Indigo (Pullout from Palatinate Issue 732)

indigo 25.10.11

As the North East plays host to the Turner Prize, indigo introduces you to the contenders

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Tuesday 25th October 2011 | INDIGO

indigo

contents

editor’s letter

W

hen you tell your parents’ friends where you go to university, there is one reaction you can guarantee. Face contorted in pain, with a sharp intake of breath, they will proclaim: “Ohh its freezing up there!” These people have a wealth of life experience, they have traversed the lengths of our country, and they can tell you that the North East is really, really cold. For the first year I defiantly contradicted them – convincing myself that I had found it colder returning South at Christmas. I now consider myself at that time severely delusional. Durham is very cold. And maybe I could learn to live with that. But the problem is, it’s not just outside that’s cold in Durham. In Durham, inside is cold.

This has been somewhat of a revelation for me in recent weeks.

Last year I lived in a house with ‘bills included’, but this year bills are excluded (we are not allowed to have bills) and in order to fulfil this ambition we are not allowed to have heating. Three of us are quite cold. The other two aren’t so cold. Unfortunately the other two are CENTRAL HEATING NAZIS so most of the time I have to wear two coats just to sit in my room. I haven’t taken my Uggs off for so long I can’t even remember what my feet feel like when they’re not encased in sheepskin.

There are some positives though.

The childish excitement that putting the heating on for an hour entails is quite sweet.

As I sit here writing this, I am grateful that for the first time this week my hands are warm enough to type. And I bet you’re all pretty glad about that as well. RA

sudoku

Page 5: Ask Mrs Elvet: meet Mrs Elvet, our resident agony aunt, in her first attempt to solve your many, many problems Page 6: The Turner Prize comes to Newcastle: find out more about the contenders for the art world’s most coveted award Page 7: The Durham Lock-Ins explained: Stage Editor Kathy Laszlo interviews the founders of Durham’s most eclectic evenings

Page 9: Gig Reviews: the Music Team review the best of region’s gigs

Page 12: ‘Truly captivating’: James Oliver reviews Ryan Gosling’s much hyped new film Drive

Pages 14&15: Book Fest: we bring you in-depth coverage of the best of the Durham Book Festival

Page 16: Beyond Durham: discover the possibilities for learning about various exotic places in even the most unlikely of degrees

online

stage

music

film&tv

Deputy Stage Editor Larry Bartleet documents the rise and rise of our very own Durham Revue as they return South (well, relatively) after their success at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

Our Music Editors are hard at work bringing you the best unknown artists in the new Radar feature. The first is Keaton Henson, who has already won over indie radio god Zane Lowe.

For those of you who aren’t watching the brilliant Downton Abbey, this article will reveal the error of your ways.

For those of you who are, well, read it too, and enjoy.

INDIGO | Tuesday 25th October 2011

Indigo Editors: Hannah Shaddock & Rachel Aroesti indigo@palatinate.org.uk

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the indigo diary what we’re listening to

tyneside cinema

gigs Funeral for a Friend O2 Academy Newcastle October 25th

Scroobius Pip

O2 Academy Newcastle October 28th

Tribes

The Cluny, Newcastle November 2nd

The Shivers

Talking Heads (Nothing But) Flowers Belle & Sebastian Seeing Other People Beyoncé Countdown Visitor Los Feeling (Alan Braxe Remix) Paul Simon Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes Kanye West Through the Wire Fun. & Janelle Monae We Are Young

the globe

Alington House, Durham November 3rd

Arctic Monkeys and The Vaccines

Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle November 5th

Lavotchkin and Guests

While the Gala is a great venue for theatre, it’s not so great for the film-lover. We’ve recently reviewed several new releases which aren’t being shown in Durham, and so thought it was only fair to let you in on one of Newcastle’s best-kept secrets: Tyneside Cinema. Originally built in 1937, it has a reputation for showing the best of current releases as well as classics and cult favourites in traditional theatrical surroundings. Visit www.tynesidecinema.co.uk to check the listings and book tickets.

bonfire night

Durham Live Lounge November 6th Photograph: Colin Davison

Grey College fireworks display Saturday November 5th 7pm

halloween This month sees the relaunch of contemporary art gallery The Globe, and it’s certainly worth a visit. From its brand new setting - a disused bank converted into minimalist exhibition spaces - to its community-centric ethos, it’s no ordinary art gallery. It’s currently showing three different exhibitions in the new space, one of which is an art auction to raise funds. If you’re yearning for some culture and a very short train journey then The Globe comes highly recommended. For more information visit the website at www.globegallery.org.

Check out a classic scary film at the Tyneside Cinema, visit Crook Hall for a truly immersive Halloween experience that will satisfy your inner eight-yearold, and make sure to read An American’s Guide to Halloween on page 5.

Thought we were quite good at creative costumes here in Durham? Think again...

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Tuesday 25th October 2011 | INDIGO

features

An American in Durham: Halloween

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alloween is the time of year when fancy dress in Durham takes on a whole new meaning. The streets become stained with (fake) blood and an unusually large amount of cobwebs appear.

However, our version of Halloween is NOTHING compared to the commercial bigwigs across the pond. Our American correspondent Danielle Masterton tells us how to really do Halloween.

Free of religious creed and political alliance, Halloween is the ultimate Hallmark holiday. What could be more typical of the American Dream (well the stereotype anyway) than a comprehensive night of celebrations in

the honour of candy, costumes and mischief?

Having spent the glory days of my youth in Westfield, NJ, I am no stranger to the spooky delights of an authentic American Halloween. At school, Halloween was a major operation. A costume parade around the school (not participating equals primary school social suicide) followed by a Halloween sing-a-long. Oh yeah, a sing-a-long. Like Christmas carols – but not.

The Brits have taken this originally pagan celebration on board but really only scratch the surface when it comes to All Hallows’ Eve. Decorating your house is an absolute must. Westfield was

transformed from a Wisteria Lane-esque suburbia to a smattering of Disney-fied haunted houses. My next door neighbours even had a witch ‘flying’ on a wire from their house to a tree in their garden, not to mention a giant rope spider’s web sprawling across their property, much to the alarm of small children in the neighbourhood (i.e. me!).

Halloween costumes were first mentioned in print in 1911, so with a century of fancy dress under their belts, the kids of the USA have got some serious originality! Forget black cats, witches and devils - Halloween is a chance to get your creative juices oozing. The British take on Halloween fancy dress tends towards the spooky side – fake blood, vampire teeth and back combed hair (ahem).

So cast away your 60-second ghost costume that you just pulled off your bed and get creative! Halloween is a rogue kind of holiday, ungoverned by any institution, a unique occasion to liberate yourself by going out in any attire that takes your fancy... and to eat CANDY! Danielle Masterston

A wise man once declared the UK and the USA to be two countries divided by a common language so here’s some essential vocab in translation for your Halloween festivities: Candy Corn: Zero resemblance to actual corn in neither taste nor form but probably the tastiest prism of artificially modified sugar you’ll ever come across.

Jack-O-Lantern: Official terminology for your pumpkin after it has been skilfully carved with eyes and mouth and the essential tea light has been delicately placed inside (the reality of pumpkin carving actually rather tricky...).

