Lisa Bower, Author at Blackpool Social Club

30 Jul

An Evening of Dirty Dancing

Lisa Bower0 CommentsTheatre, Dance & Performance

An Evening of Dirty Dancing was at The Grand Theatre on Sunday 28 July and I have never been more delighted than when I learned I could cover this review. Let’s face it, EVERY girl has wanted to be Baby at some point in their lives and I remember spending so many years desperately wanting to know what happened in those taboo parts of the story that my mum used to fast forward. This movie introduced bad boys who can dance and with that, won its place in every woman’s heart for generations. As the lights dimmed and the curtains…

26 Jul

BBC Introducing Live at Thornton Little Theatre

Lisa Bower0 CommentsMusic & Gigs

Up and coming acoustic musicians will be taking centre stage on Saturday 10 August at a beautifully cosy gig in Thornton Little Theatre, brought to you by Sean McGinty and ‘BBC Introducing Lancashire’. The show aims to bring new, independent upcoming artists to a wider audience, bringing down some of the pre-existing barriers that can prevent them being heard. I asked Sean how did the show end up deciding upon our great little theatre for their first live broadcast gig and he explained that as a part of the show they had wanted to get about the area more and…

23 Jul

Review: Aping the Beast by Serena Korda

Lisa Bower0 CommentsVisual Arts & Exhibitions

Friday 19 July, 2013 saw a procession of oddities traverse its way from the Grundy Art Gallery, through our town, toward our promenade, across the Comedy Carpet and finally swimming it’s way around our circus. Hand in hand with 6 year old intrepid reporter’s assistant Patrick, we relentlessly pursued - and at one point overtook for a better vantage point - a parade consisting of two warships carried by two brave individuals in wetsuits, a breastacular performer resplendent in her return as the ‘Boob Meteorite’ and a further wetsuit clad gentleman carrying a smaller version of the ancient reptile we…

08 Jul

Wordpool: In Conversation with Elizabeth Fremantle

Lisa Bower1 CommentLiterature & Spoken Word

Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived... Walking into Central Library and being greeted by coffee and a Danish pastry is a luxury not often indulged in, but Friday morning was not just any day. As part of the ongoing Wordpool literature festival, the library was hosting debut author, Elizabeth Fremantle. Having recently released her first novel, Queen’s Gambit, she indulged us with a morning of reflection about the book which was both insightful and informative. Elizabeth’s choice to write historical novels is a bold one. We know the stories and the people from our lessons in school, but it is…

06 Jul

Review: Camera-less by Emma Benyon

Lisa Bower0 CommentsVisual Arts & Exhibitions

Thursday night saw the opening preview of ‘Camera-less,’ a display by Emma Benyon in association with Supercollider, The Lucky Jotter and FYC. The intriguing images, a series of white feathers exposed on blue watercolour photographic paper have been created with a ‘sun-print’ process to exactly replicate the original object. Emma uses ‘found’ objects, specifically feathers, which are then displayed at exactly their original size due to the intimate relationship between the subject and her chosen medium. The stark white shadows upon the blue, heavily textured paper are quietly dramatic, softened by the imperfections of each individual feather. There is a…

05 Jul

Wordpool: Cream Tea with Freda Lightfoot

Lisa Bower1 CommentLiterature & Spoken Word

Taking a seat in the delightfully cosy Anchorsholme Library for one of the first author visits of Wordpool, it is lovely to see the seats full of exciting chattering ladies awaiting her arrival. A few avid fans are eager to grab front row seats but just as many who had never heard of Freda Lightfoot are telling me and each other how excited they are to be hearing from a ‘real’ author. Freda Lightfoot hails from Oswaldtwistle; apparently ‘that’s where the mill is,’ although as she takes us through her memories of childhood, she explains that the town had about…