LeftLion - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

LeftLion is a printed and online culture and listings magazine which covers Nottingham

Nottingham

Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...

, with a specific focus on the local music and arts scene. It was originally set up by Alan Gilby, Tim Bates and Jared Wilson and the website was launched on 1 September 2003. The first issue of the Magazine came out a year later in Autumn 2004. The organisation takes its name from a stone lion in Nottingham's Old Market Square

Old Market Square

The Old Market Square is an open, pedestrianised city square in Nottingham, England. It is the largest such surviving square in the United Kingdom, forming the heart of the city, and covering an area of approximately 22,000 m²....

, which since Nottingham Council House

Nottingham Council House

Nottingham Council House is the city hall of Nottingham, England. The iconic high dome that rises above the city is the centrepiece of the skyline and presides magnificently over the Old Market Square....

was built in the 1920s has been known as a meeting point

Meeting point

A meeting point is a geographically defined place where people meet - both for tourists and citizens. They are often landmarks which gain the reputation and become a popular as a safe and convenient place for people to meet....

for people in Nottingham City Centre

Nottingham City Centre

Nottingham city centre is the cultural, commercial, financial and historical heart of Nottingham, England. Nottingham's city centre represents the central area of the Greater Nottingham conurbation....

Contributors

Lead singer of The Wonder Stuff

The Wonder Stuff

The Wonder Stuff are a British alternative rock band, originally based in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in the Black Country, England.-Origins:...

, Miles Hunt

Miles Hunt

Miles Hunt is the singer / guitarist and songwriter for the Stourbridge, England-based Alternative Rock band The Wonder Stuff.- Early life :His father was a union official for the TGWU...

is a regular writer, as are Tom Hathaway (author of Full Bacon Jacket), Al Needham (Nottingham's Mr. Sex), Rob Cutforth (award-winning Canadian blogger), Nathan Miller, Roger Mean and LeftLion Editor Jared Wilson. The magazine is equally well known for its strong visual appeal due to a talented artistic team run by Art Director David Blenkey and Photo Editor Dominic Henry. This team includes Si Mitchell, Rob White, Rikki Marr, Al Greer, Jon Rouston and more.

Interviewees

People who have been interviewed in the pages of their magazine include Paul Smith

Paul Smith (fashion designer)

Sir Paul Smith jr, RDI, is an English fashion designer, whose business and reputation is founded upon his menswear. He is both commercially successful and highly respected within the fashion industry....

, The Prodigy

The Prodigy

The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s...

, Juliette Lewis

Juliette Lewis

Juliette Lewis is an American actress and musician. She gained international fame for her role in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear for which she was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress...

, Roots Manuva

Roots Manuva

Rodney Hylton Smith , better known by his stage name Roots Manuva, is a British rapper from Stockwell, South London. He is currently signed to Big Dada.-Biography:...

, Dizzee Rascal

Dizzee Rascal

Dylan Kwabena Mills , better known by his stage name Dizzee Rascal, is a Ghanaian British rapper, songwriter and record producer. His music is a blend of garage, hip hop, grime, ragga, pop and electronic music, with eclectic samples and more exotic styles...

, David Nobbs

David Nobbs

David Gordon Nobbs is an English comedy writer.Following an education at Marlborough College and Cambridge University, Nobbs wrote for many of Britain's comedy performers over the years, including Kenneth Williams, Frankie Howerd, Les Dawson and The Two Ronnies...

, Noel Fielding

Noel Fielding

Noel Fielding is a British artist, comedian and actor. He is known for his roles as Vince Noir in The Mighty Boosh, which he co-writes with comedy partner Julian Barratt, and as team captain on the music panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks.-Stand-up comedy:Noel Fielding performed regularly as a...

, Ed Byrne

Ed Byrne

Ed Byrne is a Perrier Award-nominated, Irish stand-up comedian, voice over artist and actor. He has presented television shows Uncut! Best Unseen Ads and Just for Laughs, and is a regular guest on various television panel games...

, Shane Meadows

Shane Meadows

Shane Meadows is an English film director, screenwriter, occasional actor and BAFTA winner.-Background:Meadows grew up in the Westlands Road area of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. His father was a long distance lorry driver and his mother worked in a fish and chip shop...