Mischief Night: Does what it says on the tin; naughty tricks carried out by youths (probably your older broth-

Carving pumpkins is actually rather tricky FlickrID:CricketMad

Studio: Hound’s new home

The ‘cheese’ room is always busy Photograph: Sarah Murray

It’s midnight on Friday and I’m lost in Studio. The night started well, arriving at 10:30, I scoped out the new location. For those unfamiliar with the new Planet of Sound, Studio and Loft have joined forces to offer stu-

dents three rooms of musical mayhem. There’s the Main Arena with international DJs, Room Two’s Sound Foundation which mixes funk, soul and hip hop and finally, Cheese in Room Three.

Myself and fellow Feature

writer Ellie start off in Sound Foundation with a shooter of cherry sour and a vodka and mixer (single, we are working after all!) It’s still early and the dance floor looks a little barren but there’s a fair crowd around the bar. A lover of Cheese, I took an immediate liking to this room and so did everyone else, it was packed! The dancefloor was heaving and I could have spent the rest of the evening happily bopping along to Shaggy’s ‘It Wasn’t Me’, but

er) the night before Halloween. Mischief Night puts the ‘trick’ in ‘trick or treat’.

Pumpkin pie: Delectable post-Halloween feed; use your pumpkin remnants to whip up a scrumptious pie just in time for Thanksgiving. Or do as the Americans do and buy pumpkin in a tin can, place in ready-made pie crust, bake, et voila!

Trick or Treat: You know this one already but you haven’t experienced it on an American scale. Start early to maximise candy collecting potential, a pillow case is your standard collection vessel; plot your route ahead of time to hit the houses with full size chocolate bars/toffee apples/pizza first! Creative neighbours are the best neighbours.

journalistic duties called.

We head outside to gauge the reaction from some club goers. “Underwhelming” and “frankly a let down!” were the reports from a group of Freshers. However Ruby, a second year, was slightly more positive: “last year was alright but there was so much space and so few people. This is so busy and so full.”

We head back inside to see how the night’s progressing and this is where the trou-

ble begins. Our plan is to go through there to Main Arena but we end up back in Sound Foundation. We backtrack and take an alternate staircase which leads us back into Sound Foundation. By now we feel like we’re in an MC Esher Crazy Stairsesque universe and all the rooms are looking exactly the same. Flustered, we ask one of the bouncers if they can direct us to Main Arena, but even he gets lost. When we finally make it there it seems everyone else has had the same trouble and the room is barely filled. While it wasn’t an overwhelming success Studio does seem promising, just make sure to carry a map when you visit!

Sarah Murray

INDIGO | Tuesday 25th October 2011

Features Editor: Sarah Murray feature@palatinate.org.uk

Day Three

Mrs Elvet sorts you out

Day Four

indigo’s very own Agony Aunt solves all your problems

Spent most of this morning hiding in the cupboard on the first floor. I heard HoH’s dulcet tones and, panicking, opened the door to what I thought was the corridor leading to the first year history classroom. Unfortunately it’s the stationary cupboard, so I’m trying to develop a healthy interest in Duplo staplers to help the time pass more quickly.

This is not mystery lecturer’s real office Flickr ID: Grey Area

A week in the life of a...

LECTURER Day One

First seminar of term and Jemima’s already asked to submit her first draft for next terms summative essay. Not sure I can cope with this level of eagerness. Spotty-nosed boy to my right spent a lot more time eyeing up thin blonde girl on my left than he did studying the original source textbook. When will these people learn that The Life and Death of the Eritrean Republic is more interesting than life itself? I would swap my wife for a pile of books on the subject.

Day Two

Jemima’s first draft is littered with hideous errors and

coffee rings. It saddens me that despite her eagerness to get a First in History, she has grasped neither the concept of commas, nor the pro-right desire to break through the Eritrean democracy boundary.

Very long conversation with the Head of History (aka HoH) this morning. He was joking with me about how he took some students out for a drink last year and got ‘down with the kids’. Not sure how I should bring up the subject in my seminars. Maybe I should pour everyone a shot of whiskey to lubricate their willingness to get ‘down with it’ in Varsity with me.

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My second year students this morning were very impressed with the model of the Eritrean parliamentary building constructed completely from staples and elastic bands. However even my striking architectural abilities couldn’t stem the flow of Jemima’s tears as I handed her back an essay graded at 72. I awkwardly patted her back and wondered whether I could end up on some register for this. To distract her from pressing charges I asked her an easy question about Eritrea’s panda population and she looked desperately at the door and the loft-hatch above me. I turned round to find her a book on Wildlife conservation and when I rerevolved the curtains were blowing at the open window.

Obviously she wanted to relive the plight of Eritrea’s panda population for herself I thought, impressed.

Day Five

TGI Friday. Sidestepped both HoH and Jemima artfully as I wandered the corrider this morning. Further emotional turmoil and questionable teaching techniques are best left until after the weekend I think. Hard to keep everyone’s attention in the afternoon, like me they were desperate to be getting home, they to their Jaeger shots and Smirnoff Ices, and me to a Glennfidditch single malt and a box set of What the Romans did for Us.

Ellie Ross and Sarah Murray

Dear Mrs Elvet, I’m new to Durham and I’m finding things really hard.

My college is so chavvy there just aren’t any people like me here; they’re all quite scruffy and I don’t understand half of what they say, plus their enunciation is just terrible. Another problem is my room (or lack of it). It’s tiny and I can’t believe I don’t have an en suite- it’s just awful, we have to share two toilets between TWELVE, can you imagine?

(Claustrophobic - Collingwood) For the linguistic problems I recommend www.urbandictionary.com, it’s full of colloquial English that you may not have encountered.

Perhaps you could try to imitate how ‘they’ speak and that will help you gain some friends. The toilet problem is a bit difficult- they don’t sell potties big enough for adults and I’m pretty sure chamber pots are long gone. Maybe if your daddy gives the college a nice donation they will let you have an en suite room.

Dear Mrs Elvet, I’ve never been one for ‘chillin’, ‘BBMing’, or whatever else the ‘youths’ of my generation do when they’re not swilling vast magnums of WKD and having illicit sex in the local Iceland.

However, since arriving in Durham it’s become obvi-

ous that I will have to deal with my fear of the institution of ‘clubbing’. I’m not sure that I’m ready to make the jump from my nice-cupof-tea nights-in to the dens of iniquity that Durham offers, but I really do want to give this fresher’s thing a jolly good go!

(Socially awkward - Chads) Darjeeling is great and everything (my grandfather was stationed there when he owned it), but it’s literally got nothing on a Sourz shot. Get yourself out in Klute, winding and grinding with some of Durham’s fittest. I recommend a treble vodka darling, followed swiftly by a sambucca shot to erase all feelings of social awkwardness.

Dear Mrs Elvet My fear of peanut butter is starting to take over my life. I’m afraid.

(Terrified - Marys) Don’t worry honey, a fear of peanut butter happens to the best of us. I myself can’t abide the thought of that buttery, fatty, condiment glued to the top of my delicate little mouth. That’s why I’ve decided to invest in a Peanut Butter Mouth Scraper Plus from Value Stores priced at just £3.99. Though, it might be an idea to man up, divorce Peanut Butter and take it up with Jam. He’s far less sticky.

