30 Jun 2008
RePeter 
Meanwhile, Peter Saville has a piece of his work included in the 'Blitzkrieg Bop' group exhibition at the Man&Eve gallery in London SE11.

Amongst the "unapologetically expressive" work of twenty different artists, Peter Saville's 'Joy' is a swirling 61x61cm inkjet print.

The exhibition runs from 4th July 2008 to 3rd August 2008.
rEpUBLIC 
"Daring", according the The Guardian, "controversial" according to The Birmingham Mail, "Attention Grabbing", according to H2G2 on the BBC, tHE pUBLIC gallery in West Bromwich (middle England) has finally opened, three years late and 13 million quid over budget.

"The world's only entirely participatory arts space", according to themselves, it sports 'Trees' by Ben Kelly: a techno-copse of eighteen 'interactive trees'.

Interactive = talk to? But will they listen?

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28 Jun 2008
ReOrdered 
Peter Hook confirms that the remastered New Order Factory-era albums (Movement, Power Corruption & Lies, Low-Life, Brotherhood, Technique) are finished (at least on the mastering side of things) and will appear this September & October. (Initial release date for the first titles is September 22.) They will follow the same concept as the recent Warner Joy Division remasters: 2 discs, one being the album, the other being a live show from that era.

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27 Jun 2008
Hooky Threatens Us with Freebass, Again 
Peter Hook insists to Billboard that the as-yet-untitled Freebass album "is going to be out next March or I am going to fucking top myself." (Hmm, there goes that last chance at a New Order reunion...)

He continues: "I said to Mani and Andy: 'It's coming out and I don't care how rough it is. Fuck it...'." So, what's been the delay? Hooky cites his "DJ-ing commitments". (Well, there you go...one must have priorities.)

A reminder that Freebass is comprised of Hook, Mani from the Stone Roses and Andy Rourke of The Smiths; with vocals [perhaps] from Liam Gallagher (Oasis), Ian Brown (The Stone Roses), Tim Burgess (The Charlatans), Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream) and Pete Wylie (various Wah[s]). (Hooky has suggested all of them, but has confirmed only Burgess & Wylie, with strong hints about Brown.)

Additional Freebass info can be found in this recent Hooky Q&A.

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Tea-time Television 
Excellent words received from ikonand's Brian Nicholson:

"Not sure if you’ve noticed but I’ve finally relented and been taken over pod-like by the Youtube Myspace virus. Early days but I thought I’d give a release to some of the lesser known bits from Ikon and the stuff ikonand is doing now.
The next few weeks will see some more stuff such as Clash of the Titans: Sooty vs Malcolm; Broken Family Band; my Daylight Hacienda video etc"

http://www.youtube.com/ikonvideo

http://www.myspace.com/ikonand

Videos posted thus far include:

FACT 125 Bessy Talks Turkey: "FACT 125 was given away as a promotional VHS gift Xmas 1984. Hosted by Hacienda VJ and raconteur Claude Bessy aka Kick Boy Face, the original title was 'Factory Video Hype'".

TV Wipeout - Operating Instructions: "'Life ain't no seminar'. The great Claude Bessy filmed by Malcolm Whitehead below ground at the Hacienda Manchester 1983. Featured on DV4 TV Wipeout from Doublevision."

Dub Sex Swerve: "Video made by Malcolm Whitehead at Ikon, taken from unreleased Dubsex project."

Lunge: "Sound and visuals by Brian Nicholson from his unreleased Ikon project In the Cradle (1994)."

Moonlight on the Highway: "Ikon celebrate the melancholy tones of Al Bowlly with Lew Stone and his band. What else is worth dreaming of? Brian Nicholson has fun with dingbats but ends up falling in with 30s British Dance Band. Where will it end?"

Case Closed: "Cut up with sounds lovingly spliced by Chewy Benson and visuals arranged by Brian Nicholson - Life Support Technician from Ikonand."

Stretchheads - The Overrunning of the Orifice Region: "Ikon favourite from the early 90s. Many thanks to Paul at Blast First and the band for such an entertaining weekend. Made by Malcolm Whitehead and Brian Nicholson."

