We return after A Great Busyness - thank you for your patience - talking about all the single ladies (well, solo actresses in superb shows) and how what is based on something past can be made better in the present.

Reviewed this week:

THEATRE: My Name Is Lucy Barton, My Brilliant Divorce

MUSIC: James Bay - Changes All The Time, Crowded House - Some Greater Plan (For Claire)

BOOKS: Black Dogs by Ian McEwan, Home Work by Julie Andrews with Emma Walton Hamilton

TV: Ripley

FILM: Alien Romulus

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).

We return after an unintended break due to day jobs and holidays and illness and things. The entire Olympic Games happened since we last chatted, and so did a second run for Bruce's musical Actress, which we discuss. Also noted: Adam Sandler's superior brand of celebrity; how gross Parktown Prawns are; that idiots get way too many platforms and that a little kindness goes a long way.

Reviewed this week:

MUSIC: Ryan Adams; Fantastic Negrito

BOOKS: Hope In The Dark by Craig Groeschel; How To Think Politically by Graeme Garrard and James Bernard Murphy

TV: Umbrella Academy S4; You're SO Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah; The Anarchists

Theatre: Actress, The Ugly Noonoo

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).

Century up! Waves coffee cup at the grandstand; points to heaven like an Argentinean footballer. What started as a little bit of fun and an excuse for two friends to drink coffee and whiskey, play guitars and talk about music, books, theatre, film and television is still a little bit of fun and an excuse for two friends to drink coffee and whiskey, play guitars and talk about music, books, theatre, film and television. Plus a first live outing for a new original song.

Reviewed this week:

MUSIC: Zach Bryan - The Great American Bar Scene, Eddie Vedder - Save It For Later, Fantastic Cat - Nobody's Coming To Get You, Grace Pettis and Robby Hecht - When Nobody's Watching, Madison Cunningham - Hospital, Wesley Dean - Blood Brothers

BOOKS: A Short History Of Nearly Everything - Illustrated Edition by Bill Bryson, Led Zeppelin: When Giants Walked The Earth by Mick Wall, Just The Funny Parts by Nell Scovell

TV: Fallout, Beverley Hills Cop: Axel F, The Boys Season 4

FIRST TAKE: Under The Water by Bruce Dennill

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).

Our guest is Candice Etberg of the NPO Ladles of Love, which has a Nelson Mandela Day activation at which you can make a massive difference in terms of providing meals and proper nutrition for those who need them most. Book a slot via LadlesofLove.org.za⁠. We also find the 'lost novel' of Stefan's favourite author (it was right there on the table), revisit The Troubles and enjoy some discord. All of which is way more fun than it sounds.

Reviewed this week:

MUSIC: Fantastic Cat - The Very Best Of Fantastic Cat;

PODCAST: Discord And Rhyme

BOOKS: Until August by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

TV: Belfast, The Holdovers

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).

We endure a visit to the darkness, see Elvis there and enjoy the profundity of small tragedies. Slash, Conan and Agatha Christie are also around. And the coffee is great.

Reviewed this week:

THEATRE: The Return Of Elvis Du Pisanie, Deathly Murder - Killed By A Killer

MUSIC: Slash - Orgy Of The Damned

PODCAST: A History Of Rock Music In 500 Songs

BOOKS: Heart Of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, Lost Property by Megan Choritz

TV: Conan O'Brien Must Go

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).

We confirm that revisiting the past can be both exciting and depressing, but at least you can flip forward in a book. Neil Young enjoys a welcome return to our consciousness, and we delve into the darkness of infant ungulates.

Reviewed this week:

THEATRE: The Brothers, Number One And A Weekend Special

MUSIC: The Lemon Twigs - A Dream Is All We Know, Charley Crockett - $10 Cowboy, Neil Young - Fu##in' Up

BOOKS: Letters That Changed The World by Simon Sebag Montefiore, Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett, The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway, The Illustrated Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth

TV: Baby Reindeer

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).

On stage, in song, in print and sort-of on screen, it's pointed out that women and what they go through requires constant consideration - which is hopefully not a revelation. Elsewhere, Manchester is united in music. And yes, that was phrased like that to hack off Liam Gallagher if he ever reads this.

Reviewed this week:

THEATRE: Ile, Your Perfect Life

MUSIC: Liam Gallagher and John Squire, St Lucia, Marcus King, Sincerely Anne

BOOKS: Love And Fury by Margie Orford, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

TV: Poor Things, Stillwater, All Creatures Great And Small Season 4

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).

After extensive intranational travel, two theatre productions have inspired discussion. Stefan also says guitar things about a borrowed instrument and Bill Bryson does the first disappointing thing of his brilliant life while Denzel Washington keeps a clean record.

Reviewed this week:

THEATRE: Expelled, Amadeus

GEAR: Gibson SG

MUSIC: Slash - Orgy Of The Damned, Sheryl Crow - Digging In The Dirt

BOOKS: Seeing Further, edited by Bill Bryson

TV: The Equalizer 3, Spaceman, Damsel

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).

Thanks to a touch of colic in the space-time continuum (or an uploading glitch - your choice), Episode 94 now appears after Episode 95 in the list. Meh. Blame Terry Pratchett. Meanwhile, we look at Los Angeles through Ry Cooder's eyes, Nazis through the filter of the Booker Prize and why it's not a good idea to hitchhike in the Australian Outback.

Reviewed this week:

MUSIC: Hermanos Gutierrez - Sonido Cosmico, Dermot Kennedy - Lucky

BOOKS: Los Angeles Stories by Ry Cooder, 55 by James Delargy

TV: The Whale

PODCAST: The Booker Prize Podcast - Schindler's List vs Schindler's Ark

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).

We welcome rock star, actor, dog/cat/bird owner and, most importantly, coffee sponsor Cito into the studio/cramped dining room to chat about his bewildering array of musical projects, including Wonderboom, Blvd Hvnny, El Cantante, Absinthe Led Zeppelin tribute shows and more. Classical literature and other, less busy rock stars are thrown in for good measure.

Reviewed this week:

MUSIC: Pearl Jam - Dark Matter

BOOKS: The Porpoise by Mark Haddon, Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

TV: The Greatest Night In Pop

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).