CB, EW and ER Illustration: Ikumi Maekawa

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cover story

Tuesday 25th October 2011 | INDIGO

Indigo Editors: Hannah Shaddock & Rachel Aroesti indigo@palatinate.org.uk

The Turner Prize goes BALTIC James Fraser introduces the nominees and finds out why the Prize has made the North East its new home

T

he ever controversial Turner Prize looks set to change its image once more this year. For the first time the exhibition will take place outside of the Tate galleries, at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead.

The Prize’s shortlist is also notably dominated by artists based outside of London. Of the four nominated artists only the video artist Hilary Lloyd lives there, and she was trained in Newcastle.

All in all, this year’s prize presents a very different picture of the state of British art to the much discussed nominations of the 90s and early 00s. The influence of the London elite - the socalled Young British Artists, including household names like Tracy Emin and Damien Hirst - appears to be waning.

Does this image reflect reality however, or is the move to Gateshead an artificial attempt to nurture visual culture in the North?

There is probably some truth in both views. The past ten years have seen consider-

able growth in the reputation of art galleries and institutions outside of London. The BALTIC can truly claim to be one of the largest and most influential spaces for new art in Europe, never mind the UK. On the other hand, the move away from London has certainly been influenced by critic’s claims that the Turner prize itself had entrenched London’s monopoly on visual art. It seems this point has been taken to heart, as the Tate have announced that, at least for the next few years, the Prize exhibition will move between galleries throughout the UK and will no longer be an exclusively London event.

Venue aside, what does this year’s shortlist tell us about visual art in Britain now? George Shaw stands out as an unusual choice for nomination. Not only is he a painter, he is a realist painter. As such, he will inevitably get some support from the traditionalist camp that typically showers harsh criticism on the proceedings.

But Shaw is not a traditional painter. He paints pictures of insignificant English council estates in household enamel paints. His subject matter and medium are remarkable only for their banality, yet his images have an accessibility which is rare to find

in the shortlists of previous Turner Prizes.

The Glasgow based sculptors Karla Black and Martin Boyce appear to be more conventional nominees. Black produces colourful abstract forms, informed by feminism and psychoanalytic theory.

This influence is most apparent in her choice of materials, which range from balsa wood and plastic, through to toiletries, make-up and soil. Martin Boyce’s sculpture draws heavily on the visual forms of 1920s modernist architecture which he transmutes into his own visual language.

Art critics have commented on the melancholy atmosphere which surrounds Boyce’s metal structures. In many ways his colourless, austere objects are the polar opposite of Black’s flamboyant offerings.

The final nominee Hilary Lloyd produces audio visual installations of the kind which are often favoured by the Turner Prize shortlists.

Lloyd uses multiple video images together with dislocated sounds to disorientating effect, warping our perception of everyday scenes and media images.

Whatever its national significance, it seems clear that this year’s prize can only have a positive impact on the art scene of the North East.

The profile of the BALTIC and other North East art institutions will be raised, and local artists will be spurred on by the national recognition Left, clockwise from top: Karla Black, George Shaw, Martin Boyce, Hilary Lloyd.

Right from top: the work of Boyce, Shaw, Lloyd and Black. All photographs courtesy of the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art.

INDIGO | Tuesday 25th October 2011

stage

Stage Editor: Kathy Laszlo stage@palatinate.org.uk

Locked-in with Lenin

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Kathy Laszlo catches up with Donnchadh O’Conaill and Ash Ogden, two thirds of the team behind the Durham Lock-Ins which have enriched Durham’s Arts scene since December 2010

D

escribed as events “where the concept overrides the content”, the quirkily-named evenings (take Vladimir Illyich Lenin Memorial or Rosina Bonavita Memorial Lock-Ins, for example) take place once a month in venues all over Durham and feature a colourful mix of poetry, music and comedy.

Could you tell us a little about what the Lock-Ins are?

Donnchadh: Well, MaryEllen O’Shea, a jazz-pianist, came to Durham last September and thought about putting on an Arts evening where she could play some of her pieces but where there would be lots of other acts as well. We’ve had a barbershop quartet, a rehearsed reading, a beatboxer, a burlesque dancer and a solo jazz saxophonist.

Ash: Essentially the concept behind them is variety; instead of just coming to go see one medium you can see comedy, music, stand-up, monologues.

Just to clarify: do you actually lock people in?!

D: No, and it’s not overnight either - it’s a boring old eight to eleven!

A: It’s a very intimate evening and the name captures that as well as the idea of giving up power when being in there, because you don’t quite know what you are going to be shown, it’s taken out of your hands.

D: It’s a small niche event in Durham compared to what people might usually do on a night out. This is very much a fringe event and I suppose the name “Lock-In” captures that.

What was the strangest thing you’ve ever had performed?

D: The experimental saxophonist was really good. He played free jazz and would make weird squealy noises for

a minute but then play a nice lick to keep people’s attention.

At one point he played for ten minutes uninterrupted and then paused and said: “Any requests?” He didn’t appreciate when I asked for Baker Street!

How did people respond to that kind of thing?

D: People loved him! I suspect that most of them wouldn’t have heard anything like that before. Jazz is a niche type of music and free jazz is a niche within that, so it’s a real love-it or hate-it kind of thing.

But in a way this was exactly what we were trying to do.

Is it an evening for everyone or is it squarely aimed at culture vultures?

A: I find that we attract people who are generally interested in the Arts. I don’t think that there are people in our audience who are coming particularly for the comedy or for the music.

D: In order to enjoy the evening you have to be reason-

ably open-minded. The LockIns are open for anything and I think that this is the way our audience enjoys them.

Are the Lock-ins an attempt to add to Durham student culture?

A: I feel that student culture here is a bit fragile. Because of how small Durham is, poetry and jazz nights, say, are few and far between. It’s also nice to provide an artistic alternative to the usual club scene. We hope that we are refreshing in that we have no collegiate or university alignment.

D: In fact, we would like to have more local people because another feature of Durham is the mainly student nightlife, to the point that there are clubs that are student-only.

So are you trying to educate people in a way?

A: We are not thinking of the audience and delivering to a particular area or having some overarching ideas. We don’t limit it to showcasing Durham

talent, as we do pick the occasional oddity from further afield. We’ve had people from Newcastle, Leeds, a jazz quintet from York.

“

Essentially the concept behind them is variety. You can see comedy, music, burlesque... Anything goes

So if anything, is your philosophy just to find the most bizarre performers and put them on stage?

D: We do actively look for a certain kind of performer, someone who has an interesting angle.

A: When we’re looking for acts it’s not our overarching goal. However, we do end up providing an opportunity for people to perform who may not otherwise have had the

Lenin settles in for an evening of variety at Fishtank Photograph: Benjamin Taylor

chance. Where does a beatboxer go to play? Does he get much of a chance to step up or is it seen almost as a bit of a party trick?

Finally, what’s up with the titles of the respective evenings?

D: The evenings were very ordinarily named in the beginning. Then I jokingly suggested the John Calvin Memorial Lock-In, which is based on a comedy show I’d been involved in a few years before.

The others thought it was a good idea, having a celebration of someone who hated celebrating.

So what are you celebrating exactly, with such random names?

A: I think we’re celebrating how you can arbitrarily assign a name to an event!

Lock-in dates: Nov 20th and Dec 11th at Fishtank.

Add Durham Lock-In Culture Evening on Facebook.

