Searching For The Soul of the City with Mike Manson

We're back!

And we have a wonderful new episode to celebrate.

We chat to the legendary Patrick Duff (singer/songwriter, former frontman of Strangelove) about homeless busking on the streets of Bristol, trying (and succeeding?) to summon John Lennon's ghost in Abbey Road studios, a night of debauchery at a local Chinese restaurant and much, much more.

Buy Patrick's excellent new book here: https://www.tangentbooks.co.uk/shop/the-singer-by-patrick-duff

Mark Stewart returns to talk about his new album VS, as well as the city of Bristol and its music and supernatural phenomena. We also chat about noise music, its history and Bristol's relationship with the genre.

Buy the album: https://emergencyhearts.bandcamp.com/album/vs

Mark's website: https://www.markstewartmusic.com

Sol & Richard chat to Rhian Graham, one of the Colston 4, her partner Luke and historian and author Mark Steeds about the whole experience of toppling the statue, the trial and the aftermath following their acquittal.

Buy Mark's book: https://www.tangentbooks.co.uk/shop/new-from-wulfstan-to-colston-severing-the-sinews-of-slavery-in-bristol

We chat to Bristol Radical History Group members and co-authors of the fantastic book From Wulfstan To Colston: Severing The Sinews Of Slavery In Bristol, Mark Steeds and Roger Ball, about the Colston 4 verdict. They talk about how they contributed to the defence case, their reaction the verdict, some history of Colston and what the man was like and the horrific conditions of his slave trade, as well as some discussion of the merchant venturers and what Bristol should do now moving forward from this.

Clive Stevens returns for the fifth and final instalment of his series where he breaks down the central ideas of his fantastic book, After The Revolution, which you can buy from our website here: https://www.tangentbooks.co.uk/shop/pre-order-now-after-the-revolution-lessons-from-local-government-on-designing-a-dynamic-democracy

In this episode, Clive talks about proportional representation, Marvin Rees' leadership, the great white whale of the Bristol stadium and much more. 

Bristol author extraordinaire Mike Manson joins the pod to chat about his new book Manson's Bristol Miscellany and his search for the 'soul of the city'. We interrogate Mike on what exactly this soul is and where might it be found, whilst also offering our own muddled theories.

Buy Mike's new book Bristol Miscellany here, the perfect Christmas gift for every proud Bristolian.

https://www.tangentbooks.co.uk/shop/mansons-bristol-miscellany-pre-order-signed-copies

Richard and Sol chat to Phil Shepherd and Victoria Forbes Adam about their wonderful and inspiring book Bath Arts Workshop, based on the eccentric community of creatives who erupted a scene of counterculture upon Bath in the 70s. 

Clive Stevens return for the fourth instalment of his series where he breaks down the central ideas of his fantastic book After The Revolution, which you can buy from our website here: https://www.tangentbooks.co.uk/shop/pre-order-now-after-the-revolution-lessons-from-local-government-on-designing-a-dynamic-democracy

This episode deals with the notion of 'fairness' in society and politics.

Richard and Sol chat to Mark Stewart, lead vocalist of the legendary Bristol post-punk band The Pop Group, about the new Y in Dub album. Mark takes us on a musical odyssey through his own personal history with dub music to its influence on The Pop Group, as well as the history of the band and their experimental production style. 

Additional Music by Sol Wilkinson.

Sol, Richard and Mark Steeds tell each other 3 more spooky tales of Bristol's most haunted spots, but which are true and which are false?