AnglOrony

There is the Cavern Pub and the Cavern Club. This time we are entering even more secret place in the Cavern Club. Here we go...

Decades have passed since the Fab Four - John, Paul, George, and Ringo left Liverpool for good but the spirit of the boys 'next door' have not died here. It still lives in the underground music clubs and in the famous Cavern. In this port city, the bands come and go like the tides.  From the iconic Merseybeat scene in the 1960's, there have ben artists that left a permanent mark - Elvis Costello, Dead or Alive, The Farm, OMD, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Anathema. Liverpool's rock music scene lives on and is doing very well. It is rooted in what has been achieved, the rich heritage of predecessors. Young bands add new vision of sound, their youth, verve and imagination. What they often lack is, of course - experience, confidence, cohesion and own unique style. This is not the case with Red Rum Club. Six musicians, a band of real mates, had polished their skills in several other projects.  The name is a brilliant combination of meanings. It refers to the black stallion R...

A rough timeline walk around the early Beatles period and places in Liverpool, and their predeccessor, the Quarrymen.     It was the year of 1956 when John Lennon decided to form a skiffle group with his school-firends, named the Quarrymen . They all had been attending the Quarry Bank High School (now Calderstone School) and all lived in an area where the old quarry remnats can be seen to this day (upper right).  John's mother, Julia , taught them how to play and tune up their instruments, mostly banjos. They all loved to meet in her house at Bloomfield Road , Allerton (upper left), and listen to the rock'n'roll' records she owned. John lived at Mendips, Menlove Avenue, Woolton (lower left) with his aunt Mimi. The Quarrymen practised at Lennon's aunt's house, or in Pete Shotton's garden shed on Vale Road, behind Mendips.   They took their role seriously, producing business cards and flyers to hand them out to anyone who would book them. The Quarr...

Cavern Quarter is a vibrant area in Liverpool, if not to say - its 'heart' - as it goes to music and nightlife. Named after the Cavern Club where The Beatles played in their early career, on numerous occasions, and where they were noticed by their manager, Brian Epstein, thus setting off for the world career, and to influence and change the music and show-business - forever. Apparently, it is an auspicious point where all the music 'ley lines' of the world are said to be met. The Cavern Club opened as a jazz club, in 1957 in warehouse cellar used as an air-raid shelter in World War II. In the early 1960s, it became a national and global centre for rock and roll music. John Lennon with the Quarrymen  played there for the first time on 7 August 1957. The first Beat night was held on 25   May 1960 and featured a performance by  Rory Storm and the Hurricanes  (which included Ringo Starr as a drummer). First performance by the Beatles ...

This major exhibition about the shared life of John Lennon and Yoko Ono  in the Museum of Liverpool spanned through 2018. It was so hugely popular that it was expanded for a few months more, till autumn 2019.  Yoko Ono opened the exhibition; she provided many of the personal items never ever displayed before, and took care that everything will be up to scratch for the public presentation. The space followed a timeline , from the first meeting of the iconic couple in London at Indica Gallery, through all the years of Lennon solo career, Plastic Ono band , their activities, artwork, successes and struggles.  Visitors could read or hear John and Yoko memories and opinions on a number of displays. It was a journey through their life , told in their own words - for the very first time on such a scale, detail and intimacy. All visuals had been kept black and white in line with the last album, Double Fantasy  and many of their joint pieces of performance art.  ...

Liverpool's music scene has been booming since the 1960s. We focus here on what is entirely new to our ears.  AYSTAR Well, for starters - all shades of greyish in the shady neighbourhoods of Liverpool, Wavertree or Toxteth. One-man project. Something very far from my musical perception, as from here to Madagascar. Get ready for mixes, re-mixes, hip-hop-rap rhythms and rhymes. Honestly, the only thing we can say about Aystar is that it sounds quite original in its entirety. The specific, Scouse accent in the rap lines is quite exceptional.  Nothing else, the rest is a template and a cliché, on one hand - poor, dirty streets, on the other - leather, drugs, pit bulls, expensive cars, blah blah blah ... Not for us ;-) BROTHERS OF MINE A five-person band focused on lightweight, lively melodies. Definitely, for fans of not so complicated pop indie rock. The music is easy to listen to, no bother, not trying too hard, overall - satisfaction. This seems to be the main ...

Songs related to Liverpool in chronological order, more or less. THE SPINNERS In my Liverpool Home In my Liverpool Home, In my Liverpool Home We speak with an accent exceedingly rare, Meet under a statue exceedingly bare, And if you want a Cathedral, we've got one to spare In my Liverpool Home I was born in Liverpool, down by the docks Me Religion was Catholic, occupation hard knocks At stealing from lorries I was adept, And under an overcoat each night we slept In my Liverpool Home, In my Liverpool Home We speak with an accent exceedingly rare, Meet under a statue exceedingly bare, And if you want a Cathedral, we've got one to spare Way back in the forties the world had gone mad Mister Hitler threw at us everything that he had When the smoke and dust had all cleared from the air "Thank God" said me da that the Pier Head's still there! In my Liverpool Home (...) There's a place in dis city were the nits de wear clogs They'...