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Tuesday 25th October 2011 | INDIGO

music

Briony Chappell examines why Benjamin Francis Leftwich has been heralded as “Brit-folk’s new voice”

“I’m just a singer-songwriter” B

enjamin Francis Leftwich sings the perfect lullaby. Soft acoustic melodies beneath layers of dreamy, poetic vocals make Leftwich’s debut Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm the quintessential ‘chill’ album.

NME proclaimed Leftwich as “Brit-folk’s new voice”, although he protests that his music is nothing more than acoustic. “It’s nice that NME gave the album a good review, but I don’t really see my music as folk. Even bands like Mumford and Sons get annoyed when people call their music ‘folk’. I’m just an acoustic singer-songwriter.”

The term ‘singer-songwriter’ has come under recent scrutiny in the music industry, as some artists have suggested feeling confined by it. In comparison, Leftwich is very honest about his traditional approach to creating music, having written the majority of his songs aged 17, and refers to the term as an “accurate label”.

For Leftwich, being a singer-songwriter means to follow in the footsteps of great names like Bruce Springsteen, Ryan Adams, Bob Dylan and Neil Young, so it is little wonder why he has a positive attitude towards the phrase.

However, in the past few years there has been a surge in the number of young boys with guitars trying to make their mark in music. When asked if he feels pressured to compete with rising stars like Ed Sheeran, Leftwich admitted that his music isn’t designed to “appeal to the masses.”

He commented, “The press seem to put this bracket

Leftwich’s live show is also critically acclaimed Photo: Braden F with rising stars like Ed Sheeran, Leftwich admitted that his music isn’t designed to “appeal to the masses.”

“

Even bands like Mumford and Sons get annoyed when people call their music ‘folk’

He commented, “The press seem to put this bracket around everyone – Ed

Sheeran, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Ben Howard, James Blake, Jamie Woon – but everyone is doing different things. I don’t really feel like I exist in the same world as that, and I don’t really want to. If I got that big, I’d be a bit freaked out.”

Even being away on tour is tough for the 21-year-old.

Quietly he admitted, “It’s really hard, and if you’re not careful you can end up losing things that are important to you. But at the same time music is my life and I

wouldn’t sacrifice it for anything. You have got to take all the opportunities that are given to you.”

For such a young artist, Leftwich’s on-stage presence is remarkably composed.

More intimate gigs, such as the one at the Riverside in Newcastle this October, and the Green Man Festival this August, provide the perfect space for Leftwich’s gentle attitude. During the performance his guitar barely moved as he strummed patiently through his currently small

collection of records.

With a voice so sleepily seductive, and such an astonishingly balanced demeanor, Leftwich is a wonder to watch and the makings of a force to be reckoned with.

Tracks to download: Atlas Hands, Shine, Atlantic City (Bruce Springsteen cover).

P

For more music news go to palatinate.org.uk

INDIGO | Tuesday 25th October 2011

Music Editor: Jess Denham Multimedia Music Editor: Briony Chappell music@palatinate.org.uk

The round-up: gigs

Indigo brings you reviews of some of the latest gigs in Durham and Newcastle Enter Shikari

14th October 02 Academy Newcastle

«««««

Will Clement

L

et Live showed great energy when they opened proceedings, but lost their bite quickly as their formulaic emo failed to rouse the majority of the audience. Your Demise’s chugging mix of hardcore punk and metal got the crowd moving again, but it was clear that the majority were saving their energies for the prodigious Enter Shikari.

Shikari, described by frontman Rou Reynolds as ‘abusing musical genres since 2003’, exploded onto the stage at the tender time of quarter past eight, yet didn’t fail to raise the tempo of the night dramati-

cally. Their infamous disregard for the modern confines of musical categories meant for a completely mixed set of posthardcore, electronica, and almost every other genre under the sun. This was perhaps best demonstrated during the breather song ‘Gap in the Fence’, starting as gentle acoustic singalong, and finishing with full-blown trance.

Songs from the upcoming A Flash Flood of Colour were interspersed with classics such as ‘Mothership’ and ‘Sorry You’re Not a Winner’. The rapturously received encore of a dubstepped version of ‘Juggernauts’, then ‘OK Time For Plan B’, capped an exhilarating night.

While Shikari’s blend of disparate musical elements may not be everyone’s cup of tea, to the full capacity crowd, the set was a perfect brew. With a shot of jäger dropped in, for good measure.

Withered Hand were on their third visit to Durham Photograph: Will Clement Withered Hand

15th October Alington House Durham

«««««

David Nicholls

Enter Shikari singer “Rou” Reynolds Photograph: Kmeron

Withered Hand has visited Durham twice before, both at the invitation of A Deer For Your Lamb. The Edinburgh performer; accompanied by a full band, was recently named “one to watch” by the prestigious Rolling Stone magazine, and was supported by two local artists.

Winona Forever possessed a charming, nervous energy, which quickly gave way to soft, emotive vocals, capturing the small crowd’s attention. Tom Reeve followed, and although his elaborate acoustic melodies were matched with intelligent lyrics, the latter were often

performed too quickly to be properly appreciated.

When Withered Hand took to the stage, he assured the audience that despite it ‘coming through a machine’, his performance would be no less heartfelt, and he was true to his word. Taken from his debut album Good News, the memorable ‘Religious Songs’ and ‘No Cigarettes’ gave an insight into the artist’s evangelical upbringing, but these references were married with several tounge-incheek remarks.

Room 3 of Alington House provided an austere yet intimate venue, but one that suited the quirky humility that Dan Willson (Withered Hand) exudes. Willson finished by thanking the audience for supporting music at its ‘true grass roots,’ and if the night was anything to go by, he could grow into something big.

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Rachael Dadd

8th October

«««««

Will Clement In the candlelit Room 3, Alington House, Rachael Dadd kicked off the highly anticipated run of intimate A Deer For Your Lamb October shows.

Alison and Tom (or Aurora Stands in Snow, when they’re ‘feeling pretentious’) opened. While their attempt to create an audience-led three-part vocal harmony fell flat, their hippy folk suited the laid back atmosphere.

Ukulele plucking and ankle-bell stomping Rachael wooed the crowd with her quirky set. ‘Elephants Swimming’ was a spine-tingling moment.

Unfortunately, low turnout and fairly similar songs meant that the two acts’ melodies occasionally verged upon lullabies. Still, this was a novel format of gigs from Durham’s most exciting production team.

Chapel Club

12th October

«««««

Lindsay Turner Despite being one of Sunderland’s premier venues, The Independent pulled a disappointing crowd for Chapel Club’s only appearance in the North East.

With two songs previously listed by Zane Lowe as his Hottest Record in the World, and their debut album Palace receiving critical acclaim earlier this year, the band should have easily filled the 600-capacity venue.

Poor attendance aside, Chapel Club did not disappoint. They dedicated the first half of their set to a number of brand new tracks, before finishing with crowd-pleasing favourites including singles ‘Surfacing’ and ‘O Maybe I’.

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Tuesday 25th October 2011 | INDIGO

fashion

Giorgio Armani: branding behemoth Rachel Bailin meets Armani’s Philip Rosenzweig in New York and talks luxury, labels and Christmas parties at Calvin Klein

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iorgio Armani is a branding behemoth. Not only does the fashion house run a number of different fashion lines, each with its own unique identity and customer base, but Mr. Armani has also delved into homewares through Armani Casa and confectionary with Armani Dolci, not to mention his ventures into cosmetics, restaurants, hotels, and even flowers. On top of this, Giorgio Armani is still a privately owned company (as opposed to peers like Givenchy and Louis Vuitton, who have been snapped up by enormous luxury brand conglomerates like the monstrous LVMH) and turns over a healthy profit. Although his products are undeniably beautiful, such success can be ultimately attributed to the business savvy of its 77-year old helmsman and his company’s pitch perfect approach to branding.

