Almost Alternative

Neil Gaiman And Stephen Fry I have never been to the Hay Festival before. I see adverts for it and hear about the appearances but it's three and a half hours from home so it took something special to get me there.  Neil Gaiman and Stephen Fry When I saw there would be an audience with Neil Gaiman and Stephen Fry I knew I had to go. I have never fawned over actors or models, give me an interesting mind any day, a writer, an artist, a musician, a scientist some one who thinks beautifully. Then I am jelly. I turn into a teenage fan girl, I have now seen/met several of my favourite minds but Neil Gaiman remained top of my wish list.  From the moment I found his work I was enchanted, I would never return to be the person I was before I read American Gods. A book recommended by a friend. I sat down to begin and the next thing I knew it was the end of the book. I didn't move for roughly 8 hours, I completely ignored my partner, I was lost in the world of Shadow....

A4 Studios And Gallery A4 Studios are a wonderful non profit organisation founded by artist's. They are aiming to provide low cost accessible studios for people of all abilities, while raising awareness of disabilities and equality in the arts. I fully support their mission and when I was asked to come down and help out with some fundraising I was more than happy to oblige. They have a funding page please donate if you can.  I spent the day helping to man the awesome A Hat And A beard stall. The lovely man who hand makes the items is so obviously talented, I really enjoyed chatting about his work and seeing people's faces as they looked at the stall. He also produces commission pieces and rents larger pieces out.  My partner in crime running the stall, Dani Scum (not Mr Hat and Beard) The performances were amazing. I really enjoyed the sea shanties played on an accordion by Marina Black. A perfect fun start to the afternoon.  Marina Black Marina...

In the last three days I have seen plenty of hate. I went out in support of my fellow human beings. I went out in support of people having a right to worship without fear. A wonderful friend suggested that we needed to stand with our community and I completely agreed with her. So we looked at what we could do and set up an event on social media. We shared it around and first came the hate.  We were called names and at least one threat was sent to us, but as more and more people showed their love and support the hate was drowned out. I have now received love and support from hundreds of people. I am so truly over whelmed to have been able to stand with all these wonderful people and firmly tell the haters that they only increase my need to and ability to love those they hate.  The haters make me see how truly amazing the people who welcomed strangers with open arms, who cooked for us, chatted with us, hugged us, laughed with us and mourned with us are. These are th...

I am going to be dedicating some blogs to places I love in Manchester, I thought I would start with somewhere beautiful and peaceful that I only found recently.  Church of The Holy Name of Jesus This church is on Oxford Road and I have passed it many times and just not really paid attention, it doesn't seem that impressive but inside is stunning.  On entering you see that it's much bigger than it seems and the stained glass gives the whole place such a magnificent light.  The architecture is breathtaking, the beams, ceiling, arches and windows are everything I want from a Gothic Victorian church. I believe it was built in roughly 1870 and designed by Joseph Hansom. As I walked around I found several little chapels hidden away behind beautiful statues and cut out arch window walls. I really couldn't get over how wondrous the patterns of natural light were in this building.  Anyway St Therese certainly seemed ...

Home That one place where you feel safe and welcome That one place where you feel accepted A place where you find family A place to make friends The place where you can discover who you are The place where you can learn and grow A place you will always return to A place to be you Manchester has proven today in the face of atrocity to truly be the place I am proud to call home. My heart goes out to everyone who was there and the families who are suffering. The couple of hours I spent trying to contact friends were hard enough so I can only imagine what any of them are feeling.  But even in the middle of such chaos all I can see are people pulling together and helping each other. Manchester is indeed full of bees and our hive will stand strong. The beautiful people of Manchester have given me back my faith in humanity.  Thank you to the emergency services, the staff at the arena, the taxi drivers taking people home, the people giving food and drinks, people offe...

An Exquisite Evening of Ethereal Entertainment  Hosted By Analogue Trash At the Castle Hotel Manchester The evening began with Beinaheleidenschaftsgegenstand an electronic, ambient, industrial trio. I have seen them previously but before they added the third member. They were just as good as I remembered and soon I was sat on the floor relaxing and getting lost in the music. They manage to be soothing, all encompassing and slightly creepy all at once.    Beinaheleidenschaftsgegenstand  The lead singers voice portrays the heartbreak and pain mentioned in the lyrics perfectly, then at other times manages to sound completely robotic. You can clearly see all the members get lost in the music as the performance goes on. The build up to the ending was intense, they gained an extra singer and a metal barrel being used as a drum. The sounds filled the room as the powerful lyrics were spoken, each crash of the barrel ringing out, the music heightening and the ...

A Curious Cabaret Of Sonic Discordance At Maguire's Pizza Bar On Friday the 19th I travelled over to Liverpool for a rather interesting gig, The Battle For Tomorrow, described on the poster as noise doom spoken word clown drone punk poetry brickcore industrial grrrr.  The Battle For Tomorrow is an album of poetry by Adam Probert accompanied by the experimental noise of John E Smoke, but that's skipping ahead a little bit.  Adam Probert The gig was hosted by The Percy Vermin Experiment a master of words, with a marvellous flair for performance.  Percy Vermin The first act was poet, Ellie W Muddy reading three sensational poems. Her reading was impassioned and rousing. One of the poems was accompanied by an atmospheric noise piece making it even more engaging.  Ellie W Muddy Then there was a huge change in pace with Pandemonium, the noisiest clown I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. He provided a fanfare of commotion, an ex...