tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62573302803783449112024-03-05T02:01:16.360-08:00Off Your SonarB. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.comBlogger236125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-5193763456248704492021-02-03T13:33:00.003-08:002021-02-03T13:33:39.049-08:00Records for Sale at the Peer Hat<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">These are
most of the NEW records, tapes and compact discs that are available for sale at
the Peer Hat music venue / bar. If you’d like to buy any of them contact <a href="mailto:dominic@aatma.zone">dominic@aatma.zone</a> to arrange a time to
visit and pick them up. You could combine your trip with a click and collect
purchase from Piccadilly Records. Please pay cash. If you’d like to make an additional
donation to help keep the Peer Hat and Aatma venues running then that would be
welcome.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
following are NEW vinyl records, mostly shrink-wrapped or in plastic covers, 12”
LPs unless stated otherwise: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Easter –
Meander Lines £15<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">ILL – We Are
ILL £15<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">XUP – Your Hate
Fills My Void £15<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">XUP - The
Shakes 7” single £5<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Politburo –
Sally and Prinss Revisited £10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Politburo –
Barrington Way £10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mary Ocher –
Your Government £10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mary Ocher –
The West Against The People £10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mary Ocher –
Faust Studio Sessions and other Recordings 10” LP £10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dignan Porch
– Observatory £10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Birdstriking
– Holey Porch £15<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Freak Genes –
III £9<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Freak Genes –
Playtime £9<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Me Lost Me –
Arcana £15<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Praises – In
This Year: Ten of Swords £10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Soft
Rider – The Pool £10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: FR;">Ummagama – Compass £12<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: FR;">Menage a Trois – Australia Part II £10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hyperdawn –
Bleach £15<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Lucky and
Love £15<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Marble
Vanity £9<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sprinters
£10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Josiah
Konder – Songs for the Stunned £15<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Josiah
Konder – Through the Stutter £15<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Speed of
Sound – Everything Changes £15<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dumb Angel -
Broken Glass £15<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In Deed –
Everest £10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">39<sup>th</sup>
& the Nortons – The Dreamers £10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Veldt – The
Shaking Fuzz of Your Electric Fur £10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Laurence
Wasser – Atomic Bongos #1 £10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Manu Louis-
Cream Parade £15<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Manu Louis –
Coltan Major Harmonics 7” single £6<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Hip
Shakes / The Blind Shake split 7” single £5<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rita Braga –
A Gringo in Sao Paolo 7” single £7<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Vee VV –
Dump Slump 4 song 12” EP £4 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A couple of
cassette tapes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Voxish –
Paraxa £5<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Eton Mess –
Delusions of Grandeur £5 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Compact
discs and CDRs:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Stranger Son
of WB – Last Days of Butterfly £6<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Easter –
Innocence Man 6 song album £5<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rita Braga –
Bird on the Moon album £10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ravens – 5 song
EP £4<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Bonnie Blue –
All Things Considered £5<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Cynthia’s
Periscope – All Moving Parts 5 song EP £3<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Glass Pop –
Stranger in the Mirror 11 song album £7<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">XUP – These are
the Scars 14 song album £5 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Weimar – Marvel
to the State 2 song CDR £2<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Weimar –
John Doe 2 song CDR £2<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Running <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chelsea – The Moonstruck Confederate 11 song
album £8<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Bisch Nadar
4 song EP £3<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jimi Mack –
Run to the Sun £5<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Daphne and
Celeste Save the World £7<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Suso Flores –
Dancefloor Massacre £5<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Vacuus
Otiosus – Should a Word Show a World CDR album £5<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Vacuus
Otiosus – Low Cost Locust Investigates CDR album £5<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Sandemans – Lose Control 4 song EP pay what you like<o:p></o:p></span></p>B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-8377886205888446452018-10-23T08:47:00.002-07:002018-10-23T08:47:31.580-07:00Easter “Meander Lines” (Super Smash Hit Records)<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The break up of a long term relationship is often traumatic
but Easter wordsmith Tom Long has channelled all the tragedy, trauma and regret
into the ten songs on their second album. The band also suffered a break up of
sorts, as shortly after recording the album bassist Rich Clarke moved to Mexico,
although rumours he was helping build a wall are untrue. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was quickly replaced by Joel Nicholson who
also plays in Chew Magna and Butcher the Bar and can sometimes be found selling
CDs in Vinyl Exchange in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Danny Saul who played
guitar on their first album also once worked at Vinyl Exchange, so as far as
I’m aware they are the only band from Manchester to have had two members work
at that shop. When Danny left Rich’s older brother Gavin switched from bass to
guitar. Now it looks as if drummer Andrew Cheetham could be on the way out, as
he’s also drumming for Kiran Leonard and finding it hard to fit in both bands’
schedules. Losing Andrew would be a terrible blow, as he’s one of the best
drummers in Manchester and plays with a fluid dexterity matched by few. I hope
he decides to continue drumming for Easter, as he really makes the drums roll
in a way few can. Easter’s first full length album is one of the three best
I’ve heard from a Manchester band in 2018 and Easter are always great live. Enough
of the soap opera, what about the songs? Tom Long is a wounded romantic poet
and has some vocal and lyrical similarities with David Gedge of The Wedding Present,
but Easter are a much more sonically interesting band. The first song “I Lost
My Pen” is a regretful ode to the memory of a lost love, as are most of the
others. Another reoccurring lyrical theme is clothes and here Tom “filled five
bags of clothes for the homeless down the road.” The metaphor of clothes and
changing clothes occurs frequently to denote life changes. Tom’s lyrics are
nicely poetic but it’s his guitar playing that is really at the heart of what
makes Easter great. An avowed Yo La Tengo fan, Tom shares with Ira Kaplan the
capacity to wrench every emotive impulse from a wild guitar solo that sounds
like the kind of thing Lou Reed would heartily approve of if he wasn’t dead.
Maybe Neil Young would dig it if he gave it a listen in his hippy car on his
way to feed cows grass. My favourite song is the album’s biggest rocker, the
desperate “Suicide Kiss,” which was almost scrapped along with a few other
songs. I seem to recall that my enthusiasm for that particular song convinced
Tom to keep developing it as it almost got the chop. “Suicide Kiss” was released
as a download single with a non-album companion “No End in Sight” which anyone
who likes the album should download immediately from bandcamp as it’s certainly
good enough to have been on the vinyl only album. The only problem with that is
there isn’t a song weak enough to ditch in favour of it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Easter play Gullivers on Oldham Street in Manchester on
Thursday (25<sup>th</sup> October) with Paul Fleischman on drums. It’s seven
quid to hear them and Omit Sleep and you can buy a ticket for that price (no
rip off fees) from the bar at Gullivers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-79678040315178211132018-10-22T07:40:00.002-07:002018-10-22T07:45:53.213-07:00"To Throw Away Unopened" by Viv Albertine<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’d certainly recommend Viv Albertine’s second book “To
Throw Away Unopened” despite the fact that she often takes a statistically
infinitesimal sample of men to extrapolate (sometimes inadvertent) generalisations
about how all men behave. Like her book about punk rock her honesty about
herself is almost embarrassing, but this is the thing that makes the story of
her dysfunctional family so interesting. Both parents wrote diaries over the
same period leading up to their divorce and Viv only read them after they had
died. She began to question her own memories of events reading her abusive father’s
diary but then realised he was telling a lot of lies whilst reading her
mother’s version of events. My favourite part is on page 192 when she recounts
the tale of a “posh twat” taking up two seats on a bus and demanded he let her
sit down as there were no other seats left. Their minor altercation got to the
point where he stopped the bus with the emergency button and called the police
but the bus driver and other passengers ganged up on him and he made a total
arse of himself. Another bit I was amused by was when she heard an old Neil
Young song from the 1970 but mistook it for a wonderful new music sung by a
woman and was disappointed. Why should Neil Young’s gender or the age of the
song matter? Neil Young certainly seems like a much nicer man than any of the
men Viv has been involved with in her story, and stands as a pretty good
example of a man who probably isn’t the way Viv sees men. Then again, maybe it
was the fact that the mystery song was recorded in 1970 that she found
disappointing. Chorlton library has a copy you can borrow and they’re selling
it at Piccadilly Records.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-70288559549733121722018-10-17T08:25:00.001-07:002018-10-17T08:25:54.794-07:00How Not to Behave at a Low Concert in a Cathedral<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Oh no! We’re stood behind the most annoying man in the
room!” said my friend after a couple of Low songs. “Just so long as he doesn’t
sing along out of tune anymore it should be alright,” I replied, loud enough
for the annoying man to hear. As well as humming out of tune, this oaf was
wobbling from foot to foot getting in other people’s space around him, but not
so much as to be more than a minor irritant. Much more annoying was his stupid
habit of whooping like a girl at a Beatles gig during quiet parts of almost
every song Low played, whilst EVERYONE else in the cathedral was respectfully
silent. He was also so insecure he needed to keep babbling at his partner how
fantastic and amazing Low were, in case maybe she might evaporate if he didn’t
stop yacking at her. Of course being a boorish oaf he mostly did this in the
quiet parts of the songs. I think it was during the quiet start of “Nothing but
Heart” that I’d finally had enough and started hissing “Shut up!” at him. Next
song he completely ruined the quiet build up by babbling words of praise during
every gap between notes and I turned and told him to shut the fuck up. His
partner told me not to be aggressive as he got all macho and started babbling,
“What’s your problem? What’s your problem?” I’d just told the fool so I just
made a shush gesture as he started disturbing EVERYONE else’s enjoyment of Low
even more by babbling that I was “ridiculous” and “a cunt.” I turned away and
ignored him, but between songs he started up again trying to pick a fight. His
partner got between him and me and I turned my back and ignored the pillock.
She told me I should move away. That wouldn’t have worked as he was shrieking
so loud I’m sure everyone at the front could hear. What the hell is wrong with
waiting until BETWEEN the songs to do this? No one else in the whole cathedral
felt the need to behave in such an inconsiderate and moronic manner. “He’s
enjoying himself,” she explained as if it was somehow impossible for this total
arsehole to enjoy himself without whooping like a little girl on a swing. Then
she tried a pathetic bit of emotional blackmail: “A friend of his who liked Low
died recently!” So that meant I should put up with him spoiling the atmosphere
with his bad manners? I hope he learned to appreciate live music without
shrieking at the band, as I didn’t hear any more of his whooping during songs.