On a bitterly cold day in New York a couple of terms ago, I had the opportunity to

shadow Philip Rosenzweig, the Senior Vice President of Store Development at Giorgio Armani, a man who has had an enormously successful career in branding and marketing, and has been helping to usher in the new era at Armani since 2006.

After signing in at the front desk of one of Fifth Avenue’s lush office buildings, I was whisked up to the intimidatingly pristine reception room. An enormous, origamiesque orchid sculpture stood by a fleet of stairs leading up into more of the luxurious unknown, while a receptionist sat at a desk clicking away at her computer as a black and white (yet still somehow orange…) portrait of Mr. Armani gazed benevolently down from the wall. I sat in silence on the leather couch, nervously plucking at my clothes, as alarmingly chic people clicked past in stilettos. Suddenly I heard whistling. The receptionist managed to crack a smile – ‘Here comes Philip for you.’

A smartly dressed man came around the corner, whistling

idly with gusto and with an immediately palatable friendliness. ‘Are you Rachel?’ I nodded silently. ‘Great, I’m starving, let’s run out for lunch.’

Back out into the freezing cold, where we decided quickly to pop into the nearby Union Square Café, a neighborhood staple of Brazilian influenced diner food.

We rushed into the warmth of the bustling restaurant,

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Calvin is androgynous, very modern...no one’s going to fall out of their Calvin, are they?

sat down at the counter, and ordered. Philip looked bemusedly about himself before saying, ‘When I was at Calvin Klein in 1991, we had our Christmas party here.

The whole company could fit – maybe a hundred people or so. I was standing on that counter pulling out raffle prizes.’

In 1991, Calvin Klein was on the brink of a major branding change. Having spent much of his career, as Philip put it, hesitatingly mimicking Ralph Lauren (who was the King of prepster chic long before Jack Wills came on the scene), Calvin Klein was faced with

potential bankruptcy unless a major change was taken.

‘White,’ said Philp as he tucked into his Brazilian prawn stew. ‘Calvin came into a store we were working in one night and just said, ‘Make it all white.’ We spent all night doing it, on our hands and knees painting, but that was the turn towards everything that he’s known for now.’ Add this new minimalistic aesthetic to a series of provocative underwear ads featuring a very scantily clad Marky Mark and Kate Moss, and Calvin Klein came to be the embodiment of new, modern sex appeal.

‘It’s an interesting thing, branding. I think that the key is thinking about what the attributes of the brand are, and then making sure that the product and the messaging all resonate with it. You can’t chase somebody else’s attributes,’ as, apparently, Calvin Klein nearly learned the hard way. Philip took a sip of black coffee, glancing around the buzzing restaurant filled with lunching New York natives. ‘So, let’s do a comparison. Let’s look at Guess and Calvin Klein.

Calvin is androgynous, very modern. The other is voluptuous. I mean, no one’s going to fall out of Calvin, are they?

In the advertisements for Guess, people are always falling out of their clothes. Both are sexy, but they’re very different kinds of sexy, and that’s key. If Calvin begins to tread into the Guess world of sexy, you’re facing a disaster.

The whole thing is figuring

out your attributes, creating the product around that lifestyle, and I’m betting that if you’re the ‘falling-out-ofyour-clothes’ type of person, you’re never buying Calvin.

You might go to Club Monaco though. And in the nineties, Calvin managed to solidify the brand – who they were, and who they weren’t. I was in the initial stages of that.’

But Philip’s career only continued to climb following his stint at Calvin Klein.

From there, he moved onto Coach, and subsequently became the creative director for a small independent consulting firm, where he worked on the relaunch of the Mini Cooper, L’Oreal cosmetics, the Winn Hotel in Las Vegas, and the branding process of Jennifer Lopez as she expanded from singer to a one-woman industry. From there, he eventually landed at Armani, where he was the vice president of both store development and visual merchandising (two closely enmeshed facets of the industry) before being promoted to Senior Vice President of Store Development. Although ‘Store Development’ may not be the first thing that springs to mind when you think of fashion marketing, it is a key element in the creation of a global lifestyle brand. The physical store is often a customer’s first point of contact with a brand, and so its aesthetic appearance must be totally in tune with the nuances of the brand, a feat Philip has managed time and again as Armani has expanded across North America.

INDIGO | Tuesday 25th October 2011

Philip’s vast experience in the process of marketing and branding begs a seemingly naïve question: what is the dividing line between a label and a global lifestyle brand?

‘Let’s say you’re a loyal Crest consumer. So you go to the grocery store and you see a new type of Crest toothbrush. Do you buy it? Yeah, maybe. What about new Crest floss, or a mouthwash?

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With Mr. Armani, it’s not just about the product. The product is really a fiscal realization of a strong idea.

Sure, you might buy that too.

But Crest handwash? No. Would you go to the Crest Hotel in Las Vegas? Absolutely not. So as a consumer,

Fashion Editors: Tom Weller, Laura Gregory, Rachel Bailin fashion@palatinate.org.uk you know the extent of Crest – it’s a recognizable label, not a brandable experience.

But if you were the head of marketing, you’re going to try to extend it. So you take the attributes of Crest – it’s premium, it has a nice texture, it has a good taste.

To make a new marketing success, you transfer these attributes to something new – so, for instance, Crest wine.

No, I mean, it’s a ridiculous concept, but brands do this all the time. They think they have permission to do something else when they really shouldn’t.’

‘But then why has Mr. Armani been so successful in his nonstop expansion into so many different areas?’ I asked.

‘With Mr. Armani, it’s not just about the product. The product is really a fiscal realization of a strong idea. We’re about modern, elegant, timeless style. That can be articulated in a $5000 sport jacket, or a jean, each at its own level. Or even a hotel. What

is the overall experience across these various areas of Armani? Comfort, style, and elegance. That’s the difference. And only a few brands can do this, and some brands who think about it have a lot of trouble breaking through.

Ralph Lauren was able to do it really well, though,’ which is a statement that holds very true when you give it some thought. Ralph Lauren, like Giorgio Armani, is a top branding success story.

Not only does he juggle a number of different fashion lines, ranging from the very accessible Polo Ralph Lauren to the luxurious Ralph Lauren Black Label, but he has managed to stratify his empire in such a way that the brands do not bleed into one another. A woman who buys a Ralph Lauren Black Label gown does not think of the label as being cheapened just because someone could buy a t-shirt with ‘Ralph Lauren’ emblazoned on it in a department store for a fraction of the price she just paid.

Armani illustrated

Mr. Armani has had similar success – Armani Jeans is a different, wholly separate venture from Emporio Armani, or Giorgio Armani Black Label. Some brands have faltered in these ventures – think of our mental associations with the Burberry check pattern.

