Preview Shop Til You Drag & Drop
Two days of community led music, art and film comes to Armley Town Street
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If you happen across Armley Town Street next weekend you’ll find a microcosm of creative activity. Vegan food will be served by NHS helpdesk staff on tables decorated by a design and technology teacher. On stage there’ll be an IT technician throwing herself at her band-mates in multicoloured catsuit. The guy who wrote the theme tune to ‘Deal Or No Deal’ will be resplendent in white leotard and peaked cap, creating bleeps and bloops from an awe-inspiring synth made from a full-size ship’s wheel. The Quack Quack film premiering in the room next door was shot and edited by a technical writer, a doctor of molecular virology and a secretary-slash-burlesque dancer. And your Saturday night DJ is, rather fittingly for the location, a debt counsellor.
Musicians and artists have moved to Armley in the last few years, attracted by the lower cost of living compared to neighbouring Hyde Park. It’s probably fair to say that the bohemian leanings of LS6 have not followed. Armley is a much-maligned part of Leeds, hosting four modern-day pawnbrokers, three cheque cashing joints and a will-writing shop, the likes of which I’ve never seen before (and, sadly, that’s a typically dubious accolade for LS12).
Until the end of February we have the I Love West Leeds arts festival to thank for an oasis of sanity on Town Street. Their temporary tenancy has transformed a former pharmacy into a gallery, a photographic and dance studio and a place to get your bike fixed for free.
I’ve been running ‘Drag & Drop’ nights in Armley for a while, but when I was offered the chance to get involved in the Shop I was over the moon. This was our chance to take the fun to the high street – all I needed was the time and energy of the local music community, and true to form, they’ll be out in force. On Saturday 29th January the Shop becomes our pop-up gig venue, showcasing some of the best underground bands in Leeds. On Sunday, local cinema group Miniciné and start-up business Yestercake will be screening locally made short films, baking vegan cakes and brewing up bottomless cups of Yorkshire tea.
I can see how people might not understand why we’re all giving up a weekend to work for nowt, so I’ll surmise by saying this. Any opportunity to take control of a small piece of your neighbourhood is pure recreation; doubly so in an era of funding cuts in a downtrodden area when such opportunities are fast disappearing. There are so many people volunteering to show you what is bubbling under the surface in Armley and the surrounding area. We would love you to come along and see it all. Maybe we can make our high street the envy of the whole city – even if just for the weekend.
Shop Til You Drag & Drop takes place at the I Love West Leeds Shop and Rock & Roll Circus on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th January, 2011. For a full weekend programme please visit http://drag.anddrop.co.uk
Posted on Thursday 20th January 2011
Claire Circuit
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