practice run

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 9:07 AM | add or read comments (0)

Last night was the busiest for some considerable time in Liverpool and gave a taste of what it could be like during Capital of Culture year.
You couldn't move in town for some launch, or party, or event or awards ceremony.

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the world according to phil

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 9:09 AM | add or read comments (0)

I sat in on an "in conversation" with Phil Redmond at the World Museum last night where he talked about Grange Hill, Brookie and - of course - Capital of Culture.
Actually, I almost missed the start when I managed to go to the wrong venue!
I wondered why all the lights were off at the Maritime Museum and had to make a mad dash all the way to William Brown Street, slipping in as NML boss David Fleming was half way through his introduction.

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he killed the biggest somebody on earth

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 8:58 AM | add or read comments (0)

It's not often you spend the evening exploring the mind of a killer, especially one as notorious as narcissist Mark Chapman.
December 8 will be the 27th anniversary of the gunning down of John Lennon on the doorstep of his New York home.
Now a new film by director Andrew Piddington explores what may have been going on in Chapman's mind in the weeks leading up to the murder using his own words.
It had its regional premiere at FACT last night.

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dennis hopper

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 11:25 AM | add or read comments (0)

You wait for one major cultural event to happen in Liverpool - and then two come along at the same time.
While the Royal Variety Performance, with its stars like Bon Jovi and Kanye West, has been hogging the headlines, the Turner Prize waded in itself yesterday for a bit of front page action.
Organisers announced Dennis Hopper would present the £25,000 award at Tate Liverpool next Monday night.

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here we go again

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 2:47 PM | add or read comments (0)

Another weekend, another trip to Poland (if you're going take your thermals - it's freezing) - and another slew of culture stories.
Note to Liverpool Culture Company/City Council....I've run out of holiday entitlement now, so there will ne no more sneaking out your latest gem while I'm waiting for my case at JLA's Ringo Starr baggage carousel!
Last time it was MTV and Jason's sick leave.
This time it was the Mathew Street Festival report.....and Jason's sick leave.

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is there too much (chat about) culture?

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 12:21 PM | add or read comments (0)

I went to the BBC Free Thinking festival over the weekend to hear Mike Figgis talk on the subject is there too much culture?
The Oscar-winning director produced a very interesting, if a little confused, argument that seemed to conclude, through many twists and turns that there isn't too much culture so much as too much OLD culture.

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superlamby

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 11:00 AM | add or read comments (0)

You either love it or hate it....and I am firmly in the former camp.
How can you not adore the wonderful, unique Superlambanana?

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royal variety pack

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 11:00 AM | add or read comments (1)

Headliners for the Royal Variety Performance have been announced today.
So who is looking forward to the Bon Jovi/Dame Kiri duet then?
Will those in the cheap (£80) seats clap while the rest of them just rattle their jewellery?

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on the scaffold

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 8:08 AM | add or read comments (1)

I popped into the Motor Museum recording studio in Lark Lane yesterday to catch up with The Scaffold.
The cult 60s group has reformed to take part in the Number One Project which is backed by the ECHO.
It was the first time Roger McGough, John Gorman and Mike McCartney (or should that be McGear? Or, according to McCartney, it was almost McFab. How 60s!) had been in a recording studio for 33 years.
Times change. They used to record at Abbey Road and their backing singers included a speccy lad called Reg Dwight.
But the joy of recording music doesn't, and the product of their afternoon in front of the mic can be heard on the Number One Project album out in January.

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family silver

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 9:14 AM | add or read comments (0)

Well they turned out in their thousands to see Michael Aspel, Bunny Campion et al (sadly not the lovely Henry Sandon though) at St George's Hall yesterday.
When I popped in at lunchtime the Antiques Roadshow queue stretched from the chaotic main hall, all the way along the corridor to the north entrance, outside, and then all the way back along the Lime Street frontage.
Beeb bosses pledged everyone in the queue by 4.30pm would be seen.
But with a four-hour average wait, can you imagine the disappointment after all that if you were told your valuables were....well, less than valuable.
I half expected to see city council staff dotted around the queue clutching city silver and hoping the odd teapot or samovar may help towards the £20m Capital of Culture funding shortfall.

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festival irony

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 3:39 PM | add or read comments (0)

Every Capital of Culture conference or meeting I ever go to seems to start with a glitzy 2008 promo film.
But the one shown at the Countdown 08 event at FACT yesterday made me wince at the sheer irony.
In the hurly burly of images showcasing Liverpool's cultural highlights were scenes from a previous Mathew Street Festival - the report on whose demise has STILL not been produced by council chiefs.
It was the song some cleverclogs had chosen to accompany the footage that made me raise an eyebrow - the Zutons' You Will You Won't.
All together now: "You will you won't, you do you don't. You're saying you will but you know you won't."

it never rains......

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 9:04 AM | add or read comments (0)

I've concluded it's a conspiracy.
Every time I go away something major happens on the culture front.
It's enough to make a capital of culture reporter weep.......
But not enough to mean I'll never take a holiday again.

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