Ruston Kelly "Big Brown Bus"

The style of music Ruston Kelly is making isn't necessarily the kind of thing I'd normally like, but I find the slightly mournful, brooding, soulful qualities of his voice hard to resist.

'Mockingbird' is good as well but it was a bit more obviously Americana than 'Big Brown Bus'. I think 'Big Brown Bus' shows Kelly potentially eyeing early Springsteen territory. He feels like a man of the people, keen to make a difference in a good way, seeing music as more than a job.

The album Dying Star comes out on 7th September and should be worth a listen on this evidence.

The F-Word August music playlist is now up online!

The F-Word August music playlist is now up online.

It took a bit longer than usual to compile in that, while trying to make it as danceable to as possible, I was also trying to tie it to Manchester Pride, and it ended up being a bit of a tussle between the two things.

I think I've largely achieved what I set out to do, which is to have a balance of styles and genres by a mixture of artists who either are LGBTIQ+, are sympathetic to that section of their audience, or who I haven't heard bad things about in that respect (Oh dear, hardly a ringing endorsement for LGBTIQ+ rights that last bit...) I would hope that I do this with all of the F-Word playlists, but, with timing the playlist to coincide with Manchester Pride, it felt even more important than usual to do so.

Image of Rachel A. Blackwell's Rainbow Bee sculpture in Exchange Square, Manchester. It is part of the Bee In The City exhibition. 

Two book piles at once

I decided I needed a bit more variety in my reading at the moment, so I went to the library and raided the non fiction section.

A riveting interviewee, but a piece that was a mountain to climb

I have finally published my interview with Vermont based singer/songwriter, teacher and activist Emma Back over on The F-Word.

This piece has had a really long gestation period and has been beset by problems right from the beginning.

None of this was Emma's fault, I hasten to add. She proved to be a charming, thoughtful, insightful woman with a lot to say about the craft of songwriting, about community, singing, performance and activism, not to mention the highly dystopian world we happen to be living in.

But sometimes, even with a brilliant interviewee, and interview, you end up feeling like a piece is doomed to fail, to never see the light of day.

And so it was in this case.

We actually did the interview one evening (my time, afternoon by her time) in late April. Initially we had a go at doing it via Skype but the connection kept failing at her end so, after a few aborted attempts, we went with FaceTime because it was working on her phone. I'd never used FaceTime before so it was a new experience for me and, save for the fact we couldn't see each other, the batteries in my walkman died about two minutes in and I had to frantically replace them, oh, and occasionally the connection would cut out for a few seconds, we muddled through.

Emma is a very engaging and positive woman, despite everything she's been faced with over the past few years. She genuinely believes that music is a healing force for good and appears to inhabit a space as a community musician that has evolved organically, and that allows her to play to her strengths.

Her debut album, Little World, was released in late May and the original idea was that I would have the interview ready to go up on The F-Word about a week before the album's release.

This didn't happen for a number of reasons.

Firstly, about a fortnight after our interview I reached something of an impasse with my health and with my day job, which meant I had to stop transcribing the interview and cease most of my writing work altogether in order to concentrate on reaching a more stable situation with my health. This took a really long time and, ultimately, it's an ongoing process. In the interview I talked a lot with Emma about issues around balancing health with creativity and workloads so it was quite apt, or ironic, (depending on how you look at it) that I would be placed in a situation where I was fighting a similar battle while working on the piece.

Then, there was the editing process. For reasons perhaps linked to the above, both this piece and my last big interview piece for The F-Word have been very slow to finish, but also massively long winded once they reached the editing stage. We have a two edits process at The F-Word and, in the case of this piece and the interview I did with Vivien Jones of Kookie magazine, the second edits came back with the equivalent of lots of red pen and 'must do better' on them.

'Do better' I did, eventually, but, compared to my recent Florence + The Machine piece (which pretty much wrote itself and didn't come back from the second edit with any major changes), it was a very, very hard slog.

I'm hoping that the strain and stresses don't show up in the final published piece. I don't think they do, and I'm hoping that the piece will do well if only because I think Emma has a lot of really good things to say.

The Little World album is out now, and is available on Bandcamp and Spotify. There are CD's which I think should be available at independent record stores, though I haven't tested this theory.

Adventures in the capital

Travelling to London by train is a frequently disorientating experience, on a number of levels. It's not uncommon for me to find myself at Euston while my brain is still at Stockport train station.

Last night was the book launch for the new, updated edition of Lucy O'Brien's Madonna biography, Like an Icon. Because I am being a writer full time now, because I thought it would be fun to go, and - most remarkably of all - because the train fare was actually quite reasonable for a change, I went along.

The launch took place at Gay's The Word, an independent LGBTQI+ (I hope I got all the letters right...) bookshop in Kings Cross, a short ish walk from Euston station. I haven't actually been down that road before but it cuts through innumerable bits of Kings Cross that I've either stayed in hotels in, got lost in, or passed through in other ways so I was pretty confident of finding it.

