Photography with Aidan O’Rourke, Manchester, Sunday 23 May 2010

I recently saw a post over at this excellent blog, publicising a photography day put on by Cityco, a not-for-profit who manage and market Manchester’s city centre.

On a tangent, Cityco are a new organisation to me, but I rather like their work – they organise things like the free city shuttle buses and street cleaning and generally try to make the centre a better place and get people to go there. I hear they have their eye on King St, which is looking more and more forlorn these days, so good for them.

Anyway, back to the photography day. Cityco paid for a number of high-profile Manchester photographers to take amateur photographers on a two hour tour round the city centre as part of their campaign to make Manchester photographer-friendly. This comes after increasing reports of photographers being challenged by the police or security firms for taking completely legal photographs. I applied, and was allocated to Aidan O’Rourke, which was a complete bonus as I have admired his cityscapes for a while.

So I wandered over on the very hot Sunday just gone, and met up with around 20 other shy looking people with big camera bags. Pretty much everyone had DSLRs, mostly much better than my entry-level Canon, but one couple did have point and shoots. I really felt for them as they sheepishly hid them in their pockets for most of the tour!

The theme Aidan had set was the changing and unchanging city, and we wandered around the Whitworth Street West area taking photos, all aware that there was an opportunity to get a photo in an exhibition at the Triangle if we were lucky. This made it feel a bit competitive, and when 20 photographers are all taking pictures of the Refuge Assurance building at once, its hard to know how to make your photograph different. Practical photography tips were thin on the ground, though I was reassured by Aidan that he doesn’t use a tripod for city photography, which was interesting.

Still, it was good to get out on a sunny day and use my camera, and the photos I like the most are below.

If you prefer to look at photographs than take them, there a couple of good exhibitions on right now:

A World Observed 1940 - 2010: Photographs by Dorothy Bohm is on at Manchester City Art Gallery at the moment, and is brilliant, I thoroughly recommend it. A lifetime of photographs is quite something. Til 30 August 2010

Shaped by War: Photographs by Don McCullin is on at the Imperial War Museum North, and is showcasing 50 years of the world renowned war photographer’s work. Til 13 June

Jesca Hoop @ Band on the Wall, Manchester, 24 May 2010

The first time I went to see Jesca Hoop was at the Deaf Institute back in February, and I almost didn’t go. It seems incredible now, but I was tired and it was the night before I flew to Amsterdam. And now after seeing her twice? I wouldn’t miss a gig for the world. I have every intention of catching her for a third time at Latitude, and maybe even a fourth this year at Summer Sundae.

So, Jesca, how do I love thee? I shall count the ways:

1. Hoop has a wonderfully endearing stage presence. She flirts with the crowd, telling us how, as a California girl she has been won over by British treats such as Marmite. She tells a peanut butter joke. She apologies for taking time to tune her guitar. She talks about her mother’s illness and her Mormon family. And the audience fall for her bit by bit until they leave, totally head over heels.


2. You just know she would throw a good party. Songs like Out the Back Door and the brand new Kitchen Disco (complete with strobes) are just so damn cool I want to hang out after the gig and ask her to be my friend.


3. Angel Mom, despite the title, is one of the most beautiful songs I think I have ever heard. It demonstrates the purity of Hoop’s voice perfectly, and makes me cry a little bit. And I love a cry.


4. Jesca puts it all out there to give you a gig well worth your money. The music veers from blues to folk to…God, I want to say funk, but its more like some kind of new genre she has invented. There are strikingly beautiful backing singers, telephone theatrics, encores and a completely A Capella song that simply stuns the crowd.


5. Oh, and Guy Garvey came out to sing with her. Did I not mention that? You know it’s been a good gig when Guy Garvey is an afterthought.

Antlers @ St Philip's Church, Salford, 20 May 2010

I think I would go and see any act on at St Philip’s Church. Seriously. Even Diana Vickers who I accidentally went to see the other night (don’t ask). Its just the most perfect venue: beautiful Grecian church, pews to sit on, and in a lovely spot just round the corner from the New Oxford and 15 minutes walk from St Peter’s Square. It certainly encourages a more reverential atmosphere, as commented on by Peter Silberman of the Antlers last night. But it does differ from mass in one important way: parishioners run a bar from a trestle table at the back, and provide a frankly better service than most bars in Manchester. They recommended Mr Noggin buy me a cider as “the wine tastes of bleach”. It’s that kind of guidance you need from a barperson.

