HowDo Magazine March 2012

[PEOPLE]

into the HowDo?! corner and here we are 4 issues It is March. Spring is around the series. something esting it was a bad idea to launch I confidently ignored all advice sugg winter cult diffi the in e alon yet ent, of developm not like this with little over a month and s elve ours blish en that way so to esta months. But I knew it had to happ issues under 4 With . year the of time ting exci miss out on the most eventful and It has been extremely difficult environment. our belt we are fighting fit in an rtisements which adve in ke upta slow a with s time frustrating and disappointing at Do Magazine keep up with the demand that How we need to continue to grow and of the city’s some of ort aged to secure the supp clearly now has. But we have man HowDo?! can that dent confi are we and ions most significant cultural organisat use as their own ia for all people of Bradford to establish itself as a central med happen. So get in this can ort supp R YOU with with the necessary backing. Only events and invest in Bradford. contact, get involved, promote your ling to this opportunity of free ramb take to not It would be inapproprite us financially d orte supp have who ion nisat orga acknowledge the many people and Without such project and us as individuals. and shown immense trust in our greatful and owe nally eter are We . exist not commitment HowDo?! would involved so far. everything to those who have been ssed how at Issue 4. Haigh and I recently discu Now that’s off mi chest let us look nning begi fresh A 2. e Phas k. many ways. A brea this issue marks a turning point in we are yet to be that is t poin The . zine Maga and a true launching of HowDo the fact that g into the better months (ignoring tripped up and are still here goin something build to orm skint). We have a platf the western world is completely forddale but Brad the with gue dialo e urag enco truly unique that will not only I made note issance. If you recap to issue one promote Bradford’s cultural rena all my favours and ng pulli ; ther toge on icati publ of the reasons for putting this I felt a creative cial support has not been easy. breaking my back with no finan ue position our uniq the not felt before and saw movement in Bradford that I had dence is viral Confi nt. eme mov that ote and prom community was in to encourage and Bradford has greatness . comprehensive artist Jean Mcewan to exhibit her Issue 4 invites Bradford based zine the beautiful and s year working as an artist for collection of work. Jean has been on. Special icati publ this to gift lute abso are an imagery she uses and explores Hannah Miss gner desi ted talen to the uniquely appraisal and thanks must go out able to do Jean’s work been have ld wou who s gner Drake. I know few graphic desi upped the highly refined layout that has truly justice but she has produced a team on a gn desi our graphic designers to join game. We are looking for talented an issue or ther toge pull to s take it t wha have Pro-Bono basis. If you feel that you lopment please and there for some portfolio deve would just like to help out here get in contact. going live the an array of cultural programs Exciting times are ahead of us with lved! invo get se plea and , here loop the over the coming months. Keep in uced something designer David Brennon has prod Oh and we have a website! Web . We will be working ence pres e onlin Do’s How of t rather swish as a starting poin on Facebook ing months so keep your eye out hard to establish this over the com ia and easy med ral cultu ss to all kinds of unique and Twitter for updates and acce Do?!

How with lved ways to participate and get invo Cheerio!

Mr Johnston www.howdomagazine.co.uk ine www.facebook.com/howdomagaz

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Artwork by Jean Mcewen: www.jeanmcewan.com

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4_[anniversarySPECIAL] Haigh Simpson speaks with BCB Station Director Mary Dowson 6_[anniversarySPECIAL] BCB - The Early Years by Rob Walsh 9_[ourHERITAGE] Bradford’s Irish Heritage by Joe Sheeran 12_[bratudOUTLOOK] Making Joseph Brennon House Beautiful - Artfarmers Sam Musgrave, Douglas Thompson and Chemaine Cooke meet with Rita Marcalo; director of Instant Dissidence

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14_[people&ART] Douglas Thompson visits South Square Gallery Thornton + introductions to...

16_[people&ART] Media for the Misbegotten by Rachel Kaye + Leeds Print Festival 18_[theatre&PERFORMANCE] Folk Narratives + Etiquette of Grief 23_make ugly beautiful.

24_[spokenWORD] Jane Steele introduces a bumper spoken word section including an interview with Ann Dinsdale from The Bronte Parsonage Museum

31_[artisticPERSPECTIVE] Featured artist Jean Mcewan is profiled by Dom Sheard 33_makeYOUROWN Sam Lawrence introduces cooperative housing 36_[food&DRINK] Recipes from foreign lands & the Bradford Beer Festival 41_[liveMUSIC] The Spectre of Authenticity in (Bradford’s) underground music 43_[liveMUSIC] Three pages of reviews & previews of the Bradford music scene 48_mediaREVIEW] Album + Book Reviews 51_[filmREVIEW] Mike McKenny previews the Bradford International Film Festival [SUBSCRIPTION]

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An Interview with BCB Station Director Mary Dowson

by Haigh Simpson

‘From the heart of Bradford, this is BCB Radio 106.6 FM’; the innocuous jingle drifts from a well-used radio on the reception desk. Through the glass the newsroom is in full swing, keyboards are clicking and discussions are underway. You could be forgiven for thinking this was just your average local radio station. You would be wrong. Just around the corner several school children sit at their desks working away, an elderly lady cracks a joke and a man with a thick Polish accent talks on the phone. A schoolgirl is preparing a feature package on football mascots, “Why are Crewe called the Railwaymen? What is so special about Crewe’s train station?” The light on the studio door lights up red, ‘Live on Air’. This is not Smashey and Nicey, this is proper grassroots local radio, from the heart of Bradford.

You would be hard-pressed to find a more inclusive organisation than BCB radio, nor are you likely to meet a friendlier host than Mary Dowson, the station’s Director. Twenty years ago Mary spotted an opportunity - the Broadcasting Act of 1990 had opened up the chance of creating a community radio station for the city of Bradford. It would bring together her two great passions, radio and community-based education.

“It was just fantastic, the idea that we could have a radio station where ordinary people in Bradford could broadcast, that those voices could be heard… it’s probably the most exciting thing I have ever done in my life.”

At the time broadcasting licences were limited to one month, and so Bradford Festival Radio as it was then known became the audio companion to the Bradford Festival season. Little did Mary and her fellow pioneers imagine that two decades later this experiment would have grown to become a full time broadcaster, recognised both nationally and internationally for its community work.

The journey was by no means easy but is testament to the ethos and objectives that make this organisation so special. For ten years BCB has provided free training and support for the people of Bradford, turning consumers or passive listeners of radio into active broadcasters. The volunteers are given compete control and many sections of the community are given a voice, “It’s about people identifying what programmes they want to make and us giving them the training and platform to be able to do that” says Mary. “Our role is to encourage people to become broadcasters and to give them that training and support to make their own radio programmes.”

It is a stubborn commitment to this ethos that has prevented the station from ever becoming commercially funded. “We have chosen

not to be a commercial station, not to take advertising because we don’t want to be driven by another objective...Finding advertising that sits with us ethically is always going to be difficult, we could take some but we would much rather do something which was socially useful and had community gain and social benefit.” The idea was almost unheard of ten years ago when, after a good deal of hard lobbying by Mary, the station was granted a full broadcasting licence. “We were very much seen as a trailblazer and we have been visited by loads and loads of different organisations over the years who want to come and see what we do and how we do it, which is very flattering.”

Their commitment is admirable given the difficulties facing social enterprises but BCB has an impressive track record when it comes to securing funding. “Most of the funding has not been as a radio station per se, it’s actually for the work we do in development and training… In the past we have had money from Europe and through government projects such as the Working Neighbourhoods Fund. We have actually fitted into a lot of policy objectives that governments have had, but of course they come and go so it’s about being ready for whatever the next one is.”

The nature of project funding means the station needs to be on its toes at all times. “Obviously we have a great premises and resources now, but we do have a lot of overheads. In this difficult economic period it is going to be a challenge for us to find the money to keep going. It’s about how we can be creative and inventive.”

BCB survives on a skeleton staff team who have to make sure the infrastructure is there and that the equipment is working, as well as being there to make sure everybody has the training and support they need. Thankfully they can call on the huge team of devoted volunteers; around 250 people are actively involved with the station. Mary admits managing that amount of people is hard but is full of praise for the dedication of everyone involved, “The commitment of our volunteers is absolutely incredible, they are very devoted to the station and thankfully there are very few occasions where people aren’t able to do what they want to do.”

The benefits for these volunteers are varied and rewarding, both for the individual and their communities. The station supports and encourages those looking to find work through various training projects and in some cases has been able to offer work experience.

“We have had three different projects where we have been able to employ teams of community reporters for a year. To give somebody a year’s training and work experience as a reporter is a massive thing in somebody’s life,” said Mary.

The organisation does a lot of work with schools and offers a unique opportunity for children to develop skills and engage with the wider community. Their youth radio projects have included exchanges with Germany, the creation of a dedicated online youth radio station and magazine - BCB Extra - and have delivered projects and accreditation with Bradford District Pupil Referral Unit, youth offending teams, and in youth and community centres across the district.

Just as importantly BCB gives each and every community the opportunity to engage with the rest of the city. “There have been a lot of different people come to live in Bradford, be they refugees, asylum seekers or migrant workers. What we can do is provide that welcome, and there are many people that have got involved with the station because they want to give something to the community...That might be a French-African refugee community, or the Czech and Slovak community, who broadcast to help people fit in to and understand the city.

There are other more established communities, such as the Ukrainians, who actually want to broadcast in English to share their community... One thing about BCB that we have often said is that it is ‘a city talking to itself’, increasing that dialogue and understanding of each other,” said Mary.

Not surprisingly Mary is incredibly passionate about Bradford and its people. She reflects how the city has changed since the early days of Festival Radio, “Physically the city has changed a lot and of course it has transformed demographically too, but in terms of what it means to be a Bradfordian…I don’t think that has changed a lot. I think an awful lot of people are very proud of being from Bradford. I think the spirit in Bradford is incredible, I really do. I think it is a really special place, it is very straightforward, has no airs and graces, tells it like it is and that puts a smile on my face.”

has never been more hunger for communication. We can talk to people all around the world and sometimes we forget to speak to people next door to us. BCB can be that conduit, that glue that brings people together and helps people understand each other’s stories and know each other’s stories. Keeping people connected in Bradford is something BCB always aspires to do.”

You can listen to BCB Radio live on 106.6fm, or online:

www.bcbradio.co.uk

Full listings are available on the website and keep a look out for our series of features on BCB’s shows, starting next month.

As for the future Mary believes the station will continue its quest to get Bradford talking to itself. “I think BCB has a real role in the city, I think we can play such a big role in people talking to each other. There has never been more communication and there

5

Bradford’s own radio station, BCB 106.6, celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year. Co-founder Rob Walsh takes us through the early days.

How to start a radio station? We hadn’t a clue – I’d been djing on PCR, a Bradford pirate station, as their token John Peel, and that was it. So, twenty years ago, we improvised.

We were on a radio skills course, learning how the government favoured the commercial pop-pap-and-prattle format and would only allow small stations a one month licence. We thought we could borrow a couple of tape recorders and hire a transmitter. What else do you need?

A one month licence? The light bulb went on over mine and Mary’s heads. We marshalled the course trainees and added a couple of reluctant radio professionals. A community radio station for Bradford? Why not?

The tipping point was deciding to focus the broadcast around the two week Bradford Festival.

Bradford Festival Radio? We asked Dusty Rhodes, keystone, lightning rod and inspiration for the Festival and many other Bradford events, for some money. He didn’t let us down.

We snowballed into a shambolically enthusiastic force, meeting in the Beehive’s back room. I handwrote and photocopied newsletters.

For the first broadcast in 1992 Nicholas Treadwell volunteered a room on the top floor of his Little Germany Art Mill, we sortof-soundproofed it with mattress ticking, stuck an aerial on the roof, and we were off, running on adrenalin and twelve hour days. Mary opened up the station, then I turned up around lunchtime and stayed till midnight. We gradually built up a staff team. Simon Ashberry, then music writer and general hack at the T&A, gave us lots of support in print.

The studios faced Ilkley Moor and the west, so we did sunset reviews in the late evening. Irna Qureshi did some great magazine programmes, bringing Asian and Bradford culture together, Mary focussed on speech programming, and I did an eclectic music show several evenings a week. Sometimes we were a bit rubbish, walking the wire in public and learning as we went. But it never descended to pop-pap-and-prattle.

Maybe my memory has erased that.

For the next two Festival Radio broadcasts we moved into the Wool Exchange, home to lots of Festival events, and broadcast from a room in the clock tower. Waterstones may have saved the Wool Exchange from neglect and disuse, but Bradford lost a good venue, with acts like the Bhundu Boys, Richard Thompson, Kirsty McColl, Kevin Coyne, fashion shows and acrobatics. We were upstairs, broadcasting on a shoestring and still unpaid.

One Wool Exchange broadcast saw us on medium wave, set up by a radio engineer who decided the MW transmitter should be on the roof of the Magistrates Court across town, with the aerial dipped in the pool outside. Medium wave eh? Other unorthodox MW solutions involved us covering Hustlergate in wet carpet to boost the signal. I don’t think we went for that one.

Then we geared up, with training grants and permanent premises. We called ourselves BCB, moved to Forster Square, set up a better studio, and started broadcasting via the transmitter tower at Wrose Hill.

Still month-long broadcasts, as the Radio Authority didn’t trust this newfangled community radio idea. Eventually, ten years ago, we managed to convince them that we were here to stay and could be trusted with a full time radio frequency.

Around this time I moved on, becoming press officer for Bradford Festival, then a communications freelance-cum--proofreadereditor, a career that sprang from that initial adrenalin radio buzz.

BCB 106.6 is still going strong, under Mary Dowson’s direction, with studios at Rawson Place, a focus for everything Bradford and a hive of activity, with scores of volunteers putting out a wide range of programming.

I do a music programme on Sunday nights, and every time I go in to BCB I’m incredibly proud of what we achieved. Mary, station manager Jonathan Pinfield, and all those volunteers made the station what it is today, and I was right behind that ball when it started rolling twenty years ago.

Rob Walsh

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artwork

The wool exchange; built 1867 Architects: lockwood & mawson of bradford Poem by Catherine McEwan

(Dúchas Gaelach Átha Leathan)

THE EARLY YEARS In 1850 over 10% of Bradford’s population was made up of native-born Irish people. The first significant groups of Irish people coming to settle in Bradford were hand-loom weavers, who brought their skills to be applied in the newly burgeoning textile industry of the district following the suppression of the Irish textile industry subsequent to the Act of Union in 1801.The Great Hunger in Ireland caused by potato blight in the 1840s saw a much larger influx of people from Ireland. As they came to the city they joined relatives already here in different districts of the city – the Nelson Street area, Wapping, Broomfield, Princeville.

