Saturday 31 March 2012

Manchester: In Residents ... #10: Eden

"It would be refreshing to separate from former glories to give some new artistic heritage room to grow..."



What’s your name?

Eden.


What do you do?

I’m a publishing product manager for Prospects, which involves creating new publications and managing existing ones to promote the UK and its cities to both UK and international graduates. In my free time I write about authors and artists for a few arts publications.


Where do you live?

I live at the old Manchester Courthouse, a historic building that still wows me after seven years of living there. It’s in an area that borders two divergent cities – Manchester and Salford – and you get a sense of two places in flux as you walk past the Irwell and underneath the sign that reads: ‘You are now leaving Manchester’. I always seem to take note of that little sign on my cycle home or when I go running. I guess I find the interpretation of space interesting: the invisible line you cross when you leave one area and enter another, and how that line can be in a different place for everyone.



Salford feels different; the skeletons of the buildings on Chapel Street echo a grand, industrious past and some of my favourite hangouts are in this area. I’ve come to love their rough and ready exteriors. The area around Chapel Street doesn’t reveal its gems easily; it really makes you work for them.


Tell us the story of how you ended up in Manchester.

I’m from Ireland and until I moved to Manchester in 2003 I’d never been to the UK. It seemed like I’d travelled almost everywhere else, but the UK just seemed too close to home. One of my oldest friends had moved here the previous year and the plan was to live with him for the summer before starting a fine art degree in Dublin in the autumn.

My first home, in a quiet pocket of Rusholme, couldn’t have been more different to where I grew up in the West of Ireland. The smells, the architecture and the outdoor spaces were sort of familiar but then weirdly other in lots of ways. At 19 I thought I was pretty cosmopolitan but Manchester initially seemed so urbanised that I quickly realised how rural my sentimentalities were.

I’ve always loved running so I spent that summer exploring the city on foot. I think you connect with a place differently when you’re running; it can sometimes be boring and solitary so I immersed myself in my surroundings to make the journey more interesting. I took particular note of the architecture: the Georgian grandeur of the Gallery of Costume in Platt Fields Park; the unusual abandoned red brick factory in Castlefield that’s only really visible from the belly of the Rochdale Canal; the bees that punctuate the inner-city neighbourhood lights and walkways; the King Street alleyway lined with sculptural metal umbrellas; the way the Whitworth Gallery lights illuminate Whitworth Park in a warm, pink glow in the evening.



Manchester was supposed to be a summer fling but it developed into a slow-burning relationship that has lasted almost a decade. I went to university here and I have grown up here. Even though Manchester has its flaws, it’s been good to me, and I feel I owe it a lot. Word to the wise, Chloe Sevigny, you’ve got to put something in to get a little back – you feel me, girlfriend?


What’s great about this city?

In my mind, Manchester stands shoulder to shoulder with places like Berlin, Chicago and Portland by demonstrating that a city doesn’t have to possess the classical beauty of Paris or cosmopolitan veneer of New York to be a centre of craft, talent and originality. People are proud to live in Manchester, and rightly so. Despite being small, and sometimes scrappy, it’s a cool place to live. The grit, the rain, the people and the diversity make life here real and interesting.

The city’s size can offer small pleasures in a way that larger spaces like London can’t. Manchester is about communities and reciprocal relationships. Once you figure out what you have to offer to the city, you soon realise how much Manchester has to offer you. The city can really effect ownership if you work hard at making it your home.



What’s not so great?

Manchester attracts scores of talented grafters thanks to its cultural and musical past, but it often struggles to retain them. It would be refreshing to separate from former glories to give some new artistic heritage room to grow. This might encourage more of the city’s media to promote events outside the social Bermuda triangle of Coronation Street-Hacienda-Manchester United.