Normally I find these kind of events incredibly nerve wracking, but I've had slightly more practice at speaking to people since I went to Lucy's last book launch in 2013, and I like to think I fared better this time. Lucy did a fantastic speech about Madonna, and about the book, which I think won round or at least whetted the appetite of a few skeptics. Enough to buy the book, which I would recommend you do, because it's a really good, intelligent read even if you aren't a Madonna fan.

I am part of the first generation of women to grow up with Madonna as a constant cultural presence in our lives. I wouldn't say I was a fan though. When I was seven I was obsessed with the song 'La Isla Bonita', to the extent that when we did, shortly after it's release, head into Stockport to WH Smith for a family music shopping trip to buy mine and my sisters first records, I believe I did intend to purchase the True Blue album.

I can't remember exactly why I didn't. I think now it might have been the case that WH Smith only had True Blue on CD at the time, and we didn't have a CD player. Either that or I was so turned off by the artwork that I insisted on going home with The First Album on LP instead. I think my sister went home with nothing, which speaks more to WH Smith's failure to provide than hers to choose I think.

We took it home and my dad put it on the record player. 'Lucky Star' began. We looked baffled, my dad equally as much as the rest of us. There was some discussion as to whether the record was on the right speed or not, followed by confirmation that it definitely was. We weren't used to early Madonna and her high, slightly squeaky, voice. But we did get used to the record, and learn to love it, quite quickly.

True Blue and Who's That Girl? period Madonna excited me musically but once the promotion period for both was over and Madonna wasn't releasing new material, I moved on musically. To Bananarama and Belinda Carlisle specifically, both of whom I formed a considerably longer, more enduring attachment to. Why was that? Was it because the Madonna of 1987 felt so remote? With her jogging routine, her minders, her very 'hard' Marilyn Monroe inspired blonde bombshell look? There was a girl next door accessibility to Bananarama and a mysterious, slightly tragic, glamour to the post Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle that Madonna didn't have. I couldn't achieve Carlisle's Veronica Lake inspired long red hair anymore than I could achieve Madonna's blondness, but it felt more attractive somehow.

Belinda Carlisle seemed a more fallible performer, I realise in retrospect, and I think I've almost always been attracted to that quality in my female performers. Even Siouxsie Sioux's ice queen exterior would melt if you got her on the subject of cats, equally as certain as Florence Welch can't go a single gig without, at least once, looking like a kid in a sweet shop. Madonna always felt like she wasn't quite human so that, when the inevitable evidence of humanity did emerge, it always felt like a shock.

I think Lucy's book works so well because it seeks to challenge that perceived lack of humanity, to get underneath the image, to interrogate and explore the myths.

I spoke to a number of people while I was there, mainly about punk and about writing. Not really much about Madonna. Helen McCookerybook was there and I spent a long time talking to her and a lady called Paula Wolf, who had lived in Manchester for twenty years and had a lot to say about the Manchester scene. Much of which corresponded with my own observations of it during my fanzine writer years. They had both seen David Wilkinson talking about City Fun at Porto and, by the sound of it, his enthusiasm has proved infectious. This is one of many strengths of David's approach to both academia and public speaking: His enthusiasm is very, very infectious. I know he enjoyed the academic conference at Porto as well because we talked about it last week when I went over to see him in Marple.

Helen was talking to us about the She Punks film and it was really inspiring hearing and watching her talk about it, because I could see how much it meant to her. I was really sorry to tear myself away to go back to Euston for my train.

They were making the final call for the Manchester train as I got onto the concourse at Euston and myself and a youngish guy immediately starting legging it towards platform 14, only to be stopped by the ticket inspectors at the entrance to the platform. They pretty much had to hold up their hands for us both and shout "WHOA!" We must have looked incredibly anxious because they were very quick to reassure us, after we'd showed them our tickets, that we were safe to walk to the train, not run, as it would be sitting there for "a few more minutes yet".

As I was walking towards the first class end of the train I heard a really loud bang and, out of the corner of my eye, saw an explosion of bright white sparks, like a firework, emerge from a train two platforms away. The experience made me jump and rattled me so much that I started running again and threw myself on the train in the next first class carriage. I briefly conversed with an, if anything, even more rattled passenger, who was convinced the explosion had come out of the roof of the train two platforms down. There didn't seem to be anything I could say or do, and events had clearly been witnessed by both Network Rail and Virgin staff in the station, so it wasn't like anyone needed telling it had happened.

I could feel the adrenaline surging through me as I walked all the way down the train to my seat. The train was moving by the time I got there and I sat down and closed my eyes for twenty minutes, wondering what the hell had just happened. One of the rare downsides of not having a smartphone is the fact that, whenever you are witness to something odd or upsetting, you can't immediately go online to research the incident in question and try and figure out what happened. For all I knew, they could be in the process of sealing off Euston station and combing the platforms for explosives. Not as alarmist as  it might sound really, given the time before last I went to London by train we were accompanied by a patrol of armed police up and down the train on the way home (I never found out why) and also that someone had seemingly had a go at Parliament Square again with a car earlier in the week. I tried to ensure my imagination didn't go into overdrive, but it was hard.

