Transcript Art, music and poetry in the Canning area

Art, music and poetry in the
Canning area
The Scaffold
 Mike McCartney met former GPO engineer John Gorman and poet Roger
McGough in the early 60s, some time before The Beatles rose to fame. John
organised the Merseyside Arts Festival in 1962. Roger and John put on "Events"
then picked up the American term "Happenings". There was no particular stage
area and the audience was very much part of the show.
 Mike joined them and they first performed as The Liverpool, One Fat Lady, All
Electric Show with another poet, Adrian Henri, but then settled on The Scaffold
threesome
 Their show, a variety of sketches, poems and songs, was very popular with young
audiences, especially students, throughout Liverpool and then at the Edinburgh
Festival.
 They featured on the regional TV series Gazette, they had a residency at Peter
Cook's Establishment Club and were the resident band on a children's TV show
Magpie.
 In broad terms Mike provided the tunes, Roger the poetry and John the comedy.
 Since the 70s Roger McGough has been very active as a poet and children's TV
presenter.
 Amongst many other things Mike McCartney had a photographic exhibition
Liverpool Now and published a children's book Sonny Joe And The Ringdon
Rhymes.
 John Gorman now lives on the Wirral and has occasionally appeared in films. He
was a major contributor to the classic, pioneering Saturday morning TV show
TISWAS in the late 70s.
Scaffold
The Liverpool Scene
 The Liverpool Scene was a poetry band, which included Adrian
Henri, Andy Roberts, Mike Evans, Mike Hart, Percy Jones and
Brian Dodson. It grew out of the success of The Incredible New
Liverpool Scene, a CBS LP featuring Henri and McGough reading
their work, with accompaniment by the guitarist Roberts. Liverpool
DJ John Peel, who was then working on the pirate radio station
Radio London, picked up on the LP and featured it on his influential
late-night Perfumed Garden show. After Radio London closed
down, Peel visited Liverpool and met the band; as a consequence,
they were featured in session on his BBC Top Gear and Night Ride
shows, and in 1968 he produced their first LP. Four LPs were
issued with Henri's poetry heavily featured.
 Despite Peel's support the albums achieved little success, although
the band did become popular on the UK university and college
circuit. Their public performances included a 1969 tour when they
opened for Led Zeppelin; they also toured the USA but did not
attract much acclaim from US critics and audiences. Henri was
described in performance as "bouncing thunderously and at risk to
audience and fellow performers, the stage vibrating out of rhythm
beneath him."
Andy Roberts and Adrian Henri
A Gallery to Play to:
The Story of the
Mersey Poets
By Phil Bowen
p.99
The Mersey Sound
• The anthology The Mersey Sound was published by
Penguin in 1967, containing the poems of Adrian
Henri, Roger McGough and Brian Patten, and has
remained in print ever since, selling in excess of
500,000 copies. It brought the three poets to
"considerable acclaim and critical fame", and has
been widely influential. In 2002 they were given the
Freedom of the City of Liverpool.
The Grimms
• A short-lived touring ensemble Grimms (1973-4)
contained a changing cast of Adrian Henri, Brian
Patten, Roger McGough, John Gorman, Mike
McCartney, George `Zoot' Money, Neil Innes,
Michael Giles, Kate Robbins, John Megginson, Andy
Roberts, David Richards, Peter `Ollie' Halsall,
Norman Smedles, Brian Jones, Ritchie Routledge,
Valerie Movie, Gerry Conway, Pete Tatters and
Timmy Donnell.
Liverpool 8
 The clubs of Liverpool 8 were open to all nations
and this mix of people exchanged diverse musical
styles and sounds. People would travel from all
over the North West to Liverpool 8 to engage in
the thriving scene.
 It was also a place of art students, poets, and a
place to exchange musical ideas.
 By the early 90s The Nigerian, The Ibo (now
relocated into the former school for the deaf) and
the Sierra Leone were all that was left of the
Liverpool 8 club scene.
• Julian Cope of the Teardrop
Explodes hung out at Gambier
Terrace
Post Punk