Chicago aims to license promoters

If you think that promoters have got it bad in Manchester then you should feel sorry those in the states. The US has a history of coming down hard on promoters, but the city of Chicago is taking it one step further with the potential introduction of promoter licenses. Anyone putting on an event - and this includes arts and cultural events - has to be licensed by the city.

Dragons Den lose Manchester home

A little know fact about Dragons Den is that it's filmed in Manchester. The minimlist main room, complete with bare walls and staircase, was based inside a Manchester warehouse, with the Dragons and presenter Evan Davis making the trip up from London.

Whilst the rest of the BBC readies itself to make the move up north, they've been forced to move the Dragons Den away from Manchester. The warehouse in which they film has been sold to a property developer, so - for a short time - the Dragons were without Den.

For the new series the BBC has loving recreated the warehouse at Pinewood Studios, complete with the giant clocks (very similar to the ones in Odder)and piles of fake money, plus they have James Bond filming next door.

Series Six of the Dragons Den will appear on BBC2 in late 2008.

The War Zone In Video

Check out the exclusive clip from the Sun to get an idea of how frightening it got last night: Fans Run Riot clip


Also worth checking out is this Reuters video

Photos from the War Zone

Rangers fan gets bitten by dog...

The Commonwealth Games was a long time ago

Back in 2002 Manchester Council pulled off the impossible by hosting a successful large scale sporting event. The games went off without a hitch, and no one was more suprised than the peope who lived in Manchester.

Since then, it's all been downhill, and last night's EUFA cup final was a disaster, for both the fans and the city. Businesses forced to close early, public transport cancelled, and disruption brought to the lives of everyday Mancunians. Common sense went out the window, as the police turned a blind eye to all day (out of hours, and illegal in certain areas) drinking, and Tesco's piled their entrances high with cheap booze for fans. Even Manchester Confidential got in on the act, giving free booze out to fans.

Despite the problems at the last world cup, when public screenings had to be cancelled, the council was oblivious to the issues. The final straw came when a large screen, which was being watched by thousands of fans, failed. Fuelled by lager (some had been drinking from as early as 8am) violence ensued. The Sun described it as a "War Zone", and the more sensible Manchester Evening News called it the "Battle of Piccadilly".

Read More:

Battle of Piccadilly (Manchester Evening News)
UEFA Cup War Zone (The Sun)

Paradise Factory Is Closing

Manchesters Paradise Factory closes for the third time. What will be happening to the building? One of two things: either it's sold off to a property developer (it's a prime site, but in the current climate I can't image the site would be getting developed for a few years) or something far more exciting......

The club has promised to go out with a bang, and as well as the planned weekend events there's also a midweek special with High Contrast and the Scratch Perverts, on Wednesday 4th May plus a Size Records part on Bank Holiday Sunday (25th May).

"Ladies and gentlemen, the final few weeks are upon us and on Saturday 7th June the old Paradise Factory venue will close its doors for the final time. The past five months have flown by with a whole host of brilliant nights and exceptional guests. From the opening weekend with Laurent Garnier tearing up the main room, the parties have come thick and fast with the likes of Theo Parrish, Danny Howells, Andy C and Skream all heading by to deliver jaw dropping performances. So what lies in store for the old Paradise Factory now? Well June 7th will be the last party ever in the Paradise Factory: It was only ever meant to be a six month project for us, and despite all the rumours, we can confirm that the club will NOT be re-opening in September or in 2009. One thing for sure is that we have more killer line ups between now and June 6th to help send the venue off in fine style. Sequence teams up with Futuresonic for another heavy electronica line up, two members of the Swedish House Mafia return, Adam Freeland, Evil 9 and Boys Noize keep the Fridays rocking and Dixon and Chateau Flight keep the house heads happy with a very special Innervisions party. Make the most of it, rave on and say you were there before it’s too late."

