30 Nov 2004
Jenny Cassidy "LTM are very sad to report that Jenny Cassidy of Section 25 passed away on Saturday 20 November after a long and courageous struggle against cancer. The forthcoming So Far DVD will go ahead as planned, and is in some small way an apt memorial to her. Jenny joined the band in 1983 and took centre stage both on the album From the Hip, epochal single Looking From a Hilltop and subsequent live shows. Our thoughts are with her family at this difficult time."



From the LTM website.
27 Nov 2004
Is it good for you? Peter Saville is one of "13 creative innovators from around the world" who have been asked to answer the question "What's good?" when speaking at the What's Good conference / Arts and Creativity Festival being held in Hong Kong in January 2005.



What's Good conference

Arts and Creativity Festival

Hong Kong Arts Centre

8-11 January 2005

Peter Saville: 12 noon - 1pm on Sunday 9 January 2005



Thanks to OMNY for info.

25 Nov 2004
Ben Kelly website revamp 
Ben Kelly's website has been fully revamped to include a comprehensive portfolio of all his work including Fac 51 The Hacienda, Fac 201 Dry, Fac 251 Factory HQ, an apartment for Peter Saville and Tony Wilson's Manchester loft.

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24 Nov 2004
Modern Art More details as promised of Ed Templeton's solo exhibition at the Modern Art gallery in London's East End. The exhibition runs from 22 January to 20 February 2005. No details on admission prices but the current Juergen Teller exhibition is free entry so maybe the same will apply.



Modern Art

10 Vyner Street

London E2 9DG



Map
23 Nov 2004
Bah humbug! 
Having no party, sending no cards, & giving no presents

The History Lesson continues with this extract from the SHAREHOLDER'S ANALYSIS END OF YEAR '80.

FACT 25 Joy Division/Closer. Here are the young men. 12" 33 rpm

FAC 26 Paris Poster by Steve Horsfall after an idea by Alan Erasmus. Battle plans, silver on black, horizontal. Gig cancelled. Only 7 made. All gone. It's called taking limited editions to logical conclusions. Cfg FAC 28.

FAC 27 £500.00. Rob's got it. Cancelled Saville revenge project for alternate FAC17 sleeve.

FAC 28 Joy Division/"Komakino", flexi disc. Now done 75,000. The "totally free at point of sale" device still working wonderfully stirring greed and disillusion in the anti-realistic heart. We give them in massive quantities to our two distributors who give them to shops with the instruction. Not for sale xx or as sales incentive. Watch commodities being created before your very eyes. 7" 45 rpm

FAC 29 The names/"Night Shift". Perfect new pop from Brussels. 7" 45 rpm. The Names already have single out in Belgium with Warner's Benelux. Oooooh. Picture sleeve apparently relates to the B side, it's people at a party having conversations. Could have fooled me.

FACT 30 Sex Pistols/"The Heyday" interview tapes by Judy Vermorel, mid ’77. Should retail around £3.00. Can be taken as capitalist surge (if you don’t know the unit cost) or cultural rehabilitation or ghetto crawling. 5,000 done for mid December release. Plus advert. Factory Records is this year having no party, sending no cards, and giving no presents. Instead we are taking an ad,,,,Happy Christmas. Cassette, pronounced cASS-ette.(M.Mac)

Thanks to Sebfact for trancription duties.

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19 Nov 2004
... an infamous night of local bands and music 
Kevin Hewick is to play a rare, headline appearance at the Pineapster communion ("an infamous night of local bands and music").

The Pineapster Communion
Thursday 24 February 2005
The Attik (behind BHS, off Gallowtree Gate)
Leicester

Kevin Hewick
Ist
Freedom Sound
£3

All proceeds to Charnwood Arts / The British Heart Foundation.
www.pineapster.co.uk

Thanks to Andy for info.

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Ed Templeton is currently working on a painting book that will be published by Greybull Press, and he is additionally working on three upcoming exhibitions, one of which will show at the Modern Art gallery in London in January 2005. Info from Tokion, with more to follow.
17 Nov 2004
Factory at the crossroads 
The 'New Factory', the Fac 251 headquarters building that Factory commissioned at One Charles Street in Manchester was quite an architectural landmark. Ben Kelly (also the designer of Fac 51 The Hacienda and Fac 201 Dry) and "co-designer" Elena Massucco brought on the style. In this excerpt from a City Life magazine article on the building (and also the Siemens building in West Didsbury), Elena Massucco explains some of the philosophy behind its design, in particular "the slot" (the front door, the exterior of which can be glimpsed in this photo of The Wendys): "there was originally a door there, and we just wanted to make an impressive gesture at the crossroads, bringing the building out into the outside world: it would tie it up for us." The slot allows you, on entering the building, to see up to the first and second floors, and vice versa. "It was important for the first floor (the office level) to have a feeling of people going in and out - they don't have to be cut off".