These groupings were representative of migrants from different parts of Ireland. Those who managed to reach Bradford were poor, diseaseridden, malnourished and ill-educated. They were met with hostility at every level. They were considered to be potentially subversive, held in deep distrust and generally excluded from mainstream culture.

They suffered the indignities of reductive stereotyping and prejudicial discrimination. What sustained them was precisely the very thing that attracted such disdain on the part of many in the host community – their difference. What was it that made them different and distinctive?

Democratic League Clubs in Yorkshire and Lancashire. The Irish Democratic League Club was founded in Bradford adjacent to St Patrick’s Church.

Together with the John Dillon Club and the Michael Davitt Club in other parts of the city, the IDL as it was known became an established social centre for recreation and meetings.

In the first place their faith – they were Catholic. This was followed closely by their native cultural traditions; their music, songs, stories which together with their language afforded a means to express their identity as Irish. Led by Irish priests, they built churches and schools to serve their communities across the Bradford district. At one time in the 1860s, St Patrick’s Church in Westgate was looking for Irish-speaking priests to hear the confessions of those who had no English. Within a generation they were producing their own professional class – teachers, doctors, lawyers, etc. The pattern has been repeated many times since by other immigrants to the city.

With the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty that brought an end to British rule in 26 of Ireland’s counties, there was a shift of focus within the Irish community and a now serious engagement with the progression of Irish people within the English context took the place of Ireland’s domestic politics as a main concern.

At the beginning of the twentieth century then, the consolidation effort assumed major importance and with the establishment of the two grammar schools, St Joseph’s College and St Bede’s Grammar, the road to advancement was clear for numbers of second and third generation Irish people.

TRANSITIONS

HERE AND NOW

During the period of settlement in Bradford following the Great Hunger in Ireland, the Irish began to consolidate their presence and sought to achieve social and economic respectability. Through the education system they were able to provide for the next generation of Irish, born in the city and with little direct encounter with Ireland, the means of establishing themselves as citizens with a stake in the city and its growth.

Today, some 50,000 Bradford people can claim Irish ancestry. Many of the customs and practices handed down are still around, but are in danger of disappearing. There is still an element of the ‘plastic paddy’ syndrome here and there and the 30-year war in the north of Ireland did present difficulties for Irish people in Britain, but transcending that, some of us are now making the attempt to revive real traditions that are distinctively Irish.

Very soon their names began to appear in the roll-call of leaders in the Trade Union movement and eventually on the City Council. By the midtwentieth century the names of the Labour Party’s front bench at City Hall would read ike those that could be found in any Irish telephone book.

Culturally, the Irish were very active indeed. Not alone were they playing their native music, dancing their dances and singing their songs, but because they were for the most part Catholic, their presence as such was made evident in customs and practices associated with their faith.

The earliest Irish migrants to Bradford came from the Irish midlands that had been the location of Ireland’s native textile industry. Laois, Offaly, North Tipperary with towns like Mountmellick, Maryborough (Portlaoise), Roscrea and Birr providing Bradford with numbers of artisans whose skills found ready employment in the city and so it was for the later arrivals. But many of the men also sought employment in public works schemes and on construction sites; while numbers of women sought jobs in service.

Towards the second half of the nineteenth century the campaign for Home Rule and the Land League movement for a more equitable distribution of land took off in Ireland. These movements had their support among the Irish in Britain reflected in the development of social initiatives such as the

The celebration of St Patrick’s Day when we recall the great patron saint of Ireland responsible for winning the Irish people for Christianity, has always featured in the lives of the Irish. The old ‘Irish Quarter’ as it was once known bounded by Grattan Road, City Road, Sunbridge Road and Westgate has come alive with people on March 17th over the last few years.

It will we hope be even more populated this year on Saturday, March 17th.

Just now, an attempt is being made to re-assert Bradford’s Irish dimension. Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (Association of Irish Musicians) has had a branch in Bradford since 1988 and down the years at what is now the Irish Club, formerly the IDL, has taught musical instruments of the tradition and Irish set-dancing as well as the Irish language.

Without a break for the last ten years the weekly radio programme ‘Echoes of Ireland’ has been broadcast on BCB 106.6 FM and online and now entirely in Irish on the last weekend of the month. We carry on that cultural tradition handed down to us by our forebears and in turn hand it on to our children. Our roots in Bradford are nourished by the love of our heritage and in and through its unique cultural expression we gladly contribute to the richness of this great city.

Beannacht Dé ar Áth Leathan Joe Sheeran

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Douglas – What is your call for Joseph Brennan House?

Rita – So this is the plan and it is quite ambitious, but I always say to people ‘I don’t give a shit’ because I like to dream up stuff and then if it doesn’t happen at least the dream was big and then I can adjust to reality.

Sam – Bradford is a good place for dreamers.

Rita – Yes! So I want to do several things with this space. I have the back up from Point Blank and there is a little bit of money, and because arts graduates aren’t getting jobs, one of the things I want to do is make sure that every year Instant Dissidence offers a paid graduate internship in Bradford. To bring emerging artists to the city and to give them experience and a step up the ladder.

The other thing I want to do is to offer four fortnight-long residencies, in this space, paid. I want really interesting international and outside-the-region artists to come to Bradford because that will serve us well. If they are here we will develop.

It’s a completely selfish thing too.

RitaMarcalo is a hip, Portuguese, body-based performer; a choreographer and doctor of dance. She is tiny but fierce and full of good energy. Her performance company Instant Dissidence was Leeds-based, now they call Bradford their home.

Sam, Chemaine and Douglas, an unlikely bunch of performers, makers and doers who know this city, well went to meet the new girl, to have a look at her new space - an entire office block floor of Joseph Brennan House and to find out why she came to Bradford.

After showing us around the company’s unique home, with an almost panoramic view of our beautiful city, Rita showed off the rest of the entirely empty building. It was very easy for us to see and share a vision for this space.

Douglas – So why did you come to Bradford?

Rita – Residencies at Yorkshire Dance were no longer free. My thing has always been, if I get Arts Council funding I want the majority of that funding to go to the artist. I started looking at who could give me space for free. Theatre in the Mill could and since then I have never rehearsed at Yorkshire Dance.

A year ago I got approached by Point Blank Theatre. They were looking for an artist that could be the first they were gonna act as a producer for. They said ‘we like your work, we’d like to produce you; we have a space that we are running in Bradford; would you be interested?’

The minute they brought me here and I saw the space I felt like Bradford offered me this.. it wasn’t that I just dropped in, I already had a relationship with the city and with Theatre in the Mill, so it made complete sense.

Sam – That’s really good for us. To have artists moving into Bradford is really significant.

Rita - I have found that things are really open here, the people are really open. It’s been really easy for me to meet people, to talk about projects. Perhaps because the scene is smaller, perhaps because people want to make things happen and get something done.

It feels vibrant.

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Chemaine – I call it dancing in the ashes. Bradford died when the economy went.. I’m from Bradford.. I moved away as an artist. My entrance back.. it came through the Playhouse.

We were building something there. It motivated me to come back and work here.

Bradford is open because it died.

Rita – There are a group of people here who are making stuff happen.. and that feels really nice to be part of.

In order to attract people to do residencies in this space I have to offer money if I want people to come from other countries. I’d like to set up a pilot project. I work with a lot of people nationally and internationally and I know so many fucking amazing companies, but I know that if I say ‘Here’s a little bit of money, will you come to Bradford and run your amazing workshop on whatever it is you do in Croatia’, they would, and how amazing would that be for us?

And the other thing I want to do is this thing where I’m involved with philosophers, biologists, hackers, all sorts of people, and I want to run salons. It’s more than just about artists, it’s a yearlong programme of days and weekends where we say, ‘Let’s find out how we can extract our own DNA out of our skin cells using household items you can buy in the supermarket.’ Apparently it’s possible.

Rita – And I have a bee in a bonnet. The thing is, I’ve seen a lot of dance, I’ve seen a lot of art. I don’t want to see another dance work with some slightly different steps put together in a slightly different fucking way. I want to see something.. I don’t care if it’s a dance, if it’s a book, if it’s an experiment, something that is a new concept that is going to blow my mind. I don’t want to see just another dance because I’m bored of that.

Doug – so that’s painting, making, playing, doing, filming...

Rita – Anything! As a maker, I want to strive, I know I won’t always succeed, because most artists, if they come up with one new concept in their entire lives can count themselves lucky, so I know I won’t always succeed but that’s the challenge that I give myself.

I want to make a new concept, not just a different combination of the same steps. I want this space to become an ideas space; a concept space that could develop new collaborations.

Sam – You’ve come to the right city, Rita.

Rita – Yeah? I want to do it!

Sam – Well, it will happen then.

Rita – It will be all curated by me so it is specific in the sense that it will be work that I am interested in, a particular vision of work.

It’s not that I don’t think other visions are valid but I can’t do everything. So that’s the dream; it’s big and I’m going to call it ‘the dissident space’ so it’s a space where people can be dissident, slightly outside.

Chemaine – That’s how new performance will be found. What gets me is that when you try to do this in houses that exist already to serve this purpose you have to really bang on the door.

Rita – Because they have policies and a board you know, I mean the great thing about this is that you can just do it.

Chemaine – That’s the reason why the Playhouse exploded creatively because there wasn’t that glass ceiling. When I was in Newcastle I saw so many artists leave because they didn’t feel loved by the home that was meant to house them. So they left, myself included. That’s my rant.

Douglas – So lots of people ranting dissidently together?

Rita – Exactly!

Douglas – What fascinates me about this city is that it’s a melting pot. If you can get that group.. and get that group.. and pull down that wall.. and that wall; even though it’s Bradford it’s no different from Paris in the 1920s, New York in the 1960s, you’ve got to be romantic about it!

Rita – Yeah! Yeah! I joke around but when we first came here I was like, ‘My space is going to be like the Judson Church, I mean why the fuck not?’ This is what was happening in New York, it was just an abandoned loft.

Douglas –Why not reframe and re-envisage Bradford? Create a new frame and a new way of seeing. Jean McEwan is doing it with ‘Make ugly beautiful’.

Rita – People are going to be writing history books about this! – it was a FUCKING ugly building, with fucking ugly ceilings!

Sam – But is it the people or is it the place? It’s the people. The fact that you have a space here is crucial, but what it looks like is not important. We got spoilt when we had the Playhouse as our home, it was a spiritually powerful place, a beautiful temple. So for us to come to a place that was built 37 years ago with cold

clinical corners.. but it’s NOT what it looks like, it’s what you make happen in it.

Rita – It’s the people who come to it.

This is a big dream - Rita and her company are at home now with dreamers in a city that makes things happen. We have an invitation to explore, learn, play and make; the people of Bradford are the kind of people who can and do make ugly beautiful.

Sam Musgrave, Douglas Thompson, Chemaine Cooke.

To find out more please visit: www.pointblank.org.uk www.instantdissidence.co.uk theartfarmers.blogspot.com strawhousecreative.blogspot.com

Thornton is a well-kept secret above an occasional snow line; with a vibrant creative community scattered amongst the steps leading to the moors n’ reservoirs that quench the city of its thirst. There is an illusion of distance from Bradford and a mutual unbidden separation as if the hills are reserved for the fairy folk and the valley for us lowly toothless trolls. On its southern outskirts stands South Square Gallery; a courtyard of stonemasons’ cottages that houses several gallery spaces, a sculpture garden, vegetarian cafe and artist studios.

I’ve never been to South Square until last week. Strange; I wonder why there are so many invisible thresholds of unknowing we have to cross before we discover magical places like this gallery; or the Peace Museum; or the TreeHouse Cafe. What consuming devil makes it easier for us to waste time and money in a leviathan supermarket we’ve never been in before with its sterile plastic horrors scattered across acres of aisles than enter this friendly, human & truly magnificent grass routes arts space. Is it fear of the unknown? Are we so comfortable now in our anonymity and in our loneliness that we would rather perpetuate it by limping like zombies across concrete retail parks?

Get on the 607 at Sunbridge Road and it’s a straight line for twenty minutes. Step off at the stop just before the New Inn Pub and its ten yards up the road on your left; you could walk it if you were in the mood.

I met Patricia Calver and David Knowles who explained the history of the Gallery, that it was a grassroots exhibition space committed to providing a professional and supportive resource for artists and emerging curators. Patricia was particularly keen to impress that the gallery was unique in the amount of creative control and responsibility it fostered in emerging curators. It seems that unlike some larger galleries every curator on an internship will plan and execute their own show providing invaluable experience and a creative outlet

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to develop skills at a vital point in their professional development.

As a test bed for new ideas, the gallery hosts an ever evolving dialogue between artists and their audience. It’s refreshing to find a gallery so innovative and adventurous.

I remember on my only other visit to the gallery I discovered behind the door of a six inch box made by artist Heide Harding, lay a real human mouth whispering tales through a small hole in the wall. Apparently a performer had waited there all day in a cupboard concealed behind a wall for the moment I would open up the box.

The Square also incorporates a print workshop, studios for a number of artists, a community space, a print studio, a fine art framer who’s put wood around Hockneys and Hirsts, a craft shop and a vegetarian cafe. It’s been on the go since 1985 and retains a youthful energy. A contemporary gallery space with a holistic approach to education. In fact I was very impressed by the combination of contemporary art gallery and friendly community education workshop space. The centre is providing a real service for raising attainment and engagement through the creative arts for its local schools, its interns, and the community and if you take my advice and get on the 607 it’ll learn you too.

This month the gallery becomes a project space for work in progress by the next generation of artists. MA students of Bradford School of Art and Media, in collaboration with South Square Gallery, pause to take stock of their work in progress. Demonstrating the rich diversity of their cultural sources and imaginative interpretation there will be experimental video, collaborative painting, digital print, textile and sculptural ceramics on display.

The Gallery is open from 11:30 - 3pm Tuesday - Saturday & 12 - 3pm Sunday. http://www.southsquarecentre.co.uk Douglas Thompson

Sarah Read, Deputy Director of Impressions Gallery

perch we can offer you an unparalleled view across City Park and

For the last two years I have sporadically watched the evolution that lies immediately at the door of Impressions Gallery in Centenary Square. Spread out over 700 days this progression has often felt subtle, and as the drilling drifted into background noise the change became almost furtive.

