all across the arts news, previews & reviews published by Steve Cooke and passed on by sidetracks & detours THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGING what the next decade might hold news by Steve Cooke What change would you most like to see in the Creative Arts in Rochdale Borough over the next ten years? […]
Songwriters Chapter 3 part 1 KATE WOLF – AN UNFINISHED LIFE by Peter Pearson When Kate Wolf succumbed to leukemia in 1986, at the age of 44, her star was on the rise. The previous year she had returned from a short sabbatical (to spend more time with her family, after 12 years on the […]
WYNTON MARSALIS LETS JAZZ JOINS US TOGETHER by Norman Warwick It would have been around twenty five years ago, when Steve Cooke (left) was partnering me in presenting two articles a week that took readers of the Rochdale Observer, Middleton Guardian and The Heywood Advertiser newspapers All Across The Arts. I always admired Steve´s awareness […]
LEE DORSEY working in a coal mine and Norman Warwick decided to Lendanear No singer in the Big Easy had a more easy-going manner than Lee Dorsey (right).. The rhythms behind him could be wickedly syncopated (they usually were), and Dorsey would still sound unruffled, unhurried, as if it were a sunny afternoon and he had nothing better to […]
LENDANEAR TO DUO BRAVO down sidetracks & detours with Norman Warwick sidetracks & detours first came across Duo Bravo on May 13th 2026, when my wife, Dee, and I stepped into The Tourist Information Office in the Timple Museum in Teguise. We enquired about any forthcoming concerts and the kind and lovely lady behind the […]
Chris Maume, in his review of the programme for The Independent reminded us that On the Home Service in the Fifties and Sixties, Ewan MacColl (left) and Charles Parker put together a series of “Radio Ballads” in which different communities were portrayed through interviews and the songs inspired by them. Over the past few years […]
sidetracks & detours IN SEARCH OF WHERE TRUTH LIES by Norman Warwick Some Americana singer-songwriters are occasionally unreliable narrators and some seem to always be unreliable narrators. Americana is not, of course, the only genre to hold such writers in their format and nor is song-writing the only art form in which fans and creators […]
Rochdale, Town Of Culture EXCEDED ALL EXPECTATIONS by Steve Cooke Our coverr picture today is also included at the top of this article shows Rochdale Town Hall packed the town´s elite creatives. We decided to do this justto support Steve Cooke, because his pride in the town is evident in the way he himslef, mentors, […]
MUSIC IN PORTSMOUTH ALEXANDRA PEEL, VIOLINIST previews a concert with the Havant Symphony Orchestra, and updates her profile shared by Norman Warwick Alexandra Peel recently (right) played Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy with the Havant Symphony Orchestra in its Echoes of the Isles concert on 28 February 2026 in Warblington School. Before the concert she gave an interview to Music […]
Rochdale Feel Good Festival headliners Preview: Steve Cooke Rochdale Feel Good Festival Summer 2026 has legendary singer-songwriter Gabrielle (below) topping the bill on Saturday, August 8. The two-time BRIT award winner and pop-soul star will be performing on the main stage at Rochdale Town Hall Square this summer, along with indie rock chart toppers Ash, Starsailor […]
SIDETRACKS & DETOURS: 7 / 12 / 25 classical, jazz, folk, rock, americana; songwriters & invisible angels7th December 2025 - 7:00 am
SIDETRACKS & DETOURS Pass It On 2/11/2025 Jenny Bray, Nash and Asher, Opus 222nd November 2025 - 7:00 am
A LITTLE BUNDLE OF SUMMER. sidetracks & detours 3rd September 2025 featuring Jazz Artist, Jenny Bray. Broadcaster and writer, Steve Bewick, Expo Folk and Sound Roots3rd September 2025 - 7:00 am