Turntable to MP3?

Dear Friends,

Does anyone (ideally someone in Cambridge / London) have the technology to convert a 7" single to MP3 format? I am craving a particular track, which I can acquire for 99p on vinyl but would prefer to preserve as MP3.

[theatre] Venice Preserv'd, Greenwich, 30-May-14

Official site - runs til June 8th

This sounded fun: a perambulation through scenic Greenwich, followed by an immersive, site-responsive performance of Thomas Otway's 1682 tragedy about social unrest, Venice Preserv'd. We filled in the 'census', printed off our masks, and turned up at the Cutty Sark to parade along the waterfront. I got a banner to carry. It was purple.

The plot is typically Baroque: Jaffeir and Pierre are close friends; Pierre is fomenting rebellion against the corrupt Senate; Jaffeir wants to join in, offers his beloved wife Belvidera as surety of his reliability, and promptly reneges when she is maltreated by the conspirators. Meanwhile, Pierre's mistress is entertaining an ancient Senator (and entertaining the audience by her amused contempt for his peculiar vices); Belvidera's father does not approve of his son-in-law; and the rebels, a motley and cosmopolitan crew, drink a lot and argue. There is a happy ending, for values of 'happy' including 'stabbing your best mate to save him from a slower, more public death'. Nobody's hands were cut off, and though at least one person did go mad they didn't take off their clothes.

I was slightly dubious about the frequent relocations of action (we trailed after the actors and accomplices from a riverfront space to an interior square with a painted-on Bridge of Sighs, thence to an interior and off again to another interior) but on the whole it made it much more interesting than simply sitting in a theatre for three hours. Mind you, we were incredibly lucky with the weather: rain would have made the experience thoroughly miserable.

Most of the 'professional' reviews seem to be negative. Yes, it was expensive; yes, the initial 'Carnival' occasionally tried too hard; yes, at least one of the relocations of the action felt pointless. But the cast were superb (especially Jessie Buckley as Belvidera, Ashley Zhangazha as Jaffeir and Ferdinand Kingsley as Pierre) and the supporting members of the troupe, whether acting out a Commedia dell'Arte farce or ushering us from room to room, were constantly and credibly in character.

(To be fair to the reviewers, and encouraging to the company, I think some of the negative criticisms have been taken on board: we didn't have to change money -- having come out without ducats -- to buy drinks; blankets were provided for the chillier bits; we were not forced to dance.)

Highly recommended as an experience, and as a theatrical performance.

[concert] Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto #1, RFH (31-May-14)

Broadcast live on Radio 3 (so should be available on iPlayer for the next week): I was mostly there for the Piano Concerto, so skipped the second half (Dvorak New World Symphony) though might as well have stayed given the irregularity of trains back to Cambridge yesterday evening.

Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto is, in places, like a nineteenth-century wall of sound. It felt full of movement, spiralling down and then bursting forth.

Denis Kozhukhin (piano) was marvellous (though, due to clubbed blond hair, looked distractingly like Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey) and I shall be seeking out other performances, live and on CD.

Trains are stupid.

[film] Maleficent (31-May-14)

I was fascinated by the idea of Angelina Jolie as archetypal fairytale villain: I didn't expect such a delightful, witty, feminist story.( spoilers )

Suspect I'd have got more out of the film if I'd been familiar with the original Sleeping Beauty film: but I didn't feel I was missing anything essential. Maleficent is a beautiful film, Jolie is a thoroughly compelling presence, and the story is an enthralling remix of the traditional fairy tale, with a happy ending that doesn't require a handsome prince.