New Strip Club Manchester

Last year a new lap dancing club was slated to open on the fringes of the Gay Village. Red Leopard never really made it off the drawing board, but word reaches us about Direktors, a new lap dancing venue from the company that owns the Red Leopard brand in Leeds.

They've already advertising for staff, and they're free to open in June 2008 - pending any objections to their slightly modified, and already aproved, licensing application.

Their Leeds location offers almost twelve hours of nudity, from 9pm to 8am, and this is what one of their dancers had to say:

"I have worked at Direktors VIP Lounge in Leeds for the last three months and I must say that it is the best club I have ever worked in because the decor is sexy, luxurious and like no other club I have seen! There is a piano on the stage and the lights are subdued, dancers are fully decked in evening gown and jewellery, I feel as if I am stepping out on the Oscars red carpet, it's that posh. Upstairs in the private VIP rooms customers are charged £250 per hour, there is so much champagne and chatting sometimes I don't even get undressed and still earn so much money. It's all very relaxed and the management are really friendly."

Tribal Sessions Closing, Paradise May Be

Two house related pieces of news:

1) Tribal Sessions weekly Sankeys sessions are closing on Friday 23rd May. A very special monthly Tribal Sessions will be returning later in the year (when the students get back).


2) The Paradise Factory is definately closing on 7th June, as reported, but will it be re-opening in January 2009? "Not sure", they say. Unless there's an issue with their venue then it's hard to imagine they won't want to come back....

Dpercussion 2008?

HIGHLY UNLIKELY!

But a group of Facebook users are hoping they can pressurise someone, ANYONE, in to putting the festival on again.

2,735 users have signed up to the group, posting hundreds of photos from previous events (worth a look) and writing obituaries like...

Will be sadly missed! and to tell the truth last years was a bit of a wobbler ! too many poncy boozers and pozers and not enough party people !!! the first ones were the best! ....whats wrong with bein at a service station at 6am of your tits!

In the past pressure from Facebook users has forced the HSBC scrap scrapping interest free overdrafts, and last year over 110 people joined the campaign to remove 'Opus Lovers' from Sankeys.

Join the Dpercussion 2008 campaign

Paradise Closing Parties Announced

The first session of the Paradise Factory draws to a close, and after putting on almost six months of parties they're going out with a bit of a bang.

The final weekend begins on Friday 6th June, with german producer Boys Noize (he-who-remixed Snoop Dogg, Justice and Marilyn Manson) playing alongside Brodinski, Black Ghosts and Paradise Factory resident Andro. Buy Tickets (£10)

On Saturday 7th June There's some Very Special Guests slated to play, alongside Radio One hero Gilles Peterson, Prins Thomas, Unabombers and Paradise residents Krysko and techno expert Greg Lord.
Buy Tickets (£12)

Finally, there's a special residents party on the weekend prior to the closedown, and tickets are a bargain knockdown price of just £6. Krysko & Greg Lord play a back to back session, Kelvin Brown, Iain Taylor, and former Sankeys residents Bucky and Greg Vickers play too.

Expect the Paradise Factory to return in January 2009, once the Warehouse Project 2008 has finished.

Updated: I havent seen the flyers that Hubert is talking about (see comments below) but I've fired off an email to the Paradise promoters to see if they know more...

Still #1

What a month!

WHLN hit another new high with 363,515 visitors, viewing almost 2.2 million pages in April.

Meanwhile Manchester Confidential lost around 40,000 readers last month, with a clear 100,000 gap between 'them and us'.

Time to rethink (and spell check) the bluster?

"No one in the UK are anywhere near us" said Manc Confidentials publisher, two weeks ago. "The great thing is it is the only manchester run and owned publishing house left.".

*Cough*

No Cream For The Cat

Which once-famous, larger than life, artist flew in to a gig in Manchester under strict instructions to avoid the booze. Despite a warning call to the event promoter ("Do not let this man drink"!) there was little chance of keeping this guy off the sauce, and after a disapointing performance the night ended in a fast food restaurant, where his jerk chicken was swiped by a group of unimpressed girlies (who he had earlier proposition).