A vidtonic for the post-euro/pre-season depression.

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26 Jun 2008
H*E*Y 
The amazing Denise Johnson (once a Fifth Of Heaven, occasionally A Certain Ratio and Primal Scream and, of course, Mary) has recorded a new album as Honestly*Express*Yourself at Svenska Grammofon Studion in Göteborg, along with members of The Soundtrack Of Our Lives.

Release details tbc, but a taster can be found on the H*E*Y myspace page.

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24 Jun 2008
Shambolic enough to be useful 
Praxis (the Wilson interpretation): Do something because you have the urge to do it, invent the reasons later.

So it was that several hundred people gathered in a tent outside Manchester's Urbis on Saturday 21 June 2008 to talk at and to each other for twenty four hours in the name of Anthony H Wilson, the result of an urge of a number of his friends to provide an active, ongoing memorial.

The idea itself was first mooted by Peter Saville at a small gathering of Wilson's former collegues in the Autumn of 2007, and quickly gained momentum with the backing of Manchester City Council through its 'Marketing Manchester' initiative.

His inspiration came from attending the art critic Hans Ulrich Obrist's 24 Hour Interview Marathon, held at the Serpentine Gallery in London in 2006. The Saville interpretation: chuck some been-there-and-done-its in a big room for 24 hours with the wanna-be-there-and-do-its and see whether a happening could happen.

The Stephenson Bell designed techno-teepee that housed The Wilson Experience stood tall, despite being drenched by Saturday's continuous downpour and buffeted by Sunday's gales (it must be weather-cursed - its original incarnation as centrepiece of last year's Manchester International Festival was similarly accompanied by a whole week of Manchester rain).

Inside the participants were kept warm by the heat of the lights and cameras, occasional hot air from the speakers, and debate that became so heated, at times, that some attendees felt the need to douse each other down!

The happening appeared unlikely during the (Satur)day with some slots retreading ground already trodden in previous events, often reverting to the 'intimate conversation/five minute Q&A' format.

But following the evening's light entertainment - whereby Ratio did Rialto, Hewick did Hooky, Dasilva did as Dasilva does - something did happen: an event that gave reason to the initial urge, and hinted at the way forward.

An open-mic session between 5 and 7 am with a largely cobbled-together stage full of various Manchester hard workers - including, at times, Oli Wilson, Martin Moscrop, John Pennington, Mark Kennedy and MC'd by Johnny Jay - developed into a full-on, no-holes-barred, two-way conversation full of honest, genuine advice from equally honest, genuine people.

Elsewhere, from participant to organiser it was clear that the ultimate success of the event lay in the conversations that continued outside of the forum itself, with many of the 'Experienced' (it said so on their passes) making themselves fully available to the 'Talented' (it said so on their passes): in person, tangible and approachable.

The twenty four hours were completed with a plea by Peter Saville to the attending Manchester City Council leader Richard Leese for further support of the event, followed by a rousing rendition of the poem St. Anthony by Mike Garry.

Full review to follow.

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23 Jun 2008
The Wilson Initiative 
Several hundred invited guests were treated to a largely improvised lecture by TV producer Russell T Davies on Friday night at the inaugural Royal Television Society North West Anthony H Wilson Wilson Lecture.

Introduced by RTSNW chair Helen Bullough, Swansea-born Davies spoke passionately about the welcome, freedom of expression, space and support given to him by the Mancunian television fraternity, amongst whom he developed his craft during the eighties and nineties, contrasting this experience with both London and his current base of Cardiff.

The talk was interspersed with clips of a rugby-shirted and braced AHW introducing the Granada arts programme The Other Side Of Midnight as well as other Manchester-produced dramas Queer As Folk, Bob & Rose and The Second Coming.

Describing AHW as a "maverick that popped up on TV...a northern light...an ambassador for the region", Davies confessed that AHW would be "spinning in his grave" to know that the lecture was being given by "a Welshman whose own musical taste stopped with Baccara and 'Yes Sir, I Can Boogie'".