We gulped down the last of our coffees, quickly paid, and hopped onto the comfortingly warm subway to zip up to midtown to see the newly opened Armani 5th Avenue, a mammoth project that, as Philip said, gave him more than just a couple of new gray hairs. The store itself is incredible – it revolves around an enormous (and stunning) Guggenheim-esque staircase that weaves its way through the slick retail spaces that houses all the separate Armani lines, including an Armani Ristorante. It is the physical manifestation of what makes Armani so hyper successful in its varying ventures – one single, unified concept put forth through a

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number of different outlets that manage to be both appropriately similar and separate in order to push the Armani lifestyle at a number of different price points and products. The space does not feel fragmented; whether you’re coming in to buy a pair of $95 jeans, a $2000 jacket, or even a box of truffles, everything is united in one vision – that of Mr. Armani.

‘The most important thing is to think about what Mr. Armani wants. Not what I want, or what I think would look best, but what puts forth his vision in the best, most direct way possible,’ explained Angelica Mojarro, the Vice President of Visual Merchandising. ‘It’s not what Angelica wants; it’s what Mr. Armani wants.’

As the company sails into the indeterminable future, one pockmarked by recessions and wary shoppers, new problems will surely crop up as it attempts to delve into new business arenas. To appeal to a more youthful crowd, Rihanna has been brought on to create a capsule collection, while the underwear campaigns featuring a drenched Rafael Nadal and Megan Fox surely gives Calvin and his half-naked Marky Mark a run for his money. As I parted ways with Philip that day, I left with the distinct impression that Giorgio Armani is an unstoppable force in the world of fashion branding. Through a delicately nuanced business savvy, which appears to be fairly unique to this fashion house, nothing seems out of reach as the company expands into its future incarnations.

Illustrations. Previous page. Bottom left: Armani 5th Avenue Flagship Store

by Leanora Bailin. Top right: Armani 5th Avenue’s staircase by Gordon Hack.

This page: Giorgio Armani’s Spring 2009 Runway Show by Ella Cole.

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Tuesday 25th October 2011 | INDIGO

film & tv

Film & TV Editor: Christian Seiersen film@palatinate.org.uk

“Outstanding... truly captivating” Drive

Nicholas Winding Refn

««««« James Oliver

D

river (Ryan Gosling) is an introvert who makes his living behind the wheel: a Hollywood stuntman by day and getaway driver by night. When he becomes involved with married Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son Benicio (Kaden Leos), Driver finds himself submerged in an underground world of crime.

When Nicholas Winding Refn, the maverick Danish director behind ultra-crazy indies ‘Bronson’ and ‘Valhalla Rising’, teamed up with romantic regular Ryan Gosling, eyebrows were raised over whether he would pull it off. 100 minutes later and it’s safe to say the product is something so visually and audibly arresting that you might wish to remain in your cinema seat after the credits roll.

Every scene of this glorious neo-noir is pervaded by dichotomy. From the emotional disparity showcased between Driver and love interest Irene, through to the competing imagery of shadows and flashes

London Film Festival: what to watch

of startling light, the audience is treated to a non-stop procession. Refn has left no detail unturned, the atmosphere is perfectly crafted and soaked in iconography.

A violent car chase is screened with the absence of any noise whatsoever and Driver shares his first kiss with Irene immediately before the film’s most violent scene. Refn embraces opposites and treats them as one.

As Refn is sparing on the explosiveness, Gosling approaches his character with calculated simplicity. Carrying himself with a balance of quiet poise and bridled aggression throughout; calm but with an embedded threat of violence.

We are treated to a showcase of Gosling’s developing and versatile talent, especially considering he was last seen as a roguish playboy in rom-com Crazy Stupid Love.

In a recent interview given, Refn described Drive as a homage to his 1980s youth, “a movie about a man who drives around listening to music because that’s the only way he can feel”. Well, with the aid of Gosling, he has created something truly majestic that will likely inspire a few cinemagoers into plenty of wistful volumecranking behind the wheel. An outstandingly original, truly captivating experience from start to finish.

The most exciting talents from across the film world are flocking to London, as the city hosts the 55th annual BFI London Film Festival.

Running from October 1227th, the festival has historically been a platform for lesser known pieces of film and is a hotbed of creativity and innovation. Palatinate has chosen two highlights, all due for their UK premieres.

We Need to Talk About Kevin. An adaptation of

Ryan Gosling’s come a long way since his days in The Mickey Mouse Club Photograph: Premier PR

Lionel Shriver’s award-winning novel, We Need to Talk About Kevin is British director Lynne Ramsay’s third film and draws a powerful performance from actress Tilda Swinton. Swinton plays Eva, who is a mother dealing with the aftermath left by her teenage son, Kevin (Ezra Miller) having gone on a massacre in the local school. Not only does Eva have to come to terms with the personal guilt of weighing up her re-

sponsibility for the act, she is also harassed constantly by aggrieved parents. Gaunt and psychologically berated, Swinton occupies the screen with a quiet and resigned presence, drawing sympathy but never disinterest.

The Descendants. In his myriad of roles, George Clooney has found unexpected success when flirting with a comical and clumsy side (Burn After Reading).

The Descendants sees Cloon-

ey return to that role, but against a more emotionally powerful background as Matt King, a Hawaiian lawyer and father of two adolescent girls.

King finds himself cast into a fatherly role he was never familiar with when his wife falls into a coma after a water-skiing accident. Sideways director Alexander Payne is at the helm and creates a complex yet personable tale with plenty of emotional reward. Christian Seiersen

INDIGO | Tuesday 25th October 2011

food & drink

Food & Drink Editor: Molly Fowler food@palatinate.org.uk

Schwarzwaldkirschtorte, Schnitzel and Schnapps After spending the summer in Germany, Charlotte Gowers guides us through their culinary conventions

W

hen we think of German cuisine, we think of frankfurters, pumpernickel, mustard, or maybe even sauerkraut.

Before long, German beer will spring to mind and, whilst the lederhosen and walrus moustaches are definitely cruel stereotypes, the German love affair with Bier really does exist.

I had the good fortune to experience this first-hand and sample true German cuisine this summer, working as an au-pair in the northern region of Niedersachsen.

The German diet varies extensively from region to region, more so than in England. It does, however, seem to follow three principles:

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Where there is beer there is hope. The equivalent of an English cup of tea, on average one German drinks 116 litres of beer annually, and boy can you tell. If you like your men to

look like boiled eggs, nothing on top and thicker round the middle, head across the North Sea now. Incidentally, they like boiled eggs too, with something called Maggi, which as far as I could tell was like pouring marmite over your egg instead of sprinkling it with salt.

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The word ‘enough’ is banned. The average German will eat up to 61kg of meat per year. Bratwurst sausages, the most popular

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The average German will eat up to 61kg of meat a year

and common in Germany, are twice the size of a normal

English sausage, and it is only one of over 1500 different kinds. As common practice, sausages are dipped into sauce, with typical German condiments including curry sauce, mustard, ketchup and mayonnaise, which are all also used on most of their cooked meats, chips, sandwiches, potato salads and, bizarrely, pasta.

If you can make it richer or creamier, do so.

They take cream in their coffee, the bread is like a brick, and one of their favourite dishes, Schnitzel, is pork covered in breadcrumbs and then fried. German cakes are impossibly calorific whilst being incredibly beautiful at the same time, posing a slight dilemma to all women north of Munich. Cakes are the pride and joy of Germany in my opinion, from the beautifully decadent ChampagnerTorte to the fruity Johannesbeeretorte, piled high with fresh redcurrants.

