North East teens with The Beatles film revealed
May 16 2009 by Tony Henderson, The Journal
Archives show North East is a hotbed of music
MUSIC fans can watch archive film of North East bands later this month as part of an exhibition opening today at Newcastle Discovery Museum.
The North East Beat exhibition explores the region’s popular music scene from the 1940s to the present, with a range of memorabilia, photographs and objects loaned by bands, musicians and fans.
North East pop historian Chris Phipps provided both advice and items for the display, following his own personal exhibition on a similar theme at the Red Box Gallery in Newcastle.
Chris, who lives in South Shields, was producer on Tyne Tees TV’s The Tube from 1982-87.
He made the award-winning North Stars TV programme and wrote the book of the same title on the history of the region’s pop and rock output. On Tuesday, May 26 from 7.30pm-9pm at Discovery, Chris will give a talk and play footage of Tyneside bands which includes the first TV appearance of Dire Straits, the only surviving film of The Animals playing in the North East, and South Shields bands The Angelic Upstarts performing their anti-Thatcher song King Coal and Splinter singing Costafine Town, which was about Tyne Dock.
Tickets are free and can be collected from Discovery Museum’s shop or on the door.
Chris, who also gives regular talks on his subject, said yesterday: “ I want people to bring along their own memories and maybe we can all have a general debate. The North East has a fantastic popular music heritage. An incredible range of music has come from this area.”