I spotted a few people leaving near the front and took their place away from
the whooping arsehole. Unaware of all this Alan Sparhawk told us towards the
end that the previous night in Bristol there had been a fight down the front
near bassist Steve Garrington. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if it was just
one insecure macho prick who was making too much noise or shoving people and
was told to stop who started it. If you are at a gig and you won’t shut up when
asked to and try to start a fight over it then you are a grade A arsehole. I
suppose I could have been more polite but that jerk had been annoying for most
of the gig, whilst EVERYONE else nearby had been content to listen and show
their appreciation BETWEEN songs. When Low finished with “Murderer” I couldn’t
help thinking it would be nice to have a murderer finish off people who ruin
quiet gigs by talking, whooping and being incapable of silent listening. Another
top tip: if you’re going to piss off someone at a gig, try to make sure it
isn’t someone who will write about it later. Better still have some
consideration for everyone listening around you and respect for the artists and
don’t ruin the music by babbling on during the songs. Talk and clap and whistle
and shriek between the songs, unless you’re having a medical emergency.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-67476696498938439892018-10-04T07:47:00.003-07:002018-10-04T07:47:58.299-07:00The Legal Con of the Booking FeeIf you read my list of good gigs happening in Manchester you
will have realised that I don’t like so called “booking fees” on gig tickets
especially when they get so high that the “booking fee,” or rip off fee as I
shall call it from now on, is higher than the ticket price of a cheap gig. For
example I recently paid £3 to see Drink and Drive, yet the rip off fee for the
Gang of Four gig is more than that. What is this fee for? Online ticket sellers
are unnecessary middle men who need to be paid. It’s a legal scam almost as
pernicious as the credit card. They make up their own terms and conditions and
prices and screw extra money out of music fans for what? You get a guarantee
that you’ll get into a gig, just in case it sells out. However if there were no
pre-gig tickets then no gigs would sell out in advance, and if you were worried
that a gig would sell out you’d have to turn up early. Of course this would
lead to hilarious queues of eager fans forming days before some gigs so might
not be such a great idea for certain larger gigs, but for smaller gigs there’s
really no reason for not making them pay on the door only and ending this farce
of ripping off music fans for the sake of promoter convenience and unnecessary
middle man profiteering. Who really benefits from advance tickets aside from
the online ticket sellers? It’s the gig promoter of course, and one seller
(skiddle) does actually give the promoter the option of paying them the rip off
fee themselves. This seems reasonable as there are at least four ways the promoter
profits from advance tickets:<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->They get your money sometimes months before you
get to hear the live performance that you paid for.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->If someone can’t make the gig and a ticket goes
unused, the promoter still gets the entrance fee. However this is a gross
disadvantage for music fans as it means one less person will get into a sold
out event for every unused ticket, and the venue won’t actually be at legal
capacity. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->The promoter does not have to make physical
tickets or make much effort to sell them. This saves them time and money, yet
this saving has been passed on to the music fan in a legal racket that has
become normalised.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->The promoter has less cash to handle at the gig
entrance, so there is less risk of theft.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So if you’re putting on a smaller gig for the love of music,
why not consider NOT doing what the big money promoters do? Why not make it pay
on the door only like the Eliminator and Aggressive Perfector gig at The Peer
Hat? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the very least it would be nice if promoters would be
honest about the entrance fee of a gig. If the only way to buy a ticket is from
online sellers, then why advertise a gig as costing £18 when it actually costs
£21.45 and it’s impossible to actually buy a ticket for £18? Surely this is
false advertising and the promoters should be prosecuted by Trading Standards
like a shop would be for doing the same thing. How many shops have you been in
that advertise products at a price that doesn’t include VAT then add an extra
VAT fee at the till which is quite often higher than the government rate of
VAT?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another idea is that promoters who actually personally know
people who come to their gigs could take an advance cash payment for a gig
ticket and just put their name on a list so they could avoid the rip off fee.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-89701588627791695252018-10-03T06:13:00.004-07:002018-10-22T07:44:05.207-07:00October Gigs in Manchester<div class="MsoNormal">
These are the good gigs I know about that are happening in Manchester in October 2018:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monday 1<sup>st</sup>: Anna Calvi @ the Ritz (£20 plus unnecessary middle man rip off fee)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tuesday 2<sup>nd</sup>: Elder + Ancestors + Cattle @ Rebellion (£15.40 including rip off fee, Beauty Witch)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Wednesday 3rd: "Imagination in Play" Art Exhibition and Open Mic @ The Peer Hat (FREE)<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thursday 4th: Life + Mush + The Starlight Magic Hour @ Night and Day Cafe<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thursday 4<sup>th</sup>: Amber Arcades + Songs for Walter @
Deaf Institute<o:p></o:p></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Friday 5<sup>th</sup>: The Sonics + The Creature Comfort @ Academy 3 (£23 plus rip off fee, although unlike most promoters these days you can still actually buy a ticket at the students union with no rip off fee and cut out the leaching online ticket sellers)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday 6<sup>th</sup>: Nick Branton, Alvarro Tores &
Johnny Hunter @ Chorlton Tap 2pm<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday 6<sup>th</sup>: M20 Festival: Factory Records 40<sup>th</sup>
anniversary founding celebration including Joy Division tribute band
Transmission @ various Withington venues: Fuel, Indigo, Solomons, Deco Records,
The Victoria, The Orion <a href="http://www.m20festival.org.uk/">www.M20Festival.org.uk</a>
(FREE)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sunday 7<sup>th</sup>: Eliminator + Ascalon + Aggressive
Perfector @ The Peer Hat (£5 on the door, no advance sales just like it should
be)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Monday 8th: The Bear Around Your Neck @ Jimmy<br />
<br /></div>
Monday 8th: Devil's Avocado + The Birth Marks CANCELLED</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monday 8<sup>th</sup>: Mark Lanegan and Duke Garwood @ RNCM (£22 plus rip off fee, unless you buy a ticket from the RNCM box office)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monday 8<sup>th</sup>: Johnny Hunter @ Matt and Phreds (FREE, 9pm)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tuesday 9<sup>th</sup>: Chris Corsano + David Birchall, Andrew Cheetham, Hannah Marsahall and Kaier @ the Peer Hat<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Wednesday 10th: The Staches + Lassie + Handle + Smelvis and the Farts @ Fuel<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wednesday 10th: Daniel Johnston film @ Dulcimer, Chorlton FREE<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thursday 11<sup>th</sup>: Angel Sword + Aggressive Perfector
@ Aatma<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Friday 12<sup>th</sup>: Spaceheads with visuals from Rucksack Cinema + Cynthia’s Periscope + Project Concubine + Lucy Leave @ Peer Hat (£4.40 online or £5 OTD)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Friday 12<sup>th</sup>: Nibiru + Even Vast + The Medea Project @ the Star and Garter (£5)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Friday 12<sup>th</sup>: Terry Riley @ RNCM (£25)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday 13<sup>th</sup>: Bo Ningen + Witch Fever + Milk Disco @ Night and Day (promoter has been saying this is “almost sold out” for months now so maybe its almost sold out)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday 13<sup>th</sup>: Yossarians + godspeed you peter andre + Sly and the Family Drone + Mother, etc<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>@ Partisan (3pm start, Fat Out, £8 plus a little extra for the unnecessary online middle men)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Saturday 13<sup>th</sup>: Punk Rock all dayer with The Drones @ The Peer Hat<br />
<br />
Sunday 14<sup>th</sup>: Punk Rock all dayer @ The Peer Hat<br />
<br />
Monday 15<sup>th</sup>: Paul Hession, Mark Hanslip, Nina Whiteman and other improvisers @ Whisky Jar</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tuesday 16<sup>th</sup>: Low @ Manchester Cathedral (£27.50 including rip off fee)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wednesday 17<sup>th</sup>: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks @ Albert Hall (£25 plus a few pennies including rip off fee)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Wednesday 17<sup>th</sup>: Dark Thoughts + Careering @ Fuel<br />
<br />
Wednesday 17<sup>th</sup>: Mokoomba + Jali Nyonkoling Kuyateh @ Band on the Wall</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thursday 18<sup>th</sup>: Gang of Four @ Ruby Lounge (£18 plus communist rip off fee to unnecessary middlemen who make their profit down on the disco floor; yes some capitalist shit is really taking the piss as tickets advertised at £18 are actually costing £21.45 on Ruby Lounge website)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Thursday 18<sup>th</sup>: Liines + Kaze + Emily Oldfield @ Night and Day Cafe<br />
<br />
Thursday 18<sup>th</sup>: Mutabase @ The Peer Hat<br />
<br />
Thursday 18<sup>th</sup>: Caitlin Gilligan @ The Cleveland, Crumpsall Folk Club<br />
<br />
Friday 19<sup>th</sup>: Cocaine Piss + Crywank + Smelvis and the Farts + Alan @ The Star and Garter<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Friday 19<sup>th</sup>: “Difficult Fun: Post-Punk and the
Politics of Pleasure” talk @ Irish World Heritage Centre, 1 Irish Town Way M8
0AE (not a gig, a talk about music)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Friday 19<sup>th</sup>: Toots and the Maytals @ Academy<br />
<br />
Friday 19<sup>th</sup>: Magic Shoppe + Frankie Teardrop + Sioux @ Night People (starts 11pm)</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday 20<sup>th</sup>: She Makes War @ The Castle<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sunday 21<sup>st</sup>: John Carpenter @ Albert Hall<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Sunday 21<sup>st</sup>: Jo Rose @ Dulcimer, Chorlton 9pm FREE<br />
<br />
Sunday 21<sup>st</sup>: David Birchall, Sam Andreae and Otto Willberg @ secret location in Gorton</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monday 22<sup>nd</sup>: The Mauskovic Dance Band + Mama Racho @ the Peer Hat<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Monday 22<sup>nd</sup>: The Chats + WITCH FEVER @ Academy </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tuesday 23<sup>rd</sup>: Adrena Adrena + Triangle Cuts @ the Peer Hat<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Tuesday 23<sup>rd</sup>: Sink Ya Teeth + Eton Crop @ The Eagle Inn<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wednesday 24th: Space Lady + The Seer of Eye Spirit @ Yes (£15.40 including rip off fee or £14 for those privileged kids with fancy internet phones who listen to all their music for free and wave the damn things in your face making crappy bootlegs whilst you are trying to watch the band. Its at Yes so everyone will probably just talk over the Space Lady anyway)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thursday 25<sup>th</sup>: Easter + Omit Sleep @ Gullivers
(£7 tickets available at Gullivers just like they should be available from
every venue with NO rip off fee for EVERY GIG)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thursday 25<sup>th</sup>: Stallion + Aggressive Perfector +
Heavy Sentence @ Dulcimer, Chorlton (£5 OTD)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thursday 25<sup>th</sup>: Brix and the Extricated @ Night
People (£15 plus rip off fee, tickets not available from Hotel Bloedel)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Friday 26<sup>th</sup>: Henry Herbert and the Fury + Hopper
Propelled Electric @ The Castle (£11 including rip off fee for some piano
propelled rock’n’roll)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Friday 26<sup>th</sup>: The KVB @ Yes (£9 plus rip off fee)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Friday 26<sup>th</sup>: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs +
ILL @ the Star and Garter (SOLD OUT, Beauty Witch)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday 27<sup>th</sup>: Bones Shake + Thee Windom Earles +
The Dee Vees + Guts + Snakerattlers + Tensheds + Weird Sex + Thee Rag and Bone
Men @ Thee Peer Hat (£5 OTD, 5pm start: rock’n’roll bargain!!!)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday 27<sup>th</sup>: International Teachers of Pop @
White Hotel<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sunday 28<sup>th</sup>: Dead Meadow @ Soup Kitchen (£14 plus
rip off fee)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monday 29<sup>th</sup>: Marissa Nadler @ Gullivers (£13)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monday 29<sup>th</sup>: Melvins + Jon Spencer@ Academy (£28)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monday 29<sup>th</sup>: Snack Family + Bingo Harry + The
Sandells @ The Peer Hat<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tuesday 30th: Duane Eddy @ Bridgewater Hall</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wednesday 31<sup>st</sup>: Epic 45 + No Talk + Little Mother
@ The Peer Hat<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Friday
November 2<sup>nd</sup>: Coupe-Gorge + Heavy Sentence + Implement @ Fuel
(Lovely Hens: £5 OTD just like it should be, a real underground gig with no internet
rip off fee middlemen and no wannabe career promoter advance ticketing bullshit)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /></div>
B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-78557443668152896702018-10-02T10:32:00.000-07:002018-10-02T10:32:00.766-07:00Songs for Walter and Playacting @ Yes 28.9.18<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Yes is an
old prog rock band. Now it’s also a tediously trendy new venue in Manchester. Maybe
the name was chosen with the same total lack of originality with which they
coined the name “Now Wave” which had already much more appropriately been used
by Skin Graft records for music on their label informed by no wave and punk
rock. This is of course a case of the pot calling the kettle black as back in
the nineties I stole fanzine names off Nomeansno (“Kill Everyone Now!”) and
Brainiac (“Cracked Machine”) and this blog’s name is stolen from a Wire lyric
(“99.9”). I’ve never found out if Manchester promoters Now Wave have even heard
of Skin Graft and their previous use of the same phrase, although judging by
the mostly rather bland artists they put on, I’d guess Skin Graft was not an
influence. The bevvy of bouncers on the door were very friendly but I guess the
students who dig mediocre fluff music might get rowdier than hardcore punks
these days as there were far more of them than you’d get at venues where
violent underground music gets played. The fixtures and fittings (funded by
some Camden company I was told) looked quite fancy, so employing a small squad
to keep order is probably quite sensible. On the ground floor the atmosphere was
horrible. Young DJs played crap music VERY LOUD: so loud everyone had to shout
to make conversation, leading to total bedlam. A few people found it a bit
stressful, however there was no relief in the basement where the lighting was
so blindingly fierce before the bands played that someone remarked that he felt
like he was being interrogated by the Stasi! Fleeing back upstairs we
discovered that the only cider available was Symonds carcinogenic toxic
artificial sweetener fizzbomb hangover flavour, or two varieties of bottled
alcopops that are too sugary to get you drunk (Old Mout and Rekorderlig). Even
worse than that, they sell pizza that some fool has decided to name “Pepperoni
Playboy.” What on Earth were they thinking when they came up with that name?
