THE GREATEST GIG I HAVE EVER SEEN

GREAT STUFF FROM AN IMPORTANT BAND The preview in the September edition of the Cultural And Arts Agenda for the month had suggested that Orquesta Catacumbia would rock but nothing could have prepared me for what I eventually saw and heard…

WE ALL LOVE THE RADIO

PUSH BUTTON HEAVEN by Norman Warwick Track listing Is It A Monster? by The Automatic Listening to Leven by Marc Cohn You Turn Me On I´m A Radio by Joni Mitchel Listen To The Radio by Nanci Griffith Video Killed The Radio…

MUSIC THAT MATTERS TO ME; the Incredible String Band by Dave Espin

A STRANGE THOUGHT JUST CROSSED MY MIND by Dave Espin Norm (left) interviews Dave at Crescent Community Radio When Norm asked me to put together some personal reminiscences of a band we both admire greatly, I agreed with trepidation. …

PAINTING BY ´NUMBERS´

Track listings The Eyes Of a Painter by Kate Wolf Rene and Georgette Magritte by Paul Simon Let The Picture Paint Itself by Rodney Crowell & Emmylou Harris Maybe I Can Paint Over That by Guy Clark Matchstalk Men & Matchstalk…

ARE FIREWORK DISPLAYS AN ART FORM?

SKY ROCKETS IN FLIGHT The worlds of art and technology are moving ever closer towards each other. If you have already listened to my audio file interview with Evelin Toledano you will have heard us contemplating whether or not graphic design…

SALFORD: ART AND SOUL

When actor Timothy Spall brought to life one of Britain´s favourite artists, painter JMW Turner,  in the 2014 film Mr. Turner, he awakened public interest in Margate, a town so often at the centre of Turner´s work. Now, as Spall embarks…

LOOKING FOR LAUGHS? THE CHASE IS ON !

At all across the arts we often speak of the synergy between poetry and comedy as one art form often feeds the other. We were pretty amazed though when we discovered more links in the chain:  general knowledge and quizzing skills. We…

PLAYING CUCKOO ON TH´EDGE

A ´playing out scheme´ recently devised by Alice (not Alex) Ferguson, a young mother, who wanted her own children to be able to play outdoors has produced benefits that surely should not surprise us. Now the scheme has been studied by…

FESTIVALS AND FOLK LORE FOR ALL

Depending on your demographic, you know, like how old you are, your gender and whereabouts in the world you live, each reader will have a different mental image when asked to think about the phrase ´music festival.´ Perhaps for the younger…

TINY TOMMY TROTTER AND THE MOUNTAIN OF DEBT

His name is Tiny Tommy Trotter and he is my new Bolton Wanderers FC mascot sitting here on my all across the arts desk as I write this issue of Sidetracks and Detours. He is the first guy I speak to each morning and we usually end up bemoaning…