THE LEEDS DEBACLE by The Leeds Debacle

LEEDS

issue 16 - ÂŁfree

jul - sept 2014

M u s i c P o e t r y L o v e

D r i n k i n g C y c l i n g D a t i n g

C h a r i t y S t o r i e s Interviews

P o l i t i c s B l o g s L e e d s

/ HANNAH FAHY

le tour

orkshire is ‘very sexy, its cool’ according to Christian Prudhomme, the director of Tour De France. This, as well as Leeds being the greatest city in the world, was the major factor that the Amaury Sport Organastion chose Yorkshire and Leeds for the 101st Grand Depart in December 2012. It was all made possible by Gary Verity, the Chief Exective of Welcome to Yorkshire who persisted at securing Yorkshire as the host county and Leeds as the host city. You can almost hear the stereotypical Loiner stating ‘owt of all them cities in all of that Europe, they picked ‘ere’. ‘Ere they did pick, but what does it mean for Leeds and Yorkshire?

and the caravan then make their way to Harewood House. Here, Wills and Kate will greet them, the subsequent departure from Harewood will be the ceremonial departure of the Tour. It then makes it way through Otley and Cray. Cray will be the first of the ‘big’ climbs as Prudhomme wanted lots of different stages for the Tour.It will then move to Aysgarth and the riders will pass the beautiful Aysgarth Falls. Moving through Buttertubs Pass, Grinton, Leyton, Ripley before arriving at Harrogate. This will be the end of the first day and the first stage. Harrogate is the homeplace of Mark Cavendish so there is real pressure for him to succeed at winning this first stage.

Well, practically, it means the whole world will be watching Leeds on Saturday 5th watching as some of the greatest cyclists in the world compete to be the winner of the Tour De France. Won by Bradley Wiggins in 2012 and Chris Froome in 2013 the British are experiencing a good recent history with the Tour.

The second stage will also be in Yorkshire. Beginning at York at 11am once again,it will travel up the spine of the Pennines to Sheffield. This will apparently by a much more difficult stage due to this terrain. It will travel from York back to Harrogate then onto Addingham, Haworth, Cragg Vale, Huddersfield, Holmfirth,Holme before travelling past Jenkin Road and arriving at Don Valley Bowl at 4.30 on the Sunday. Upwards of 40,000 of people will gather in Sheffield to greet the tour.

The first and second stages of the Tour will begin and end in Yorkshire before the tour moves down south to Cambridge and London. This makes it an exciting time for Leeds, Yorkshire and indeed the whole of the United Kingdom. The first stage will begin on the Headrow at 11am on Saturday morning. The riders

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After this the Tour moves down south to Cambridge and London before heading to France. It is an incredibly exciting time for Leeds, Sheffield and all of Yorkshire.

It gives Yorkshire a chance to showcase the vibrant cities and picturesque countryside to the rest of Europe and the world. Leeds has been gearing up (pun definitely intended) for Le Tour with a pop-up shop in Trinity, the placing of yellow bicycles around the city and there has been an increase in people on bicycles in the city. It is a chance to show what Leeds has become. In recent years Leeds has been fast growing into a city rich in culture, art and this is just a wonderful opportunity to show this to rest of the world. It is also a day and time to be really proud of Leeds and Yorkshire and what the Tour de France will get from Yorkshire and most importantly what we will take from the Tour. The pop-up shop in Trinity sells a range of Le Tour clothing and merchandise and its also a great stop for all the information about the days and the trek of the tour. It is worth a visit just to get into all the excitement and to ready get ready for Saturday morning. It is a great time for the region, a great time for sport and a wonderful time for our city! The idyllic countryside and vibrant cities are perfect setting for Le Grand Depart and the first stages of the tour. So let us all celebrate this great win for Leeds and hopefully we will celebrate a great win for Britain on the Champs De Elysees.

JOHN BARRAN \

le tour de yorkshire A

nd then it was here. At early o’clock on Saturday 5th July 2014 tens of thousands of feet paced platforms of stations and street of Leeds to witness an annual event that most of us usually ignore. The difference this time was that the world’s most watched yearly sporting competition had come to Yorkshire and was to start on our very own doorstep; Leeds. After years of preparation by the organisers and months of build up by media and public the day was here. And the day was wet. Friday night downpours turned to Saturday morning drizzle but the wearily excited folk aimlessly wandering and wondering what to do for the next 4 hours weren’t going to let it dampen their spirits. As the hours passed and the city filled, the rain listened and went away to come again another day. Leeds was shimmering in sunshine just in time

to present itself to the watching world. By 11:05 The Headrow was lined rows deep and with a thrilling roar welcomed the greatest cyclists off on their way round the greatest county. Following a precession from Leeds to Harewood the race proper rolled off royally through market towns and Yorkshire hills before finishing in a hectic Harrogate. Along the way the celebrations were typically eccentric; road signs were written in local dialect, statues were dressed in the winner’s jersey, sheep were dyed yellow, bunting was knitted and hung everywhere, bikes were made out of people, selfies w e r e

taken in front of hurtling cyclists, stunning photos were spread around, pubs were renamed to represent the local hero… who, after 118 miles of hard graft headed into the final 250 meters cheered to potential victory by his home crowd only to swiftly fall off his bike. In a literal sense, what this all amounted to was a bunch of public money being spent on seeing a few seconds of a mass foreign event that very few people here give a flying froome about. The odd contrary social media naysayer inevitably attempted to repeatedly point this out and miss the point but miserable Yorkshire were not going to have their joy killed. For what this actually amounted to were millions of people together, united, smiling and rightfully proud of a city with life and a county of beauty; theirs, theirs to show off, and theirs to share with the rest of the world.

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/ CHRIS CANAVAN

I have seen what Might have been, The endless opportunities. They beam their themes Throughout my dreams From all the things I used to be. Truthfully? I don’t think I’ve ever Dreamt so beautifully. These are thing that When they come at night Seem like such truths to me. Dragging round mutations made from memorising mutiny. I have seen What might’ve been And it all made perfect sense to me. I have seen My brightest dreams, And which of them were meant to be.

