Cool Manchester

First of all, sorry for not being on here that much the last couple of months, people who know me will know why, but I'm going to do my best now to make up for it

So, the month of May will always mean one thing to me.... EUROVISION!!

I'll be sharing with you some of my favourite Eurovision moments over the next week, but in the meantime I though I'd show you what the s=chart looked like this time in 1996:

1 Gina G Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit
2 George Michael Fastlove
3 Baddiel & Skinner and The Lightning Seeds Three Lions
4 Tony Rich Project Nobody Knows
5 Mark Morrison Return Of The Mack
6 JX There's Nothing I Won't Do
7 Suggs & Louchie Lou / Michie One Cecilia
8 Peter Andre featuring Bubbler Ranx Mysterious Girl
9 1996 Manchester United FA Cup Squad Move Move Move (The Red Tribe)
10 The Smashing Pumpkins Tonight, Tonight
11 John Alford Blue Moon / Only You
12 Metallica Until It Sleeps
13 Sean Maguire Good Day
14 Gloria Estefan Reach
15 Liverpool FC & Boot Room Boyz Pass And Move (Liverpool Groove)
16 Bryan Adams The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me
17 Black Grape Fat Neck
18 Robert Miles Children
19 SWV You're The One
20 1300 Drums featuring The Unjustified Ancients Of M-U Ooh! Aah! Cantona
21 The Klubbheads Klubhopping
22 Manic Street Preachers A Design For Life
23 Celine Dion Because You Loved Me
24 Chantay Savage I Will Survive
25 Blur Charmless Man
26 The Lighthouse Family Ocean Drive
27 Busta Rhymes Woo-hah!! Got You All In Check
28 M-Beat featuring Jamiroquai Do You Know Where You're Coming From
29 Michael Jackson They Don't Care About Us
30 Alanis Morissette Ironic
31 Lisa Marie Experience Keep On Jumpin'
32 Pulse featuring Antoinette Roberson The Lover That You Are
33 Backstreet Boys Get Down (You're The One For Me)
34 Jodeci Get On Up
35 Horace Brown One For The Money
36 LL Cool J Doin' It
37 3T 24 / 7
38 Mark Snow The X-Files
39 Gabrielle Give Me A Little More Time
40 Scooter Rebel Yell

Sitting at the top of the chart was Gina Gee with one of the biggest selling Eurovision singles of all time. Such a pity that it did not do that well in the actual competition but in the mid-nineties Ireland were winning it almost every year, no matter how shit the song was

There was a hell of a lot of Football featured in the top 40, probably due to the fact that England was hosting Euro 1996 and from what I recall England did rather well [don't quote me on this, I know as much about football as next door's cat]

Apart from the all the football novelties, the rest of the chart was rather brilliant with some classic house tracks from JX, Robert Miles and Pulse, great pop from Suggs and Blur and a nice bit of rock from the Manics and The Smashing Pumpkins...good times!

So what are your memories of this period? Something else was also happening this month, a little film from the USA was shown on the BBC called... Doctor Who! I do remember getting a little bit excited about that [I did not watch it four times in one day..honestly!]

Organisers of the UK’s leading Pride event, Manchester Pride, have today confirmed tickets are on sale from 01 May for the Big Weekend festival.

Visitors are expected to descend on Manchester for the August bank holiday weekend in the tens of thousands, for what has become one of the most successful LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) celebrations in the UK.

The Big Weekend runs from 24 – 27 August and ticket prices have been frozen with Early Bird weekend tickets costing £15. Headline artists will be confirmed closer to the event. Past performers have included: Kelis, Alexandra Burke, Pixie Lott, Little Boots, Patrick Wolf, Human League, Roisin Murphy and Gossip.

John Stewart, Chief Executive of Manchester said “We are delighted to be working again with G-A-Y to deliver some of the headline artists as part of the Big Weekend programme. Last year artists such as Alexandra Burke and the Sugababes were presented in association with G-A-Y.”

