Archives:
March 2009

Why does Liverpool boycott the Sun?

I’m not going to get in the detail of the Hillsborough disaster, which is nearing its 25th anniversary in April.

I was 11 at the time and don’t remember a lot about it, aside from finding the names of the roads and ends associated with the tragedy disturbingly memorable. Liverpool Guild of Students, of which I was a member, had a memorial on the wall as a tribute to a student lost on that day.

I do not and cannot really relate to the way Hillsborough affected Liverpool, so I have no right to intrude on, or share in, that grief. That emotion is obvious every day when another stack of Sun newspapers goes unsold in Liverpool.

I was playing cricket last year when I expressed surprise that someone had brought along a copy of the Sun and subsequently spent some time explaining why to some local Liverpool lads. They were as shocked by the story as I was that they didn’t already know.

All of which brings me onto the role of the Sun and more specifically, Kelvin Mackenzie.

By Robin Brown | 31 Mar 09 | Posted in Footy, Life in Liverpool, Liverpool media | Comments (2)

Saying Gary Neville a good role model for Liverpool youngsters 'a mistake' admits Tory Shadow Home Secretary

It’s no wonder the Tories have been keeping their mouths shut over the last couple of years, when the likes of Conservative Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling can propose Manchester United and England defender Gary Neville as a good role model for Liverpool youngsters.

It’s such a mind-bogglingly strange thing to say, even before you factor in the fact that Neville plays for the most hated football in the country, and the fact that there is probably no-one more hated by Reds and people in Liverpool generally. Here’s why:

“I can’t stand Liverpool, I can’t stand Liverpool people, I can’t stand anything to do with them.”

Grayling went on to admit that he shouldn’t have said Gary Neville, he meant to say Ryan Giggs instead. Liverpool fans are unimpressed.

By Robin Brown | 28 Mar 09 | Posted in Footy, Life in Liverpool, Liverpool politics | Comments (1)

Liverpool's new 09 skyline logo: redux

There’s some fascinating stuff over at How Do regarding the conception of the new logo, which has been given a rather mixed reception.

Since my media nodes, and time, are naturally limited I failed to get any sort of inside scoop, but How Do reports a number of interesting factoids, including:

• Finch was originally to be awarded the pitch without it being put out to tender, resulting in some understandable consternation from other agencies in the region

• A second pitching stage saw three agencies bidding for the roll-out of the branding and launch, using the logo already designed by Finch

• An original strapline reading ‘Alive with Imagination’ was removed when it met with ‘a pretty poor reception from everyone unfortunate enough to have seen it’

• A number of companies competed for various components of the brief, which seems bafflingly complicated

• Phil Redmond has had nothing to do with the branding. He is apparently in a huff after disagreeing with the direction of the branding

By Robin Brown | 27 Mar 09 | Posted in Capital of Culture, Liverpool media, Regeneration | Comments (1)

Liverpool's £70K 2009 logo

“So, we need a logo that mixes the old with the new, the vibrant with the classical, old architecture versus the new architecture. The Beatles AND The Wombats, The Cavern AND Cream, Protestant AND Catholic, Liverpool AND Everton, Yosser Hughes AND Danielle Lloyd, Yin AND Yang, forward not backward, blue and, er, light blue.”

“And we need to have some horrible tower blocks in it for, y’know, business and shit.”

“How about a two-tone pictures of some cool Liverpool landmarks, plus those shit tower blocks?”

“Wouldn’t that look like the Thames TV logo?”

“Yes. But lets get some slebs in to tell us what they think of it. Say Abby from The Zutons, that bloke from Cream, some woman who owns a boutique and the director of the school for Tropical Medicine.”

“What have they got to do with it?”

“Absolutely nothing, but we’ll call them brand ambassadors and say they form a wide cross-section of Liverpool society.”

“Love it! OK, I’ll send this down to design. By the way, how much are we going to charge for this?”

“Oooh. 50 grand? Plus £20K for research. There’s a recession on after all…”

By Robin Brown | 26 Mar 09 | Posted in Capital of Culture, Liverpool media, Regeneration | Comments (11)

Merseyside Tories hate each other too

Almost as if to prove that Labour and the Lib Dems don’t have the monopoly on going for each others’ throats, the local party has found its members taking each other to court and being beastly to each other.

Basically Dick Calver, former chairman of Wirral West Conservative Association, is sued for libel by Bahram Noorani, a ‘Greasby-based Iranian Conservative’ for (allegedly) alleging that Noorani made a series of bizarre and threatening phonecalls to Calver and his family.

