Anti Fascists Outnumber EDL Morons 2 to 1

A good day for Manchester, would have been better if the EDL hadn’t bothered, but nonetheless, I suppose friendless bores & bigots rarely perceive when they are not welcome. Live site at the Manchester Evening News.

I would also add worth reading is this tangled tale that involves the racist senior EDL operator Paul Ray of the lamentable Lionheart blog, apparently forging online identities to create fake terror stories to smear Muslims with and the corporate media go along with it. No really, try to be surprised. This is in addition to the fine work of Tim Ireland @ Bloggerheads. Seems a number of racist fantasists form the backbone of a terror porn creating cabal that help keeps the war on terror bullshit flowing in tabloid land, all with a common trait of rabid Islamophobia. Of course creating incidents to gather support is a very old fascist tactic and that Patrick ‘once fired for racism‘ Mercer MP the Tory Chairman of the Commons sub-committee on counter-terrorism and erstwhile shadow spokes-mannequin for Fatherland ‘Homeland’ security is involved is so far being ignored by that same corporate media.

Manchester Uni Occupied!

Ah, Manchester Mon Amour, if you’re in the area and looking for something to fill your evening, go along, via Dave–

manunioccupation.wordpress.com

Manchester!

Oh Manchester! I noticed a link to me and discovered the very fine new looking Manchester Stop the War site, so Hurray for them! They are testing it out with hopes to be super and fully groovy by Mayday I read. So while I am distant from Manchester’s rainy breast I keep a flame burning for the city of my birth, so good to see it is getting its own splendid new Stop the War site and they have the immense good taste to have linked to me (at least for a test!). Hey people involved! If you come by say hello and check Mr Dave out @ Complex System of Pipes although you may know him already as he is in Manchester and is an experienced anti-war hat wearer already.

Friday! The Bodines- Therese

The rather neglected but totally great Bodines accompany this pictorial of Hulme in Manchester, I assume that there are almost no people in these pics is a choice, it lends a rather benighted East German quality to poor old Hulme (pronounced to rhyme with tune- sort of Hyoom), which maybe contains some truths. It does evoke to me a taste of that area, which is a stark contrast to the scorchingly great Therese which was not so easy to dance to but sounded great in a club. Saw them live at the Hacienda, they were in a really bad mood, refusing to play Therese which was their biggest hit (which I didn’t mind as they had other great tunes) and didn’t play a very long gig. This was not untypical of the anarchic and sarcastic Manchester music scene which added to its unpredictable charm. They never got the break they deserved as they wrongly got lumped into a certain style of indie music that fell out of favour. Maybe if they had come out of a London suburb and not scenic Glossop -the North West’s Gateway to the Peak District!- they might have fared better, (bloody southerners)! Legend tells of their one album existing on CD but it is as rare as sightings of the white whale, but the vinyl abides and… Free MP 3’s here (thanks to a Mr Tom Bartlett).

Shut It Monobrow

Not only is Noel Gallagher one of the least original rock musicians…ever. He’s a big idiot, and if people are not buying Glastonbury tickets because of Jay Z they are big idiots too. It’s a big festival and the variety and mixing it up are one of the things that makes it worthwhile. I now need one of those waving shimmery visual wipes & a harp sting as I remember the Reading festival in…erm 1992. Nirvana’s last UK appearance (I almost feel bad about recommending Kurt take up skeet shooting- buy your own shotgun, you’ll love it, it’ll cheer you up! and -Hey you’re right, this heroin stuff is really moreish. In my defence I did point out his missus was a fucking fame vampire) the other big headliners were The Wonderstuff & Public Enemy and it was fucking great.

“tradition of guitar music” Gallagher? Oh fuck off, just because drum machines(although of all the bands who could get away with a basic 4/4 drum machine beat…ahem), samplers, decks, sequencers and innovation confuse and scare you, like giving a monkey an iPhone. When you worked with the Chemical Brothers did they stage dress the studio with vacuum tubes, Beatles posters and Marshall amps, hiding all the computers so you didn’t get spooked and be afeared they were wizards dabbling in the Devil’s work? Somehow I seem to recall some of the most legendary sets at Glastonbury being done by dance bands, y’know, with no guitars! You’re a dullard and the least impressive musician to emerge from Manchester ever! Neil Innes wrote one of your best songs! And while ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ is etched upon my cultural map it is in the context of ‘Our Friends in the North’ as Geordie walks over the Tyne bridge and away from his long lost friends. And let’s face facts, everything after the second album were faded photocopies, you only had about 20 good songs in you, and most of them had been written years before by The Beatles.