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Month: February 2015

Interview: Gordon Raphael

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Music.

Gordon Raphael is probably best known as the producer of The Strokes’ first two records, Is This It and Room on Fire. It is only when you search a little that you discover what a rewarding and extensive career he has had. Since a very young age Raphael has been immersed in music, whether it’s producing others’ work or being a member of his own band. He has travelled the world extensively, working with many a great artist along the way. Last year saw him work in Mexico and South America. He tells me he was frequently asked to go to music colleges and universities to lecture about his time in music. After the success of that, and a recommendation from a friend in Leeds, Raphael will embark on a brief tour of the UK in order to share more of his stories. I received the chance to interview him over the phone to discuss this and many other events in his life. I expect to have racked up an expensive phone-bill as he currently lives in Berlin, but his story telling, and relaxed and courteous attitude, made it worth it.

Although born in New York, Raphael grew up in Seattle at a time when grunge was at its peak in the city and, “anyone with long hair and a guitar could get a record deal!” I ask him what he remembers most about this time: He tells me about the time he was invited to be part of Nirvana in 1989. “I was in New York and I was told to go and see this band that had wanted me to join them on tour,” he revealed. The following day, he bumps into none other than Kurt Cobain on the street, who raised the invitation, “and I amazingly said no!” I ask him if he had any regrets about this, but without a moment’s deliberation he replies, “not one bit.”

Soon Raphael had moved across the country and was back in New York with his own small recording studio where he started recording as many artists as he could. It was during this time that he briefly worked with Ian Brown. “I got a phone call during lunch one day from a man called Ian who wanted to do some vocals with me,” he tells me. At first he was unaware it was the Ian Brown, but decided to go over in order to make a quick $25. It was only after hearing him sing that he exclaimed, “you’re Ian Brown from the Stone Roses!” to which the reply was: “My name is Ian Brown but the Stone Roses have broken up.”

I then decided to move the conversation forward to his time with The Strokes. In recent years the future of the band has been uncertain so I ask him what the band’s relationship was like at the beginning. He is full of praise and comments on them being “admirable” young people, and lauds their “communication, honesty and openness” with one another.

Raphael has recently revealed to NME that Pete Doherty had asked him to produce the first Libertines album when they were touring with The Strokes and The Vines. I ask whether these three, now indie icons, initially got along. “No” was the basic answer I got. “Albert (Hammond Jr) and Carl (Barat) perhaps came friends later on but I think for dangerous reasons [sic],” is the only affable aspect, he tells me, about the three bands touring together. He does, however, have regrets about not being able to produce The Libertines’ first record. In the most modest way he tells me he wished he could have worked with them and tightened up their sound. “They sound a little too drunk, a little too high, and I wish I could have changed that.”

Finally, we talked about the state of rock today. He is disturbed by Fat White Family although feels, “there is something there.” The uneasiness comes from the conflict between his veganism, and their continued association with decapitated pig heads. He hasn’t given up on the genre yet though. He recently purchased Julian Casablancas and The Voidz’s album, Tyranny, to add to his large collection of mostly 20th Century rock music. (The only other albums he owns from the 21st century are Up The Bracket, Is This It, Room on Fire, and 50 Cent’s The Massacre. The latter, he says, is one of the greatest production efforts he has ever listened to. Later this year, he will be working with Italy’s self-proclaimed best rock band, Ministri.

Raphael’s endeavour to work with as many artists across as many countries as possible is admirable and he doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. He next plans to work in Stockholm to tick another city off his increasingly long list of places he has worked. I finish by wishing him well for the future and recommending that he tries out Go Falafel when he visits Manchester at the end of the month.

The coat edit

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Fashion & Beauty.

1) Short Anorak With Fur Collar, £79.99 Zara

Photo: Zara

This short anorak is perfect if your main priority is staying warm. The detachable fur adds an element of sophistication to the traditional puffa jacket design. This beaut is available in black and brown, but opt for it in the mustard colour for a seamless transition from autumn to winter.