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Profound The Magnetic Fields have just announced shows in Austin and Houston to round out their U.S. Southeast tour in December.



December

2-3 Alexandria, VA

4 Durham, NC

6 Atlanta, GA

7 Miami, FL

9 Orlando, FL (Two shows)

10 Austin, TX

11 Houston, TX (Two shows)



Check the House of Tomorrow for further info. The Houston shows will most likely be the band's final ones for the year.



And there's more... New York City locals take note! Stop by the Clubhouse at 9th Street and Avenue C every Monday night (*) from 9pm to 3am for a bubblegum / glam / sugar pop / lounge mix hosted by Stephin Merritt and DJ Satisfaction Pony and known to the world as The Profoundly Incredible Tentacle. *= SM is AWOL, on tour Monday, December 6.



Thanks to the House of Tomorrow newsletter for info.



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16 Nov 2004
Quirky 
24 Hour Party People is in MOJO's 50 Greatest Music DVDs You Must Own (just in time for Christmas) with this amusing summary: "Steve Coogan's quirky central performance as Factory supremo Tony Wilson was as love-it-or-loathe-it as Wilson himself, but this double-disc DVD is a must-have-item for anyone interested in Manchester music of the late '70s and beyond.

Wilson's hilarious commentary is augmented with bizarre interview footage of Shaun Ryder in the midst of his 21st century bloat, Wilson, and designer Peter Saville discussing his favourite Factory sleeves, plus 24 (of course) deleted scenes."

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14 Nov 2004
Peter Hook, alongside many others, pays tribute to the late John Peel in the December issue of Mojo. "You respected Peel's spirit. You knew that he wouldn't let you do something safe. He got very excited himself, too. Later, after Ian had died and we'd become New Order, I remember him opening a copy of Temptation on air and having to fade it out for the end of the show and being almost in tears and promising to play it twice the next night."

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13 Nov 2004
V & T If you missed Vini Reilly's interview with Tom Robinson from Wednesday evening, don't forget you can catch it via the BBC's Listen Again service until next Wednesday.



Tom Robinson's Evening Sequence

BBC 6 Music

Until Wednesday 17 November 2004
11 Nov 2004
DAT's all folks! 
The first commercially available DAT releases were released by Factory Records - Fact 204d The Guitar And Other Machines by the The Durutti Column (also available on LP, cassette, CD, VHS video, CDV and 5-inch CD single) and Fact 200d Substance by New Order. Factory Records explains its fondness of shiny new DAT technology in this Q Magazine article (c. 1988)

"We find the British record industry's negative attitude to DAT release ludicrous and counter-productive," they say. "

1) The dangers of copying will only be fought off by a continuing attention to the fetishism of the artefact: the desire of the fan to possess not just a piece of music but a piece of the artist, by the purchase of the official item. Concentration on design, packaging, and the artist's role in this set of product imagery will inevitably render copying a minor irritation. Clearly, not to release on DAT will make DAT copying more - rather than less attractive, which is why we find the rest of the industry's Luddism so insupportable. The role of the artefact is clearly reflected in pre-orders for the new Durutti Column DAT of 1,000 together with CDV orders of 1,500, both figures way in excess of the number of machines that exist in the country.

2) Technology is a moveable feast. The unmatched sampling between CD and DAT, the imminent digitisation of Copycode and the development of one-copy systems will soothe all tears by the end of the year.

And 3) Quite simply, you deal with Digital Audio Tape by using Digital Audio Tape not by slicking your head in the bureaucratic sand of the BPI."

Read the full article here.

... those Factory DATs in full

Fact 200d Substance by New Order
Fact 204d The Guitar and Other Machines by The Durutti Column
Fact 220d Bummed by Happy Mondays
Fact 244d Vini Reilly by The Durutti Column
Fact 250d Substance by Joy Division
Fact 275d Technique by New Order

Factory Classical DATs were scheduled for release but there is no evidence that any were issued commercially.

