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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 2025).

The Things They Say!

This is a good opportunity to say thanks to BSH for their support of the jazz scene in the North East (and beyond) - it's no exaggeration to say that if it wasn't for them many, many fine musicians, bands and projects across a huge cross section of jazz wouldn't be getting reviewed at all, because we're in the "desolate"(!) North. (M & SSBB on F/book 23/12/24)

Postage

17655 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 929 of them this year alone and, so far, 74 this month (Dec. 31).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Mon 06: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 07: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.

Wed 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 08: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 09: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: John H Hammond.
Thu 09: FILM: Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. 2:35pm. Documentary (dir. Johan Grimonprez) ‘about jazz, (de)colonial history and activism featuring Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie’.
Thu 09: Happy Tuesdays @ Ye Olde Cross, Ryton. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 09: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 09: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. The session now monthly, next one Thursday 2nd Feb, then first Thursday in the month thereafter.

Fri 10: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 10: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free.

Sat 11: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 11: Under the Wellie @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 12: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: King Bees @ The Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.
Sun 12: Dave Bottomley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar.
Sun 12: Jack Pearce Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Friday, May 12, 2017

Look! The Broken Doll! The Globe!

(Report by Russell)
Currently on show at the Literary and Philosophical Society on Westgate Road in Newcastle is an ongoing exhibition of photographs from the West Newcastle Picture History Collection. The theme is ‘pubs and clubs’ to be found within a few square miles west of Newcastle city centre. Stretching west of St James’ Boulevard to Scotswood Bridge (within spitting distance of Blaydon Jazz Club!) and north to Stamfordham Road in Westerhope, black and white prints on show in the Lit & Phil’s ground floor exhibition space give an indication of west Newcastle’s once flourishing pub trade.

Most of the hostelries are long gone, all, no doubt, with a tale to tell. The Broken Doll stood as an old-style spit and sawdust boozer on Blenheim Street. Matthew Charlton beers were on the bar. A lick of paint would have ruined the place, a public house without redecoration since the year dot. A Saturday afternoon blues venue par excellence (the Blues Burglars were regulars, the joint packed to the rafters), ‘progress’ intervened. The Broken Doll was demolished to make way for St James’ Boulevard (never a more ludicrous name for a road in a northern ‘post’ industrial town), memories survive intact. Broken Doll t-shirts were de rigueur, today a collector’s item.
One photograph on show – taken in 2005 – describes one premises as the last pub on Scotswood Road. That pub is the Globe. Rescued and revived by the Newcastle Jazz Co-op, today the Globe is a thriving shareholder-owned jazz venue. Prints are available to purchase, call in to the Lit & Phil for details.
Russell         

3 comments :

Unknown said...

The beer was supplied by Mathew Brown. Great pub :)

Russell said...

Yes, Matthew Brown. Thanks for the correction. Who (hick!) is Matthew Charlton?

Bob said...

The Matthew Charlton Home Improvement, DIY, Plumbing and builders merchant has operated within Northumberland for 171 years.

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