Im not your (baby) daddy

After last weeks Miss Manchester, the NOTW reports that "legendary scorer with women" Lee Sharpe was eyeing the ladies at Mancheser 235, but ended up pulling corrie babe Kym Ryder.

According to todays report they trawled a load of Manchester bars, including Panacea, Manchester 235 and Relish, before ending up at the "posh" (their words, not mine) Palace hotel. Where they ordered room service.

Miss Manchester was - incidentally - won by a girl who's own mother won it seventeen years ago. Mum Gaynor, pictured right, said "I won Miss Manchester at the Britannia Hotel when I was 17 and Kid Creole was one of the judges on the night." Winning daughter Jessica Simpson said: "My dream is to go out to Hollywood and act. I am determined to make that happen.".

Bad Name, Good Looks: Cruise Bar

A £2.6m bar is set to open in....Chester.

Take a look at "Cruise" below. There must be some serious cash in those parts.

Girl with needles cant go clubbing

A girl was refused entry to 5th Avenue....


Lucy, 18, from Poynton, Cheshire, is prone to anaphylaxis which can cause potentially deadly fits. She has to carry Epi-Pens - injectors that can save her life in an attack.

But door staff wouldn't let her in without a doctor's note and demanded she hand over the pens.

More at the MEN

Cinnabar launches first clubnight

Destination is set to be the first event at the swanky Cinnabar (part of Vermillion) over in Miles Platting. Running from 10pm to 3am, the event is FREE (but via RSVP), they're putting on some exotic cocktails and (very) wisely picked a soundtrack of "elecro/nu disco". Check out a list of musical inspirations below...what's even more exciting is that they're bringing in guests DJs/artists in the future, including "a lot of the artists" listed below!

Is Cinnabar worth the trip from the city centre? Take a look at this picture and tell me that you don't want to party in a bar that looks that good!

Destination launches on Friday 9th May at Cinnabar

Destination’s aim is to attract the people who love good music, innovative design, fashion, cool people and most of all the best parties at an exclusive destination venue - Cinnabar.

The extensive drinks menu and a cocktails list which are second to none are going down a storm. Created by the renowned Gorgeous Group, they include such delights as a Saran Rom, made with fresh papaya, champagne and tequila or the Panag Punch made with passion fruit and rum.

The music and party style will come from Ed Banger, A – Trek, Chromeo, Dim Mak, MSTRKRFT, Kid Sister, Fashion Magazines, Scion, Danger, Justice, DJ Mehdi, Boys Noize, Cobra Snake, The Bloody Beetroots, LA Riots, Does it offend you? yeah, Fluo Kids, MIA, Van She, Toxic Avenger, Miami Horror, Santo Gold, The Cool Kids, Iheartcomix, Steve Aoki, DatA, Boyz Noise, Dem Jeans, Cut Copy, Discodust, The Midnight Juggernauts, Busy P, Valerie Blog, Fred Falke etc

A lot of the above artists will also be playing at Destination at Cinnabar at upcoming events.

Orlandos Magic

A new venture in Chorlton has caught my eye - Orlandos, located near to the main bus station, is run by Rupert Orlando Campbell, the man who set up Sankeys Soap alongside Andy Spiro, and the bar promises to deliver on both food, drink and events. Howard Marks is appearing there in May (27th), Felix Dexter is there in June and there's live events planned for this weekend (May Bank Holiday). Rupert told the MEN that the venue will "be like the old days of the boardwalk", at least in terms of the bands and acts.

It's not Ruperts' first forray in to food. Back at the tail end of the nineties he ran the highly successful Canteena, in the then-fashional Castlefield, which served up food and drink in a massive tent behind Barca. Now his plans at least include four walls, and there's talk of taking the Orlandos brand, and the 'Sausagemania' concept, to other parts of the city (and beyond!)

Orlandos opened last night (Thursday 1st May).

