The Culture Blog’s snapper desk has received this image of Ray Davies prior to his gig at The Phil last night.
Crazy love – Liverpool Buble fan shows off unlikely tattoo
Those of you who care about such things probably know already that death metal singer Michael Buble has been in town for a gig at the Echo Arena.
The Best of Liverpool 2009
I’ve asked a group of people well placed in media, music, arts and other general culture vultures to venture their high- and lowlights of Liverpool in 2009.
Clinic, Mugstar and Married to the Sea at the Kazimier
Married to the Sea, Mugstar and Clinic at the Kazimier as part of Mass Freak-Out
The Long Night of the AND Festival…in pictures
I really love the semi-regular night in Liverpool when the city’s artistic buildings throw open their doors into the night. There’s a real festival atmosphere in town on these night, a little like the frisson on excitement on Halloween and bonfire night.
Go to Friend Or Foe this Friday
I wouldn’t normally do this sort of thing, but Uncle Ross Charnock has been in touch to let me know about a Friend or Foe gig at the Ship & Mitre, Dale Street this weekend (Friday 7 August).
The Wild Swans at Static Gallery
Formed in 1980 by ex Teardrop Explodes keyboardist Paul Simpson, The Wild Swans cut a stylishly epic swath through Liverpool’s fertile post punk scene.
Along the way they spawned two revered splinter projects in Care and the Lotus Eaters, while all manner of other Merseyside luminaries ventured into their orbit (the Lightning Seed’s Ian Broudie, Pete DeFreitas of the Bunnymen and the Icicle Work’s Ian McNabb to name but three).
Blessed with Simpson’s Bowie-esque looks and voice, an alchemic guitar sound and a lyrical sensibility that seemed to predate Britpop’s romantic mythologizing of England by about 10 years, the Wild Swans inexplicable lack of success was a mystery that looked very unlikely to be solved.
Thankfully their recent decision to reform 21 years after their split has put forward a whole no case for them being one of Liverpool’s most underrated, seminal and downright brilliant bands.
Liverpool Sound City
I finally made it to some Sound City stuff, taking in Hallo I Love You, Little Boots, Charnock & Russell, Sidney Bailey and His No Good Punchin Clowns, The Two Man Gentleman Band, Clinic and a.p.a.t.t. at various venues, although I only managed to see one entire set out of that lot thanks to some duff planning, bad luck and general confusion.
In amongst the mayhem I spent most time in the View Two gallery, an oasis in the middle of Sodom and Gomorrah, watching a series of folky, jazzy, swingy, skiffle-y performances. The Punchin Clowns and Gentlemen Band were a particularly rare form of Vaudevillian fun.
Seeing Clinic again after so long was great, especially as it was apparently the first gig they played in Liverpool in donkey’s years. Listening to Clinic always makes me think of what it might be like to die from an overdose of mogadon – creepy and disturbing, but not entirely unpleasant.
Liverpool Rocks Fashion: Fur Q
Top marks to Liverpool.com in its diatribe about Liverpool Rocks Fashion and its pathetic use and defence of fur. And full marks to the organiser, a Ms Donna McCourt, who apparently defended the appearance of fur garments by claiming it is a ‘woman’s right to choose’ to wear fur, thereby (perhaps unwittingly) conflating the issue [...]
Korova in The Guardian
There’s a bit of a puff piece on Korova in The Guardian today that hits the nail on the head about Korova in that it ignored the jingly-jangly stoned cosmic scouse thing that was all the rage in Liverpool a few years ago,