The lack of green spaces in the city centre and the missed opportunities – Salford Quays and Chapel Street – and the ‘What were you thinking!?’ urban planning mishap that is Piccadilly Gardens. Plus, for every art deco-inspired Salford Cinema or deconstructivist-influenced Imperial War Museum there are tens of piss-ugly 1960s prefab eyesores.



Do you have a favourite Manchester building?

It can’t compete with John Rylands’ Gothic exterior, or the refined elegance of the Portico, but my favourite building is St Phillip’s Church (…it’s in Greater Manchester, so it counts…). I used to think there was something lonely about it - the last relic on a forgotten street of former bastions of the industrial revolution. In fact, that’s probably what’s so nice about it. St. Phillips Church isn’t as polished as some of its city centre counterparts; it’s just been left to be what it is.

It’s a natural beauty.

The building sums up Manchester for me: not showy or pretentious, just quietly confident in the knowledge that it’s brilliant. It wasn’t until I knew I would be moving out of the area that I appreciated it fully. The church is used as a space for live events and I've seen many excellent artists perform there, but mostly I like it because each time I cycle down Chapel Street and turn the corner onto the cobbled street that’s flooded with light in the evenings, I see the top of the bell tower and I know that I’m home.




Do you have a favourite Mancunian?

My friends are inspirational Manchester residents making their stamp on the city in various ways, through the arts, charity, education, music or fashion. They’re not just some of the best people I know in Manchester, but in life. In particular, the author Patricia Duncker floors me with her literary knowledge and her passion for the city.


What’s your favourite pub/bar/club/restaurant/park/venue?

Kings Arms for quiet beers and late-night drunken Hammond organ playing.
Islington Mill for consistently brilliant events.
The Deaf Institute for drinks after work.
North Tea Power for catching up with friends.
The Palace Hotel Bar for when you should have gone home already.
Chorlton Water Park for weekend walks.
Sam’s Chop House for the best corned beef hash in town.
The Cornerhouse to cherish those lavish window views of busy street scenes, before it moves on.


What do you think is missing from Manchester?

Proper cycling routes. More independent visual arts spaces.


If I was Mayor for a day I would …

Offer all the abandoned, empty spaces in the Northern Quarter and beyond to artists, designers, photographers and anyone with a little love and creative vision to help the area realise its full potential as a thriving creative hub.


Who else would you like to nominate to answer this questionnaire?

Design queen and all round good time gal, Emma Jay.

Friday 30 March 2012

‘TROUBLE AT T'MILL...’: ALL NIGHT PARTY ...!



You ‘eard ...!

Islington Mill, Friday 27th April...

2 rooms, 7 DJ collectives, 6 hours of partying ...



Street Tuff Room, featuring ...

Trash-O-Rama: Homoelectric/Bollox Residents & spinners of fine trax in their own right. Expect guilty pleasures & trax to end all parties.

Wasp Nest: Eclectic DJ duo Matt & David currently rock the decks at Soup Kitchen. Expect techno & glitchy dub.

Raw Like Sissy & Friends: RLS have made well-received guest appearances at Bollox & TOR. Expect dutty beats & a UKG revival.

No Womb: The goils of NW have raided their teenage music collection for a whole of host of nights including TOR. Expect 90s dance & pop, nothing is out of bounds.



Ready To Werq Room, featuring ...

Drunk At Vogue: The House Of Popular Disco. Mixing Manhattan Chic with Mancunian Cheek. Expect disco vibes & classic house.

Niall Xtravaganza: Niall flexes his musical muscle for Menergy/Tranarchy/Bang The Box...phew. Expect the cuntiest of beats & Hi-NRG pounders.

Andy Gott: Bollox flavour of the month & worshipper of all things DJ. Expect lots of 80s soul pop & divacore galore.



Only £5 in all night!

Facebook HERE.


Saturday 24 March 2012

Manchester: In Residents ... #9: Roland


‘When I’m trying to impress, I usually describe everything as ‘neo-Gothic’… The Beetham Tower? That’s neo-Gothic, that is…’




What’s your name?