After twenty minutes the buffet car opened so I went and got a Limonata and tried to cool down a bit. I was still brooding about what had just happened and I found myself furtively watching the people around me to see if anyone looked upset or anxious. After a bit I gave it up as a bad job and, in a suitably dark mood, decided that if I was going to die I'd do it to Florence + The Machine and put my mp3 player on a Florence only shuffle.

Awhile later the driver, after what sounded like some difficulty with the PA, made an announcement. 'Ladies and Gentlemen, if you could all pay attention for a minute'.

Here it comes... I thought

'There has been a fatality...'

Oh no...

'...On the line north of Stoke - On - Trent'

Huh?

I can't remember all of what he said next as it was somewhat geographically complicated. The upshot being that anyone with a ticket for Macclesfield was out of luck as we weren't able to get there now and they'd have to get off at Stockport and double back. Further updates to follow.

I switched Florence back on.

After a ghostly trip through a series of dark and abandoned looking stations in Staffordshire and Cheshire, we finally got to Stockport at five to midnight, fifteen minutes late. Stockport station looked about as deserted as most of the stations we'd passed through in Staffordshire and Cheshire, but at least the lights were on.

I couldn't remember what the current state of play is with the 192 bus after midnight if it's not a Friday or a Saturday so I walked down to Grand Central with a vague tangent of hope. One that was gradually dampened, then extinguished altogether in the following fifteen minutes. Grand Central, despite the sterling efforts of Stockport Council and, at various times, Greater Manchester Police, has never been more than two steps away from lairy, and is definitely not a place to hang around if you can help it. Saving money is one thing but it looked increasingly unlikely that a bus would be coming any time soon and it would take me at least 45 minutes to walk home. I walked back up to the station and got a taxi instead.

I sat down at the kitchen table with a massive mug of hot chocolate and turned Radio 4 on. Their headline news items was the death of Aretha Franklin that afternoon so I quickly concluded that I hadn't witnessed an attempted terrorism attack at Euston and that maybe a signal box had blown up or something instead.

I hadn't realised that Aretha Franklin had died until her death was alluded to at the book launch ahead of Lucy's speech. I'd missed the announcement because I'd been on the train when it happened and, after that, mooching about at the British Library and on the plaza. And not having a smartphone again.

I came to Aretha Franklin's music very late. I was in my mid 20's before I really started to be interested in her and my introduction came via Brian Matthews Sounds Of The Sixties on Radio 2, which I used to listen to on Saturday mornings while getting ready for work. 'Think' had more impact on me than 'Respect' did. Not because 'Respect' was no good, but because I'd been overexposed to it before I was ready to be interested in it and hear it for what it really was.

I hadn't grown up being interested in soul music at all, and I realise now that it's because I'd been exposed to the wrong kind of soul music while I was growing up: That very diluted, bland, overly slick 1990s chart soul, which always left me totally cold. Hearing 1960s soul records, whether that be Aretha, Otis, some of the Motown and Stax rosters, and various Northern Soul records, made me understand the evangelical devoteeism of the soul scene. Even if I never became a soul girl, a window had been opened, an explanation provided, a piece of the puzzle located.

RIP Aretha, it is mightily clear that you are missed, and will continue to be missed. As for Madonna at 60, it proves her doubters wrong. To survive so long in that area of the music business takes guts, determination and sheer bloody mindedness. Qualities I don't think many thought Madonna had back in 1982. Hats off to her.

Skating Polly - Camelot (Official Video)

I love the combination of rock'n'roll antics, the rawness of the live experience, and the slight nod to artifice and contrivance in this video. It feels very modern but doesn't ruin the energy of the piece at all.

Kelly Mayo is a rock goddess, not just in the making, she has truly arrived with this one.

I could have reviewed Skating Polly's debut album, The Make It All Show, ahead of it's release but I was a bit snowed under with other things at the time and, despite my best efforts, couldn't pin an F-Word reviewer down to do it either. A shame.

“Devastate Me” - She Makes War

And this is the latest one from She Makes War, aka Laura Kidd.

With echoes of early 1990s grunge, it still manages to sound mature and accomplished. Things definitely bode well for the new album.

Farao - "The Ghost Ship"

This is such a beguiling soundscape of a track. I'm really looking forward to the album, which is due out in October.

Tancred - Underwear [OFFICIAL AUDIO]

I am working on the next F-Word playlist at the moment. It's going to be a bit of a hedonistic dance fest to coincide with Manchester Pride.

I think this one will make the cut.

My book chapter is out!

My book chapter on women, punk and fanzines is out!

I am very excited. Not just because this is my first academic book chapter, but also because they spelt my name right and didn't cock up my endnotes. I am very easily pleased.

Regular readers of this blog will know that writing the chapter in question was a bit of a trial for me but that, all in all, the whole experience has gone much better than I expected.

I will have something to talk about at Louder Than Words this year and I'm hoping it will lead to further work.

I also intend to pick up a number of neglected bits of writing as of next week as I'll have more time then to think, and to work on them. One of the things I will be picking up will be my punk women book proposal and the punk women book more generally.

Expect more soon...