2) Faux Fur Coat With Oversized Collar, £75 ASOS

Photo: Asos

Every winter there is an explosion of faux fur, so much so that following this trend can go either way. The regular fit of this coat is perfect for keeping warm and not drowning the rest of the outfit.  The soft material is very warm but warning: Keep an umbrella at hand if you want to keep that faux fur looking fresh.

3) Boyfriend Coat, £30 Matalan

Photo: Matalan

Wrap up warm this winter with this black boyfriend coat. Let’s face it, as much as you can see yourself rocking a bright yellow coat with eccentric patterns, black will always have your back. The dropped shoulders and concealed buttons create a simplistic blazer design that can be accessorised with scarf, gloves, and a hat to add a personal touch. Everyone could do with a LBC (Little Black Coat).

4) Belted Mac, £70 ASOS

Photo: Asos

Nothing screams sophistication more than a double-breasted camel mac.  With Burberry having an almost identical coat for the current season at the whopping price of £695, it’s no wonder this coat is so popular. This coat can go without accessories as the belt and pocket detail say it all.

5) Four Pocket Parka, £99.99 Zara

Photo: Zara

This coat just screams practicality, which is not necessarily a bad thing in preparation for blistering cold weather. The waterproof outer shell and hood make getting caught in a downpour of rain a little less horrible. The pockets offer lots of storage space for you mobile, iPod, notepad, snacks, pet goldfish—whatever you fancy really.

On the inside of organ donation

Written by Eilis Hall on . Posted in Features.

There are some things that you just don’t think you’ll ever have to worry about. You know that they’re issues and you know that people have to face them, but you never imagine that you will be one of those people. Even when the facts are staring you in the face you find yourself denying them; this is not possible; this is not happening to me.

I suppose that is why it never really occurred to me that my cousin Geraldine might die young, in spite of her diagnosis of Pulmonary Hypertension coming nine years prior to her death.

For those who haven’t heard of the disease, I will be honest and say I don’t really know how to describe what it is. The simplest way to put it is this: she needed a heart and lung transplant. Placed on the donor list when she was 21, it was seven years before her body simply couldn’t wait any longer. Even on the final day of her life, I was so convinced that she would beat her condition. A week before she died, she was moved to the top of the list; her sister knew it was bad then. I thought her sister was just being pessimistic. I was sure that her being moved up on the list could only mean good things. She would get her new organs. She would be able to live a normal life. She could go on holiday again. She could get her own place, maybe out of our boring hometown. She could adopt a child; she would make an excellent mother, everyone agreed.

Sadly, it isn’t that simple.

I’m not telling you about this for sympathy and I’m not telling you this to scare you. Nor do I want you to think about Geraldine as a feeble woman who sat around feeling sorry for herself for those nine years. She was, in fact, the most lively person I knew. She had a better sense of humour than most people in that she could laugh at the things everyone else would just complain about. She could turn the worst customer service in a restaurant into top quality entertainment and the longest traffic jam into one of the highlights of your outing. She was inventive. She was talented. And even when her body finally did start to show weakness, she never did.

The reason I am telling you this is because I idolised my cousin, and even saw her as an extra sister in many ways, and yet it still took the shock of her death to make me understand how important organ donation is. Before that, it was just something that would sort itself out. You needed an organ, you’d get one. It didn’t even occur to me that it had been seven years since Geraldine had been put on the waiting list.

Each year, an average of 1000 people will die waiting for an organ donation, which is roughly three people every day. In February 2013, it was estimated that around 15 in every 100 people waiting for a heart transplant died due to a shortage of donors. And yet, at the same time that this was estimated, over 90% of the UK population said they supported organ donation; only 30% of them had signed up to the register. It is still an unfortunate fact that you are far more likely to find yourself on the waiting list for an organ donation than you are to become an organ donor. The gap between the number of organs available and the number of people who need them is an ongoing issue. But is it an unsolvable one?