Why aye, Living Roo-am

Premium Bars & Restaurants, the owners of the Living Room are moving their head office from Geordie Land (Newcastle) to Manchester with the aim of expanding the Living Room/Prohibition business from 13 to 30 bars.

The chain began in Manchester, with their their original three storey bar/restaurant still in operation on Deansgate, and they were originally operated by Living Ventures. They quickly expanded to Liverpool, and then to the rest of the UK, then the venues were sold on to 'Premium Bars & Restaurants', who are now in charge of the brand.

Living Ventures have now shifted in to serving food rather than drinks, with the purchase of Est Est Est, the opening of the Grill on the Alley (part of the Blackhouse grills brand) and the Italian restaurants Gusto which has just opened in Didsbury.

Electric Elephant Festival

Electric Elephant in Croatia
August 22nd to August 24th 2008
DJs and Bands playing
Tickets (£5, buy five get one free)


The hitherto unexplored link between Manchester and Croatia is about to
get a lot stronger as Manchester’s long-established and legendary club
Electric Chair launches a three-day mini-festival in the gorgeous
Croatian coastal village of Petrcane.

Electric Chair issued a final jolt in its former home, Manchester’s
Music Box, in January 2008. Much missed in the city, this festival sees
Electric Chair plugged in once more, albeit in a far more exotic
location and with a wonderfully eclectic bill.

The organisers are promising “music, love, sun, liberation, escape, sex,
togetherness and freedom,” and they’ve assembled an incredible line-up
to help the hedonism along, enlisting some of the UK’s best leftfield
promoters and music minds to curate their own stages. They are: Fence
Collective, Red Bricks and The Local.

Confirmed live acts include Adem, King Creosote, Quiet Village, Liz
Green, Superimposers, John Stammers and Magic Arm. They’ll be playing
alongside a long list of incredible international DJs headed by Electric
Chair’s Unabombers, with cutting edge house and dubstep from the hottest
new talent Radioslave (Rekids), Benga (Tempa), Roland Appel
(Innervisions) Zed Bias & Trusme (Prime Numbers), pyschedelic disco and
cosmic bombs with Electric Chair heroes Idjut Boys, and Balearic oddball
sunset bliss with Ibizan legend Alfredo. Along with Resident DJ’s from
the UK’s finest clubnights including Lowlife, Horsemeat Disco,
Aficionado and Homoelectric you have the best party hosts you could hope
for!

Electric Elephant promises an intimate, exhilarating experience that’s
quite unlike any of the UK fests. How and when you party will be up to
you – there’ll be Balearic beach parties, futuristic beats in a crazy
‘70s-style club with an outdoor terrace, a moonlit outdoor stage for
dreamy, psychedelic moments and a party boat promising “cosmic,
spiritual, happy journeys across the sea.” You can even charter your own
boat and set sail for the neighbouring islands.

Travelling to the festival couldn’t be easier, with three airports
within a 2.5-hour drive from the site. The nearest airport, Zadar, is
just a 20 minute cab ride away. Accomodation in Petrcane is plentiful,
with cheaper hotels starting at around €10 at night and space for tents
in the woods.

The weekender is child-friendly too. Guests at Petrcan’s Hotel Pinija
have access to an awesome indoor swimming pool, tennis courts, crazy
golf and volleyball courts, while the festival site has a small
adventure playground and banana boating.

Petrcane itself is a heavenly, 900 year-old fishing village with a
forested coastline on the Adriatic Sea. It promises great weather, great
restaurants and plenty of fresh fish, fruit and local wine. “It’s a
beautiful place,” say the organisers. “It’s enchanting… You’ll fall in
love.”



