Top of the Pops, the BBC's long-running music show, has now gone to the great musical tv graveyard in the sky along with The Tube, Wired and The Word. The last show screened this evening in the UK. Of the many tributes in print and in the media, perhaps the most notable for FAC fans is the Saturday Guardian's magazine which includes anecdotes from Paul Ryder (Happy Mondays) and Steve Morris (New Order) on perhaps their most famous (or infamous) appearances on the show.

New Order refused to mime, played 'Blue Monday' live and in the words of Steve "it sounded awful". But at least they had the balls not to mime.

Happy Mondays went down in legend by appearing on the same show as The Stone Roses. He recalls how a madcap plan to swap the bands' respective drummers nearly came off but was rumbled by the BBC.

Labels: Happy_Mondays, New_Order

thisisnottingham.co.uk (the online version of the Nottingham Evening Post) has a report on the filming of 'Control' centred around the return of Samantha Morton (who plays Deborah Curtis in the film) to her home town.

Paul Ryder, ex-bassist in Happy Mondays, talked to the Manchester Evening News (Tue 25 July edition) about his new band Big Arm and why he will never play for the Mondays again. Paul reveals that he gets paid every time Happy Mondays hit the stage because he registered the name a few years ago.

Labels: Happy_Mondays

Back in April 2004, Andy Woodcock was revealed in these pages to be the true designer of the infamous Factory boardroom table in the FAC 251 New Factory HQ (One Charles Street, Manchester) which Happy Mondays famously broke. Ed Jackson on the Cerysmatic Factory Message Board, in a thread which some of you will have been following, now provides further revelations as well as rightly staking his claim to being the table's co-designer and co-builder.

Labels: FAC251_The_Factory, Happy_Mondays

Big Benefits and MCRLIVE present a night of music at the Waterside Pub in Sale on 19 September 2006 to raise money and awareness for Big Benefits and member charities. Vini Reilly and his cousin Helen Farley-Jones (last seen singing vocals for The Durutti Column at selected recent gigs) will be performing exclusive new material.

Tickets priced 12.00 GBP (which includes 2 free drinks) are available from the Waterside pub, by telephone on 0870 046 6655 or online at www.bigbenefits.org

19 September 2006
20:00 til late

The Waterside Pub
Unit 7
Waterside Plaza
Sale
Cheshire
M33 7BS

Labels: The_Durutti_Column

Section 25 are proud to announce a London gig on 11 November 2006 at Camden Underworld. Support again comes from Kevin Hewick and special clips from Shadowplayers will also be screened.

The full details are:

Sat 11 November 2006
The Underworld
174 Camden High Street
London NW1

Tel: 020 7482 1932

Doors open: 19.00

19.30-20.00 - Shadowplayers (excerts from LTM postpunk 78-82 Documentary)
Kevin Hewick - 20.15-20.45
Section 25 - 21.00-22.00

Ticket price (GBP) 10.00 in advance selected outlets and Ticketweb www.ticketweb.co.uk and 12.00 on door

Labels: Kevin_Hewick, Section_25

Durutti Column historians will be interested to hear that Christies Books has an interesting collection of items from the time of the Spanish Civil War including several featuring Buenaventura Durruti (from whom Duruttis created and mis-spelled their name). There are several excellent posters on sale too. Note that it's Christies Books and not Christies the auction house as previously implied!

Thanks to JC for spotting.

Labels: poster, The_Durutti_Column

Check out JFred's review here and mostly here of A Certain Ratio live at the MOFO Festival in Paris on 25 June 2006.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio

Section 25 play the Skinny Wolves Club @ The Hub in Dublin on 27 July. Read PitchforkMedia's gig preview and download posters [1] & [2] from thumped.com

Thursday 27 July
Skinny Wolves Club @ The Hub
23/24 Eustace St
Temple Bar
Dublin 2
Ireland

www.skinnywolves.com

Labels: poster, Section_25

The final tracklisting is:

1. Roksoff
2. Adore Me
3. New Start
4. It's Your Love Baby
5. French Opera I
6. Guitar Piece 1989
7. Detail For Paul - Demo
8. Conduct / Sketch For Winter - Demo
9. We're Gonna Keep Playing It Til We Get It Right

Labels: The_Durutti_Column

Further to the recent announcment that filiming has started on Control, it is worth noting that the producers have
invited Joy Division Central visitors to become extras in the film itself.

Joy Division Central

Labels: Joy_Division

Filming finally started yesterday on 'Control', the new movie being directed by Anton Corbijn.

'Control' spans the last few years of Ian Curtis’ life leading up to his tragic suicide in 1980. It charts the struggle between his enduring love for his wife and his burgeoning relationship with his girlfriend, his decimating bouts with epilepsy, his incredible talent and his all consuming performances with Joy Division.