He ended with a stark warning on the "devastating" effect of financial cutbacks on BBC childrens television as the whole production is moved to Manchester, and called on the - mainly television - audience to establish an 'Anthony H Wilson initiative': "Tell London to piss off! Demand that one in every ten meetings with Londoners should happen in Manchester and show them what an extraordinary place this is...and how lucky you are!".

Many thanks to Graham Allister at BBC NW for the invitation.
21 Jun 2008
Last Chance Central Station Design 
Today, Saturday 21 June, is the last official day of the Central Station exhibition at the Richard Goodall Gallery in Manchester. And as a bonus incentive, CSD will be signing prints in person from about 2:30pm until 4:00pm.

Word has it that although this is the official closing of the show, the work may stay up in the gallery for another week.

The prints will stay be available via the Richard Goodall Gallery online.

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20 Jun 2008
Celebrate Originality 
Todays issue of the Manchester Evening News comes complete with a sixteen page 'special' on this weekend's 'The Tony Wilson Experience'. The special includes interviews with some of the participants (Peter Saville, Steve Coogan, Stephen Morris, Liam Spencer, Sue Woodward, Mark Radcliffe, Alan McGee, Kevin Cummins, John Robb, Matt Greenhalgh and Prof. Brian Cox) as well as tribute adverts from Manchester Council, SSR, The Haçienda, ITV Granada and City College Manchester.

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19 Jun 2008
FAC 51 Pure Evil 
Pure Evil gallery in East London has just launched a FAC 51 The Haçienda Family Tree by Elliot Eastwick in two special limited editions. The aluminium edition of 15 copies and the vintage cartridge paper edition of 51 (A1 size). Both editions went on sale at 09:00 today.

Prices are 100 GBP for the paper edition and 500 GBP for the aluminium edition. The colours on each edition are different. There are 2 wooden strips on the back for easy mounting.

Some of the prints will be on display at the Tony Wilson Experience in Manchester this weekend.

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Pure Evil Gallery
108 Leonard Street
London EC2A 4RH
Tel: 07805 420771
Gallery Hours: 10am - 6pm daily or by appointment.

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18 Jun 2008
Tony Wilson Experience Running Order 
The full running order for Réification aka The Tony Wilson Experience has been announced [all times BST] starting 12:00 noon on Saturday 21 June 2008:

12:00 - Steve Coogan, Peter Saville, Alex Poots
13:00 - Mark Radcliffe Stuart Maconie
14:00 - Stuart Maconie, Steve Coogan
15:00 - Liam Spencer, Phil Griffin
16:00 - Frank Sidebottom
16:15 - Ben Kelly, Tom Bloxham (Emma Murphy host)
17:00 - Jayne Casey, James Barton, Peter Hooton (host Elliot Rashman)
18:00 - 'So It Goes' screening, Sex Pistols episode
18:30 - Clint Boon, Bob Dickinson in 'So It Goes' discussion
19:00 - Sue Woodward, Ray Gosling, Mike Spencer (Jim Hancock host)
20:00 - Matt Greenhalgh, Grant Gee, Peter Hook (John Robb host)
21:00 - Irvine Welsh, Paul Morley
22:00 - Kevin Cummins, Ian Tilton, Karen McBride (Emma Murphy host)
23:00 - Stephen Morris, Gillian Gilbert, Caroline Elleray (John Robb host)
00:00 - John Cooper Clarke, Stella Grundy, Alan Wise
01:00 - ACR live set on stage at Urbis
02:00 - Fashion slot (guests speakers tbc)
03:00 - Musicians slot (guest speakers tbc)
04:00 - Elliot Rashman, Steve Connor on Situationism
05:00-07:00 - Open mic session featuring some of the participants chosen for the event and the wider pool of experienced creatives attending
07:00 - Business Breakfast with the entrepreneurs - David Derbyshire, Gary McLarnan, Sarah Pearson, Elliot Rashman (Rose Marley host)
08:00 - Sir Richard Leese, Iain Bennett (Jim Hancock host)
09:00 - Simon Armitage, Steve Martland (Bob Dickinson host)
10:00 - Alan McGee, Tim Burgess, Belowsky
11:00 - Professor Brian Cox, Peter Saville, Stephen Morris (Bob Dickinson host)
12:00 - Mike Garry, performance poet reads St Anthony poem
12.05 - Finish

More info and links at the MEN.