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/ MATT ABBOTT

diamond dogs II His desperation dances in the drizzle in the puddles in the potholes on the bridge The layer after layer that gathers in his jacket is presented like a soggy badge of honour He stops to wipe his glasses on his shirt and then he listens as the River Don whispers at the sky ‘round the cobbled curves of Kelham Island they say the streets shape like a diamond But don’t let that deceive you ‘round here there’s only rough They’re full of missing persons that have never once been missed Beneath the lampposts And their mustard coloured mist According to Oscar Wilde: “It has been said that the great events of the world take place in the brain.” And right now muddled by midnight’s mask the bollards seem to find a female form Occasionally raindrops from low hanging drains all fall at once and imitate a heel Its difficult when you’re on this kind of warpath of desire to distinguish just exactly what is real

A taxi driver inches past his amber light irrelevant They both stalk the streets in the hope to hunt for punters but now she will hurl abuse As he passes with his heating and his radio and his cushion and his safety She waits there in the shadows advertised but absent Invisible but available and patience long expired She might be pretty if she weren’t so fucking tired Rolled up cigarettes build from butt ends in the ashtrays outside Brooklyn Bar & Grill Some may say dystopian or postapocalyptic But this is merely business as she reapplies her lipstick I am almost sure she’d dance on snow and would not leave a trace And even in stilettos she acquires a certain grace As she huddles in an arch by Cornish Place On the corner past the bridge where Neepsend meets with Mowbray Is the girl denounced as “dirty little sister” Her voice hoarse from screaming at reflections she’s terrified to see in the windows and the puddles

To finish Oscar’s quote: “It is in the brain, and the brain only, that the great sins of the world take place also.” To look at Kelham Island you’re forgiven for mistaking that the setting here is nothing but industrial Generic archetypal manufactureladen streets But the air of possibility that waters seeds of sleaze is what drives his brain to walk them once again And at first I thought I’d seen this as a sordid revelation He emerged from Dun Fields she came down from Alma Their flashing tryst became a brief reality The standard proposition as I’m sure you are aware is “do you have a cigarette, my dear?” Of course his fingers tremble with his 20 deck of Marlboro that he offers her from halfway in the road Shuffling on tip toes to the pedestal he placed her on she feels nothing but an upgrade from his wrist She asks him for his business But politely he denies Before walking home and howling at the moon

DAN COOK \

philosophically trained Reflect on a star, On a bar against the window Feel wistful and be in flight. I know I have seen this oh so many times. But I remain perched on the windowsill Waiting for the time to fly into the distance. Enshrined in a total haze, Dependant, but unrepentant And philosophically trained To deal with everything in such a way. I know, I have seen this too few times, But whereas inspiration and subject matter Were intertwined within a silence And murmuring known unto your mind not mine, I remain perched on the windowsill Waiting for the time to fly into the distance. In softer moments, it seems There is a belief in one common desire But each path differs from shire to shire And I know this will affect the subversive Until the stars say farewell to the night And the morning hours awaken through the gloom and haze Reflect on a star, the morning star And its one true sight before dawn. Is it time to see where this has gone?

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/ MASON HENRY SUMMERS

texas, by god: politics H

i. I’m Mason and I lived in Leeds for over twenty years, mostly on my own with a cat. Now I live in San Antonio, Texas, married to a native Texan and have three step children and three dogs. Life is very different here in America and this is what I’ll be writing about. Four years ago I wrote a blog piece about a woman called Margie Schoedinger. it has had the most views of anything I have ever written on my blog (monkeytwohands.wordpress. com). Every single day someone reads that article. When you type the name Margie Schoedinger into Google I’m now one of the top six results. There’s certainly more articles and more information online about this sad case than there was four years ago, but still when you mention the name Margie Schoedinger to anyone you’ll mostly just get a puzzled look. Margie Schoedinger filed charges against the then President George W. Bush claiming he had raped her and was then found dead of a shotgun blast a few months later. This was deemed to be self-inflicted. The article I wrote examined why exactly the whole story never made national news, only cropping up on a few independent news sites. I wrote the article not to get into a conspiracy based discussion about whether this woman was killed because of allegations she made, but because I couldn’t understand why no-one had heard of her, why no mainstream 8_TheLeedsDebacle

news agency thought that a woman filing rape charges against an incumbent President was newsworthy, especially considering the reaction to the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Now I’m living in Texas I’m exposed full blast to American radio and television news commentators. The loudest (sometimes literally) are the right-wing shock jocks, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Joe Pags, Dennis Prager and more. They prefer the term conservative to right-wing, thought they don’t flinch at the term. They speak of freedom, liberty, patriotism and God in large doses. They believe, generally, that there is a left-wing conspiracy, certainly within media, to destroy freedom, liberty and Christianity. They think that the media is literally swamped with left-wing bias and that bias lies and cheats to aid the incumbent President, Barack Obama get away with dismantling the United States into some sort of Godless, Communist dictatorship. Hell, for all I know this might be happening, but it’s more obvious to them than me. What I do see is a political system where the two parties (third parties are vilified and ignored for the most part) are virtually identical in policy despite being miles apart in rhetoric. I see political campaigns for two separate sides paid for by the same corporations, guaranteeing that whoever gets into office is paid for already. I see a population that gets angrier and angrier about the

declining state of their country but can’t actually be bothered to get off their ever widening asses to vote for either side. I’m no fan of Barack Obama. He’s a man who sought the highest office and as such is not to be trusted. I don’t believe that you can reach any high political office without being horribly morally compromised when the political world is so corrupt already. Corporations have more legal rights than individuals and they also have the money to access and influence politicians. So that’s what happens. But, that withstanding, the reason I wrote the piece about Margie Schoedinger four years ago was because of the imbalance it spoke to me of. A President of the United States is accused of rape by a woman who soon after is found dead from a gunshot. If the media is irretrievably swamped by a leftwing bias, why did those pesky commie subversives not go to town on the Schoedinger story, which could at least have dangerously smeared Bush’s reputation? Obama is the incumbent President and boy does he get ranted about. Most people I meet in person hate him and hate is a strong word. I hear a lot of racist terms used against him, which comes across as a very ugly, unnecessary thing. The shock jocks stop short of racist epithets but call him all sorts of names, they disagree with everything he has ever done or will do, no matter what. It feels like he could shake

someone’s hand and wish them a happy birthday and this would be proof of his plot to destroy the United States and enslave us all. The insults don’t always follow logic. The conspiracy theories about his place of birth rattle on irregardless of lack of material evidence and he regularly gets accused of being a Muslim. At the same time they are all convinced he is a Communist. How someone can be a godless communist who also submits to the will of God they don’t explain. Recently Obama was heavily criticized regarding Bowe Bergdahl, a soldier released from captivity in Afghanistan in exchange for the release of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. I’m not going to get into the muddy mire of whether Bergdahl was a deserter, a traitor or turncoat – oh, go on then, I will. If he defected to the Taliban as many claim, why did he come home? Surely if he agreed with them and wanted to help them take down America, he would have been fighting openly on their side by now, which would have been a major P.R. coup for the Taliban. The conservative shock jocks are enjoying turning this into a season of Homeland however, knowing that their audience is more comfortable with dealing with fiction rather than reality. Anyway, I was trying to make a point somewhere in here. The news media (despite being Obama loving communist toadies) are giving President Obama hell for negotiating with terrorists. This is the point that brings us back to Margie Schoedinger – what you are happy to discuss or acknowledge, what you are happy to let slide by and ignore. Ronald Reagan negotiated with terrorists. He even traded weapons for hostages. And admitted it, in his diaries and in an open broadcast to the American people. Details here: http://www.dailykos.com/ story/2014/06/01/1303690/Ronald-Reagan-the-Presidentwho-really-negotiated-withterrorists# When you mention this fact, most Americans simply either