The festival raises vital funds for LGBT and HIV charities and community groups in Greater Manchester. Last year, the charity distributed £105,000 to projects including the Albert Kennedy Purple Door scheme, which aims to provide emergency housing for young LGBT people. Along with larger projects, the charity also provides grants for small organisations and groups, such as Transforum, Queer Youth Network and the Lesbian Community Project.

Antony Cotton, Manchester Pride Patron said: “Manchester Pride is more than just a fun-filled weekend and is one of the only Pride events in the country to consistently raise large amounts of money for HIV and LGBT charities. I would like to remind all Pride-goers that your money makes a huge difference to the local LGBT community. Have a great Pride”

In addition to the Big Weekend, Pride Fringe runs from 17 - 23 August and is headlined by camp chanteuse, Margarita Pracatan, with her UK premiere of ‘Stranger in the Night’. Performances take place on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 August.

Tickets for the Big Weekend are available from www.manchesterpride.com or by calling 0871 230 3450. Tickets are subject to booking fees.

Further information on the festival can be found on twitter @manchesterpride

A fisheries expert is approached by a consultant to help realize a sheik's vision of bringing the sport of fly-fishing to the desert and embarks on an upstream journey of faith and fish to prove the impossible possible.

Not the most exciting of film names, and some of the trailers I have seen for this film leave you wondering what this film is about - and I don't mean the salmon fishing, I'm not that dumb.

For a week where Battleships is number one everywhere (may the gods help us) we were quite surprised to find this film in Screen 1 at our local Cineworld. The screen was actually quite full, and once everyone had got settled in their correct seats (it still amazes me how many people sit in the wrong seats in a Cinema that always allocates seating), we settled in to watch.

Whilst the film is mainly about the 10,000 salmon getting moved from British waters to The Yemen, the story between Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt's characters is at some points hilarious, others quite sad and other times just "nice".

I'm not great at writing, and I am hoping to improve as I write more of these reviews - so I will leave it here: The film is really good and I would recommend you see it - you don't need to know about fishing.

My Score: 7/10

Director: Lasse Hallström
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt and Amr Waked

As Able As kane (AAAK)

Totalitarian Tip Toe

Review By Andrew Barclay

Back in Manchester in the late 80s and early 90s, the music most closely associated with the city was the psychedelic dance tinged beats of The Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses. It was in this musical environment that 'As Able As Kane' emerged. However, AAAK were a no nonsense industrial influenced band, and this in itself separated them from the other groups of that period.

Perhaps because of this different musical slant, the band caught Record label attention and they were duly signed. Two albums later and several appearances on John Peel's now legendary radio show, the band found themselves in 1992, and with the group’s members all being involved in other projects, AAAK split up.

Some 17 years later, the 'Electric Tremor' label approached the band about putting out a 'Best of' album, and with renewed enthusiasm, the band decided to record and tour again. 'Totalitarian Tip Toe' is the resulting comeback album, and it's a beast of an album. Paul Rawlinson’s vocals are authoritative and strong, accompanied by the programming and synth wizardry of Simon 'Ding' Archer.

Link: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/about-us/consultations/equal-civil-marriage/

Further to my previous blog about the Coalition For EQUAL Marriage, http://www.coolmanchester.com/index.php/CM/manchester-pride/coalition-for-equal-marriage-don

the government are carrying out an equal civil marriage consultation.

As quoted on the website, The key proposals of the consultation are:

to enable same-sex couples to have a civil marriage i.e. only civil ceremonies in a register office or approved premises (like a hotel)

to make no changes to religious marriages. This will continue to only be legally possible between a man and a woman

to retain civil partnerships for same-sex couples and allow couples already in a civil partnership to convert this into a marriage

civil partnership registrations on religious premises will continue as is currently possible i.e. on a voluntary basis for faith groups and with no religious content

individuals will, for the first time, be able legally to change their gender without having to end their marriage

Current legislation allows same-sex couples to enter into a civil partnership, but not civil marriage.

If you would like to participate in this consultation, the form can be found here:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/about-us/consultations/equal-civil-marriage/

I have completed the form and it only takes a few minutes, I would strongly recommend that all same sex couples do the same thing and share this document everywhere, it's a very good way to show the current government how we feel.