Let’s commemorate dead sexist pigs? I just hope that some clueless advertising
agency wasn’t paid to come up with that stupid name. Downstairs after a more or
less standard small gig delay of about twenty minutes trio Playacting played
some slightly fey and fussy but technically interesting and emotive music that
people like to refer to as “math rock” because they aren’t just banging out
barre chords in 4/4 time. Their best song started very quietly, and built to a much
louder climax, which was fortunate as the room was filling up with people who
mostly seemed to be intent on carrying on shouting at each other whilst the
bands played. Whilst this might seem socially acceptable whilst a “support
band” is playing, it’s the height of bad manners to do keep on SHOUTING at your
friends for the whole gig. If you want to shout, do it between songs. The noise
levels were so high as Songs for Walter played that I almost had to put my head
in the PA!</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The day before I’d seen singer-songwriter-guitarist
Laurie Hulme warm up with a solo performance at the Manchester Food Festival on
Albert Square. He must have got some good practise in for playing whilst people
chat as he didn’t seem at all bothered by the relentless chunder. He’d played a
cover of “Total Trash” by Sonic Youth in the big marquee on Albert Square, and
dedicated it to me which was nice. There were no Sonic Youth songs tonight,
just his new album played in running order by a four piece band which latterly
expanded to five. Long time Songs for Walter collaborator Tekla sang backing
vocals and played tambourine. Joel Nicholson of Easter and Chew Magna played
another guitar and Liam Stewart of NASDAQ, Lonelady and Elle Mary and the Bad
Men drummed. At one point Liam remarked that playing drums in Songs for Walter
was a completely different skill to what he was used to, as the songs were all
so rhythmically simple. Playing the album song by song meant Laurie had to
switch guitars continuously but this didn’t lead to any noticeable delay. I got
another dedication with “Alien” which also happens to be the film I’ve watched
more times than any other! I don’t think the song has anything to do with the
film. Laurie introduced “I Don’t Know Who You Are” with an amusing story about
events that inspired the song. He’d locked his car keys in the trunk, his phone
had died and he’d run out of money. To get help he had to knock on doors at
random and hope that someone would let him sleep on their couch. A friendly
Spanish guy let him do just that but bizarrely only listened to one song all
night, “Losing My Religion” by REM. Things could have been much worse. What if
the Spanish guy’s favourite song had been “I Wanna Be Adored” by the Stone
Roses? I think I’d have chosen hypothermia!</span></div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-86996209203655955122018-09-26T07:31:00.000-07:002018-09-26T07:31:11.947-07:00The Empty Page + Bivouac @ Night People 24.9.18 <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Empty Page is such a perfect name for a band if you’re
writing a review about their music. There before me is an empty page to fill
with words about The Empty Page. They are a Manchester trio. The bassist is a
woman with dyed mostly blondish/white hair called Kel who also sings and shouts
a little bit. The other two both have beards and are men as far as I can tell.
Big Jim looms over his drum kit at the back and thwacks the snare louder than
any other band in town. Long haired Giz plays a pink guitar and roams the stage
looking cool, although he didn’t move about as much as I’ve seen him do at
previous gigs. If you have a clue you’ll have probably guessed from their name
that they like Sonic Youth very much and you don’t have to ask them to confirm
this: their black on white or white on black T-shirt is a homage to the Raymond
Pettibon cartoon on the cover of “Goo” with the three of them in the car. They
were on early at 7.30pm and had just started their set as I walked down the
stairs into Night People. Less than half the set was from their 2016 album:
“Big Wheel,” “Turbulence” and the last song, title track “Unfolding.” Kel half
apologised for introducing “He’s Very Good at Swimming” as a song about victim
blaming but, she said, this room full of mostly men would have to put up with
it as she’s had to listen to too many songs about cocks. “Whose cock?” shouts
one guy, so I shouted “Buzzcocks!” and with that they kicked into the best song
they’d played so far that night. “Thanks for listening to us whinging on a
Monday night,” said Kel, then they played the song that really got me moving,
“When the Cloud Explodes.” This is soon going to be a single. I felt like I was
just getting warmed up when they played the last song “Unfolding.” The Empty
Page could have played a set twice as long and deserve to be headlining larger
venues. I hope this happens as Kel has something to say, and Jim’s snare drum
thwack is too loud for small spaces! After they played another woman arrived
making a grand total of five women in the room amongst about 30-50 men. Three
of those women seemed quite likely to be Gardenback’s girlfriends, as they
jiggled around a bit whilst the next trio played then disappeared when Nottingham’s
answer to Dinosaur Jr, Bivouac, played. Gardenback are another band with a
singing bassist, but he lacked Kel’s charisma and attitude. I spent their whole
set wishing the guitar was louder as it had a spiky spangly Gothic tinge, but
unfortunately the guitarist looked like he could have been the son of Mike
Rutherford from Genesis, and this was a bit distracting. I’d only heard about
Bivouac’s reformation when I saw a poster for this gig in Night People. The low
turn out could have been down to it being a Monday night, which is also the worst
night for gig attendance. Also there are too many good gigs happening in
Manchester these days and most people just can’t afford to go to everything
even if they want to. Bivouac were just as good as they were in the 1990s. They
looked a little older and Paul and Antony the drummer have grown beards. I’m
not sure if they played all of “Tuber” as my CD is buried in a box somewhere,
but the best songs of the set were actually the two new ones they played from
their recent single. I’d have liked to have bought a copy but didn’t have
enough money left.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-1615530645638818012018-09-26T07:25:00.002-07:002018-09-26T07:25:54.610-07:00New Order in Poole, March 1986<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first gig I went to, New Order @ Poole Arts Centre
29.3.86 cost only £5, although one could buy a lot more with £5 back then. A
flyer for the tour fell out of my old “Low Life” LP. I think we paid on the
door so I never got a ticket stub. I remember there was an army of Joy Division
bootleg tape sellers outside the venue. My friend Dan’s parents drove us to
Poole from the Salisbury area and went for a meal whilst the three or maybe
four of us went to watch New Order. They played most of their best album Low
Life (maybe all of it), Ceremony, Temptation, Blue Monday, Shellshock and the
at that point unreleased State of the Nation. When Bernard Sumner (“the twat!”)
got his melodica out for Your Silent face it got the biggest cheer of the
night. Peter Hook made me want to play bass guitar, so I did, on a black
damaged three string bass. I taught myself almost every Joy Division bass line.