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17 Jun 2008
A Factory Night donation In Memory Tony Wilson 
A Factory Night (Once Again) at Plan K in Brussels on 15 December 2007 made a profit of 2025 EUR (including the money raised from the sale of Kevin Hewick's singles).

As announced, the proceeds have been donated last week to the "Fondation Contre le Cancer" with the dedication "In memory of Tony Wilson".

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Shall We Take A Trip #2 
Trip is a Manchester Arts conference which runs from 19-21 June 2008 at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Designer, John Rooney explains the background and influences: "We have created graphic work for this exhibition based on what remains following the demise of the Haçienda. The language is taken from situationist texts and the visuals represent the colorways of the bollards in the Haç, the shapes represent rain (a constant in this city). Both myself and my colleague Pam Shaw have a long history regarding the Haçienda. Pam worked closely with Factory Records for many years, and I am course leader in MA Typography at University of Salford so this project was extremely important to us."

Some of John's work is still visible in the window of the Green Room in Whitworth Street (and not the John Dalton Building at MMU as previously stated) for the next few days.

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16 Jun 2008
Flip you melonfarmer! 
The Fac51 T-shirt Flip Frame is "the first ever Art Vinyl frame which has been especially designed for this one off package of Flip Frame, T-Shirt and limited edition art print."

Art Vinyl has now started taking reservations from their website as of last week. The site has been updated to show images of exactly what the finished pack looks like.

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Small Times 
The Orch, who are collaborating again after a ten-year gap, release their debut album shortly as a download, exclusively licensed to Manchester's Skinny Dog records.

The album was recorded late 2007 and mixed early 2008. They featured on Fac 2.02 A Factory Sample Too.

There's a taster gig at Darwen Library Theatre Friday 27 June 2008, with Peel favourites Calvin Party. More details on Ticketmaster. A follow-up gig at the Green Room in Manchester is also in the pipeline.

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Tracklisting

Without Trace
Ingland Strip
Little Rockets
Living In Sin
Ritual Abuse
Slaves Make My Baby's Shoes
Kenny and the Snake
Spectacular Times

For streaming tracks see www.myspace.com/thisistheorch

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A Certain Ratio for 24 Hours 
ACR play live in the Urbis foyer as part of the Tony Wilson Experience which starts at midday on 21 June 2008.

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Ratio - 1am, Sunday 22 June 2008
More details to come shortly

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Shall We Take A Trip #1 
From Northside on Facebook:

"Top band, top tune... from those opening lines you know your getting something special with this song!

Lets push for this group to get f*cking massive in the hope that word will spread - on the week commencing 30th June 2008 we need to get as many people to download this song from iTunes and get it into the UK #1 slot!!

Lets face it, in an era when such crap as Duffy, Estelle and Basshunter have been able to claim the #1 slot, we should be able to get this one in there somewhere... just imagine how proud you'll all be putting this classic back up where it belongs and dislodging some of the current chart/pop guff in the process. all for the tidy price of 79p!

Go to it kids, the destiny of this top, top tune is in your hands, dont waste it!"

Good luck lads!

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Northside on MySpace

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Section 25 x 8 
strummerlive.net presents an 8-part interview with Section 25 ahead of their 30th Anniversary gig in Blackpool this Friday 20 June at the Beat Club in Blackpool. The interview was done in March 2008 and is fully intact and unedited.

Quicktime Player is required.

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14 Jun 2008
One feather at a time 
The FAC-2 Owners' Club interviewed John Dowie for Scream City 4. You can now read the music part of the interview on MySpace.

Similarly, David Nolan's article about Tony Wilson's day job is also now on David's MySpace site.