Centenary Square. The gallery’s slogan is ‘photography that gets you looking, thinking and talking’ and on the occasion of the launch of the City Park we’d like to invite you to ‘look, think and do’ and join us to build a collection of photographs that show how the people of Bradford see their newly reformed public space.

Come 2012 as fencing is removed, water flows and lights are switched on, I am pulled from my state of indifference and drawn to observe again. Whether or not you wholeheartedly agree with the level of investment or outcome of this scheme, the change in the area’s use over the last few weeks is palpable.

I’d be lying to say I hadn’t felt pleased to see people lingering instead of charging through the square and child after child eager to hurl themselves into jets of icy water.

You can upload your photograph onto the Flickr pool: http://www.flickr.com/groups/citypark_bradford or post to us on Twitter @impgalleryphoto using #CityParkBradford

Perhaps you’ve not yet had the knowledge or inclination to visit Impressions, but to the uninitiated we are a free public gallery showing the best of today’s photographers, and I might add from our first floor

The international photography students based at Bradford College are coming together to create a fantastic exhibition across two locations in the city. This month Lister’s Mill and the City Hall will play host to a display of 60 pieces of work from the first year students. The theme? Positive Bradford! It is sure to be uplifting and of a high standard if the past exhibitions by the college’s students are anything to go by.

Choosing Lister’s Mill as a space to exhibit is somewhat brave, being a couple of miles out of the city centre, but may well be a wise choice. At its peak it was the largest silk factory in the world and in recent years it has become increasingly popular for artists alike, with their dedicated and modern exhibition space. The choice of the Grand Staircase is one that should be fitting as it will bring to life memories of years past and evoke a sense of nostalgia for some of the more mature visitors, bringing Bradford’s history into the mix with its current.

The exhibition will run from the 1st until 31st March with the opening event being the 8th March for City Hall and *** for Lister’s Mill.

Some pieces will be on sale and proceeds will be donated to Marie Curie Cancer Trust and Bradford Teaching Hospitals.

Chris Scott

During the official launch of City Park on 24 March 2012 we’ll be screening as many of these images as possible on the Big Screen (conveniently attached to the side of our building) and partnering up with Yorkshire photography group Exposure Leeds to lead a photowalk seeking out the many different viewpoints of City Park. Photographers of all levels are welcome, simply turn up to Impressions at 3pm with anything that takes a picture and get snapping. Find out more at http:// impressions-gallery.com

Zines and Radical Self-Publishing

by Rachel Kaye Got something to say? Want to see your words in print but know no one is ever going to bankroll you? Zines might be your medium.

Zines are self-published booklets of writing and artwork, usually produced in low numbers, made for love not money. They cover a massive range of subjects but are generally bound together by passion; the kind of passion that makes you do something which is laborious and time consuming for very little external validation.

Many point to the influx which came from punk in the 70s and claim that Sniffin’ Glue was the first, but as Stephen Duncombe points out you can trace the roots of self-publishing all the way back to Thomas Paine and the pamphleteers of the 18th century. Zines have a rich history which takes in Situationalist International, beat poets, science fiction stories produced on mimeograph machines, football fans, riot grrrls, music aficionados, comic book artists and housewives writing about Buffy. The list goes on.

Zines are often situated within DIY (Do It Yourself) Culture, the ethos of “looking at something and saying ‘I can do that!’ rather than waiting for someone to do it for you. It is about taking back control from corporate consumer influence, telling your own story and creating things on your own terms. It is about learning new skills and integrating them into your every day life” - Alex Wrekk (Stolen Sharpie Revolution) Zines generally have low production values, no editorial line and no censorship. As a result of this the quality can vary wildly. Reading and buying zines often epitomises the phrase ‘pot luck’, but for every throwaway publication there’s another you’ll treasure for ever, with the words, stories and artwork of people you won’t find in any other type of printed publication. If you’re stuck on where to start get a zinester to give you recommendations (but beware that they’ll often rant on the subject for hours on end).

My personal tips include Doris, Colouring Outside the Lines, Race Revolt and King Cat Comics.

Zines in a digital era For many the blog has overtaken the zine; instant rather than near instant, free rather than very cheap, blogs have the potential to reach networks of thousands rather than hundreds. They don’t go out of print and can be archived (fairly) easily. And yet people continue to make zines. As more of our life centres around ‘screen time’ people are beginning to react by treasuring physical objects.

Picking up a zine instantly ties you in with a subcultural history and the recent upsurge in zine fayres and libraries shows there is still a demand for the format. Perhaps the future of zines exists as art objects rather than political manifestos, or maybe it’ll be a collision of the two.

If you want to find out more about zines why not head over to Loosely Bound’s Zine Extravaganza – Saturday 24th March 2012, 10am – 4pm. Taking place in the former Zavvi store, 1 Tyrell St, Bradford, BD1 1RU There will be stalls, workshops, performances, and much more.

The event coincides with the official opening of Bradford’s City Park.

Loosely Bound are a raggle-taggle bunch who make zines collectively and individually in and around Bradford, UK.

Zine resources and further reading Want to make one?

If you want to make your own zine you could do a lot worse than checking out Stolen Sharpie Revolution by Alex Wrekk – A DIY resource for zines and zine culture.

Online A good place to start is We Make Zines (www.wemakezines.ning. com) an online community of zine makers and zine readers UK Distros - (distributors who stock and sell a range of zines). Look up Vampire Sushi, Mole Hole Distro, Jeez Louise, Princesa Pirata, Pushpin zines, Dead Trees and Dye, all sell online or put zines into Etsy and have a look at what comes up.

Local resources The 1in12 Club One of the most comprehensive zine libraries in the UK. This completely unique resource should not be overlooked.

The Print Project Based at the 1in12 Club, Bradford they aim is to keep the skill and art of letterpress alive by producing work which is incredible to read, feel and touch. Their work is centred around an Arab, a Peerless No. 2 Platen and a massive Soldan Proof Press all of which have been powered by hand, foot and eye for over one hundred years.

Rachel Kaye Writer of zines Toast and Jam (collected stories of surviving eating disorders) and Footsteps in the Dark (a long-running per-zine project). Contributor to Reassess your weapons (a collaborative zine coming out of the Leeds queer/feminist community Manifesta) and The World’s a Mess and You’re My Only Cure (an interview and submission based zine focusing on positive workings, role models and paying homage to inspirations and motivations within DIY culture).

NZA: CALL FOR STALLHOLDERS LOOSELY BOUND’S ZINE EXTRAVAGA Saturday 24th March 2012, 10am-4pm

zine Loosely Bound, a Bradford-based is a Bradford zine fair run by the Loosely Bound’s Zine Extravaganza ic. an artist dinner hosted at Fabr ford’ new collective founded in late 2011 at new arts space ‘Hand Made in Brad launch event for Fabric’s brand the be will anza The Zine Extravag ral Bradford.

Fabric arts space, 1 Tyrell St in cent s, workshops, performances, be a celebratory day of zine stall will anza avag Extr Loosely Bound’s Zine und.org/ lybo oose e. To find out more visit http://l refreshments and and much mor

“A Print Festival? What’s that, some kind of weird fetish event?”

LPF2012, running at The Leeds Gallery, was an intelligently curated programme of events running over four days bringing together small printers, designers and makers, to celebrate print media. It was an exciting and thought-provoking weekend, and, hopefully the first of many. The gallery, a new commercial art space, is sited in a growing cultural quarter which includes Cafe 164, The West Yorkshire Playhouse, Duke Street Studios, and ethical music venue Wharf Chambers, in the Lower Kirkgate area.

For us the weekend started with Friday night’s opening party. Chris Lestaret, whose live demo stall was set up under Mick Marston’s gory silk-screened images of kittens in a bathtub beheading other kittens with a saw, was helping all-comers get stuck into making their own lino cuttings, and we were at the next table with our 8x5 Adana printing press.

Both stalls were incredibly popular. Drinks sloshed around in glasses while members of the increasingly boozy crowd did their best to run our press one-handed (not recommended, by the way). “It’s like getting a present!” one woman said joyfully, as she lifted her “I Printed This!” card out of the machine.

The words “Print’s not Dead” were buzzing around all weekend, especially at Saturday’s print fair. A variety of stalls showed the wide-ranging possibilities of print, from cute typewriter drawings to representations of time and space in book form. In one corner, the Salford Zine Library stall showed what happens when people print for love. Curator Craig John Barr had brought zines covering subjects from the effect of social networking on mental health, to menstruation, to bike riding, showing the truly egalitarian nature of this form of publishing.

Sunday was a more relaxed affair with talks from two designers and a printer. Generation Press from Brighton showed how it’s possible to run an ecologically-sound printing business, whilst producing a range of high-quality printed items, bringing to mind our friends at Leeds’ Footprint Workers Co-op. Later Si Scott explained how he produces his intricate hand-drawn type treatments, (which are nothing short of mindblowing). Anthony Burrill’s witty work is produced through a variety of different media, from the humble photocopier to giant letterpress wood blocks. His screenprinted ‘oil and water do not mix’ poster was printed using actual oil from the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill – an example of how a simple poster and a pro-active process can raise awareness of global issues.

If LPF2012 did one thing, it showed that print is still very much alive and constantly being redefined and reused in ever exciting ways. From five year old kids printing on an ‘outmoded’ Adana letterpress to retired compositors re-visiting the changes they’ve witnessed in the printing industry, LPF2012 put smiles on people’s faces and, we’d like to think, inspired them into picking up the ‘printing glove’ to produce their own printed matter. Hats off to the LPF2012 team for taking the first step in what we hope will be an ongoing celebration of creativity for the region.

The Print Project, Bradford www.theprintproject.co.uk Photographs: Ricky Adam www.rickyadamphoto.com www.leedsprintfestival.com

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16th February 2012, Treehouse Cafe / JB Priestley Library / 1-in-12 Club We start this night of library-bound storytelling downstairs at the Treehous e Cafe with Garfunkel and Simon, the stage name of singer-songwriter Patrick Dowson.

He charms attendees with sweet and ramshackle songs about Peter Crouch, personal insecurities and Question Time, and ends his too-short set with “Born In The BRI”, an ode to viewing Bradford in the same way that American songwrite rs view their own homeland – as a inspiring place, whether wonderful or awful.

The décor at the Treehouse puts me somewhat in mind of a nursery, though as we find out, not all the acts on tonight are suitable for children. Like Garfunke l and Simon, Captain Hotknives isn’t afraid to steal a popular tune, whether originally by Bob Marley or The Village People. His songs are full of confronta tion and controversy, nevertheless he is (almost) always ultimately good-hearted and even moral in his way, and of course very funny in places. The highlight of his set is “I Hate Babies”.

Then we are led to to the university and the JB Priestley Library. It is lamentab ly rather distracting to have a steady stream of uninterested students amble their way in and out of the wipe-clean library foyer during the otherwise excellent set by Stephanie Hladowski and Kirtsie Penman. I find myself noticing someone ’s strange gait, or attractive jacket, and all of a sudden I’ve lost my place in the narrative.

Stephanie and Kirtsie alternate songs for one long set, and both focus on traditional ballads and sea-shanties. There are many moments of real beauty from both, and the fact that they complete a set, a cappella and in such an alien environment for traditional music, in nothing short of heroic in itself.

After many tales of love, suffering and mortality we have managed to convert a few of the students and librarians, and Stephanie leaves us with a Bulgarian wedding / fertility song.

Then to the top floor of the 1-in-12 Club, and The Housekeeping Society.

A three-piece with a lot of song-craft skill and an agreeably earnest dedicatio n to storytelling, unfortunately on first listen they strike me as a little bit too safe, too contented perhaps, to really transcend. A little bit too Crowded House, or even post-comeback Take That. But I’m willing to believe that listeners with less of a craving for chaos would find a lot to commend and enjoy in their songs, including the admittedly pretty good “Seaside Mystery Man”.

Certainly my cravings for chaos are more than satisfied by the final act of the night, Vialka. A wild and charismatic boy / girl duo, mixing art-song and nursery rhyme, beautifully brutish and shambolic. Fans of Faun Fables, Dresden Dolls, Agent Ribbons might have a lick of a sliver of a clue what they were like, I guess, though they were freer and less showy than the above. They even had the punchline of the night, in “Potatoes!”, though I guess you would have to have been there.

Michael Metcalfe

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@ Bradford’s Theatre in the Mill.

Once again Ellie reached out to her audience in search of a cuddle.

News of Princess Diana’s untimely death shocked the world.

But perhaps what shocked some of us even more was the outpouring of public grief that followed. Brits, famous for their ‘stiff upper lip’ mentality, suddenly huddled together in streets, openly crying, visibly upset. What was going on?

Artist/performer Ellie Harrison explores the theme perfectly through her performance ‘Etiquette of Grief’ (shown at the Bradford University’s Theatre in the Mill). The one-woman show is part of a series, looking at the seven stages of grief.

I arrived at the performance slightly unconvinced by the title of the production, concerned it was going to be terribly morose.

What I encountered was a highly amusing, thoughtful and insightful performance.Ellie set herself up at a podium, as someone in mourning - mourning the loss of Princess Diana.

The audience was very much involved in the show - something I would usually balk at.

But as the production progressed it became apparent that the audience reaction was an important aspect of the show. To start with the mood in the theatre was jocular with Ellie reaching out to members of the audience for a hug to support her in her grief.

The response was warm and friendly - the cuddle easily won.

Content with the response, Ellie then cleverly used a ‘live’ feed from a grief counsellor (played by herself) to talk her through coping strategies for dealing with the loss of a loved one. The result was often hilarious. On giving advice on how to handle sharing the news of a loss with friends and family she happily advised; “Do not refer to your loved one as dead, it’s too blunt. Instead use phrases like ‘late’ ‘passed away’ ‘no longer with us’.”

“People may want to give you a hug - always make sure to carry mints and deodorant.” “If you are giving away your loved one’s clothes to charity - don’t take it to your local shop. You don’t want to see a display of their clothing in the local shop window.”

The entire performance was very tongue-in-cheek and the audience couldn’t help but giggle furiously at the absurdity of it all. This was, after all, about public grief - it was about all those who gather together in crowds openly weeping and crying to mourn the loss of some powerful public figure.

But underneath the hilarity there was something else, a darker, more uncomfortable emotion creeping in which was the genius in Ellie’s work. For as we laughed and giggled at the grief counsellor’s glib advice on how to deal with loss, she gradually began to unravel before our eyes, overdosing on a powerful cocktail of alcohol and drugs. She left behind a suicide note detailing her motives which left Ellie (in character) truly upset.

