Salford Media Scene - Issue 3

Salford Media Scene The magazine of SalfordCommunityMediaPartnership

Salford Artist

She maps the city...

corrie's kickin' kirk

Andy Whyment follows his goal...

Misfit music Rappin’ with Briggzy and co.

Steve Evets

...and the Hollywood Planks

Mediacity madness Arts cuts and Quays capers

Issue Three 2011

FREE Salford suss in sounds, sights and nights

Welcome to issue three of Salford Media Scene magazine!

Over the past year, SCMP partners have been busy delivering their own projects – film, theatre, music, courses and much more. For most of us this has been a difficult year funding-wise, however, with an injection of NLDC funding, SCMP continues to roll out amazing projects and ‘save lives’ – yes literally ‘save lives’ (see Pink Grapefruit feature).

The great thing about the SCMP network is that you remain part of it, and continue to receive information about what’s going on.

front cover photo by Gareth Lyons

Salford Media Scene

We’re a fabulously friendly bunch at SCMP, not because we’re here for the community – but because we are the community!

This year the SCMP organisational partnership became a Consortium with the help of Salford CVS and we are in the process of refining what organisational membership means and exploring opportunities to fund future SCMP activity.

If you want to get involved in SCMP just sign up!

Linda Robson, SCMP Twitter: scmp_salford Facebook: SCMP Stuff!

Email: scmp@live.co.uk

Salford Media Scene Contributors Editor: Stephen Kingston InDesign Workshops supported by Sam Twyman Graphics Editor: Lewis Harrison-Wood Words: John Edge, Mike Atherfold, Graham Williamson, Gareth Lyons, Alison Cook, Paul

strategy. Meanwhile SCMP itself had a new logo created, Salford Arts Theatre was given a briefing, and leaflets were produced for exhibitions and community events.

Watson, K. Mac, Jude Bazen, Mike Scantlebury, John Crumpton, Melanie McPhail, Kerry Steadman, Terry Scragg, Bernard Brough, Pete Liggins, Karen Illingworth, Stephen Kingston

SALFORD COMMUNITY MEDIA PARTNERSHIP SCMP was set up three years ago to help Salfordians get a foot in the door of the creative industries, and runs training courses allied with real life experience of being chucked in at the deep end working with local community companies.

This year, as part of SCMP’s PR, Marketing and Branding course we worked closely with the newly refurbished St Sebastian’s Community Centre in Charlestown to create a smart logo and marketing

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Salford Media Scene magazine is the result of SCMP courses in journalism, digital photography and In-Design magazine layout.

Photos: Paul Watson, Albert Spiby, Mike Atherfold, Jamie Stephenson, Verena Kennedy, John Elliott, Blake Pearson, Steve Baker, Bernard

For details of all courses and opportunities contact Linda Robson on 07534 969007 or e-mail SCMP@live.co.uk

Brough, K. Mac, Terry Scragg, Ste-

New SCMP website!!!

Check out www.scmp.info to keep up to date with details of events and opportunities in Salford’s creative industries. You’ll also find on there a digital copy of Salford Media Scene

Atherfold, Gareth Lyons, Johnson

ven Speed, Phil Hamer, Mikey Kay, Jemma Cooper Layout: Chris Arthern, K. Mac, Mike Asa, Lewis Harrison-Wood Proofing: Jude Bazen Printed By: Caric Press Ltd, 525 Ringwood Road, Ferndown, Dorset, BH22 9AQ Tel: 01202 871766 www.caricpress.co.uk

Contents

Salford Media Scene.

Cover Feature 24 Jo Carlon

38 Where’s All Our Cinemas Gone?

Does it matter? We hit the streets

16 Media City Madness

Arts cuts, Quays capers and graffiti walls

28 Salford’s Hidden Bar

Salford Artist - she maps Salford‘s psyche...

Going down the Corridor

Features

Rappin’ with Briggzy and co

12 Steve Evets and Hollywood planks From Cantona To Pirates of the Caribbean

30 Corrie’s Kickin’ Kirk

Andy Whyment follows his goal…

10 Misfit Music

8 Higher Broughtonwood

Tinned up Hollywood prospers

36 Pink Grapefruit In The Area Juicy films and video

22 Salford graffiti Palace.... RIP Salford Media Scene

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NEWS New Young Creatives

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t might sound like some 1980s band with shoulder pads and bad haircuts but the New Young Creatives scheme is actually about getting paid training and a job working in film, theatre, music and art.

CRIS: Unleashing Creativity is looking to take on people aged 18-25 to train as development workers in the creative community. That means basically finding out what the community wants and kind of giving it to them.

“The hardest thing about working in our community has been trying to get the right people for the job, so we’re training them up ourselves” says CRIS founder Alison Surtees.

You get paid for doing the training too. If you’re interested call Steph Pierce on 0161 839 7983 or e-mail steph@unleashingcreativity.org

THE BIG SALFORD FEATURE FILM Salford is making a movie. A great big proper large production and anyone with some skills can be a part of it – from writers and actors, to set designers and editors, to those with admin or even accountancy skills.

“Both this and the Young Creatives programme are going to enable us to push at the base of the industry and give people opportunities to get into the creative sector that are not being offered anywhere else.”

The idea is to give people, who may have had a bit of experience producing a video or something, P.4

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a step up to get real work-based experience and opportunities in the media industry. You won’t need a cv – just whip out the Salford Feature Film!

The Raising Aspirations scheme is aimed at people who are unemployed, on low incomes or who are lone parents.

“After working in Greater Manchester for eight years we’ve got a critical mass in terms of people we’ve trained, supported and nurtured” says Alison Surtees of CRIS: Unleashing Creativity which is managing the project “Both this and the Young Creatives programme are going to enable us to push at the base of the industry and give people opportunities to get into the creative sector that are not being offered anywhere else.”

Want to get on board the big Salford Feature Film?

Give Steph Pierce a ring on 0161 839 7983 or e-mail steph@unleashingcreativity.org

NEWS SALFORD MUSIC FESTIVAL “It’s going to be on fire!”

Rock and indie bands, rappers, DJs and MCs, singer songwriters and folk groups perform everywhere from The Old Pint Pot pub to Monton Unitarian Church, with the vast majority of events being free entry.

Salford Music Festival will continue to grow as a major player on the national and international music scene.

Hanky Park play an acoustic set at The Hope pub on Sat 24th Sept

Although he admits “there are lessons to be learnt from last year”, Ed is passionate about making the 2011 Festival even bigger and better, despite operating on a shoestring …“It’s not about making money” he stresses “It’s all about making music and making it happen”.

Organiser, grass roots music fanatic and former Fall guitarist, Ed Blaney, is confident that the

The Salford Music Festival kicks off with the Grand Final of Salford’s Got Talent at The Willows on September 22nd

Salfords Got Talent

contestants who will take part in the Grand Final of Salford’s Got Talent to be held at The Willows on 22nd September.

All year, loads of acts have been battling each other to be Salford’s number one talent. They’ve been whittled down to twelve lucky

With one heat still to go, those through to the Final so far include a variety of singers, rappers and all round entertainers - Jo Thomas Domonique, One Voice, Sam Moran, Fresh Connections, James Bennett, Louise Bowyer, Milli Alaira, Misfit Music, Helen Rutherford, Daniel Clarke and Lauren Johnstone. Only one act can win the first prize of £500, to be judged by celebrity and music industry judges.

“It’s not about making money” he stresses “It’s all about making music and making it happen” and continues day and night until the Main Stage Finale at The Willows on Sunday 25th with top headline acts.

For full details see www.salfordmusicfestival.co.uk Jude Bazen The Salford’s Got Talent Grand Final is at The Willows on 22nd September, kicking off the Salford Music Festival. Tickets are £7 and available online from www.thewillowsonline.co.uk or by calling 0161 736 8541.

photos by Jamie Stephenson

After the first Salford Music Festival last year, the event is already firmly on the city’s music map and here to stay.

This year, from 22nd - 25th September, four hectic days of gigs all over the city will see over sixty acts covering all types of music.

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NEWS AM DRAM GOES OVER THE MOON

A

lways wished it was you up on that stage singing and dancing, just getting the rush that comes from performing? Well it doesn’t have to be a wish any longer.

and rehearse every Monday and Wednesday night 7.30-10pm at St. Luke’s Parish Hall.

The next production is this year’s panto, Hey Diddle Diddle, written by one of the group Sonia Whittle, and is on from 24th-29th October.

Check out the SLADS website www.slads.co.uk and their facebook page or e-mail them at slads@hotmail.co.uk for further details of how to join or upcoming shows. The box office number for productions is 0161 281 7423.

St. Luke’s Amateur Dramatic Society, or SLADS, is based in Weaste and is always looking for new members to help with shows, either on stage, back stage or front of house. The team put on two shows a year, a musical in May, and a panto in October,

Alison Cook

No turn Unstoned

The Open Mic Night That Comes with a Warning!

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ernard Brough and Mike Skeffington’s adult-only No Turn Unstoned events are hosted every 2-3 months by The Star Inn in Higher Broughton, The Racecourse in Kersal and occasional other venues, where anyone with a yearning for stardom can step up to show off their talent.

Bernard is keen to emphasise that “the poetry and stories can be quite raw at times, which is why we recommend you don’t bring your children along, nor your mother for that matter!”

Bernard explains that it is, within reason, a free-for-all – everyone from singers, to jugglers, musicians, poets, storytellers,

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comedians and fire-eaters [the latter in the beer garden I hope] are all welcome. The only certainties on the bill each time are singer and guitarist Bernard, musician Tony Harvieu and Mike with his ‘tall tales’. The rest is up to you!

To find out when you can join in the fun or just sit back with a pint and enjoy the mayhem, check out www.salfordstar.com or the SCMP facebook site for venues and dates.