For the rest of the Dowie interview and all the other great stuff in Scream City 4 (Peter Hook, Stephen Mallinder, Vini Reilly, Sample Minds: Before and After A Factory Sample and more) you can still buy it on eBay for 2.00 GBP + p&p (Paypal only).

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Go Out Tonight 
Paul Haig's new album 'Go Out Tonight' is out now on Rhythm of Life records. Pitchfork comments that "If the music sounds more like mid-period New Order or even late-era Wire than prime Josef K, Haig at least seems interested in re-engaging with his roots."

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Artist: Paul Haig
Title: Go Out Tonight
Label: Rhythm of Life
Catalogue number: ROL 019
Tracklisting: Trouble Maker, Stay Mine, Shut Down, Believe, Hippy Dippy (Pharmaceutically Trippy), Fantasize, Acidic Snowdrop, Data Retro, Scene, Gone in a Moment

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Zune L.A. 
There is a launch party for the Joy Division Zune with a screening of 'Joy Division' plus a DJ set from Peter Hook on Tuesday 17 June 2008 at 8275 Beverly Blvd (at Sweetzer), Los Angeles, USA according to the L.A. Times. Entry is by invitation only.

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13 Jun 2008
Autodidactic 
The story of William Burroughs and Joy Division is told from Ian Curtis's reading habits to Plan K in this excellent piece by RealityStudio.org.

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11 Jun 2008
Inaugural Tony Wilson Memorial Lecture 
Russell T Davies presents the Royal Television Society North West's inaugural Anthony H Wilson Memorial Lecture on evening of Friday 20 June 2008 at Pure Nightclub in Manchester. Admission is by invitation only.

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Pure Nightclub
The Printworks
Manchester
M4 2BS

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10 Jun 2008
His Master's Shoes 
Legendary Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham will be a keynote speaker at this year's In The City, as well as being the first ever official 'host'.

On his appointment, he said "Tony Wilson fitted into the finest pair of dancing shoes this side of anything. Rock, Bop or bother. Tony was a passionate leader extraordinaire. I am honoured that Yvette and the ITC team are lending me a pair of his master's shoes and inviting me to dance at this year's event."

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9 Jun 2008
Miracle Cure Mark Reeder Remixes 
Mark Reeder (Shark Vegas) has done 2 Retro-Remixes for the 'Miracle Cure' single by Blank & Jones featuring Bernard Sumner which was released last Friday. The Radient Radio Remix and the Wundermittel Remix are 2 of 7 remixes in total (including one by OneTwo, featuring Paul Humphreys of OMD) available on a German Maxi CD single.

'Miracle Cure' is taken from the album 'Logic of Pleasure'.

Those Miracle Cure remixes in full:

Radio Mix (3:56)
Radient Radio Remix by Mark Reeder(3:49)
OneTwo Remix (4:39)
Lulu Rouge Remix (5:32)
G. Morrison & B. Wong Remix (8:03)
Wundermittel Remix by Mark Reeder (6:50)
Extended Mix (06:55)

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Blurt - The Factory Recordings 
A reminder that LTM has released an archive CD of recordings made in for the legendary Factory Records label by cult band Blurt.

Digitally remastered, LTMCD 2526 The Factory Recordings combines all tracks from A Factory Quartet and In Berlin, including Blurt favourites My Mother Was a Friend of an Enemy of the People, Ubu, Puppeteers of the World Unite and Cherry Blossom Polish.

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Digital 
If you have been following the feed on the Joy Division page recently it won't have escaped your attention the Microsoft is launching a 500 limited edition version of its Zune player in full Peter Saville / Joy Division Unknown Pleasures regalia.

Microsoft's launch blurb states: "A limited-edition Zune digital media player designed by Peter Saville will be made available to commemorate the DVD release of Joy Division, the critically acclaimed documentary. The film will come pre-loaded on a custom black Zune 80 player that is etched with an adaptation of Saville's iconic artwork from Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures album. Five hundred limited edition players will be available for purchase June 17 for USD 399.99 through Zune Originals. In addition, Zune Marketplace will feature exclusive outtakes from the DVD.