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Otherworldly delights There's a (slightly unfavourable) review of The Best Of The Durutti Column in the December issue of Word magazine.

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10 Nov 2004
A SXXV DVD Details have been announced of the first ever (and hotly-anticipated) Section 25 dvd. The 2 hours plus of footage on the dvd features an early gig at the ICA in London from June 1980, the fully-fledged five piece playing at Minneapolis First Avenue from January 1985 (previously released as Structure Moderne 12 on videocassette) plus excerpts from shows at Fac 51 The Hacienda, Chicago Metro and the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith. Topping it all off are several promo clips including the splendid 'Looking From A Hilltop'.



Artist: Section 25

Title: So Far

Label: LTM

Catalogue number: LTMDVD 2429

DVD Region: 0 (NTSC)

Sound format: Dolby Digital 5.1

Release date: 14 February 2005



Thanks to The Crépescule and Factory Pages by Frank Brinkhuis.

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9 Nov 2004
The slot for Vini Reilly's interview with Tom Robinson's on BBC 6 Music has been narrowed down to 7.30-8.30pm on Wednesday 10 November. Tom is playing Durutti Column session tracks all week but unfortunately they aren't new after all but instead date from an old Andy Kershaw session from 1987.



Tom Robinson's Evening Sequence

10 November

7.30pm - 8.30pm

BBC 6 Music



Thanks to Paul on the Durutti list and Phil Jones.

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7 Nov 2004
Robert Frank's work as a film director and photographer is featured in an exhibition entitled Storylines which runs at Tate Modern in London until January. The centrepiece of the exhibition are screenings of his legendary Rolling Stones documentary film Cocksucker Blues. However, also on the bill, and of interest to Factory fans is his intriguing New Order promo video for the single 'Run'.



Storylines

Robert Frank

Daily until 23 January 2005

Tate Modern, London

www.tate.org.uk

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Vini Reilly's appearance on Tom Robinson's BBC 6 Music show has been confirmed. Tom will play new Durutti Column session tracks every day starting tomorrow Monday 8 November. Vini will be coming into the studio for a chat on Wednesday 10 November.



Tom Robinson's Evening Sequence

8-12 November

7pm - 9.30pm

BBC 6 Music

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6 Nov 2004
Silent Partners in the area. Check out the new official website at www.silent-partners.info.
5 Nov 2004
Liquid The December 2004 issue of UNCUT magazine has a review of The Best of the Durutti Column [about time too! Ed.], an extract of which follows, "... over the last 25 years Vini Reilly has explored a liquid, airy form, notes bent by the other gravities and atmospheres of whichever planet Martin Hannett now calls home."



Title: The Best of The Durutti Column

Label: Warner

Catalogue number: 5046753932

Release date: 11 October 2004



There are also reviews of the Magnetic Fields back catalogue which has also been reissued by "a newly flushed Domino - that's 132 songs in total - they chart his gentle ascent as a kind of F Scott Fitzgerald fronting The Field Mice concern to becoming America's equivalent to Morrissey; a witty, bookish cause célèbre."



Label: Domino

Titles: The Wayward Bus / Distant Plastic Trees, The House of Tomorrow, Holiday, The Charm of the Highway Strip, Get Lost, 69 Love Songs

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4 Nov 2004
The Portal Project 
The Portal project, featuring Caesar and Carolyn from The Wake and mentioned earlier this year, has turned out to be a one-off, captured on the track Jesus From The Block on the French compilation POPvolume#4.

However, Caesar and Carolyn are now getting together with Bobby from The Field Mice/Trembling Blue Stars and Michael from The Field Mice early next year to make an album as The Occasional Keepers.

It's set to come out on LTM (Europe) and, probably, Darla (USA).

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Deeply Durutti 
Vini Reilly is interviewed for a new Granada TV film which goes out in the ITV NW region on 19 November at 11.30pm. Vini talks about The Durutti Column's appearance at the Deeply Vale Festival in July 1978 [thanks to Chris Hewitt for the correction]. Other participants include Luke Bainbridge [OMM], Jimi Goodwin [Doves], Alan Hempsall [Crispy Ambulance], Graham Massey [Biting Tongues / 808 State], Andy McCluskey [OMD] and Mark E Smith [The Fall].

Vini also appears on Tom Robinson's BBC 6Music show any day soon. More details as avaiable.

