At the top of this page, you’ll see a “next blog” button, and clicking it takes you to a random blog. In an idle moment, I clicked yesterday, and on the third click, was presented with a blog I didn’t know, but which was written by someone I do know, and featured pictures of many… Continue reading What are the chances?
To the Martin Harris Centre, for an event with Martin Amis, one of a series that exists largely to justify his salary, I expect. The attraction for me was not so much Amis fils, but Clive James, who, since he’s now three-score years and ten, was considered to be a suitable candidate for a debate… Continue reading Old Lags
Great snap of a foxy traveller.Credit: RadioKate
In my imagination, Hitchcock’s film was in black and white – probably because I saw it on TV in about 1968 in b&w. Seeing the Vistavision print in colour at the Cornerhouse today was a revelation. Why is it, that even when you know the story, the shocks are still, well, shocking?I don’t think my… Continue reading North by Northwest
Reading this obituary took me back thirty odd years to a lecture theatre in a brutalist concrete building in Leeds. The first year English students were being lectured about accent and dialect by the great Stanley Ellis. He asked one of our number, picked at random, to say a few words. He’d chosen Bob McNally,… Continue reading The real Henry Higgins
Too busy to blog much of late, but thought I would mention a gig by The Visitors. They were at The Studio in Manchester to launch their new CD, and a small but select band were there to see it. They are led by Karl Walsh, a Madchester scene veteran, and play power pop with… Continue reading Visitors
More music on this allegedly literary blog. People often claim to have very broad musical tastes, but this is frequently not borne out in fact. When some starlet or reality TV show participant says something like “Oh I love all kinds of music – anything from Rihanna to the Pussycat Dolls” you sense that their… Continue reading Ah, friends eclectic
…especially by the mighty Normblog. Thanks Norm!
Clive James was 70 this week. When he was a mere stripling in his thirties, I discovered the work he had done with Pete Atkin on a series of albums just coming to a premature end in the face of indifference from the great British public and the big record companies. I’ve been a fan… Continue reading Thirty Year Man
Anxious as ever to be present at the cutting edge of vibrantly youthful popular culture, I hied me to the Bridgewater Hall on Friday, accompanied by ‘er indoors and the man also known as the Silver Fox to witness a concert by two up and coming youngsters playing modern music. The elder of the two… Continue reading Last Chance to See…