I had an almost Ian Curtis fit moment. After the support band Tea House Camp
(you never heard of them) we all pushed as far forward as we could into the
densely packed crowd and got fairly close to the stage. It was so hot that I
passed out, and so packed that everyone had no option but to push me back on my
feet immediately. This meant I started the gig in the state of sensory
derangement that blacking out brings on. I expect the gig was bootlegged, but
unlike the second gig I went to (The Fall @ Southampton University) I’ve never
tracked down a bootleg recording. I’ve never been back to Poole since that
night. Years later I met Stephen Morris in Macclesfield and told him New Order
were the first band I’d ever been to see at a gig. He asked what year and when
I told him he said, “Oh sorry we must have been terrible then!” They were a
hell of a lot better than at the Reading Festival 1993, which was the third and
last time I saw them play.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-14901715722382666122018-09-22T08:14:00.004-07:002018-09-26T08:40:37.367-07:00Drink and Drive<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">“AND this
band… they said… they were from OLD HAM! But what you did not know is… “There’s
a new fiend on the loose!” AND they call it… Drink and Drive!” This is how I
introduced Drink and Drive’s headline at the Old Pint Pot on the Irwell in south
Salford last night. You might well have guessed I was doing my notorious Mark E
Smith impression. As soon as this hideous replica finished his spiel, the bass
player was on it with the first song intro. Drink and Drive then played the
best gig I’ve seen them play. I think it was my fourth time… first time I
thought they were OK, second I thought they were really quite good, third I
liked them more and this time I’m elevating them to the level of Gnod, ILL,
Easter, NASDAQ, Wode, Plank!, Denim & Leather, Locean, Bones Shake, Bobbie
Peru, Thee Windom Earles, Witch Fever, Aggressive Perfektor, Primitive Knot,
Kiran Leonard, Yossarians, The Birth Marks, Politburo, Jungfraus, Dead
Objectives, Throwing Stuff, Rose and the Diamond Hand, Douga, Salford Media
City, Ten Mouth Electron, Blue Orchids, Silver Dick, Triangle Cuts, Tekla,
Songs for Walter, Sweet Deals on Surgery, Careering, Errant Monks, </span><span style="background-color: #eff1f3; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">DUDS, Elle Mary and the Bad Men, The Creature Comfort, The Empty Page, The Sandells, The Dee Vees, Mama Racho, Diagonal Science, Breaking Colts, Lake of Snakes, Tombed Visions, Ghold, Historically Fucked, Paddy Steer, Former Bullies, Secret Admirer, Tom Settle, Jo Rose, Flea, Tout Suite, Gorehead, </span>Grotbags,
Astral Bodies, Liines, Cynthia’s Periscope, Sippy Cup, Poppycock, Mold, David
Birchall’s various permutations, etc (great gigging Manchester bands of 2018;
this is not a complete list so don’t get pissed off if I forgot your band). Two
nice surprises: only three quid in on the door and there were actually four
bands playing rather than just the two I expected. Sonic AM had a superb hyper rhythm
section but I wanted a bit more distortion on the guitar. I asked the
singer/guitarist what the AM stood for. He said anything you like so I decided
on Sonic AND Monophonic. Both they and Dead Elephants had a hell of a lot of
energy. Dead Elephants introduced a great cover of the Stooges’ “Search and
Destroy” as “the best song ever written.” I’m more of a Ron Asheton brutal riff
fan myself, and I don’t think it’s even the best Stooges song! That’d be “Not
Right.” Whatever, their version had me singing along and wanting to get on
stage to sing with them! The guitarist told me afterwards I should have done
just that… after all that’s’ how Henry Rollins joined Black Flag! Maybe that’s
why I asked Drink and Drive if I could introduce them. They are seriously
indebted to The Fall to the extent that one song even sounds like a rewrite of
“Fiery Jack!” There’s also a little early Wire in some of their riffage, as
Steve Shy mentioned when he first told me about them. Anyone know of a
currently gigging Manchester band they like that I didn’t mention here? Please
mention them below. Some I might have forgotten and some I might not have heard
yet.</div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-6784586814946380422018-09-21T08:49:00.000-07:002018-10-03T06:45:30.514-07:00October Gigs in Manchester<br />
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These are some of the good gigs I know about that are happening in
Manchester in October 2018. An updated version of this list can be found further up the blog.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Monday 1<sup>st</sup>: Anna Calvi @ the Ritz (£20 plus unnecessary
middle man rip off fee)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Tuesday 2<sup>nd</sup>: Elder + Ancestors + Cattle @
Rebellion (£15.40 including rip off fee, Beauty Witch)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Friday 5<sup>th</sup>: The Sonics + The Creature Comfort @
Academy 3 (£23 plus rip off fee, although unlike most promoters these days you
can still actually buy a ticket at the students union with no rip off fee and
cut out the leaching online ticket sellers)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Sunday 7<sup>th</sup>: watch TV to see how crap the new Dr
Who is<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Monday 8<sup>th</sup>: Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood @
RNCM (£22 plus rip off fee, unless you buy a ticket from the RNCM box office)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monday 8<sup>th</sup>: Johnny Hunter @ Matt and Phreds
(FREE, 9pm)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tuesday 9<sup>th</sup>: Chris Corsano + David Birchall,
Andrew Cheetham, Hannah Marsahall & Kiaer @ the Peer Hat<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Wednesday 10th: Daniel Johnston film @ Dulcimer, Chorlton FREE</div>
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<br /></div>
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Friday 12<sup>th</sup>: Spaceheads + Rucksack Cinema +
Cynthia’s Periscope @ Peer Hat (£4)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Friday 12<sup>th</sup>: Nibiru + Even Vast + The Medea
Project @ the Star and Garter (£5)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Friday 12<sup>th</sup>: Terry Riley @ RNCM (£25)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Saturday 13<sup>th</sup>: Bo Ningen + Witch Fever + Milk
Disco @ Night and Day (promoter has been saying this is “almost sold out” for
months now)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday 13<sup>th</sup>: Yossarians + godspeed you peter
andre + Ukaea + Mother,etc<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>@ Partisan
(3pm start, Fat Out)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tuesday 16<sup>th</sup>: Low @ Manchester Cathedral (£27.50
plus rip off fee; greedy Mormons!)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wednesday 17<sup>th</sup>: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks @
Albert Hall<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thursday 18<sup>th</sup>: Gang of Four @ Ruby Lounge (£18
plus communist rip off fee to unnecessary middlemen who make their profit down
on the disco floor; yes someone capitalist shit is really taking the piss as tickets advertised at £18 are actually costing £21.45 on Ruby Lounge website)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Thursday 18<sup>th</sup>: Liines @ Night and Day Cafe</div>
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<br /></div>
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Saturday 20<sup>th</sup>: She Makes War @ The Castle<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Sunday 21<sup>st</sup>: John Carpenter @ Albert Hall<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monday 22<sup>nd</sup>: The Mauskovic Dance Band + Mama
Racho @ the Peer Hat<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tuesday 23<sup>rd</sup>: Adrena Adrena + Triangle Cuts @ the
Peer Hat<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thursday 25<sup>th</sup>: Easter @ Gullivers<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Thursday 25th: Stallion + Aggressive Perfektor + Heavy Sentence @ Dulcimer</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Friday 26<sup>th</sup>: The KVB @ Yes<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Friday 26<sup>th</sup>: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs +
ILL @ the Star and Garter (SOLD OUT, Beauty Witch)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tuesday 29<sup>th</sup>: Marissa Nadler @ Gullivers<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Tuesday 29<sup>th</sup>: Jon Spencer Blues Explosion + Melvins @ Academy (£32.25!!! Even before rip off fees!)</div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-76801516522002907422018-09-21T08:47:00.000-07:002018-09-26T07:34:32.933-07:00Punk Avant Garde has No Class<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
Now it can be revealed! After
some deliberation and argumentation these are the 9 most “avant garde” bands
associated with “punk rock” in my opinion.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->CRASS Total subversion, total anarchy, vegan
chaos, swearing, blasphemy, pay no more than 49p to hide from Reality Asylum
with Shaved Women and screaming babies. Best before 1984 but sadly even more
relevant today.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->THE POP GROUP We are time, deconstructed chaos,
reconstructed dub without the boring Jah Jah cannabis sunshine daydream <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->THIS HEAT Never forget you have a choice,
intense prog rock in HEAVY disguise<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->WIRE Accidentally invented hardcore punk,
intentionally invented dugga and too clever for their own good<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DOME Weird offshoot of WIRE with silly tube hats
mostly hated by “punks”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->THE FALL How old are the stars really? How can
you quantify destruction?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->MELT BANANA Teeny shiny hyper video chipmunk
core from Tokyo, Japan<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES Middle class girl
transforms herself into a walking singing work of art, and I’m hearing voices,
drop dead, she’s your little voodoo dolly, accidentally invented eighties Goth
scene<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED First three albums only and
Lydon’s a buttery shithead these days, totally lost the plot after ripping off
Flipper<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With the exception of The Fall. PIL and The Pop Group most
of these bands are mostly from middle class backgrounds as far as I know,
rather disproving a friend’s assertion that “the avant garde is working
class.” The “avant garde” has no class. Who should be number 10?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Later I wrote this in reaction to many suggestions, including that Throbbing Gristle and Pere Ubu should be on this list:<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Well Mission
of Burma wouldn’t be in a “top ten” but if we expand this list to fifty or more
then they have to feature. Roger Miller has made much more experimental music
outside of Mission of Burma. The same would be true of Gang of Four, who no one
has mentioned yet! I think it would be an interesting exercise to try to expand
this list to a hundred bands, but maybe limit it to bands that came into
existence between 1975 and 1980. It probably makes sense to ditch the
hierarchical aspect as this is mostly too subjective. Throbbing Gristle should
certainly feature and would be a candidate for the no 1 slot in a hierarchy, I
was really just arguing for the sake of it. So should Pere Ubu, despite David
Thomas’ jaundiced view of “punk rock.” Even though I love a lot of the music, I
hate the term “punk” but it has a cultural and musical meaning that has
eclipsed its prison slang origin, in much the same way that “gay” is rarely
used to mean happy anymore. Another standard term I hate is “krautrock” which
is especially silly when applied to bands that aren’t German. In making Crass
the most “avant garde” band I wasn’t just thinking of their sound, but of their
politics and cultural impact. They and Throbbing Gristle both got bourgeois tory
scum agitated about their art and that makes them more “avant garde” than any
of the other bands. I also think that Siouxsie has had such a huge cultural
impact and that no matter how many poppier singles the Banshees made, they are
still more important to any historical narrative than relatively unknown noisier
or weirder sounding artists. If we looked at the so called “avant garde” of
“punk rock” then I can’t think of any bands who had more cultural impact than
Siouxsie, TG, Wire and Crass. All four created new musical genres, whether they
meant to or not. As far as I’m aware only Crass had the intention of
instigating and nurturing a scene (Anarcho-Punk) and this in itself makes them
more interesting to me. Actually their aims were probably far more ambitious
than that, and as far as I’m concerned they haven’t failed yet. They’d almost
found anarchy and peace when the system dropped its bomb. And in the ruins the
survivors start all over again. And that’s where Killing Joke stride in…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-16812076603665879302018-09-14T04:23:00.000-07:002018-09-14T04:23:25.701-07:00Trinkhallen, Primitive Iodine, Rose and Raz<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Do you go to gigs every day?” asked Lowri Evans in Chorlton
Oddbins last night. Well, I had Tuesday night off. Why was I in Oddbins? Why, a
gig of course! It was the third time this week I’d come to hear my friends
guitarist David Birchall and singer Greta Buitkute on their Trinkhallen tour
with German bass clarinet trio Die Verwechslung. On Monday I’d tried and failed
to walk all the way to posh Altrincham along Bridgewater Canal. Had I not taken
a scenic detour via Sale Water Park and Priory Gardens where there is a
fantastic high path view over green treetops, I might have made it on time. As
it was I hopped on a tram at Timperley and rode two stops to the end of the
line. It would have been well worth the walk even if they hadn’t been playing
as the Angkor Soul people had laid on delicious free food; jack fruit, rice and
peas with salad. Iko Kelly, Stuart Calton and Kate Armitage made it to two of
their performances but I was the only non-performer who wasn’t travelling in
the German entourage to film and photograph the tour who made it to all three.
I was late to the 5pm performance in Arndale Centre market Microbar as David
had mistakenly written that Microbar was in the Food Court at the other end of
the mall. Later last night I took the tram from Chorlton to Piccadilly to hear
another magical performance from Rose Niland and her five recorder tooting
ladies and Canny drumming and keyboarding men. OK two ladies played bass and
guitar rather than recorders but that sentence would have been way too clunky
if I’d included that information. One of Rose and Diamond Hand’s songs sounds
like what might have happened if Can had been asked to write a James Bond
theme. Drummer Jay Vid Duchovny was feeling very ill, but it didn’t affect his
Leibezeitisms. Jewish singer songwriter Avital Raz played afterwards and
started with a song rather reminiscent of “The Scarlet and the Gold” by the Thirteenth
Floor Elevators. She played her notorious “Edinburgh Song” about getting fucked
up the ass for peace, and her new songs sounded like her best yet. The night
before I’d walked along the canal to the Peer Hat for some Satanic starpowered
tripped out tribal invocations from Primitive Knot, a bit of abstract ambience
from Kepier Widow and a full on wild onslaught of Harry Pussy / Sonic Youth
proportions from French trio Sister Iodine. Tonight Triangle Cuts are playing
at Fuel but I’ll be heading to Islington Mill for their party (BYOB) that
starts at 6pm, then off to Night People for a late night gig headlined by great
garage blues punk band the Dee Vees. The weekend is a double all day music
feast courtesy of Astral Elevator called the Psych weekender featuring the
mighty Mugstar, a band I’ve seen almost as many times as Killing Joke, Wire and
Melt Banana. Other highlights are Lumerians, The Oscillation, Bones Shake, The
Janitors and Weird Sex, but most bands playing I’ve never heard before. If the
timings work out I might pop over to The Peer Hat on Saturday to see Paddy
Steer and on Sunday to see Ian Svenonius, but the giro is running low so paying
in to two extra gigs might become slightly problematic by Sunday. Monday is
quieter with Cult Party, Secret Admirer, Tekla and Tom Settle playing the Peer
Hat, then I have two days off as Dylan Carlson has had to cancel his gig due to
illness. The Peer Hat seems to have very much taken over the gig scene this
September. Those facebook frenz who also appeared: Dusty Burtons, Martin Warm
Widow, Alexa Kruger, Nick Alexander, Michelle Woods, Mathew Boycott Garnet,
Penfold Kowalski, Joanne Maylott, Simon Morris, Mick Kenyon, Liam Farr, Dom Jam
and a special guest appearance from James Travis who was getting on the tram to
Rochdale going home from work as I got off after travelling from Chorlton.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-68458138122526741122018-09-14T04:13:00.002-07:002018-09-14T04:13:45.670-07:00Brix Smith: The Rise The Fall and the Rise<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
NEW FACTS EMERGE: I wonder if the final Fall album was titled
as a reflection on the books written by Brix Start, Stephen Hanley and Simon
Woolstencroft? Brixton’s fascinating book “The Rise The Fall and the Rise” is
certainly full of revelations about the character of various Fall members
especially Mark E Smith. Primarily I learnt these things:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->When she was a teenager Brix was brutally anally
raped by a guy she thought was gay who lured her to a jam session. She never
revealed this to anyone until she wrote the book.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2 </span></span>Mark E Smith seemed to have been in a worse state
of mental collapse than I’d imagined when Brix quit for the second time and
tried to hit him with her guitar after he threw her handbag at her on stage.
