Steven Berkoff, Heart Attacks, Folk Festival and Auchentoshan

Hello peeps. Been busy recently with health stuff and a few dips in mood. Had a barrage of blood tests and having a ct-scan on heart for calcium count on Thursday. Nothing in particular to worry about, just eliminating familial chance of heart disease which is a good Road Worthy  Certificate to have for me in my mid-50’s.

It’s made me think though, that my grandfather never had the medical help available that we have these days. For him to go by heart attack at 64 seems so very young these days. Dad died at 64 as well, I think. His heart was a problem too.  There was a great advert about heart attacks which came out around 2008. I’ve included the link. Worth watching not as a how-to-avoid but as a what-to-recognise and do in the event of… https://youtu.be/b5TqYh9Jgnk?si=8oCNgPjNNVG-vb-n Steven Berkoff is the perfect actor for the message.

I saw Steven Berkoff in St Kilda many years ago; 15 or 16 years ago?He was acting out Poe’s The Tell Tale Heart  - here’s a clip - https://youtu.be/WdXZbxgLwkM?si=nzidkHzTQFesL-1d  as a one man show and in the second half he acted out his own monologue…DOG. I wish I could find that for you.

There is a great documentary about him

https://youtu.be/pAZXHCL4mVQ?si=PxR1QaoquDleAhkE - he’s quite the genius.

With a grandfamily once from Russia, son of a tailor, (born on the same street as the Kray twins) his writing holds key observations of the human condition and the class system through his own ages. He was always asked to play menacing characters.. even the disgusting Mosely but he never shirked work of any kind.  If you want insight to a great performer/writer - watch the doco.

Wikipedia writes of him - “Steven Berkoff is an English actor, author, playwright, theatre practitioner and theatre director. As a theatre maker he is recognised for staging work with a heightened performance style eponymously known as "Berkovian theatre", which combines elements of physical theatre, total theatre and expressionism”

Enough fandom…

Preparing like mad for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and am loving my characters- except my baddy.. she is so despicable I'm finding it hard to show anything lovely about her with the exception that she has a cat.  Also stuck for a name for her - if she was 45 now what would a popular U.S. name be for her? Any suggestions?

Taking a photography course for the iPhone at the moment. Look out for new photos.  Learning about long exposure but will be taking lots of pics this weekend at the Tablelands Folk Festival. String Jam will be playing three gigs on the Fringe Stage over Saturday & Sunday. For the first time, I’m actually looking forward to it although I’m sure nerves will take a hit at some point. Between us we have a bottle of Auchentoshan and Melbourne Rye, oh and a bottle of Tasmanian Port for warm ups! That should suffice.

So, folk festival, very comfortable villa accommodation and friends. It will be a lovely long weekend. Just got to hope that Lizzy will have a good time at the Pet Resort while we are away.   She refuses to physically move when she arrives and has to be lifted into her area. However, once she’s there, she settles into it and usually has a good time from what I’ve seen.

Well that’s all for now. Treat yourselves to some Steven Berkoff for a change and most of all,  be kind to yourselves and each other