, children are missing out on many benefits because they are not given the freedom t...

The Butterfly Effect ; Favourable Weather has Resulted in a Resurgence for These Beautiful Creatures. Andy Richards Reports.

The populations of some of the UK's rarest butterflies are on the rise again thanks to record-breaking weather last spring. Butterfly experts said the conditions were perfect for the insects, which emerged weeks earlier than usual.

There's No Containing Colour ; Garden Watch

With the Olympic Games and Queen's Jubilee celebrations this summer, why not plant up some containers to add colour to your sitting areas and shady corners? Containers planted with summer bulbs, such as scented lilies, can be grown on in a sheltered, sunny part of the garden and placed in borders as early perennials for extra colour and interest. Use a loam based compost such as John Innes and make sure that the pots have drainage 'crocks' in the base. With a little care, these containers can...

Jazz ; Cd Releases

LIGHTHOUSE Simcock Garland Sirkis Pianist Gwilym Simcock, saxophonist Tim Garland and percussionist Asaf Sirkis know their way round their instruments like few people on the planet, never mind in this country. With their Lighthouse trio, they bounce ideas off each other with the kind of delight that Messi, Ronaldo and Xavi might show if they could just get together for a quiet kick-about.

Classical ; Cd Releases

GERSHWIN RHAPSODY IN BLUE List, Eastman Rochester Symphony Orchestra (Regis RRC1386) There are so many good things to enjoy on this fabulous re-release of recordings originally made well over half a century ago (the "but" comes later). George Gershwin's two great groundbreaking works for piano and orchestra are given sassy readings from the warmtoned, nifty Eugene List (what became of this persuasive pianist?) and the spirited Eastman Rochester Symphony Orchestra under Howard Hanson.'Rhapsody...

It's Been a Wilde Ride, in Earnest! ; Turning a Text As Iconic As the Importance of Being Earnest Into an Opera Would Intimidate Even the Most Confident Composer. But Christopher Morley Speaks to an Irishman Who Relished Every Moment.

If anyone was going to have the temerity to turn Oscar Wilde's 'The Importance of Being Earnest', with its intimidating abundance of elegant oneliners, into an opera, it would have to be someone as independently-minded as the iconoclastic Irish composer Gerald Barry. On Saturday his 90-minute distillation of Wilde's great comedy of manners is given at Symphony Hall by Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Thomas Ades conducting, following its European premiere at London's Barbican tonight, and...

Cbso Symphony Hall a [ ... ] ; Classicalreviews

CBSO Symphony Hall A neat symmetry shaped last Wednesday's concert (two composers with a brace of minor and major works apiece), but the contrasts could not have been greater. Beethoven's Fidelio Overture and Violin Concerto made up the first half, a predictable enough start you might think (as was the read-through given to the overture by the CBSO and associate conductor Michael Seal), although what came afterwards was definitely not. Indeed, one wonders if the near-capacity audience (no dou...

Sitkovetsky Duo Bromsgrove Festival at [ ... ] ; Classicalreviews

SITKOVETSKY DUO Bromsgrove Festival at Avoncroft Museum Bromsgrove Festival's evening celebrating Delius' sesquicentenary was a charming idea, attracting a large audience to the atmospherically medieval (despite its name) New Guesten Hall for a recital by one of the most spectacular recent prizewinners of the festival's International Young Musician's Platform, and beginning with a screening of Ken Russell's acclaimed television documentary recounting the years the young Eric Fenby devoted him...

Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra Adrian Boult [ ... ] ; Classicalreviews

BIRMINGHAM PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Adrian Boult Hall Birmingham conductor Richard Laing delivered this truly exciting programme, beginning with Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture, opened by sombre wellplaced woodwind chords eventually leading into not quite quiet enough beginnings for the difficult-topace heart rending long crescendos: be braver. Much more contrast needed, otherwise 'bland/ safe' comes to mind. Great brass however, with splendid percussion 'sword fights'. Wagner's Prelud...

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