It’s only fair to say up front that I hadn’t listened to the Antlers before that day and wasn’t sure what to expect – I was going along with a couple of fans. I’d also had a rather nice tea and a couple of beers and was half expecting to have a snooze at some point (see title of blog). But there was no risk of that with this band. They were intense from the very beginning, and worked their way through the album Hospice in track order, as it tells of a traumatic relationship with a patient dying of cancer. Silberman’s voice is hypnotic and the audience is drawn fully into the story-telling.

The mood broke only a couple of times. At one point a member of the audience asked if they were going to play Two, and they smiled and coyly said “Maybe” – surely redundant as they were clearly playing the whole album. Later on Silberman commented on how respectful the audience were, proceeding to shush the crowd when they laughed. It was a welcome break from the intensity of the music, but they were soon back into it.

The album alternates pained quiet singing with loud crashing of Silberman’s guitar and Michael Lerner’s drums. Darby Cicci hides behind a mop of hair as he provides anguished keyboard. There is a real synchronicity within the band as they play. They aren’t going through the motions, there are genuine connections made as they look to each other throughout the show.

It seems there has been much chatter around the subject matter of the album and whose story it tells. But this wasn’t the question at the forefront of our minds as we walked into the warm Salford night. We were wondering what on earth the band would do to follow that.

Bubble Cafe, Manchester

If you read food blogs from around the world, you can build up food envy for products and restaurants that aren’t available in the UK. For example I can only fantasise about Meyer lemons being made available in the UK as I read blog after blog singing their praises, and I peer at photos of exotic looking Vietnamese food, until recently unavailable in Manchester. But the latter has been rectified by the opening of the Bubble Café, above Red Chilli on Portland Street. It’s a casual, neatly decorated place with two long tables with stools if you want to eat in, although there was a brisk takeaway trade while we were there.

The menu is rather mysterious to a person with no knowledge of Vietnamese food, and I am no expert myself. The name of the café comes from the Bubble Tea they serve. This can come hot or cold, and is a tasty drink, either fruit or milk based, with the surprising addition of tapioca pearls in the bottom, black balls visible through the glass. The tea is served with a large straw, wide enough to suck up the pearls as you drink. The taste of the pearls is hard to pinpoint as the chewy, gummy texture is the most prominent sensation, and is rather enjoyable in a strange way! Mr Noggin had a banana milkshake he described as the best thing he’d ever tasted – I suspect it’s down to the Movenpick ice cream they stock.

There is a short food menu of around seven items, including salads and noodle soups. We ordered the prawn and Vietnamese ham spring rolls to start, and then the Bubble sandwich as a main.

The spring rolls were different but brilliant; huge, cold, wrapped in a paper thin casing and packed with juicy prawns, veg and noodles. They were perfect dipped in the accompanying hoi sin or fish sauce.

The sandwich I had read about in blogs as Bahn Mi, and is a baguette filled with pork, liver pate, and a pickled salad. The Bubble Sandwich was good, but had an overriding taste of salad cream, which was a bit of a shame as it drowned out the other flavours.

The whole meal came to around £16 for two, and you can currently get free frozen yoghurt after your meal if you mention Manchester Confidential. It’s a very cool little place with charming staff and I cannot recommend it enough.

PS. I have just had a scout around on Google and it appears my guesswork was a bit wrong – Bubble tea originated in Taiwan, and is common across a lot of Asia now, so not strictly Vietnamese as I thought.

Dot to Dot Festival

Going to a small day festival like Dot to Dot is very different from the luxurious musical experience of say Glastonbury or Latitude. Although I was excited about seeing Beach House again and Los Campesinos, there was a long list of bands that I didn't know from Adam. So I spent an afternoon systematically going through their myspaces, and although there was a lot of chaff I present some rather lovely wheat:


Alan Pownall is a great singer from London whose debut album True Love Stories comes out in July. He comes from a folk background but his more recent songs have a more of an indie-pop upbeat feel. Take Me is a catchy tune with a reggae tinge and he has plenty of other good tunes to back it up.

Lissie is an american songer who's debut EP Why You Runnin' has me totally hooked, Wedding Bells is one of the most enchanting songs I have heard in a long time, recounting a tale of lost love. She's touring with Alan Pownall while they're in the UK so you can catch them at Night and Day in Manchester in June and plenty of other dates round the UK if you miss Dot to Dot.