But this time the grief felt a lot more personal and with the more sombre mood came reluctance, the cuddle not so easily won.

I can’t have been the only person to feel it -it literally coiled inside of me - personal grief felt so much more uncomfortable than public grief and yet which would realistically require more support? It was then that the absurdity of the counsellor’s glib advice really hit home – her dos and don’ts really were the do’s and don’ts expected of someone who is grieviGrief is a difficult emotion and perhaps the most overwhelming aspect of it is the fact that it is a pain that cannot realistically be shared - even with our closest relatives. It feels lonely, frightening and incredibly powerful. In times of personal grief we can’t just break down in the middle of a street, wailing and crying, waving candles and holding vigils. We don’t throw our arms round strangers and gather together in crowds. Instead we suffer, usually in silence - not because of our strength but because our grief is distinctly too uncomfortable for others to bear.

Etiquette of Grief is supported by Arts Council England, University of Leeds through Incubator, Theatre in the Mill and Leeds Met Gallery & Studio Theatre.

For those who missed the Bradford show, Ellie will be performing at Harrogate Theatre on April 27. This is a show that will stay with you long after the curtains close. My advice? Go and see for yourself you won’t be disappointed.

Etiquette of Grief – Harrogate Theatre, April 27.

INFO & TICKETS : www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk WRITTEN BY ANDREA HARDAKER PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALAN CARMICHEAL

17th March

On the Kala Sangam South Asian Arts Centre are celebrating their re-launch with a bumper day of free workshops. The organization, based in the historic St Peters House, Forster Square is now an accredited ‘National Asian Arts Centre’ and has recently completed a significant extension which incorporates new space for performances, rehearsals, conferences, film screenings, arts workshops, exhibitions, and educational activities.

Entry is free and the public will be able to take part in all kinds of activities, including belly dancing, face painting, storytelling and salsa. Helen Robinson said, “The launch is our most significant event for years. It is not only a special event for us, it signals the opening up of a huge new space for the whole of the Bradford artistic community to use.”

The event runs from 10am to 4pm with

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21

ART, THEATRE AND MUSIC

andrewhollandphotography.co.uk

www.

from the University of Bradford Thursday 8th and Friday 9th March, 7.30pm

Freedom Studios – Snapshots at Theatre in the Mill Four snapshots of work from some of the most exciting emerging artists in the country. Work in progress pieces Friday 16th and Saturday 17th March, 7.30pm

Northern Bullits – Six Shooter at Theatre in the Mill Six writers have been loaded into Northern Bullits’ latest new writing development scheme and have created six unique fifteen-minute plays to be fired out as rehearsed readings for an evening of entertainment.

Friday 23rd March, 7.30pm

Word Life vs How Do Magazine at The Polish Club Word Life teams up with new Bradford based arts magazine ‘How Do’ to bring you some of the best spoken word and music acts from the area and beyond.

Followed by Duration/Immersion (Mick Flower, Inca Eyeball) (9pm start) Entry: £5/£4

Active Stillness Claire McNamee Gallery II | University of Bradford 16th March – 11th May 2012 Exhibition launch 15th March 2012, 5 – 7pm Active Stillness has developed from a piece of work originally commissioned by the Quakers to create a series of images that could communicate their spiritual practice

Blur 2 | Jez Coram 8th and 9th March 2012, 11am – 7pm | Gallery II 3D Projection Installation ‘Work in Progress’ Immerse yourself in a moving image and soundscape environment.

Box office: 01274 233200 theatre@bradford.ac.uk

Email: andy@andrewhollandphotography.co.uk Tel: 07989437920

Nomes No Pants

Candy Absorption

Chris Duckworth

Dionne Hood

Sam Dakin Dionne Hood

In the February issue featured artist Jean McEwan invited readers to send an image featuring the words “make ugly beautiful”. Here are the responses she received.

To see more about the “make ugly beautiful project” visit Jean’s website at www.jeanmcewan.com

Strawbleu

Douglas Thompson

Hanifa Umar

Martin Heron Fran McFarlane

Devyani Lamba Laura Keller

Rachel Ward Laura Keller

Si Leng Fung Robert Hope

23 23

Welcome, dears, to this month’s section.

I can barely contain myself when I say: welcome to Brontëworld, as done by HowDo?! You will find an interview with Ann Dinsdale, Collections Manager at Haworth Parsonage. There is also a poetical triptych

by Gwen Greenwood, whose submission was very timely. In itself, it illustrates how relevant and inspiring the Brontës still are. In addition, there are poems from the fiercely uncompromising Emily Brontë herself in both handwritten and typed form, the latter so that the gloriously wild images can be easily read, the better to leap off the page and into the heart.

Our March theme is DIY and grassroots culture. You may be aware that as children the Brontës effectively made their own ‘zines – tiny, handwritten books made in immaculate detail, in which they chronicled their imaginary worlds. When I think of the theme in relation to my pages, immediately the famous quote from the punk fanzine ‘Sideburns’ springs to mind. Someone drew three chords and then wrote: “This is a chord, this is another, this is a third. Now form a band”. Except that applicable here would be, “This is a word, this is a second, this is a third. That’s a poem. Now write another”.

Something else comes up, too, in relation to the whole issue of DIY: the precariousness, or outright collapse, of what were previously considered safe but boring options: jobs, mortgages, salaries. This time, society’s tectonic plates appear to have shifted in a way deeper than just economic boom and bust. Hellish and disorientating it doubtless is for millions, and that is awful beyond measure. But, on another level, could these events be a worn-out seed case cracking open and falling to pieces, in order for a beautiful lotus flower of something different to emerge? Poison into medicine. Base metal into gold. It can be done and, what’s more, it can be done by you, in your own unique way.

Thank you to all those who have taken the time and trouble to submit pieces. Anyone can submit a poem, prose piece or short story (around 1000-1500 words) to jane@howdomagazine.co.uk.

Jane Steele

Wuthering Heights 1 The scent of wet grass And the bleak grey sky stretching out for eternity, The harsh and unchanging stone.

The brush of your filthy hand against mine, Our fierce embrace And the kisses that clung to your lips Like dirt.

Speak to me now, All I will hear is the roar of the wind in my ears.

How I wish it would tear me apart.

Once I clung to the skin of this world just for you, Now I die filled with spite, Now I pray that you mourn till the earth turns to ash.

2 You taught me to worship the ground under me, To taste life and death In the air and to scream at the hills Without making a sound.

Now I hold you in the palm of my hand, As small as the egg of the last dying bird.

I cradle you desperately, And my embrace will break every last Bone in your body.

3 The landscape still breathes, Vast and unchanging, Still made of stone.

The black rocks glisten, The grey sky aches with the burden of rain And the wind tears through the land, Quite unperturbed at the loss Of two hatless savages Racing each other To the ends of The earth.

Gwen Greenwood

You were the wind that tore at my flesh, The rocks that broke me when I fell And the rain drops that clung to my skin.

I couldn’t shake off the filth of you.

Beehive Poets l be something rd 0 p.m. every Monday there wil Beehive Pub, Westgate, Bradfo 8.3 at up n tur you if but , of compilation Details not available at time poetical going on. wordfeast.org.uk venues, details at www.otley s iou Var ch.

Mar e great-sounding h 10t & 9th up of poets in Otley. They hav ‘Otley Word Feast’ gro a by ed ept inc rd wo ken ng to Do!” tten and spo oping Characters’ ‘A Stupid Thi A new celebration of the wri vel ‘De ’, am Dre r you e ‘Liv : nt, including workshops on during this eve ting Breakfast’. ours) and a ‘Kickstart your Wri not rk, ma n (their exclamatio umns’ ng Men and Interwar Advice Col ‘Writing, Asking, Advising: You Melanie Tebbutt.

14th March, 4.15p.m. pus, Leeds LS1 3HE. Speaker: Cam y Cit , sity ver Uni an olit ds Metrop of hidden history to it.

Broadcasting Place, AG03, Lee ning: it has an intriguing feel ntio me rth wo ll we but , this An unusual one, Spoken Word Wordlife –v- Howdo: Music and tion between us and 24th March, 7.30 p.m. and an open mic. A collabora ans sici mu ts, Poe .

0BH BD5 Street, The Polish Club, 19-23 Edmund d.

‘Now Then’. First one of its kin ld, ffie She in ine our sister magaz ause most events this events section. That’s bec in ed lud inc er nev is t cos that the is the criterion You may have observed by now tle of wine. Value, not price, bot ap che a or ts pin of ple e as a cou are either free or cost the sam here.

Jane Steele

25

Interview with Ann Dinsdale, Collections Manager at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

JS: They were all years ahead of their time. I think the Brontës haewd what you could call a punk rock ethic. In the Seventies you had your Led Zeppelins blown out of the water by bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees. Similarly, in the Brontës’ day you had Robert Southey telling Charlotte Bronte not to write and she does it anyway, even though Southey is one of her heroes.

AD: And of course the books were considered scandalous in their time, which ties in with the punk thing. They were deemed “coarse”, “unchristian”, “unchaste”. It’s hard to find any morality in ‘Wuthering Heights’, for example.

JS: Agreed in relation to ‘Wuthering Heights”, but I find ‘Jane Eyre’ to be an extremely moral book. The moral is “just be yourself”.

AD: But it wasn’t a morality that was common currency at the time.

It was unique to her. Also, the religious people were not portrayed in a very good light.

JS: Yes – there was St John Rivers, the cold clergyman who she refuses to marry because she could not “endure all the forms of love” with him. For a woman to say that explicitly then must have been very shocking.

AD: There was also Brocklehurst, the headmaster of Lowood school which Jane attends as a child, with his obsession with infant mortality... The religious figures are often portrayed as very sinister.

JS: You spoke earlier about the Brontës’ father Patrick’s experience of coming to England from Northern Ireland - the poverty, education as an escape route and the children benefitting from that struggle. That calls to mind the experience of a lot of Asian families coming to Bradford.

What is your view on the Brontës as immigrant Bradfordians?

AD:- It wasn’t as simple as that. They were Celtic, their mother Maria was Cornish, their father was Irish. They were outsiders in Haworth, they were always considered a bit odd. Then Charlotte and Anne went away to be governesses, where they lived in but were looked down on because they had no money, but they couldn’t relate to the servants either because they were middle class and educated.

JS: Though such experiences must have been very unhappy on a lot of levels, as writers it certainly gave them plenty of scope for observing, for looking on.

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AD: Jane Eyre is always observing, isn’t she? She’s in the window seat, she’s watching what’s going on.

JS: I’m very interested in the African-Caribbean presence in the Brontë novels. Bertha Mason, the woman imprisoned in the attic in ‘Jane Eyre’, comes from the Caribbean and is depicted as having “a quantity of dark, grizzled hair”. I think she was mixed race – what are your thoughts?

AD: I think it’s quite clear. There’s also Heathcliff in ‘Wuthering Heights’, who is described as a “Lascar”, which at the time meant Indian. And then of course he was found on the streets of Liverpool, with its connection to slavery.

JS: What’s your take on Emily’s poetry in relation to the novels?

AD:- Emily’s poetry was very powerful. It was of mixed quality, but she was definitely the poet of the family. When the poems were published in 1846 Emily’s were singled out for particular praise.

I think the poetry is of a piece with ‘Wuthering Heights’. I also think Branwell was quite a talented poet. He was the first to get his poetry published. The poetry had an impact on the novels, especially ‘Wuthering Heights’. It has been likened to Shakespeare.

That style starts from Emily being a poet.

Interview by Jane Steel

JS: If all four siblings were alive today, what would you ask them?

AD: Anne’s last letter contained a reference to the many ‘plans and schemes’ that were in her head. I’d like to ask her about those. Emily I’d ask, Did you have a boyfriend?? Was there a second novel? There aren’t as many questions to ask Charlotte because there’s a lot of information available; I’d ask her about her ongoing works. Branwell’s question would be: where did it all go wrong?

JS: How would you encourage people to connect with them?

AD: Read the novels and walk on the moors. That’s how to really enter into their creativity. *This quote comes from Robert Southey, a literary predecessor of Charlotte Bronte’s who, when she wrote to him as a twenty year old, replied: “Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life, and it ought not to be. The more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure will she have for it, even as an accomplishment and a recreation.”

Interview by Jane Steele Emily’s Brontë’s hand-written works are reproduced here by kind permission.

High waving heather ‘neath stormy blasts bending

High waving heather ‘neath stormy blasts bending, Midnight and moonlight and bright shining stars, Darkness and glory rejoicingly blending, Earth rising to heaven and heaven descending, Man’s spirit away from its drear dungeon sending, Bursting the fetters and breaking the bars.

All down the mountain sides wild forests lending One mighty voice to the life-giving wind, Rivers their banks in their jubilee rending, Fast through the valleys a reckless course wending, Wider and deeper their waters extending, Leaving a desolate desert behind.

Shining and lowering and swelling and dying, Changing forever from midnight to noon; Roaring like thunder, like soft music sighing, Shadows on shadows advancing and flying, Lightning-bright flashes the deep gloom defying, Coming as swiftly and fading as soon.

Emily Jane Brontë

artwork double spread

Bradford Beck

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to see more visit: www.jeanmcewan.com designed by: DOminic Sheard

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Take a walk out of Bradford, along Manningham Lane, past Connaught House and the two sleepy lions. Just after the takeaway with the “Police line do not cross - contains addictive burgers” tape in the window, there is an unadopted setted street leading downhill. Halfway down, opposite a thriving school, there’s a house full of people who have an unorthodox relationship with their landlord - they can see him or her in the mirror. In fact, in most of the ways that matter, these skint young types own their own house - after a one-off payment of £1 and a rent of £45/week including bills. This house is a housing co-operative.

Staggeringly, worldwide the co-operative movement has about a billion members, three times as many people as own shares. Obviously it can work very well in a variety of countries and situations.

You need a deposit, members, some rules, some meat and a financial plan, but no clothes. Then you can get a mortgage and buy a house. The mortgage is paid by income from the rents.

There are other types of housing co-op that let the members buy or sell their share at market value or at a fixed rate, for those who fancy that and have the available cash. This can help with the expectation some folk have that your house should be getting more expensive and making money for you while you sit on your arse and do nowt.

Below are some resources to help you crawl out of the situation you may be in, where you’re paying a large rent to fund someone else’s skiing holiday.

