Arts, Music & Events Preview, March 2011 (Part Two)

Picking up smoothly where March Part One left off, this evening (Saturday 19th, in case you haven’t checked your calendar and/or have arrived fashionably late to this blog post) sees another instalment of This City Is Ours. It’s in conjunction with the Broken Bubble label launch at the cosy confines of An Outlet.

Sunday 20th sees Arbouretum stride the Deaf Institute stage. They’re often defined as ‘folk-rockers’ but the ‘folk’ tag is presumably a result of the abundance of facial follicles, while their occasional face-melting solos would surely singe your typical folky vibes, so file instead under the Crazy Horse-backed-Neil Young emphasis on ‘-rockers’.

Now Wave + Hoya:Hoya = an intriguing collaboration. Furthermore, when the equation equals a warped evening of Brainfeeder acts you’re onto a winner; in short, Teebs and Jeremiah Jae, Monday 21st, Deaf Institute.

Food Not Bombs is plotting a few events, starting with an open meeting. Head along on Tuesday 22nd if you fancy helping to expand its culinary arsenal. Otherwise on that night, Manchester Salon’s latest discussion focuses on The Future of Journalism and Publishing Online at Blackwell University Bookshop; a hot topic for this blog, needless to say.

Merzweek is ongoing from 21st ‘til 28th and Wednesday 23rd is the day to catch a premiere screening of the documentary focusing on central Merz artist Kurt Schwitters’ life. 7pm start, free entry; beat that, mobile phone Wednesdays.

Mount Fabric launch their new EP at the Castle Hotel the following night, Thursday 24th. And the final weekday, Friday 25th, ends with a win-win techno choice: Content welcome Juan Atkins to Joshua Brooks during the same hours as the finale of the three Übermotion monthlies at Sound Control. The latter drags along recent Kompakt compilation architect Robag Wruhme and Berlin’s deep house merchant Efdemin.

If you’re not exercising your democratic right to wave placards around on the streets of London on Saturday 26th, then there’s a veritable feast of politically apathetic alternatives on or near your Manchester doorstep; hell, you might even be able to make it back up here in time for the evening’s options – provided you haven’t been kettled in Kensington. American-born, now local, folkstress Jesca Hoop has been entrancing Manc audiences for a fair while now; we reviewed her Deaf Institute show last year, which is where she returns after Hey! Manchester’s persuasion. The lazy comparisons range from Bjork to Joni Mitchell, via Kate Bush, and I’m feeling lazy so that’ll have to do. Magic Arm supports.

For those looking to loiter across the Irwell, Islington Mill hosts the aforementioned Merzweek closing party that’ll feature John Maus as the star attraction and Doodlebug on the decks. Another shout is the Kode9 gig at Jabez Clegg. Drum Clinic have organised a 90 minute set to look forward to from a man whose Hyperdub label has helped a genre flourish by providing a platform for early Burial, Darkstar and Zomby releases.

Busy Saturday means chilled Sunday and there are a couple of Now Then Manchester endorsed ways to do just that. Alexandra Park is the place to head for an afternoon lesson in badge making, ‘mind food and acoustic liveliness’. Or if you end up having an extra long lie-in then tune into Northern Groove’s new Sunday night show on Unity Radio; 1-3am for cosmic house, electro-funk and soul.

The month sort of peters out after that as far as I can tell, but check out Bar Centro’s Soul Sessions on Wednesday 30th for a couple of melody-addled solo performances.

Words: Ian Pennington

Food Waste

We're regularly advised by adverts, pressure groups and the government of how to reduce our carbon footprint but one issue seems to attract less attention. Vast amounts of energy are not only used in the production of food, but also its transport to your table. Or at least two thirds of it. It's estimated that roughly a third of all food in the UK is wasted. This waste then mostly goes into landfill and produces another greenhouse gas – methane. All in all, it’s estimated that our food cycle is responsible for around 20% of the UK's carbon footprint.

Help is at hand, however, from a number of groups and movements in Manchester finding more sustainable and localised ways to source food. The Lost Plot in Chorlton, a recent beneficiary of the Council's Carbon Innovation Fund, is one of them. An allotment cared for by a group of volunteers and self professed 'allotmentalists', it reaches out to the local community and shows that it's easy to grow your own veg when everyone comes together. They meet on their plot every sunday to tend to the plants and soil and everyone takes something home for their kitchen table or to grow at home.


Another is the Abundance Project, dedicated to harvesting the urban environment's surprisingly rich harvest by picking unwanted fruit from people's gardens. They shin up trees to make the most of the unwanted windfall and give the tree owners the first share before distributing the rest to people who need it, such as destitute asylum seekers, on a fleet of bicycle trailers. Although it's mostly an autumnal activity they also have their own allotment for the spring in a car park in West Didsbury, and organise a number of community events and growing workshops. Operating in south central Manchester, Debbie Clarke, who helps organise the project, says the fruit they pick is “really only the tip of the iceberg” and they always have plenty of trees to get round in picking season - to the point where groups have had to ask them to stop sending apples - and are keen to see other groups doing the same around Manchester.

All this is well and good, you may say, if all you want to eat is runner beans and apples but, well, where's the beef? And what about all that waste? Of course, as any good environmentalist will tell you, eating meat is much worse for the planet than being a vegetarian, but there is a way to be a sustainable carnivore... if you don't mind getting your hands dirty.


Before you fetch the kitchen knife and go for the cat the next door, I'm talking about skipping. A good proportion of food wasted is in retail, and much of this food is caught in a curious legal trap. The companies producing it must put the use-by date as the earliest possible date it could go off, and the shops selling it have to throw it out on that date (they can't even give it away for fear of being sued). This means that in reality, the majority of food that ends up in supermarket skips is perfectly edible and packaged away in nicely sealed bags, and that’s on top of all the stuff they throw out because the packaging's damaged or it looks a bit wrinkly. I've been filling my fridge with such stuff for a few months now and found everything from coffee beans and steaks to ready to bake pastries and pineapples, even the odd can of beer. Most of my diet consists of food I got out of a bin that would have otherwise ended up as landfill and, most of the time, I eat like a king. It gives you a huge variety of diet, for free and with zero impact on the environment and, in many cases, is simply a case of nipping round the back of the shop after it’s closed.


Food Not Bombs are a group who have taken this on as a wider project and have made arrangements with a number of local grocers to pick up food on its sell-by date and cook it up for events and free street stalls around Manchester to demonstrate just how much food we waste. Supermarkets, however, haven't been as receptive to the idea, but says one activist, “we usually just go through their bins anyway”.

Food sourcing and waste is a society-wide problem that needs national action, but in the meantime, thanks to groups like Abundance, community allotments and wasteful shops, there's plenty of opportunity to get out there, do it yourself, get a free meal and enjoy a bit of adventure while you're at it.


Words: Barney Guiton
Pictures: Simon Bray