Welcome to:

Boeotia Clouds the Misty Brain

A guide to Music, Cinema and other entertainment in Cambridge.

Praise for BCtMB: "well you are certainly not a kitten but you are extremely sexy"

• What's it all about?
• Cambridge Music Venues:
  • The Portland Arms is, according to those in the know, fast becoming Cambridge's heppest apple (?). Gigs are held in a function room round the back of the bar. The venue is actually quite small and this, combined with the low ceiling the rather token stage, creates an extremely intimate ambience. This is their "swanky new website".
  • The Boat Race was for many years the place to be in Cambridge. It is still one of the best venues in the region: the acoustics are good and the atmosphere can be intense, especially when popular local bands are playing. They put on an eclectic range of gigs, with something on every night.
  • The Corn Exchange is owned by Cambridge City Council which probably explains why they have so many David Essex gigs. It's a largish venue, located in the centre of Cambridge.
  • The Junction is Cambridge's biggest venue. The junction seems to have lots of interesting things going on and is occasionally played by famous people however, it seems to be too far from the town to attract many students. Make of this what you will.
  • As regards venues not yet on-line, I seem to remember the Cellar Bar on Napier Street having some fun stuff. Route 66 (just along from the Corn Exchange) have some nice club nights, although I've only been once. Apparently the Q-club at the end of Station Road will be doing wonderful things next year. Watch this space.

• Cambridge Cinemas:
  • The Arts Cinema is, as the name suggests, a cinema showing films of artistic merit. There are rumours that this cinema is to be closed, so go and see a film there whilst you still have the chance. As cinemas go, this is one of the nicest I've been in. Their programme is always excellent and the people who run this cinema make very few concessions to the non-independent sector.
  • The Warner Brothers' Cinema is one of those huge multiplex efforts and is located in the Grafton centre. It shows all the latest Hollywood releases. No surprises there then.
  • Churchill college films occasionally show decent movies. The projection seems a bit ropey, but Churchill provide reasonable value for money. I have good memories of watching Easy Rider in a more or less empty theatre which I enjoyed greatly. Perhaps Churchill are angling themselves towards the misanthropic punter.
  • Corpus college films show some good stuff, but they seem to project the picture from a video onto a slide projector screen which can detract from the cinema experience. In my opinion going to films at Corpus is rather like inviting a bunch of strangers round to your flat to watch videos on a widescreen TV.
  • Girton college films is a mystery to me. Girton, for those of you who don't know, is located a few miles into the fens and can only be reached by helicopter (but they do say there be a wise old man who abides in....etc ad nauseum). I have a vague notion of Girton students being plucky and noble, but in a strange way so I'd imagine that their film society shows the same kind of masochistic (but oddly charming) grandeur.
  • St. John's college films is a notoriously wealthy organisation. They show recent releases in an excellent theatre. The programme is usually rather unimaginative: they seem to be competing with Warner Bro's rather than the Arts Cinema.
  • Peterhouse college films seem to have a very good programme, although I've never actually seen anything there and couldn't comment on the quality of their facilities, indeed I would be reluctant to comment on any aspect of Peterhouse College. Not after last time.
  • Queens' college films seem to show mainstream movies a few months after they come out. The theory behind this is that people might have been too apathetic or forgetful to catch the film in question when it first appeared, but on the night of the showing they may well be bored enough to file into Queens' by default. Surprisingly enough this sometimes works in Cambridge. The theatre is reasonably good, although Queens' is more famous for its outdoor showing which is alleged to be "unmissable". (Despite being a member, in theory at least, of Queens' I've missed it for the past three years.)
  • Robinson college films transcends reality, creating a truely indescribable pseudoexperience.

• Other Diversions:
  • Summer in the City another fun filled programme of events brought to you by the pithily named Promotions Team of Cambridge City Council Leisure Services. Enjoy, or big brother might come looking for you. Of course this link expired along with the summer. I'll update this as soon as those ept (and doubtless wacky) people come up with Autumn in the City or suchlike. Meanwhile, back in the aquarium....
  • R*E*P*E*A*T Fanzine is a Cambridge based Manic Street Preachers fanzine and the definitive guide to good things happening somewhere. "Rain down alienation" assumes new significance out in the bog.
  • An excellent collection of TABS (plus lyrics and chords) for those of you with guitars of your own and time on your hands.
  • My exciting new world wide web directory.

• Other guides to Cambridge:
  • Cambridge Area Information is fairly comprehensive as regards touristy things.
  • What's On In Cambridge is produced by the City Council Leisure Services Promotions Team, whoever they are.
  • Sprocket is the best guide to films in Cambridge. Unfortunately you have to subscribe to get the full listings and reviews. Not sure why this should be the case.
  • Cambridge Evening News has some reasonably extensive listings.
  • A Cambridge pub guide just so Theo doesn't have to look it up on hotbot every time.
  • The Cambridge University events calendar which makes for pretty grim reading at the moment.
  • Maps of Cambridge a suprisingly useful page (i.e. a page of negligable utility which was nonethless more useful than I expected) containing links to maps of Cambridge, some of which work (although none of them show my house).