Jude Bazen

NEWS

Photo by Verena Kennedy

T

A to Z of Lost Salford Streets

he roving Streets Museum project has landed at the People’s History Museum until 14th September. Alison Cook checks out the exhibition of old Salford street signs, family snaps and audio recordings of what’s fast becoming a lost city…

Once where you would have found streets full of homes, you will now find just wasteland.

Totally empty, unused space throughout Salford. Places that used to be full of life now look like cemeteries.

Lawrence Cassidy, from Lower Broughton, is trying to rebuild a picture of what these now deserted places were once like.

He started the A-Z of Lost Streets which is an online museum, but also with exhibitions taking place throughout Salford.

How many street signs have you collected since you started this project?

Lawrence: We’ve collected around sixty street signs since we started the project. The signs and artefacts we have show less than 10% of the 1,500 streets that have been demolished in the last fifty years.

How did this project begin?

Well I studied Art PhD at Manchester Metropolitan University, and as part of my research I went out to South Africa and visited the District 6 Museum in Cape Town which displays street signs, pictures and memories from District 6, demolished during the apartheid period in South Africa. The A-Z of Lost Streets Museum is based on the District 6 Museum.

What is the aim of the A-Z of Lost Streets?

To recapture a sense of place, which has been lost through excessive demolition over the past fifty years.

Have there been any famous Salford residents who once lived in these now demolished homes?

Yes there have been a few Alastair Cooke, Bernard Summer and Peter Hook from New Order, Christopher Eccleston and John Cooper Clarke. They all lived in lost streets.

Streets Museum: A-Z of Lost Salford Streets runs at the People’s History Museum, Left Bank, Manchester until 14th September. But the online exhibition continues at www.streetmuseum.co.uk e-mail: Lawrence lor_cd63@yahoo.com

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NEWS

Welcome To Higher Broughtonwood

In every sense, Higher Broughton is a million miles away from the futuristic ÂŁbillion MediaCityUK on the Quays.

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hile Salford Quays becomes MediaCityUK, over at the other end of town, unique tinned up terraced houses in Higher Broughton are being used as sets for tv dramas and soaps.

In every sense, Higher Broughton is a million miles away from the shiny glass, futuristic ÂŁbillion MediaCityUK on the Quays.

Here, rows and rows of original terraced houses are tinned up awaiting demolition.

NEWS

Lots of streets have already been obliterated by the bulldozers but others are still standing as local residents fight to save their homes with a High Court injunction stopping any further destruction.

It’s fair to say that these are the most controversial houses in Salford.

Recently, however, cameras have been turning up, not just to feature the residents’ real life struggle on programmes like Newsnight and Dispatches, but also to use the terraces as film sets for Coronation Street and Appropriate Adult, the new ITV drama centred around serial killers Fred and Rose West.

For Coronation Street, overnight, a tinned up terrace was opened up and became the Super Catch chippy, complete with flashing lights and a big smiling cartoon cod. For Appropriate Adult, old fashioned cops, crowds and lights suddenly arrived as the end terrace of Cardiff Street was transformed into the notorious West home at 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester.

Meanwhile, filming for other independent dramas has taken place on the Higher Broughton terraced streets which make the perfect location – closed off, available to alter to fit any scene

and classic examples of northern working class homes that are fast disappearing.

The houses have also aroused the interest of SAVE Britain’s Heritage group which is currently looking into legal action to stop Salford Council demolishing them.

The infamous Higher Broughton houses featured on Appropriate Adult and Coronation Street

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THE

MISFITS ARE

SICK! Teamed together by hardened mic battler, Briggzy, Salford now has a collective of rappers under the banner of Misfit Music. Kerry Steadman met up with the lads in Whit Lane to get a taste of the totally sick‌

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As we all sit in the Amber Project hut in Whit Lane, Misfit Music explain their approach to the music industry. With a combination of top You Tube videos and live gigs around the city, including Whit Lane’s Party In The Park, Chimney Pot Park’s Super Salford Saturday and at the forthcoming Salford Music Festival, the Misfits infamy is spreading…

Photos by Blake Pearson

Kerry: How did you get together

Kerry: Salford isn’t really known

as a group?

for its rap scene, is this changing?

Briggzy: I put Notes and Kamo to-

Kamo: We’re all local lads from

gether and was going to quit music for a bit and manage them. Then we did a gig for the biggest British hip hop act called Rhyme Asylum and everyone said it was sick… `What’s the group called?’. So from there we just called ourselves the Misfits; then Ric Charles came in as the producer, then Illatant decided he wanted to join…it was just random but we’ve all known each other for years.

Salford basically, Lower Broughton and Irlams O’ Th’ Height, Higher Broughton and Whit Lane…we’re all local.

Kerry: What type of rap do you

do?

Briggzy: With the Misfits you’re gonna get something completely different from what I used to sound like, a bit more commercial. And Notes is a sick dancer as well! I’d say that the majority of our music, especially for the new CD we’re doing is more street music. People our age don’t want to hear people singing choruses, they want tunes you can play in your car leaving the window up or they’ll think you’re a gangster! That’s the new sound that we’re coming with.

Notes: We’re all from Salford but

it’s hard to get gigs here, especially for the music we do. Everywhere we’ve gone has said `Na we don’t do hip hop here’. So it’s good that we can showcase our music, which is the biggest form of music out right now. We all just get together and have fun at things like Party In The Park and Super Salford Saturday.

Briggzy: We played The Crescent

pub recently and it was rammed so we’ve got a fair few followers.

Kerry: Have you got any new

tunes coming out?

Notes: We’ve not been in the studio much, we’ve had a break and been performing for about six months.

Briggzy: We’ve got a mixtape

coming soon called Misfit Music: Button 5, The Initiation. Button 5 is a Mafia term for a gang of killers. But it’s in a music sense, so gang of killers is not about killing people, it’s about killin’ every tune we do.

We’ve also done the odd things like a Help Our Heroes track which is on iTunes and all the money from that goes to soldiers, and there’s loads of tracks on You Tube.

Kerry: Briggzy, we’ve been

waiting a long time for your solo album, Gingerfication, to come out – is it in sight?

Briggzy: We released the single, Home, from it ages ago, that’s when the album was going to drop, but I don’t want to release something that people are paying for and it’s rubbish. I want it to come out and for people to say it was worth the five or six quid that you pay for it. So hopefully it will be a classic. There is a launch party for Gingerfication plus loads of top rap acts at the Crescent Pub 30th September. It is only £3 and gingers get in free.

Find loads of Misfit Music videos on You Tube and more info at www.briggzy.co.uk Also, see the Misfits at the Salford Music Festival Old Pint Pot 23rd September

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FROM TO THE

CANTONA CARRIBEAN Broughton actor, Steve Evets, thought he was sorted when he was offered a part in the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film with Johnny Depp. So how did Steve, who starred with Eric Cantona in Looking For Eric, get on with the Hollywood planks?

Bernard Brough joins the journey…

O

K so how many people do you know who have travelled the world, spent their eighteenth birthday in a Bombay brothel, been kicked out of the merchant navy, survived horrific injuries in a bar fight and been a pirate?

Let me introduce you to Ernest Hemingway, er, I mean Steve Evets. Steve’s a Broughton lad who has taken a rather circuitous route via the Merchant Navy and a string of jobs and situations to a position where he is now an actor capable of playing an array of roles - from a psychopathic murderer in Scott and Bailey, to Colin an alcoholic Christian in Rev, to the brilliant lead in Looking For Eric.

Steve’s path has not been easy.

He joined the merchant navy on leaving school.

“I’m from Salford and most of us went into factories, it was kind of what we were bred for” he recalls “When I left school I had no idea what to do until the last day at St Albert’s when this guy came in and showed us a film about the merchant navy and I thought `Yeah P.12

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I’ll have a bit of that, it’ll help me see the world a bit’. I was in there for about three years. It was great, we didn’t have to salute any officers and when the ship got into port you went ashore and went mad.”

After being kicked out of the merchant navy, Steve got married and tried settling down, but it was hard.

“I hated working in a job” he says “I didn’t particularly like to earn money to buy things that I didn’t particularly need. So when my marriage broke up, I was out of work and signed up for a foundation course at Abraham Moss. It was in English and maths, which I didn’t like, but there was also drama which piqued my interest.

“Then they started a new course which was just drama” he adds “You had to put on three productions a year and we even had a budget. We had to write, direct, do costume, publicity and organise the tour.”

That year-long course encouraged Steve further and he started his own theatre company with a couple of friends.

“It was basically doing street theatre and passing a hat round” he says “So we made a bit of money.”

It was around that time that Steve joined Equity and changed his name from Steve Murphy to Evets, as there was already a Steve Murphy on Equity’s books.

He worked as an extra on programmes like Coronation Street, but as Steve says “That was not enough for me...I stopped doing extra work and joined the Actor’s Centre in Manchester.”

From there Steve learned audtion pieces and with sheer perseverance he got to the stage where work started to trickle in, and more roles came along…

“They were giving me lines to learn, parts to get into and I loved that.”

explains “He makes you do loads of improvisation exercises about your character...you know, your character’s past, his present, but not his future. He also gives you the script a couple of days before shooting so the story feels like it’s unfolding day by day.

After signing with an agent, more tv parts came along and perhaps through sheer bloody mindedness his reputation grew. To date, the biggest and, for Steve, the most enjoyable success was starring in Ken Loach’s Looking for Eric.

On the other hand, working with Johnny Depp and co on Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was the worst experience...

“It’s the way Ken Loach works, he shoots in sequence which is very unusual, and doesn’t let his actors see the script” Steve

“Artistically the worst job I’ve ever done” Steve scorns “I was there for nine weeks – six weeks in Hawaii and three weeks in Los Angeles.