, Jonathan Glazer

Jonathan Glazer

Jonathan Glazer is an English director of films, commercials and music videos.-Biography:After studying theatre design at Nottingham Trent University, Glazer started out directing theatre and making film and television trailers, including award-winning work for the BBC...

, Klaxons

Klaxons

Klaxons are a British indie rock band, based in London. Following the release of numerous 7-inch singles on different independent record labels, as well as the success of previous singles "Magick" and "Golden Skans", the band released their debut album, Myths of the Near Future on 29 January 2007....

, Jon McGregor

Jon mcgregor

Jon McGregor is a British author who has written three novels; If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, which was nominated for the 2002 Booker Prize, winner of the Betty Trask Prize and winner of the Somerset Maugham Award in 2003, and So Many Ways to Begin, which was published in 2006 and also...

and The Sheriff of Nottingham. As well as hundreds of Nottingham-based musicians, artists and other creative types who have received exposure alongside these bigger names. They were also the only media organisation who ever interviewed Frank Robinson

Frank Robinson (Xylophone Man)

Frank Robinson was an eccentric street entertainer in Nottingham, England. He was by far Nottingham's best known busker and was regularly seen around Nottingham City Centre for over fifteen years. His favourite busking place was outside of the C&A store in the Lister Gate area of the city.Little...

Awards and press

In late 2006 and 2007, LeftLion were nominated for a series of awards including Best Free Music Magazine by Record of the Day, Ambassadors of Nottingham by BBC Radio Nottingham

BBC Radio Nottingham

BBC Radio Nottingham is a BBC Local Radio station serving the English county of Nottinghamshire. It broadcasts on FM, AM, and digital DAB radio from studios located on London Road in Nottingham city centre.-Transmission frequences:...

and for their use of Technology in the Nottingham Creative Business Awards. The Nottingham Evening Post

Nottingham Evening Post

The Nottingham Post is an English tabloid newspaper which serves Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and parts of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire....

referred to them as "the high priests of Nottingham culture".

In 2009 LeftLion won the 'Writing

Writing

Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...

and Publishing

Publishing

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

' award at the Nottingham Creative Business Awards, in a ceremony held at the Nottingham Council House

Nottingham Council House

on Wednesday 7 October 2009. They were also runners up for the award of Creative Business of the Year.

Events

LeftLion also gives its name to regular free music nights at venues in the city featuring bands from the area, a weekly pub quiz and has produced a series of podcasts. During 2006 LeftLion worked closely with A Drop In The Ocean, a highly ambitious city-wide music festival that raised £27,200 for charity. Musical acts and artists that have played at LeftLion events include Amusement Parks on Fire

Amusement Parks on Fire

Amusement Parks on Fire are a shoegaze band from Nottingham, England.The band was formed by Michael Feerick in 2004, who wrote and performed all the instruments for the self-titled debut album...

, Thepetebox

Thepetebox

THePETEBOX is a beatboxer from Southwell, Nottinghamshire, who now lives in Nottingham, UK. He was crowned the Radio 1 beatbox champion in 2005. - Biography :THePETEBOX is a human beatboxer and live looper from the UK...

, Lightspeed Champion

Lightspeed Champion

Devonté Hynes , better known as Lightspeed Champion or Blood Orange, is a British composer, songwriter, producer and author, who has written for artists such as Florence and the Machine, Diana Vickers and The Chemical Brothers on their 2007 Grammy award winning album We Are The Night...

, The Hellset Orchestra, Love Ends Disaster!

Love Ends Disaster!

Love Ends Disaster! are an experimental indie rock band, heralding from Nottingham and Loughborough, England.-Career:Love Ends Disaster! formed whilst at University in Loughborough and Nottingham...

, Rapunzel MAP, Bent

Bent (band)

Bent are an electronica act from Nottingham in England, consisting of Neil "Nail" Tolliday and Simon Mills. They gained critical acclaim from their debut album Programmed to Love in 2000....

, Crazy Penis

Crazy Penis

Crazy Penis are an electronic music group from the United Kingdom, formed around 1995 by Chris Todd and Jim Baron.-History:...

, The Smears, Alice Rock, Model Morning, Old Basford, The Elementz, Cappo, Kids In Tracksuits and artists from local labels like Stressed Records and Dealmaker Records. LeftLion also run a web forum for friendly Nottingham people to chat about the city and its goings on.

External links

LeftLion links

LeftLion contributor links

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