Mark insulted some rappers playing the same festival as The Fall by calling
them “boy” and got a good beating for it. He was so deranged he became
convinced he’d caught a disease from being touched by a person in a wheelchair
that he started cutting his hands to “let out the disease.” I feel very lucky I
completely failed to replace Brix as guitarist at this time, as I think I’d
have probably lasted half a rehearsal. Stephen Hanley seems to be the most
patient, dependable, humble nice gentleman you could hope to meet, but Mark
even drove him out in the end. Brix’s replacement “Scotch man” Tommy Crooks
didn’t last long.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Marcia Schofield was obsessed with hardcore porn
that disgusted Brix.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->All “the lads” except the happily married Mr Hanley
and Simon Rogers would pay for prostitutes whilst on tour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Mark started cheating on Brix earlier in their
marriage than I thought, and also cheated on Lucy Rimmer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->“Hotel Bloedel” was a real hotel in Germany near
Auschwitz where Mark and Brix stayed. It had its own abattoir, where cows were
slaughtered to feed the guests, which disgusted Brix. Bloedel is German for
stupid person and it was run by a strange family of that name. Mostly stupid
people work in abattoirs don’t they?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->My first impression of Brix when I met her
whilst the Fall were recording a video for “The Chisellers” was correct: she is
a really nice person. My first impression of Karl Burns was also pretty much
spot on: he’s a right cunt. Brix bought him a birthday cake which he just threw
at a wall! I never met either of them again but had several strange encounters
with Mark E Smith in the years that followed. It’s possible that I was at least
partly the inspiration for the lyrics and Mark E Smith impressions on the song
“Everybody But Myself” and the character of the Crying Marshall.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Leigh Bowery “simulated” rape on Brix (without
her consent) but she put it down to being part of his “art” as there was no
penetration. Considering Agenda Item One, this must have been very disturbing
and terrifying for her.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Brix has a very low opinion of “The Frenz Experiment”
especially “The Steak Place” and “Oswald Defence Lawyer.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Brix came up with the title “The Wonderful and
Frightening World of the Fall” as a homage to “The Wonderful World of Disney.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">11.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->We are in total agreement that “This Nation’s
Saving Grace” is the best Fall album. Her critical analysis of Fall music is
mostly spot on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">12.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Brix drew the CREEP character that I have on a
very old poster, originally for a book of Mark’s lyrics. CREEP has a lobster
claw hand “because creeps always pinch you on the ass.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">13.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->There should be another 14 or 15 points so that
there are 27 points, just like the double live album that was the final Fall
recording to be released featuring Brix, until the deluge of demo/live
compilations like “Oxymoron” and “Sinister Waltz.” I will just have to read the
book again to find the points.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-55049110719448449552018-09-04T09:52:00.000-07:002018-09-22T08:19:03.402-07:00September Gigs in ManchesterSaturday 1<sup>st</sup>: Psych Fest with ILL, St Agnes,
Mold, The Cosmics, Asteroid #4, Saba Lou, The Abjects, AK/DK, etc<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monday 3<sup>rd</sup>: Insurrectionary Neo-Futurism Monday @
Peer Hat with Cynthia’s Periscope + Triangle Cuts + Jan Doyle Band FREE</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br />
Thursday 6<sup>th</sup>: Powersolo + Bones Shake + Thee
Windom Earles @ Peer Hat</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Friday 7<sup>th</sup>: 100 Year Old Man @ Rebellion<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Friday 7<sup>th</sup>: Matt Hollywood and the Bad Feelings @
Peer Hat <br />
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Friday 7<sup>th</sup>: Little Mother + Baby Green + Amphorae
@ Fuel<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday 8<sup>th</sup>: Kiran Leonard + Cult Party + The
Birth Marks @ Partisan</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday 8<sup>th</sup>: Bong + Bismuth @ Star & Garter<br />
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday 8<sup>th</sup>: Zimpel / Ziolek + Tombed Visions @
Soup Kitchen<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Monday 10<sup>th</sup>: Die Verwechslung with David Birchall
and Greta Buitkute @ Angkor Soul, 20 Ashley Road Altrincham 7pm</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br />
Wednesday 12<sup>th</sup>: Sister Iodine + Kepier Widow +
Primitive Knot @ Peer Hat</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br />
Thursday 13<sup>th</sup>: Die Verwechslung with David
Birchall and Greta Buitkute @ Food Hall, Arndale Centre 5pm</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thursday 13<sup>th</sup>: Avital Raz + Rose and the Diamond
Hand + Laura Taylor @ Peer Hat</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thursday 13<sup>th</sup>: Die Verwechslung with David
Birchall and Greta Buitkute @ Chorlton Oddbins 7pm</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br />
Thursday 13<sup>th</sup>: The Noise Upstairs @ Fuel</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p>
Friday 14th: Psych weekender warm up @ Night People with the Dee Vees + Silver Vials + Circus Cannon 10pm start<br />
<br />
Friday 14th: Triangle Cuts @ Fuel<br />
<br />
Saturday 15<sup>th</sup>: Paddy Steer + Experimental Sonic
Machines + Flavolous + Video + Acid Marko @ Peer Hat (starts 5pm)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br />
Saturday 15<sup>th</sup>: Psych weekender @ Night People
with The Oscillation, Lumerians, Bones Shake, etc</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday 15<sup>th</sup>: Wooden Shjips + The Lucid Dream @
Gorilla (sold out)<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
Saturday 15<sup>th</sup>: Kapil Seshasayee + Parlour + Wait
Loss + Jo Rose @ Fuel</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sunday 16<sup>th</sup>:
Ian Svenonius Escape-ism @ Peer Hat</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br />
Sunday 16th: Psych Weekender @ Night People w/ Mugstar, etc<br />
<br />
Monday 17th: Cult Party + Secret Admirer + Tekla + Tom Settle @ Peer Hat<br />
<br />
Wednesday 19<sup>th</sup>: Dylan Carlson (Earth) cancelled due to illness</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Thursday 20<sup>th</sup>: Sneers @ Peer Hat<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p>Friday 21st: Drink and Drive + Sonic AM + Dead Elephants @ The Old Pint Pot<br />
<br />
Saturday 22<sup>nd</sup>: Guts + Threads + SPQR + Blanketman
+ Farfisa @ Peer Hat</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monday 24<sup>th</sup>: Bivouac + The Empty Page @ Night People</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Tuesday 25<sup>th</sup>: The Nightingales + Near Jazz Experience
@ Soup Kitchen</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
27-30 Sonder Festival in various venues with mostly bands I've never heard<br />
<br />
Thursday 27th: Hands Off Gretel @ Bread Shed (Sonder Festival)<br />
<br />
Thursday 27th: Consumer Electronics + Skullflower @ Ruby Lounge<br />
<br />
Friday 28<sup>th</sup>: Songs for Walter @ Yes basement</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Friday 28<sup>th</sup>: Wolfgang Flur @ Gorilla</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Friday 28<sup>th</sup>: The Cosmics @ Night People (Sonder Festival)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Saturday 29<sup>th</sup>: Witch Fever + Chew Magna + Black
Pudding + lots of other bands “Stay Fresh fest”@ Deaf Institute<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Sunday 30<sup>th</sup>: Blue Orchids + Bell Lungs + Sans
Oeuf @ Peer Hat</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Sunday 30<sup>th</sup>: Cynthia's Periscope @ Fac251 (Sonder Festival)<br />
<br />
<br />
Early October highlights:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2 Cattle @ Rebellion (opening for Elder<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>+ Ancestors neither of whom I've heard yet)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5 The Sonics @ Academy 3<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
9 Chris Corsano @Peer Hat<br />
12 Spaceheads @ Peer Hat<br />
13 Bo Ningen + Witch Fever @ Night and Day<o:p></o:p></div>
13 Yossarians @ PartisanB. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-55769162916008943952018-09-04T09:25:00.001-07:002018-09-04T09:25:32.824-07:00Fake News and Karaoke (fifteenth letter to Lowri)<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Rewind to 5pm Friday 13<sup>th </sup>July:
The Anti-Trump demo was fun, but I must confess I didn’t enjoy it as much as
that anti-Trump march when we walked together. I took the mini-Trump-a-ninny
heads with movable mouths and blacked out demonic soulless eyes which Akin had
cut out in the Peer Hat from flyers and posters for a play at the Kings Arms.
As I walked around looking for familiar faces, I articulated the Trump mouths
as I did a passable impression of his whiny creepy voice saying mostly, “Fake
News! Fake News!” Nearly everyone laughed and those who laughed the most got a
“Little Rocket Man” and “I’m a very stable genius!” I fake newsed a woman being
interviewed and filmed by hiding behind her banner so that only the hideous
Trump head could be seen on camera. She cracked up and turned round to see the
Trump head and laughed even more. The people who liked the fake news most got a
free mini-Trump to take home and torture until I’d exhausted my Trump supply. The
only man who didn’t laugh was a dour communist selling his anti-capitalist
wares at a table. I suspect he was in disapproval of the anarchy A I’d scrawled
on Trump’s orange bonce. I met my friend Jessica Flavell and we hung out for a while
whilst Dave Haslam played “We Don’t Need That Fascist Groove Thang” and “Get Up
Stand Up Don’t Give Up the Fight” and some other music that neither of us would
choose to listen to at home. I was in the mood for a bit of punk rock really. “I’m
So Bored of The USA” Clash karaoke would have done just fine: “Trump is a
moron, he’s always on TV, ‘cos fascists in America work seven days a week!” Another
Haslam, Chris from Gnod, sashayed gaily by sporting a stylish red “Just Say No
to the Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine” T-shirt.
They probably should have asked him to DJ instead of Dave Haslam! Then we might
have got some Nirvana, Joy Division, Can and Motorhead. Anti-frackers Julian
and Amy S Olive said hi. I got nearer the stage to watch some Mexican dancers then
my MP Kate Green did a hellfire speech against the evil of Trump, but it was
like teaching a grandmother to suck lovely eggs. Why do grandmothers suck eggs?