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The Gay Traitor 
Guest DJs at the Beautiful 2000 night at Fac 51 The Hacienda in the early 90s included people like John McCready, Manchester's favourite quizmaster (shurely shome mishtake, Ed.) Elliott Eastwick and Matt 'n' Pat from Central Station Design.

Matt recalls how they got the gig: "SO yeah this was a night me and our Pat were asked to do by Paul Cons AFTER he had heard about a night me and Pat played records at Polar's Bar (Swan Street, near the old Record Peddler, now Bar Fringe) in Ancoats, run by one of our mates: Lee Pickering (no relation to Mike). On the night we played everything from X-Ray Spex, The Ramones and Sex Pistols to George Formby, plus "Saturday afternoon who do we watch? .... IT'S U-NITED", an old Man Utd football team song from the 70s plus some old 78s records like Tommy Steele's Singing the Blues, and Winifred Atwell's 'Piano Boogie'. It was a packed night!"

Check out the new David Knopov pages in the Designers section. David did the graphic identity for Beautiful 2000 (although on a week-by-week basis Rebecca Goodwin and Murray Healy handled duties) and also designed covers for The Wendys.

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A Factory reminder that Get Loaded tonight features "An Audience with Shaun Ryder and Tony Wilson" followed by DJ sets from Shaun Ryder, Tony Wilson, Peter Hook, Clint Boon, Shaun Keaveny and Kav.



Get Loaded

Turnmills

Thursday 4 November

7.30pm (Q&A starts)- 3am

£5 / £4 (NUS) Entry

2-4-1’s at the bar (7.30-10pm)

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3 Nov 2004
Tim Booth plays the ICA on Thursday 11 November - a reminder. From the ICA website: "He may have shaved his head and grown a beard, but there is no mistaking Tim Booth, former frontman of James, actor, writer and musician."



"Lyrics that effortlessly marry ecology, Hare Krishna and hard sex. Q."



ICA Theatre

The Mall (at the foot of the Duke of York steps)

London SW1

Thursday 11 November

7.30pm

£16 (may possibly also have to pay day membership fee of £1.50)

Tel: 020 7930 3647

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1 Nov 2004
The Return of the Sleeve 
From the days when CD-ROMs and the Factory Too website were new technology: "October 24th '95 saw the media launch of "Sex and Death - the CD-ROM" at London's ICA. This reworking of the Stephen Street produced album was created by Manchester Multimedia Developers, The Boot Room. The CD-ROM - that's the MAC version - is on the streets via Pinnacle Software in mid November. It's being hailed as the first classy example of the new CD-Plus or CD enhanced format." This was also a Durutti Column gig with Vini playing tunes in front of projections from the CD-ROM.

As a footnote to this it is also worth noting the extremely amusing legal disclaimer that came with the CD-ROM:

"The following is a legal agreement between you and Factory Records Too and the The Boot Room. You're supposed to read this agreement carefully before using the Durutti Column 'Sex and Death' CD ROM. By using the CD ROM, you agree to be bound by this agreement. If you do not wish to be bound by this agreement, you should immediately return the CD ROM, unused, with your proof of purchase, to the place where you obtained it for a full refund and maybe a fuss about the way lawyers get everywhere.

The materials and rights of the Producer and of the Owner of the work reproduced on this CD ROM are reserved. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance, radio, TV Broadcasting or use within any other media display and broadcasting system of this CD ROM is prohibited. You may use this CD ROM for your personal use only. We'll also let you show your friends cos' we're nice.

You may not place any of the materials on this CD ROM on an electronic bulletin board or other form of on-line service. That's the official bit but hey, get a life.

We would prefer if you do not use any of the materials on this CD ROM without prior written permission to do so. Unauthorised use of any of the materials is a violation of world-wide copyright law. The data contained herein belongs to Factory Records Too and The Boot Room, and is protected by the copyright laws of the UK, and the rest of the World, and we have great lawyers.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Factory Records Too and The Boot Room against any damages or liability of any kind arising from any use of the products contained on this CD ROM. Neither Factory Records Too nor The Boot Room, nor any of its partners, directors, officers, employees or agents (intelligent?) shall be liable for any damages, whether direct, indirect, consequential or incidental, arising out of the use of, or the inability to use, this CD ROM and the products it contains. If you or your computer crash it 'ain't me babe'."

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Late period There's a Hacienda flyer at halvorsen.org which dates from March 1997, not long before the final closure. The flyer in question is from a Dublin / Manchester DJ crossover event. Thanks to Hal for the link.

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