Sam Lawrence www.radicalroutes.org.uk - a network of radical co-ops with good info on setting up a co-op. www.squatter.org.uk - practical advice for squatters and homeless people, including a legal section 6 notice to print. www.facebook.com/pages/Branches-Housing-Cooperative/75569787279 - Branches Housing Co-op The Hive Housing Co-op: 16 Spring Gardens, Manningham, BD1 3EJ.

Forming or joining a housing co-op is an excellent way to take control of your own housing without being answerable to a dodgy landlord/lady. You can literally DIY without asking - paint your room, put some shelves up, re-plumb the kitchen. With the agreement of your fellow members you can tackle large projects like installing solar hot water, or wood burning central heating, or carving a large statue of Ronaldo in the garden. Your usual landlord/lady probably ain’t gonna let you do that. Rent is cheap and set by the members, and you can plant fruit bushes in the front garden and apples in the back, and make jam and pie.

The most frequent question you are likely to be asked if you live in such a place, is “what’s the catch?” followed by “yeah, but there must be a catch”. There is no catch. Of course there are all the stresses of living with others, but no different to any shared house. There is a certain amount of work that needs to be shared out - keeping on top of the financial tasks, sharing out maintenance, going to meetings of the co-operative network - can be fun actually, honest - attending house meetings. All this can give a lot of satisfaction - at least some of the time.

There are two housing co-ops operating in Bradford, Branches and the Hive. Branches are in the process of buying a house, while the Hive has owned a house for well over a decade. Both these housing co-ops are members of Radical Routes - an association of radical co-ops - which means that members should be committed to radical social change, and shouldn’t keep pigs in the back garden to sell for bacon. Eating ham in your own room is fine in the Hive, in Branches you get brutally lynched by the vegan police. There are lots of UK housing co-ops that impose no (or different) restrictions on their members - why not set up a meaty nudist co-op in Bradford?

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‘Bradford’s Best Kept Secret’

A contemporary dining experience in relaxed and elegant surroundings. Our food has many influences and stays true to our principles of good quality, taste and presentation. Whether a romantic dinner for two, a birthday celebration or a night out with friends, we have a menu to suit.

March Dinner Menu Monday-ThurSday* 2 courses £10 * 3 courses £12.50 Friday & SaTurday* 2 courses £12 * 3 courses £14

or Book our Dine in Style PackaGe Monday – ThurSday £15 * Friday & SaTurday £17.50 You Will Receive* A choice of drink on arrival 3 x Courses from the menu £5 Gaming chip to play with in the casino *T’s & C’s Apply Menus Dishes And Prices May Be Subject To Change Without Prior Notice

StarterS

Cream of chicken & leek soup Pressed ham hock terrine, piccalilli & crusty bread Napoleons classic prawn cocktail, Marie Rose sauce & little gea (£1.95 supplement) Duo of melon, mango coulis & fruit sorbet Creamed garlic mushrooms on toasted bloomer glazed with smoked cheese Thai spiced fish goujons, tomato, coriander & sesame salsa

MainS

Roast breast of chicken, Cumberland sausage ‘toad in the hole’, sage & onion gravy Sirloin steak, lyonnaise potatoes, blue stilton fondue & red wine sauce Escalope of salmon, buttered spinach & crayfish sauce Roast rump of lamb, olive oil mash, smoked bacon, pea & baby onion jus Slow roast belly pork, maple roast pears & star anise jus Tomato & asparagus risotto, mozzarella & pesto

FroM the Grill

Grills served with slow roast tomatoes, button mushrooms and hand cut chips Fillet steak (£5 supplement) Salmon All main courses served with a selection of vegetables & potatoes

DeSSertS Sticky toffee & banana pudding, butterscotch sauce & vanilla ice cream Dark chocolate terrine, marinated cherries & chocolate sauce Almond crème brûlée, apple & plum compote A selection of cheese, celery, fruit & biscuits

www.gambleaware.co.uk Strictly over 18’s only

OILDOWN RECIPE Here is a way you can use the delicious breadfruit available at John Street Market. Oildown is the national dish of Grenada in the Caribbean.

The first recipe contains a hair-raising amount of coconut milk and a hot pepper, so in keeping with the theme of this month’s magazine and for health reasons I have also included a lighter, DIY version. (Other recipes also include meat and many differen t ingredients. I imagine there are as many versions as there are families).

Full Fat

1 large breadfruit 2 tsp. thyme Half a cup chopped pimentos (mini peppers) Half a cup chopped chives 4 cups of coconut milk 1 whole hot pepper (Scotch Bonnet or similar) Salt and pepper to taste.

Method 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Cut breadfruit lengthways into 8 slices, take the hard skin off the outside and cut the flesh into chunks.

Place in a saucepan with salt, pepper, thyme, pimentos, coconut milk and hot pepper (do not chop the pepper).

Cover tightly and bring to the boil.

Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for about 45 minutes until breadfruit is cooked and tender.

Remove pepper before serving and adjust seasonings if necessary.

Lower fat

3 cups milk/soya milk 3 tbsp cornflour 1 cup lower fat coconut milk Half a cup chives 2 tsp. thyme Salt and pepper to taste Hot pepper sauce, to serve Method 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Cut breadfruit lengthways into 8 slices, take the hard skin off the outside and cut the flesh into chunks.

Place milk in a pan over high heat.

Mix cornflour with enough cold milk to form a paste.

Add cornflour paste to hot milk. Stir until milk begins to thicken, do not allow to boil.

Turn heat down to medium; add breadfruit, thyme, chives, salt and pepper.

Simmer for about 45 minutes until breadfruit is cooked and tender.

Before serving adjust seasonings if necessary.

Serve with West Indian Hot Pepper Sauce. (Only a tiny amount on the side, it’s not like HP sauce, it will blow your head off if you are not used to it).

A cup = an ordinary teacup. I think the Americans have got the right idea with cup measurements – there’s no messing about with scales.

Jane Steele

Saturday 4am Kitchen For 2011, after around fifty-five years of combined meat-eating, we decided to give not-eating-meat a go. It was fun, expanded our palettes and culinary repertoire and saved us a load of money. One of the most ingrained habits it challenged was late night/post-pub feasting which beforehand might have consisted of fried grease-meat; be it home-cooked or out of a shop, takeaway or van.

We thought it might be nice to share some ideas for your own early hours boozed-feast; enough to feed a group of friends, made from store-cupboard/24-hour garage ingredients, and easy enough to cook without worrying about burning the house down when not ‘able to give your full attention’. Dahl and Nan Ingredients For Dahl Red Lentils 1 Onion, sliced 2 Chillies, sliced (with seeds) Inch of ginger, grated 2 cloves of garlic, crushed and sliced 1 or 2 teaspoon each of: ground cinnamon ground cloves ground cardamom ground cumin ground coriander ground tumeric For Naan Bread Self-raising flour Natural Yoghurt Butter Garlic, crushed and Fresh Coriander, chopped (optional)

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Exact quantities are dependent on how many people you’re making for, you can work it out.

Method It’s good to start making both the bread and the dahl at the same time but if there is only one of you cooking then start with the bread. It’s as simple as mixing the self-raising flour with a spoonful of yogurt and, if needed, a bit of cold water until it comes together to make a slightly sticky but roll-able dough. There is no need to knead. Leave it in a bowl for 20 mins whilst you make the dahl.

For the dahl, start with the onion which should be sliced thinly and fried in oil slowly on a low heat until soft and translucent. The slower the better, and at least 10 mins.

Then add the garlic, chillies, ginger and aromatic spices (cloves, cinnamon, cardamom) and fry for another couple of minutes. Add the red lentils: about a handful per person.

Fry for a minute and then cover with boiling water and let simmer. As the lentils soak up the water, keep adding more water until they have cooked down: about 25 mins. About half-way through the cooking process add the other spices. I like to whisk the lentils to make them quite smooth and you should end up with a thick porridge-like consistency.

Divide the naan dough into plum-sized balls and roll out very thin. Make sure you have the grill on very high with a baking tray warming up underneath. Melt the butter (with extra garlic and fresh chopped coriander if you have it) and brush over the base of the tray and the top of the naan. Put under the grill for a couple of minutes until the naan is bubbled and brown. Turn it over, brush again with butter and do the same.

Serve the naans and dahl together with the rest of the natural yogurt for dipping.

Andy Abbott and Yvonne Carmichael

A review of the 2012 Bradford Beer Festival From the outside the impressive honey-coloured mass of Victoria Hall sits like a giant sponge cake in the middle of Saltaire. Inside, for one week in February, a highly-organised team of Camra volunteers set up and serve up scores of wonderful beers to crowds of avid drinkers, in three rooms on two floors.

It’s the Bradford Beer Festival, and other annual ale events pale in comparison. The venue is an attraction in its own right and just the right size, the location is easily accessible by bus and train, and the selection is wide but not overwhelming.

The Festival goes from strength to strength, and needs little publicity. An advance ticket system ensures Victoria Hall is never swamped, and there’s a choice of five sessions from Thursday to Saturday.

I’d pretty much given up on beer festivals, after one overheated, purple-carpeted grim function room too many, but Bradford has revived my faith – it can be done well, and we’re very lucky to have the event in our district. Some Camra members give up their holidays to work the Festival, with one volunteer coming over from Germany every year just to be part of the event.

We usually go for the Saturday afternoon session There’s something about the light streaming in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, with the views of Saltaire and Baildon Moor, as the brass band pump out Yorkshire anthems.

Our beers of the Festival were two – Braustelle Caulfield, from Cologne and labelled ‘First German Imperial Stout’. At 10%, it was thankfully available in third of a pint measures, as were the other beers available. Hard to describe, fruity, a taste of brown sugar, but not too sweet, simultaneously rich and balanced, a moment when all the taste buds shout hallelujah in unison.

The second was Kirkstall Tun, the perfectlyjudged 7% 100th brew from this new-ish brewery.

Kirkstall’s Dave Sanders recently produced the excellent Aquitaine 8%, of which a correspondent said: “Soothes and invigorates in equal measure.

A nice jigsaw of flavours in which there is a hint of fortified grape and a nuance of ice cream vanilla.

Pleasant and lingering earthy aftertaste, which blends with the fruit at the front of the next sip.”

Kirkstall can now be dubbed one of the foremost English brewers. Dave’s term at Elland Breweries had many great beers, but now Kirkstall is coming into its own.

The Festival organisers say they take beers off sale during each session to ensure that the next session starts with a full complement but we had no problem – everything we went for was on tap throughout the afternoon.

Special mention for the excellent pork pies from Lunds of Keighley, essential ballast to keep our feet firmly on the ground.

It must be hard to get all the beers you want in one place for one weekend, and I for one would have like to have seen some representation from Derbyshire’s Thornbridge and Huddersfield’s Summer Wine, and a few more continental beers on the specialist bar, but life is short, beer is long, and with the selection available it would be churlish to complain seriously. The Camra volunteers were always happy to discuss the ales on tap and suggest their own favourites, even when they were obviously hoping to save a particular barrel for a staff session afterwards.

Afterwards, sated, we went home to gradually rehydrate and look forward to next year’s event.

Cheers.

Rob Walsh

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SALTAIRE BREWERY BEER CLUB

The Brewery Dockfield Road Shipley BD17 7AR Tel: 01274 594959 info@saltairebrewery.co.uk www.saltairebrewery.co.uk Visit our website or follow us on facebook for details of events, monthly beer clubs and our exciting range of beers.

Next Beer Club 30th March, no ticket required.

Now six pumps upstairs! Fantastic Saltaire and guest cask beers. Also new, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on tap.

Artisanal ciders. Hog Roast. Open 4.00pm until 10.00pm.

Try something different. Try something local.

Michael Chapman @ Brudenell Social Club, Leeds Michael Chapman is a true mastercraftsman at the top of his trade. Born in Hunslet, Leeds and now in his 71st year of rocking and rolling with some of the world’s greatest musicians, he shows no signs of stopping, just like the trains he often fondly reveres and references in his songwriting. This is the third time I’ve seen Michael over the last year or so and every time I’ve been bowled over by his powerfully precise yet understated acoustic guitar playing, his dry no-nonsense Yorkshire wit and of course his huge catalogue of classic songs dating from his days on the Cornish folk circuit in the late-sixties to present.

Michael was joined on stage by his two trusty 1955 guitars. The first half of the set was played on his acoustic, which produced one of the best acoustic sounds I’ve ever heard live. Towards the middle he whipped out his beautifully weathered and mellowed hollow body electric which, combined with his muggy Yorkshirevia-Mississippi drawl, sounded sublime - smoky, drenched in bourbon then left out on the rainy moors in the night. I sat at the back in a trance, and when I finally came to I noticed how not only his dedicated cult following were typically silent and respectful but a whole younger generation were stood at the bar and in awe of his playing (undoubtedly due in part to the re-release of his classic 1970 album ‘Fully Qualified Survivor’ on hip Seattle label Light In The Attic Records).

The highlights for me were his acoustic rendition of ‘Soulful Lady’, one of my favourite laid back groove-rock classics featured on the aforementioned album, and the Sunday morning drunken ditty of ‘Fahey’s Flag’ (dedicated to Michael’s late night escapades with legendary American guitarist John Fahey).

Michael’s style really is hard to pin down - file somewhere between blues, ragtime, folk, experimental. At the end of the day, there really is only one way to describe him: the Fully Qualified Survivor.

Jason Winder

The Spectre of Authenticity in (Bradford’s) Underground Music For those of us with a passion for the ‘real deal’, Bradford delivers in abundance. Home haircuts outnumber salon-styled angular fringes; layers and practical footwear appear more crucial than upto-the-minute fashion statements; local brews are sunk in public at medieval hours of the day without shame. The city’s industrial history is embedded in the landscape; falling-to-bits mills, empty units, time warp shopping centres and nostalgic markets. The streets are paved not with gold but grit. The characters that populate them are diamonds in the rough. Mostly.

Bradford attracts a different type of thrill-seeker. Not necessarily your aspiring career-ladder climber or city-living lover looking for slick standardisation and professional sheen, but rather a connoisseur of the idiosyncratic, the context-specific and the original; someone willing to - and likely to have an unhealthy habit for - looking beyond appearances, digging beneath the surface and not afraid of (getting) dirty fingernails.

No surprise, then, that the underground music scene in the city has long been an integral piece in the Bradford puzzle. There are plenty of the void spaces, the cracks and the dark nooks and crannies in which such activity breeds and thrives. One need only look to the history of the illustrious 1 in 12 Club to see how, given the time, space and energy, normally discounted ‘fringe’ activity can materialise into a world-renowned (counter) institution. People from all over the world have flocked to Albion St over the last three decades to experience ‘real’ musical expression of a mostly crusty type.

