Who’s Got The Kraak?

So until I get me a new blog I’m going to squat my old one, unloved since 2007.

Aware that proclamations of future direction are many a blogger’s downfall, I’ll start with links and footnotes to some recent writings, adding video or context, and take it from there.

The post title comes from the Dutch word for squat, Kraak, which also happens to be a new gallery space in Stephenson Square. This Friday sees the opening of an exhibition there by Steve Gullick, the music photographer who shot iconic images for folk such as Melody Maker and NME in the nineties, including some of the most memorable portraits of Kurt Cobain.

When Cobain died, Gullick realised these pictures would be in high demand, and set the money aside. This was used later to fund Careless Talk Costs Lives, a music magazine co-founded with Everett True in January 2002, which started at issue twelve and counted down, stopping at a dozen, and spawning Plan B and Loose Lips Sink Ships as its legacy.

Kraak seems like a good thing to be happening in Manchester now, where many institutions feel staid, and the city centre seems so developed there are few spaces with much crackle to them. Gullick's photographs always hold the attention for a beat longer on magazine pages, so it will be great to see them exhibited as portraits. He will be leading an exhibition tour on March 27^th, and if you fancy seeing his band The Tenebrous Liar (and you really should), they’re playing The Bay Horse this Thursday night.

Image of Royal Trux - London 1999, Steve Gullick.