In turn Noorani accuses Calver of directing racial slurs at him. Eventually Noorani’s case is thrown out and the Judge labels Noorani ‘responsible’ for the calls, but not before a former Wirral councillor giving evidence on Noorani’s behalf is revealed to be due in court to plead guilty to ‘making indecent images’.

By Robin Brown | | Posted in Life in Liverpool, Liverpool politics | Comments (0)

Blackman and Robin Returns Forever

I managed to dig out another old Blackman & Robin, which first appeared in Black+White Magazine over five years ago.

This story is undoubtedly the three of us at out creative peak or our most outrageously self-indulgent, depending on your opinion and involves a slew of celebrity appearances and pop culture references.

The celebs mainly conistsed of people we had a fondness for, but in the case of O’Leary it was simply somone we thought was an idiot. I’ve had always loved Sir Bobby Robson, so he was the obvious choice for a hero. The sadly-departed John Peel and Tony Wilson had been in the news recently, as had Alexie Sayle, following some unfortunate comments about Liverpool.

Pop culture references include Alexei Sayle’s Stuff, Undercover Brother, Ghostbusters, The Five Doctors, Kill Bill, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, The Beatles, The Royle Family, Ali G and Transformers, though there are probably hal a dozen others if you look closely enough.

Eagle-eyed readers may notice Blackman and Robin and Unclee Bobby sharing a jacuzzi with Sting and Jimmy Nail, both of whom have breasts. I’m not sure why.

By Robin Brown | 22 Mar 09 | Posted in Liverpool media, Miscellaneous | Comments (0)

From the archives: An interview with John and Mick Head

Ten years ago I accompanied friend and colleague Ross Charnock to an interview with Head Brothers Mick and John from Shack.

Ross was, and remains, very fond of Shack and the Heads’ various outfits and was writing for local magazine INK, which was a bit of a forerunner to Black+White.

I took along my trusty manual SLR as I was flirting with a career in rock photography that ultimately came to very little but was keen on Shack and The Strands too.

The interview began with Ross being invited to join the group as bassist, took in a ‘photoshoot’ at Crash Studios, detoured to several pubs around the city centre and finished in Ross’ flat with Mick and John playing an impromptu selection of Shack and Strands numbers. It was superb.

By Robin Brown | 21 Mar 09 | Posted in Liverpool Music | Comments (0)

Hush – new Brit thriller film

I’ve just been to see Hush – the latest film that’s got ‘The best British thriller in years’ written across it, written and directed by Mark Tonderai.

It’s actually really good, and without resorting to a list of adjectives like taut, efficient, claustrophobic and nerve-shattering it’s well-shot and pacy enough to keep adrenalin levels up, without descending into action-slasher farce.

The first 15 minutes are actually pretty bad, and calling the lead character Zakes is a bizarre choice that grates immediately, but stick with it. The film get better and better as it progresses.

By Robin Brown | 18 Mar 09 | Posted in TV and film | Comments (0)

Paddy's Day in Liverpool

I’m not a fan of Paddy’s Day as I happen to live in Liverpool, a place that tends to be made up two kinds of people: people who are, or are descended from the Irish; and people who pretend to be Irish.

I’ve no quarrel with the former, but there’s a kind of lunatic herd mentality about the latter when it comes to St Patrick’s Day in Liverpool. It’s a time when everyone wears a stupid hat, protests that they have a great uncle McMurphy and grimace through the once-a-year pints of Guinness.

This pretending-to-be-Irish nonsense has reached its apotheosis this year in the shape of Shane Richie’s Make Me Irish.

By Robin Brown | | Posted in Life in Liverpool, Pubs | Comments (2)

Liverpool fan goes nuts over 4-1 Man U thrashing in Sky FanZone

Any Reds disgruntled by my reporting of Comscore’s rather mishievous figures regarding LFC and EFC’s website visitors may be placated by this Youtube video of Sky’s Fanzone from Saturday 14 March, the date of Liverpool’s dismantling of Manchester United in a 4-1 win.

Football fans are unlikely to change their opinion of Liverpool fans – whatever they may be – based on this video, which is marginally more reatrained than Sky’s awful panel on Soccer Saturday hosted by Jeff Stelling.

Still, at least they managed to find a Liverpool fan who’s actually from Liverpool, eh?

By Robin Brown | 15 Mar 09 | Posted in Footy, TV and film | Comments (0)