They flew me out first class, put me in five star hotels and paid me a stupid amount of money, but I’m

on screen for about two seconds.

Blink and you’ll miss me.

“But I got to be a pirate, meet Johnny Depp and be on the Queen Anne’s Revenge - Blackbeard’s ship - with Ian McShane. And I met a great bunch of lads” he adds “Adventure-wise it was great, but artistically the worst job in the world.”

After leading such an eventful life you might think that Steve Evets’ head could have been turned, and the success affected him. But no, it hasn’t. He is still the same Steve Murphy that went to St Albert’s all those years ago.

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ECCLES

COMMUNITY ART GALLERY In a formerly disused shop unit in Eccles Shopping Precinct an art gallery has sprung up.

Karen Illingworth tells her own story...

W

hen I moved to Eccles twenty five years ago I was amazed by the amount of talent that was simply ‘invisible’ because there was nowhere to exhibit their work. The larger galleries don’t generally display work unless you are known, and you don’t become known unless you can exhibit.

I curated an exhibition for my art class at Swinton Library and it set me thinking about other possibilities. Eccles town centre was my

location of choice. I knew I could create something lively and interesting for local people to visit.

In October 2008 Kyla Ankers, Eccles Shopping Centre Manager, lent me an empty shop unit for a weekend to display artwork. The management and landlord liked what I had put together so much that two years later I am still there!

We show a wide variety of artwork and I would like to encourage participation from different groups.

Photo by Phil Hamer A big feature of the Gallery is that the artists help staff it where possible, so there is the opportunity for the public to talk to the artists about their work, and the artists benefit from their feedback.

Eccles Community Art Gallery can be found at Unit 4 Boothway Eccles M30 0EB, and is open to the public on Tuesdays 1-3pm and Saturdays 10-4pm.

To get involved see www. ecclescommunityartgallery.org

PUMP ART

Strong beer and art meet at Salford’s only independent brewery as Paul Watson discovers…

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any breweries will have just one brand logo, full stop. But Salford’s only independent brewer has a new design for every occasion and each new ale it brews.

Photo by Paul Watson

The Star Brewery, based at the Star Inn community-owned pub in Broughton, creates ‘pump clips’ (the logos that go on beer pumps) that are now as eagerly awaited as the new beers and have even become collectors’ items. Images have ranged from Julius Caesar to

Christopher Eccleston to the Star Inn itself bathed in moonlight.

“I create an image to illustrate the spirit of the beer” says Jude Bazen, whose partner Richard runs the Salford microbrewery “Branding each of our beers helps to demonstrate that each one has its own unique character and identity.”

There was even a series of pump clips that featured a `Bitter Tirade’ of wrath against the big powerful breweries.

See a range of Star Brewery artwork at the Star Inn, Back Hope Street, Broughton.

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I MARRIED A CULT FIGURE FROM SALFORD

After thirty years, a video for the world’s first double B-sided single is being released. Why? Here the video’s producer and director, John Crumpton, explains his ongoing fascination with John Cooper Clarke…

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e’re about to release a new video, I Married A Cult Figure From Salford, but its origins lie some thirty years in the past when the target of its satire, Salford Baird, John Cooper Clarke was approaching the zenith of his celebrity.

In those long gone days the idea of an artist ‘selling out’ was viewed as a betrayal of their fans and their supposed artistic integrity, rather than now, when it is seen as a considered marketing strategy by their management.

In a short space of time JCC had gone from being the thinking person’s punk poet to signing a lucrative recording contract with CBS Records, and was relocating from seedy Salford to sunny Stevenage.

by Mike Rowe. We wanted to put out the soundtrack, Tea Machine Dub, as a 7” vinyl single by Steve Hopkins but we were lacking a ‘B’ side.

Mike Rowe came up with, I Married a Cult Figure, and in the original version of the duet he performed Clarkie’s part.

Written from the point of view of JCC’s imagined girlfriend/ wife, and sung by the wonderful Cathy La Crème, she relates the story of their ‘affair’ and her subsequent abandonment as she is left behind in the wake of his upwardly mobile trajectory.

The record was pressed and was the first double ‘B’ sided single, eventually selling 2,000 copies, and climbing the indie charts of the time. John Peel liked it and played it on Radio One. But in the days before MTV there was no money or shop window for a video.

Back in 1980 I had just directed a twenty minute film drama, Last year was the thirtieth The Tea Machine, set in a Manchester canteen and written anniversary of the record, and

it seemed a good time to put that right. A new voice, Neil Bell, was found for JCC on the soundtrack, and actors Tam Hinton (as JCC) and Rachel Priest (as Cathy) stepped forward to play the main parts on the video. It was shot by cameraman Andy Davies over two days in Salford last November.

I’ve got some original film footage of the real John Cooper Clarke that I shot myself in 1982 so this has been edited in and gives the five minute film an added layer of irony and humour.

I’ve always been a big fan of John Cooper Clarke. Hopefully when he sees this he’ll laugh at what we’ve recreated thirty years on - and not be dialing up his legal team!

The video should be available to view by late September. See www.johncrumpton.co.uk for updates Salford Media Scene

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MEDIA CITY

MADNESS

by Stephen Kingston

Over at MediaCityUK £millions are being spent on art and ‘community engagement’. But at the same time, Salford art and media companies that already work with the community are struggling. The contrast is quite staggering…

In the Langworthy Cornerstone, football game cards are being passed around the café. It’s only a quid to play and the money raised goes towards a new roof at Salford Arts Theatre.

Currently, when it rains the foyer is covered in buckets and they’re almost handing umbrellas out at the box office.

At Ordsall Community Arts, cultural worker Gail Skelly is on a sponsored 22 week `dry run’ where, for a quid a week per person, she won’t touch any alcohol. She’s trying to raise money for the annual Lighting The Legend community firework display.

A few hundred yards away at Ordsall Community Cafe, Bob Jeffery has just completed a sponsored cycle ride from Lands End to John O’Groats to raise money for ongoing community work.

All over Salford, community workers are trying to come to terms with the new Government and local council reality which has seen, and will see even more in the future, savage cuts to funding for their projects.

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Ordsall Community Arts (OCA) is based almost across the road from MediaCityUK in an area where child poverty runs at over 53%. Everything positive in that community seems to flow through OCA, from community gardens to the Ordsall’s Got Talent contest, to art exhibitions and festivals, adults’ and kids’ cultural clubs.

parade which culminates in a firework show.

“This year we don’t have enough money to have a decent firework display and I really want people to know” Gail says “It suddenly twigged one day that if I could get myself sponsored I could get the money but also get it talked about.”

Before applying for external grants, OCA usually starts the year with £40,000. This year it was £25,000, or a 40% cut, including £12,500 axed directly from the government’s Area Based Grant. The organisation has lost

Hence, Gail’s sponsored dry run for 22 weeks ending on the 4th November. But this is not just about getting the money for a wicked firework display. Lighting The Legend was started 19 years ago to stop kids getting

“I don’t let if affect me, because if I did I’d probably go stark raving mad!”

Roni Ellis, Salford Arts Theatre

a part time worker as a result, while grants from sources like Ordsall and Langworthy’s Community Committee have already been reduced as a consequence of Salford Council’s 15% cut in the Committee’s budget.

“It’s looking like grants are going to be harder to get and we’re going to be doing less work in the community because there’s more time needed to be spent on fundraising” explains OCA cultural worker, Gail Skelly “At the beginning of the year we were all concerned with how the cuts were affecting all kinds of different services. We lost the youth services manager in Ordsall and we had to start to think how we were going to raise money for the projects that the community expect – that’s why I made it personal.”

Lighting The Legend is Ordsall’s own version of bonfire night, that happens on the Ordsall Hall site where Guy Fawkes was said to have hatched his original plot to blow up Parliament. Each year, special lanterns are made in local schools and community groups, and around four hundred people take part in a

involved in setting off fireworks and bonfires all over the estate. It’s about calming antisocial behaviour, increasing kids’ safety and raising aspirations by getting them involved in creative arts. Lighting The Legend is a microcosm of the importance of community media and arts in, for want of a better word, disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

“I work with a young person, who wouldn’t say anything to me, but told someone else…`I was on the wrong road and if it wasn’t for OCA I’d still be on that wrong road’” Gail recalls “I think that art in a community setting has got a huge, indescribably powerful role to play. But these projects need continuity…and the Tories have taken that away.”

It’s not just in Salford that government and local council cuts might reverse the positive affects of community and cultural work.

Nationally, almost three thousand full time staff who work with young people have lost their jobs and Graham Stuart, chair of Parliament’s Education Select Committee has warned that an increase in crime is “inevitable”.

Salford Media Scene

P.17

THE MEDIACITYUK MILLIONS Media Enterprise Zone Fund:

£10million over next 5 years

Community Engagement Plan:

£161,000

Quays Signature Project Sculpture: £68,000 Welcoming the BBC to MediaCityUK and MIF:

£520,000

“If you cut summer activities for young people as night follows day you will see an increase in crime” Professor John Pitts Salford City Council has made huge cuts to this type of work, mostly imposed by the LibDem Conservative coalition Government. At the top end, £1.2million (42%) has been axed from Salford’s youth budget as a “new integrated youth service” is launched; Salford’s culture department is expecting cuts of between 26 and 28% over the next four years, and the Positive Action for Young People project has been slashed by 50%.

The community media and creative groups that we spoke

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Salford Media Scene

to have all tried to keep their work going this summer, perhaps because everyone knows the consequences if it stops…

“If you cut summer activities for young people as night follows day you will see an increase in crime” says Professor John Pitts who advises London local authorities on gang and knife crime. This, he pronounced months before the summer riots.

