ROCHDALE LITERATURE & IDEAS FESTIVAL 2019

LITERATURE AND IDEAS IN ROCHDALE The title of the festival reflects the wishes of the benefactors who, a few years ago, left a significant bequest to the borough library services. It also reflects the fact that history reminds that at least…

UNFORGETTABLE FESTIVALS

FESTIVALS I HAVE KNOWN AND LOVED I felt enormously privileged to serve as host of The Annual Literature and Ideas Festival in my home town of Rochdale during the first four years of the festival before I ´retired´ over here to Lanzarote.…

ACTING FOR THE COMMUNITY GOOD

ACTING FOR THE COMMUNITY GOOD M6 Theatre http://www.m6theatre.co.uk/ has long been recognised as a top “theatre in education” company, creating work for young audiences, and has achieved Arts Council National Portfolio status. The organisation…

RADIO PRESENTER MEETS THE BUMS AT THE BAR

PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS AN OLDER MAN The Five Bums At The Bar ask Steve Bewick, who, what, when, where and why The naming of his debut novel as A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man, by James Joyce, and the references to his own age…

RADIO JIVE AND LIVE JAZZ

RADIO JAZZ AND LIVE JIVE Crescent Community Radio broadcast all across the Rochdale borough. In a town where ethnic diversity was and is a well-managed yet nevertheless sensitive subject, the station is run by the Muslim community and aimed…

SPOKEN VOICE AND SOUNDSCAPE:

JUXTAVOICES: JUST BRILLIANT There is a large number of Rochdale-based arts organisations providing a wide range of fantastic services all across the arts. These organisations not only provide entertainment but also boost the Borough’s…

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…