Electric Elephant Lineup
DJ's:

Unabombers (Electric Chair)
Radioslave (Rekids)
Benga (Tempa/FWD)
Alfredo (Amnesia, Ibiza)
Idjut Boys (Noid)
Roland Appel (Innervisions)
Chris Duckenfield (SWAG)
Zed Bias (Sick Trumpet)
Trus'me (Prime numbers)
Linkwood (Prime numbers)
Moonboots (Aficionado)
Jason Boardman (Aficionado)
Bill Brewster (Lowlife)
Frank Broughton (Lowlife)
Matthew Burgess (Lowlife)
Michael Cook (Lowlife)
Jim Stanton (Horsemeat Disco)
James Hillard (Horsemeat Disco)
Mudd (Claremont 56)
Andy Newcombe (DIAL/Discobox)
Paddy (Universal Vibes)
John Mahon (Bodytonic)
Raif (Kabal)
Homoelectric DJ's
Cosmic Truth DJ's
Bill Scurry (Under The Stairs)
Downtownsounds DJ's
Live:

Adem
King Creosote
Pictish Trail
Quiet Village
Linkwood
Fudge Fingas
Liz Green
James Yuill
The Superimposers
Denis Jones
Magic Arm
John Stammers
Birdengine


Live Stages Curated by:
Adem & Fence Records
Red Bricks
The Local

Boat Parties:

Electric Chair Saved My Life
Lowlife
Horsemeat Disco V Homoelectric

New Look Urban Life: The Verdict

The new look Urban Life landed on my desk today. Firstly the clubbing related mistakes in their very basic clubs section.

1) Ascension, that superclub that used to be in the northern quarter, closed down years ago (It's now the Mint Lounge).
2) Billie Rox has also closed down.


The Verdict

Urban Life was a gash mag that was occasionally useful. It's primary focus was property, with a few choice articles thrown in between the adverts for estate agents. Owners MEN have revamped it, expanding it to eighty two pages, including adverts, and extending the remit to cover restaurants, interviews, music, and other Manc related writings.

Even looking at the finished product it's hard to tell if the MEN are serious about this mag, or if they just felt the need to head off their competitors. You get the feeling that anyone could have produced this magazine, in fact I wager that a group of sixth formers (given the correct brief, and a copy of Microsoft Publisher) could have pulled this one off. It jumps around, covering the MEN's campaign against water bottles (right idea, ish), St Georges Day, the best sun tan lotions, and an advertorial on Manchester 235, and, in their words, two pages on "the cream and the cack" that's been sent to their offices.

The bumf last week promised a new look magazine closer to the old City Life, with less emphasis on the property and more on entertainment in Manchester. The problem is that 42% of the magazine is still taken up by property section, with another thirteen pages of property ads dotted throughout the mag and an interesting article on buying property...in Montenegro. That's 56% property.

The new restaurants section is now just two and a half pages, taken over by a very basic list of restaurants, and the new clubs section is less than two pages, with another incomplete, and incorrect, list of venues in Manchester. I never see the value in these basic lists, especially when they're wrong.

The relaunch reminds me of a campaign run by the now defunct City Life many years ago that stated "If it's on in Manchester, then it's in City Life", whilst at the same time they had cut down the size of their clubbing section.

After all the fuss, I can't help wondering what's so good about this new mag, but then again, maybe it was never meant to be that good.

Love it

Woman throw coat on fire

Who wants to lose a million pounds?

Lots of news on magazines that are about to launch in Manchester, and we're definitely not heading in to "the worst economic crisis since the first world war".


1) YQ Magazine, which moved to new offices earlier this year, relaunches at the end of April with 160 (count them) pages. The current issue includes articles like "Good Reasons to buy a house in Manchester" (Answer: Because your name is Montgomery Brewster) and a review of the newly relaunched Gaucho Grill, which looks good but seems to have been renamed as Chroma and moved to Prestwich.

2) Confirmation that The Magazine will be returning in May, a fact that I moled out a few months ago but that someone with credibility has confirmed. Expect more of the same. Hurrah!

3) 69 North, the Manc/Liverpool version of the Midlands' "69" magazine, plans to expand, and 'get ABC accreditation'. Props to them for producing 100 pages of actual content (You can read the latest issue online here) with plenty of shallow articles and entire sections based around hair products. Far far away, I hear a tree crying.