“There has been no funding made available to provide summer

activities but we are going ahead with our Crazy Customised Cycle Competition and funding it ourselves as we know that there is a need to provide positive activities during the holiday period” says Trish Bartlett, Chief Executive of Gears+, the motor based arts group which was set up seven years ago `to provide positive and diversionary activities for young people’.

Similarly The Lowry, despite a £150,000 cut in funding, told us “We have committed to deliver a significant body of community work under our Walkabout banner. This work has not been scaled back and will go ahead as planned.”

The sentiments are echoed by John Sculley, Salford’s Museums and Heritage Services Manager…

“No family activities are affected, we’ve been especially focused on keeping our summer exhibition family/child friendly” he says.

Despite this ongoing summer work, the cuts have really begun to bite. CRIS: Unleashing Creativity, which does loads of community work based around film, made six

people redundant at the end of last March.

ARTS CARNAGE IN SALFORD

“We had no new projects or contracts at the time” says CRIS co-ordinator, Alison Surtees “We have got one now but at a much reduced price - a15% cut. We were lucky to access Transition Funding from the Government managed by Big Lottery, so we can build out internal mechanisms and be ready for new contracts. It’s supporting us to do Quality Marks, improve our education offer and train new development workers for CRIS amongst other things.”

Salford Council Arts Department: Salford Community Leisure: Salford Youth Service: Salford Community Committees: Salford Schools Music Service: Positive Action for Young People: Little Hulton Small Project Fund: Winton Small Projects Fund: Salford Film Festival: The Lowry: CRIS:Unleashing Creativity: Salford City Radio: Working Class Movement Library: Ordsall Community Arts: Embrace refugee and asylum seeker programme: National Play Day Celebration at Albert Park: Magic Garden performance/art activity: Dirt and Dreams: Proms in the Park: Community Media Centre at MediaCityUK:

Meanwhile, GEARS+, as yet, hasn’t been so lucky…

“We haven’t experienced any direct percentage cuts as most of the services we deliver with council funding are contracted or commissioned each year” says Trish Bartlett “However this year we have been subject to delay after delay… the overall impact of this is that, like a lot of third sector organisations, we are having to look at short time working in the hopes of avoiding redundancies.”

Other arts and media organisations are trying to offset the cuts by pulling in income from wherever they can. While the big organisations like The Lowry and Salford Art Gallery and Museum can increase income by growing their commercial sides (car parking charges, exhibition loans etc), small community groups haven’t got this option.

So Bob Jeffery has got on his bike for the Ordsall Community Café, Gail Skelly has gone on a sponsored dry run, and Salford Arts Theatre is passing around the footy cards. Basically they’re having to look to their own, hardly rich, communities for financial help.

26-28% cut over next 4 years £1.16milion cut over three years £1.2million cut (42%) £196,000 cut £300,000 cut £700,000 cut £10,000 cut £10,000 cut £20,000 cut £150,000 cut 15% cut; 6 redundancies £6000 cut £10,000 cut 40% cut, one job lost cut cut cut reduced in scale cut cut

“Art in a community setting has got a huge, indescribably powerful role to play” Gail Skelly, Ordsall Community Arts

CRIS Production: Pack Up Your Troubles

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Ordsall Festival photo by Mike Atherfold

“Maybe there is a Big Society thing that’s going on, they’re cutting costs here there and everywhere” decides Roni Ellis of Salford Arts Theatre.

After years of uncertainty Roni, who works with upwards of fifty local kids doing drama, has just got a ten year lease on the theatre from Salford Council “on the premise that the Council doesn’t help us in any way, shape or form”. They’ve leased it out to her with a roof that leaks waterfalls into the foyer when it’s raining…

“We said to parents and kids who we work with that if we don’t get this roof done this winter we would be in a really vulnerable position” she explains “So some of the parents started it off. Mike and Cheryl from The Weaste pub gave us some football cards and £80 they collected from the cards in the pub. Then they came up with the idea of doing a boxing night

in October, and The Willows have kindly given us the room for free.

“We’ve been quoted £5220 to get the flat area of the roof sorted, and with the money we have in the bank and from the football cards I reckon we need to raise £3000 by September. We probably won’t get there. But we can try.”

While everyone involved in community media and culture is scrambling around trying to keep their work rolling, to keep staff in jobs and even to keep roofs over their heads, over at MediaCityUK it’s a completely different story.

Last January, the Salford Star revealed that out of £161,000 `Salford Community Engagement’ money for MediaCityUK, only £10,000 was set aside for Ordsall and Langworthy community groups to fight over. The rest was being given to five other organisations, only one of which was based in Salford. Following the exposure, the funding was put on hold and is still to be allocated.

The Star also estimated that out of almost £1.5million Public Sector Partners Programme which was supposed to further engage the community in MediaCityUK, a

Millions of pounds worth of public money is being sucked into the new `City’, and a lot of that money has the word `Salford community’ attached to it. Yet local community organisations, working with local people every day, don’t seem to be getting a sniff of the funding. photo by Jemma Cooper

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Salford Media Scene

staggering £1.3million never went near the community, with the money going on `research’, `consultancy’, `overheads’ and `virtual’ and `core’ programme teams. This year, Salford Council has spent £520,000 on three events for the Manchester International Festival and to “celebrate the BBC’s arrival in Salford and the opportunities they and MediaCityUK will bring

artists. Instead students from the University of Salford and from art institutions from Italy and Romania were invited to enter.

“We’ve always prided ourselves on collaborating with the communities we work in” says Scott Neal of LPC Living “so when it came to developing the open space at Radclyffe Park

Out of £161,000 `Salford Community Engagement’ money for MediaCityUK, only £10,000 was set aside for Ordsall and Langworthy community groups to fight over… to the city”. No Salford community media groups were involved in the staging of these events.

Meanwhile, £68,000 is to be spent on a `Quays signature project’ or installation. SCMP bid for the funding on behalf of local artists and community groups but didn’t get it, with the winner still to be announced.

As part of LPC’s new £50million retail and housing development in Ordsall, 100 yards from Salford Quays, £15,000 has been set aside for a new public artwork.

The competition to design it was never open to Salford’s community

we naturally turned to the local University for their assistance.”

Salford Council has also set aside £2million a year for the next five years as a Media Enterprise Zone fund, in part, to support creative industries at Media City – although there’s no actual financial help if local media companies want to get in there. And Salford’s proposed Make Media centre for community groups was axed by the North West Development Agency in its first round of cuts.

Salford Council also withdrew its £20,000 funding for the Salford Film Festival which showcases our

community made movies. As we go to press the Festival is in danger of not happening at all this year.

You can argue ‘til the cash cows come home whether MediaCityUK itself will benefit Salford’s community with jobs. But what is clear is that it certainly isn’t providing work or contracts for Salford’s grass roots community media, youth and art companies.

The gulf between the huge amounts of public money being spent at MediaCityUK and the cuts affecting local groups is staggering.

When the sums for just a couple of MediaCityUK projects are put to Gail Skelly it’s enough to make her almost reach for the bottle again…

“Where’s that money gone?” she asks “What’s going through my mind is `What could we do with that money?’…I would have an Ordsall Community Arts post in every area of Salford. I’d have a cultural worker working alongside organisations like the Broughton Trust and the Seedley and Langworthy Trust…”

But Roni at Salford Arts Theatre is not about to jump off her roof…

“To be honest” she says “I don’t let if affect me – because if I did I’d probably go stark raving mad!

You’ve just got to try and pursue what you want to do.

“However, without the work that people like Gail and ourselves do, there would be more anti-social behaviour, crime figures would probably go up and aspirations go down…”

Salford Arts Theatre’s Fundraising Boxing Night is at The Willows, Weaste Lane October 20th.

Tickets available from: www.salfordartstheatre.com Salford Media Scene

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IN MEMORY OF SALFORDS

GRAFFITI PALACE

words by SK

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Salford Media Scene

D

own by the Manchester Ship Canal, almost across the road from Ordsall Hall, Salford had another unique hidden gem – a Graffiti Palace, where artists from all over Greater Manchester came to display their creativity in a huge, ever changing outdoor public gallery.

Salford Council described the Palace as “one of the longest unbroken stretches of graffiti in the city” but declared it a “growing problem” and “a significant negative impact on future investment potential”.

It has now spent £15,000 removing the art, as part of `Ordsall River Park’ improvements

costing £1,102,915 which will see a walkway between Manchester City Centre and MediaCityUK, and eventually intends to replace the Palace with “bespoke’ green, graffiti-proof screens” which would “embrace a panel design with vibrant colours complementing the Irwell River Park branding”.

Currently, the former Graffiti Palace, first featured in issue 1 of Salford Media Scene, is reduced to a secret warehouse and just two walls that make up the sides of a private factory on the site where the owner is happy to allow artists freedom of expression.

SALFORD GRAFFITI PALACE R.I.P.

Salford Media Scene

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Jo Carlon goes under the simple title of Salford Artist. Never has that name been more apt as she maps her physical, emotional and aesthetic ties to the River Irwell and beyond.

Gareth Lyons charts where Jo is coming from…

”

don’t know where it’s going to take me...nobody is doing anything like this” muses Salford Artist Jo Carlon on her personal artistic journey incorporating maps and memories.

“Life is a circus…life is busy, we’re constantly bombarded with images which I’m trying to bring into my current work” she explains, to show how small we are in the grand scheme of things. Just small dabs of paint on the canvas of life.

Lounging on a chaise longe in her studio at Salford’s Islington Mill, life seems to be okay for Jo, who is successfully juggling a fulltime job as well as her art career which has seen her work in television, theatre and as a privately commissioned artist.