won’t believe it or will dismiss it or even justify it. Reagan is held in god-like esteem, a great faultless President who oversaw a golden age. If Reagan did it, then it wasn’t even a bad thing. If Obama does it, then it is a bad thing. And vice-versa depending on where you stand. It is this that epitomizes American political beliefs in America – the embattled entrenched battle between Democrat and Republican is seen as a battle between the forces of good and evil, again, depending of course on which side you’re on. It is not a reflection of the state of politics in America; e recent poll of republican voters gave a massive indication that the republican party is simply ignoring what it’s supporters believe in and forging ahead with more right-wing policies influenced by powerful individuals withing the party. For the most part politics in America is a stagnant morass in which both parties are happy to wallow as long as they can take care of their own and take advantage of the country and it’s citizens to further personal or professional goals. But it is the perception of political belief in America as a black and battle of absolutes that allows the parties (and their corporate backers) to get away with this exploitation of the country and to a larger extent many parts of the world. As long as they can distract American citizens with this fake conflict, as they distract them with the larger overseas enemy of choice (whoever it is at the time) then they can carry on just as they like whilst the average American wastes his or her energy getting worked up by a conflict that the people involved in don’t even really care about. This is what I dislike about the shock jocks so much – they trade on fear and anger and negativity and concentrate people’s attention on the distraction, not the real conflict or problem. They use very obvious control techniques – slow voicing, repeated phrases, dramatic

pauses, patriotic keywords. They become furious with the actions of one President whilst ignoring the fact that the one before did exactly the same or much worse. If people don’t agree with them they denounce them as unpatriotic or simply naive. And it works on people. I gave a family friend here a link to my original Margie Schoedinger article and after he read it he unfriended me on Facebook (the modern equivalent of being ex-communicated) and told my father-in-law that I was a Communist. A Communist! That’s ridiculous. I’m a strict MarxistLeninist with a slant towards the ideas of Kropotkin. I’m joking!! Please don’t witch-hunt me. The CIA has a term, ‘slides’ (sometimes referred to as ‘slide response’), which is “a conditioned type of response which deadends a person’s thinking, and terminates debate or examination of the topic.” (Fritz Springmeier). It helps governments distract people from discussing subjects or events which they don’t want discussed. Conspiracy investigators will be familiar with the term as it was originally used to undermine any investigation of events that governments had conspired in – that covers virtually any government action agreed on in a closed meeting, which is the majority. Is there a lesson to take from all this? If you’re like me and get angry at the radio and start ranting and getting angry about the topics on discussion and those discussing them, remind yourself that you’re getting angry at the wrong people. The next time someone brings up a subject which you feel the need to ridicule or ignore, remember that could be your slide response, that could be an indication that you’re not deciding for yourself what to think or even what to think about. Just to be sure, take a deep breath, stand back from your own opinions and let the world in to give you some perspective. And if you’re going to judge one person/ country/political parties actions, at least have the decency to judge on equal terms. TheLeedsDebacle_9

JONATHAN EYRE \

tainted love - an invitation So come to my cash point, and push your debit card between my reception rollers, reveal your flexible credit card to me, your red, growing and engorged debt to me, and I will let you withdraw riches........... plunder me to the full extent of your deposit and credit limit, handle me until I bleep for you to withdraw, unless or until my Mastersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; call a halt to our games, and insist that finance is all about propriety, and stifle your lust with demands upon your property, and curb your excesses by calling me in, your once willing lover to say NO, my mistress now is austerity, no longer a whore to abundant fiscal growth no more to groan under your insistent demands. You thought you were gaining more from me, when all along my pimps are conjuring riches from your indebted embraces.

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/ MARK PARKER

leeds music scene L

eeds music scene is amazing. A couple of years ago I was the shyest person on the planet. Shyness is nice, but it can stop you from doing all the things in life you would like to. So I kicked myself in the pants and got out there. There are so many great venues that offer open mics and music gatherings. Capre Diem, The Hop, Crowd of Favours, The Verve...... The list goes on and on. The great thing about them is the freedom. You

can do covers. You can do original material. Bands or solo artists. Any style you would like. From folk to rap and everything in between. Live music has come back in a big way. Downloads have damaged the music industry in that everyone expects music for free or at a knock down price now. Downloads cannot replace the excitement of live music. Another great thing about Leeds is BBC Introducing. It gives a

platform for anyone who has a song to get their music heard. I had a song played on air last Saturday (14.6.2014). It’s about dreaming out loud. It’s about putting yourself out there and just seeing what happens. You don’t know unless you try. We also have fantastic community radio. ELFM is brilliant. It not only gives a platform for music, but also poetry, comedy and writing in general. Leeds is a great place to be.

YOU AND ME / MARK PARKER Lift your head My special one Know your time Is going to come

Let the monsters Come today we can chase them All away

Lift your head Don’t you cry Wipe the tears From your eyes

You and me We can be What we want to be

You and me We can be What we want to be You and me We can be What we want to be Let the danger Slip away I’m here Here to stay

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You and me We can be What we want to be Flowers in your hair Flowers everywhere

JONATHAN EYRE \

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/ TIM CHAPMAN

thursday bus 15 ..///../// cut throat leadership, stunt growth partnership 16 ..///..//// retail therapy, need to take a minute 17 ..///../// bin it, fortunate, no time, need a line 18 ..// western capital §§§§§§§§ 19 ….///../// roll another, wake me up, how far can i go? 20 ..///../// no ﬂow stuck in snow, no gas, have to row 21 // // /// ../// danger danger sinking ship, credit for my ﬂow 22 ../// …. bankers holiday, snooze you loosing 23 ..///../// may day S O S we are in distress 24 ..///../// confess, battleground, middle management

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25 … … … .. populous disregard turn away sometime 26 … .. //// no control, have it all your own way §§§§§§ 35 ../// ../// inter - interpret, person imperson 36 ..///../// impersonator, better get jet set 37 ..///../// reset calculus, must have repossess 38 ..///../// possess cumulus, mucus ﬁlls the sky 39 ..///../// so ﬂy, reminisce, you die, will be bliss 40 -beauty-///../// like angel, wings elysium 41 ..///../// where it will begin, release all your sin 42 ..///../// bow down repent to, cut throat leadership 43 -beauty-/// ../// elegant, power ultimate

