You're twistin' me melon, man ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To a certain generation, the word Manchester meant "The Haçienda" and if you mentioned the name they'd stick their tongue out and look at you like you were going to throw them an 'E'. The club was a major part of the city's landscape in the 1980s and 90s but, not being into the 'Madchester' scene, (You're twistin' me melon, man!) I only went there every now and again for a pint or to see a band. I remember my pal Chris ringing me up once and asking if I fancied going there to see 'some girl called Madonna'. "Never heard of her", I said, and we gave up the chance to see an up and coming Madge and probably went to stare at girls that were far above our pay-rate at Placemate 7 instead. I do remember going to see The Gun Club there, and The Eurythmics with Blondie's Clem Burke on drums, and having pints in the ever-so-unspacious 'Gay Traitor' bar down the stairs, but that's about it. Even despite the Joy Division connection, it just wasn't a place I bothered with ..

Nice though, to stumble upon a couple of transparencies I shot there when I was commissioned by the (now-defunct) Sabena Airlines in-flight magazine. Not many people on the dance floor so I'm guessing it was a wet Wednesday in March, but who's to say? Lovely memory, all the same ..

File under G ..

I don't have Spell Check on this computer, so it's just as well I proof-read before I press 'Publish' ! There've been quite a few times when you could have been reading about Welding photography, or even Weeding photography if I didn't! Anyway, talking about spelling, I was looking through my archive for an old shot of a band called Gun Club yesterday, and got distracted by 'Girls in night-club'. Close by were 'Graffiti', 'Guitar' and 'Guides Parade' but I was drawn to this one because A) I'd never noticed it before (It was all scratched and covered in dust) and B) It's got me in it, and that always works for Yours Truly. Ok, I'm sporting Deirdre Barlow glasses and a centre-parting but hey, it was the 70s..

Finding that negative was great. What a wonderful thing to have this shot as a physical reality, one that still exists as an actual photograph after, I reckon, 36 years! (I'm thinking it was shot at Sale's 'Blue Rooms' disco, when I worked on my first ever newspaper.) Now, of course, it exists as a digital image too, and not only that but one that is also backed-up on a seperate hard drive. I mention this because there was a story in the press last week about a woman who'd had her 'phone stolen, and on it were all 300 of her photographs of her son, a Cystic Fibrosis sufferer .. who had just died! What a sad story, from every point of view. I hope she gets the 'phone back but honestly - in a few years time - how are we ever going to view the past when it 'ain't there? Back up, Print, Copy, File under G, or anything! Just File!!....