The first Christmas after my cousin’s death, my girlfriend at the time got me the best Christmas gift I have ever received. She donated £30 to the charity Live Life Give Life, and in doing so introduced me to the organisation that changed my whole perspective. In April 2013, I organised my first charity event for them and that September I was officially invited to an advocate training day. It was here that I was re-introduced to the world of hope. I met the people that made my younger self seem a little less naïve. And the strangest thing is, these people never expected to be the success stories. Every single story was different; some had been sick for years, some had been taken completely by surprise. Yet no matter how close to death they had come, these people had survived. One girl that I met was the same age as me—the same age as Geraldine had been the year she was diagnosed—and had suffered with Cystic Fibrosis. At the age of 17, she had received a double lung transplant after becoming dangerously close to losing her battle. When I met her, it was hard to believe she could have ever been sick. She was energetic—she was beautiful—she was everything that people want to imagine when they hear the word ‘alive’.

Still, I was not the only bereaved person at this meeting. I also met one of the fantastic founders of the Connor Saunders Foundation. This woman had lost her brother when he was 19, and until his death, her family had not known that he had registered to be an organ donor at 16. A summary of market research statistics taken in mid-2013 shows that only 40% of the sample interviewed knew whether their relative had registered as a donor or not, even if an individual is signed up the family would still be asked for their agreement to donation. While this might mean that people can still be donors if they have not registered, it also means that people who have registered might not be. The real difference, however, lies here:

• Whilst the potential to save someone’s life has widespread resonance, only 31% of the population are willing to agree to donation when their loved one’s wishes are unknown.

There is general consensus that objecting to donation in this instance is the easiest decision and least likely to offend. Therefore a key message to communicate is that, in reality, 82% of the population definitely want to or would consider donating all or some of their organs. The decision to agree to the donation of a loved one’s organs is more likely to be in line with the person’s wishes than the decision to refuse the donation. (source: http://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/statistics/latest_statistics/market_research.asp)

The family of Connor Saunders faced a hard decision upon his death but ultimately they chose to not only honour his wishes, but take pride in his decision. The website for the Connor Saunders Foundation, www.connors5.com, is named after the five lives that Connor went on to save. The family have devoted themselves to supporting the things that Connor loved. They have turned a heart-breaking experience into something beautiful, and through their strength and kindness they have given the greatest gift possible to five other families.

Losing a loved one is never easy, regardless of how you lose them. The people who receive organs do not forget that. They celebrate the day that their life was given back to them like another birthday, but they never forget the person who gave them that second chance.

So why are there not more stories like these? The primary reason lies in education of the general public. The market research of 2013 showed that over half of those questioned had seen no publicity for the need for donors, with a third of them stating that they could not recall it ever coming up in conversation. In Spain, which has one of the most positive ratios in the world when it comes to organ donation vs population, the system they have regarding organ donation is presumed consent. They do not have an official ‘opt-out’ register for those that do not want to donate their organs, but this does not mean that they stop asking families for their permission or immediately use people as donors when their wishes are unknown. No doctor is going to force a grieving family into that kind of decision and I do not believe that they should; the reason that the refusal rate amongst families in Spain is so low in comparison with many other countries is that the publicity and general understanding of how donation actually works is dramatically higher. It is not about having an ‘opt out’ or ‘opt in’ system. The key to saving lives lies in education, and openly discussing the issues.

This is where Live Life Give Life come in. They’re not going to tell you that everyone in the world has to be an organ donor; that wouldn’t be fair. We can’t say that every conversation has to go the same way. However, what we can do is get people to actually have the conversation. The funds that the charity raises are placed into two primary areas. One is into the education of the public on the subject of donation, so that whether or not you choose to sign up on the register, your decision is educated. The other is funding research projects allowing the medical world to develop and learn how to make each different type of transplant safer and more accessible to the people involved. It’s not about getting everyone to share exactly the same views, but if people don’t start talking about these issues then how can these views ever be known?