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Salford Media Scene

Photos by Gareth Lyons Salford Media Scene

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Born and raised in Salford, Jo spent her childhood in Higher and Lower Broughton and has also lived in Eccles, Irlams O’ Th’ Height and Kersal. It’s no surprise that Jo’s Facebook pseudonym is Salford Artist as there aren’t many places within the city she hasn’t called home. Her experiences of living within the bustle of Salford have allowed her to use these experiences to become the artist she is today.

They are snapshots of the world Jo lives in and as a consequence our world as well.

Using maps of places personal to her as a base, Jo draws in the roads and rivers to create a web on canvas or, as she explains, the “human trials of existence”. She then fills in this web with her thoughts, life experiences, current events and memories.

There has to be progression i n my work....

With a degree in visual arts from the University of Salford, Jo is a multidimensional artist, illustrated in a burgeoning portfolio which includes portraits, figurative work, landscapes, set design, fashion, design and poetry.

While she is in demand as a commercial artist, the images she is currently creating away from that career are, for her, deeply personal and introspective.

Each piece, a mix of traditional and conceptual art, inspired mainly by Picasso and J.W. Turner, is unique and takes approximately six months to create. Once Jo has created the web she herself doesn’t know the direction the work will take, mimicking the meanderings of the River Irwell which has been the centrepiece for many of these images. One thing is for certain; each piece is poignant and, like the maps from which Jo draws, captures a moment in her lifetime.

Jo uses a variety of mediums to create these works - from paint, flyers and magazine pictures, to reviews from her own work. Each section of the collage is drawn together within the web by aboriginal artinspired dots, which represent the “light, repetition and energy” of human existence. In what is a break from many of her commission pieces, Jo finds solace in this personal work as she believes that there “has to be progression in my work…I can’t become the artist I want to be until I have painted a lot longer.”

Jo’s belief in progression and challenging herself as an artist in her map work has resulted in praise and recognition from the public, her peers

and from unexpected places.

At the Ordsall Community Arts Exhibition she was told by the organiser that her work was many people’s `star of the show’. Jo seems even more proud when she speaks of how some schools in the city have integrated her map work into parts of their curriculum.

It is therefore no surprise that Jo is currently working on some more of these images, and although not finished she enthuses over her representation of Irlam’s O’ Th’ Height, and the religious iconography she’s using to show how her Catholic upbringing influenced her early life.

Without prior knowledge of how Jo’s map images combined together, the full meaning of her work may be missed by the viewer…

“That’s the thing about being an artist, people want an explanation” she says “When you’re trying to get the image out and envisage it in your mind you’re not worried about an explanation, you’re just trying to get what’s in your head out!”

than ten years. She explains that Salford has always had an excellent and diverse range of artistic talent in the city. But now that the BBC is coming, suddenly art and media is taking centre stage. She echoes the thoughts of many when she says “maybe the council needs to start looking on its own doorstep instead of bringing in southern artists to do our stuff. ..

I can’t become the artist I want to be until I have pai nted a lot longer.

This is what makes the work so poignant and interesting. Jo has opened herself up and trusted us, the audience, to her innermost thoughts and memories.

Away from her art, Jo has also got plenty to say about Salford’s creative scene, as one who has been involved within it for more

...they want to have a look on their own doorstep, they may be pleasantly surprised.”

Jo hopes that her current batch of work will be ready around Christmas time, so she can exhibit them for her ever-growing band of followers.

See more of Jo’s work at www.jocarlonart.com or search Salford Artist on Facebook

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THE

Secret

Corridor

Photos by Jamie Stephenson P.28

Salford Media Scene

Salford boasts one of the most famous bars you’ve never heard of.

Pete Liggins investigates...

A

tiny blue neon lit sign, half way down an uninviting alleyway, is the only invitation you’ll get to Salford’s most secret venue.

Corridor opened in 2008 with no hype, no fanfare and certainly no publicity. People liked finding out about it through ‘word of mouth’ and the feeling of exclusivity that gave them. Soon the Guardian, Financial Times and FHM were handing out five star reviews and last year it won the Northern Hospitality Award’s Best Bar prize.

too many people where his new venue actually was. A lot of customers even wake up the next morning, not quite sure where they’ve been.

Founder Ian Morgan was working in the hospitality industry when he wanted a change of scene and decided to move up from Bristol.

It’s not an exclusive bar, if you can find it you can go in, but its mainly cocktail menu will only ever appeal to a minority of drinkers. Because of this and some tight lipped regulars, Ian says the bar is able to keep under the mainstream radar.

“it’s not an exclusive bar, if you can find it , you can go in.”

“It was just when Deansgate Locks had first opened” he recalls “a friend running a bar invited me up, so I packed a couple of bags and paid a deposit on a flat I had never even seen in Salford.”

It proved to be a good choice, with the North West offering a stream of opportunities for someone with a skill for mixing cocktails. While working at the Sugar Lounge and at just 25 years old, Ian was named the UK’s Bartender of the Year.

That success brought with it the opportunity to go it alone, co-founding Socio Rehab in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Four years on and Ian was ready to open his ideal bar, a passion project created without compromise. It brought him to an old textile factory, half way down an unlikely looking alleyway in the back streets of Salford. Of course, being Ian, he wasn’t planning on telling

“You’re in the taxi talking, not paying attention to where you’re going” he explains “Then suddenly you’re here, you get out and have a good time – hail a taxi home. The next day you’re not exactly sure where we are. They certainly wouldn’t be putting their mortgage on it.”

“In some ways we’re quite lucky, you speak to a lot of people and they’re very wary of who they tell...I don’t know whether that’s a bit selfish or not?” says Ian “If we advertised we could probably pack it out more, but that’s a dangerous road to go down. You get that crowd in and it’s great for six months, but one day you look around and all the regulars have gone. It’s easy to get greedy and watch it disappear very quickly”.

Although it’s whispered quietly, Salford not Manchester is home to one of the country’s best new bars.

Find Corridor at 6-8 Barlow Croft, M3 5DY www.corridorbar.co.uk Salford Media Scene

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Andy Whyment has become a household face playing Kirk Sutherland in Coronation Street.

But his yearning to be an actor started really young – in Salford, and definitely not in LA, as John Edge discovers…

CORONATION STreet's KIRK

I don’t have the heart to tell him the Los Angeles thing is from his official website. Just as well that he’s not from L.A. Andy has starred in two of the most iconic and wellloved northern television shows, The Royle Family and Coronation Street.

Stuff. For the next few years after that it was just like one episode in different things.”

I

“I’ve been acting since I was eight” Andy tells me “It was a hobby when I was at school and my sister used to go to a dancing school.

The teacher there gave us the number of an agency and I joined them.

“Then I did The Royle Family starting in 1999” Andy recalls “And in 2000 I started in Coronation Street, and I’ve been there ever since.”

“That’s a load of rubbish!” he retorts “I was born in Hope Hospital.

I’m Salford born and bred. I grew up in Clifton and went to Ambrose Barlow School.”

”I got my first speaking part when I was eleven, in a six part series called Once Upon A Time In The North” he adds ”I played the son of the lead character, acted by Bernard Hill, who was also Yosser Hughes in Boys From The Black

t’s ten o’clock in the morning and actor Andrew Whyment has just finished filming at Granada and isn’t best pleased when I tell him I’ve read that he was born in Los Angeles.

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Salford Media Scene

These included Cracker, Russ Abbot, Where The Heart Is, The Cops and a series Harry Enfield did for Sky.

In The Royle Family, Andy played Darren Sinclair-Jones, Anthony Royle’s best friend. A hapless, slow, inarticulate, but jolly petty criminal who once got caught stealing a fridge. In Coronation Street Andy portrays Kirk Sutherland, brother of Maria, good as gold, but thick as mud. I can’t resist asking if Andy thinks there

are any similarities between Kirk and himself…

“Not really” he decides “but I think Kirk has got a heart of gold and I’d like to think I’ve got a heart of gold too. I’m definitely not as thick as Kirk, but he’s certainly a loveable character, and I enjoy playing him.”

Andy appeared as Kirk doing an X Factor audition which can still be seen on itv.com On the show he expertly works the crowd to his rendition of Kings Of Leon’s hit Sex On Fire.

“It was part of Corrie’s fiftieth anniversary” he explains “They asked if I would do it, so I said `Yeah’. I thought it would be a good craic to sing in front of the X Factor judges.

It was a bit weird though, and I felt a bit of a fraud because I’m there playing a character, and the rest of them are there as themselves, trying to make a career out of singing. I enjoyed it though, and got three `Yeses’ from the judges which was nice.”

Photo by Albert Spiby Andy sings as himself too and came a very creditable second in Soapstar Superstar, just beaten by musical wonder-kid Richard Fleeshman who played Corrie’s teen goth Craig Harris.

Andy’s advice for reaching the goal of professional acting…

“If it’s something you want to do, follow your heart” he urges “Get yourself an agent and work hard”

“If it’s something you want to do, follow your heart” he urges “Get yourself an agent and work hard – and I also have to thank my mum and dad for running me to auditions up and down the country.”

For anyone starting out, hopefully, those auditions will be held now in Salford’s Media City, where the BBC and ITV’s Coronation Street are now moving.

