THIS WEEKEND WHY NOT...
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Heart of the Congos
Stock up on roast fish, collie weed and cornbread and settle back with this classic album. Lee "Scratch" Perry's production dates from 1977, when falsetto vocal duo The Congos dropped into Scratch's Black Ark studio with a number of key Biblical quotations on their minds. What resulted is one of the greatest roots reggae albums ever: a righteous skank through groves of Old Testament theology, underpinned by Scratch's trademark spooky shuffle and saturated with enough reverb to moisten the most dessicated palate. Listen out for cosmic moos, scrunching rowlocks and - flump! - the greatest lo-tech bass drum sound of all time. Available now for the first time on disque compacte, with five additional tracks from the vaults and Blood & Fire's fabled packaging overkill. Yum.
Heart of the Congos (Blood & Fire label)
There's a lot of white in Burnt by the Sun. White lace and long-fringed shawls; braids woven prettily with white ribbons, and the villain is a cad with a cable-knit cricket sweater. But this handsome film about well- off people is much too boisterous and badly behaved to be a British period- piece. It unfolds during a single long summer's day - but this is one of those Northern summers with a hint of melancholy. The year is 1936 and we're in Russia. The film adopts a child's eye view of the approaching atrocities of Stalinism, but anyone expecting unleavened angst or sentiment will be amazed by the droll humour in this generous, high-spirited film which most rhapsodic reviewers described glowingly as Chekhovian. It also won the Best Foreign Film Oscar and the Cannes Special Jury Prize.
pounds 15.99 and available to rent
Today is the 15th birthday of the Half Price Ticket Booth, a mecca for theatrical bargain- hunters who nab top-price tickets to West End shows at half price. To celebrate, stars from the shows will be gathering at 12.30pm for the Birthday Fanfare, songs from the shows and everything from leaping out of cakes (very Singin' in the Rain) to distributing hundreds of prizes including theatre memorabilia, merchandise, meals and many more. Tickets to some of the best West End shows will be on sale at the usual 50 per cent discount (plus the handling fee of pounds 2), and the day sees the launch of the Booth Bonus Card, a new scheme to encourage Londoners to use this invaluable institution. Can you afford to miss this opportunity to meet the cast of The Fields of Ambrosia, the hotly-anticipated "electric- chair musical" opening next week?
Leicester Square, London WC2
Not everyone is miserable about the weather. The folks at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds are rather excited because the cold weather across Europe should send some tremendously unlikely species into gardens across the land, from waxwings to Scandinavian arctic redpoles. These rare visitors fly over when food sources are scarce there. Children wanting to take part should (swaddled in scarves) watch their garden or local park for one hour this weekend and record the highest number of each species of bird seen at any one time. Birds that land on the ground or in trees and bushes should be counted, but not those flying overhead. Will the blue tit topple the starling from its number one spot? Will the song thrush make a comeback this year?
For free information pack and voting details, write to YOC Big Garden Birdwatch, The Lodge, Sandy, Beds SG19 2DL
Have you ever seen a woman clipping tickets on a train? British Rail may well be an equal opportunities employer, but from growling announcements about leaves on the line to management warnings against privatisation to surly guards telling you as little as possible, the image of the railways is overwhelmingly male. Thanks to "Oh! Mrs Porter", the National Railway Museum exhibition, we now know that the first recorded women workers were gatekeepers over 350 years ago. By the First World War, there were women porters, ticket collectors, cleaners and Annie Eva Martin was sworn in as the first woman special railway constable on 5 March 1917, but the first woman driver didn't begin work until 1981. The exhibition is an entire social and political history. Not just for anoraks.
National Railway Museum, Leeman Road, York YO2 4XJ (01904 621261)
WATCH
Burnt by the Sun
WIN
Theatre tickets and other prizes
JOIN
Children's Birdwatch Weekend
VISIT
The National Railway Museum
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