Sometimes it takes a shock to make you see what might have been staring you in the face. Losing my cousin was one of the hardest experiences of my entire life and I still miss her every day. Yet, through that loss I have gained knowledge that I might never have brought myself to face. I have met some of the most beautiful people I know and shared in the celebrations and bereavements of others in the transplant community. This charity doesn’t just change the lives of those on the list; it has changed my life and allowed me to channel my grief into something I can be proud of. In the last year, we have suffered some sad losses in the transplant world, but we have also received an overwhelming increase in support. Very recently, our youngest ambassador James Lewis received a heart transplant. He continues to make fantastic progress and seeing his smiling face on my Facebook newsfeed this evening is what set me off writing this article. James is four years-old.

On January 29th, 2015, the fourth live music event that I have organised for Live Life Give Life will be held at The Ram and Shackle in Fallowfield. After every event I have done for these guys, I have felt a happiness that I can’t compare to anything else. There is not a single event at which I do not meet someone who says ‘I never knew that’ or ‘I always thought it worked like this’. But people are open to learning and that is the first step to writing more stories with happy endings. A large campaign that we have been using lately bears the slogan ‘Let Love Live On’, and I find this fitting in so many ways. This organisation has not just allowed the beautiful recipients to live on and share their experience, but it allows the memories of those we have lost to live on and make the big impact on the world that they deserve to make. My cousin is not gone. Connor Saunders is not gone. Not a single person who has died waiting on the list, nor a single person who has passed their gift of life onto another will ever be gone. They are living in our conversations and our willingness to learn. They live in the breath that will blow out the candles on James Lewis’ next birthday cake. They live and they dance to the beat of every heart that drums on in their honour.

So let’s keep that love alive. Think about it. Talk about it. Do something about it.

Thank you for reading.

Important Sources:
http://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/statistics/latest_statistics/market_research.asp
http://www.itv.com/news/2013-02-11/the-facts-and-figures-and-myths-and-legends-of-organ-donation/
http://livelifegivelife.org.uk/
http://organdonor.gov/about/data.html
http://www.connors5.com/

Review: Tuesdays at Tescos

Written by Camilla Lindner on . Posted in Theatre.

Tuesday. Pauline is sitting on the train which is heading to where her father lives. She looks out of the window and watches the passing landscape. She crosses her legs and puts her hands on her short red skirt. When the train slows down and suddenly stops, she gets up and walks towards her father’s flat.

The one-woman theatre play is written by French dramatic adviser Emmanuel Darley and is directed by Sue Womersley. It is a one hour monologue performed by a transgender woman who visits her father every Tuesday. Pauline, who is played brilliantly by Scott Kentell, cleans the flat and does the weekly shopping at Tesco accompanied by her father. Kentell manages to draw in the audience with her persuasive presence on stage in a red skirt, blouse and high-heels, and the simple props of a chair and a white screen behind her.

The monologue shows the constant struggle of a transgender person and her old and grumpy father, who only sees Paul, not Pauline. It emphasises that although Pauline is and never felt like Paul, she still has to deal with the fact that those surrounding her ‘know’ who she is or who she has been. The security guard at the entry of Tesco doesn’t even look at her, the woman at the till greets her with ‘Good morning gentleman’ and the neighbour asks Pauline if she really is Paul. On the way back home, her father keeps his distance from her.

The play makes the audience aware of the daily situations in which Pauline struggles because of people staring at her and making her feel like a misfit, a ‘different’ person within a seemingly sorted society. It shows how deeply Pauline wishes to be able to live an ordinary life and how much she fights for this. As long as her father refuses to accept her as his daughter, the people on the streets and in Tesco will not do so.

But there is a hint of some acceptance for transgender women within society; on the way back home, Pauline and her father meet one woman who is apparently a friend of the father. She greets Pauline with her ‘real’ name and talks to her in a friendly way. Those seemingly ordinary acts are really extraordinary because this woman respects Pauline for who she is and who she has always been on the outside and inside and for what she struggles to be recognised as such: a woman.