The best speaker was a former US serviceman who called Trump an asshole to huge
cheers. By then I’d met the Vanishing Gareth Smith, Breaking Colt Joanna
Maylott and Polythene Snake Kate Themen. The angry American asked us to all
link arms in solidarity with the person next to us so I linked arms with Kate
who linked arms with Jojo who linked arms with Gareth. The clouds cried again
and drenched the last couple of speakers. The Universe itself had enough Credit
to try to wash the evil of Trump right out of the Square. I rushed off to the
Ritz to see The Breeders, where Kelley Deal had been kind enough to put me on
the guestlist. IT’S TRUE!! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">At the Ritz I met Ben Ryles at the
bar whilst support band Pip Blom bounced around… here the tape has been partially
erased and just the muffled voice of Kim Deal singing, “I am the sun, I am the
New Year, IT’S TRUE!” can be heard. A slow motion process of digital recovery
has been instigated. The print out’s blocked…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I really didn't expect to find my
Hotpants Romance bag and Melt Banana T-shirt at a Zombie Shack gig by a New
Order tribute band late on Friday night, getting friendly with some nice
European ladies of Unknown Pleasures. I arrived in the middle of “Blue Monday,”
and stuck around to dance to the “Ceremony.” There was a pleasant “Atmosphere”
and a bit of “Temptation.” Serial bootlegger Alex Staszko even recorded it and
cheekily laughed at my Ian Curtis dance! True Order had the tunes down but
their vocal impressions needed a bit of extra karaoke practice. I told them
that the first band I ever saw play a gig was New Order. IT’S TRUE!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The choices of songs at Scary-oke karaoke were not as cool
as their flyer suggested they might be, but that’s the choice of the
karaokists. I chose “All Stood Still” by Ultravox, certainly the most
apocalyptic song of the night and it seems to me to be a topical dystopian
warning for the state of the nation as our increasingly incompetent, corrupt and
evil government ruins everything with the swill of the people. All the Midge
Ure lyrics were there on the screen but half the Chris Cross words were missing
in action so I had to ad lib a bit. Next up was The Cure “Love Cats” but the
karaokist who chose it had fled into the night. Someone shouted for everyone to
sing it so we all got on stage to get wonderfully wonderfully pretty and know
that we’d do anything for you. Halfway through I snatched the mic off someone
who wasn’t singing loud enough and finished the grooviest thing. The worst
singing was on “Atmosphere” by Joy Division. The last thing I remember was two
girls duetting “Rip Her to Shreds” by Blondie. The screens shut down. The
clocks all stopped. The lights went out. I’ll remember to mention you in tapes
I leave behind.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-45698929265447146952018-09-04T09:23:00.003-07:002018-09-04T09:23:30.267-07:00Break Shit is Break Shit (fourteenth letter to Lowri)<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here is another of the gigantic Lowris. I saw the graffiti
nearby and thought it would be funny if the man in glasses was saying,
“Breakshit is Breakshit.” The giant Lowri’s reply is the graffiti: “Breakshit
is the devil’s work!” See how I avoided typing the dreadful “B” word. I took a
devout monastic vow to never type or say that word. I always refer to “Leaving
the EU.” I have to pay more letter tax, but it’s worth every penny. At the last
moment I asked Whitney Bluzma to get me in the photo, pointing at the graffiti and
shouting the message about the devil into my phone to the gigantic Lowri and
her bespectacled friend. Nearby skateboarders seemed slightly bemused. This
short street performance was titled, “Leaving the EU is the devil’s work, and
the devil is Boris Johnson.” My hope is that it will contribute in some tiny
way to helping exorcise that lying buffoon from all our lives forever. Whilst
Boris is in Aquarius and The Sun is up his arse, there is no hope for anyone.
Later on Piccadilly I spotted a “Naughty Bus.” Instead of a number and
destination the display read, “Naughty Bus.” Suddenly people were shouting and
raising French flags on Piccadilly Plaza! The EU had betrayed us again and
France had invaded! I hurried home to fetch my sword, but dozed off before I
could join the fray, so like a minister I am now resigned to my fate. Perhaps
you would be safer staying in Brazil until the innocent and saintly hero of the
patriots, the pinball wizard Tommy Robinson, can lead us all bravely into
battle against Jeanni Foreigner and we can make Britain grate again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-89936721334000283982018-09-04T09:21:00.002-07:002018-09-04T09:21:45.433-07:00The Wonderful Wooden Poodle (thirteenth letter to Lowri)<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Fifteenth: Space is the Place, time is the crime. Planet
Earth is doomed and there’s nothing the Overseers can do. The only hope for
humanity in the insanity is the cosmic vibration of the Sun Ra Arkestra and their
double breasted spacecraft. They will bring about a new consciousness through
isotopic transmogrification . Or something like that. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg81Qls6-oDewGMkGBKc-pon5pfb9jxCXTcfW7mKnKAclcgE_GWwQLfVJIF-tCYbSNbnfInCL3asCpC1AcRnwErP3VNjEXemAEs7l56zWD3I1LWWti_ULCmS2gBP_Eg_HxS6BBmvhwXCQo/s1600/The+Wonderful+Wooden+Poodle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg81Qls6-oDewGMkGBKc-pon5pfb9jxCXTcfW7mKnKAclcgE_GWwQLfVJIF-tCYbSNbnfInCL3asCpC1AcRnwErP3VNjEXemAEs7l56zWD3I1LWWti_ULCmS2gBP_Eg_HxS6BBmvhwXCQo/s1600/The+Wonderful+Wooden+Poodle.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Near Home the gigantic
Lowri had replicated twice. There were now three gigantic Lowris. Or could it
be that the other two gigantic Lowris had always been there, but were obscured
from my consciousness by rogue particles gravitating towards the Deleted Beach
at the heart of Home. This is a true story. Close to the first gigantic Lowri I
found an abandoned street poodle on wheels. The poor pooch had broken his neck.
I lifted the unfortunate beast delicately and carried it across the road. It
was clearly dead, but perhaps it had never really been alive. I tried to tend
his mortal wounds as best I could, and propped his head at a more natural angle.
He was pleased to be placed next to his new mistress, staring up at her in
admiration. I titled this spontaneous street installation “Now I wanna be your
green poodle dog.” The people were pleased: two young Japanese girls were so
tak<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
en with the wonderful wooden poodle that they snapped pictures to take home
so that they could marvel at his greenness and share it with their friends. Kawaii!!
Luckily a couple of my friends were nearby, Whitney Bluzma the feminist bassist
of the dada sticky ILL band, and her boyfriend Jason. I asked Whitney to take a
picture of the wonderful wooden poodle in his new location so that I could show
you as I thought you’d enjoy this scene. The intense gravitational pull of the
three gigantic Lowris was hard to escape, but I managed to run away again.<br />
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-38228419679245683622018-09-04T09:18:00.002-07:002018-09-04T09:18:24.707-07:00Full Mantis (twelfth letter to Lowri)<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
You keep surprising me. I didn’t expect to turn a corner and
be confronted by a giant Lowri hangin’ on to a telephone! It wasn’t a hologram,
just a two dimensional image, so there was no chance of any fishy interaction.
Is this how they entice people to sit in a future office these days? If you put
a picture of Lowri Evans on the barrier that keeps the people out of a
construction site on Thirst Street will they all stay out? Or will kiddies
climb over the Lowri to play in the scaffolding? Today at least your image was
keeping trespassers out, even though it doesn’t seem at all threatening. How do
you do it? By the time the sky blocking tower block is built I predict office
workers will all turn on their computers and switch them off again in the nude
and waft the stench of decaying fish through the air conditioning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was heading to Home to see a film about jazz drummer
Milford Graves and the met office had put out a huge name drop warning. I met modular
synthesist Sam Weaver just after I bought my ticket. The till lady asked me if
I’d ever seen a film at Home before and I had to confess I was a Home film
virgin, but proudly showed her my Hotpants Romance shoulder bag and told her
I’d seen this band play at Home. As you might recall I lost my Home
exhibitionism virginity to Hotpants Romance last Valentine’s Day. I climbed the
stairs with Sam, having completely forgotten all the directions the till lady
had given me, but we found our way to the cinema without any fishy mishaps.
Inside there were eleven people I know, and there was a seat left next to our
friend Stuart Calton who is half a Sippy Cup. Next to him was the other half of
Sippy Cup and third of Silver Dick the facebook free Kate Armitage and next to
her was Martyn Walker. Next to him were Helen Brealey and David Birchall. David
is such a Milford Graves enthusiast that he’d already seen the film in a
Sheffield cinema. Afterwards he confessed to some confusion about Milford’s
philosophising and I warned him that the Sun Ra “Space is the Place” film
showing at Home on Sunday might push his philosophical boat much further out.
Or should that be farther out? Who cares, as long as you know what I mean.
Those who also watched: Paddy Steer, Graham Massy, Sam’s brother Christian
Weaver, Fred who may or may not be on facebook and a fellow whose name I don’t
know or forgot who I met when Damo Suzuki played a gig with the band who used
to be The Fall. All of them were wearing clothes and no one had brought a fish,
but they’ll learn. The film was called “Full Mantis” after Milford’s revelation
that he had to learn his moves from the preying mantis. It was funny and
moving, especially the concert with autistic Chinese children and Milford’s
account of how he avoided prison by being nice when buying cheese after he went
on a rampage with a pistol against some people who were trying to kill his son.
Stuart was so into it he kept wiggling about in his seat in rhythmic
excitement.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Outside the skies had broken, crying that Trump was making
England worse again with his odious presence. That sexist racist fascist dictator
wannabe with lots of shiny missiles to point at “little rocket man” had ruined
the heatwave, just like he spoils everything else he can. My luck was in, as I
found a big broken discarded umbrella to shelter me and my trusty Hotpants bag from
the crying clouds as I hurried to The Peer Hat where I was just in time to see
the second funniest band in Manchester ever, Jeuce. More on them later, as I
have to make some silly signs for the anti-Trump demo party on Albert Square.
Wish you were here like that demo when we marched against Trump together.
Please send your hologram!!<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-6523176882968490802018-09-04T09:08:00.001-07:002018-09-04T09:08:45.638-07:00Crow Asia Magic Hour (eleventh letter to Lowri)<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I got much more black against white football action than I
expected last night in Gullivers. The Starlight Magic Hour played quite late.
They were not a team in the world cup as I’m sure you know, anyway there
weren’t enough of them to take on the bolshy vics of Crow Asia! They are a six
man band who play rowdy knees up drinking songs. Sometimes they have a violin,
sometimes three guitars. Seb White MP, who has recently been appointed Minister
of Rocking after Morrissey resigned in disgust at Bengalis wearing platform
boots, also plays in one of Manchester’s best bands The Yossarians and another
guitarist also fronts horror glambangers Mold. Their set started at the time
the Inglund Crow Asia match should have finished, but our proud team were so
upset at the resignation of national Latin prattle hero Boris Johnson they
didn’t get enough goals in so had to do some overtime. I expect each one of
them got paid enough money to cover the wages of twenty nurses for a year. I
was glad Inglund got knocked out during The Starlight Magic Hour because if
they’d won the cup the slimy corrupt Tory backstabbers would have just used it
as propaganda to obscure their proto-fascist evil. I think the best team won as
Crow Asia did a dribble past stint that kept the ball away from the whites’
feet for so long that even I actually began to enjoy watching football instead
of just making sarcastic commentator lampoon remarks like “And a man has just
kicked a ball!” and “The ball bounces, as usual!” Luckily I was amongst a gathering
who didn’t take football seriously enough to get upset by such
pseudo-Partridgism. The most interesting thing about the match was the advert
for “McDelivery.” I wondered if this is what foul cow murderers McDonalds call
their planet raping toxicity in Russia? I imagined a literal muck delivery
happening during the match, so the players had to kick the ball about in a sea of
slurry: a real shitkicker of a game. The match was projected on the wall at the
back of the stage before The Starlight Magic Hour played and I worried that the
ball might get kicked through the screen and knock over a microphone stand.
Downstairs at the bar I met Louise Woodcont who was also not concerned about
football as she told me she’d wasted too much energy on it when she was
younger. Brian who I met at the Vital Idles gig was also there and I told him
about the strange surprise you gave me at the time of Inglund’s first cup match.
