Sheffield blog

A musical tribute from a Long island girl based in New york

Jim Buck left a comment on this blog earlier about Amy Allison, a Long island girl who used to live in Sheffield. The title track from her forthcoming album is this love song to the city called Sheffield streets:

And to quote directly from the information on the YouTube video page on monstersoftheid’s channel:

Back in the early 1980s, there used to be a pub in Sheffield called Woodstock diner. It was set out like an American diner, but of course the waitresses spoke with local accents – all except one: she not only looked straight out of a Woody Allen movie, but talked like it too. It turned out that her name was Amy Allison, and she had left Long island to live in Sheffield with her husband (I found that out when I met them both at an evening class).

Much to my surprise, Amy loved living in Sheffield! She adored Castle market; the Kashmir, on Spital hill; the Leadmill; and, of course, the beautiful suburbs and their framing countryside.

Most of all. Amy loved the friendliness of Sheffielders, so much so that when her husband wanted to move back to work in New york, she did her best to persuade him to stay. Her efforts were unsuccessful, and the couple returned to the US at the end of 1983.

A couple of months ago, I looked her up on Facebook; obviously, there were a lot of Amy Allisons to filter through; but I found her her eventually. Amy was really pleased to hear from me, because she had just recorded a new CD; it is called Sheffield streets. The title song is a love song to the city of Sheffield.

It is a great story and amazing to think that after 26 years away from Sheffield her fond memories are still vivid enough to inspire this touching tribute. Hearing all the local references sung in an Amy’s American accent over an alt-country backing is also quite cool.

The Woodstock diner is of course now the Prince of Wales pub in Ecclesall. I wonder if she ever served me up a knickerbocker glory on one of our Sunday lunchtime family visits?

Amy’s official website and MySpace page feature more of her music.

A picture a day from the steel city

If you like photos of Sheffield then this new photo blog and Twitter account is worth following. It does what it says on the tin: each day a new photo of the city is posted with accompanying comments giving some background information and related links.

Recent entries have included Sheffield’s smallest hotel, The three tuns and a contrasting picture of Old and new Sheffield.

Many of the pictures appear to be taken on the move and for now they are being taken using a camera phone, although the person behind it says that a better camera will be used soon. Perhaps one day it could grow into some sort of collaborative effort?

Find it at sheffielddailyphoto.blogspot.com and @sheffieldphoto on Twitter.

‘Sheffield just doesn’t seem to know how good it actually is’

People reading this blog who aren’t on Twitter may have missed the link posted at the end of last week to a great article on the Building Design website.

The author, Owen Hatherly, took a walk around the city for the magazine’s Urban trawl feature and the resulting article and follow-up blog post are well worth a read.

Eyebrows have been raised in the past in response to some of Sheffield’s planning decisions and buildings, however Owen recognises that our examples of post-war, modernist architecture are actually mostly better than what London has to offer.

Of course not everyone loves this style of building design, but reading his feature does make you look again at some of the city’s well-known landmark structures with a new appreciation.

Castle market is described as ‘a shopping centre with a weirdness and individuality that puts all the Arndales to shame’; the Manpower services building at Moorfoot and Jefferson Sheard’s electricity substation are ‘thrillingly paranoid Cold War megastructures’; and Park hill is labelled as ‘one of the great buildings of the century, anywhere – a truly astonishing architectural achievement’.

He also picks up on one of the reasons why local people have such affection for Sheffield: whichever way you look, the charming haphazard sprawl of the city is nearly always neatly framed by the beautiful surrounding countryside, which is only minutes away.

And his advice for ensuring that Sheffield remains such a unique place? We need to concentrate less on trying to be like everywhere else and spend more time celebrating the individuality of the city and its distinctive collection of buildings. With Sevenstone in the pipeline and Urban splash attempting a delicate balancing act with Park hill, this will no doubt prove quite a challenge.

Park hill: 'one of the great buildings of the century, anywhere - a truly astonishing architectural achievement'. Photo by Paolo Màrgari - paolomargari.it, used under the Creative Commons licence

May 2009 update

Here are this month’s additions to the list of Sheffield people and organisations of interest on  Twitter. The full directory can be found on the Sheffield Twitter users page.

Rocket – Broomhill-based design agency
http://twitter.com/rcktsheffield

University of Sheffield – the  university‘s central Twitter account
http://twitter.com/sheffielduni

Article – pop culture magazine
http://twitter.com/articlemagazine

Crucible theatre – theatre and home to the world snooker championships
http://twitter.com/crucibletheatre

Lyceum theatre – theatre
http://twitter.com/SheffieldLyceum

Wednesday night live – Creative Sheffield‘s summer season of Wednesday night events in town
http://twitter.com/WedNightLive

Bar one – Sheffield university student bar
http://twitter.com/shefuni_barone

Mr Ben fancy dress – Crookes-based fancy dress store
http://twitter.com/Mrbenfancydress

Sheffield centre – Church army’s research unit
http://twitter.com/SheffieldCentre

Rhyme and reason – children’s bookshop at Hunter’s bar
http://twitter.com/ShefBooks

Remember the name – publisher of Replay magazine
http://twitter.com/richardfidler

A mind apart theatre - theatre company making performing arts accessible to communities
http://twitter.com/amindapart

Smith and Clarkson – fine art collaborative duo
http://twitter.com/SmithClarkson

Run hide survive – DJs, producers and promoters of Club pony
http://twitter.com/runhidesurvive

Sheffield irregulars – Minature model painting group
http://twitter.com/sheffieldirregs

Yorkshire county cricket club – Leeds-based cricket club
http://twitter.com/Yorkshire_ccc

Clickety click – photographer
http://twitter.com/clicketyclicks

Resound design – web and print design company
http://twitter.com/resounddesign

Vital Sheffield Wednesday – Wednesday news from Vital football
http://twitter.com/vitalwednesday

DS print & design – print company based in Walkley
http://twitter.com/DSPrintDesign

If you want to be listed on it then follow @sheffieldblog, get in touch or comment below.

A new music festival for Sheffield

The most recent City centre news email from the council mentions a new music festival that is due to take place from 24-27 July in Sheffield.

Dubbed ‘Sheffield music city’, the email says that the line-up should include some big names performing at both indoor and outdoor events.

It doesn’t really give a clue what genres of music will feature at the festival, although I guess the organisers will try to please a wide range of music fans. And despite the big names that have been promised, I expect the emphasis will be on regional talent instead of the major performers that you might seen at an established city festival like the Liverpool summer pops.

If communal city centre open spaces are used for the outdoor venues then it will probably mean free entry, which would further rule out any significantly well-known and expensive acts. It certainly would be good to see the revamped Devonshire green host some live music, although it will be too soon for the new Tudor square.

I’m trying to recall any other large council-run live music events that have taken place over the last few years, but am drawing a bit of a blank. Can anyone remember anything similar from the recent past?

Music in the sun returned last summer to the Don valley bowl but after reports of DJs and artists not being paid, it looks unlikely to be back in 2009. Could Sheffield music city be the festival that a city with such a strong musical heritage and large population is able to make a success of?