RIP Alexander McQueen

The British fashion designer was 40. He was found hanged in his London apartment just a week after the death of his beloved mother...

DSS at Bolt Barbers

DSS: I'm playing at a barbers shop...
IDM: Did you tell them there was four in the band?

Bolt is a barbers shop at the less than salubrious 5th and Spring intersection of downtown LA... I was offered crack four times between Broadway and Spring - just say no kids...

David played a short set before before threatened off by the compare, who lives in the infamous Rosslyn 'hotel'... Apparently it's not exactly the Ritz, unless the Ritz has turned into a wretched rat infested crack-den... Anyways, I guess it was a comedy night as she slipped into a routine about transients, transients with dogs and being able to hold her breath for 14 floors until she gets to her room in the Rosslyn... I guess you had to be there...

DSS played an all acoustic set which included 'The Beach', 'City of the future', 'Sickness Songs' and the location appropriate 'Liquor Store'...

RIP Sir John Dankworth

The veteran British jazz saxophonist was 82. He composed TV themes such as The Avengers and Tomorrow's World, and was married to jazz singer Cleo Laine.

stanleylucasRevolution at Ferns...

Despite more floods of biblical proportions there was a good turn out for the SLR show at Ferns cocktails in LBC... Ferns looks like it hasn't changed much in 30 years - a dive bar hosting punk bands...

SLR played a short but impactful five song set, the bulk of which will be included on new album Opus 21...

Demolition 45
Lost on the way home
This world...
Leave the light on
We still love them

ExDetectives at Silverlake Lounge

The newly shorn ExDetectives sounded excellent last night at Silverlake Lounge. Unlike Samson, who lost his powers after a haircut, ExDetectives seem to have gained theirs, via rejection of all things hursuit. The guitars were playing together rather than against each other, the bass sounded clear and warm, and the drums were as tight as a nut. All these factors in place provided a rock solid background for Faris and Meriah's fragile vocals to work as intended. A great set...

ExDetectives

Deep Sea Diver is Beck and Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Jessica Dobsons' band. They sound like a female fronted Grizzly Bear - Dobson's reverb drenched guitar right out of Veckatimest. The vocal is like St Vincent or whoever the preferred muso chanteuse of the day is - in other words nothing to write home about. I found their set a little boring to be honest and lacking any emotion...

Deep Sea Diver

Factory opening...

In 2008 when visiting Manchester we checked out the old Factory Records offices on the corner of Princes Street and Charles Street. Most of the early Factory work was done from a house on leafy Palatine Road in the suburbs, but in the middle of the 'Madchester' period Factory setup up offices in central Manchester near the BBC building on Charles Street.

Indeed, timing is everything. When we built the Hacienda, it was too soon, when we built the Factory offices it was too late. It did, however, have a zinc roof, which was very cool, although you could only see it from a helicopter. (Anthony H. Wilson)

It also had a hanging table in the board room that cost 30,000 quid... Sean Ryder broke it!

When we saw the building in 2008 it was empty and somewhat neglected - trash and junk mail filling up the area inside the entry gate...

However, in typical Factory style the story doesn't end there. On Friday February 5th 2010, the building re-opens as Factory Manchester - a live music venue brought to you by (amongst others) Peter Hook and Ben Kelly, the architect behind the original design of the offices and The Hacienda... Hooky has put together a band for the occasion which includes Mani from The Stone Roses and Rowetta from the Mondays. They will be playing songs from Hooky's career, so expect a lot of Joy Divsion and New Order and not so much Revenge... Lets hope the club does well and Hooky won't need to write a sequel to 'How not to run a club'...

Toyko Industries have put together an excellent website here - check out the Blog page which features some excellent video diaries...

Tate of the nation...

Nice little short from our friends at the Tate about Linder Sterling. Sterling is a somewhat legendary and enigmatic fixture in the punk and post-punk Manchester music scene - friend and muse of Morrissey, singer in the band Ludus and designer of some of Buzzcocks most striking images. She also designed a menstrual egg timer for Factory Records which was given its own catalog number - FAC8...