Bookmarks: Joy Division

There's a short-but-lovely piece on the Liverpool Echo where Jamie Bowman suggests Joy Division were as comfortable in Liverpool as Manchester:

Warsaw made their debut in the city at Eric's (where else?) on Mathew Street on August 27, 1977, when they supported punk band X-Ray Spex - a gig notable for being drummer Steven Morris's first with the band.

Later that year they were back to play a New Year's Eve party at the Swinging Apple on Wood Street which became the band's last gig as Warsaw.

Venuewatch: Casa

The Casa, the club-cum-venue-cum-community-centre set up by the former Liverpool Dockers, is under threat.

There's a funding crisis - of course there is, this is a socially-valuable service and we have a Tory government - which means the community centre and advice functions of the venue are under threat; while the bar and performance space could continue, they can't support the whole endeavour alone. And, because it's always been more than just a entertainment place, the people who run it think that would be a betrayal of its principles.

So, there's to be a huge benefit gig at the Philharmonic, and a fund-raising push - hopefully raising enough to cover another four years of operations.

Mark Steel, John Bishop, and TV's Bobby Grant are all on board already.

Mathew Street may be permanently blown out

After a weekend in which high winds closed the festival down, more grim news for the Mathew Street Festival: it's got a massive budget problem. The Liverpool Echo explains:

The ECHO can reveal that of the £800,000 cost to stage the festival, Liverpool council has half funded Mathew Street with European money since 2005.

But next year that funding – part of the package from being European Capital of Culture in 2008 – will no longer be available.

Cabinet member for leisure and tourism Cllr Wendy Simon said the council is currently reviewing its events programme including the Mathew Street Festival.

She said: "At the moment no decisions have yet been taken about Mathew Street or the events programme as a whole."

There is a suggestion that the outdoor bits be dropped, returning the event to its roots of being pubs round the area banding together to put on a bunch of shows during the days - which was the solution forced on this year's festival by the weather.

Local businesses do pretty well out of the event. But although 500 were asked to contribute this year, only 20 did so. Doesn't suggest there might be much enthusiasm from the private sector to pick up the funding gap.

Ringo still hoping everyone's moved on

Having tried in May to get beyond having told Jonathan Ross he doesn't miss anything about Liverpool, Ringo's tried again today:

Speaking after a performance ahead of a European tour - which includes a date in Liverpool - he said: “There’s lots I miss, of course.

“I did that joke with Jonathan Ross and I’m still paying for it, it seems - where three people from the Wirral complained.

“But of course I love Liverpool"

It's a sign of just how much he loves the city that he's only just got round to popping back now, and so finds himself belatedly fighting a fire from a TV appearance he made three years ago.

Still, having a pop at Wirralites will unite the Scousers behind him, right? Although, to be fair, people from the Wirral go to Liverpool more often than bloody ex-Beatles manage.

According to one of the comments on the Echo article, the Empire has a lot of seats left at all prices for Ringo's date. That's not strictly true - there's only one seat in the stalls left. But over 350 upstairs left untaken. You'd suspect this is less down to anything Ringo might have said, and more down to the getting on for seventy quid for a ticket.

Not all Taylors are the same

The Liverpool Echo has managed to ruin plans for American signer Taylor Bright to do a small gig at a school in the city; the paper erroneously claimed it was Taylor Swift off the Grammys who would be appearing. The school, St Margaret Mary's (why, yes, it is a Catholic Girls' school) sighed:

In a statement it said: "We had planned a short concert for the children on Monday 1 February, featuring an unknown singer, Taylor Bright.

"Unfortunately, the Liverpool Echo has printed an inaccurate story that pop singer Taylor Swift is coming.

"There will now be no concert and the Liverpool Echo has promised to print an amendment."

You have to feel a bit sorry for Taylor Bright, don't you? There is this implication that she's not going to draw a crowd. "We invited Taylor Bright, so obviously nobody was going to come to see that, but then the Echo went and claimed it was someone much, much better. You know, Bright we could have coped with - we'd have come up with some way of hiding the empty seats. But Swift? Jeez, she could pull a crowd. We'd need barriers, stewards, the whole nine yards. Actually, let's not bother with Taylor Bright at all. Ring her up and cancel."

The Echo is contrite:

"The Echo regrets the mistake in Saturday's paper and has apologised to the school's governors.

"We are making a donation to school funds as a gesture of goodwill."

"... and, hey maybe we should get the kids some tickets to go see Beyonce who we know for a fact is going to be playing Anfield Comp on Thursday, right?"

JLS discover how cruel showbiz can be

... or whatever their name is.

Bob Dylan: get the local angle

Bob Dylan's number one album isn't just his victory, you know. Oh, no: it's also Liverpool's. At least, according to to the Liverpool Echo:

Liverpool Local News
Liverpool hero Bob Dylan is top of the album chart with Together Through life

The paper's basis for claiming Dylan as a "Liverpool hero"? Erm... that he played a gig in the city:

JUST days after his sellout appearance at the Echo arena, superstar Bob Dylan leapt straight to the top of the album chart – almost 40 years since his last number one record.

And, hey, if you want to read a causal link in to 'appearing at an Echo-sponsored building' and 'having a number one record', that's your prerogative, right?

Capital of Culture Update: There's more to Beatlepool than the Livers

If we cast our mind back to the point of spending a small fortune on the Capital of Culture, it was to show the world that there was more to Liverpool culture than the Beatles. So far - if you ignore the coverage of the financial disasters - it's been marked with Ringo at the opening, McCartney at Anfield, and a guest appearance from Yoko. And Beatles topiary.

Now, then, they've added the "first ever" Beatles Day, an event marking the, erm, 44th anniversary of, um, the first time they returned home after playing America. Let's face it, we've all been on the edge of seats wondering exactly what they'd be doing for such a significant anniversary.

There are plans that the day will generate money for charity, which is fair enough, but really it's more like a confirmation that the official view of the city is that, pretty much, it's Beatles or nothing. Imagine if all the council and local media effort that goes into bolstering the Macca-Lennon myth had been spent on finding a way to keep the Picket where it should have been and the rehearsal spaces in the heart of the city.

[Thanks to Jim M for the link]

Macca: Thank you

Paul McCartney turns up in the Liverpool Echo talking about his Anfield gig:

SIR Paul said his Capital of Culture Anfield concert would be a personal thank-you to his home city.

“I’m doing a decent length of songs,” he said, denying earlier rumours that he was singing only four numbers.

“I know we’ve also got a few guests. But I’m not sure of exactly who. It’s still a bit up in the air so I wouldn’t get anybody’s hopes up.”

“It’s going to be interesting.

“But it is basically my tribute to Liverpool.”

A personal thank-you - although a curious sort of thank-you which the people being thanked are having to foot a two million quid bill in order to be thanked. I wonder if - given the choice - most people in Liverpool would rather spend the cash on something other than getting a thumbs-up from Macca.

Echo reports from McCartney hearing

The Liverpool Echo has news from London:

THERE was no sign of a settlement last night after the first of a scheduled five days of the Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills divorce court battle.

Hmm. You don't think the scheduling of a five day hearing might have given some indication that there would be "no sign" of a settlement on day one, then?

In other news: No final result from Goodison after forty-five minutes play.