Ho ho ho ..

Well, this is all very exciting! I woke this morning to a tweet announcing that a new range of my T shirts had been launched! Just like that! It was quite possibly my equivalent of Santa arriving overnight! A company called StonedLove is putting out a new range of Ts featuring some of my photographs of Joy Division and The Smiths, and they're available in white or grey for a mere £22.99! More designs will follow but, ya know, Christmas rush and all that..

By sheer coincidence - and I swear I'm not making this up - I was contacted yesterday by the Tourist Board in Macclesfield who asked if I had any Joy Division T shirts to sell, as they were asked for a lot by Ian Curtis 'Pilgrims' visiting the town. Well, happy to help, young lady, and thank you for asking! I tell ya, if the T shirts were Santa then this request was that magical little extra sparkle of fairy dust by his elves! Ho ho ho, that Christmas spirit is definitely kicking in now... 

News! Good! ..

Good news! I've had a personal visit to my  Joy Division exhibition in Macclesfield by none other than the band's drummer Steven Morris! How flattering is that? Actually, it's nothing of the sort, 'cos he was at Charles Roe House - the show's venue - for something completely different! Still, it was a great photo-opportunity and, as they say, never let the truth get in the way of a good story ..

But hang on a minute .. didn't that exhibition finish a month ago? Ah, well this is the good news bit, 'cos I've been invited by Incubation Arts to continue the show - in a different room - for the rest of the summer, and that's actually why I was there this morning .. changing the shots over into this other room. Steve was there to discuss ideas about .. well, it's not my place to tell you, but if those ideas take off, that will be very good news indeed ..

Hooky & Peely and the passage of time ..

Back to Macc today to put up a selection of shots from last Monday's Peter Hook gig. They'll compliment the Bowdon Vale photographs perfectly, and it's lovely to be able to span 36 years of a guy's career in the space of a few photographs. I hope the shots will please the many fans who weren't able to get tickets to the event..

Thirty six years ago the Radio One DJ John Peel was in his prime and, to my delight, I've just found out that there are entire shows of his available to download. As I sit here now I'm listening to a show from 1980, replete with weird music, wacky music and superb music ..  all interspersed with Peely's droll observations and introductions. Takes me right back! When I worked for the Warrington Guardian I was invariably still busy in the darkroom until 11 and 12 at night, so would always listen to John's shows as I printed my photographs. I find it delicious that I can, once again, work on my photographs as I listen to John Peel. A great way to pass the time ..

So that was Permanence..

Blimey! It's all over!..

The gig has gone and the only things that remain are the images. Ironic that the show was called 'So this is Permanence'! (Ok, I know they made a CD of the gig but let me have my moment!) ..

What an incredible event. Peter Hook sang every single one of Joy Division's songs in 3 hours 15 minutes to a mere 470-odd lucky people in an audience in an old church! It was really poignant to hear the songs live, especially with Hooky's voice even often sounding like Ian Curtis.
Spine-tingling .. 

For my part I shot over 1000 frames and have just finished narrowing them down to a delicious 150 images which I've now added to my Flickr site. The key for me was to try to replicate some of the shots I took of Joy Division in 1979.

I think I succeeded ..

Man! It's almost hard to go back to 'normal' life again! Even tonight there's more Joy Division 'stuff' to do as I'm going to see the play 'New Dawn Fades' at Bury Met, where the band were famously involved in a riot in 1980! ..

Tomorrow, I'll get back to normal tomorrow ..

Love tore him apart ..

The clock-tower on the skyline is the church where it will all happen today. Every single one of Joy Division's songs will be performed at Christ Church in Macclesfield to celebrate the life of Ian Curtis, the band's lead singer, who committed suicide exactly 35 years ago today..

Peter Hook, the band's former bass player, has taken up the challenge of playing something like 48 songs over the space of almost four hours as a way to mark the occasion and to raise money for charity. I wish him well! (You can listen to him talking about it on Radio 4 this morning .. go to I hr 47 mins) For my part, I will be documenting the day and trying to replicate some of the shots I took of 'Hooky' at the Bowdon Vale gig over 36 years ago! Visitors from all over the world will be converging on Ian's home town of Macclesfield today, and I'm going to cover as much as I can of the event - from what I'm sure will be large numbers visiting Ian's memorial stone in the cemetery to Kevin Cummins' talk about his iconic shots of the band and, of course, the massive gig this evening at the church. I'm then going to create a Flickr album for everyone to view the work and, if anyone wants to download images, I'm going to donate 50% of the fee to the charities..

What a poignant day .. 

Good gear ..

Well, there it is! The entire 'Made in Eccles' exhibition - clothes pegs, washing lines and all! (You'll know what I mean if you saw it!) Doesn't look much, does it? I took it down from the People's History Museum this morning after two months on show. I've yet to have a good look at the Comments Book but brief glances reveal notes like "Thanks for the great memories" - "As good as Martin Parr" and, one of my favourites from a 13 year old "Great pictures that made me laugh"
Cheers for that, Molly!..

So, on to the next one, and that's going to be a Joy Division 'celebration' at Charles Rowe House in Macclesfield in May. No laughs here, but great memories of a fantastic band. Opens May 17th!..

I've decided I want to become a Nikon Ambassador! I occasionally see photographers who describe themselves thus on their websites, and I think I ought to be up there as well. After all, I've been using Nikon gear since at least about 1979 so I reckon 99% of all my professional shots have been on Nikon gear, and look how well they all turned out. So yes, folks! That's NIKON gear, wonderful equipment..

Stop press: No word from them  .. yet!