This is the Modernist world

I do love clubs. Always have. And societies; places, forums, where, for want of a better expression, you can find your tribe. What I also love is the fact that you can find your tribe, tribes even, at any point in your life; but I'll be quite honest with you - even I never thought I'd be joining another society. In 2023. Not with my advancing cynicism.

But hey, every day's a school day - to use another hackneyed phrase. So, long story short, I've thrown my lot in with the Modernists: formerly known as The Manchester Modernist Society (they've now dropped the Manchester) they're a not for profit creative project dedicated to celebrating and engaging with twentieth century architect and design through publishing, events, exhibitions and creative collaborations. Icing on the cake time - their patrons include Jonathan Meades and Johnny Marr*. Pretty cool, huh?

Their quarterly magazine is in itself a thing of rare beauty and their subtle pin (pictured above) is just the sexiest thing I've seen in a long time. Next time you see it on my jacket I'll allow you to drool over it.

*Johnny Marr - Musician, Mancunian and modernist. (His bio from their website.)

2-4-6-8 Never Too Late

Jen Orpin and another sold painting

Talk about cutting it fine; Jen Orpin's 'The Journey Continues' exhibition in Manchester had been showing all month and I'd promised myself I'd get up there before she cleaned her brushes one last time and took her paintings* off the wall. 

More beautiful bridges

And so on Sunday just gone (the last day) the Medds descended on the Saul Hay Fine Art Gallery. I'd contacted Jen a couple of days before and she said she'd be there from 10.30am. When we walked through the door just before 11am we were the first people in so had a fantastic personalised viewing by Jen herself and really got an insight into her fabulous paintings. (The car journeys from Jen's home in Manchester to visit her dying father in Kent in 2015 were measured out and defined by the motorway bridges she passed. So much so that she would begin to photograph and later paint many of them. With no cars. And no people. 'They would only get in the way of the bridges' she told me.) 

A grand day out in Manchester

Saul Hay Fine Art Gallery; dwarfed by the Beetham Tower

Axis Tower, Manchester M1 (walking back to the car park)

* Most of them with little red dots denoting their sold status 

Tour de Manchester

James is an avid cyclist. Unlike his father; I live at the top of a hill so every journey I'd have to make would involve some serious uphill pedalling on the homeward leg. (I'm not as young as I used to be!) And then there's the traffic. Where James lives there are some pretty cool cycle paths and then there's the dedicated cycle lanes in the city centre. Unless, of course, some cretin in a car decides to park in it. I'll let James describe what happened to him on Wednesday morning cycling to work...

I cycle this road every day but got caught out this morning. The driver parked in the bike lane pulls out without indicating, all the while obstructing the cycle lane divider from my view (which I forgot was there). When I finally see it, it's too late for me 😖@Chris_Boardman pic.twitter.com/HmDJfFLUPY

— James Medd (@jamesmedd) January 11, 2023

The footage was caught on dashcam by the driver following James. He pulled over to make sure my son was alright*. Thank you, whoever you are.

...

Kraftwerk - Tour de France (1984) 

* Nothing broken, thankfully. Just a few cuts & bruises.

#ImmaculateVibes

If ever a track could be paired with the hashtag Immaculate Vibes I doubt you'd find a more exact match than this. Jon Kennedy was 'discovered' by acclaimed Manchester DJ and tea connoisseur Mr. Scuff and, between them, in a sizzling Stockport studio, they sculpted this absolute nailed on, made to measure, slice of soul funk finery. 

Wrap your ears around it and it's like being transported to some mythical higher ground - carried aloft by nothing more than air. If this track doesn't appear on the next playlist I put together for you then you have every right to withdraw your friendship from me and/or feed me to the wolves.

Jon Kennedy - Funk Boutique (2013)

Blurred

I had a good excuse for missing the opening night of Ian Prowse and Amsterdam's 2022 tour in Nottingham. I was in America. But I did catch them half way round; at the Adelphi in Hull. That was the night I lost it when Ian sang Does This Train Stop on Merseyside. It's what I do.