Andy mainly just sings for charity events, and plays football for good “It’s been where it is now for fifty causes too. years and I think moving to Media City is moving with the times” he “I’m a massive Man United fan decides “I think it’s going to be and I go to nearly every single a great set up down there, and I game but I also play a bit for the expect it’s going to be the place All-Stars, which is a team with to be. Everyone seems to be really people from Corrie, Emmerdale excited about it.” and Hollyoaks” he says “I play quite a few charity matches, but I don’t play as much as I used to as Everyone’s also getting excited about Andy’s upcoming Corrie I’ve got two kids now.” storylines which, we understand, Perhaps they should follow Andy’s feature gangland kidnaps, prison and drugs. Very L.A. advice for reaching the goal of professional acting…

Salford Media Scene

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Salford and Manchester have just endured their worst riots in living memory, which have coincided with the 192nd anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre. For those interested in the reasons for such civil unrest, look no further than The Working Class Movement Library.

from

riots roses

to

T

he name ‘library’ belies the other functions and services this gem provides. It provides an unparalleled rich insight into the narratives of ordinary people, detailing their daily struggles and routines. Also included in the extensive collection, are items less of a political persuasion but more cultural, and include folk songs, Industrial Ballads and Sea Shanties, dramas and plays, all of which give great insight into the interests of typical working class people.

is a perfect place to display the various historic plates and jugs commemorating cooperatives and class struggles. Also on display, are a collection of “stunt doubles”, life-sized reproductions of various items, handcrafted by artists based at the nearby creative hub that is Islington Mill.

Words By K.Mac Photos by K.Mac and Gareth Lyons

Recent exhibitions offered have been a timely reminder, given this

A perfect day for those with a sense of history would be to spend a delightful afternoon with the scores of enchanting books.

Then amble down the historic Crescent to the pub that bears its name and sample some fine ales whilst discussing all that has been gleaned during the afternoon spent browsing, and no doubt lament at how perhaps not enough has changed for those on lower

period of austerity when the arts are having their funding axed, of the importance of arts to our culture . As James Oppenheim so eloquently wrote, “Hearts starve as well as bodies, …..we want bread but roses too.”

incomes. For those with some time on your hands, why not discuss the disenfranchised, in the very same place where those two greats, Marx and Engels waxed lyrical and exchanged ideas on those exact same concerns.

A further positive aspect to this library, is the dynamic nature of it.

Fresh and inspiring events include ‘object of the month’ whereby a particular item from the Library’s collection is showcased, as well as the various talks and frequent exhibitions on offer, both photographic and literary which change periodically.

The latest and very recent addition to the Library is the new ceramic display which is currently housed in what was once the photocopier room of the previous tenant, Hazel Blears! A tad too damp in places to house the valuable books, this P.32

Salford Media Scene

That life has improved significantly, albeit not sufficiently, is as a direct consequence of the efforts of all those whose lives and ideals and politics are encapsulated in this very library.

For those of you who get irate by the amount of inequality depicted, this is the place to go to.

Whilst it might serve as a sad reminder that in many ways, little has changed to improve the lot of the masses, certainly in comparable terms to those much richer, it is still nonetheless a very inspiring experience to touch and smell the artefacts representing class struggle through the ages. It’s as if the energy of those heartfelt pioneers of equality are in the room with you, shoulder to shoulder, urging you to take up arms (metaphysically speaking, of course) and continue the fight towards equality and respect for all.

Whilst it appears obvious that the lives of the lower classes have improved dramatically since the likes of Engels roamed the local area, it is still the shameful case that relatively speaking, they are still a poor lot. For those who may dismiss our history or see it as having little cultural significance to today, open your eyes and see the parallels so neatly

drawn out between yesteryear’s poor and today’s. Sure we all have the trappings, the televisions, the PlayStations and so forth, but life expectancy for those on poorer incomes is still way below that of higher earners.

As always, it is those at the bottom that are forced to endure the worse cuts and are affected most by the economic changes taking shape.

Certainly equality amongst the classes has a long way to travel before being truly realized.

The WCML not only records the history of class struggle but it documents the process that we are all still a part of in fighting inequality. Sadly workers struggles and inequality are not a distant chapter in our history but are a part, and a significant part at that, of our very shameful present.

Dipping into the library will hopefully give some impetus to visitors to actively strive to improve equality for all.

For further details about the WCML and future events see: www.wcml.org.uk WCML 51 The Crescent Salford M5 4WX 0161 736 3601

HORRIBLE COMES TO

Mike Atherfold dons a plague mask and steps back in time to meet with the Living Tudors....

I

n the shadow of St Ignatious Church I meet up with Amber Sanchez, the founder member of the Living Tudors, who along with two others is all ready in full regalia. She thrusts a plague mask in my direction and asks if I’d like to join in with the merriment…

“We are a merry band of courtly Elizabethan time travellers, lost on our way to a banquet” Amber tells me, sat at a table set out with a veritable feast of cakes fit for Elizabeth 1st herself.

“We make schoolchildren laugh, and share stories about life in Tudor times” she explains “And we encourage children to compare and contrast then and now.”

The characters they play, however, were real people in those times.

There’s Mistress Middleton (Denise Roberts) a herb and history expert; Dickon the Jester (Ross McCormack) an actor and writer; Lady Margaret (Amber Sanchez), an ex teacher, artist and general show off, and Torkington (Walter

Greenhalgh), a falconry and weapons expert.

“Primarily we are here to entertain and educate and leave all the gruesome details in” Amber laughs “For example, the terrible things Henry VIII did to his wives and all the things you wanted to know but were too embarrassed to ask.

“We also do various craft-based sessions, like weaving, nosegay making, quill writing, spinning and a mystery object handling session” she adds “We teach archery too.

We love toys and games, and each of us has lots of experience working with children and in heritage education.”

Another passion is dancing The Rat Dance, which they perform for

Photos by Mike Atherfold

HISTORI ES

SALFORD

me later. Strange stuff. Amber tells me that she loves dressing up and enjoys early modern history, so this is the perfect project for her.

The Living Tudors get their costumes from ebay, flea markets and enlist neighbours and relatives to create…

“My mum, Yasmin, is a wonderful seamstress and Tudor fanatic” Amber states “She makes fantastic hats, jewels and props. All in all we have a great team behind us.”

But this isn’t just about dressing up and having fun. The Tudors are available for school bookings in Greater Manchester, and normally visit for a day, tailoring activities to the teachers needs. They also do festivals and parties, as well as presenting talks on history. They even perform shows, including one called Punchenella and Joan, an early form of Punch and Judy.

But it’s their love of role play which shines through…

“My character, Lady Margaret, was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth Ist and is supposed to haunt Ordsall” says Amber “They say she died of a broken heart when her twin brother, Alexander, died in Ireland.”

She adds that jesters, far from being poor, often became quite rich when favoured by kings. One was known to be able to do ‘a leap, a whistle and a fart’ all at once.

“I haven’t perfected this yet” she says with a mischievous grin “But Ross has!”

On that note I decide to bid Lady Margaret good day and wish her every success with this venture.

She plays me a parting tune on her flute and curtsees.

Salford Media Scene

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A pink grapefruit has given inspiration for a new film production company that has sprung from the seeds of despair.

Melanie McPhail gets the juice…

Pink Grapefruit Film Productions are: Mike Atherfold & Terry Scragg

FRUITFUL BEGINNINGS

B

oth are smart and well dressed. Mike has a natural humour, and Terry is clearly an intelligent communicator.

Together they make a quirky, yet down to earth pair. From first impressions Mike and Terry are not the sort of people you would associate with depression, nervous breakdowns or homelessness. But they both have these experiences in common. Now a pink grapefruit has allowed them to live a new creative dream.

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Terry was born in Salford, and has lived here for most of his life, apart from a short period spent in Edinburgh. In the Eighties he set up a design company and worked around the world, however this high flying career was not to last, as his life spiralled out of control.

“I lost myself about ten years ago, was homeless, and when I came back down from Edinburgh four years ago I was homeless again” Terry explains “but one of the events which changed my life was

starting with SCMP. If it wasn’t for that I’d be sat in my flat or walking the streets, a suicide case, really.”

Mike’s first job was in a darkroom, and photography had been his childhood passion, which led to completing a degree in photography-based media.

“I’d never thought of getting into film work whatsoever” he says “I’m similar to Terry in the way that I went through a lot of bad years and found myself again

Photos by John Elliott

Check out their ripening creative business project at www.pinkgrapefruitfilmproductions.com

through SCMP. I’m just getting my confidence back again as I had a total breakdown. We both have the same ethos and are the same type of people.”

“I’m so proud of being from Salford, and there are so many creative people at SCMP who have a passion.” Terry

After doing creative courses with SCMP and film making with CRIS: Unleashing Creativity, the crucial moment came whilst the pair, who were getting on really well, were filming a stage production of Romeo and Juliet in TrenthamGardens in Stoke...

“There were 600 people sat there and nothing on stage” Terry recalls “But as soon as you set a camera up everyone looks at the cameraman and I thought, why don’t people know about us? So we talked about forming our own film company.”

Mike had brought pink grapefruit for lunch and Terry had coincidentally just bought a load of them too, so for this charmingly eccentric pair, that sealed the fate of the company name.

“The people involved with Pink Grapefruit are making it work for me, I feel safe” says Terry “I’m so proud of being from Salford, and there are so many creative people at SCMP who have a passion.”

“On the drive back we got the name sorted out, started the website, and got t-shirts printed” says Terry. Pink Grapefruit Film Productions.com was born.

Mike excitedly talks about what can be expected of Pink Grapefruit Film Productions.com in the future. “We hope to work with theatre companies, and other

creative groups, as there is so much talent in Salford and Manchester so we’ll definitely be working with them, in the future.”

Terry and Mike are a passionate duo who are now bursting with zest about new projects. Only time will tell what the fruits of their labour will bring.

Salford Media Scene

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WHERE HAVE

ALL our

Photos by Paul Watson

Salford, with its population of 226,565 people has only one cinema – the Vue, stuck out on the Quays in The Lowry Outlet Mall.

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he Rialto in Higher Broughton is now a McDonalds. The Carlton on Cross Lane is demolished.

The Salford Cinema on Chapel Street is now a mission. And the listed Ambassador cinema in Claremont was demolished in 2005 after a huge battle to save it. Salford is a graveyard of picture houses.

Even the free community Salford Film Festival is on its

knees. Not a day goes by in the city without a film being made – yet there’s nowhere to show them. Are people bothered?

