Rock City is 35

Rock City - surely the leading light of UK venues which smell of pickled onions - has just turned 35, and to celebrate, the Nottingham Evening Post has compiled a list of favourite memories. Like this one:

Tara Dunne

The Comsat Angels, Wall of Voodoo and U2 for two quid. Bono climbed the speaker stack into the lighting rig while singing and got stuck up there. They had to stop the gig and get a ladder to rescue him. The 40 or so people that were there gave him 20 minutes of verbal abuse and I guarantee he heard every word.

This is a story which should be told every Christmas.

[Spotted in @badger5000's Twitter stream]

Retailobit: Brian Selby

Brian Selby, who founded legendary Nottingham record shop Selectadisc, has died.

Selectadisc was always the highlight of any visit to Nottingham; a place where long-forgotten Revolving Paint Dream singles would dangle tantalisingly at reasonable prices from the walls.

Brian also created The Garage nightclub in Nottingham's Lace Market, and that made a difference, too. DJ Graeme Park explains how to the Nottingham Post:

Everybody who worked there used to go there because it used to a have a reggae sound system and it was the only place in Nottingham that wasn't like a Ritzy or full of idiots.

Selectadisc opened a London branch, which is frozen in time on the front of some sort of record; Selby eventually sold up in 2008 as the changing shape of the music industry started to have an impact.

Brian was 71; his family have set up a campaign in his memory to help the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund.

Gennaro Castaldo Watch: HMV stands aloof from the nuptials

While all of Nottingham is going crazy for Chinless-Wonder-Wedding promotions, HMV will hold itself aloof. Head of Turn That Noise Down It's Only A Bloody Wedding for HMV, Gennaro Castaldo, explained:

HMV is selling wedding-related products but no stores are holding events.

Gennaro Castaldo, press officer for the chain, said: "Companies are just conscious of not looking like they are cashing in and doing it for the sake of it."

A massive thought bubble, reading 'let's hope they don't realise it's because we couldn't afford a yard of bunting, never mind a lifesize cutout of Kate Middleton' appeared briefly above his head.

It's nice to know that the wedding stuff HMV is selling isn't an attempt to "cash in" on the wedding. Presumably those downloads and CDs Gennaro is excited at shifting are being sold at cost, as a public service?

Darren Hayman attacked in Nottingham

I suspect this might be a Tweet Darren Hayman wishes he'd never sent:

I'm in nottingham. Most violent city in uk im told. Come see me play!

A few hours later - on Saturday night - he and The Secondary Modern were attacked in the city. The Nottingham Evening Post reports:

Members of the band, Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern, were driving along Curzon Street, St Ann's, in a Toyota Previa, at around 12.15am on Saturday when the suspects approached the car.

A white teenager then dragged the driver out of the vehicle and punched and kicked him as he lay on the floor.

A black teenager got into the driver's seat and tried to push the passenger out the car and start the vehicle.

When the passenger resisted both the offenders fled and were joined by two or three other black teenagers. During the attack the robbers stole a sum of cash.

Darren, who was driving, was seriously injured; he was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with a fractured skull.

Best wishes to Darren for a quick recovery.

Record shop of horrors: Selectadisc closes

Not exactly first with the news on this one - apologies to Peter D who emailed me with the story at the end of last month and got stuck on the pending pile.

And it's not good news, either: Nottingham's Selectadisc has closed, taking with it the third most successful independent record shop in the country. And one of the best ones, although not a profitable store:

The store’s owner Phil Barton says the shop has been unprofitable for many years and he had no more money to put into the business.

“Everyone here has crawled across the field of broken glass to keep this open, but in the end it didn’t work,” he explains.

“I think it is one of the top three independent stores in Britain. But that doesn’t stop it being uneconomic. Everyone here is aware of tough things have been for the last two years.”

I have really fond memories of Selectadisc, a visit to which could always soothe the soul before embarking into the beer-soaked-carpets of hell that were Rock City; not least the day my friend spotted a copy of the Revolving Paint Dream album for a tenner there one day. Which was a steal, although I don't think the undervaluing could have contributed to the collapse of the store. This was a bit back in the past.

Music Week suggests there are now 305 indie stores left in the UK, which is better than I'd have guessed at, but a quarter down on the number last year.

Not in Nottingham again: Arcade Fire bottled

Nottingham is unlikely to see a gig by the Arcade Fire in the future, after the band were hit by bottles during their Nottingham Arena show. Although it's possible Win Butler was hit by a shoe rather than a bottle, but the point remains the same.