Fat Roland, although in prison, my name was Masher McManus. Ha ha. I jest, of course. It was Susan McBruisin’.



What do you do?

I sit around in my pants playing Grand Theft Auto 2. Sometimes I write blog posts about irritating music, sometimes I make music, and most weeks I can be spotted rolling around drunk on a stage under the guise of “performance prose”. I have been known to run Blackwell’s bookshop in Manchester. Dig deep enough into my past and you’ll discover a long stint as a journalist on the South Manchester Reporter. I became a journalist when I was 17. This is why I am not educated.



Where do you live?

I live in a valley at the arse-end of Didsbury. It’s not much of a valley, but it does mean that everywhere else is uphill and we are regularly flooded up to our necks in Mersey water, Tesco trolleys and gravestones from St James’ church. I wouldn’t swap where I live for all the gold teeth in Stockport: it’s leafy, it’s peaceful and I can walk naked for miles without anyone noticing.



Tell us the story of how you ended up in Manchester.

I was born in Withington Hospital while Gary Glitter’s ‘I’m The Leader Of The Gang (I Am)’ was spending its fourth week at number one. Sometimes I wish I had been five months overdue so I could be born when Suzi Quatro was number one. I stayed in Manchester because I bloody love Manchester. If you live anywhere else, you might as well be dead or at least very ill and spending a lot of money on prescriptions. Like most Manchester residents, very few of my friends are actual Mancunians. This is why I poison their drinks with Windowlene when they’re not looking.



What’s great about this city?

The people. And the guns. But mainly, the people.



What’s not so great?

I recently did a talk for the Manchester Histories Festival in which I had a break-down on stage at the over-abundance of underwear retail since the 1996 IRA bomb. So maybe that. Despite the vitriol spewed on stage and on my blog, my spectacles are fairly rose-tinted. If I found Robin Gibb on Oldham Street defecating onto a shattered photo frame of Ian Curtis whilst screaming “THIS IS WHAT MANCHESTER’S COME TO”, I’d probably just assume it’s an exciting new performance art piece funded by a generous and creative city council.



Do you have a favourite Manchester building?

I like architecture and I wish I knew more about it. When I’m trying to impress, I usually describe everything as ‘neo-Gothic’. That Urbis? It’s neo-gothic. The Beetham tower? That’s neo-Gothic, that is. The pointless concrete wall in the middle of Piccadilly Gardens? Neo-shite.



Do you have a favourite Mancunian?

We gave the world Anthony Burgess, Emmeline Pankhurst and Burt Kwouk. And Reni from the Stone Roses. And Les Dawson, of course, who was a genius. Manchester is not just built by Mancunians, but is also built by people that have come to this city and made it their own. Adopted Mancunians are as venerated here as birth Mancunians. This is a good system. So if we have a crap birth Mancunian like Bernard Manning and a brilliant adopted Mancunian like Alan Turing, then we fiercely boast about the adoptee rather than the native. This is called ‘spin’ and it’s a good thing.



What’s your favourite pub/bar/club/restaurant/park/venue?


Deep breath....
Nexusartcafethecastlethegreenroom(rip)sandbartheroyalexchangebolloxningrestaurantblackwellsbookshopportstreetbeerhouse3mt(afflecks)fringebullsheadkraakthecornerhousebritonsprotectionviafossa(10yearsago)soupkitchenandalltherecordshops. And the suburbs too. South Manchester is full of great hang-outs.





What do you think is missing from Manchester?

A 50-foot bust of Shaun Ryder.



If I was Mayor for a day I would …

Lock myself in a dungeon and only be fed insects and spit. I don’t see the point of a mayor. You spend all day doing bugger all, blinged up like Mr T in the back of an expensive car with a personalised number plate. We have a name for those kind of people: Tories. If we decide to have an elected mayor, I’m taking this city by force. My benevolent dictatorship shall rule for a thousand years. Men shall wear dresses and all shall learn the Fat Roland Dance.



