Coming Up

Bank Holiday weekend and a few highlights.

I hope to finally get to hear Hungarian poet Agnes Lehoczky. I bought her debut collection "Budapest to Babel" a couple of years ago. She's reading with Menna Elfyn and with music from the intrigueing sounding Yiddle Sticks Klezmer Ensemble at the Whitworth Gallery this afternoon from 2.30pm in the latest Poets & Players

Tomorrow afternoon its time for Sounds from the Other City, Salford's multi-venue urban music festival. Hardly anyone I've even heard of, but that's part of the fun. Oh, and there is poetry and fiction squeezed in between the music - with Chris McCabe, Tom Jenks, the Bad Language crew and others.

On Tuesday night one of my all time favourite bands, the Three Johns play a rare gig at Gulliver's. The Three Johns were stalwarts of early 80s Peel and with robust psycho classics like "Death of a European" always seemed one of the eras most unquantifiable bands. 

I'm pleased that the Castlefield Gallery fundraising auction has gone live and on time. The Gallery is an important part of the city's artistic ecosystem and has an exciting two year programme lined up following up on its temporary closure, and the auction is a clear sign of how highly it is regarded by artists who have been associated with it in some way over the years - and the donated work is stunning. You'll be able to visit the Gallery to see the work from next Friday, bidding is available online, and will continue on the night of 30th May, compered by Pavel Buchler.

A recent Facebook conversation - talking about the surrealists - was asking why writers and artists don't collaborate as much as they used to. A question raised again in the latest edition of Corridor 8, available from the Cornerhouse. The art magazine continues to intrigue, this time focussing on artist run spaces, and revisiting an iconic but forgotten publication called "Breakthrough Fictioneers". The magazine has focussed on the interface between literature and art beforehand (looking at Moorcock's "New Worlds" in particular) but again I'd ask the question: Where are the writers? Rather than artists-that-write it would be good to see some genuine interface...it was something we did with Lamport Court of course (2 of our alumni are featured in the Castlefield auction for instance!) and something I want to encourage with my new venture...

Yes, I'm planning on a new magazine, called, "A New Magazine". The basic details of what I'm looking for are here - and I hope to have the bones of the magazine together by end of May for an end of June/early July completion. Still very keen to hear from writers and critics.