And then on Saturday we caught the train to Manchester and pulled in the last night: Gullivers in Manchester was ramming. It was also very hot. A small venue above a pub is my favourite environment to watch bands; always has been. If you've ever read my 50 odd gigs piece I wrote back in 2014, there's a fair smattering of pub gigs on there, dotted around the country, hither and thither. Which reminds me, I really must update that list.

Another small venue Ian's playing in a couple of weeks (solo, not with the band) is The Barrel House in Totnes. Ask me if I've got tickets. Of course I have! And, as you can see from the poster at the top of the page, Ian has already announced his Spring dates for '23; yep, I'm currently eyeing up Leeds and Sheffield. If any of these dates are near where you live (or even if they're not) I strongly urge you to blag a ticket. You won't regret it. 

Who knows where that might lead

Last night was special; in fact the whole of yesterday was special. I got to spend some quality time with James: we revelled in each other's company in Manchester visiting several choice  hostelries in what has, for the last 10 years, been James' adopted home city. Our Big Boys Beano culminated not in the Bamboo Club (if you know, you know) but at the Castlefield Bowl, a quirky outdoor pavilion venue situated in the heart of M3, where it played host to the last night of Crowded House's  2022 UK tour. 

James originally bought these tickets in 2019 but Covid meant that the gig - and its original rearranged date - was pulled. So last night, in more ways than one, was a case of unfinished business; nether of us had seen the band live before1 but we both have Woodface living in our heads2 24/7. I mentioned a couple of months ago that the majority of gigs I've been to this year have been very intimate shows - shows in small venues where inevitably I've been on the front row; so seeing a 'stadium band' in an amphitheater really did mean stepping out of my comfort zone. However, I needn't have worried. The sound was brilliant, our view was perfect and crowd were amazing (even waiving at the trains on the overhead viaduct as they trundled in and out of Oxford Road station).  And the band didn't disappoint.  I was putty in their hands from the opening bars of set opener Distant Sun to the final coda of Chocolate Cake and everything in between3. Who wouldn't be? So, outdoor gigs - I'm not saying it's the way forward - who knows where that might lead - but as an occasional antidote fto the confines of sweaty rock clubs and upstairs rooms in pubs it was certainly a breath of fresh air. Literally. Let's do it again soon, James!

1 Tho' I did see Neil Finn play a live set on a boat on the Thames in 2011

2  Where it flat shares with the entire Beatles back catalogue

3 James had to prop me up emotionally when they played Four Seasons in one Day (I could write 500 words alone on how that song affected me last night) 

Postscript

As PSs go this is a zinger: did I mention that Johnny Marr4 joined them on stage for Weather With You?

4 Manchester rock and roll royalty

(Band pic c/o John Bidder)

(Not) Everybody Loves the Sunshine

Phew! What a Scorcher. Today's sky high temperatures probably won't appease those living in the North West of the country who woke up today to find a sudden withdrawal of privileges.(Once again our spectacularly inept Government proved beyond a shadow of doubt they really don't have a clue what's going on.) So if, like the Number One Son, you live in Manchester, I feel for you. I really do. As with Leicester, it can't be much fun standing on the naughty step as you watch the rest of the class go outside to play.

Ironically, James sent me his 2020 (So Far) playlist only yesterday and it's full of wall to wall Summer bangers. Party music, if you will; as long as the party is neither in your home or garden. Or with other people who aren't from your household. Give me strength.

Anyway, back to those bangers. James knows my love for the System. Here's a tune that is so heavily influenced by the soul funk duo who gave us You Are In My System (a huge hit for Robert Palmer) it's uncanny. I absolutely love it. 
This then goes out to anyone with an M postcode.

Thundercat - Dragonball Durag (2020)

Yellow

DELIVERING FLOWERS

Today's offering, in true Sesame Street style, is brought to you by the colour yellow. Three photographs - two shot in Nottingham during the recent Christmas break, and the third of my daughter-in- law's footwear taken in Manchester sometime last year. The idea to show them together is kind of obvious and I think (well, I would say this wouldn't I?) pleasing to the eye. Unless, heaven forbid, you suffer from Xanthophobia.

NG - ONE

YELLOW LINES

I came very close to choosing The Race by Yello to sign off today, but thought it a tad obvious; though, ironically, Behind the Wheel by Depeche Mode (seen here in yellow vinyl), I think, more than tips its hat to Yello's Vicious Games. It's a small world. And yellow.