44 ../// ..-// interpret divine, bless thee with wine 45 … .. ///.. metaphor control forever entwine 46 …// you and me JUST YOU 47 ..///../// 48 ../// ../// 49 ...// … /// 50 ../// ../// 51 -- /// ../// 52 . /// ../// 53 .. // 54

15 ..///../// beauty - forager - cast this metaphor 16 ..///..//// silent - warrior - astral predecessor 17 ..///../// shaman - ecstasy - bridge a - gap in me

18 ..// open the doors §§§§§§§§ 19 ….///../// replication - model - cryptic messenger 20 ..///../// engine - formula - endless neophyte 21 // // /// ../// fuel cap - steel warp - producing - new day - recherché 22 ../// …. ﬁnal - connection - ever - present 23 ..///../// neural - sorcery - feeder - call to me 24 ..///../// conscious - salience - ﬂaming naked dance 25 … … … .. erudite - of abyss - like a kiss transcend 26 … .. //// bionic - nature - calculator §§§§§§

35 ../// ../// tranquil - incisive - blossom cognitive 36 ..///../// action - reaction - gaia - mirroring 37 ..///../// potent - distraction - favour contemplate 38 ..///../// template masquerade namesake - eponym 39 ..///../// talking - or thinking - dreaming believing 40 -beauty-///../// receiving - signal - dislocate 41 ..///../// remake - reconvene - machine automate 42 ..///../// talking - or thinking - dreaming believing 43 -beauty-/// ../// conceiving - anima - digital 44 ../// ..-// titan - dragonﬂy - now choose now try

45 … .. ///.. mystify - practice - justify active 46 …// inﬁnite - and more 47 ..///../// i saw - underneath - myself - in the deep 48 ../// ../// before - we made it - before they laid it 49 ...// … /// opening - for my - coruscate visual 50 ../// ../// beauty - forager - cast this metaphor 51 -- /// ../// -- canephor - bringing - all the more 52 . /// ../// just - what i saw - phosphor radiance 53 .. // signal - dislocate 54

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/ HOLLIE RICHARDSON

staying in or going out? W

atching the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night is an acceptable pastime. This opinion somewhat differs when left to watch it solo after being cut off mid-phone conversation by a parent who is running late for their evening plans of dining, dancing and (one dreads to think) possible debauchery. In a social media society where we are hounded by images of friends, family and foes having a ball out there in the big-wide-world, we are left feeling guilty and a little bit boring for choosing to stay in. The joy I feel when watching The Graham Norton Show with a glass of supermarket-own-brand red wine soon turns to shame. As a single twenty-something girl/ woman, my mother urges me to go out and enjoy myself (code for: GET A BOYFRIEND). Is she right or is it ok to stay in the comforting confines of the flat?

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Going out requires some serious effort, elusive amounts of money and maybe even a bus ride. As someone who feels nauseous after spending anything over £25 on a weekly food shop, I need to know that the night is going to be worth it. If it’s a boozy one (and when is it not?), no one wants to endure The Fear the following day, complete with obligatory guilt and anxiety. After graduating from university, clubs should now be substituted with cocktail bars, and semi-sophisticated dining should be favourable over 3am McDonalds. Alas, this is not always the case due to a low paying career and lack of class. Staying in requires a pair of comfy slacks, homemade food and welcome company. I may not meet a knight in shining armour but I also won’t have to waste precious time conversing with numerous idiots. It’s a place to be productive, by reading great books, baking,

eating and Instagram-ing delicious goods, having intellectual(ish) conversations with guests and practicing any talents or hobbies. Without sounding like a total food fiend (my most passionate argument for staying in), one of the most enjoyable things to do in life is to just sit around a table with nice people and talk over a good meal. To find a happy medium, careful decision making is key. If the only invitation on offer is spending money on an unsavoury night at a club with notoriously sticky floors, then it’s quite alright to stick on a Richard Curtis DVD instead. But when old friends ask to meet at a favourite haunt, swanky new brasserie or night time museum event, it’s time to get off the sofa. At home or out in the city, where there is family, friends or food, that’s where the fun is.

DEXUALITY VALENTINO \

crumbled and scrambled. an ode to lost weekends The jumbled, jaded and faded, Monday morning stumblers. Slow moving traffic flows, its bumper to bumper brain cells. The weekends flat-lined. Social life, jack knifed, Slamming into a truckload of working days Time slides into the slow lane Coffee sips the brain into second gear The mind sliced between whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been And whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s to come Groggy, snotted salesmen With crusted knuckles and weekends slaps Telling tall tales of nights in the city Pretty girls tasted and facebook pasted The weekend rock and roll stars Shuffle their corpses behind counters and desks Anarchy shelved for another five days. The working lot penned in for the week Half alive, half dead and wishing it all away.

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TLD: You’ve recently released your new album. Can you review it for us?

TLD: The album is self-titled. Is that a statement of intent or an inability to think of a good name?

TSU: Really? I’m far too close to it to do that properly I’m afraid. I mean obviously I think it’s pretty good, but I would, It’s taken up most of the last 3 years of my life and I’m really pleased with it. It feels like a big step forward and is a new direction for the band, the start of a new chapter. Its hopefully a nice surprise and different from what people would have expected from us.

TSU: Ha, we were pretty decided on the title for a long time really. At one point we considered naming it Finally We Arrive after one of the tracks and in kind of tongue-in-cheek way because it took us so long to finish, but it’s self-titled to represent a new start. If people were only going to hear one album we’ve made, we’d all like it to be this one.

TLD: Do you read press reviews and public feedback? If so, how has the reaction been to the record and is it what you expected? TSU: I’d like to say I didn’t think about reviews but the truth is good reviews can really help, so you do worry about how media will react to a degree. We’ve been lucky there though, the reviews have been pretty good. We were hoping they would reflect the time and energy we’ve put into making it. I only read one negative review actually, that one was a bit annoying but what can you do? You can’t please everyone.. The public and fan reaction has been great. We half expected a backlash from hardcore Sunshine Underground fans demanding to know where the guitars had gone, but we didn’t get too much of that at all really. Mostly people have come with us so we’re pretty happy about that.