Naturally it’s not the sole example of thriving community-led or grassroots culture in the city; we can identify the same in the South Asian arts scene; the Topic Folk Club, running for fifty years; and in the grimey urban music emerging from outer ring road council estates, to name a few. Bradford is the home of punk in its many cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary guises.

What is the attraction though? How and why does, for some, grit charm like glitter? What type of value does it embody? For me the answer lies in that elusive and not unproblematic promise of ‘authenticity’.

It is fair to say that when things are done regardless of commercial concern, that is, for Love Not Money - LNM fast becoming my preferred term to DIY in the shadow of the Big Society – the parameters for evaluation and production shift and change. No longer is making something ‘accessible’ or audience-targeted a priority. In music it isn’t important whether the song is the sort of thing you’d buy, or whether it’s catchy or sticks in your head, or even that it has a discernible tune or beat. This often leads to accusations of indulgence and elitism: ‘How can you enjoy listening to this?’, ‘It does nothing for me’, and so on. It would be facetious – and factually incorrect - to suggest that freedom from market constraints inevitably leads to ‘good’ or enjoyable music.

What is on offer instead is a concentrated hit of the authentic: an enactment of the thing-in-itself rather than as a means-to-an-end,

uncompromised and unabashed. Previously I’ve compared watching weird noise-rock bands to surveying child’s play or experiencing amateur sports events. At its best non-commercially oriented music is an embodiment or materialisation of that passion for (collective) activity and creative expression that animates us, undiluted by the self-interest and conservatism of profiteering.

Perversely such authentic and unprecedented expression can come across as the exact opposite – ‘This is so odd and pretentious’ - so rare does it occur in our culture. Equally the rough edges and unrefined, abrasive quality of DIY/LNM activity make it less immediately palatable. It is often lo-fi (done on the cheap), strange and scary and as such intimidating, except perhaps to those grit-prospectors amongst whose numbers I include myself.

Nevertheless grit becomes addictive; you may find yourself a filth-junkie. Once the taste has been acquired everything else can seem sterile and artificial. Importantly, the hunt for the authentic is a never-ending trail. Once you appreciate the rough-edged in art, music and culture it can lead to the embrace of an entire ‘dirty old town’.

Still, for all its attributes we should be wary of making a fetish out of filth. A critical distance is required. A love of grit is a broadening of experience and we need to be wary of simply substituting the capitalist (false) desire for the clean, shiny and professional with a blanket disregard for anything with a whiff of luxury or craftmanship. Why constrain creativity with new limits? In the punk and DIY music scene such rules - sometimes explicit, sometimes implied - have included ‘no high production values, guitar solos, or other indulgences’. Just as all that glitters is not gold, it is not bullshit either. Sometimes fun and excess are authentic too.

Likewise roughness does not always equate with the real. Lo-fi aesthetics and crust-chic are easily copied and sold back to us.

Remember Levis-fabricated grunge band Stiltskin? Indeed, the more of an aesthetic we attach to authenticity the easier it can be synthesized and profited from. Keeping underground expression and LNM/DIY activity fluid, contingent and slippery is one way of preventing it from being identified, captured and recuperated by the foot soldiers of commerce who wish to drain it of its radical potency.

Moreover, the very concept of authentic expression needs to be critically appraised. There is more than a hint of exoticism and middle-class voyeurism in the embrace of grit by those for whom it is a chosen reality that they can exit at will - a dirty weekend away.

Also, underlying the appreciation of grit is an essentialist logic that assumes that there is something universal and ‘real’ beneath capitalist sheen; a mistaken and dangerously naïve belief that deep down we’re all the same. I would suggest that even when we’re all covered in dirt it is important to appreciate difference, just the same as recognising that whilst we may all be in the same boat we have different horizons. There may be grit in our teeth, but that doesn’t eradicate the need to talk or sing about why it’s there.

Andy Abbott www.andyabbott.co.uk

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The 1in12 Club

Liberty ★ Equality ★ Solidarity

21–23 Albion Street Bradford BD1 2LY 01274 734160 www.1in12.com Established 1981

The building is now patched up and firing on all four paws following the break-in—Albion Street never had it so good!

Here are some of the amazing gigs we’ve got coming up this month—see www.1in12.com for more details!

Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd March Is the return of Equal Fest! Building on the success of last years event, where all bands playing have at least 1 non-male member, bands confirmed so far include Belgrado, Severed Heaven, Lich, Etai Keshiki, Nervous Twitch, Mechagodzilla, Nine Bullets, Executive Legs, Beards, Nu Pogodi, Jesus & His Judgemental Father, Pudge. £4 members/£5 guests each day.

Thursday 8th March Promises to be huge with Anti Vigilante, Tyrannosaurus Alan and This Junk gracing the beer stained boards of the1in12 stage. Bands from 8pm.

Saturday 10th March Sees the return of the Buskers Retreat with the lovely Kurt Wood amongst others! The cafe will be open from 1pm and music starts shortly afterwards.

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As always, events are open to all members and guests of the 1in12 club.

Tuesday 20th March There will be a talk by a group of travellers in the library, highlighting issues around the Dale Farm eviction and the treatment received by the state and society by this marginalised group. Doors from 7pm, open to all.

To join, see our website or pop in Thursday–Sunday from 7pm to fill in an application form.

31st March Is the big one! The legendary Antisect are playing a benefit for the 1in12 alongside Cress and Hellkrusher. Ticket details for this gig will be on the 1in12 website, it’s highly likely it will sellout so book early to avoid disappointment!

The Continuing Story of the Blues in the 21st Century In the 30 years between 1930 and 1960 the Blues evolved and changed almost out of all recognition, from Son House to Muddy Waters, but from a distance we can see that it was the same music.

Now, in the 21st century we can see that it’s evolving again - it can be hard sometimes to see where it is as the form keeps changing and evolving and growing, and the music is played in different places. The music from the 21st century that has the same function and feel as Blues may not necessarily be called Blues - but when you find it, you know it. You feel it, it makes sense, and it’s right.

DJ Champion’s thundering electro-digital ring-shout ‘No Heaven’ is no less apocalyptic in tone and execution than the howling 1930s Son House tune it takes its title and lyrics from, and is found buried in the 2010 console game ‘Borderlands,’ as well as in dark, tiny clubs full of people pressed together in city centres, high on cheap spirits. The Blues is alive.

40 year old people don’t look or sound the same as they did on the day they were born or when they were 5, 10 or fifteen years old. But it’s the same person, they just become more sophisticated and go to different places, do different things, wear different clothes and speak a different language.

The Blues is like that - it evolves and grows and flows onward to new shores.

The Blues is a changing thing: it’s not immediately obvious where it is or what it is. Think about Adele - “Rolling in the Deep” is Blues straight and simple and that’s international, it’s everywhere. Think of Seasick Steve - he packs out festivals all over the world. Look at Jack White, that’s BLUES he’s playing in front of 20,000 people with a drummer for company, just like T-Model Ford or R.L. Burnside that’s a song from 1941 he’s singing when he opens up with “John The Revelator.”

In every city there are groups of people - black and white, young and old - are going along to 40s & 50s nights and burlesque evenings and the Blues is alive and its heart is beating, right there. People get up and dance to it and participate in it so it’s a very intimate, organic, intense and loud affair. You can go to Leeds or Sheffield or Manchester and it’s all going on - acoustic and electric, in the heart of communities and at festivals of all sizes - slightly disrespectful, slightly frightening and slightly crazy, there’s the Blues shaking its head, stamping on a stage and raising Cain around the best-looking, most naked and most dangerous women in the house. The Blues are alive and well and living in a venue near you: rumours of its death have been greatly exaggerated.

30 Years Pioneering Latin Music DJ Lubi (aka Lubi Jovanovic) is one of the UK's top soul/funk/latin music DJs and promoters and is celebrating 30 years in the game this year! From his Bradford roots spinning jazz/funk/soul music at Bradford Universities’ Subway Bar and Checkpoint West Indian Centre in 1982, he single-handedly started the Latin music scene in Yorkshire.

As part of the DIG! Family, he was instrumental in putting Leeds on the map during the acid jazz era, bringing such names as Gilles Peterson and Mr Scruff to the city for the first time as well as promoting hundreds of top flight gigs at venues such as the Underground and the Wardrobe ….. Roy Ayers, Maceo Parker, Eddie Palmieri, The Blackbyrds, James Taylor Quartet, Carleen Anderson & Bobby Byrd to name a few.

He has produced 40 compilations of Latin music for half a dozen labels and spent 10 years writing for world renowned global jazz/ roots magazine Straight No Chaser. Today, he still plays across the UK and Europe and this March drops his 40th compilation CD, "Beginners Guide To Salsa Vol. 4, a series which has sold over 100,000 copies since it hit the scene in 2003.

30 years on, he is still doing what he loves doing the most and doing it at the top level; playing and promoting live music.

Andrew Kniveton

Tom Attah and DJ Lubi will be performing live at the premiere HowDo Presents: Worldwide Rythmn & Blues @ the Balanga Basement Cafe Bar Thursday 29th March - 8pm til 1am £3 on the door

By Tom Attah Tom Attah is a performing Blues musician who has appeared all over the UK, including Glastonbury 2011 and Blues Autor Du Zinc in France. His EP “The Living Bluesman” is available now. You can find Tom at www.tomattah.com, through MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

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‘Postcards’ is the second album from weird and brilliant West Yorkshire trio The Housekeeping Society, following 2011’s oddball debut, ‘This Way to Power’. If you’ve heard that album, or been lucky enough to catch one of their mesmerising live sets, you’ll have some idea what you’re in for. If not... well, describing them might be a bit tricky.

They’re not normal, you see, the Housekeepers. Quite aside from their decidedly odd moniker, they produce music that pings with wit and invention, bounding gleefully from one musical style to another whilst never losing focus on a sound that is, distinctly, and for want of a better word... Housekeepy. You might want to call it folk music: earthy, organic tones dominated by guitar, piano and ukelele, breathing in time with the yearnings of its characters.

But then these are also pop songs, with canny, vibrant hooks and melodies that seep unnoticed into the background chatter of your mind and hum away all day.

We start with a journey to the seaside, as opening track The Coast Is Clear builds a rhythm around the chugging of a steam train that develops into a wide-eyed, playful hymn to the joys of getting There are many other treasures here. Suitcase is either funny away from it all. From this point on we will never be far from the or heartbreaking depending on your mood, as the titular item beach, swooping through the lives of holidaymakers, locals, bed of luggage laments an increasingly one-sided love affair with its and breakfast owners and seafarers, as the fortunes of the holiday owner. And closing track The Seaside’s Been Shut Down sees nothing industry ebb and swell through the years. The tone shifts from wrong with being both sing-a-long melodic perfection and a terribly vaudevillian whimsy (Seaside Mystery sad curtain drawn on the world Man) to wistful melancholy (the we have been celebrating. achingly beautiful Ghosts), taking in “From this point on we will never romance, nostalgia and even a little be far from the beach, swooping The whole album, in fact, through the lives of holidaymakers, plays on the tension between social commentary along the way.

locals, bed and breakfast owners

the joy of the present and the Shot through all this, like letters and seafarers, as the fortunes of pain of the past, finding both through a stick of rock, is a real sense the holiday industry ebb and swell beauty and sadness in the of time and place. The album tastes through the years.” fading world of the sea front. of salt and candy-floss, thanks in no This is reflected not only in the small part to the layering of location carefully crafted lyrics and eclectic instrumentation, but also in recording from the North Coast, often sequenced into the rhythms the gorgeous cover art. Created by Jean McEwan and Robert Hope, of the tracks by percussionist Ivan Mack. the sleeve design evokes in image what the album does in sound: seaside landscapes, slipping out of focus into abstract, pastel There are two or three tracks that stand out quite quickly. End Of memory. On the cover a childlike scribble of a house soars through The Pier is energetic and poppy, with a frenzied electronic bass-line the air, carried by zeppelin over a defocused seafront. Hope and under swooping strings and a soaring lead vocal by Ric Neale that bittersweet nostalgia at the same time, Postcards is something to would make Morten Harket’s ears prick up. The plaintive, delicate write home about. voice of Spencer Bayles, meanwhile, lends an ethereal sadness to You, Me And The Swell Of The Sea. Most moving of all, and for this Rob Reed reviewer the highlight of the album, is the Neale penned Still. In this ballad we hear the prayers of a woman widowed by the sea, For more information about The Housekeeping Society visit wondering how the God who moves over the face of the water could www.thehousekeepingsociety.com let it happen. A powerful lyric over a haunting piano signature, the song burrows deeper with every listen.

Artfarmers Open Mic @ The Beehive In the back room of the Beehive Inn on a Wednesday, Bradfordian art collective Artfarmers set up an evening of participatory and audience-generated entertainment of such hospitality, warmth and good cheer it almost made me forget what a grim February evening it was outside.

It was my first experience of the somewhat confusingly dubbed ‘open mic without a mic’. I was pleasantly surprised to enter a room bustling with people of many ages and backgrounds - some gathered around tables making clay gnomes and paper decorations - with a small PA system at one end of the room, conspicuously complete with a microphone. Humorous, I thought.

The general vibe was one of ‘get up and have a go’ with a rough agenda for the night’s entertainment being drawn up adhoc on scraps of paper passed around the animated room. It was clear from the outset that the evening was a far cry from a standard open mic, and cannily avoided the same-old-faces/well-practisedold-hands syndrome.

We were treated to poetry, a cappella folk songs, spoken word, singer songwriters, solo guitar, a bit of accordion, brass, and a brief one-man music hall performance. Strikingly, many participants were using the night as an opportunity to try something new, or that they hadn’t done before, or as their (non-)stage debut, all testament to the inviting and welcoming atmosphere created by Artfarmers.

When the room became a bit too rowdy the default master of ceremonies Sam requested a bit of quiet and respect for the performers, which was duly adhered to. The night thereafter was a perfect balance of lightness and attentiveness making it a genuinely attractive and useful platform for performers, as well as an enjoyable night for the audience.

Both my partner and myself left with lumps in our throats, after witnessing a concrete example of the ‘audience engagement’ and community empowerment so many arts organisations claim to facilitate but rarely deliver as effectively. A great night out, and despite the humble name and format as important an event in Bradford’s cultural calendar as one could wish for.