I got almost as rowdy as a ball fan to “Safe European Home” by The Clash. I’ve
certainly wasted a hell of a lot more energy jumping around and shouting along to
The Clash than kicking balls or shouting at men kicking balls and some older
friends tell me The Clash were the best band they ever saw. Anyway to take the
stage after one of the finest rock’n’roll tunes in existation is a challenge the
red boiler suit clad Caroline Rose was up to. Luckily she soon brought the
stage back and played some very danceable anthems with her gender balanced band
and got everyone down the front doing the Woodcock. She showed us her pussy. I
mean she showed us her fluffy toy cat that sat on her keyboard. She also had
fake red flowers all over her microphones. I found myself wiggling about just
behind Lou and next to the helpful fellow from Fopp who knew exactly which DVD
I was after when I asked him if they had “That film about the alien woman who
kills men in Scotland.” Just past him was Rivca Burns, who luckily was not
literally burning although if she had been we were all close enough to the new
fire exit to get out in a hurry.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of this letter has been fake news, in honour of the
glorious king of the free world, Donald Duck. I would like to credit you and
any other nosy parker reading this with enough
intelligence to know the difference between bullshit and dog shit. Please click
my like button as myself is steam and I only live for likes. Fake news! Fake
news!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bonus points to anyone who can recognise the film about the
alien woman who kills men in Scotland.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-10631692223933497462018-09-04T09:00:00.000-07:002018-09-04T09:00:01.659-07:00Vital Idle Plant Mystery (tenth letter to Lowri)<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
On a Sunday trip to Sale Water Park just past the Chester
Road Bridge I was waylaid by a young man with a bike who’d seen something
strange in Bridgewater Canal. Bottles, cans, plastic bags, footballs, fish,
ducks, swans, geese: these are the indigenous flora and fauna of Bridgewater
Canal. How had a cannabis plant ended up a hand span underwater? Obviously he
needed advice from a person with longer hair than his, as everyone knows that
knowledge of cannabis sativa increases in direct proportion to hair length. We
marvelled a moment at this biological conundrum, until I hit upon a possible
aquatic sativa hypothesis: someone had feared a police raid and hidden their
plant in the canal where they could return later and fish it out. On returning
a few hours later, the mysterious hash plant was gone. What really went on
there? Had the mysterious plant been rescued by a pot diver? Had stoner swans
nibbled it all up? Maybe a disgruntled lover had tried to drown it in a jealous
rage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Disgruntled partner: “Yo love yo spliff more ‘un me!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gruntled partner: “Too right, innit bro!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Disgruntled partner: “I’m drownin’ yo plant in the canal.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gruntled partner: “Ha ha ha! No one talks to me like that!
No one talks to anyone like that!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The mystery of how a large
cannabis plant made a brief guest appearance in the canal will probably always
remain. In the end it’s just another silly story to tell someone in Brazil. <span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">It could have been
a male plant as the males just don't get you high!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Facebook has been so useful these past few days, reminding
me it’s my birthday soon. What would I do without these constant tedious
reminders? Maybe watch the world cup final? On Monday Simon the signer-onner
wished me happy birthday for next Sunday, and told me it was also the day of
the cup final. How fishy that I hadn’t even realised this! Sun Ra’s weird and
wonderful “Space is the Place” film is showing at Home and that’s more my cup
of Saturnic jazz. If England play Saturn in the final your waters will have
been proven half right. Whoever wins, it’s an exciting time for Mediterranean vegetables,
as courgettes and aubergines are on special offer at Aldi, or All Die as I call
it in a questionable attempt at “black humour.” I’ve never heard people talk of
“white humour.” Is this racist?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Through the window of a 15 bus I saw a cyclist with an
anti-fracking banner balanced precariously on the back of her bike so I knew
I’d got the right day for the protest against frackers Cuadrilla and their
appeal to extend an injunction against protesters at the Preston New Road
fracking site. It turned out that this was Amy S. Olive who I’d met once before
at an Acorn Tenants Union meeting. Minnie Mirshahi had told me about this demo,
but she didn’t make it herself even though she lives just round the corner at
Islington Mill. She must have been busy Minnying elsewhere. A huge amount of
statements in opposition to the appeal had been delivered earlier, so the
appeal was going to go on much longer than just that morning. When I arrived at
the county court I pushed the number of protesters into double figures. Most of
them were dressed in yellow, but I was dressed in red, just like those
confusing world cup matches. Fifteen people turned up to protest, and most of
us left just after midday for some lunch at the nearby People’s History Museum,
kindly bought for us all by a sweet old lady called Julie who was wearing a
pro-immigration Paddington bear T-shirt. We all got to know each other a bit
better over lunch, and somehow I ended up giving the last four remaining
protestors an acapella rendition of “It’s a Heatwave!” A girl called Samar
said, “I don’t think I would like this band.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was nice of the government to pay my travel expenses for
a day of protesting against their fracking foolishness, but I had to sacrifice
two and a half hours to job searching at Standguide on Piccadilly Plaza. This
is a company who are paid by the government to help people find work. This
amounts to providing a slower internet connection than the public libraries so
is a pointless waste of tax money. I amused another job searcher by telling him
I might well try to find work by writing an article about Standguide for a
newspaper, but I’ve been threatening to do this for well over a year without
actually bothering to do it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Later in Vinyl Exchange Joel the bassist of the excellent Easter
sold me two CDs by American psychedelic primitives Carlton Melton and
Australia’s most sensitive and philosophical band, Cosmic Psychos. I crossed
the road to Piccadilly Records to flip through lots of vinyl I can’t afford to
buy and was greeted by the very familiar tones of “The Fifteenth” by Wire. I
punched the air and shouted “Yes!” like a football fan whose squid propelled
wheelbarrow has just scored a goal, and sang the whole song whilst Andy whooped
from the counter. It was the fish teeth! Fifteen people had been protesting
outside the county court, and the fifteenth is also my birthday. There was a
silent spell afterwards so whether they liked it or not I gave them an acapella
rendition of “The Other Window,” the next song from “154.” Great music followed
me about as I was slightly amazed that they were playing The Stranglers “Golden
Brown” in Nationwide Building Society so I got to do a bit more punk rock
karaoke. Outside on Market Street a very good rasta singer was singing reggae
karaoke, with a friend on bongos, so I stuck around to listen until he finished
his busk by singing Bob Marley’s “Redemption Songs” with an acoustic guitar
instead of a backing track. I went for an organic cider in an almost deserted
Peer Hat, where it seemed that someone had stolen poor Michelle Woods’ bag with
her house keys and other valuables. Aki the artist turned up for the life
drawing class in Aatma, and whilst he waited cut out some ugly Donald Trump
heads from old flyers for a play so I could use them to make a hideous sign to
hold on Friday’s anti-Trump demo. I met Julie again at the anti-Trump
mobilisation meeting but was slightly disappointed that none of the speakers
mentioned his despicable war on elephants, although Trump is guilty of so much
bullshit we’d have been there well into the next day if it all got spoken
about.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t believe I
was actually at a musical concert for the first time since Friday. It had been
so long I’d almost forgotten what gigs were like: the roar of the greasepaint,
the smell of the crowd. This was actually a relatively small crowd who were not
at all smelly. The upstairs room in Marble is quite small and hot so we were
all glad about that. According to my friend Vicky Middles, Dinosaur Jr fans are
the smelliest. I think she may be wrong and Stranglers fans might be smellier. The
only person I know in Manchester who might possibly make it to more gigs than
me is Cath Aubergine and she was there, as was Laurence who occasionally puts on
nice quiet gigs where he gives everyone cakes he bakes. Downstairs at the bar I
got talking to a guy called Brian because he was wearing a Sonic Youth
“Confusion is Sex” T-shirt. It turned out he was just three years old when I
saw Sonic Youth for the first time, supported by Mudhoney at Kilburn National
on the “Daydream Nation” tour. I told him it was the most excited I’d ever been
at a gig, yes, even including Hotpants Romance gigs! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am so sorry. How can you ever forgive me? We
exchanged opinions on the relative merits of various Sonic Youth albums and it
turned out we both liked Lee’s songs the most. The extraordinary drummer Andrew
Cheetham of Easter was there too, along with Nick Ainsworth of Former Bullies
and Secret Admirer. The always amiable RL Perry had put the gig on and even
after a few drinks he was still Comfortable on a Tightrope. It was the second
time I’d seen Wurms and the first time I’d seen Vital Idles. Both bands sing
out of tune so I think you would have appreciated them. Vital Idles remind me a
little of early Wire, but much more ramshackle. The drummer of Vital Idles
seemed quite familiar but I couldn’t place him at first until I realised it was
Matt, who used to go out with our firm friend Kate Armitage. It was uncannily
funny that I was carrying my important papers and water in the Hotpants Romance
shoulder bag that Kate gave me when I went round to her posh flat for an
emergency shower, as for the rest of the anti-leather jacket heatwave I’d been
using a Talk Normal shoulder bag. It was nice to see Matt again even without
his beard, and it struck me as funny that the night his band were playing
Manchester Kate was playing a gig in London. Then again maybe I am just easily
amused. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am now using the free newspaper with a picture of that relentless
incompetent bozo Boris Johnson wearing a silly helmet and waving a Union Jack
to mop up water that leaks from my fridge, drowning him in effigy. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-68303500702184916352018-09-04T08:55:00.003-07:002018-09-04T08:56:25.340-07:00A Half True Story (ninth letter to Lowri)<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Friday night
was time for a Beauty Witch gig put on by Sammy Powell who can always be relied
on to pick a quality ear battering bill. Before Cattle stampeded through Soup
Kitchen I met Penfold Kowalski outside who gave me a nice big hug then chatted
with Miriam Ma Ve and Sam and his sister Amy inside, as another confusing game
of reds vs yellows screened. It would be so much easier to understand football
if one team always played nude. Said hello to Nick Georgieu, Karl Astbury and
Al Wilson. Look at me name dropping in a pathetic attempt to get more people to
hit my “like” button. This was the fourth time I’d let Leeds noise punks Cattle
do battle with my hearing. Their double drummer dynamism always gets me moving,
and they were my favourite band at this year’s Sounds from the Other City.
