Dylan Jones: If you ask me

Saturday, 19 July 2008

If you ask me, Gordon Brown's former apologists should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. No, I take that back: they should take voluntary redundancy from the apologist business, banish themselves to the hills and never darken the doors of the metropolitan commentariat ever again.

Dylan Jones: If you ask me

Saturday, 12 July 2008

If you ask me, no sombre moment can possibly be complete without Gonzales' extraordinary album Solo Piano. I've heard it played recently at memorial services, in galleries, at fashion shows (sombre fashion shows, you understand, the sort where models wear black just in case) and at a dinner party (although I have to say it wasn't an especially successful dinner party), and I'm seriously considering taking a copy to play during my next appointment with my accountant.

Dylan Jones: If you ask me

Saturday, 5 July 2008

If you ask me, Giffords is probably the best circus in Britain. Theatrical, whimsical, exotic, celestial (in places) and even rather glamorous, it shows that there is still a place for the travelling circus in the 21st century. And as they're playing all over the country until the middle of September I urge you to seek them out. It is bonkers, and you will love it. In some respects, Cirque du Soleil has raised the bar in terms of what we expect from a circus these days, and having seen their "Love" show in Las Vegas recently, in which they re-imagine the Beatles' back catalogue in a genuinely original way, I am now a devotee.

Dylan Jones: If you ask me

Saturday, 28 June 2008

If you ask me, "Blue and Green" by Van Morrison is as good a blues record as you're likely to hear, or indeed you deserve to hear, this century. It is, quite simply – in at least two senses of the word – brilliant, and has certainly restored my faith in the bitter, curmudgeonly old cove.

Dylan Jones: If you ask me

Saturday, 21 June 2008

If you ask me Keith Waterhouse can lay claim to inventing the art of identifying the modern social stereotype. Others might disagree, of course. Some might say that Osbert Lancaster deserves the mantle, although he really only did houses. Some might say we should look no further than Tom Wolfe, but then he took the art and turned it into a genre on a much grander, more resonant level.

Dylan Jones: If you ask me

Saturday, 14 June 2008

If you ask me the razor clam is the only thing to eat right now (it's certainly the only mollusc to eat right now). Not exclusively of course, and obviously in moderation, and probably not for breakfast – not unless you're going for a late brunch at Scott's, which as you're asking is actually the right and proper place to eat them – but you get my drift. The razor clam, funny little thing that it is, is the funky foodstuff du jour.

Dylan Jones: If you ask me

Saturday, 7 June 2008

Dylan Jones: If you ask me

Saturday, 31 May 2008

If you ask me, Dawn Dusk or Night by Yasmina Reza is probably the most pretentious political biography ever written. Reza, the French playwright best known for Art, was allowed to trail the French President for nearly a year, although the book she has produced is impressionistic to say the least – and comical at worst. Deliberately anti-dramatic (or so she says), the book is a disjointed collection of fragments, vignettes and the sort of inconsequential dialogue that would have been cut by any self-respecting copy editor. Only the French could have produced such an obtuse political book.

Dylan Jones: If you ask me

Saturday, 24 May 2008

If you ask me – and not to put too much of a dampener on the delights to follow – pets are for the birds. They smell, need more attention than your average high-maintenance creative and, if not watched, will use your bedspread as a lavatory. And – I'm kite-flying here, so bear with me – owning one might also be common.

Dylan Jones: If You Ask Me

Saturday, 17 May 2008

If you ask me, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" is the greatest seduction tool known to mankind. Or at least an alternative to three or four pints of Wife Beater, half a dozen flaming sambucas, a rented kebab (let's face it, they're not often kept for long) and a night in the cells. I was reaquainted with it a few weeks ago via a YouTube clip of a breathtaking performance of the song by Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Shore from Shore's own TV show in 1959. It's regarded by many aficionados as one of the greatest jazz performances ever, and the duo's vocal dexterity is something to behold.