"Conversations with McCartney" by Paul Du Noyer.

"Conversations with McCartney" book launch last night organised by Sarah from Waterstones @ Leaf in Bold Street to see my friend Paul Du Noyer launch his new publication. A collection of his interviews with Macca form the last twenty or so years. A packed audience witnessed Paul interviewed by Mike Neary read from the book and respond to questions. Later he signed copies for the assembled throng. I would highly recommend Paul's work which also includes "Liverpool: Wondrous place" a title taken from a Billy Fury song- see below. Billy was Liverpool's answer to Elvis Presley and predates the Beatles.  The audience included Laurence Sidorczuk former Liberal Councillor and arts enthusiast, Colin and Sylvia Hall custodians @ Mendips-Johns, and Forthlin Road, Maccas homes respectively, and Lovely local leftie musician Alun Parry. Sarah from Waterstones did a great job and the Leaf were welcoming, great space, great people and a beautiful Art Deco building.

‘Liverpool: Wondrous Place’.

‘Music from Cavern to the Coral’,

By Paul du Noyer.

Foreword by Sir Paul McCartney.
”Liverpool was a huge melting pot of music … When rock ‘n’ roll arrived and we heard Elvis, Gene Vincent, Fats Domino and Little Richard, the game was up … We knew we had to do it for a career. And the rest is history”. Sir Paul McCartney.

 â€œI keep discovering things about my street. At one end lived the future comic Alexei Sayle. His Mum was the lollipop lady outside my school. Across the road, the young Elvis Costello would come and visit his relatives. A few doors down from me lived Neil Aspinall, who was the Beatles’ roadie and still runs Apple. A few doors down the other way is a flat where Echo and the Bunnymen and the Teardrop Explodes first took shape in shambolic rehearsals. Ten doors to the right of mine was a big nightclub, the Wooky Hollow, in the middle of a row of houses. And at the far end of the street was a park, Newsham, in whose public lavatories Holly Johnson had his first homosexual encounter. And that’s no more than an ordinary residential street”. Paul du Noyer.

 Music is the heart of Liverpool. It is more than a place where music happens - it is a reason why music happens. The city responsible for more number one hits than any other, Liverpool is the cradle of British pop. Liverpool: Wondrous Place is the story of its journey from the most famous stage in the world, the Cavern, to world-class super-club Cream.

Even before it gave us the Beatles, Liverpool produced the first true rock ‘n’ roll star to be born outside America, Billy Fury. There has been a stream of star names ever since – from the Merseybeat time of the Beatles, Cilla Black and the Searchers to Echo and the Bunnymen, Teardrop Explodes, Elvis Costello, Pete Wylie, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, The La’s, Lightning Seeds, Cast, Space and Atomic Kitten. Paul du Noyer has exclusively interviewed all the major players to reveal the individual stories that make up this engrossing history.

Liverpool: Wondrous Place takes a unique look at the role one city played in the development of British pop culture. It looks at the full range of cultural influences, from Bill Shankly and the Liverpool/Everton divide to poets such as Allen Ginsberg and Roger McGough, comedians including Jimmy Tarbuck, Ken Dodd and Alexei Sayle, Shirley Valentine and Boys from the Black Stuff, the Toxeth riots and the Hillsborough disaster. The author explores the very roots of Scouse culture, from its deep links with America and the overwhelming Irish influence, and shows how Liverpool has never lost its distinctive creative energy. The City is currently bidding to be European Capital of Culture 2008. With a legacy of 800 years of history comes a unique, diverse and dynamic culture that has helped to shape British, European and World Culture. (Update; the City was chosen to become the European Capital of Culture in 2008).

Paul du Noyer’s highly readable, intelligent and cultural analysis of the ‘Pool of Life’ is the definitive story of Liverpool pop. Paul was born and raised in Liverpool and has been writing about music for over twenty years. He covered the Liverpool music scene in the 70s and 80s as a staff writer on the New Musical Express, later becoming editor of Q magazine. He founded Mojo in 1994 and has written for it ever since. He is currently the contributing editor for WORD magazine. His interviewees have included Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie, as well as every Liverpool legend from Billy Fury to The La’s. His first book, a guide to John Lennon’s solo music called We All Shine On, appeared in 1997, and he has also collaborated with Sir Paul McCartney on three world tour magazines. Paul’s regular writing and broadcasting outlets include GQ, the Independent, NBC News, BBC Published by Virgin Books.

“ Well what have Liverpool ever done for the world ever done for us”? Please forward others I may have left......for inclusion...this is not an exhaustive list...

