Press releases are a staple of my inbox – it comes with the territory, as they say. This week one landed with the purpose of drawing my attention to some nights at The Circle Club – High Society and Dirty Sexy Money. Fairly leading titles, you might think, and as those of you with any knowledge of The Circle Club will know, highly apt. They tend to do a pretty good line in club nights for those with a preference for a bit of ‘bling’.
It was the dress code that got me thinking, however. I am a person normally slightly thrown by a request for ‘smart casual’ and, it would be fair to say, I would not necessarily describe myself as particularly fashion conscious. With that in mind, the High Society dress code reads thus: Girls: Upper east side party frocks; Boys: Preppy Couture. I have, I must confess, absolutely no idea what these words placed in that order mean. So I turned to my faithful friend: Google.
‘Preppy Couture’ tends to bring up some items from a range of what I would describe as casual wear – generally pink.
I don’t imagine The Circle Club would appreciate me turning up in that, however. Dig a little deeper with the Big G and you end up on a popular theme around here – footballers. Or, more specifically, their wives. As with cars, it should be no surprise that young men afforded huge salaries turn to other avenues through which to express their..err...taste. Articles of ‘Worst Dressed WAG’ abound in the gutter press, displaying such fashion highlights as:
and...
Compared to the cars, however, that’s pretty tame. Should I ever find myself down at High Society in The Circle Club I’m still none the wiser on what I should be wearing, though.
I watched a bull fight on a TV in a Spanish bar once. The menfolk of the small town were in there too, drinking little bottles of beer, smoking and throwing rubbish on the floor, as is their wont. Bull fighting is, you won’t need me to tell you, a fairly barbaric thing. I don’t particularly agree with it, if we’re going to have a debate about it, but while I was sitting in a bar in Spain amongst a large group of people watching it, I wasn’t going to ignore it. It was such experiences I was in Spain to absorb, as it happened.
The thing that struck me most about the reactions from those around me was the nature in which they regarded the spectacle. An enthusiastic bull fight spectator, for example, is not so much concerned with the fact that an animal is being killed for his or her pleasure, but rather the style, grace and skill with which it is performed. Sounds sick, in a way, I know, but I was enlightened to discover that it’s not simply about watching a display of man conquering beast – some would conquer but with disapproval from the audience, the style, accuracy and resulting swiftness of death not to their standards.
Why am I going on about this, I hear you ask. We certainly don’t get much bull fighting in Manchester. Well, two reasons really. 1. I like reminiscing on my time spent in Spain – give me a bike and four months free and I’d be back there in a shot. That is purely coincidental however as the reason my reminiscing has been given reign of indulgence today is thanks to 2. This video. It’s a little gruesome, if you are of the type that gets a little squeamish watching a man have a bull’s horn shoved through his face, but it’s a rather fascinating thing nonetheless. And I’m sure the anti-bull fighting lot will enjoy the chance to have a little ‘serves you right’ moment.
If you can’t be arsed with the video and just want to get to the point (no pun intended), this is it:
A charity run is supposed to be a well-mannered, community spirited, inclusive event, with people running, walking, stumbling and crawling their way around a set distance all in the name of charity. A good thing for a city to be involved in – hence last weekend, when Manchester laid out a 10k track for people of all fitness levels to trot around and collect valuable pennies from their friends, all in the name of a good cause. Wonderful.
Except, not so wonderful if you were one of the many people who arrived for the run, on the Sunday, parked your car in the city centre streets, which were clogged with runners and barriers, sweated in the name of charity and returned to find a ticket slapped on your windscreen. The Great Manchester Run, it seems, provided something of a feast for the city’s traffic wardens.
The ‘Parking Ticket Complaints Department’, if such a place exists, will no doubt be a rather extreme place to be working this week and we’re told “anyone [who] feels aggrieved... can write to the parking manager at the town hall and [they] will review their case." There were some accusations that extra parking wardens were dispatched to take advantage of the apparent free for all, but this has been strenuously denied. They just got lucky, apparently.
We like a bit of continuation with this here blog occasionally so it is with some delight that I am able to bring you an update on one of our previous subjects. Do you remember the singing Rasta, tormenting the good people of Salford on a daily basis with his renditions of Bob Marley songs and preaching from the bible? For those not taken with the clicking of links, he’s been given an ASBO for singing too much in the street - causing a nuisance, that sort of thing. He’s back now though because he plans to fight what he sees as an injustice.
