Entertainment with a difference

Recently we have been partaking of entertainment.

I know! Not something a grumpy old woman should be doing, but there you are. We've seen storytellers, folk musicians (of a kind we wouldn't have gone to see earlier), I've even considered an evening of poetry, but I'm already booked to hear some jazz and can't do both. Who'd have thought that storytelling would be good when you're not only grown up but getting older? Yet the grown-up stories are fascinating and hold you spellbound. Try Three Voices at The Ropewalk soon - stories, folk and poetry all in one. And amazing entertainment!

This is something you never expect when you're younger. You try different kinds of music and find that actually it's very enjoyable. I would never in the past have thought of going to see Morris dancers, but they are a restful kind of entertainment, which you can walk into and out of if you find it's not for you, and nobody minds. We stayed for a while in Lincoln a few weeks ago, where there was a competition going on. We hadn't realised it was happening, but it was fun to see the different styles. Who knew that there are modern Morris dancers dressed in Goth outfits? Very alternative! And lady Morris dancers with big sticks!

We got into the folk because of Bellowhead, who we first saw on TV one Christmas and thought 'what on earth is that?!' Then we got into the music, and now they're heading towards their last performance so we've tried them out in smaller versions like John Spiers on his own, and Faustus. It's foot-tapping music you can dance to, or it's quiet ballads, and it's not that 'thump, thump, thump' stuff that blasts out of young men's cars, although it can still be pretty loud.

Next weekend is the Ted Lewis Jazz Festival in Barton on Humber. Ted Lewis was a young man from Barton who dabbled in art and wrote books. His pictures are displayed occasionally around Barton, but he is famous for one of the books he wrote, which became the movie "Get Carter" starring Michael Caine. The book was actually set in Scunthorpe and Barton, but as they do with movies it moved, to Newcastle, I think. Nevertheless, there is a movement to celebrate Ted's work, so as he liked jazz and played in a band, the Festival is to celebrate that side of his work. There will be a specially brewed real ale available as well, courtesy of Tom Wood brewery, as well as other memorabilia.

I never used to like jazz either, but I find a fair amount of it is now to my taste. Snake Davis will be opening the Jazz Festival. What's not to like about a bit of cool sax? Lots of other acts over the next few days should provide something to most people's taste, and there's even a Brolly Parade! New Orleans Jazz in Barton - whatever next?!