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TLD: How have things changed for the band in and out of studio since you first started? TSU: In terms of how we approach recording, we started out writing songs very traditionally in a band format and in a live situation, over the years we’ve changed that process. Most songs now start at home on laptops with a few key bits of kit and are developed over time. These days songs are quite realised before we get into the studio to record. A lot of the ground work is already done by then and studio time can be spent experimenting with sounds more than the songs by the time it comes to recording the final album. TLD: How did you end up in Leeds? How did the city influence you? Do you feel like a ‘Leeds band’? TSU: Our drummer came to uni here and we all wanted to continue making music together so the rest of us followed. We were very lucky in that the Leeds music scene was really starting to take

off when we arrived, some really ace bands and promoters gave us loads of help getting going. There was a real sense of family within the Leeds music scene when we got here, I’m sure it’s still the case for bands starting out now too. A lot of really cool people looking out for each other and all coming from the same place I guess. We feel like Leeds kind of adopted us, and I think we do feel like a Leeds band because the band got started here and all the songs are written here. Leeds has been our home for over 10 years now. TLD: Has the city and the reaction to you guys altered when you return? TSU: We’ve been very fortunate to have kept hold of a loyal fanbase in Leeds. The gigs are always awesome when we come back and play and people always seem to get behind the new material straight away too. TLD: What can we expect next from The Sunshine Underground? TSU: We have a bunch of UK festivals planned over the summer including Leeds and Reading amongst others. There’s an 18 date UK tour in October, and we’re making plans to take the album overseas later in the year too. We’re really enjoying playing live and it’s great to have the record out, we’ve been building up to this point for a while. We’ve started writing new songs for the next record too so we’re in the early stages of that right now...

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/ PAUL JOBSON

billy smart’s circus (“britain’s greatest”) comes to leeds The circus is coming to Woodhouse Moor, A wagon train convoy arrives Swapping prairies and plains For motorways and mains Lorries, caravans, mobile homes, artics and transits Instead of horses, wagons and carts A heated big top is painstakingly erected To stage an all human spectacular selection Bookings are taken with discounts online Offers available for a limited time Acrobats stretch, sinews strained Clowns gurn, grimace, grin, guffaw Trapeze artists perform amazing feats Audience applause, rising from the seats As quickly as it came, gone No more turrets and flags high in the sky Where there was energy soaring and crowds roaring A forlorn car park – empty tarmac, scarred with tyre tracks and refuse sacks

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/ VIVIENNE DUKE

balancing your energies I am sitting cross legged on a flat rock by the side of a stream. The stream travels down a hill and creates beautiful mini waterfalls as it cascades downwards. The sun is shining and I feel its warmth on my head. I feel its warmth on the back of my neck and I feel its warmth spreading all over my body. I can hear the water bubbling away and I can hear birds singing. I look up and see lots of birds in the sky. They are all singing in unison. They are all singing their bird song. I follow the black mass as they fly above me and off into the distance. I have a notepad and I am drawing a picture on it. I am drawing a diamond shape. At the top corner I draw a picture of the sun. At the left hand side corner I draw a picture of the crescent moon. At the right hand side corner I draw a picture of a planet – Jupiter. At the bottom corner I draw a triangle with all equal sides. Inside the diamond shape I draw wavy lines – connecting each of the four points inside. I hear – “the waves are energy. There are many powerful energy waves inside.” I tear the page from my notepad and throw it into the stream. It gets caught in the flow and floats off down the stream. I hear “Let everything flow like water. Do not fight the tides of change” I see a Grizzly bear at the side of the stream. It watches me for a while and then jumps into the 22_TheLeedsDebacle

stream. It follows the paper down the stream. I hear “Let the grizzly bear free and let it follow the flow.” I hear the sound of a tambourine in the distance. It gets louder and I see a small child walking towards me banging the tambourine. She is dressed in white and has long, honey coloured curly hair. She is beautiful and is smiling at me. I hear a tinkling sound and see gold dust showering down on the little girl. It is surrounding her in a golden glow and the sunlight is glinting off the dust. I hear “The magic of the Universe is now descending on us” The little girl walks away from me. She is still banging the tambourine. She begins to skip down the hill – laughing and her hair is bouncing in the breeze. I get up and follow her. I am walking down the side of the stream and I disturb some pebbles. They bounce down the stream making a clattering noise as they go down. I hear “Some pebbles will fall. Let them fall” I realise the little girl is running way ahead of me and I might lose her if I don’t speed up a bit. I hear, “Do not lose sight of your inner child. Follow your inner child. It will lead you to happiness. Leave old ways behind and follow your inner child.” I follow the child into a forest and it suddenly goes very dark. I cannot see anything in front of me. It is absolutely pitch black. I cannot see the child but I can still hear the beat of the tambourine. I hear, “When you lose the inner

child follow the beat of it’s music” “When it is dark – listen and feel. Use all your senses to move forward” I surrender myself in the dark and find I am suddenly being carried along as if I am floating on an invisible wave. I see an image of the Sri Yantra – it is glowing in the dark and I see a bright circle of light behind it. I hear, “Let the slip stream carry you along through the darkness to the light. Keep following the beat of the child’s tambourine. There are more tambourines in the light” I move nearer to the bright light and I begin to feel its warmth. I hear, “Follow the warmth of the light” I see the silhouette of the Indian Chief in the circle of light. He is beckoning for me to move towards him. I can see many animals around him – all in silhouette. I hear “Follow us into the light. Come out into the light and see its beauty” I step out into the bright light and I can see a beautiful countryside scene before me. The grass in the fields is the most vivid green I have ever seen. The blue of the sky is the most vivid and vibrant blue I have ever seen. There are many animals roaming freely around the fields. I see white lambs and white rabbits. Birds and butterflies of many vivid colours are fluttering around. Amongst them are people. They all look really happy and are tending the land lovingly. I stand with the Indian Chief and I turn to him. He looks down at me waiting for the questions he knows

will come. He has the paper with my drawing on it in his hand. I ask, “What does the sun represent?” I hear “Your burning desire, warmth and power. It represents your growth and the fire of your desires” I ask “What does the crescent moon represent?” I hear, “The moon represents your peace and tranquillity and your spirituality. The moon is lit by the sun and its appearance is always shifting according to the sun. Accept that your moon will always be shifting according to your sun.” I ask, “What does the planet represent.” I hear, “The planet represents your strength and courage. It is cold and blank. It represents you starting afresh.” I ask, “What does the triangle represent?” I hear, “It represents your mind, body and soul. They must always be aligned. The space in the middle of them must be kept clear. Keep all three clear for the

answers to be given.” “It represents the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father is watching and guiding. The Son must follow. The Holy Spirit will protect those who entrust it” The triangle starts spinning slowly round on the page. It all turns dark again and all I can hear is a voice. There is a growing sense of urgency in the voice. I hear, “Keep the triangle spinning around. Accept the three roles of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To be wise you need to access all three, constantly and in rotation.” “Difficult situations will pass if you let this happen.” “Do not hold on with your ego. Do not seek to win earthly drama. Find a way to seek truth and love.” “Give truth and love out and it will come back to you tenfold.” “Do not wait. The time is NOW.” “Get on the slipstream. Trust your instinct and intuition” “Follow your heart. Be ready for shocks and great change.” “Be strong, fearless and

courageous and ALL will be good.” “Float in the love around you.” “Align the crossing points with yourself. Align your energy to its waves” “Use all four points and make sure you connect them. Create an energy between them and connect them with this positive energy” I see the Sri Yantra rotating in front of me. I hear, “The Sri Yantra is the secret. Study the Sri Yantra. The answers are within you. Look right within.” “Be at the centre of the interjecting points of energy. Balance all the four points and you will be at the centre.” “You will rise to the transcendency of the New World.” “MAKE HASTE – time is of the essence.” I see many angels appear around me in a shining light. I hear, “The spirit choir will sing with you.” “Follow your heart.” “LOVE IS ALL”