Who else would you like to nominate to answer this questionnaire?

Jesus Christ. Failing that, Chris Horkan from Hey Manchester.



Fat Roland will be co-headlining the next 'Word Soup' in Preston with his #Flashtag writing collective. Details here.

Monday 19 March 2012

Friday 16 March 2012

Manchester: In Residents ... #8: Phillip


"I’m always surrounded by incredibly talented, assiduous people ..."




What’s your name?
Philip Hussey

What do you do?
I am a freelance Stage Manager. At the moment I’m based at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre. People ask me what a stage manager actually does and it can be a pretty tricky job to explain because each theatre and each show is so different, but in a nutshell I co-ordinate the practical side of a theatre production, and I look after the acting company. The Royal Exchange is a wonderful place to work as I’m always surrounded by incredibly talented, assiduous people. It can be quite a different story being on tour though, rinsing actors’ tights in a youth club kitchen in Slough, for instance.

Where do you live?
In a flat in sunny Salford with an exceedingly lazy cat.

Tell us the story of how you ended up in Manchester.
I’m originally from a small village in East Yorkshire. I studied Theatre Studies at Bolton University (then Bolton Institute) but I seemed to spend more time in Manchester than Bolton so I moved here in my final year. After I graduated, work (and love) took me to Glasgow for a few years but I ended up back here in 2002. My job takes me all over the country (and occasionally the world) but my base is – and I think always will be – right here.

What’s great about this city?
Manchester is a tremendous, throbbing, cosmopolitan, gritty, radical, creative, exciting, soulful city, and it can be really quite beautiful. I work away a lot, but I always long to come home. As soon as I see the Beetham Tower from the train window I kind of breathe out. There’s something quite magical about the place. I love how I’ve lived here for years yet I’m never short of something new to do or see. It’s a cliché but Manchester really does have almost everything ... except a beach (I know, I went for it, I’m sorry...).

What’s not so great?
Having just said that it’s beautiful, Manchester does have some seriously ugly buildings. Piccadilly Gardens is undervalued and grotty but it could be such a beautiful civic centrepiece. Also the amount of litter around the place can be appalling.

Do you have a favourite Manchester building?
I may be biased but the Royal Exchange never fails to take my breath away, even though I’ve worked there for years. The old Daily Express Building on Great Ancoats Street is also beautiful. Given that it’s around eighty years old, it hasn’t dated one iota. I’d love to have seen its impact on the Manchester skyline back then. It must have looked very ‘Metropolis’.

Do you have a favourite Mancunian?
I’ve a few: Les Dawson, Liam Curtin, Victoria Wood, Nicholas Hytner, Caroline Aherne; and why the heck we don’t make more of Emmeline Pankhurst and Alan Turing in this city I will never know...

What’s your favourite pub/bar/club/restaurant/park/venue?
I’ve always loved the Whitworth Art Gallery. It has some amazing exhibits and it’s a lovely place to wander round. The Royal Northern College of Music Sunday concerts are great. For drinking, I like Sand Bar, Temple Of Convenience and my local, the King’s Arms in Salford. Sandinista is handy after work and is a popular Exchange hang-out. On The Corner in Chorlton does the best coffee. Food-wise, I’m a big fan of Ning, Samsi, Zouk and I love the amazing Ethiopian food at Habesha.

What do you think is missing from Manchester?
A decent market, a more effective tram system, somewhere to go in the evening that doesn’t involve getting bladdered…

If I was Mayor for a day I would …
Close all the city centre roads and have an enormous, traffic-free festival.

Who else would you like to nominate to answer this questionnaire?
D. Lucille Campbell, lead singer of the ace Manchester-based band Help Stamp Out Loneliness.


Miss Julie by August Strindbgerg runs at the Royal Exchange Theatre from 11th April to 12th May.