Every time I’ve seen them the screamer has worn a black MC5 T-shirt. I wonder
if he always wears it or if he has a wardrobe full of black MC5 T-shirts?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was a gig
of two halves where anything could happen. In the break between the first and
second half of the Soup Kitchen gig, I headed over to the Peer Hat just in time
to see Heather Glazzard’s short film about the “True Story” of a beautiful
funny woman with pink hair buying a sea fish to carry around. The soundtrack
was silly burps and grunts, and there was a surprise guest appearance from a
cheeky naked lobster. The pink haired woman seemed a very charming and stylish person,
and I predict this will be the high fashion statement of the season. By the end
of the summer I expect to see Ely Grey, Heather Glazzard, Jen Wu, Simon Morris,
Rachel Goodyear, Martin Warmwidow, Stuart Calton, the facebook free Kate
Armitage and everyone else who watched stripping naked and carrying fish
around. If England win the world cup all the fans will surely strip naked and
carry fish all over Russia to show how much they care!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The second
half of the gig had just kicked off when I made it back to Soup Kitchen
basement and the Cosmic Dead were taking off on a heavy psychedelic trip to the
extreme frontiers of loudness. They’d recently lost half the band, but had
luckily found another half who seemed even noisier. Afterwards the prolific
Vacuous Otiosus gave me a couple of CDRs he’d recently recorded, “Elitism for
the Masses” and “The Burning Mountain” which has a drawing of a squid in a
wheelbarrow on the cover. Sample lyric from Squid Treatise: “If I was 98 %
chlorine I’d be less happy than I am. Fish identifies locust container. Could a
squid in a wheelbarrow propel itself? If so, a staggering invention! Replace
all professional footballers with squid in wheelbarrows: much cheaper and
probably infinitely more entertaining!” The bouncer bounced everyone up the
stairs and out before I could buy a Cattle or Cosmic Dead record. I hung around
a while outside Soup Kitchen with Isadora Darke, Jamie Robinson, Sophie Bee and
Al Wilson before heading back to the Peer Hat for more cider and chat. And more
cider and chat. And more cider and chat and some dancing. I’d better also mention
Michelle Woods, Anne Louise Kershaw and Maria Gutierez in a cynical attempt to
increase the “like” factor as I definitely spoke with them on Friday night. I
ended up heading upstairs to Aatma with Andrew Guest and a few other people
where Dom Jam and Liam Farr kept going until 9am. I started to walk home, but
instead found myself wandering aimlessly around Poundworld. I was very
disappointed to find they had no worlds for sale in their sale. No wonder they
are closing down. After buying a chocolate soya milk sugar fix and booking my
face at the library I felt like strolling pointlessly around the city centre
and eventually found myself in Vinyl Exchange where for a fiver I bought a CD from
Rae Donaldson called “mmmr” by guitarists Loren Mazzacane Connors, Jean-Marc
Montera, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I walked
home along Bridgewater Canal just after the England Sweden world cup game
began. I wanted to get out of the city in case England lost and drunken fans
turned nasty. People were crammed together in and around pubs straining to see
the digitised match. “Get out of the way you prick,” shouted one drinker
repeatedly at a possibly E’d up grinning guy who was prancing about in front of
a screen at a pub near Castlefield Arena. I made sure I squeezed past behind
the angry fan to avoid any unnecessary trouble on my way to the nearby bridge
over the canal. As I headed towards Cornbrook the uproar of men in ball kicking
ecstacy receded, replaced by the whooshing of trams. From a distance it sounded
like a choir of intoxicated lads were singing, “She’s coming home! She’s coming
home! Lowri’s coming home!” <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A gang of
kids had gathered under a bridge and were sitting on the towpath, completely
blocking it, except for one girl who began repeatedly shouting, “Get up! There’s
someone coming!” as I approached. As I reached the bridge she told me I’d have
to jump over her friends as they wouldn’t get up, but then they all stood up to
let me past, laughing. I told them they were lucky I didn’t try to jump over
them as I might have landed on one of them and injured them. Perhaps they are
sporting innovators who will grow up to introduce Kid Leaping to the Olympics. Just
past Old Trafford football ground a dead fish about the size of a tennis racket
was floating on its side slowly towards the city centre. Its head had almost
been cut off and drifted at a right angle to its silvery glinting carcass, on
which seven bright emerald green flies were feasting. I’d already stripped half
naked for the first time this heatwave. You can probably guess which half. No,
I was not carrying my black jeans. If I’d fished the fish out of the canal and
carried it home, then I could have made my own “True Story,” but I’m just not stylish
enough to carry it off. It was very hot and I didn’t want to smell of that
damned fish! A relevant fish song:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Damned –
Fish<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Lowri wrote that she was surprised but not surprised that I saw a dead fish in the canal. I replied:</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Surprised but not surprised? A rational fish
response dictates that I am choosing and editing experiences that relate to
earlier experiences. If Lowri had carried a dead heron around for “True Story,”
I would instead have mentioned the fish eating heron that landed on the
opposite side of the canal when I sat down to cool my feet off. The rational response
would also say that a dead fish in a canal is in itself not a particularly rare
or special thing, but where’s the magic in that? Had Lowri never invited me to
watch “True Story” I may well have still seen that dead fish and thought
nothing of it. I’d never have described it, or counted the flies on it and
would probably have quickly forgotten </span>B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-14275404901196504442018-09-04T08:52:00.002-07:002018-09-04T08:52:59.105-07:00Aphex Tot Revelation (eighth letter to Lowri)<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Three days ago I had no idea I’d be sitting in a church with
a colourful psychedelic stained glass window of Jesus standing on a rainbow
over a yellow brick road whilst a four year old boy played his techno track.
“This is my song. It’s called Ready Penny,” said the happy child with big
yellow ear protectors. I thought he’d said the song was called Bawdy Pepé but
I’d have been surprised if that was what he actually said! From where I was sat
I could only see his head over the table on which his laptop perched. I think
he might have had a little help from his dad who was sat nearby. I’d never been
to St John’s Church on Ayres Road in Trafford before, and the reason I’d walked
there was to hear Noise Orchestra, the duo of David Birchall and Vicky Clarke
who play self-built light activated synthesisers and samplers. When they played
techno boy stole the show by running up the aisle with a phone to take a couple
of pictures. I should have asked him to send me a copy as some say a picture is
worth a thousand words. I suppose that depends on which picture and which
thousand words. Vicky waved a torch over a light senser to make rhythmic noise.
Maybe it was a magic torch as I zoned out for a while and started hallucinating
that I was on a train and could hear a conductor talking. I’d had my eyes
closed for a while so afterwards had to ask Alexa Kruger and Kelly Jayne Jones
if there had been some vocal samples. Indeed there was and afterwards Dave
showed Kev Craig and I the wooden boxes with basic samplers and varispeed
loopers that they’d used. I’d actually used one of these at Seed Studios which
is nearby in Trafford Wellbeing Centre and had organised this church gig. Dave
and Vicky had held a workshop there, showing people how to make a small light
activated synthesiser. From now on I would like to call people who play techno
on a laptop techtoppers. The last techtopper played from the pulpit which
reminded me when Kev sang for Last Harbour from the pulpit of Sacred Trinity Chapel
in Salford. I wonder what St John would have made of all this. Maybe it would
have given him another Revelation?<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-48727344601718357372018-09-04T04:56:00.001-07:002018-09-04T04:56:20.848-07:00A Beautiful Place (seventh letter to Lowri)<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The most beautiful place I know in Manchester is Broad Ees
Dole nature reserve, between Sale Water Park and the River Mersey. On Wednesday
afternoon I walked there and ended up staying there until 7pm. I walked along
Bridgewater Canal, turning off at the path that doubles back under the canal
and tramway and leads to Stretford Ees. There I headed across “A Field In
England” which is what I call the grassy field between the footpath running
alongside the tramway and the Mersey, because it reminds me of the film of that
name which I watched shortly after moving to Streford. Crickets were making
enough leg rubbing racket to almost drown the rumble of the trams. Electric
blue dragonflies hovered and butterflies fluttered in the tall grass. At the
pond in the corner a moorhen scuttled into the water, looking like it was
running on water. Maybe it was a Jesus moorhen. I climbed over the damaged
fence and got onto the river path, following it back to the footbridge and tram
bridge where I could turn right back to Stretford or left to Sale Water Park or
follow the Mersey upstream. I took the high path upstream, and this is where
there are three openings to footpaths through Broad Ees Dole. All but the
signed path are hard to spot, and even that isn’t obvious, so I hardly ever see
anyone in there. The people who do walk there often stop and talk, like we’re
part of some special club who know a secret place. Inside Broad Ees Dole is
thick woodland and the trees shelter the animals from the hot sun. I’ve seen a
stoat darting about there in the past, but this time the only mammal I saw was a
squirrel. Soon there will be small brown frogs crawling about and I’ll have to
watch my step to avoid squashing them. It’s quite marshy there but the muddy
ground had turned hard from the heatwave so it was possible to walk to parts
normally inaccessible, and I found a huge fallen tree with roots exposed and a
little grotto where the tree cover was lighter and the sun shone through turning
the leaves bright green. The stagnant water nearby had attracted clouds of
mosquitos, and one bite on my right arm is about the size of a peach stone! If it
wasn’t for the mosquitos I could have stayed there for hours, looking at a
different view of natural beauty each time I turned my head. I always lose
sense of time there and spend much longer than I thought I had listening to the
birds singing, the wind rustling the leaves and the distant drone of the cars
on the motorway. There are always a few reminders of human activity, but I take
a plastic bag and pick up all the litter. I am the bane of future archaeologists.
When I first cleared the litter a few years ago there were a lot of very old
cans full of earth and I made them into a pyramid near the signed entrance. I pinned
a note to the sign explaining that it was art installation. It was literally a
pile of garbage, and that might have been what I called it, but I don’t
remember. The most interesting thing for me was seeing how long it would stay
there before someone destroyed it. Some of the cans in the pyramid had been
dropped a long time ago as they had old style corporate logos. In the end it
took a few months before all the cans were kicked down. I really didn’t expect
it to last that long, and the writing on the note had faded completely before
the pyramid was toppled. I gathered the strewn cans, washed them in the Mersey
and put them in a recycling bin. As I walked back downstream along the Mersey,
a heron flew over making a loud squawk. I picked up all the litter I saw on my
way home. I stopped at the side of the canal to watch a mother duck and seven
tiny ducklings nibbling at moss, then on the far bank of the canal I saw
something I’d never seen before in Manchester: a nightingale. What a rare bird!<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257330280378344911.post-26606749494618096672018-09-04T04:55:00.002-07:002018-09-04T04:55:25.618-07:00Jali and Minnie (sixth letter to Lowri) <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monday was mundane but Tuesday was great, full of last
minute plans that all worked out very nicely. Jali the kora player was out
busking on the hideous brutal concrete concourse of Piccadilly Plaza. I first
heard Jali busk with the brilliant drummer Charles Hayward of This Heat at a
more unorthodox Fat Out event: an improvised busk in Piccadilly, Manchester.
Jali was there with his dancing friend the same time last week and brings much
needed beauty to the dreary architecture. I’d love to pull down those big
concrete barriers and replace them with trees. The old Piccadilly Gardens was
so much nicer, a sunken walkway past flower beds, but old tramps gathered there
so they had to be modernised away by the council. At least little kids love
splashing about in the fountains when they are actually working, especially in
this heatwave. I got a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">sugar fix</b> as
chocolate soya milk was selling for just a pound on the other side of the bus
stops. It’s such a shame there are so many homeless people baking in the sun.
Even if I gave every one of them money it’d make no difference and I really
can’t afford to do that anyway. There was a film about young DIY music
promoters at Deaf Institute, and Minnie Mishahi and I took full advantage of
the free drink and food. Minnie’s always finds all the free arty events with
free booze’n’gnosh! Minnie was one of the seven people who witnessed “True
Story” not involved in creating it. She’s a vivacious funny person and it’s
always a joy to hang out with her. I wasn’t even bothered by her Italian
friends’ expositions on the benefits of meat eating! Downstairs the reds were
kicking balls past the yellows, so I got a much more conventional glimpse of
world cup action than “True Story.” Well cidered, I jumped on a 43 bus to
Piccadilly and rushed to Peer Hat where I’d only missed one band but there were
two Scottish emo-punk trios yet to play. I only listened to Carson Wells for
the first time that afternoon on youtube and hadn’t heard Please, Believe! before
so it was a nice surprise how much I enjoyed the latter. I enjoyed them so much
I even shelled out a fiver for a CD. I love hearing a great band for the first
time at a gig. Upstairs the regular Peer Hat crowd were celebrating the reds
winning. Let’s hope the reds win the next general election and save us from the
blues, even though I prefer the greens.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />B. Hellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084476997560396944noreply@blogger.com0