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/ ADAM STROYAN

record collecting: a man’s game? At Vinyl Tap, I am responsible for the companies social media presence. As a result of this, I see admin tools which show statistics relating to our customer base. This week I decided to look further in to our Facebook admin tools to try to find out what our customer base consists of and I noticed something that I probably should have noticed before from simply seeing people in store. Our customer base is MASSIVELY dominated by men. The following diagram is what I saw and shows exactly what I mean:

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As you can see, out of our approximate 1700 Facebook page fans/likes a massive 81% are men and only 17% women and 2% aren’t letting us know. The age brackets are quite interesting too with the males aged 18-24 outnumbering the males aged 55-64 although this is probably the result of the Facebook generation being more vocal and social media literate. Stats are stats and obviously don’t tell the whole story but they do give a good impression and there is no doubting that the majority of people we physically see in the shop and see ordering through the website are men.

It got me thinking of reasons why this may be the case. Are the majority of women just totally uninterested in record collecting and buying music from independent retailers? Do men put much more importance on such hobbies? Is it a general hoarding mentality that men possess and women don’t? Are men just big kids and unwilling to grow up where women are generally more mature and have grown out of collecting records? Are we, as a store, doing something wrong and is there anything we could do to encourage female music lovers to come in to our or any other local independent store? The answers I don’t know.

Going by my own household I am a man and a record collector. I would say that despite using things like music streaming services to listen to a lot of my music I still like to own something, and preferably on vinyl because they are a beautiful format and they hold their value better than CDs. I am uninterested in rarities and collecting things for the sake of having them, it is purely to listen to, and so in that respect I am different to a lot of record collectors I know. Having said that I do enjoy the thrill of owning or finding something that few people have and that will either grow in value over time or immediately. My girlfriend Holly is a woman and not a record collector. She listens to music a lot and her musical tastes differ to mine. Although she enjoys listening to some of my vinyl, and I do buy

her the odd special vinyl item as a present for us to enjoy together, she otherwise has no interest in buying records. She happily listens to all her music via music streaming services and pays the subscription fees to be able to do so wherever she is. We both love music and gigs but when it comes to the physical form of the medium we give it different levels of importance. I know from friends and bloggers that I follow that there are many women out there with a huge passion for music. They are very knowledgeable and will travel to see their favourite artists and attend festivals regularly. This article is not questioning this in anyway. At festivals and gigs i have attended, women are represented in equal numbers to men, so why is this not translating to how they interact with their local record

stores and independent music scenes and the purchases of the physical form. I would love to hear from a female record collector, music blogger or anyone else who wants their say on the stats and invite them to write an article in response to this one with your opinions as to why this is. We all love music and trust me vinyl is the most amazing musical format. It is a joy to listen to and look at and share with others. It is beautiful in both look and sound and is to be appreciated by all. As a shop we obviously want to find ways of making ourselves more accessible to a wider audience, but as a music lover it would be great to see a more diverse community of record collectors of all ages, creeds, colours and sexes bringing there own perspectives and opinions to the table. So come on ladies, get involved! TheLeedsDebacle_25

/ IAN PEPPER

logging off As a young man influenced perhaps a little too much by reading The Female Eunuch and the S.C.U.M manifesto I’ve always found dating something of a minefield. I’ve never known the right balance of approaching a woman you like and letting her know you find her attractive without being a pest. Also the fear of being humiliated by rejection wells up inside and cascades like a tsunami of self-reproach before I’ve even crossed the room. I suspect that a lot of men who lack confidence and came to adulthood in that strange noman’s land when the new man was on the wane and the new lad was on the rise feel this way. Stuck between a concept of masculinity which seemed to be constructed out of back issues of Jackie and one which made Sid James seem positively metro-sexual I was left in a quandary not just as to how I should behave around my object of desire but also how I was supposed to think about them. Internet dating seemed to offer a solution. I could woo women from afar using all my skills of wit and charm without any of the risks of actual rejection. Yet as I was to find out things are never quite as easy as they seem. For starters the written word has a notorious propensity for being misconstrued. Things said in jest are not taken as such. What was intended as an innocent inquiry can come across as pushy or intrusive. You can end up messaging back and forth with no real enthusiasm for days until one of you gets bored by the banality of the responses and wanders off like someone pretending to go to the kitchen for some more wine at a dinner party. Or alternatively 26_TheLeedsDebacle

you can become so enamoured with the exchange that you start to construct increasingly ornate fantasies about the other person. Weekend camping trips to Hawes. Canal Barge holidays on the Norfolk Broads. Holidays in Rome. Before you know how deep the delusion has gone you’ve booked the registry office and decided who’s doing the canapés. And then you actually meet... Lets be honest no-one is entirely honest on these sites. We all use photos that are at least a year old or show us several pounds lighter. Taken at a certain angle, at a certain light even the Abonimal Snowman can look ruggedly handsome. So when meeting it is best to realise this and adjust one’s expectations accordingly. Sometimes one can be pleasantly surprised but not often. I too have been on the receiving end of this and on one particularly bad date was introduced with such an undisguised look of utter disappointment it was really just a case of finding the shortest possible time to depart without being impolite. Yet looks aren’t everything. Chemistry though IS everything. Without this elusive elixir there really is no point. People say ‘it takes time’ or ‘people grow on you’ but they are wrong. There is always something there from the start. Some weird combination of liking their smell, the way they walk down the street, the tone of their voice and what they say with it and of course some strange primal attraction which Freud would probably say relates to our mother. Communicating well with someone over the internet means absolutely nothing when it comes to this. Real life is something else entirely and a much truer reflection of whether you will actually get on.