Andy Abbott

Black Moth/Yugoslavian Boys – Rockers and Rollers @ The Beehive Rockers and Rollers’ new beginning, in Bradford’s favourite cellar bar, promised to be an epic boom of live music - a promise it certainly kept, as Yugoslavian Boys kick off and a crowd of freaks start to gather. The band are not really Yugoslavian but actually from crazy-land, and their performance, which has a hard punky cutting edge, contains enough energy to blow a safe apart. The singer, like all good frontmen, has that perfect balance of insanity mixed with arrogance which really helps the crowd along. Various brass instruments are violently abused throughout the set, making this barmy and rather strange band a captivating act to watch.

By the time Black Moth begin their mass the crypt is full and people want to do some serious getting down. Black Moth are tight and well-rehearsed, they start with a heavy doom boom of graveshattering proportions which makes their presence felt throughout the building. Today they have a new guitar player which allows more freedom to the rest of the band and makes for a better, more balanced sound. Signed to NHS label, Black Moth are due to release their debut album this year and with more live performances like tonight they could go on to bigger, brighter - sorry, I mean darker - things.

George Quinn

T SOCIAL CLUB THURSDAY 5TH APRIL - BLACK LACE LIVE @ SHIPLEY & DISTRIC ALL PROCEEDS GO TO CHARITY party!

Kick off the Easter bank holiday weekend with the ultimate 80s hits, party their all ing 80s euro pop legends Black Lace will be perform and many Bam Wam Wig Man, Music an, including: Agadoo, The Conga, Superm will be there and sory compul are les inflatab and dress fancy more! Hawaiian/80s an 80s disco, party games and a raffle to boot. £3 + bf (select e-ticket to avoid transaction fee) Tickets available from Seetickets All proceeds to Macmillan Cancer Support

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15% off 50% off Complete Pair of £10 Eye Test Spectacles & Lenses *cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer

*cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer

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NTS:

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Worldwide feat.

Tom Atta Live

w/special guest DJ Lubi Thurs 29th March: 8pm - 1am £3 on the door

Homemade Polish Food; Pierogi Dumplings, Goulash, Ham Shank, & Traditional Polish Salads

Selection of premium eastern european beers

Independent Opticians in the heart of Bradford city centre

Specialising in premium eyewear Offering a professional & personal eyecare service Evening appointments available NHS and private patients welcome

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Warka, ZywiecTyskie, Budweiser Budvar,

Over 40 varieties of authentic Polish vodka Speciality flavoured vodka & the famous “MadDog” Open All week lunchtimes and evenings Food to Takeaway Live Sport on TV

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Hundred Dollar Cigar - Graffitnik

Reviewed by George Quinn

Having heard quite a lot of material from Hundred Dollar Cigar over the last couple of years I thought I knew what to expect of their latest release, Graffitnik. I wasn’t quite right.

Luke Womersley’s vocal talents are clear from the very first line of the first song ‘Preachers Son’, and continue to be excellent throughout the release. The clean qualities of the recording add to this significantly - time has been spent on this record, indeed the musical performances of all the members are of a high standard.

The first song that stands out is ‘The Appropriate Lie’. The tune has a pop feel but remains a good lesson in storytelling songwriting.

This pop feel is a recurring factor on the album. Although this is not a bad thing, it was a little surprising as in the past they have fallen more on the blues/rock side of things and I expected a little more rawness. Saying that, ‘Why Do You’ shows that the band still have their roots in blues and the song really gives Luke a chance to show how good a guitarist he is. A highlight of the album is ‘Clouds’, which is the heaviest track and is like something from an early Manic Street Preachers album. The final song ‘Stage Fright’ starts off subdued before rising into a powerful chorus and would feel at home next to a typical Jeff Buckley song, The only criticism I have is that I wanted there to be more rawsounding blues guitars on the record - it would have helped the album to ‘let go’ just that little bit more. I also thought that the rest of the band could have helped out with the backing singing - the album relies a lot on the vocals and a few harmonies would have given an extra edge.

With all that in mind Graffitnik is a well recorded, well produced album with a number of quality songs on it. I enjoyed listening to it and will be interested to see where it takes the band over the coming months.

TFT - That Fucking Tank Reviewed by Joe Ralph

The Living Bluesman - Tom Attah Reviewed by Andrew Sopf

The Living Bluesman from Tom Attah is neither album nor EP. It’s a testament, a tribute and reminder to where it all began. Back when there was just a man and all he owned was a guitar and all he had was the Blues.

I have honestly not enjoyed listening to a record as much as this one for a long while. There is a certain pure rawness to Tom Attah’s throbbing take on the blues and he sings it full of soul, as if spitting the grit from the crossroads of his own meeting with the Devil.

Even when rockin’, The Living Bluesman has a spiritual, sombre tone that wraps you in a blanket of sweet licks and dusty old rhythms. Elements of jazz bleed through, creating a cool ambiance and there are moments of pure joy as effortless funk undertones bounce into play - breathing even more character and depth into the tracks. This record deserves a place in your music collection, your soul and your life.

Now, I’m not going to lie to you, this review is not one of total unbias. In fact, in all honesty, this writer has been a Tank fan-boy since the band’s early days during the mid-to–late naughties, a fine era for Bradford music in general and one in which this outstanding outfit reigned supreme.

The bitter cold of “Broken Britain” and its perpetual warnings of disaster suddenly seem like the distant screechings of that last mentalist you saw in Centenary Square, as ‘TFT’, Tank’s third album soars high above, past the grim and towards the light. It is an interesting turn of sound from a band that landed like a newborn alien, strange and twisted, in the laps of anyone who dared to listen to their obscure yet intoxicating blend of baritone boom.

They are an important band for our city, and ever-inspiring in their complete lack of any attempt to “fit in” with any kind of musical “scene”. They really do not give a fuck, as their eye-opening name suggests and I just can’t help but smile.

‘TFT’, released on local label The Obscene Baby Auction, is a more grounded affair than the band’s previous offering ‘Tankology’ in 2009, favouring a more modest and dare I say, mature sound that finds peace with minimalist groove and chord progression. It’s opening and title-track is a fine example of this, tight and catchy.

The album really starts to open up as we reach the half way point with ‘NWONWOBHM’, as much like their live set, the intensity builds towards crescendo as the momentous waas of ‘Threads’ fill the air, only to come down beautifully, with an acoustic offering to warm the heart of any angered soul.

Another great album, from a truly brilliant band, I wish I had time to say more. Nice one lads.

symbolise the failure of the newly-formed United States in providing for freed slaves. It doesn’t take much imagination to feel the sense of dread and oppression that black people in the south lived under. Lynchings, of black by white, regularly took place at least up to the 1960s. Listen – really listen - to the words of Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit. You may never want to hear it again.

It wasn’t all white-on-black violence – the white mob could easily turn on their own, with lynchings of white people running at about a third of those of black people, according to some records.

Faulkner grew up with this, and it runs through his books like a murderous undertow. His characters are often poor, disenfranchised, and in fear. The books usually have a ‘good’ character, powerless to combat the violent tide of poorly educated prejudice.

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

William Faulkner, 1897-1962 My publicly declared vow to reread the eight or so books I possess

by William Faulkner is still standing. In date order of course. I’m about halfway through. My friend the professor thinks it may have accounted for my January lows. Not that the books are bad.

He’s a great writer and storyteller - Sanctuary is unbeatable, a real pageturner that must have scandalised contemporary readers and is shocking today. The Sound And The Fury is the one that usually gets mentioned, and is influenced by James Joyce’s groundbreaking stream of consciousness writing. It takes more than one read before it starts to make sense.

The Unvanquished is a gripping Civil War adventure, with a Boys’ Own flavour that paints a misleadingly rosy picture of the events that tore apart the northern and southern states. Light In August and As I Lay Dying survive Faulkner’s slightly heavy-handed sense of humour, with great portrayals of driven characters.

Faulkner the man? Well, that’s a story in itself. He married the love of his life, but only after she had divorced her first husband, and he drank whisky avidly and to his detriment. He worked in Hollywood as a scriptwriter, and contributed to the classics The Big Sleep and To Have And Have Not, both great Bogart films.

Faulkner? Who he? Not a recent Booker prize winner, for sure.

Though he did win the rather less retail-oriented Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949.

And he wrote many more books, often focussing on the apocryphal Yoknapatawpha County and the interlocked lives of its inhabitants, in reality a portrait of what he saw around him in the South.

He grew up in the American south, in an era when survivors of the 1860s Civil War were still around and imposing their values on southern society. For Faulkner’s generation the past really was present, and the impact on the United States is still profoundly present today. Many of his books deal with the war and the aftermath, especially the impact on the black underclass of the south.

Faulkner will always be relevant, as long as there is blind prejudice. The books are dark, gripping, thoughtful and thoughtprovoking. The writing is uplifting, the subject matter less so – you’ll be glad you read them, but you may need something lighter to read afterwards, something cleansing, the equivalent of a good hot shower.

The Faulkners I’ve read so far have left me disturbed by the sick and desperate state of US race relations revealed in the early books. Towards the end of the Civil War the liberated slaves were promised 40 acres and a mule, to build their own farm.

The famous phrase was still being quoted by artists like James Brown in the 1970s.

The promise was withdrawn fairly quickly and has come to

The past? It’s right in front of you. As Misty In Roots said: “Without a knowledge of your history you cannot determine your destiny. And if you’re not conscious of the present you’re like a cabbage in society.”

Rob Walsh

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Review: Into the Wind

By Ben Dalby

Although it is this magazine’s mission to promote our city, the fact that filmmaker Steven Hatton grew up here is purely incidental, as this documentary should be celebrated by any culturally motivated publication.

In simple terms Into the Wind is a documentary that sets its lens on RAF Bomber Command veterans from the Second World War; many of whom have never been interviewed about their experiences before. It is the debut work of a young and inspirational filmmaker who has carried out the majority of the filmmaking process alone. This lone approach is astonishing, not only when considering the film’s delicate and, at times, poetic construction, but also the range of veterans that contribute to the narrative; men who have been drawn from Australia, Canada, Guyana, New Zealand, Poland, Trinidad and the United Kingdom.

Pop Up Cinema: Minicine in early April

By Mike McKenny

April not only brings the Bradford International Film Festival, but to whet the appetites of Bradfordian cineastes, the month kicks off with a pair of pop-up cinema events in Bradford venues. The first will be a splatter-fest Cult Horror Night at Glyde House on Wednesday 4th April. The film will be decided by a public poll found at Minicine.org. uk and will include titles such as Evil Dead 2, Braindead and Evil Ed. The other event will see a whole day of Polish cinema at the Polish Parish Club on Saturday 7th April.

There will be three films in total with various speakers presenting and introducing the films.

Both events will have a fully licensed bar and will be unique, community focused cinematic experiences.

For up to date information on both events, plus ticket information, screening times and further information on the venues, see Minicine.org.uk.

Let this much be clear though, this is not a film for those wishing to gain fresh historical insights into the history of Bomber Command. Rather, the film offers a window into the minds of men who carry personal memories of this unique period in an ever-changing present. You will hear of their regrets, their private victories and, most importantly, you will meet the men as they are today.

The famous aviator, Ken Wallis, for example, is still able to amaze and amuse with a spectacular exhibition in his self-designed autogyro.

By exclusively using the words of the veterans to create the film’s voice, Hatton is able to deliberately toss the viewer between disparate views and emotions as well as changeable modes of expression that range from the philosophical to the candid. Herein lies the strength of Into the Wind; a collage of personal journeys that fly parallel to one another to create a sincere, poignant and often charming whole.

Into the Wind is available now from Amazon.co.uk. For more information visit: www.intothewind.co.uk. Also, look out for screenings of Hatton’s short film ‘Heilig’: www.heilig.co.uk

Immersed in Ken Russell

By Jamie McHale

Before Ken Russell became a film director he was a ballet dancer. That’s just one of the facts I learnt last week at the National Media Museum’s Ken Russell immersion day. Following his sad passing last year the museum put on an education programme entitled “Ken Russell: Enfant Terrible of British Cinema”, the British director’s beginnings and film career.

Starting with a lecture taking in Russell’s early stint in photography, through to TV work and ultimately his move into cinema, the morning provided a comprehensive look at the life and work of the much debated director. In the afternoon we were treated/subjected - depending on your viewpoint - to a feature screening and discussion of his 1969 adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s Women in Love.

Driven by an incredibly knowledgeable course leader, Keith Withall, the day was perfectly suited to all knowledge levels, with Russell advocates chatting to Russell virgins on a completely even playing field. I myself had only ever seen one of his features and never felt patronised or out of my depth in the supportive and collaborative environment.

At £19.50, £16 for concessions, the ticket price can seem a little steep on first glance but when you consider it buys you a full day with an expert and a screening as well as the opportunity to discuss and dissect with fellow cinéphiles it really isn’t bad value at all.

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Jamie is a film programmer at Minicine (Minicine.org.uk) and runs the culture blog TQS Magazine.

You can follow him on Twitter @Jamie_McHale

What do Ray Winstone, Mark Kermode and Chuck Jones have in common? They’ll all be celebrating the National Media Museum’s 18th Bradford International Film Festival, for eleven days, 19-29 April. Jampacked full of all things cinematic, the Festival will be celebrating the career of Mr Winstone, with showings of his most recent hits like Beowulf plus classics like Sexy Beast. Not only that, he will be there in person on 21 April to take part in a Screentalk interview. Need more reasons to go?

There’s a tribute to the centenary of animation master Chuck Jones, who brought us characters that are still as popular as ever - Elmer Fudd, Road Runner, and my personal favourite Bugs Bunny. To celebrate BIFF is showing 20 of Chuck’s greatest shorts throughout the festival, including Road Runner’s first outing in Fast and Furry-ous from 1949. However, the eleven days aren’t just for film fanatics but family too. Over two weekends BIFF has activities for all ages, inspired

by Jones’ unique animations.

There is also the Widescreen Weekend at Pictureville cinema,

which promises to show widescreen films all weekend, including the historic format of Three-Strip Cinerama, projecting the film onto a wide screen using three projectors - the only cinema outside the USA to do so. This is the centrepiece to BIFF’s Cinerama is 60 celebrations, which include a widescreen films such as the award winning The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm.

And there’s even more - not only is Mark Kermode’s band The Dodge Brothers accompanying Neil Brand in a live soundtrack to Beggars of Life, he even plays double bass. There is much more that will be revealed in the run-up to the festival, so there really is no reason to not visit BIFF this year.

Niki Bierton For more information go to www. nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/biff or call the box office on 0844 856 3797 Niki is a filmmaker from Shipley; you can follow her on twitter: @ thebierton

WHATS ON...