4) Urban Life, the property magazine by the MEN that has a few pages on clubbing, plans to have a lot more pages on clubbing (and non-property stuff). The Editor plans on producing "the best possible lifestyle magazine for Manchester", which suggests that all the other magazines set out to be shit. (In some cases this may not be far from the truth, but I don't think they planned it). Does the MEN really want to bring back City Life, or are they just looking to spoil the fun for everyone else? A little bit of both, and with a quarter of the staff.

5) No news yet on the the gazillions of magazines that were planned by Ampersand Publishing.

XFM to remain, joined by Rock Radio

XFM won't be closing, for the moment at least. The radio stations owner, GCap, is in the process of being taken over, and it looks like the new owners want to play at running a radio station.

Meanwhile, the MEN plans to launch Rock Radio next month (May) with a playlist of "Led Zepplin and The Rolling Stones, Thin Lizzy and U2.". Steve Berry, formerly of Top Gear, and Mike Sweeney, currently at big hitter Channel M, are the two 'name' DJs that will be playing to their target market of over 35 year olds (their words, not mine). The station will exist at 106.1 FM.

Viva New House Night

Manchester's house scene gets a much needed shot in the arm: a new night is launching!

Raw Tonic, at Joshua Brooks, are bringing Brett Johnson across the pond for their launch party, and it's the first time he's played in Manchester since his gig at CasaMusica way back in 2003, or maybe 2004 (or was it 2005?)

In brief, Brett hails from Detroit: he's signed to DJ Sneaks label Magnetic Recordings, remixed for Mark Farina and has had hit singles like "Temptation and lies" and "Where are you going". He's joined by the Raw Tonic DJs, with local lads James Welsh, Steve Holland, Paul Hackett and Hudd Traxx's Eddie Leader.

Well worth the trip, and a bargain at £5 (advance).

Raw Tonic: Sunday 4th May at Joshua Brooks (Princess Street).
More events over the May Bank Holiday

Rusholme restaurant fined over roaches

Council fines Al Bilal (Rusholme) over £13,000. Twenty roaches found living in kitchen, bar and restaurant. Owner says: "This will not happen again.".

An environmental health officer visited the Al Bilal restaurant at 87-91, Wilmslow Road and found about 20 [cockroaches] 'crawling around the kitchen, bar and restaurant area'.

The inspector found cockroaches were living in equipment, food containers, drinking glasses and pipework in the kitchen.

He found dirt and food debris on the kitchen walls and underneath cookers and fridges.

His report said that food storage bins were dirty and plate and storage racks were rusty and covered with a thick layer of dirt.

As a result of his findings in August, the restaurant was closed immediately while the owners treated the infestation and cleaned the premises and equipment. It was allowed to reopen nine days later.

From the MEN

I think Ill stick to Akbars.

Champagne on Ice

Red Door is having an exclusive launch party for eight year old champagne. Dom Perignon Vintage 2000 will be supped this Thursday (8pm - 3pm) with the only caveat that if you want to reserve a table, you have to order a bottle of champers.

RSVP to dp@reddoormanchester.com if you can handle it.

You are cordially invited to a night of pure indulgence. Thursday 17th April 2008 from 8pm until the small hours of Friday. The Red Door is very proud to invite you to the exclusive launch of the Dom Perignon Vintage 2000.

Celebrate an evening in true DP fashion with a Belvedere reception, Dom Perignon 2000 Reception, Canapes and the usual Red Door electric atmosphere.

Please be aware this event is extremely private and invitation only. We have a very limited capacity at the venue and will only accept RSVP's attending (no maybes)

Matthew Williamson Launch

Urbis have kindly uploaded some snaps from the launch party of the Matthew Williamson exhibition (I have a feeling that the last image in the gallery wasn't taken on that night though!)

A report from a PR friend suggested that things went rather well, and she was gushing over Williamsons' "amazing" golden shoes (see above), and the relative normality of his entourage, which apparently included his mum.

View the Matthew Williamson Gallery