I should point out too how hard it is as a man to get an actual date. People you are talking to drift off due to boredom, meeting someone else or other reasons you can and will speculate about. Endlessly. Even in order to get to the point of messaging someone you need to trawl through endless profiles in which people seem to be competing either to be as banal and inoffensive as possible or painfully wacky and unique. Of these messages you send the vast majority will never message you back. Send 20 messages out you may get two back, one of which may result in a date if you’re lucky. And that’s when the odds are in your favour. As in life, as on the internet women are inundated with offers and also as in life it is very rare someone will approach you directly. Women will look at your profile and wait for you to message them. Its the equivilant of a fleeting glance across a crowded room. So far from being an easy way out internet dating actually takes a lot of work. According to statistics it takes 6 hours of all this digital back and forth to actually result in a date. No good odds I think you’ll agree. I personally have had good experiences, bad experiences and experiences that were a waste of everyone’s time but overall despite the knowledge that people I know have met lovely partners this way I have decided that internet dating is not for me. I feel that it turns people into cereal boxes full of ingrediants which you can’t be bothered to read and I don’t want to be packaged in this way. I don’t want to sell myself, I just want to be myself. I’ve also realised that it is in danger of making me a complete coward when it comes to approaching women in real life. I imagine the totemic icons of masculinity of my youth gathered round slapping me on the back and geeing me on and I ask myself this : would Jack Nicholson use an internet dating site to meet women? Would Harrison Ford? Would Micheal Fassbender? Time to log off for the last time...

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/ TIM KNIGHT

friday 20th 2014 Low lit. The smoke machine’s on and the support band are doing their best to support the main band on at 10, and the crowd are here for the cheap import beer and the single launch that’s soon to begin. To my left are two sunken shadows barely lit and whispering. They’re friends: she’s talking about getting him a girlfriend and he’s joking that he’s better alone, but it’s obvious, 20/20-crystal-clear-hindsight’s-got-nothing-on-thispair that by the end of the evening they’ll run into the early morning together with hands held and this evening’s entertainment a forever dinner party story of how they met. He’s the iPhone photographer that needs no filter though he’s having problems with the aperture, luckily she’s a far better amateur photographer and she corrects his image with a tap making the colours blend and the blacks stand out and all with no words, just a look and a slow cat blink to say this is how you do it now kiss me, but it gets lost in translation between the 3 foot that separates them and he thinks she wants another drink.

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She’s the Friday night emailer, replying to work messages that don’t need an immediate answer, though she’s having problems with the new iOS luckily he shows her the shortcuts and how to attach the monthly spreadsheets without messing up the message and all with no words, just a look and a slow cat blink to say this is how you do it now could I kiss you, but it gets lost in translation between the 2 foot that separates them and she thinks he wants another drink. The last song of the support band lingers in mid-air whilst the drummer takes off his cymbals and the singer points to the merch-stand at the back and alludes to social media links, and the crowd are still here for the cheap import beer and the single launch that’s about to begin. The sunken shadow couple sink a little deeper into their seats, empty glasses collect and they look at each other like they know where next the night is going: love under an IKEA light bought in the sale, his jeans and her camisole on the floor in the shadow of the energy saving light bulb bought in an attempt to curb expenses. Applause starts to build and the couple stand amongst the audience holding each other’s hands as the single launch begins.

PHILIP REGAN \

The modern methods of charity collection I

am only 28 but occasionally find it interesting to reminisce about how times have changed. When thinking about charity collection, modern methods appear aggressive compared to the quaint memories of my childhood and early teenage years. You may have had different experiences but for me “back then” included church collection baskets, fundraising with the Air Training Corps and seeing Barnardos envelopes drop through the letterbox. They are somewhat charming in their simplicity but after this period of my life, almost in the blink of an eye it seemed like charity collection got tougher. Either that or I became cynical. Walking down Albion Street on Saturday, I bobbed and weaved between numerous high street fundraisers representing a variety of charities. Created by Greenpeace Austria, face-to-face fundraising (F2F) came to the UK in the late nineties and has arguably become more prominent, especially over the past five years. As a result of this increase, some members of the public find their presence invasive and refer to them as “chuggers” - a derogatory term meaning “charity mugger”. According to an nfpSynergy survey, one third get “very annoyed being approached on the street by a fundraiser”.

Additional criticisms include claims of “emotional blackmail”, organisations withholding information about staff payments and the possible impact on local businesses. Given the benefit of the doubt, “non-agency” workers (and many “agency” workers) are probably just passionate about their charitable causes. In legal terms, F2F cannot be classed as harassment IF organisations follow the correct guidelines and obtain permission from the local council or shopping precinct to carry out their activities. Charities say the increase in street fundraisers is necessary because it is the most effective method of charity collection. The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association estimates that donors recruited through F2F make a combined donation of £130 million to charity each year. In addition to this, The World Giving Index 2013, published by the Charities Aid Foundation, shows that the UK has the second highest proportion - 76 per cent - of people who give to charity. Later at work, a stranger came in seeking sponsorship for a ten kilometre run. My grandfather completed seven marathons in his prime and I’ve also done 10K+ numerous times, albeit on a treadmill. The strangers proposal was underwhelming so after some excuses he left without a signature. If that sounds cruel, money was also a factor because with very little disposable income

(like so many others), charity is bottom on the list of priorities. When the economy eventually improves all across the UK, spare money may go to a charity of my choice as long as their work fits with something I have a genuine passion for. Back at home, the television adverts included a range of emotive humanitarian and animal appeals. I counted more of the latter type, make of that what you will. Ten years ago, my ethics & philosophy teacher taught the class about charity fatigue; this involves a set of events often caused by the charities themselves that can cause disengagement with all charitable organisations. The earlier mentioned nfpSynergy survey also revealed modern methods including text messages (29%) and emails (22%) are annoying, adding to the apathy. To end on a positive note, feel good stories around this issue often put things into perspective, if only for a short time. For example the late Stephen Sutton, who was awarded his well deserved MBE for services to the Teenage Cancer Trust. It is true that charity still begins at home but if you are able to give time or money; please donate, sponsor or volunteer whenever you can. A positive contribution could make you feel better than saying ‘F*** you chugger!’ Or not (if you are the third) ...

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/ LAURA FURNISS

The Owlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Night The owlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s night prolongs the quiet agony, recalling things you said to me. A lick of paint over the cracks of the past two weeks means nothing. A dirty bog lingers below and both of us are sinking. I have a float, you a life-ring but we cannot, will not help each other. You look at me, I look at you whilst remembering, remembering, remembering that there are consequences to everything, everything, everything.

