Chaos Theory

I have come up with this weeks Headbanger theme, and for some reason decided on 'chaos'. I have no idea why. Possibly because Gail and I are having a bit of a spring clean, and as I was typing the email to let everyone know what the theme is going to be, my eyes fell on a pile of boxes that need to be gone through, and the idea sort of stuck.

So what has the theme got to do with a crumbling ruin? Well the answer is political chaos and the building is the remains of Beauvale Priory.

Imagine England in the early part of the sixteenth century. Henry the Eighth is on the throne and there is turmoil across the land. He wants to many Anne Boleyn, but because of the Catholic faith that runs through the country he is not allowed to.

So what does he do? Well he states that the Pope is no longer the leader of the church in England, he is, and anyone disagreeing with this new order is basically murdered.

This is where Beauvale Priory comes in. The Priors of this Carthusian monastery John Houghton and Robert Lawrence, together Augustine Webster  travelled to London to ask if their order can be excused this new rule. The king says no, they must recant. They say that they cannot, so they are killed in the most barbaric way.

So begins the disillusion of the monasteries and the Carthusian order is disbanded. The king marries Anne Boleyn until she is executed in 1536 and then marries Jane Seymour until she is succeeded by the other three wives.

Do pop over to see how the others have fared with this possibly tricky theme.

Todays blog post is a somewhat happier affair, with a shot of the lovely and talented Georgia Rose, who entertained us last night whilst the judges were deciding on the winner of the music competition.

She was very good, and probably would have won if she had entered. Here's a demo recording of one of her songs

The 'N' Factor

                                                                                                                                                 1Girl 1Boy

    Band Of Jackals                                                                                                                   

Music was definitely in the air tonight as Alice Cooper was playing a concert at the Royal Centre. I thought about going, but the tickets were £36, and besides a couple of songs, I don't really know any of his back catalogue.

So instead I went to see the final of 'Notts Factor', a talent contest for local musicians. It was free entry, but contributions of £3 for Framework were encouraged. I happily paid that, as the charity helps homeless people.

There were ten acts all vying for the winners position. The prizes included £500 cash, an interview on local radio, a photoshoot and help with recording their songs.

There was a good selection of artists; several acoustic guitarists, folk band that included a cello, and a couple of rock bands. The acts had the opportunity of playing two songs each, and were then judged by a panel of four people, which included one of the bosses of the Playhouse and another local musician.

In the end the judges found it impossible to pick one artist, so they decided to award a second place prize. This went to Band of Jackals; a high energy rock band, and my favourite of the night, as they worked well together and the guitarist on the left was amazing.

1Girl 1Boy won after much deliberation. They sounded a bit like Portished. Quite melodic, but dark songs. it will be interesting to see how all the acts fair in the near future.