Our Hospitatlity @ National Media Museum 4th March (time tba) Buster Keaton’s hilarious physical comedy and exasperating stunts are complemented by live piano accompaniment from Darius Battiwalla.

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors @ Hyde Park Picture House 5th March – 9pm New Mexico’s roving folk duo A Hawk and A Hacksaw (accordionist/drummer Jeremy Barnes and violinist Heather Trost) present a brand new rescore of Soviet director Sergio Paradjanov’s classic film.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde @ Hyde Park Picture House 9th March - 6.30pm Following acclaimed performances at London’s BFI and the Latitude and Green Man Festivals, acclaimed Yorkshire folk act Blue Roses (aka Laura Groves) reprise their haunting live score for this classic work of gothic silent cinema.

Minicine: Uncharted States of America @ Armley Mills 22nd March –7pm Minicine gears up for BIFF’s Uncharted States of America strand by playing two films that have played in previous editions of the strand. The evening will include trailers of films playing at this year’s BIFF. See minicine.org.uk for ticket information

NEW FOCUS YOUNG PEOPLE’S ADVISORY BOARD

BE PART OF SOMETHING NEW AND GET YOUR VOICE HEARD WHAT IS IMPRESSIONS GALLERY?

WHAT IS NEW FOCUS?

HOW DO I FIND OUT MORE?

Impressions Gallery is a free public gallery in the heart of Bradford overlooking the new City Park. We are one of the UK’s leading independent venues for photography and run a changing programme of exhibitions and events throughout the year. Impressions is for everybody and we are committed to making sure young people use and enjoy the gallery.

New Focus is our new Young People’s Advisory Board and we are looking for talented and committed individuals from the Bradford area aged 16 to 25, with an interest in photography, to guide our work and help us develop new ways to reach young people. You will also have the opportunity to learn about how the gallery works and take part in projects that showcase and grow your skills.

Contact Jennifer Sobol on 01274 737843 for an informal chat or by email jennifersobol@impressions-gallery.com Impressions Gallery Centenary Square Bradford BD1 1SD www.impressions-gallery.com

Cobbles & Clay - Main Street, Howarth, BD22 8DP

by Kathryn Mark

Set in the beautiful Bronte countryside on Haworth’s Main Street, Cobbles and Clay, is a charming little arts café to take your children to on a dull day. Sit and have a coffee and a cake whilst your kids are entertained by painting their own pot. It prides itself on serving organic, Fairtrade food and drink. With its relaxed atmosphere it’s a lovely way to spend an hour or so. It is open everyday, 9am to 5pm. Later, if the weather picks up the Green Flag awarded revamped Haworth Central Park, just across

Cafe Patisserie - 199 Otley Road, Undercliffe, BD3 0JF

by Ben Dalby

Up Otley Road, somewhere between the Co-op and Undercliffe Cemetery, you may happen upon a charming young cafe called Patisserie. Clothed in the polished trappings of the many new cafes scattered around Bradford's Muslim quarters - Patisserie is an unexpected Anglo-Asiatic-Euro gem with a modern, yet cosy atmosphere that would figure as an ideal setting for social or family outings. The halal menu ranges from bruschetta and samosa chaat to egg butties and chicken steak burgers. There are, of course, a selection of exquisite cakes which are made on site and change regularly; the mixed fruit cupcake will blow your mind. All this alongside a range of other deserts, smoothies and milkshakes as well as delicious teas and coffees; it's a must visit haunt if you're local, fancy strolling out of the city centre for a bit or just passing by. This is a fine addition to 'Bradford's unique brand of cafe

Midland Bar, Midland Hotel - Cheapside, BD1 4HU

by Haigh Simpson

Bradford doesn’t really have a proper railway pub. The Midland Bar is the closest we have and it is not nearly as popular as it should be. The hotel dates back to the late 19th century and was at the time a showpiece for the northern railway companies. The high ceilings and grandiose beams ooze prosperity. Having said that, the bar is not as posh as one would expect, it is however charming and cosy. A giant Muriel depicts an endearing image of bygone Bradford, well worth the price of a pint itself. Food is also available should you be feeling peckish. The menu is comprehensive and tempting, if a little expensive. Next time you have half an hour to kill why not go for a pint and take in a piece of history.

Russian Restaurant, Manor Row, BD1 4PB - 01274 733 121

by Kathryn Mark

The Russian Restaurant on Manor Row is something of an experience. Once inside you really do feel like you are a million miles from Bradford. Friendly staff, oil lit fragrance burners, and a huge selection of excellent quality vodka (notably Nemiroff) welcome you in. There is a varied menu including typically Eastern European dishes such as goulash, stroganoff and pancakes, and also a number of Russian classics given a Yorkshire twist. However what makes the restaurant truly unique is the whole experience, feeling like you have gone away to an Eastern European city for the weekend but without the flight and transfer.

Bradford City Park Official Launch Event - 24th March An important date for the City of Bradford: the official launch of the new City Park. Bradford celebrates its latest addit ion to a great portfolio of public spaces with live performan ce and music, and a grand showing of this unique outdoor envir onment.

A fantastic array of events are planned from 2pm onwards: from Internationally acclaimed Parkour Freerunners explo ring the The Mirror Pool, street theatre from Mind The Gap and Artiz ani, live music from Keighley’s Jamba Community Samba Band , The Bradford Brass Band and The Dhol Drummers, and “The Grande Finale” at 6pm with what promises to be a spectacular light show in, around and above the Mirror Pool.

A champion day out for all.

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Fri 2nd Mar_ _A FAIRLY FANTASTIC EVENING; open mic celebration of fair trade @ TREEHOUSE CAFE AND OLIVE BRANCH SHOP, BD7 1BN _ROCKERS AND ROLLERS; mother/destroyer + Falls @ NEW BEEHIVE INN, BD1 3AA _OUR PEOPLE VS YOURS + URSA; live bands + djs @ GASWORKS, BD1 1SW _JATP JAZZ; Presents Rosie Brown @ BRADFORD IRISH CENTRE, BD1 2RX _EQUAL FEST 2012; beards, nervous twitch + much more @ THE 1 IN 12 CLUB, BD1 2LY Sat 3rd Mar_

_EQUAL FEST 2012; belgrado, lich + much more @ THE 1 IN 12 CLUB, BD1 2LY _BIASAN BENEFIT GIG; The 309s, the Kon-tiki expedition w/ clowning @ MANNINGHAM MILLS, BD9 5BD _FIREBRAND + DR KEATINGS CLAMP + LAMMERGIER; live bands + djs @ GASWORKS, BD1 1SW _CRUCIAL BREW; live music @ DELIUS LIVED NEXT DOOR, BD7 1BQ

Tue 6th Mar_ _THE DRAWING CLUB; models, music, projections: impressionism + post impressionism @ DELIUS ARTS CENTRE, BD7 1AA Wed 7th Mar_

_AN INSPECTOR CALLS BY J.B. PRIESTLEY; from the National Theatre (until Sat) @ ALHAMBRA THEATRE, BD1 1AJ

Thu 8th Mar_

_QUIZ NIGHT; beer vouchers + cash prize @ CAROLINE ST SOCIAL CLUB, BD18 3JZ ANTI VIGILANTE, TYRANNOSAURUS ALAN, THIS JUNK; live bands@ THE 1 IN 12 CLUB, BD1 2LY

Fri 9th Mar_ _FALLOCH; live bands + djs @ GASWORKS, BD1 1SW _DAVE SPIKEY; Words don’t come easy tour @ ST. GEORGE’S HALL, BD1 1JT _TOPIC FOLK CLUB; presents Jon Palmer Acoustic Band @ BRADFORD IRISH CENTRE, BD1 2RX _REVERB; Revolve sound system + cut yourself in half @ INFLUX (above Rios), BD1 2AL Sat 10th Mar_ _ROBOTS VERSUS SHARKS PRESENTS BUSKER’S RETREAT; acoustic musicians + cheap vegan grub @ THE 1 IN 12 CLUB, BD1 2LY _STYLUS AND WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM TOM? PRESENT START, LOOK AND LISTEN; next level decor, lighting + live art: artists inc Goo Bur + Spat, djs inc Rubber Duck + the Jew @ SMALLWORLD VENUE, BD21 2JP _UNITED VOICE PRESENTS; performance art, noise music + djs @ THE 1 IN 12 CLUB, BD1 2LY _SUPERCHARGER; live bands + djs @ GASWORKS, BD1 1SW _TI AMO; live music @ DELIUS LIVED NEXT DOOR, BD7 1BQ _SHADES OF RED; classic rock @ New Inn, Thornton, BD13 3JX _HENRIK SCHWARZ; Jazz infused Techno @ Faversham, Leeds, LS2 9NG Tue 13th Mar_

_ROMEO +JULIET; Moscow City Ballet (also Wednesday) @ ST. GEORGE’S HALL, BD1 1JT _THE DRAWING CLUB; models, music, projections: impressionism + post impressionism @ DELIUS ARTS CENTRE, BD7 1AA

Wed 14th Mar_

ART FARMERS OPEN MIC; tunes, words, performance from the people of Bradford @ NEW BEEHIVE INN, BD1 3AA

Thu 15th Mar_ ST. PATRICK’S; Singers + musicians night @ BRADFORD IRISH CENTRE, BD1 2RX www.drawing-club.blogspot.com www.impressions-gallery.com www.kirkgatecentre.org.uk www.1in12.com www.dublab.co.uk www.gasworkvenue.com www.brad.ac.uk/gallery www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk

Fri 16th Mar_

_THE MORNING AFTER + NEONFLY; live bands + djs@ GASWORKS, BD1 1SW _LEONID + LARISA GOROKHOVA; classical cello + piano @ BRADFORD CATHEDRAL, BD1 4EH

Sat 17th Mar_ _OPERATION ERROR; live bands + djs@ GASWORKS, BD1 1SW _UFO CLUB; 60s psychedelic + rock and roll @ POLISH CLUB, BD5 OBH _JULABA KUNDA; folk/world music @ OTLEY COURT HOUSE, LS21 3AN Tue 20th Mar_

_THE DRAWING CLUB; models, music, projections: impressionism + post impressionism @ DELIUS ARTS CENTRE, BD7 1AA

Wed 21st Mar_

_STEAMPUNK; costumes, objects, artwork, memorabilia (until 7th May) @ BRADFORD INDUSTRIAL MUSEUM, BD2 3HP

Thu 22nd Mar_

_TOPIC FOLK CLUB; presents Stanley Accrington @ BRADFORD IRISH CENTRE, BD1 2RX

Fri 23rd Mar_ _DURATION AND IMMERSION; Mike Flowers Band + Inca Eyeball @ POLISH CLUB, BD5 OBH _EDDIE LAWLER AND FIONA-KATIE ROBERTS; singer/songwriter + harpist @ CAROLINE ST SOCIAL CLUB, BD18 3JZ _JAH WOBBLE AND KEITH LEVINE; metal box in dub @ HEBDEN BRIDGE TRADES CLUB, HX7 8EE _TRIAXIS + ELIMINATOR + ALLERJEN; live bands + djs @ GASWORKS, BD1 1SW _JATP JAZZ; Stuart McCallum @ BRADFORD IRISH CENTRE, BD1 2RX Sat 24th Mar_ _DUBLAB; Inspirational Sound ft Dan-I + Dublab crew meets Underground Roots Sound System + special guests @ POLISH CLUB, BD5 OBH _AXIS SOUND SYSTEM; reggae: velvet earthquake style @ KIRKGATE CENTRE, BD18 3EH _THE 309s; live music @ DELIUS LIVED NEXT DOOR, BD7 1BQ Tue 27th Mar_

THE DRAWING CLUB; models, music, projections: impressionism + post impressionism @ DELIUS ARTS CENTRE, BD7 1AA NEDERLANDS DANS THEATER 2; virtuoso European contemporary dance (also Wednesday) @ ALHAMBRA THEATRE, BD1 1AJ

Wed 28th Mar_

_DANGEROUS CORNER BY J.B. PRIESTLEY; by Actor’s Community Theatre (also Thurs + Fri) @ CAROLINE ST SOCIAL CLUB, BD18 3JZ

Thu 29th Mar_ _TOPIC FOLK CLUB; presents Caffrey + McGurk @ BRADFORD IRISH CENTRE, BD1 2RX _HOWDO PRESENTS: Worldwide - Featuring Tom Atta Live + DJ Lubi @ Balanga Basement Cafe Bar, BD1 2RX Fri 30th Mar_

_NO HANDS / OBSCENE BABY AUCTION; Nope + alt pop party @ POLISH CLUB, BD5 OBH _CARPE NOCTUM EVENT; Last Cry + Berlin Black + Distorted Pictures @ GASWORKS, BD1 1SW _HAWORTH BEER FESTIVAL; also Saturday + Sunday @ BRONTE SCHOOL ROOMS, BD22 8DR

Sat 31st Mar_

_GODS OF HELLFIRE + LIFER; live bands + djs@ GASWORKS, BD1 1SW _ANALOG BOMBS; live music @ DELIUS LIVED NEXT DOOR, BD7 1BQ _SALTAIRE VINTAGE HOME AND FASHION FAIR @ VICTORIA HALL, BD18 3JS _THE 1 IN 12 CLUB FUNDRAISER; Antisect + Cress +Hellkrusher @ THE 1 IN 12 CLUB, BD1 2LY _VOODOO SOUP; Contemporary rock @ New Inn, Thornton, BD13 3JX _BECKS & THE BULLETS; + Dave Mckinely + Go Nowhere Fast @ UTOPIA LIVE LOUNGE, GODWIN STREET, BD1 2QT _PARLEZ-VOUS; Hard Dance, House, Electro, Breaks @ THE MILL, BD7 1LU

www.bradford-theatres.co.uk www.bradfordmuseums.org www.fabricculture.co.uk

If you have any events that you would like to publicise please send info to sam@howdomagazine.co.uk

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University of Bradford - Theatre in the Mill University of Bradford - Gallery II Delius Arts Centre Oxfam Bookshop Arts & Resource Community Centre [BIASAN] City Park South Square Gallery & Cafe, Thornton Village The Treehouse Cafe The Mill Bradford Irish Centre Sweet Centre Resaurant 1 in 12 Club

Impressions Gallery Gasworks 17 Balanga Bar 18 I Wear Opticians 19 The Sparrow 20 Russian Restaurant 21 Musicians Centre 22 Midland Hotel Bar 23 Kala Sangam, St.Peter’s House 24 Napoleons Casino & Restaurant 25 Cafe Patisserie 15

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