The week on Cinedelica

If you've not visited our cult movie and TV site Cinedelica recently, you've missed out on some real gems.

That includes features on cult Brit gangster flick Villain (1971), The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970), Love Story (2006), Meantime (1984), Inseminoid (1981) and the top five cult movies made in Manchester.

There's also cult clips of The Jewel Thief (1967), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), The Doll Squad (1973) and Suburbia (1983), DVD reviews of The Ghost In The Invisible Bikini (1966), Perversion Story (1969), The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue (1974) and More (1969).

Plus, there's news of a movie about the 80s Two Tone scene, If... coming to DVD and a book on vintage Mexican film posters.

And much much more now on Cinedelica.

Retro TV W/C 30th March 2007

Barry Murphy once more trawls the TV and radio guides (so you don't have to) to find anything worth tuning into this week. All listings are for UK terrestrial TV, Freeview and national radio, with the shows running from Friday 30th March to Thursday 5th April.

Highlight of the week: Soul Britannia. BBC 4. Thursday 5th April, 9pm onwards.
Another opportunity to catch BBC 4's excellent Soul Britannia season. Tonights shows include the first (and perhaps best) episode of Soul Britannia followed by an hour of classic soul from the Beeb's archive and the first part of the tie-in concerts from the Barbican featuring Sam Moore and Eric Burdon.

Love Story on the big screen

Love Story - the documentary film of the legendary Los Angeles band Love - is doing a tour of independent cinemas, kicking off with a showing in London.

Love Story covers the band from the beginning through to their disintegration in 1968 following the completion of the band's masterpiece Forever Changes. Filmed in 2005 & 2006, it features the last ever interviews with band leader Arthur Lee, plus interviews with all surviving original band members - Johnny Echols, Michael Stuart, Alban ‘Snoopy’ Pfisterer and unseen footage of the late Bryan Maclean.

Also taking part are Elektra Records boss Jac Holzman,Producer Bruce Botnick, arranger David Angel, The Doors' John Densmore, Bobby Gillespie & Mani from
Primal Scream, John & Mick Head from Shack and (oddly) Ken Livingstone.

For full details of the screenings, read on after the turn. And if you want to know more about the film, visit the MySpace site.

Ska/rocksteady night in Manchester

If you're looking for a night out in Manchester this Saturday, check out Dip and Fall Back, which promises a night of 50s and 60s R&B, ska, rocksteady and boss reggae.

It takes place on Saturday 31st March from 10pm until 4am at Cafe Saki, Oxford Road, Manchester (at the start of the Curry Mile). Admission is £3 on the door.

For more information, email Dan.

David Lines on Radio 4

We mentioned a while back that David Lines' excellent The Modfather: My Life With Paul Weller is being reissued with a new cover and Paul Weller introduction. Well, this has now been confirmed for July 5th 2007.

And if you want to know more about the man behind the book, David Lines will be interviewed in 3 Minute Education on BBC Radio 4 on April 26th at 11.30am. Which could be quite interesting - especially if there's details of the book becoming a play.

Read our review of the book

Absolute Beginners - the play

Absolute Beginners didn't work as a film, but I have much higher hopes for the theatrical production at the Lyric Theatre in London, which runs from 26th April - 26th May 2007.

The plot stays faithful to the must-read book - a young modernist photographer's take on life on the streets of late 50s West London, played out against a backdrop of emerging racial hatred - and the theatre promises sets that faithfully re-create that late 50s coffee bar vibe.

Retro TV W/C 23rd March 2007

Barry Murphy once more trawls the TV and radio guides (so you don't have to) to find anything worth tuning into this week. All listings are for UK terrestrial TV, Freeview and national radio, with the shows running from Friday 23rd March to Thursday 29th March.

Highlight of the week: British R&B Night, BBC4 Friday 23rd March 8.30pm onwards.
BBC 4 devote their regular Friday night music programming slot to an evening of shows concerning the 1960s R&B boom in Britain. Shows include a rare screening of 1964 music show the Beat Room, documentaries on Long John Baldrey and John Mayall as well as a Rock Family Tree, tracing the development of scene in the 60s.

Coming soon: A new Modculture?

After many years of faithful service, the current layout of Modculture is starting to look its age. So as of next week, I'm going to start getting some ideas together for the much-promised website re-design.

And here's where you come in.

As someone who uses the site, I'd like your ideas on where to go. If you have any thoughts on a layout, new content you would like to see and content you would prefer not to see, please let us know.

In addition, if you want to contribute on any level to the site, it's a good time to put your name forward. Article writers, reviewers, section editors - anything at all would be appreciated.

If you want to get involved, please get in touch.

Contact the Modculture website

BBC4's British R&B Night

Set the video (or DVD recorder) on Friday 23rd March for BBC4's R&B Night.

Some potentially top-notch shows, including The Beat Room, with performances from the likes of John Lee Hooker and The Kinks. That's followed by Long John Baldry - In The Shadow Of The Blues, then Rock Family Trees covering the British R&B scene and a documentary on John Mayall.

It all kicks off from 8:30pm.

Find out more at the BBC4 website

Glasgow Mod Weekender

The first details of this year's Glasgow Mod Weekender are now online.

It all takes places from Thursday 28th June to Sunday 1st July at Glasgow's Brunswick hotel, with the usual top-notch DJ line-up, bands, daytime events and scooter cruise. Check out the listing in the events section for more details, along with details of discounted accomodation if you want to stay at the Brunswick Hotel itself.

Find out more about the Glasgow Mod Weekender