One evening, the Ex and I went to the Angelika art house cinema (corner of W Houston and Mercer). The film showing was Brassed Off, a film about a colliery brass band in a struggling mining village in Yorkshire. There are plenty of laughs in the film, but also some real poignancy, reminders of a broken coal industry that once employed and supported whole communities in the North. Watching Brassed Off in another country was interesting, and although there were a few Northern in-jokes that me and The Ex laughed loudly at but passed others by, NYC managed to keep up pretty well and seemed to get the whole premise. A speech given at the end of the film moved me to tears at the time, given by the band's conductor Danny at the finals of the National Colliery Band competition held at the Royal Albert Hall (I've just watched it again - same effect):
The character of Danny, director and conductor of the colliery brass band was played by Pete Postlethwaite. I was sad to read in today's paper that he has passed away aged only 64. I've seen him in many films over the years, always enjoyed his varied performances. Unfortunately, I never saw him act on stage (note to self: see more theatre greats before they're all gone and you're stuck with Sister Act or Tap Dogs), but as a man who learnt his chops in the golden days of Liverpool's Everyman, then you know he could definitely do it on the boards as well as on the silver screen.
(postscript: Gerry Rafferty has just died. Keith Hawkwind tells me he drove past Baker Street today on his way to Pinewood, and said he mimicked the sax solo. A fitting tribute, he thought.)
