Questionmarc / Graeme Park
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issue29,issue29,june-july2009june-july2009 TWENTY20 VISION THE WORLD OF CRICKET COMES TO NOTTINGHAM QUESTIONMARC / GRAEME PARK XYLOPHONE MAN / JOHN HARVEY FULL NOTTINGHAM EVENTS LISTINGS GNP LEFTLION AD 08:Layout 1 12/5/09 11:59 Page 1 July 4th sees the fifth anniversary of the passing of the one and only Frank Robinson. Al Needham attempts to pin down the reason he was so beloved in Notts … illustration: Hayley Donna Clarke · scored by: Michael Wetherburn · original composition: Frank Robinson Five years. Is it really that long? Half a decade since we heard that sound? The magnificent cacophony of randomness that went; “Bing Bong Bing Bang Bong”? If you weren’t here when Nottingham was under the rule of Xylophone Man, you missed out. Town hasn’t really been the same since. LeftLion Magazine Issue 29 Here’s the story: at some point in the 1980s, a contents June - July 2009 editorial man in his late fifties from Cotgrave came to Youths and ducks, boggaz and boggarettez, town armed with a child’s metallophone and a crate, which he plonked down outside the C&A Whenever people ask us why LeftLion has managed to keep going for so long (it’ll be the mag’s fifth birthday next on Lister Gate, and banged away on. At the issue, so get the jelly and ice cream ready) while other free same tune. Over and over again. First time you mags are shutting up shop and even the professional ones heard it, you swore blind that you knew it. You are looking a bit nervous, I can give ‘em a long answer and a short one. The former explanation would take up the never did; it remained on the tip of your brain entire mag, so I’ll give you the latter: Xylophone Man. He’s forever. Like the obsessed artist returning to been almost like a guardian angel to us, and not because the same canvas for one more splash until the we all write our articles by bashing at a keyboard with wooden mallets and shouting “WAYYYY!” at the end of paint was three inches thick, he chiselled away each sentence. He was the first indication that we were on at his magnum opus until his dying day. the right track. Let me explain: back in the day, when LeftLion first Nottingham being the big city with the small started, in a conversation between three people in a town attitude it is, it wasn’t long before he got pub (none of whom were me), it was a reaction to the a nickname (Xylophone Man, naturally – we’re general rubbishness of media in Notts. The local so-called 07 12 15 independent TV station was pulling out of town, and not interested in poncy wordplay round here) eventually started broadcasting East Midlands news from and the rumours spread. He was a millionaire Birmingham. The newsdesk of another local radio station was based in London, and the local rag…well, it didn’t who had gone a bit mad. He was a musical seem to like Nottingham at all, and couldn’t be bothered to extortionist who would target shops in town, work out what people really wanted to read about. banging away until the manager came out with 04 May Contain Notts 11 A Billion Eyes on Nottingham 21 Nottingham Events Listings By the time C&A had changed into H&M,Nottingham’s he ‘MrAxeman, Sex’ stripes who the used to hangThe Twenty20 about Worldthe rack Cup comes of to made youIf it’s smile.happening How in Notts, many it’s in other here. people can a tenner. He was an undercover Fed. He was Case in point; there was a bloke in town mashing a was already a civic treasure. I spent muchcity of across its barebadges buttocks at with Pendulum the Recordstown, so in for ViccyGod’s sake Market look busy. you sayAnd that if it’s about? not in Notts, we care not a xylophone who’d been at it for over a decade, that everyone suspected of being everything but the thing buckle of his Newsy Belt. jot. knew about, and who was far more well-known than any this time away from Nottingham, and whenever and brag on to twelve year-old Mods about he actually was; a genial old chap bonging the chapter of Hells Angels Park Drive,he commandeered Unfiltered local politician or captain of industry - and it did our heads I got into conversations about where I came 12 Now all that’s left is a memorial in the spotin that no-one had even thought about talking to him. So we away on a metallophone and yelping along to 05 LeftEyeOn (even though no-one hasNottingham’s ever seen greatest him onDJ talks a to the 26 Write Lion from, 100% of people who had been thereWarning: would explicit images of morris ‘Lion. where heBook regularly reviews and played.a Lowdham In Festival a perfect did.world, And it not only got us noticed in the city, but elsewhere himself with undisguised glee because, well, he - the website was hit up all over the globe by expats, and say “Loved it – great shops, load of pubs,dancers. and motorbike). Cross-dressing ‘Denis’ still treats every fourthspecial. of July should be commemorated wanted to. And he carried on doing the same Mansfield Road as his own personal catwalk, the curious. When he died, we were bombarded with that bloke on the xylophone”. Whenever you Punktuation with us all gathering round it, armed withrequests from professional media organisations to run the thing for almost two decades. 