Selected Cast

Ian Curtis - Sam Riley
Deborah Curtis - Samantha Morton
Annik Honore - Alexandra Maria Lara
Bernard Sumner - James Anthony Pearson
Peter Hook - Joe Anderson
Stephen Morris - Harry Treadaway
Rob Gretton - Toby Kebbell
Anthony Wilson - Craig Parkinson

Selected Production Crew

Director: Anton Corbijn
Producers: Orian Williams, Anton Corbijn and Todd Eckert under the production company NorthSee
Executive Producers: Becker International, EM Media, Warner Bros Music UK, Film I Vast, Cinema Investment Japan in association with Three Dogs and a Pony and Kate Ogborn
Co-Producers: Peter Heslop, Deborah Curtis, Anthony Wilson and Helena Danielsson from Hepp Films

'Control' has a studio and production base in Nottingham, with location filming taking place in both Nottingham and Macclesfield.

Labels: Joy_Division, Macclesfield, Peter_Hook

From omd.uk.com:

"Due to unforseen circumstances, the planned Autumn Architecture & Morality gigs have been put back to next year. Apologies to all those that have eagerly waited to attend, but the rescheduled dates will now take place early in 2007. More details on dates and venues will be posted up in due course.

Meanwhile, the band will be rehearsing again in the Summer for the 2007 shows.

Andy (McCluskey)"

Read a new interview with Andy McCluskey in the second issue of Scream City which is out now.

On Wednesday, former Factory Classical mainstay Steve Martland played a rare UK concert at the Purcell Room (aka "the tomb" (c) Martland 2006) on London's South Bank. He was conducting the Endymion collective through a programme of original Martland and other pieces.

The small stage was filled with which he described as a "tomb" later) with grand piano, marimba, drums, electric bass, electric guitar, violin, trumpet, bugle, trombone, and 3 (count 'em) saxophonists.

Programme highlights included "Kick", originally written for Euro 96 (no idea why that was included ;-) though Martland made a cheeky comment that he was glad England didn't make it to the semi-final because there would've been a bit of divided loyalty from the audience, not least from your correspondent) and "Beating The Retreat", written as a response to the Criminal Justice repetitive beats legislation and commissioned by the BBC.

Martland does not play, preferring to compose for others. He also conducts in a rather athletic, dancing style. Indeed, during the talk which followed afterwards (unbilled, except for in th programme) it came out that he plays the piano badly and is a frustrated dancer. Apparently, he had wanted to become a dancer as a boy but, Billy Elliott-style, he wasn't allowed to by his dad(!).

From the beginning, the talk took on some quite serious overtones, touching as it did on death and life (in that order I think). Martland, now an Italian resident, bemoaned the UK's classical music establishment and explained why pop musicians should never be allowed to receive government subsidies (and why he's never got any either!).

And so may it remain...

Labels: Factory_Classical, labels, Steve_Martland

Matt Carroll (of album cover design outfit Central Station Design - the Manchester cowboys responsible for internationally acclaimed art work for a plethora of famous bands, including Happy Mondays and Black Grape) has twisted his talents onto designing a range of children's clothing...

From deep in the heart of Cottonopolis, Carroll has produced 'Hank and Dollys' - distinctive Utility Ranch and Rodeo inspired creations (with a Rock 'n' Roll twist) for babies, boys and girls.

His stuff is already being modelled by Manchester's finest kids - fill yer toe tappin boots at www.hankanddollys.com

Labels: Central_Station_Design

French speaking FAC fans are encouraged to check out the 'factory france v 1.0' website for a review of Section 25's recent gig at the Batofar in Paris. And non-French readers can attempt a rough translation whilst they enjoy the extensive photo gallery.

http://fred.noosblog.fr/

Labels: Section_25

'Keep On Moving' is the new ESG album out on Soul Jazz Records. Order it now from Boomkat and other good stockists.

Labels: ESG, New_Order

A subscription-only service available to everyone, unlimited but unavailable in the shops! An annual newsletter and a free CD of unreleased tracks, demos, outtakes across the years. All copies are available at any time. This is not a limited edition; DO NOT BUY from eBay at higher prices; copies will always be pressed to suit demand.

The provisional tracklisting of the new cd is:

Heaven and Hell
Smile
New Start
... your love baby
French Opera I
Guitar Piece 1989
Detail for Paul (Home 4-track demo)
Conduct / Sketch for Winter
"... we're gonna keep playing it 'til we get it right"

The SECOND Subscription Group CD will be released in July (to be followed by a newsletter towards the end of 2006) priced UK: GBP 15.00, EUROPE: 17.00, ROW: 20.00 inc P&P.

However, existing members of the sub-group are entitled to purchase it NOW via MAIL ORDER ONLY at a reduced price of GBP 12.00 (inc P&P to anywhere in the world). Pre-orders are fine but delivery will be early July 2006. Order using Paypal - philcleaver@btinternet.com

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, New_Order, The_Durutti_Column

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