Manchester!!!

This past weekend, my class was required to go to a music conference called "In The City" in Manchester - just about 40 min. away by train. Chris decided it would be a great opportunity for him as well so he could meet a couple of work contacts and also promote his record label Burning Building Recordings. (www.bbrecordings.com - you know me, always promoting whenever I can!) :D

Aw...don't we look so cute? Manchester is one of our new fav. cities on this side of the globe. Lots of venues, theatres, artsy people, a variety of restaurants - how could a city go wrong if they have all those things?

This is my classmate Annabel from Germany. She was really excited to see a few of her favorite bands - Simian Mobile Disco for instance. 
We had a great time at all the panels we went to - one was about festivals, another about new media marketing strategies, a discussion on new digital solutions and problems, and we also got to hear from managers of Franz Ferdinand, The Rolling Stones, Kaiser Chiefs, etc. talk about their experiences.

During the evenings there were loads of bands playing all over the city centre. We looked through all the descriptions of the bands since we hadn't heard of any of them and tried to see as many as possible. Unfortunately, we weren't really impressed - either because they weren't very unique, we weren't into that genre of music, or they were just PLAIN BAD! But, I did take a few pictures:

This is Isosceles from Glasgow - they have opened for Franz Ferdinand and they sounded quite similar. Put on a pretty good live show though. 
This is the bass player of Fenech Soler rocking out. They are from a town in England - can't remember where exactly. They were quite cookie-cutter synth pop, but were definitely entertaining. Very dance-y. 
Seems like dance/new wave/synth pop is the norm over in these parts. Quite different from Seattle....oh how we miss Seattle's music scene. All the bands we know and love would kick ass over here. We've come to the conclusion that Seattle's standards are high and maybe it is because we're blessed with so many gifted musicians who aren't afraid of creating something different. 

My class was able to get into the conference for free, but in return we helped the staff put together all the swag bags and passes. We had our work cut out for us - had 3,000 bags to get through!

Yay! Ruth and Jessica busy at work while I document.
On Sat. night we were told there was going to be this awesome party and that delegates (us) would be able to get in for free. So Chris, Annabel, and I stood in line about 40 min. before the doors opened to make sure we could get in. Here's Chris waiting outside in the damp, windy tunnel.
And me freezing my ass off. I didn't bring a coat because I was anticipating a huge sweaty mob of people inside.
Unfortunately, after waiting about an hour in line, we found out that the party was sold out and that we weren't able to get in until 12:30am (it was only 8pm at the time). I was like, "F--- that!" and we decided to just call it a night. Annabel and I were bummed - I really wanted to see Tricky and she wanted to see Simian Mobile Disco. I think Chris was secretly stoked because it looked like it was going to be what us Americans know to be a "rave". We saw that glow sticks were for sale and could hear trance playing through the PA and I saw this horrified look on his face. HA!

Here is a lovely picture of a waterway flowing through the city. 

Anyways, I think that about sums up our 4 day extravaganza. OOH! One other cool thing was that I got to meet Debra - one of Chris' work contacts - super sweet and very accomplished - and her fiance Ted Cohen. He was the former CEO of EMI records (one of the 4 major record companies left) and in his early days, he toured with the Sex Pistols (Sid Vicious apparently hit him in the head with his bass once!), The Who, Ozzy Osbourne, and Alice Cooper. He now owns a consulting firm and has been able to keep up with all the changes in the industry. Crazy life - he even showed us some pictures. 

Okay, there you have it. If/when you come to visit us, we will have to take you to Manchester for sure. 

Hugs n kisses!

Nic