Graham Williamson went out to Salford Precinct to find out how people see films – do they trek out to the Trafford Centre, go into Manchester or stay home with snide DVDs from the market?

Do you go to the cinema at all?

Mrs Tither: No, I used to go.

Which cinema did you used to go?

Mrs Tither: I used to go to the Princess in Monton, it’s shut down, it’s flats now. We used to have one in the centre of Eccles as well called Broadway.

Mrs Walker: There’s a place in Eccles that used to be a bingo hall, it’s been closed a long time and I think it’s listed but it would make an ideal cinema. It’s a fabulous place.

So if they opened that place up now do you think it would serve the city well?

Mrs Walker: Oooh yes. There’s nothing, nothing for young ones.

Mrs Tither & Mrs Walker

“I remember the heyday of the suburban cinema and we had eight cinemas within walking distance. In fact, the movies was my baby sitter. If me mam was going to town she’d just bung us in the Rialto and pick us up on the way home.”

John Cooper Clarke - as told to Peter Hook on Radio 4’s Chain Reaction

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CINEMAS

?

GONE

Shileen Norris

Do you go to the pictures at all?

Nah, do I ‘eck.

Did you know that the only cinema left in Salford is at The Lowry?

Well I have been there with the kids.

Would you go to the cinema more if there was one more central to Salford?

Probably yeah!

Joanne & Abbi Froggatt

Joanne Bolton

Shirley Swan

Do you go to the pictures at all?

I do but I’ve not been for ages. I usually go to Town or the Trafford Centre.

I used to go with my son who’s a film buff but I’ve not been for ages. I would definitely go more if there was one around here because I’ve got a little girl and she’s two and a half.

When did you last go to the cinema?

Joanne: Oh my God! About two years ago.

Any reason why so long?

It’s hard work because you have to go to the Lowry Centre or go to town.

When you went to the Lowry Centre did you find it hard to get there?

Not really it’s just that the car park price goes up after an hour to about a fiver or summat.

If there was a cinema in Central Salford would you take Abbi?

Yeah.

Do you go to the cinema at all?

Not often.

Do you think it is a problem there being a lack of cinemas in Salford?

Yes I do because I live in Swinton and a lot of my friends have got kids and there isn’t anywhere really local for them to go. You have to go to The Lowry or somewhere.

Do you think The Lowry is a bit of a mission to get to?

Yes and the buses aren’t cheap anymore. I mean when I was younger there used to be loads of little cinemas. I used to live in Monton and there was a little picture house there but now there’s nothing like that for anybody. It’s a shame because noone seems to be putting money into anything anymore. I find it frustrating sometimes.

They forget about all the little communities and focus on the money.

The Rialto, Higher Broughton Photo by Mikey Kay

Salford Media Scene

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ESCAPE FROM THE CRYPT Happystorm Theatre do plays in strange places with strange subjects. Mike Atherfold went underground to explore where they’re coming from…

Photo by Mike Atherfold

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aving dodged a rat I descended deep beneath the bowels of the city into the dank, dark crypt of St Philip with St Stephen church, which is still home to the remains of its patrons.

The smell was overwhelming, the walls crumbling as Susi Wrenshaw of Happystorm Theatre chuckled “Our biggest challenge was working in an underground space which was not designed for the living, let alone as a theatre space!”

hair “And we became overnight experts at how to pass the fire regulations.”

Happystorm are always up for a challenge. The company, created

by Susi and Matthew Ganley only last year, states that it `strives to make professional, high quality theatre which is innovative and evocative’. And Salford people are at the core of that.

As she spoke, fragments of the ceiling started trickling down my back like the sand in an egg timer. The strange setting was for a production of The Crypt earlier this year, where twenty people at a time wandered through tunnels on a journey of life which had the subject of addiction at its core, and had been inspired by workshops with the recovering community in Salford.

“We moved to Salford and fell in love with the place and the people” says Susi “We speak to the community asking them what is important, what excites them, what are people afraid to talk about but really affected by? And then we set about making a play and gather first-hand experiences from members of the community.

We also encourage local writers to produce new plays as we want to be part of the growing sense of pride in Salford.”

“We very quickly learnt about health and safety” said Susi, as she brushed bits of the crypt from her

Happystorm’s latest production, The Myth Of Escape, is a `dark comedy exploring isolation, op-

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pression and the fight to hold on to everything you believe in’. It takes place in a cell to give added paranoia and got great reviews when it ran at the King’s Arms during the Not Part Of Festival in July. It’s on a mini tour of the North West until October and returns to Salford in September, showing at Smiths Theatre Restaurant in Eccles.

The Happystorm people don’t make theatre easy for themselves.

First a church crypt, and then a cell - in a restaurant?

“Every obstacle is an opportunity for development and improvement” says Susi, adding “Well, this is what we keep telling ourselves…”

Happystorm Theatre also does community workshops, local events and acting tuition. For further details and contacts see www.happystormtheatre.co.uk

ALICE IN SALFORDLAND

Salford Arts Theatre’s Young Performers’ Company are all set to go down the rabbit hole this autumn with a very Salford take on Alice…Paul Watson gets curiouser and curiouser…

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o less than three young actors will be playing Alice in a new youth production of Lewis Carroll’s famous story of white rabbits, the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat. As Alice slurps the bottle with the `Drink Me’ label, three girls will play the Looking Glass heroine while she grows and shrinks.

Clarice is really looking forward to becoming a third of Alice…“The play is funny and you can be silly” she says “There are talking animals too, and people dressed up as cards and in rabbit costumes hopping around the stage.”

Alice In Wonderland is the latest production to be staged by Salford Arts Theatre’s Young Performers’ Company, in the tradition of the Salford Players that gave the world

Jesus, Ghandi and Charlie Bubbles, or Robert Powell, Sir Ben Kingsley and Albert Finney.

The Young Performers’, co-ordinated by Roni Ellis and Faye Harrison, are encouraged in workshops to devise the plays and Alice is the latest of many productions, including Missing, a piece about a child that disappears.

For Alice, with its caterpillars, card people and grinning cats, this will certainly be a fun challenge…

“To act in Missing I had to imagine what it would be like if one of my friends disappeared, and how this would make me feel” says Lee, who adds that Roni encourages the actors to draw on any past experiences they may have had and to use them in acting out a role.

Photo by Paul Watson

Alice In Wonderland Salford Arts Theatre, Kemsing Walk, off Liverpool St, M5 4BS 24th - 26th November Tickets:£5 Performance times: 7pm Thursday & Friday Matinee performance Saturday 2.30pm Further details: www.salfordartstheatre.co.uk Salford Media Scene

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n Salford City Radio’s tardis-like premises behind Swinton Civic Centre, presenter Jill Bowyer is telling me about a new Salfordbased radio drama that has been written and produced by the team at Twisted Ear productions.

It is set in Salford and called Life in Suttie Street…and Jill can’t help laughing when she mentions it as it references former radio station manager, Steve Suttie who was reluctant to have his monicker used when he was at the station.

“It’s set at the top of a cul de sac where the main characters live and the main meeting point is the local garage run by the local heartthrob” she says, adding that the storylines are not only based on the local residents but plots include passing characters filling up their vehicles.

One of the episodes may strike a chord with the many Glaswegian exiles living in Salford. It’s called Ice Cream Wars and is about ice cream van owners arguing about nicking each other’s patch, harking back to the Scottish city’s notorious Ice cream wars in the 1980’s where the conflicts involved daily violence and intimidation. Let’s hope Suttie Street’s ice cream vendors can work out a more amicable conclusion.

With ten episodes already recorded, the show is due to be aired on Salford City Radio in September. Twisted Ear Productions has now been running for three years and was the brainchild of the aforementioned Steve Suttie who wanted to add drama to the radio.

Jill responded to advertisements in the local press for contributors and soon became the chief cocoordinator overseeing content, P.42 Salford Media Scene

Twisted

Ear

A new Salford City Radio drama features ice cream wars in the city. Graham Williamson went to investigate life in Suttie Street......

Photo by Steve Baker

recording, editing as well as contributing her own work.

Current Salford City bosses Roland Gent and Chris Brophy have continued the station’s support by allowing local poets, actors and

writers to use Twisted as a conduit for airing their talents out in the public domain. Jill enthuses about the individuals who have passed through the Company’s door and have gone on to success in their own field.

Tune in on Tuesdays 5pm till 6pm.

Contact Jill on twistedearproductions@salfordcityradio.org Salford City Radio - 94.4 FM www.salfordcityradio.org

Funk flippers, the Original Headits, have had nearly one and a half million plays on their myspace site. Not bad for a band that takes its inspiration from the Starsky and Hutch theme tune. Graham Williamson gets on their case…

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t was Salford artist Joe Coffey who brought my attention to urban funk duo Original Headits. Joe told me they had over a million profile hits on their myspace page which is a phenomenal amount of interest by anyone’s standard; Wembley stadium filled more than ten times over. When I actually checked the site, that number was nearer the one and a half million mark.

I meet up with the pair in Swinton boozer, The Bull’s Head, after months of trying to track them down. The place is depressingly empty and the monsoon-like weather doesn’t help but the mood is buoyant as I sit down with the lads to talk about music.

One best describes the Headits’ sound as brilliantly looking to the future by foraging through the past, namely 70’s funk, old school rap and a sprinkling of jazz, digging up tunes you have likely heard from the old American cop dramas.

Bassist and Winton based

F

producer Trev explains “Yeah!

Starsky and Hutch theme tune, that was what got me into funk in the first place”. And Vocalist and guitarist Neil adds “Yeah that’s the kind of vibe we are going for, a funk feel”.