Goldheart Assembly have been around for a while so I'm very slow on the uptake here but their sweet sound is very beguiling. Am particularly enjoying So Long St Christopher from their new album Wolves and Thieves.

And now for something completely different: Wax Fang, a Kentucky epic-rock band with drama and ambition. World War II (Part 2) is a very enjoyable romp.

The next month in music

There seems to be rather a lot of interesting live music in Manchester coming up, despite the fact that we are entering the traditionally slow summer season. Here’s my pick of the best stuff:

1. Antlers @ St Philip’s Church in Salford, Thursday 20 May:
Don’t know much about this band, I’m going with a fan, but always look forward to a gig in this venue. Seeing Hurts do their debut gig here was very special

2. Jesca Hoop @ Band on the Wall, Monday 24 May:
Seeing Jesca for the second time. She was mesmerising at the Deaf Institute, her songs are like a kind of wonderful soul-folk and she has quite a stage presence. Her ridiculously good-looking backing singers were crowd-pleasers last time as I remember. Her popularity is increasing rapidly, I would expect her to be pretty well-known by the end of the festival season



3. Dot to Dot Festival, various venues, all-day, Bank Holiday Monday 31 May:
Booked tickets for this before the line-up was announced, and the first batch of bands was a bit disappointing. Zane Lowe? But things are looking up, I’m especially looking forward to Wild Beasts, Beach House, Wolf Gang and Lissie – the latter’s EP I have has on repeat for a week or so, brilliant stuff. Booked the next day off work – for the best after a bank holiday all-day session.

4. Lau @ The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge, Friday 4 June:
Bit out of the area this one, but actually surprisingly easy to get to – there are regular trains to and from Victoria, and it’s nice to have a change of scene. Lau won Best Group at the 2010 BBC2 Folk Awards, and have some beautiful, more traditional folk songs.

5. Ian Brown @ Platt Fields, 11 June:
Is anybody not going to this? Have taken the afternoon off work to fully enjoy the line-up. Only mildly looking forward to Ian Brown himself, but with the park-based fun starting at 4:30pm and UNKLE, A Certain Ratio, Mr Scruff and Now Wave DJs also on the line up, I’m anticipating it to be one of the events of the summer.

Reviews to follow!

The Comedians at the Bolton Octagon

My friend Anna’s parents have season tickets for the Bolton Octagon. However they are retired, and much like my own parents, appear to spend more time abroad than in the country these days. Therefore they offer Anna and I their tickets, and we took them up on it for the second time on Saturday night. I don’t remember much about the play we saw previously, except that it was boring. The same can’t be said for The Comedians.

The Octagon is a lovely theatre, nice and cosy with a small stage. It was set up as a Manchester classroom from the seventies where six men were attending a stand-up comedy course. Tonight was there big debut at a local club, and the play has three acts: the first is the pre-show class, the second is the show itself, and the third is the post-show analysis back in the classroom.

The first act was actually rather good. I kept thinking how interesting it would be for an actual comedian, as it explored in depth what comedy should be – an opportunity to challenge the audiences’ views and preconceptions and be an instrument of social change, or providing a few cheap laughs on a rainy night for a prejudiced world. Richard Moore beautifully plays Eddie Waters, the tired old-style comic who seeks to instil in his pupils the integrity of comedy.

The second act started rather well too, although it created a strange situation where the audience didn’t seem to know whether they were watching a play or a comedy night. This was made worse when some of the comedians, in order to impress the visiting agent, changed their routines and threw in racist and sexist jokes that no comedian would dignify in the present day. Yet some of the audience laughed, raising the question of how much audiences have really changed in the past 30 years?

The second act ended with a bizarre mime/rant from the most troubled of the comedians, and although it was a powerful performance, it said nothing to me and was embarrassingly dated. A number of the audience left in the second interval, and I hardly blamed them.

I had high hopes for redemption in the third act, but with a low point being a description of an erection caused by the holocaust, I was disappointed. The thing is, I know what the play was trying to do, and I also know that it has been very successful both on Broadway and in a recent all-star London revival. But what I experienced was a cringingly awful performance of a play that might have been progressive when it was first written, but is irrelevant now. It’s a shame; the same themes explored in a modern way could have made an interesting play.