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/ OLIVER SUGGITT

neutral milk hotel

References in interviews, rar and zip files, limewire mp3s, forum chatter, word of mouth, he’d disappeared, gone away, not coming back, a possible nervous breakdown, endless rumours. All that left was the music. There is On Avery Island and In the Aeroplane over the Sea, out in ninety-six and ninety-eight. And such music it is, it contains such clarity of vision, an immaculate sound and those lyrics. Those words that appear as if in an expressionist flow of feeling, yet contain a density of meaning that allows one to analyse and collapse into the gaps and spaces of the language used. Neutral Milk Hotel was a beautiful proposition and they are again. It doesn’t feel real that they are performing again. It seems implausible, as if at some point we’ve split off from the master timeline into another world where this was ‘allowed’ to happen. The feeling stems from the fact that silence was deafening for so long, long before I had the pleasure of acquainting myself with the music. Their music was an artefact even then, in my salad days, the grim halcyon of the mid two thousands. They were a relic. An object you could only engage with on a pure record and listener basis. I had the desire, I’m sure a lot of other fans had the same, for there to be more, for new records, live performances but it never came. I’d made peace with that. I think many had. And then there were the rumblings. The appearances. Solo performances at first, in the 32_TheLeedsDebacle

crowds of Occupy. He seemed happy, at peace, there were only the old songs, sung perfectly. His voice was still the same (as far as fuzzy phone camera videos could capture). It seemed possible. Almost probable and following a solo tour by Jeff Mangum, there was the announcement. Neutral Milk Hotel to tour the world and to come to our city.

from music, fashion, art, and new media, Simon Reynolds confronts a central paradox of our era: from iPods to YouTube, we’re empowered by mind-blowing technology, but too often it’s used as a time machine or as a tool to shuffle and rearrange music from yesterday. We live in the digital future but we’re mesmerized by our analogue past.

One could make the

I’d argue that in some cases that’s true, Pixies long running reunion being a crystalline example, they now exist as a tribute act to their own past, clocking on stage to perform pitch perfect renditions of their stellar back catalogue with the same business like attitude of an office workforce. There is no urgency to it, not real desire other than the crowds desire to hear those songs again in a live setting and to relive or ‘finally’ see it live.

cynical

and

retromania1 argument. See this as the desire for nostalgia, to relive youth and forget about the now, to collapse oneself back into the halcyon memory and deny the present moment. The first book to make sense of 21st Century pop, Retromania explores rock’s nostalgia industry of revivals, reissues, reunions and remakes, and argues that there has never before been a culture so obsessed with its own immediate past. Pulling together parallel threads

For Neutral Milk Hotel it’s not exactly like that. This is the chance to finally share what hasn’t been shared. For the words and the music to at last reach the ears in the vivid roar of live performance. Almost no one has had the chance, except the lucky and hip in the dog days of the nineties. It feels precious and delicate, that they are gracing us with an opportunity finally to have the collective catharsis of something we almost all found alone on the Internet. To see our true neighbours side by side as they take the stage. It will be special. I guarantee that.

DAVID PIKE \

when summer is like this When summer is like this, When blue and green of sky and leaves are together Within the last sun of an evening, I want to be the tree, be the cloud â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The very high wisp of it; And at once, everywhere, Seeing what I want to see And thinking often of what the sky did then, When summer was like this.

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something to do every day.. JULY 1st Tune-Yards (Cockpit) 2nd Tour de Proms (Town Hall) 3rd TdF Team Presentation Ceremony (Arena) 4th Festival of Cycling (Harewood House) 5th Tour de France Grand Depart (Leeds) 6th Yorkshire Bicycle Show (Town Hall) 7th Bicyclism (City Museum) 8th Pearl Jam (Arena) 9th Voices of a New Generation (WYP) 10th Cyclism (Leeds Gallery) 11th The Charlatans (Brudenell) 12th Cocoon in the Park (Temple Newsam) 13th Queer Film Festival (Wharf Chambers) 14th Roy Fields (Far Moss) 15th I Love West Leeds Festival (West Leeds) 16th Victor Wooten (Wardrobe) 17th Caitlin Moran (Town Hall) 18th Mik Artistikâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ego Trip (Seven) 19th Beryl (WYP) 20th Jane Tomlinson 10k (Headrow) 21st Eyes on le tour de France (White Cloth) 22nd Speed Dating (Living Room) 23rd Centre Stage Final (Academy) 24th Fly Market (Corn Exchange) 25th Eric Prydz (Warehouse) 26th Muay Thai Fury (Queens Hotel) 27th Xpress Triathlon (Grammar School) 28th Nisennenmondai (Brudenell) 29th Andrew WK (Cockpit) 30th Hat Fitz and Cara (Belgrave) 31st Public Enemy (Academy)

Nous Vous

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Andrew WK AUGUST 1st Leeds Rhinos v Bradford Bulls (Headingley) 2nd Ska and Mod Festival (Millennium Square) 3rd Pride (Millennim Square) 4th Cross Currents (Art Gallery) 5th Falconry Experience (Armouries) 6th My Patch! (Colours May Vary) 7th Nous Vous: A Watery Line (Tetley) 8th Beacons (Heslaker Farm) 9th Holi One Colour Festival (Harewood House) 10th Shrek (Grand) 11th The Argies (Fox & Newt) 12th Ant & Dec (Arena) 13th Neutral Milk Hotel (Stylus) 14th Slint (Cockpit) 15th Fieldtrip Festival (High House Farm) 16th VW Festival (Harewood House) 17th Esper Scout (Wharf Chambers) 18th Jimmy Cliff (Academy) 19th Leeds Utd v Brighton (Elland Road) 20th St Vincent (Met) 21st Parallel Lives (Art Gallery) 22nd Leeds Festival (Bramham Park) 23rd Phil Nichol (HiFi) 24th Garden Party (Faversham) 25th West Indian Carnival (Potternewton Park) 26th Grayson Perry (Temple Newsam) 27th Black Lips (Brudenell) 28th Tides of Man (Temple of Boom) 29th Felice Brothers (Irish Centre) 30th Rahat Fati Ali Khan (Arena) 31st Sherlock World Record (Temple Newsam)

Angel Olsen

SEPTEMBER 1st Pink Mountaintops (Brudenell) 2nd Dawn French (Grand) 3rd Andrew Combs (Oporto) 4th International Beer Festival (Town Hall) 5th England v India (Headingley) 6th The White Whale (Dock) 7th Jasper Carrott (Grand) 8th Voices of Asia (City Museum) 9th Yorkshire Exhibition (Abbey House) 10th Gego (HMI) 11th Dracula (WYP) 12th Me and My Friends (Wharf Chambers) 13th The Magic Numbers (Met) 14th Ruby Wax (WYP) 15th Nik Kershaw (Varieties)

16th Rue Royale (Oporto) 17th Sitting Room Comedy (Leeds Club) 18th Throwing Muses (Irish Centre) 19th Measure: coffee culture festival (Armouries) 20th Mint Festival (Lightwater Valley) 21st 100 Mile Bike Ride (Roundhay Park) 22nd Angel Olsen (Brudenell) 23rd Modern Baseball (Cockpit) 24th Yorkshire v Somerset (Headingley) 25th Lygia Clark (HMI) 26th Joe Wilkinson (Uni) 27th James Taylor (Arena) 28th Extreme Torque Show (Harewood House) 29th Wayne Hussey (Holy Trinity) 30th The Vaselines (Brudenell)

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