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Indeed during my stay, my friend Nicola and I decided to give the Schwarzwaldkirschtorte (Black Forest Gateau) a go. Three hours, 1500ml of cream and lot of guffaws and snorts of hilarity later, we had created a masterpiece - 6 tiers of slightly uneven cake

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If you can make it richer or creamier, do so

held together by a mountain of very fluffy cream.

Not all of my culinary exploits were quite as dignified however. At a friend’s barbeque after politely accepting a shot of Jagermeister, I was taken for a hardcore drinker when I downed my shot (as is normal in England), only to

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notice everyone else sipping theirs placidly and staring in disbelief. They reacted jovially enough, I was badgered into trying some more offerings from the German drinks cabinet - every single one genuinely foul, including one I’m sure was just ethanol that had been put in there by accident. I got my own back though, as I introduced them to a well known English delicacy in return, the ‘dirty pint’.

I’m proud to say I had four grown German men whimpering in pain, and knew that Currysoβe would come in handy.

Food in Germany truly is remarkable, tasty, flavoursome and wholesome, with the only downside being that it’s not always particularly healthy. It’s not all just plastic sausages out of a tin and pickled cabbage. The German world has a vast and diverse cuisine, full of flavour and in the case of their desserts: beauty. It was heart warming though and possibly a little ironic that, despite all this, the one thing I was asked (begged even) to make was the good old English scone!

Apparently the grass really is always greener on the other side.

P

For a student account of Peruvian food, go to palatinate.org.uk

Left, the streets of Germany bustling with bier, cakes and sausages. Right, Charlotte’s Schwartzwaldkirschtorte Photographs: Charlotte Gowers

Tuesday 25th October 2011 | INDIGO

14 books

Don Paterson, who said Tony Harrison’s work gave him permission to “appropriate literary English into his own language” flickr ID: chrisdonia

The Durham Book Festival

Rebecca Lee saw Festival Laureate Don Paterson in dicussion with his hero Tony Harrison, in a meeting of two of Britain’s finest living poets

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arely do we meet the public figures that inspire us, for which reason, amongst others the double billing bringing together the Durham Book Festival laureate Don Paterson with Tony Harrison, one of his personal heroes, was described as a highlight of the festival.

The historic splendour and formality of the Durham City Town Hall seemed somehow at odds with the readings of two poets who consciously oppose pretension and elitism, but the combination of dark wood panelling and low lighting managed to make such a grand setting feel intimate enough for the coming together of two of Britain’s finest living poets.

When Paterson first gets up to read, he admits to the room that reading his work in front of Harrison has made him, understandably, a bit nervous. However, any fear he felt seemed to be channelled into the energy and animation that lasted throughout his time onstage.

Paterson can recall the exact moment he was first inspired to start reading poetry, after watching Tony Harrison on the television. He described how he felt Harrison, as a fellow poet from the working classes, had given him permission to “appropriate literary English into his own language”.

Such tensions between high art and low art, and the different registers of English, run throughout Harrison’s work, and on this note Paterson chose to begin his reading. The appropriately titled “A Reading” sees Paterson pepper a poem set in the Ancient world with more local references, such as “coupon,” which he informs us is a Glaswegian slang for “face”.

Paterson is an engaging and lively storyteller, in both the narrative spaces of his poetry, as well as the personal anecdotes he recounts in preface to them. His poems, and his commentary on them, are testament to a highly self-conscious poet, who can also be humorously

self-deprecating.

After the playfulness of Paterson’s poetry, and the texture of his colourful rolling ‘r’s, Tony Harrison seemed to set a more serious tone when beginning his time onstage. His rich, deep voice was much slower, each syllable heavy with the weight of experience.

Harrison began with one of his most recent poems, “Cor-

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Watching Paterson and Harrison side by side is like seeing the fabric of literature being woven

net and Cartridge,” which reflects on his time spent in Sarajevo with The Guardian.

His choice to open with three consecutive readings about war seemed to ask questions about the social responsi-

bilities of the poet; in 2009, Harrison was the inaugural recipient of the PEN/Pinter prize, awarded to a writer who holds “an unflinching, unswerving gaze upon the world,” and he has never shied away from the political or controversial in his work.

Many of Harrison’s bestknown works look back towards his past, and the majority of his other readings were poems that concern his relationship with his parents.

Harrison’s story of a local boy made good is well known: born into a working-class family in Leeds, he was accepted into the local grammar school on a scholarship, and went on to study Classics at Leeds University.

As he dramatises with heart-breaking pathos, Harrison’s commitment to writing in direct, quotidian speech is how he attempts to bridge these divides; as he described it, “I wanted to write poetry that people like my parents would respond to”.

His Classical education is apparent as he compares

himself writing about the Bosnian war to the messengers’ speeches in Greek tragedies: he vividly describes the action offstage for an audience who did not witness it, reinforcing the image of Harrison as a public poet.

Indeed, Harrison chose to conclude the evening not with a poem, but a monologue from his plays, The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus.

Watching Paterson and Harrison side by side is like seeing the fabric of literature being woven. Both poets eagerly incorporate borrowings from other literary texts, foreign languages, local and dialect Englishes, as well as writing (and reading) in their own distinct accents: the lending and borrowing of words, phrases and themes condenses time and collapses divisions. Harrison describes poetry as “language at its most powerful,” and it is ultimately through their unsurpassed use of language that both Harrison and Paterson exhibit the power of poetry.

INDIGO | Tuesday 25h October 2011

Books Editor: Izzie Bengoechea books@palatinate.org.uk

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Jon Ronson: The Psychopath Test Ronson may take a light-hearted look at madness, but he is funniest when at his most serious, writes Ettie Bailey-King

I

s Jon Ronson the Woody Allen of documentary film-making? He shuffles on stage, looks nervously around and mumbles a joke about the microphone being off.

“There are three hundred and seventy four [listed mental disorders] and it turns out I’ve got twelve of them’.

I’ve got parent-child relational problems, but I think anyone would, if they had my mother”.

He’s looking pretty furtive.

A hint of a twitch. This is not the most promising start to a talk on a book called The Psychopath Test. But Ronson’s not mad, he just likes to hang out with Haitian death squad leaders, religious zealots and corporate maniacs.

There’s Tony, the Broadmoor inmate who claimed he was insane to receive a lighter sentence, but did the job too well. “It’s a lot harder

to convince somebody you’re sane than to convince them you’re crazy”, he muses, from inside a maximum security facility.

Tony’s case brilliantly illustrates the precarious line between sanity and psychopathy. Sandwiched between the Stockwell strangler and the tiptoe-through-the-tulips rapist, Tony chose not to socialise with his neighbours.

Have you ever watched the sun rise and felt a stab of patriotic pride as its light sparkled over a dewy bed of waste? Ever been overcome by that awe of the Burkean sublime as you gaze at the crumbling tiers of a derelict car park? It seems unlikely, but in their

new book Edgelands, it is precisely these bizarre spectacles that Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts energetically profess to be the “tiny parables of creation”.

Edgelands: to the unpoetic eye, they exist as the sullied, forsaken waste tips and grime-caked pools that pollute the faded backdrop of an England you never saw on Grandma’s biscuit tin.