Billy Fury, The Beatles, Billy J. Kramer, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Scaffold, Alan Bleasdale, Willy Russell, Jimmy McGovern, Dead or Alive, Adrian Henri, Brian Patten, Roger McGough, Wah! Heat, The Boo Radleys, China Crisis, Ladytron, The Lotus Eaters, Janice Long, Teardrop Explodes, Ken Dodd, Freddie Starr, Badfinger, The Real Thing, Lightning Seeds, Elvis Costello, Sir Simon Rattle, Atomic Kitten, The Farm, Sugarbabes, Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Rutles, Rory Storm and The Hurricanes, Black, Wah! The Mojos, Wings, Thomas Lang, Craig Charles, The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, The Spinners, Kathryn Williams, Jimmy Campbell, Speed, Melanie C, The Travelling Wilburys, The Dennisons, Farons Flamingos, Bassheads, The Liverpool Scene, Big in Japan, G Love, Cast, Space, The Christians, Cilla, Supercharge, Jimmy Tarbuck, Deaf School, Western Promise, The Big Three, The Pale Fountains, The Ded Byrds, 16 Tambourines, The High Five, The Hoovers, Alexei Sayle, Icicle Works, Africa Oye, Ooberman, Pete Wylie, Lloyd Massett, Shack, Pele, The Room, Pete McGovern, John Peel, Sonia, Cream, Bernie Wenton, Zeb, Top, Personal Column, The Lawnmower, Afraid of Mice, A Flock of Seagulls, KLF, OMD, Half Man/Half Biscuit, Bill Drummond, The Mags, The Searchers, Next, The Swinging Blue Jeans, The Merseybeats, Oceanic, Frankie Vaughan, Pink Military, The Merseysippi Jazz Band, The Black Velvets, The Fourmost, Rain, Lori and the Chameleons, Cross Section, Last Chant, The Cherry Boys, The Wild Swans, Send No Flowers, Kit, The Merseys, Jennifer John and Sense of Sound, The Yachts, Up and Running, The Stairs, Ellery Bop, It’s Immaterial, Pink Industry, K-Klass, Beryl Marsden, The Real People, Smaller, Cook da Books, Cecil, Marina, Bette Bright and the Illuminations, Ricky Spontane, Northern Souls, Bantu, Hambi and the Dance, Ricky Tomlinson, Hank Walters, Phil Jones, Liverpool Express, Michael Head and The Strands, 23rd Turn-off, The Chants and The Original Mirrors. The Coral, The Bandits, The Zutons, The Stands, Flamingo 50, Tramp Attack, Cracatilla, Dirtblonde, The Mighty Saguaro, Odega, Amsterdam, The Moonies, The Hokum Clones, Cranebuilders, the Mountaineers, Ladytron, The Little Flames, The Dead Sixties, The Maybes, Zuko, Freemaker, Ghost 2000, Trilby, Animal Orchestra, Clinic, the Mojave Collective, The Relatives, Tokyo Adventures, Jude, The Aeroplanes Surge, Danny Ankrah, Atonal, Peter Coyle, Dude, The Mags, B-Movie Heroes, Death by Association, the Haine, Sonny, Monkey Toes, Joe and the Breakmakers, Lunar Maroon, Marlowe, Rhombus of Doom, , Audio Slave, Bobhowla, Bueller, Carlton Breasy, Chione, The Delays, Ferris Wheel Junkies, G2, Hayleys Cake, Kelso, Lunar Maroon, The Aeroplanes, Leroy, The Jackals, The O-Zeds, Spear-water, 60 Dakota, Twin Babies, Zombina and the Skeletones, Zoomorphic, Steven Kennedy, Steve Roberts, Carbon Atom, The Hills of Mexico, the Devs, Jamie Ireland/Kingpyn, Ogun, Iconoclast, Danny Connor, Chibuku, The Magnet, The Sons, Maddee, The Natasha Gant Experience, Copyrite, The Freaks, The Shyne, Aviator, Xebra, Ambulance, Liquidation @Le Bateau, Pure 9, Civita, Bobhowla, Ruddock, Omaha, I Pinata, Chris Elliot, Kevin Critchley, Snappertronics, Nanmess, Abyss, Nikki Hayden, Timba Troubalz, Leroy, Tony Lawton, OIC, The Crash Band, 20 while 40, Boweevil, The Majority, Crimson Rise, De Grouchy Street Band, Jules Reid, Djenifus, Orinoco Shores, Private Universe, Central Dense, The Riverside Venus Connection, Barfinkle, Twin Babies, Dror, Keith Carter, The Wombats, …and a beautiful city as well. We All Shine On!

 Liverpool named top Musical City.

Liverpool has been named as Britain's top musical city in a new survey.

The home of The Beatles, The Real Thing, The Las, Cast, Space, The Christians, Echo and the Bunnymen and Atomic Kitten is now undergoing a new musical explosion.

Bands such as the Mercury Prize-nominated The Coral and The Zutons, as well as The Bandits, The Stands, Dead Sixties, Little Flames, Black Velvet, Dirtblonde, Cranebuilders, have emerged in recent times.

The City controversially beat its Northwest rival Manchester - home to a plethora of influential bands - into second place.

Liverpool's pop music influence began in the 1960s with the Mersey Beat phenomena. Spearheaded by The Beatles, it also featured other bands such as Gerry and the Pacemakers and The Searchers.

In the late 1970s punk scene, the City produced bands such as Echo and the Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes and Wah! - products of the renowned club Eric's.

And in the 1980s, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, the Icicle Works, OMD and The Las carried the City's musical banner.

More recently The Farm, Cast, Space, Lightning Seeds and Atomic Kitten have all contributed to the City’s reputation.

Paul Jackson of Virgin Radio - which organised the poll - said Liverpool's "rich history of creative music" had won it the title. The stations programme director said: "It was a close run thing between Manchester and Liverpool and this is bound to spark debate up and down the country”.

"Everyone will have their own opinion but The Beatles edged it for Liverpool this time."