I finally made it to some Sound City stuff, taking in Hallo I Love You, Little Boots, Charnock & Russell, Sidney Bailey and His No Good Punchin Clowns, The Two Man Gentleman Band, Clinic and a.p.a.t.t. at various venues, although I only managed to see one entire set out of that lot thanks to some duff planning, bad luck and general confusion.
In amongst the mayhem I spent most time in the View Two gallery, an oasis in the middle of Sodom and Gomorrah, watching a series of folky, jazzy, swingy, skiffle-y performances. The Punchin Clowns and Gentlemen Band were a particularly rare form of Vaudevillian fun.
Seeing Clinic again after so long was great, especially as it was apparently the first gig they played in Liverpool in donkey’s years. Listening to Clinic always makes me think of what it might be like to die from an overdose of mogadon – creepy and disturbing, but not entirely unpleasant.
I’ve been pondering a deluge of election material that has been jamming the letterbox over the last few days.
I’ve not much interest in it per se, as I only ever vote tactically or negatively anyway and I’m not likely to make my mind up on the basis of a flyer that looks at first glance like a pizza menu.
But the stakes are high in the forthcoming European elections, with the prospect that Liverpool could elect a BNP MEP.
And I’ve been struck by how combative the tone of the election materials has been.
This is particularly true of the Lib Dems, who have (presumably intentionally) released a pamphlet made to resemble a free sheet that slates Labour.
The Lib Dems’ material seems to me to be the worst, slamming Merseyside Labour MPs for the failure of the fuel poverty bill, for having their heads in the trough over expenses and ‘stealing’ cash destined for Liverpool to ‘bail out bankers’.
My congratulations to a group of students on Facebook under the name of Save Our Subjects.
These people have pressured the University of Liverpool into reviewing its plans to close the departments of Politics & Communications, Philosophy and the division of statistics.
It’s heartening to see students achieving a deserved victor, that is as much a victory for common sense, something for which the University is not well known.
I fully expected the university to railroad its plans through, without much regard for the ramifications on students, lecturers and the profile of the university.
Hopefully this doesn’t entail an old tactic of union-busting governments and businesses where an apparent disaster is avoided, only for a watered-down version of the same plan to sneek in under the radar at a later date.
From my dealing with the university, it wouldn’t surprise me.
An email has reached me to tell me about barebones.tv – a live feed of a household of scousers going about their daily lives.
If you’re waiting for a catch, there ain’t one. It’s not a PR campaign, stunt set up by a local radio station or porn channel (more’s the pity). This is a shame, because the reality of watching people doing absolutely sod all for 24 hours a day is exactly as mind-numbingly tedious as you’d expect.