Welcome to Craig's rock and roll circus

Musical rehearsal rooms with a difference open old factory

By Richard Edwards (1st December)

(The YEP got Craig's name wrong as did we when we sent him a myspace email. SORRY Craig!
The day is yet young! Anyway if you would like to get in contact with The Rock and Roll Circus then visit http://www.myspace.com/therockandrollcircusleeds)

Rest of story as it appears in the YEP



IT is a psychedelic scene inspired by some of the legends of British music.
Tucked away in part of Leeds's former industrial heartland is The Rock 'n' Roll Circus, a set of rehearsal rooms with a difference.
Walking through the door into the former munitions factory, in Armley, is like stepping back in time.
The decorations are red with yellow trim, with big drapes hanging from the ceilings, circus big-top style.
Some walls are adorned with striking artwork of artists like The Beatles, The Libertines and Captain Beefheart, while one corner is devoted to a montage of poems and photographs.
Candles burn in the corners, while one wall is home to gold and platinum discs presented to musical heavyweights such as Alice Cooper, The Beach Boys and Pink Floyd.
Owner Craig Penington, who is in Leeds band A Love Supreme, said the circus was designed to get artists' creative juices flowing.
He said: "Rehearsal rooms are meant to be a stage in the creative process, not a stark, empty box. This place is designed to be inspiring."
The circus, in Canal Road, is based on The Rolling Stones's famous 1960s project, also called The Rock 'n' Roll Circus.
That event saw The Stones joined by performers such as John Lennon and Marianne Faithful for a legendary gig in a mocked-up big top.
Characters
Craig said: "That gig was about as eclectic as you can get. We wanted to be eclectic in here, to offer people playing different styles different things. That's why the three rooms have individual characters."
The rooms are dedicated to some of the most influential artists in history.
The first, the Don Van Vliet Lounge, is dedicated to Beefheart, Cafe Wah is a homage to Bob Dylan, while Barrett's Bunker is a tribute to Pink Floyd founder member Syd Barrett.
The rooms have already been musically christened at an opening party that attracted 120 people and a flood of early bookings.
Craig, 23, said he has set his prices low to make the circus accessible to all.
He is also working closely with Leeds City Council's Urban Fusion music project.
He added: "It is here for the community, not to extract wealth from it. That is why the prices won't be expensive."
richard.edwards@ypn.co.uk

The YEP got Craig's name wrong as did we when we sent him a myspace email. SORRY Craig!
The day is yet young! Anyway if you would like to get in contact with The Rock and Roll Circus then visit http://www.myspace.com/therockandrollcircusleeds

Down to a Tea Dance.....YEP 5th Sept 2006

Down to a tea dance
Back to the Roaring Forties for a party with a difference, they've got it...

BY SOPHIE HAZAN
IT is a line-up of characters that Leeds playwright Alan Bennett would be proud of.
From the (self-proclaimed) Lady Mayoress of Armley, Emma Bearman, to bingo caller Rusty Nail, aka Julian Coburn-Hough, they're here to entertain you.
Now the pair, along with their musical and artistic neighbours, are busy concocting their latest social event in St Ives Mount in Armley to bring back community spirit.
Riding on the back of the success of a recent street party they will hold The Very Marvellous Armley Tea Dance on Saturday.
With tea pot and jug of Pimms to hand, the hosts of the afternoon will be fashion lecturer Angie Coburn-Hough, 42, and hat-designer Donna Wright, 27, with a vintage 1940s wardrobe.
A swing band promises to coax guests to their feet and there is a prize for the best dressed couple.
Angie, who works at Leeds University, said: "Donna and I really love entertaining. People love things from the past. Not everyone wants sound systems, trendy bars and glo sticks."
Obsession
For a time Donna and Angie and their musician partners lived together under the same roof on St Ives Mount when the women realised Donna's baking and Angie's obsession with tea sets could be put to good use. Two years ago they threw their first Tea Shed – afternoon tea and fairy cakes served to guests from a shed set up at the I Love West Leeds festival.
Angie said: "It brought the whole community together. The key to any of the parties we throw as a group is they are a different from another night in at the pub."

Emma Bearman, 33, who has a blue paper plaque outside her home proclaiming her 'mayoress' title, even wrote to Alan Bennett asking him to be patron of her Armley Tourist Board.
She said: "I never expected him to write back but he did and politely refused the offer but said Armley still sounded like a good old fashioned place."
The Very Marvellous Armley Tea Dance is on Saturday, 3pm-7pm at Interplay Theatre on Armley Ridge Road.
Entry costs £5 on the door and includes a fairy cake and a cup of tea.
For more information or to book Angie and Donna call 07989 224908.
To find out more about what is happening in Armley log-on to www.tatb.blogspot.com
sophie.hazan@ypn.co.uk

05 September 2006

Kaiser groupies hiding in Charlie Cake park already?