One of the Headits’ strengths is the clever production that brings parallels to The Dust Brothers, who have worked on masterpieces such as Beastie Boys ‘Paul’s Boutique’ and Beck’s ‘Odelay’, with clever use of sampled vocals, DJ scratching, weird interludes and stops in the middle of songs.

Trev tells me how his home studio has evolved from a small six track analogue to 32 track digital, and one Headits track, the bass heavy Everything I Wanted To Believe In, highlights his studio jiggery pokery, sounding delightfully like a mix of The Professionals theme tune with Average White Band-style vocals.

Other strong tracks include the anti-drugs themed High From The Pill so, with a ruck of tunes already

UNK IN THE

in the bag, when can we expect to see an album?

“We’re just trying to get four tracks finished at the moment, we’ve got too many tunes to be honest” explains Neil “We’re not sure what to put on it, we want to make sure we get the best ones on there.”

“We’ll get the album downloadable on iTunes” adds Trev “Then get into music licensing for tv and film and stuff like that. We’ve been offered dates in the States too in the past but found it hard to get a band together.”

With a sizeable established audience, all that’s needed is a good tour management team, a decent music video for the album’s lead single and maybe get the BBC at Media City to commission a Salford-based cop drama to soundtrack, and the game is theirs. Brilliant stuff.

HEAD

Photo by Steve Baker

Listen to Original Headits at: www.myspace.com/ originalheadits

Photo by Steve Baker Salford Media Scene

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ONE DAY FILM CLUB

Can anyone really make a film? Yes, according to the One Day Film Club which makes short films with local people. Here, Mike Scantlebury, founder of the Club, explains what it’s all about

T

a script and some actors. I got in touch with a local 6th Form College, we had a meeting, picked a day, and off we went.

SCMP provided a camera and we used the Cornerstone as a location, so all we needed was

When people asked, ‘What are you trying to do?’ the answer was, ‘Make a short film in a day’, so when we came to open a Facebook page, the name kind of suggested itself… The One Day Film Club.

he One Day Film Club emerged after a SCMP film night at the Cornerstone in Langworthy two years ago, at which they said that all you needed to make a film was: a script, a camera and equipment, a location and actors.

The aim of the club is to showcase local talent. Most of the kids don’t want to learn scripts, and most people who make short films don’t like writing them out, so we work with ‘a plan’, i.e. a story, but the words just come along at the time.

This is good news for people who just want to turn up, spend a few hours and get to see a result. We’re not saying, ‘Come back next week’ or ‘We’ve got a shooting schedule of days and days’, and generally, we can share the film as soon as it’s edited. We put it up on Vimeo. com, which is an accessible site and people can download it if they want to.

Since most schools and colleges spend weeks, maybe months planning shoots, this is an enjoyable alternative, and still produces a product that you can add to your portfolio and CV. It helps school kids, university students, out of work actors; and ordinary people who want to try making a film without a massive investment of time and effort.

We’ve been using Salford Lads Club as a location for nearly a year, and work closely with their kids and volunteers. However, the Club is independent and has been busy fund raising, but we only need money for travel and lunch now, since we’ve had funds to buy camera, film, memory cards etc.

Find the One Day Film Club on Facebook, watch out for dates offered and reply if you can make it..

Or e-mail: SalfordLIDS@yahoo.co.uk P.44

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Ideally, we’d like all ages to take part, and feel that the experience is a good way for young people to get to know and appreciate older people. So, anyone can take part, and will be welcomed on the day.

by Mike Scantlebury

REVIEWS

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LOVE, LOSS, TRUE GRIT AND GANGSTERS MAKE UP TWO FILMS SHOT IN SALFORD AND SHOWING NOW…

Moving On

A story of pain and loss as well as hope

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hot in Buile Hill Park and at The Racecourse Hotel in Lower Kersal, Moving On is a short film about death, grief and depression. Dave is a bloke who’s lost his world, along with his place in it. Emotionally pained, his appearance is shoddy, his life empty.

This is a man who has clearly lost everything he once held dear, and is now devoid of all hope, drinking to cope with his insurmountable pain. Dave is divorced, his

inability to come to terms with the death of his young son capsizing his once stable marriage. Grieving, unravelling, and spiralling out of control, he seeks help from a counsellor and eventually begins the arduous journey of turning his life around.

Comedic relief is provided by the character Bob, an old mate of Dave’s, whose half-hearted commiserations, coupled with his unashamed boasting of his many successes, will leave viewers laughing hard.

Whilst the film opens with utter emptiness and despairing loneliness, it veers towards the potential of hope. It reminds us to take chances in life and is a poignant guiding light to anyone

who has experienced the pits of loss. For those wanting to know if Dave comes unstuck and moves on, the film has been shortlisted for its public premier at Soho Film Festival, London - or check it out online www. pinkgrapefruitfilmproductions.com and on Youtube

by K.Mac MOVING ON Written by: Yvonne Carsley Directed by: Oliver Milatovic Produced by: Terry Scragg (in association with CRIS) Starring: Graham Williamson Terry Scragg Oliver Milatovic DURATION: 15 minutes

The Watcher

Strange occurences on Paradise Heights

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t is Halloween night. The Police have asked that kids don’t trick or treat. Gangs of masked hoodies roam the streets in the latest film of Joe O’Byrne’s acclaimed series of movies and plays set in the fictional North West estate of Paradise Heights.

Ian Curley stars as East European Marek, a taxi driver on a night shift he will never forget. It’s an unsettling ride. Something strange is

happening to the radio. A young family, a homeless man and a loan shark (O’Byrne reprising his role of Frank Morgan) are all haunted by the past.

This stylish, powerful and atmospheric film had its premiere at The Lowry recently. Although part of a series, the film stands well on its own.

by John Edge

THE WATCHER Written & Directed by Joe O’Byrne DURATION: 26 minutes find the film at www.vimeo.com

Salford Media Scene

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REVIEWS

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THE LATEST SALFORD MUSIC ON DISC AND DOWNLOAD, FROM ROCK TO RAP, TO GLAM TO LYRICAL SLAM… OTHER PEOPLE LIKE ME is available on download with the CD released on 5th September.

The UK tour starts first week Sept ‘til last week November.

Check it all out at www.vinnypecuilar.co.uk

Vinnie Peculiar

Other People Like Me

by my top tracks, Artrockers, Art Thief, Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

Favourite Sunday chills are Judy Wood with its melodic cello and haunting piano, while Something and Nothing and Theme Fifteen chill on.

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reated by Salford homeboy, Vinnie, a critical wry talent with punk poetics, glam rock and attitude, has done it again. With his own sounds influenced from the last forty years, Mr Peculiar has, with the best British ingredients, made

by Terry Scragg a meal with, T Rex, Bowie, Ferry, Costello, and Jarvis Cocker. If you ever wondered what it would taste like, don’t. Vinnie has cooked it up.

The My Generation rock and glam guitar track is for starters, followed

If filming the music video at Weaste Lane allotments on a Sunday morning is anything to go by, Vinnie is a must see on stage.

The sounds from a fired up red Audi Quattro screaming round the streets of Salford. What albums would Vinnie Peculiar buy for Christmas? If you have discerning tastes listen and find out...

Trojan Horse

Trojan Horse

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alford four piece nouveau prog band, Trojan Horse, took three and a half years making their debut album and you can tell.

“We make Prog-Rock, it’s not about being pretentious, it’s about letting everyone know how good you are” they say about their ethos.

The album is an epic journey through a range of genres, woven P.46

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together in often surprising ways.

Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd psychedelic flights turn into Sonic Youth post punk and white denim-like driving rock. Other times you might hear Beach Boys harmonies, Gong-like jazzy syncopation, or a little nod to James Brown, all combined in a mix somewhere between Yes and The Avalanches. Despite all the influences, they’ve come up with a sound that is unique to

themselves. A remarkable debut.

Musically accomplished, thoughtful, bravely experimental and clever. Not many bands do songs about Patricroft either. They must be awesome live.

by John Edge The album is available for download from trojanhorse. bandcamp.com

REVIEWS

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t’s loud, it’s shouty but Class Actions are a breath of fresh air as the country falls to pieces to a karaoke soundtrack of Pop Idol and the X Factor.

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Class Actions

Con-Dem Killers Mix-tape Vol. 1

These are hardcore political tunes that fly from the left with raps, with soul, with Mike F’s ace electro vibes - with loads of angry language to match from the gob of Aslan AK. And no-one escapes.

Not the Royal Family. Not the BNP. Not the “morally deranged” bankers. And def not the Con-Dem government… “We don’t want no Con-Dem nation, f***king it up, we’re the lost generation”.

They got a track glorifying Militant, starring the politicians who got stuffed by the system years ago…

And they got contemporary smashing glass and news soundtracks of the recent student riots to the sweet background of the Internationale.

Well, someone had to do it. Someone had to put a proper political soundtrack to the economic and political mess that is 2011. Thank God it’s coming from Salford…

Find out more about Class Actions and download Con-Dem Killers free at www.classactionsuk.com

by SK

Toby Jughead And His Band Of Merry Drones Media City Ditty

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his catchy, rock infused, danceable track is a rather cynical song about the famous flagship development on the Quays... “Media City you’re so sh***y” starts the song which goes on to suggest bribery, hypocrisy and nepotism. “Status can be got with your knickers down” the punkish, jazzy vocalist

sings... “Your lover’s in through the back door.”

It’s certainly topical and worth a listen. Not sure who they are getting at but someone comes to mind…

by John Edge Find it on Facebook and at www.reverbnation.com/tobyjughead Salford Media Scene

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Salford Media Scene is the magazine of Salford Community Media Partnership // Media Courses // Seminars // Workshops // // TasterDays // Exhibitions // Get Involved NOW! Contact Linda Robson on 07534 969007 SCMP@live.co.uk

www.scmp.info