Remember Love

We’re trying something a little bit different in Liverpool next Sunday (August 6th) with an all-day get together at District & YARD (the venue’s recently opened outdoor area), under the banner of ‘Remember Love’ – a social gathering of friends, family, fellow fools and the faithful on a chilled-out summer Sunday in the Baltic Triangle.

It’s a free event, running from 2pm in the afternoon until 11pm at night, featuring DJs during the daytime through into the evening, with a live jam at night from the artists on the Super Weird Substance label – Kermit Leveridge, The Reynolds and The Reverend Cleve Freckleton  – backed by emerging Liverpool band The Isrights, who record for SWS subsidiary XJukebox.

I’ll be DJing for 3 hours, but playing not what I would normally play  – the event providing me with the opportunity to select some much-loved music that I wouldn’t be able to feature in a more regular club setting.

I’ll be joined by 2 further selectors – Jill On Top, fondly remembered for her Jill & Sonia ‘Girls On Top’ partnership in the ‘90s (their Damn Fine parties a personal favourite back then). Jill will be featuring ‘70s & ‘80s joints and jams, whilst Josh Ray, who works with me at Super Weird Substance, promises uplifting and conscious cuts.

The name of the event was inspired by a placard held aloft during the vigil near John Lennon’s Dakota Building home, which overlooked New York’s Central Park, after he’d been shot dead in 1980 – the poignancy of which has always struck me.

‘Remember Love’ was originally a Plastic Ono Band track, written and sung by Yoko Ono, appearing on the flip-side of the 1969 anthem ‘Give Peace A Chance’.

By remembering love we also hark back to the 1967 Summer Of Love, 50 years on – the sentiment perhaps more urgent now in this increasingly uncertain world in which we reside than it has been since the ‘60s.

District & YARD is a venue with the legendary Jayne Casey at the helm. From her ‘70s emergence with Big In Japan and the Eric’s scene, through her subsequent bands Pink Military and Pink Industry, to her key roles in the success of superclub Cream and in setting up the Baltic Triangle, Jayne has had her finger on Liverpool’s creative pulse for many moons now. Back in April she agreed to be one of our panel guests at the 14 Hour Super Weird Happening at The Florrie, so its great to be able to do something in return, by hosting this mycelium musical jambourie.

The ‘Remember Love’ artwork, courtesy of Dominic (Cometh The Moment Cometh The) Mandrell, based on Alan Aldridge’s Beatles ‘Revolution’ image from the ‘Illustrated Lyrics’.

DISTRICT:
https://www.facebook.com/DistrictL1
YARD:
https://www.facebook.com/yardliverpool

*(added 22.08.17) A couple of days before the event I burnt off 9-hours-worth of tracks onto CD – just a semi-random selection of music I’ve uploaded for personal listening, rather than stuff I’m using for DJing. My spot was for 3 hours, so only a third of these classics and curios would make the cut on the day (which amounted to 41 selections). I wanted to do something different to what I generally do, playing not what I normally play, so I decided that there’d be no re-edits and that I wouldn’t mix (although I’d link the tracks with sound fx from the Revox).

So, having selected from a spectrum of tunes of varying styles, with plenty of scope for the spontaneous flavour I wanted, it was pretty much a case of making it up as I went along, skipping from genre to genre and letting things free-flow. And a thoroughly enjoyable 3 hours it was, despite the elements being against us – rain intermittent throughout the day. However, this didn’t dampen spirits and I decided to stay set-up outside with the music also piped inside into District for those who wanted to avoid a soaking.

Big thanks to my fellow selectors Josh Ray and Jill On Top, plus The Isrights, The Reynolds and the Reverend Cleve Freckleton for an inspired Super Weird Jam (although unable to perform, Kermit Leveridge was in attendance despite being taken ill a couple of nights earlier at the ill-fated Hope And Glory festival where he appeared with Black Grape). Also shout out to Jayne, Eric, Ra and all Yard/District crew who enabled this to take place and provided such a great environment in which to meet new friends amongst familiar faces.