Celebration City

Celebration City

September: a little jazz lightened the heart as Lancaster Jazz festival kicked off on 17^th September. Running for a full week across five main venues, even the bloody awful weather could not dampen this ebullient display of talent. Good to see Robin Mason gibboniser extraordinaire (yes, the guitar is singing) with The Initiatives, playing with pazzaz throughout the week from launch party to final melt-down stepping in in various guises as the odd band failed to appear. The last fling, Sunday's all-day at The Gregson, featured:

Deep Cabaret 3: Steve (Deep Throat) Lewis playing musician's games with genres in acceptably entertaining mode

Best forget Dave Birchall, so I will, but the rain had stopped and time for a nice chat outside with others in denial

Phil Meadows of 3 Point 1 upped the anti again: lovely alto sax counterpointing Maxwell Stirling's double bass beautifully.

Flying drummer Andy Smith joined the lovely Lily Whitfield and unstoppable Matt Robinson on sax and trumpet for yet another superb jamboree

Muchos Huevos (half the festival on stage) then orchestrated big band sound with concert style delivery led by composer Dave Shooter

Crossing over genres on September 30^th was gleeful Burlesque at Sparkle Lounge, Dalton Rooms, where Burlesque girls both svelte and burly strutted their stuff with panache and humour. Serenaded as “a proper woman”, ebullient Jezebel Steel stole the show with her generous cup-brimming-over act.

(see photos above from maestro Dan Archer: www.danarcherphotography.co.uk)

Next Sparkle Lounge features Gran the Gusset Tester in her role as The Naked Gran. She'll show those skinny girls what a proper woman's made of! November 4^th, Dalton Rooms, £5, and Gran will be in feisty mode at The Stonewell Tavern on 30th October for free, when her rival Nigella Ladylumps brings sex into the kitchen, The Thursday Girls bring Diva to the dance floor and a goodly crowd of regulars bring themselves in for a Sunday night's Absolutely Cabaret

October 1^st heralded the belle of all balls The Autumn Ball at Lancaster's gothic Town Hall. The North West's glitterati, glammed up and vintaged to the eyeballs, paraded costumes from designer to diva. And that was just the audience. Photographer and organiser Neil (Nez) Kendall was in effusive form as welcoming host along with his glamorous crew, bar staff willing and able, drinks kept simple and prices low.

(Thursday Girls Doing their Diva best: see photo from J.R.)

Now for the show itself. Not a duff card in the pack. From madly engaging compere to cleverly ingenious magician, from groovin' monkey to the ultimate Dita von Teese tribute, each joyful celebration capped the one before. And we were all in that giant Martini glass with you, love, in spirit if not in body.

Congratulations, Nez and all your performers, for a stunning evening. Roll on next year's at The Midland and Winter Gardens!

But that's just for starters. Slap bang in the middle of October is the jewel in the crown.

From 14th-16^th the city will reverberate to its third and best yet Lancaster Music Festival when 100 plus acts play nearly 30 venues over the weekend.

Down on St George's Quay and bursting into the city when no-one's looking is the Maritime Music Festival-within-a-Festival, an eclectic mix of sterling acoustic folk, sea shanties, stepping the Hornpipe, children's events and doughty doxies The Thursday Girls in full innuendo along Quay and canal (White Cross). Plenty of food, too: excellent menus at both pubs with local ingredients, real ales, wine choice and daytime cafe serving snacks at the Museum. Begins with Mayoral launch on the Friday (Maritime Museum and 3 Mariners), ends with a full day of music and mayhem at the Wagon and Horses, and there's even a join-in-the-fun Sunday Service both musical and evocative at St John's Church.

Full programme on posters at venues along the quay, brochures across the city and from www.lancastermusicfestival.com

For the main Lancaster Music Festival, it's hard to choose between elegant jazz dinner at Penny Street Bridge Hotel (Marina Zettl & Thomas Mauerhofer) Big Funky Band Off The Rails, Three Fifty Duo making a welcome return with superb Spanish guitar, boppin' and hoppin' with Ben Ruth and the Convulsions' frenetic funk, Jive Hoot's sweet and sassy 50's line-up, Howard Haigh and the Know Hows back in full lava flow........blimey!

My tip is to book in for the major ticket events (selling out fast) especially the headline act on Sunday, Kirsty Almeida at the Dalton Rooms. Then you are free to wander as the spirit takes you (best to start uphill) and gently wind down in an impromptu staccato (irregular movement from bar to bar). Plenty of food throughout the weekend, including extra tastings, slow food meals and demos throughout Friday and Food Festival on Sun Square, Sunday from noon, all co-ordinated by LESS.

Lancaster's bars and restaurants continue to serve excellent food at all the usual spots with or without music Here are a few of the tried and trusted:

The Borough on Dalton Square offers its unsurpassed range of daytime meal deals and quality a la carte, Dalton Rooms opposite has eclectic all-day menu, round the corner on Brook Street the Sultan has both daytime cafe/gallery and up-market Indian restaurant. Whaletail off Penny Street is full Veggie, and lovely at it, The Sun basks in relaxed dining: substantial lunch and supper dishes, White Cross and Merchants provide hearty pub meals a cut above the average, Robert Gillow's Sunday lunches are legendary, while John O' Gaunt's steak and kidney puds will put hairs on your chest. It worked for me. For a full restaurant review with pull-out map, the Little Book of Lancaster is on sale at discount price from Lancaster Visitor Information Centre

More festival details, booking, map and all events are online at www.lancastermusicfestival.com and from poster, brochures, banners across the city. The especially helpful Lancaster Visitor Centre is in The Storey Institute, upper Market Street.

Beginning that same weekend but thankfully extending right until 23^rd October, Litfest spreads the word on this its 33^rd Literature Festival.

Goodies abound: it's a nice mix of local and imported talent with special accents on story-telling, children's fiction, short stories, the macabre and poetry. Flax writers take us on a “tour” of the town, there's a whole day dedicated to poetry, at lunchtime authors talk on authors and headlining is insight from Guardian writer, author and film-maker Jon Ronson.

Details on bookings at The Storey 01524 582394 (594151 for Jon Ronson) and online www.litfest.org

Up-to-date what's on from the inimitable Ron Johnson ron@lunevalley.com or ask to be friends on facebook and you'll have a daily bulletin. Simples!