Culture Diary w/c 01-10-12

Tuesday – The Horse Loom 7.30pm @ Bold Street Coffee £donation

The Horse Loom is the solo project of Northumbrian guitarist and singer Steve Malley. Described as “the most unique marriage between British folk music, avant-garde guitar playing and punk rock spirit”, Malley’s acoustic guitar playing is as deft and intricate as it is beautiful.

Wednesday – Duotone 8pm @ Leaf Tea Shop £6.50 

Call it serendipity, but this week, gigs featuring achingly beautiful acoustic sets are like buses. Duotone are Barney Morse-Brown and James Garrett, whose debut album, Work Harder & One Day You’ll Find Her was released to critical acclaim in 2009. Looping guitars, cello, vocal and percussion to create a rich and layered, yet ethereal sound, the pair should serve as a fine midweek pick-me-up.

Thursday – Pusher plus Q&A 6.30pm @ FACT

Before finding international fame and plaudits for 2011′s Drive, Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn wrote Pusher, a film with (familiar) themes of desperation and money at its core. This 2012 remake, worryingly (or fascinatingly) stars model Agyness Deyn, and Richard Coyle as Frank, a dealer deep in the hole to a drug lord.

Friday – Josh Widdicombe 7pm @ the Unity Theatre £8/£10 

Playing as part of this year’s Liverpool Comedy Festival, Josh Widdicombe has recently been nominated Best Newcomer by the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards and is widely tipped as one of the ‘next big things’ to be playing the UK circuit. Catch him while you can at the Unity this Friday.

Saturday – Field Music 8pm @ The Kazimier £9

Sunderland’s Field Music first came to our attention with the insanely catchy single (I Keep Thinking About) A New Thing from this year’s (and most recent) album, Plumb. Doing the rounds since 2005, until this year, the band have stubbornly refused to be the subject of hype; but with the record gleaning widespread acclaim, it seems now is their time whether they like it or not.

Sunday – The 39 Steps 6pm @ FACT (pictured above)

While there have been four major adaptations of the thriller novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan, this version directed by Alfred Hitchcock is perhaps the most enduring, and certainly the most highly acclaimed. Starring Robert Donat as a resourceful civilian caught up in an intricate counterespionage plot, this 1935 film features some early dabs of panache from Hitch as we follow Donat’s Richard Hannay – wrongly accused of murder – on the run and after the truth that will clear his name.

Biennial Diary Picks

Wednesday – Post Revolutionary Cities on Film plus Q&A 6.30pm @ FACT

For the duration of the Biennial, FACT are screening artist films inspired by the hospitality theme. This week sees Berlin-based Declan Clarke on hand (with Sarah Perks from Cornerhouse, and FACT’s Omar Kholeif) to discuss his film Cologne Overnight, which follows German author Heinrich Böll from a desolate postwar Cologne to Ireland. Screened alongside is the UK premiere of On Our Own We Are Free To Do Many Things which explores post revolutionary Romania.

Saturday – Service Provider 4pm @ The Royal Standard (pictured)

For the first time, The Royal Standard takes its place as an official partner to the Liverpool Biennial. Its interpretation of 2012′s Unexpected Guest theme has led the gallery to give over its space and programme to five artist groups in an attempt to get to the root of hospitality. This week sees the turn of Dundee-based Generator Projects and Catrin Jeans with The Agency. Playing with power structures and bureaucracy within organisations, Agency seeks to get to the crux of the artist-run space within the context of the Biennial.

Posted on 02/10/2012 by thedoublenegative