Depeche Mode - Behind the Wheel (1987)

Could you be more Pacific?

808 State's Pacific State* was "the song that made a nation chill out." So said some hack at the Independent; and, you know what, I think they were spot on. "Mellow but insistent beats", they went on to say, "a light garnishing of wildlife noises, and a soprano sax threading through it like a viper in the Eden undergrowth."

What then, would it sound like if a brass band got hold of it and transcribed the dots for cornets and euphoniums?

Pretty much like this I guess, from the album 'Acid Brass':

The William Fairey Brass Band - Pacific 202 (1997)

* Graham Massey - 808 State head honcho - once said "there's about 42 different versions of Pacific. Pacific 707 is the single we put out on ZTT."

808 State - Pacific 707 (1989)

Part Time Millionaire

Driving Aquaplaning back from Manchester this evening, the rain was coming down sideways - as it had  been since about 9 o'clock this morning. It truly was like the End of Days.

Craig Charles agreed to ride shotgun. He's the perfect passenger - playing as he did some spectacularly good choons. Like this:

Flevans  - Invisisble (feat. Laura Vane) - 2019

It's from his new album Part Time Millionaire. I think it comes out next week. I want a copy. Now. It will be my Album of 2019; you just see if it isn't.

The Incredible Shrinking Man

Who's got a tape measure?

I know I'm six foot tall. I've been six foot since I turned 16. It says six foot on my passport. Just because the nurse at my local GP surgery recently clocked me in at 5'-11" does not mean I'm 5'-11". No way Pedro. If you look carefully at the above photograph (taken on Saturday at James and Janni's wedding party) I'm kinda leaning in - and down - at the same time. James is not a seven foot giant - he is a mere 6'-4". Just to set the record straight. And, to set it straight even further, dad is not taller than me. He must be standing on a book, or something. Must be.

I'm glad I got that out of the way.

A big thank you to my friend Adele who texted me earlier this evening and put a smile on my face. I'd sent her the photo and she replied back:

"Nice pic of the 3 Amigos, looking very trim xx"

(Can I be Steve Martin, can I?)

Getting in early

James & Janneke

It's James' birthday next week. We won't see him on the day, but we're spending this weekend with him and Janni and will take his presents with us. James lives in Manchester these days and is heavily involved in the Arts up there. I've always worn my Proud Parent badge unashamedly, and never more so than when I watch films like this:

Passion

I was privileged yesterday to spend some time in the company of Janneke Earl, editor of Angle Grinder - Manchester's premier literary magazine. Janni has a passion for the arts, design, and culture. She is also equally as passionate, I found out during the course of the afternoon, about beer. And gin. And drumming.

Suffice it to say, we got on famously.

The One After 808

Sun Ra

Graham Massey, Madchester legend and the brains behind 808 State has put together a new combo. The one time Acid guru has collected a dozen of Manchester's finest, scooped 'em up and shared with them his love of Saturn dweller and jazz polymath Sun Ra: The Part Time Heliocentric Cosmo Drama After School Club are a twelve piece ensemble who, under Massey's orchestration, are currently tearing up venues in the North West. And one look at this video from their recent Liverpool gig will testify that the experience leaves everyone in the room shaken and stirred. The young lad on keys (front right) a.k.a. The Number One Son - who when he joined the band tweeted 'I've joined a cult' - tells me they hope to be recording an album real soon.

Magic Carpets

Yesterday on BBC Radio London the venerable Danny Baker was looking for custodians of various modes of transport. Thanks to The Candyman I am now in charge of Magic Carpets. Will this mean letters after my name? Will it get me a table in exclusive fancy dan restaurants? Probably not. Though a badge would be nice.

So what will I do during my tenure? Well, for starters, a recent song of mine, Magic Carpet, will be dedicated to the Danster. Along with three more Johnny Medd originals I've been road-testing in local folk clubs, it'll be on a little EP I'll be putting out later in the Summer; with the knob twiddling expertise of The Number One Son, we'll shortly be spending a couple of days in his new Manchester studios.