It’s a pretty thin argument, if we’re being honest. The guy sang and chanted his way through every hour of the day, causing untold annoyance to those in his locale. It’s unsurprising, however, that his argument in defence tends to largely ignore this and concentrate more on statements that entirely miss the point.
“In court it was said I'm aggressive,” he says, “I am not. I've not thrown a stone, I don't walk with a knife, I don't sell weed. I've got an Asbo for speaking.” Fine, that is correct – but speaking loudly, out of tune, all day every day, annoying other people. That’s largely what ASBOs are for – people who annoy other people. He goes on:
“I sing songs that are spiritual – songs of emotion. When I speak what I believe is the truth it might offend some people but I have the right to speak.” You do – but not all day every day, loudly, out of tune, annoying other people. I’m pretty sure the people who live on his street aren’t much offended by the content of the songs – the point that he seems to be missing is that it’s incredibly annoying, spiritual or not.
““I just want to raise awareness and condemn social injustice faced by black people in the UK,” he says. I’m pretty sure, however, that there are better ways to be going about it.
As people singing badly seems to be something of a national obsession, if Saturday night TV is anything to go by, I might as well give you this little video clip again. Enjoy:
Manchester was abuzz this week after someone cleaned an electricity substation in the Northern Quarter. Don’t worry – life around here isn’t that bad that such an action would cause jubilation and excitement in the streets. The Northern Quarter isn’t that avant garde – yet.
The reason for the aforementioned buzz is that the cleaning of said substation revealed something on the small building’s structure. A few years ago (possibly eight) some bright spark came up with the idea of covering one of those little brick structures that house electricity stuff (that’s a technical term of an electricity substation) in plants, to make it look a bit more natural, presumably (I reiterate that this is the Northern Quarter – they have some weird ideas around there). It’s taken eight years for those plants to die and someone to realise it’s perhaps not such a good idea, so they’ve taken them off now to reveal...this is where we get to the whole point of this, for those of you still reading...some genuine Banksy artwork! See, it was worth the wait, right?
‘Artwork’ is perhaps a touch strong, depending on your stance with such things – graffiti, some call it, others go with cartoons. Some call it ‘not art’, rather bluntly. Here it is – you can make your own minds up:
It’s a little beaten up – eight years under rotting plants will do that – but appears to be a version of this:
And you can tell it’s a genuine Banksy – he’s written his name next to it to give you a clue.Some are calling for it to be preserved seeing as, in the eight years or so since it was done, Banksy’s reputation has grown somewhat.It’s a shame he’s so elusive – we could get him to do a few more around the city, brighten the place up a little.I’m sure the Northern Quarter-ites would like that.It is, after all, oh so cool to have a Banksy around.If only we knew who to call to order some.
OK, so it’s old and the new ‘Facejacker’ programme is pretty bad, but I was reminded of this the other day and watching it, thanks to wonders of Youtube, cracked a slight smile once again. So I thought I’d post it – that’s kind of how this blog thing works, occasionally. When I’m not scrutinising the goings on of Manchester City players.
There’s a lot written on our site about bouncers in and around Manchester – good and bad – so it’s nice to see one with a sense of humour – this time at Pure Space, on New Wakefield Street, having a little chat with Donald Donaldson.
Very few occasions arise when I am reduced to exclaiming ‘I want one of those’. Technology and gadgets are all very nice, and I do own a number (I bought a pressure washer at the weekend – it’s fun) but very rarely am I actually excited by them. I came close this week, however, when I saw a picture of the new Dyson Air Multiplier (TM). A fan, essentially, but being Dyson it doesn’t really look like a fan. A traditional fan, after all, with its blades and stupid protective guard, is terribly ungainly.
Before I continue I should point out that we are in no way affiliated with Dyson or their Air Multiplier (TM). Neither have I received one for free in a spurious attempt to make me write about it (I wish). I just think they look good. See for yourselves:
Empty space has never looked so cool. They also have a neat little viral thing going on their website, charting people’s reactions to their latest invention. Some are rather extreme – I mean, it looks nice and it’s a clever idea and all, but it’s not exactly the answer to all World’s problems, is it? Maybe that’s out in the Autumn.
Check out Mike Joyce and The Whip jamming Ever Fallen In Love for their forthcoming show at Band on the Wall. Mike Joyce and Tim Burgess have teamed up with a number of well known artists, including The Whip and I Am Kloot, to rework the classic Buzzcocks album ‘Spiral Scratch’, which they will be exclusively performing, for one night only, on Thursday 27 May 2010 at Band on the Wall.
For a chance to win one of ten pairs of tickets, including Jack Daniel’s goody bags, enter our competition here.
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