Blasts from the Furnace
Reviews, features and hot air by Damon Fairclough, a writer based in Liverpool via a long lost Sheffield of the soul.
Wondrous Place: Celebrating the City at the Museum of Liverpool
It’s more than 60 years since Liverpool’s original pop pioneer, Billy Fury, released his sinuous version of the song Wondrous Place, and its title continues to be a gift to Mersey mythologists in search of a name for their next civic-minded project.
Read the full story..“Around lunchtime, you’d break out all the bangers that everyone knows.” Northern Soul talks to buskers about life under lockdown
Can you name a town you’ve visited where at least one busker hasn’t filled the streets with the sound of their acoustic guitar? Probably not.
Read the full story..Brute Strength: Why Our Northern Concrete is Worth Keeping
Wander through the gift shops of Sheffield these days, lockdown permitting, and you could be forgiven for thinking that colossal cliffs of concrete were always among the city’s most beloved landmarks.
Read the full story..Tasting Beer with Soul: Twisted Wheel Brew Co.
On the face of it, beer and music seem like natural bedfellows.
Read the full story..Theatre Review: Sleeping Beauty, Everyman, Liverpool
Regular Everyman panto-goers could be forgiven for thinking they’re stranded in an endlessly recurring dream.
Read the full story..Let’s Not Die a Young Man’s Death: Northern Soul talks to Roger McGough
British culture can offer few positions more indicative of popular, mainstream acceptance than an afternoon guest slot on BBC Radio 2.
Read the full story..Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary Stories: Northern Soul talks to playwright Ian Salmon
Like at least 50,000 other Liverpudlians, the writer Ian Salmon recently went on an impromptu holiday to Madrid.
Read the full story..Beautiful, fruitful, peaceful: discovering Ruskin in Sheffield
Back in mid-80s Sheffield, I was heading towards A levels, my cranium crammed with a hair-gel-scented hotchpotch of concerns both large and small: reggae, The Stranglers, communism and females galore.
Read the full story..Review – Fernand Léger: New Times, New Pleasures, Tate Liverpool
If you go to art galleries for the silence, you may have to think again before visiting Tate Liverpool’s excellent new show devoted to Fernand Léger.
Read the full story..Editor's Picks
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