Gateshead’s historic Central Bar is set to reopen today – at least in part – following its takeover by the Head of Steam group. The pub has been undergoing a massive renovation this year and one of its bars – the Buffet – is set to open this afternoon with the rest of the pub following in December.
“Ian Taylor, the company’s Operations and Marketing Manager and Ian Campbell, the pub Manager and his staff, have all been working tirelessly to get the pub ready for the public” said Head of Steam head honcho Tony Brookes.
A popular landmark on the north east watering hole route, the Central is one of the region’s oldest pubs and is set to benefit from a rooftop drinking terrace and live music later in the year.
Film critic and skiffle aficionado Mark Kermode is one of the most prolific movie reviewers of his generation, but his views on film rarely follow the general consensus.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though, as his outspoken onscreen exploits have led to some fine drama, including being handbagged by Helen Mirren at the BAFTAs; being thrown out of the Cannes Film Festival for heckling in very bad French; getting shot while interviewing Werner Herzog in Hollywood and, our personal favourite, forcing Alastair Campbell to sit through Armando Iannucci’s spin-satire, In The Loop.
On 4 November, Kermode will be talking about his life and career at Northern Stage followed by a book signing session. Tickets cost £12/£10 and are available from the Northern Stage box office.
Founded last year with the aim of showcasing street theatre in Newcastle, Northern Street Arts have skilfully brought together a range of visual artists with some of the best independent theatre setups in the region.
Eight weeks into its annual festival at Newcastle’s Quayside, this Sunday the city’s Guildhall will be the setting for the grand finale featuring international street performers including Australia’s Benny B and Spain’s Mr Vita.
The festival will also be playing host to a range of regional proteges who have earned their stripes after attending NSA’s weekly workshops, as well as opening it’s doors to a dedicated kids area.
Married with a kid, and now residing in his native Nashville, cinematic provocateur Harmony Korine shows no signs of settling down. Hailed as “the future of American cinema” by Werner Herzog, writer/director Harmony Korine has blazed a trail with his consistently idiosyncratic output.
Between 2-16 September, Newcastle’s Star & Shadow screening of four of his films as well as the regional premier of latest work, Trash Humpers. Here’s our pick of the highlights and a video interview with the the director himself…
Thursday 2nd September
7:30 p.m. – Film: TRASH HUMPERS (18) (2010)
Korine’s latest and an excoriating attack on the American Dream. ‘It’s a fearless soul that makes a film like Trash Humpers’- Little White Lies.
Thursday 9th September
8:00 p.m. – Film: MISTER LONELY (2008)
Written by Korine in collaboration with his brother Avi, Mister Lonely follows a young American living in Paris and working as a Michael Jackson lookalike. [view more…]
Middlesbrough’s music scene often gets overshadowed by its larger north-eastern neighbours, which is somewhat unfair when the town is arguably at the height of its game right now, with the likes of Jimmy & The Sounds and Our Secret Sins offering some serious chart-baiting tunes.
Aiming to redress the balance, this Friday Middlesbrough’s Town Hall Crypt will be paying homage to some of its finest musical offspring with a free showcase featuring three of the region’s finest outfits.
Inspired by the likes of Stephen Fretwell and Fleet Foxes, Cattle & Cane offer a decidedly rustic sound at odds with the town’s industrial landscape, while Chased By Wolves bring a subtle slice of sparse alt-folk with pleasingly offbeat harmonies.
Headliners, The Woven Project, meanwhile opt for a more prog approach with their instrument-rich tunes sharing similarities with the likes of Radiohead, The Unbelievable Truth, Pink Floyd and Tom McRae.
Hard work doesn’t always equal success in the ever fickle music industry, but Newcastle’s Ever Since The Lake Caught Fire have proved that persistence and a fine ear for a tune can pay off.
Produced by ¡Forward, Russia!’s Tom Woodhead, debut single A Fire Born In Dallas found their post-hardcore and prog influences welded together to create a sound that was both vulnerable and self-assured, while their latest self-released offering, The Sea / Warden Rock – available now on iTunes and Spotify – finds them breaking out from their Fugazi and At The Drive-In influences to create a sound that surely crowns them one of the region’s most unique outfits.
With a hard-won slot at this year’s Split festival alongside the likes of The Futureheads, Maximo Park, Frankie & The Heartstrings, Hot Club De Paris and Errors, it seems Ever Since The Lake Caught Fire have more than enough firepower in their sonic arsenal to kick some of the music world’s feted young pretenders into touch.
Newcastle’s Vane gallery hasn’t always delivered the goods when it comes to contemporary art, but its latest exhibition – The Making of the Landscape by Wakefield-based artist Matthew Smith – which opens on Thursday certainly sounds intriguing.
Exploring how our ideas of landscape and the rural environment are filtered through the reductive lens of mass culture, Smith’s projects in sculpture, drawing, photography and video share a concern with fictionalised and idealised representations of nature and of place, rejecting the idea of one all-encompassing original ‘nature’ in favour of infinite interpretations, copies and inventions of the natural. [view more…]
Gateshead’s historic Central Bar is set to reopen today – at least in part – following its takeover by the Head of Steam group. The pub has been undergoing a massive renovation this year and one of its bars – the Buffet – is set to open this afternoon with the rest of the pub following in December.