15 came back to see your family, the first07 thing King you Bong and Whycliffe is still Whycliffe.Questionmarc breaks his (or her) kiddie28 xylophones,Reviews and starting a minute-longinterview, as they couldn’t believe the reaction in Notts. The ballad of Frank Robinson, the silence and explains all. Another all-Notts serving of dolphin- We could. We felt the same way. We also knew that we did was seek out the tinkly cacophony of mallet clatter of noise at noon. And here’s a thought; Which leads to the obvious question: was he one and only Xylophone Man. friendly tunage. were filling a gap that other local media didn’t even realise None of them have ever come close to the was there. Spending so much of our free time hunched over on metal to remind you that you were home. Artist Profiles there’s a reasonable chance that he will be mad? Well, you can’t hit the same bit of metal level of affection we had for Xylophone Man, keyboards for no financial remuneration whatsoever was, A Canadian In New Basford 18 Joe Hardy, Vicki Lawson, Cassie the only Notts person Trumps who lived in Notts during this for that long without not being a little bit 08 30 and continues to be, actually worth it So how come Frank Robinson hammered Our Rob becomesprobably a just a little because bit he didn’tThompson hassle and Anthonyus for Peskine. decade Plus that Rocky will Horrorscopes, be commemorated The Arthole for future batchy, but on certain days, after coming out of more British. and LeftLion Abroad. his way so deeply into our hearts? After all, money (he seemed to be quite happy to do it centuries, and after all of us have long gone,Obviously, now we’re on the cusp of the fifth anniversary your rammell job on a rammell day after a row Nottingham has never been short of ‘local for nothing), he didn’t20 tell Splendour us we were going to the time we spent on this particular partof theof death of Xylophone Man, we’ve taken the time to tip with your rammell boss over some meaningless John Harvey sizzle in Satan’s chip pan,The and return he of thedidn’t Wollation pretend all-dayer. the hat to him one more time (as well as getting in first on characters’. There was Mr Pope, the 10gentleman the planet – and all our travails, achievements,the Questionmarc enigma; having a chat with Graeme Park, rammell, you’d see Xylo bashing away with a The Resnick authorhe wason his somethingPolish he wasn’t. In a city that, of the road who was allowed to sit in thedetective’s last stand. hopes, dreams and fears - will be representedthe man who put Notts firmly on the dance music map; and smile on his face for some baccy money, and doorway of Selectadisc out of the rain (and like everywhere else, is becoming more and by an old man who never finished a tuneall the usual rammell you pick us up for). We dedicate this wonder who the really mad people in town issue not only to Frank, but to all local media types feeling the stench from whom caused people to avoid more anonymous and unfriendly by the year, properly, whilst sitting on a crate outside C&A. were. the pinch and mithering about their jobs, whether they’re entire letters in the record racks). There’s Xylo was someone that everyone knew, and How mint would that be? in competition with us or not. We’d also like to thank Tasha everyone liked. You saw him in town, and he Chowdhury, who is stepping down from the role of Music been a million Bible-bashers. There’s been Ed after many years of holding it down and keeping it Park Drive, Unfiltered locked. Ta, duckeh. words: Mike Atkinson photos: David Blenkey credits Word to your Nana, Two years ahead of the fabled 1988 Summer Of Love, The Garage on St Mary’s Gate became one of the first Editor Photography Editor Podcast Overlords Al Needham Al clubsNeedham -([email protected]) hell, perhaps even the firstDominic club Henry -([email protected]) in the country to specialiseWill Forrest in house music, (almost) all [email protected] long.