The taboo word of every National Trust estate from Land’s End to John o’Groats, ‘Edgelands’ are the

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Ronson’s not mad, he just likes to hang out with Haitian death squad leaders, religious zealots and corporate maniacs

Jon Ronson: The Woody Allen of documentary film-making? flickr ID: Simon Scott Which brings us to Item One of the Hare Psychopathy checklist: a grandiose sense of self-worth. Not spending time with murderers counted against Tony as evidence of madness. Ronson is quick to critique Hare’s checklist, along with the growing “checklist culture” within modern psychiatry.

I’m beginning to feel that Ronson’s capacity for criticism knows no bounds- yet the striking thing about this is his incredible precision. He is at his funniest when being serious. Even railing against the iniquities of a capitalist system which rewards psychopathy Ronson is light and level; his sense of perspective

unwavering.

Hats off to the man who scrutinises predatory moneylending tactics by creating fictional personae with names like John, Paul, George and Ringo who all live at his address. ‘Titch’ Ronson, chosen to follow bare-knuckle boxing, gambling and porn mailing lists, received floods of correspondence from banks desperate to lend him money.

Ronson recalls visiting megalomaniacal businessman Al Dunlap at his home.

“Do you have a grandiose sense of your own selfimportance?” asks Ronson.

Dunlap pauses, standing beneath a giant oil painting

of himself. “Well, you’ve gotta believe in YOU, don’t ya?”

Isn’t it ironic, I ask, that Ronson is fascinated by people who lack the most basic empathy or emotional depth?

Yes. But psychopaths are “charming, glib, good company- at the beginning”. It’s “great to be one” but terrible to be “close to or ruled over by one”.

They are “remorseless”, picking what they want from the world and discarding the rest. They weave a picture of the world that suits their own purposes. They arewith a characteristic combination of wisdom and wit- a lot like the journalists who follow them.

token Achilles heel of every city smug enough to make it onto Britain’s Heritage list.

To both Farley and Symmons, however, they are the shunted terrain of an alien landscape brimming with peculiar charm. These settings are foreign, uninhabited expanses; curious grey spaces that are “seen, but unseen; looked at, but not into”.

The book challenges all preconceptions with a wit and absurdity that is nothing less than contagious. There is a genuine sense of pride from the poets who emerge as unremittingly zealous in both their admiration and defence of all things grimy. Commencing in their home town in North West England and

inching down the industrial spine, the pair demonstrate a unique appreciation of these seemingly formidable backdrops, an intimate comprehension that can be traced to a childhood spent making haphazard dens on the bleak fringes of Manchester.

Their vision makes a fascinating distinction from traditional convictions of environmental beauty. Admittedly, eyebrows were predominantly raised when one particular carton-crammed pond is likened to a “preRaphaelite vision”.

Nevertheless, the duo makes a persuasive case for “an authentic, unkempt landscape that doesn’t know what to do with itself”.

An intelligent and spirited creation, Edgelands is a glittering work of prose that is bordering on the poetic. The two voices knit fluidly together to craft a vastly readable text of childhood exploration and adult nostalgia.

Brilliantly droll and with a humour that breathes a vital blast of life and colour to Britain’s neglected landfills, this book is a must for stately home snobs and Lake District devotees across the board.

Rubber gloves recommended.

Sarah Lovell

From Rust to Rapture: Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts

flickr ID: Robert Burdock

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For more from the Durham Book Festival, visit palatinate.org.uk

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Tuesday 25th October 2011 | INDIGO

travel

Travelling from the safety of the library

Travel Editor: Alexandra Groom travel@palatinate.org.uk

Greenland, silent but for the diver birds and the occasional crack of icebergs turning Photograph: Holly Stewart

Winter has made its intentions clear - you’d sell your grandmother for a plane ticket. Fortunately for her, that’s not an option, but don’t despair, as indigo explores the ways you can travel vicariously through your degree.

History - Africa

I have always loved travelling, but Africa was never somewhere I managed to visit. The continent is commonly criticized for a lack of democracy, and tourists tend to avoid countries other than Egypt and Morocco.

After taking the module The Makings of Modern Africa in History last year however, I completely changed my mind. The module attempted to deal with the history of the entire continent, which demonstrated to me the diversity of countries and cultures in such a vast and generally unknown area. It has such a unique combination of traditional African cultures and British and European influences. This module proved to me that Africa is a continent truly like no other, and

should be appreciated for all it has to offer. Picking up this module inspired me to visit somewhere I’d never really considered. Alice Carter

Geography - Greenland

When studying Geography, nothing compares to actually seeing the processes that shape our landscape. Getting a grant from the Royal Geographical Society to research climate change in Greenland with the Durham Geography Department was undoubtedly the most unique opportunity I’ve ever been given.

I was apprehensive, but the isolation was what made the trip so special. It was constantly tranquil, apart from the occasional crack, sounding like a gunshot, when an iceberg would turn, or the ee-

rie calls of diver birds echoing around the mountains. At dusk we would watch the sun setting in the pink sky behind silhouetted mountains and the iceberg-filled bay, and later the mesmerising Northern Lights creep across the night sky. The opportunity not only improved my geographical knowledge, but was a fantastic chance to travel to such a remote part of the world. Holly Stewart

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Picking up this module inspired me to visit somewhere I’d never really considered

Languages - Spain “I study languages” often tends to induce misjudged awe in the impression that yours truly is fluent in both French and Spanish. The fact is, I’m not. Having only picked up Spanish in my 1st year, I decided a little trip was in order. Madrid is compact, divided into varying and bustling barrios, each boasting individual appeal. The city teems with inexhaustible passion and culture: the tapas, the nightlife, the art, the live music and the people (my only criticism would be the slight over-friendliness of the male madrileño...). At every corner my initially floundering attempts at speaking Spanish were kindly encouraged, and as a result, my confidence grew day by day, as did my love for this energetic city. My excursion felt like a brief taster of the wealth that Spain has to offer, and I now eagerly anticipate the months my degree requires me to live there. Natasha Newman

English - Australia One of my favourite things about English is the wide range of literature which falls under this heading, from Icelandic Sagas to French Lais to Jewish American fiction.

Eucaliptus is an Australian novel by Murray Bail, and it truly transports you out of the library and into the outskirts of a small town in rural New South Wales. The story centres on a legendary beauty who lives alone with her protective father, and he devises a surprising plan to find her suitor. The evocative language describes in tortuous detail each and every eucalyptus on the plantation, highlighting the plight of the smothered girl, and the heat and dust of the bush practically fall out of the book as you turn each page. This novel is utterly fantastic, and is the closest I could get to Australia without booking a Quantas flight right now.

Alexandra Groom

Anthropology Thailand

Getting up for a 9am Anthropology lecture on a Monday morning last year was tough, but was worth it for its significant impact on my travels. It is relevant wherever you travel to, as a traveller compares the culture of each society, from rites of passage to food, ritual to town planning. It made me think of my previous experience with the Karen hilltribe of northern Thailand. On a trek in Chiang Mai the heavens opened and we were pelted with cold, heavy rain. A lady of the tribe kindly offered the group shelter for the night, and we sat down to eat with her family.

Although this experience can be classed as intrusive, I was glad to be helping with their economy by paying to stay with them and buying a few souvenirs. Indeed, this kind of travel cannot be masked as anthropological research, but it was a learning experience and as long as you remain respectful, engaged and open-minded, it is to be highly recommended. Surini Ranawake