tavener and the one milion

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 12:10 PM | add or read comments (0)

I was among the audience at a packed Metropolitan Cathedral last night for the world premiere of the new Tavener Requiem.
And of course if you see today's ECHO you'll also know we were adding to the one-million plus figure of people who have got involved in Capital of Culture so far this year.
In fact, Hope Street alone was humming with people last night - I drove into town and found it nigh on impossible to get a parking space even at 6pm.

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hard night's night

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 8:33 AM | add or read comments (0)

Caipirinhas on a school night?
Oh go on then!
I went to the Hard Day's Night Hotel opening bash last night where the Moet flowed and the Mersey Beatles played.
Obviously sitting on the number 82 bus clutching my invitation wasn't exactly the dream red carpet arrival I'd have liked, but it got me there.
There were a real mixture of people in the place, from old Mersey Beat stars to Anthony Hannah on crutches.
He told me: "If I'd known I was going to be papped (ie photographed) I'd have decorated them."

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roger mcgoughiere

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 8:29 AM | add or read comments (0)

So Roger McGough has dusted off his schoolboy French and has written a new adaptation of Moliere's classic Tartuffe for the people down at the Playhouse.
The Mersey Sound poet was at a lunch yesterday to unveil the next tranche of shows for 2008 at the Playhouse and Everyman.
Because I'm having one of those weeks (turning up for the Joseph press night 24 hours early - although I still maintain I'd been given that date) I managed to go to the wrong theatre and dashed in to the right one, the Everyman, hot and bothered just before the start of the announcement.

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philharmonic archive

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 8:40 AM | add or read comments (0)

It's taken archivists two years and a lottery grant to get to grips with the Philharmonic's 167 years of archives.
Seeing what my junk room/study is like after only five years in Liverpool, I don't envy them.
But what they have now marshalled seems to be a treasure trove of information, images....and a little bit of artistic sniping to boot.
An ageing Elgar turning down the presidency of the Rodewald Concert Society led to the great composer being described as "stupid" and "impertinent" by the man chosen as second best!
Crotchety or what?!

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richard herring girlie fight

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 8:27 AM | add or read comments (0)

Does anyone remember the fight comedian Richard Herring got into after his show in Liverpool last summer?
The police turned up and just laughed.
Well, Herring not only remembers it, he's put it in his latest show as I discovered at the weekend.

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liverpool art prize 08

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 2:48 PM | add or read comments (0)

One lucky artist will be £2,000 better off next month when the winner of the inaugural Liverpool Art Prize is chosen.
The six shortlisted artists in this new contemporary art award - organised by Art in Liverpool - are ceramics artist Emma Rodgers, painter Gareth Kemp, video artist Imogen Stidworthy, sculptor Jayne Lawless, photographer Mary Fitzpatrick and The Singh Twins.
Their work will be on show at Novas's Contemporary Urban Centre from Friday, February 29 until April 10, with the winner being chosen at an awards ceremony on March 9.
The overall winner will receive £2,000 and there is also a People’s Choice prize of £500 which will be awarded from votes cast by the public, and will provide an opportunity for visitors to the exhibition to express their preference.
See more details by visiting www.liverpoolartprize.com

sports personality

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 2:41 PM | add or read comments (0)

Another coup for Liverpool.
The BBC has announced today it is set to hold its Sports Personality of the Year awards at the ECHO Arena in December.
Hot on the heels of the MTV awards the month before, this just shows a) what a fantastic venue the arena and conference centre is turning out to be and b) just how high profile Liverpool's Capital of Culture year really is becoming.
Now all we need to secure is the Booker Prize and next year's BAFTAs and we're away!
If anyone has any suggestions about other awards ceremonies etc they would like to see Liverpool bid for, let me know.

liverpool cityscape

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 8:33 AM | add or read comments (0)

More than 25,000 people have now passed throught the Walker Art Gallery since Ben Johnson set up his Liverpool Cityscape studio barely a month ago.
The artist admitted to me last night he had been "overwhelmed" by the interest in his artwork.
But despite the fact it must be odd to be trying to create art in a goldfish bowl, he appears to be thriving on the attention.
I had a brief chat with him at an event organised by investment company Rensberg Shepherds which will be a main sponsor of the exhibition showing the final canvas.

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liverpool cityscape

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 8:33 AM | add or read comments (0)

More than 25,000 people have now passed throught the Walker Art Gallery since Ben Johnson set up his Liverpool Cityscape studio barely a month ago.
The artist admitted to me last night he had been "overwhelmed" by the interest in his artwork.
But despite the fact it must be odd to be trying to create art in a goldfish bowl, he appears to be thriving on the attention.
I had a brief chat with him at an event organised by investment company Rensberg Shepherds which will be a main sponsor of the exhibition showing the final canvas.

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eternal flame

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 8:08 AM | add or read comments (0)

I felt rather sorry for Liz McClarnon yesterday.
Despite being due at the Brits, she gamely allowed herself under the make up artists' brush first for a Smokefree conference at St George's Hall to show the effect smoking has on the skin.
Forty-five minutes of latex and layering revealed the 26-year-old's face to be a playground for lines and bags and leathery-look skin.

