Paul Gorman

Libraries

Talking Totally Wired at the Write Idea Festival on Sunday

I’m talking about my music press history Totally Wired at this weekend’s Write Idea Festival at east London’s venerated Bethnal Green Library.

The library is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and I’m lining up with such authors as crime writer Ajay Chowdhury, historian Panikos Panayi, writer and publisher Shahida Rahman, performer Vivi Lachs, architecture specialist John Grindrod, comedian Tez Ilyas, former BBC correspondent Nick Higham and journalist Siobhan MacGowan.

I’ll be in conversation with festival organiser Neal Smith about the rise and fall of the music press from 4pm on Sunday (November 6). Tickets are FREE here.

Full details of the Write Idea line-up here.

‘They had the t-shirt off his back’: The 40th anniversary of the creation of the notorious Cowboys t-shirt + the obscenity debate it sparked in the pages of The Guardian

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//Nicholas de Jongh’s front-page report, The Guardian, August 2, 1975//
No future098 copy
//Sex Original-labelled Cowboys t-shirt courtesy Hiroshi Fujiwara Collection//

This month – specifically July 26 – marks the 40th anniversary of the introduction for sale of Malcolm McLaren’s notorious Cowboys t-shirt in Sex, the revolutionary boutique he operated at 430 King’s Road with Vivienne Westwood.

The shirt’s status as the most provocative of all punk designs is enhanced by the fact that it made waves immediately: the same day the shirt went on sale, the first customer to wear it in public was arrested. Within 24 hours, the store itself was raided for indecency.

Continue reading ‘They had the t-shirt off his back’: The 40th anniversary of the creation of the notorious Cowboys t-shirt + the obscenity debate it sparked in the pages of The Guardian