You can have it all The conversion of a former boys’ school is bringing smart apartments to a grim Leeds suburb, reports Jayne Dowle

SO, ARMLEY is the new Wandsworth? If there were property hype awards that would surely take first prize this year. Armley, a suburb of Leeds, is known for the prison of that name — just like Wandsworth. It is a land of pound shops and red-brick terraced streets, where washing hangs out at the front. Armley is only ten minutes from Leeds city centre on the bus yet is a world away from Harvey Nicks and smart apartments. You could hardly call Armley the Wandsworth of the North, but change is certainly in the air. Young buyers and people who rent, priced out of Headingley and Chapel Allerton, are moving in, bringing bars, restaurants and a Tesco Express in their wake. “That means you can now buy such luxury items as Parma ham,” says Maria Dempsey, 33, an Armley resident. “A couple of years ago, you couldn’t even buy parmesan around here.” The developer, Citu, hopes that its conversion of the former West Leeds Boys’ High School into one and two-bedroom loft apartments will help to transform the area’s grim reputation. Make that a conversion of a conversion. The imposing Grade II listed Victorian school was converted into duplex apartments in 1999 by the North British Housing Association, but when government rules on affordable housing changed this year it became available for refurbishment. The mezzanine galleries in former classrooms and double-glazed windows were in, but the style was distinctly institutional. This remains in the wide corridors of the common areas, but the garish colours and tatty carpet are going. Out, too, will go the bright yellow kitchen units; in will come white gloss. Up comes the cheap laminate flooring; down go wooden floorboards. Mac Maclean, of Citu, says that the attention to interior details and subsequent price increase will keep bulk investors at bay. Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he? There is, however, a fighting chance that the majority of residents will be owner-occupiers. There are only 66 apartments, and many former tenants are interested in buying. Owners can work with Citu’s designers to create bespoke interiors. Maclean says: “There will be a wide palette of styles, finishes and colours, so people can have exactly what they want.” This seems ambitious, but if it works it is a bonus in apartments priced from £115,000 to £220,000, and aimed at first-time and younger buyers. What they will be st ruck by is an abundance of exposed brickwork. This uneven surface means that the overall finish is not quite as neat as it might be. In the show apartment bathroom, for example, the towel rail looks distinctly wonky, nailed into bare brick. The kitchens come with a Baumatic halogen hob and a huge fridge with a water-dispenser as standard. Heating is individually controlled gas. Furniture packs, from £6,000 (with 42in plasma television), and art work for the walls are available. Leases are 999-year, service charge and ground rent about £750 and £100 a year. The apartments, ranging from 500 sq ft to 850 sq ft, are not huge, but the two-bedroom ones feel more spacious than comparable city-centre flats. The high classroom ceilings help. Each flat has only one bathroom, so sharers will have to manage without the luxury of an en suite. But what’s an en suite when you could be sharing your staircase with the Kaiser Chiefs? Ricky Wilson, the singer with the Leeds band, is buying one of the penthouses that will sit either side of the bell tower. Two flats are also planned for the former launderette on the ground floor. If you are going to live in Armley, this is the place to be. “The apartments here are not what you would expect, and that’s what attracted me to them,” Wilson says. “They are the start of a whole new era for the area.” Ah, the area. Up the hill, away from the main drag of Town Street (they don’t go in for fancy names round here), it is surprisingly rural. However, at the back of Old School Lofts is a new Barratt estate showcasing the very best in ghastly modern house design. And another one is going up a few fields away. Surrounding the building are standard scrubby plants and paving. Each flat has one parking space, but extra spaces can be bought outright for £8,000. Before making any decisions about parking, buyers should be advised that it is a 15-minute walk to downtown Armley. Which could be a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on how the invading armies from Headingley fare in the great deli wars. Follow link to original post in Times Online

Wind Turbines in Armley.....

ENVIRONMENTALIST Mike Collins has won planning permission to become the first Leeds resident to erect a wind turbine on the side of his house.
The written confirmation landed on the mat at his Armley address just days after his frustrations over delays were aired in the Yorkshire Evening Post.

It took Leeds City Council four months to consider whether the green machine should be installed at the semi-detached family home on Hill Top Road – possibly the highest point in Leeds.
Semi-retired Mr Collins, 66, will now set about finalising the design of the £4,000 turbine, which should be providing all the household's electricity by September.
Any extra energy produced will be pumped back into the National Grid.
Planning inspectors are due to visit his home tomorrow.
Mr Collins said: "I got back from holiday at the weekend to find the letter lying there waiting for me. It was not exceedingly rapid action, but it has actually been granted.
Blades
"I have waited for two months after the decision deadline date to hear what they were going to do, so my reaction was 'About time.'
"If the inspectors say that everything is fine and there is no problem, I will say to them 'How soon can you put it up?' "
Specific concerns raised by Leeds City Council officers involved the potential noise of the structure, which has blades measuring 2.1m in diameter.
No objections have ever been lodged against Mr Collins's plan, and an engineer's report describes the device as "phenomenally quiet".
A Government subsidy will help with installation costs, and the turbine will ideally be installed on the roof gable end at the rear of the house, Mr Collins explained.
Mr Collins has estimated it will take three to four years for the turbine to pay for itself.
The council previously explained that delays had been down to the unusual nature of the application.
They stressed the fact that they "positively encourage such sustainable energy initiatives".

sophie.hazan@ypn.co.uk