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here comes the sun

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 12:42 PM | add or read comments (0)

Cirque du Soleil are on their way.
It should be quite a spectacle at the ECHO Arena and it's great Liverpool has secured the acrobatic theatrical legends' only north west show.
I just can't help feeling it's a bit of a shame we couldn't persuade them to bring a version of the Beatles-inspired Love show from Las Vegas to Liverpool for 2008.
Alas that seems to have been an ambition too far. The way I understand it, Love is rooted permanently on the Strip.

banana split or lamb chop.

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 9:03 AM | add or read comments (0)

So artist Taro Chiezo wants his Superlambanana back.
Apparently we've only had Lamby on loan and now the man who dreamed it up wants to flog it on - possibly even down the M62 to Manchester.
OH COME ON.
No, really, you've got to be kidding!

(the sun could be setting on Superlambanana in Liverpool)

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candid camra

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 10:11 AM | add or read comments (0)

Apparently it's a male preserve - ale fellow, well met and all that - although I'm not sure a lot of my friends would agree with that.
Last night I joined a bevvy of beer babes, of assorted ages too, who had descended on the Metropolitan Cathedral crypt for a special women-only ale tasting session.
In fact the only men present were the equivalent of tavern wenches pouring out the amber nectar into our glasses.
CAMRA's pledge for Capital of Culture is to try and get more young people and laydeez to transfer their allegiance to real ale.

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testing the echo

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 12:28 PM | add or read comments (0)

I went to see Testing the Echo at the Playhouse last night.
It certainly did that - my brain felt so tested it has been protesting ever since.
There are some particularly pertinent points made in this look at Britishness and the country's test for would-be "citizens" - and some frighteningly topical lines, given this month's debate over Sharia law.
Following last week's superb Metamorphosis, the Playhouse has got its 2008 programme off to a challenging and flying start.

creative city

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 12:23 PM | add or read comments (0)

Is Liverpool a creative city?
Is the proverbial Pope a Catholic?!
The city's creative roll comes under the microscope at a debate at the Maritime Museum next week.

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on the culture trail

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 11:54 AM | add or read comments (0)

More good news for Liverpool venues six weeks in to Capital of Culture.
As I reveal in today's Echo, everyone from cathedrals to footie clubs, museums, galleries, and hotels are enjoying a hefty rise in visitor numbers compared to the same time last year.
Stephen Done, the enthusiastic curator at LFC's Anfield museum, described them as being "ludicrously busy" and said he believed it was the 08 effect taking hold.
And I know it's rather about-faced, but anecdotal evidence also backs up the specific figures.

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top of the world ma

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 8:38 AM | add or read comments (0)

Better late than never.
I meant to write about my ascent of the new One Park West building last week, but time somehow ran away from me.
I have my own views on quite a bit of the building work currently going on in Liverpool (!) but I have to admit, the views from the top of the "prow of the ship" part of this Grosvenor building are pretty spectacular.
No wonder the apartments in the triangular end of the building went like the proverbial hot cakes.

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superlamby

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 2:14 PM | add or read comments (0)

It seemed every artist in Liverpool was at the Static Gallery in Roscoe Lane on Tuesday night for the Superlambanana event.
Wild in Art, the organisation behind the Go Superlambananas! project, is looking for artists to submit ideas to decorate the lambys which will be placed around the city.
There were some pretty groovy design ideas on display.
Alex Corina brought his Superlambanana on rockers, with mop top and starry glasses, while French artist Laurence Payot decorated two medium-sized statues there in the gallery.

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viennese whirl

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 9:03 AM | add or read comments (0)

I've given up cake for Lent.
Anyone who knows me will know the enormity of that decision! It's day two and it seems a long way to go until Easter.
But one thing spurring me on is the thought of what kind of frock I am going to have for the Viennese Balls in April.
I was pleased and only slightly amazed at the way tickets were snapped up so quickly for what should be two fantastic events at St George's Hall.

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yes minister

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 8:06 AM | add or read comments (0)

I see our new man at the DCMS, Evertonian Andy Burnham, is taking to his new job like a duck to VIP tickets and even gave up watching his beloved Blues last week to see Othello at the Donmar Warehouse.
He's also, according to an interview in a national newspaper I read today, in favour of more regional output on the BBC, citing The Royle Family (that 'celebration' of the north west) as his favourite programme.
In the spirit of regionalism, I'd urge our new Culture Secretary to catch another entertaining bit of output from the north west - Rejects Revenge - as its national tour swings by him because following government funding cuts it's the last show the acclaimed theatre company will ever be putting on.
I wait with interest to see what Mr Burnham's tenure at culture will bring.
I suspect a lot of the arts community in Liverpool, European Capital of Culture, believe a proper funding of the arts sector would be a good start.
But I also suspect they may respond Jim Royle-style if Mr Burnham fails the audition.

it's been a hard days night

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 2:10 PM | add or read comments (0)

Hurrah - no more hard hats.
I took my first walk around the newly opened Hard Days Night Hotel this morning.
It wasn't my first visit to the site itself though, I must have been a good half a dozen times over the years.
But it looks so different!

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