sent TVS 56 1a:TVS 45.qxd
27/10/2009
10:45
Page 4
Words Are Weapons LIVERPOOL WELSH CHORAL
Come and Sing! LWC...... What?...... Where?..... When?..... How?.....
Simply Dynamic! Everything! Liverpool, New York, Cologne, Dublin Wednesdays 0151 632 4860 / 0151 489 6695
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POST MUSIC - DINGLE CINEMA SESSIONS For the past few months in a disused cinema at the point where Park Road welcomes Aigburth Road, a massive group of Liverpool's finest bands have been recorded in a stupid level of DIY experimentation. For the past few months in a disused cinema at the point where Park Road welcomes Aigburth Road, a massive group of Liverpool's finest bands have been recorded in a stupid level of DIY experimentation. No-one knows how long the building can be used in this way but the indoor rain, pigeon shit and endless debris is starting to give way to just indoor rain. They are working with bands such as: Indica Ritual, a.P.A.t.T, Action Beat, The International, The Problem With People Is, Stignoise, Crisp & Dry, Stignoise, The Laze, Barberos, Trouble With Books We will let them explain: “I knew I wanted to use it.. and I knew that whenever an opportunity like this presented his head then I would want to do a project there.” “I wanted to simply fish from the balcony... the whole building was full to the brim with random random stuff.... piles and piles and piles of....” “The longer we have the building and the longer its taking to document all the bands we are hoping to film/record... the cleaner and less sinister it is looking too.”
News From Nowhere has represented a defiant independence in Liverpool now for thirty five years. It has stood by and watched similar ventures collapse, and managed to seem invulnerable. This is largely the extent to which they have made themselves much more than a bookshop, and become an essential tool for the city's communities. Of course anything built with a radical motif is very vulnerable, and it has been hit hard by recession, internet shopping and possibly by Liverpool Council's determination to sanitise the city. They are staying though, and Mandy who was there at the start explains how and why. “News From Nowhere was started in 1974 by Bob Dent, a friend of mine. He got a little shop on Manchester street near the tunnel entrance. At that point the mainstream bookshops weren't stocking anything unusual or alternative at all, and it was set up to fill the gap. The bookshop grew and moved to bigger but dilapidated premises on Whitechapel and started to become very much a centre for people who were involved in campaigns. At the same time we were broadening out to a wider audience that was looking for any kind of different view on life from what the mainstream were offering. Having said that we were one of many then so after Bob left we consciously became a women's collective and wanted to provide employment for women as well as business skills. “When we moved to Bold Street, away from the rats and the fascists that were plaguing us in Whitechapel, we had a much higher profile and had become by default the only radical bookshop in Liverpool. Now we are one of the few independent bookshops because there has became such a decimation of the book trade. One of the reasons we have survived, apart from the dedication of the staff, has been because of the support of Liverpool and all its communities. “We probably do exploit ourselves, we work for minimum wage and many many hours above that voluntarily, and we have volunteers who come in as well. But we are only dedicated like that because we absolutely love our jobs. When I've been on holiday I am glad to get back to work, there are very few jobs you could say that about. I think if there is something to kick against then Liverpool will do it, and people like to have somewhere like News From Nowhere where they can come in and meet with other people to make things happen, and have the literature there to back them up.
“Post music isn't the building its the people inside.” “I think we making a very very very personal and wonderful looking documentation of part of the Liverpool music community.” “We are just trying to get a label going in the cheapest way possible, we cant afford to press a lot of records so this enabled us produce a large body of fucking cool looking and sounding artists.” Join postmusic.info. Look at http://www.myspace.com/postmusicrecordings
“We definitely have people coming in who have different opinions from us. As long as they come in and engage with us then we welcome that. We did one day have two people come in, one accusing us of having too much Jewish literature and the other for being critical of Israel. We see a complete difference between Jewish people, Israeli people and the Israeli Government, in the same way we saw a complete difference between British people and Thatcherism. “Having said that we are here to reflect opinions, we do have our own specific opinions, which is partly why we have survived. We are clear about our politics. We have a lot of difference within our collective but we are against oppression, we are anti-sectarian, and, in a very broad sense, libertarian bordering on anarchist. None of us have ever been party-aligned, which is not to say someone would be excluded if they were but our policy as a bookshop is to be non party aligned, although we will obviously still stock literature by these parties. “It always makes me proud when people come in that don't know the bookshop and find something that was really important to them. I think its a very safe place for lesbian and gay people to come out. This is probably true of a lot of issues, and our role in this is really important. “We are going to be struggling through the recession as people are not spending money on things they see as non-essential. But I would like to say that a book for seven ninety nine is much better value than a night out and in the morning you have the book rather than a hangover. But we are determined to stay here and we have had a massive show of support from our customers, which will always keep us going.”
“POSTMUSIC is a group of friends who like wonderful music, exquisite art and fun. We spend our time running a label, club night and a social / analogous network. We're about D.I.Y. community, unity, experimentation and exploration.” “but I don't like it... its a spooky horrible rainy cold bastard.”
“if there is something to kick against then Liverpool will do it”
♬ SONG MOMENTS ♬
♬ SONG MOMENTS ♬
Sparks - Album: Kimono My House.
Van Morrison - Album: Astral Weeks.
Tr 1: This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us: 1min 48 secs
Track 4: Cyprus Avenue. 4 Mins 46secs
A song that piles magic upon magic still manages a moment that transcends all others. The song breaks and builds, then Russell suddenly wails for no good reason as the bagpipe guitar sound has a fit trying to drown out random gunfire.
An effortlessly beautiful but meandering song is starting to lose itself in its own foggy memories. Then a harpsi chord picks up the melody in defiance of the mood and seems to surprise Van into a moment of joyful vocals.