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Auteur Labels @ LTM 
LTM presents the ongoing compilation series Auteur Labels which profiles independent record labels with a unique and enduring sound, vision and design sensibility, usually guided by one or two directors, and concerned more with art than commerce. Each release, summarised here by Frank Brinkhuis at the Crepuscule and Factory Pages, comes with extensive liner notes.

Auteur Labels: New Hormones 1977-1982 (LTMCD 2492)

New Hormones was founded in 1977 by Buzzcocks and their manager Richard Boon to release the epochal Spiral Scratch ep. The label released approximately 25 records, the catalogue combining post-punk, pop and avant-garde by Ludus, Diagram Brothers, Biting Tongues, Dislocation Dance and Eric Random.

Auteur Labels: Les Disques Du Crepuscule 1980-1985 (LTMCD 2517)

Profile of Crepuscule's 1st phase. The label was founded by Michel Duval and Annik Honoré with the release the epochal cassette From Brussels With Love (TWI 007). The chic, cosmopolitan label went on to assemble an extensive cross-genre catalogue, much of it dressed by celebrated designer Benoit Hennebert.

Auteur Labels: Factory Benelux 1980-1985 (LTMCD 2521)

Factory Benelux was a collaboration between Factory Records and Les Disques du Crepuscule. Early releases were 'spare' recordings by A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column and Section 25, after which Factory Benelux released a mixture of all-new recordings by Factory artists and licensed repertoire.

All formally released on 7 July 2008 or available now direct from LTM Mail Order.

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Mutant Moments and Tumb Raiders 
If you enjoyed Scream City 4 (which is still on sale on eBay) check out the first companion pieces to his article Sample Minds by Andrew James at his excellent blog Irk The Purists.

In Part One he tells us more about Mutant Disco with August Darnell aka Kid Creole and in Part Two it's Anne Pigalle who was on the ZTT sampler.
5 Jun 2008
Haçienda Party @ Sankeys, 20 June 2008 
Friday 20 June 2008

Todd Terry
Graeme Park
Peter Hook
Jon Da Silva
and more

15.00 GBP advance

www.sankeys.info

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3 Jun 2008
Kevin Hewick confirmed for Section 25/Hooky shows 
Kevin Hewick has been confirmed as support on the 3 projected shows in Europe featuring Section 25 and Peter Hook. Only one show is confirmed thus far, at the Ancienne Belgique on Friday 7 November 2008.

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The Ancienne Belgique
110 Anspachlan
1000 Brussels
Belgique

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SXXV=XXX 
Section 25 are producing a special limited edition commemorative CD for their 30th Anniversary SXXV=XXX gig at The Beat Club in Blackpool on 20 June 2008.

The CD will feature previously unheard material, rare live recordings and come with photos and other archive material, etc.

All copies will be free, signed by the band and it will be limited to a run of ONLY 30 copies. It will be available ONLY on the night of the gig on a first come, first served basis.

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1 Jun 2008
Gig in Japan 
I Remember Nothing - Martin O'Neill's exhibition of photographs taken during Joy Division's Bowden Vale Youth Club concert in March 1979 - moves to Japan next week, beginning a two week stint at the Tokyo Hipsters Club on Saturday 7 June 2008.

Martin also celebrates 30 years as a photographer with a new book, a summer exhibition of photographs taken around Eccles in 1977 and a slideshow.

'Don't Miss This' will shortly be available from London's The Photographers Gallery, Manchester's Cornerhouse or from Martin himself.

The exhibition will be shown at Eccles Library, date tbc.

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People say the funniest things #2 
Shaun Ryder (Happy Mondays):

"I'm not a working-class Tory. I just think what Thatcher did had to be done for the good of the country".

The Guardian, 31 May 2008.

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People say the funniest things #1 
Peter Hooton (The Farm):

"If you were based in Manchester in the 1960s and growing up there, you looked enviously at Liverpool and Merseybeat. Ever since, there’s been a real inferiority complex coming from that end of the M62. Everything Liverpool has tended to do, Manchester has tended to copy."

Liverpool Daily Post, 30th May 2008.


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