Arts About Manchester is an audience development agency operating within greater Manchester to…read moreenhance the cultural produce of the city and the people's connections to it. As a business they provide a range of services to cultural organisations. Typically a business could call Arts About Manchester to gain advice about an upcoming project and they would provide local audience profiles, marketing reports for previous similar projects and a development strategy for moving forward. They provide an extremely well thought through and precise service which takes into account as many factors as you can imagine and processes them in a way which is easy to understand. I have used their services when promoting a local festival and their help was invaluable at reaching our target audience. If you have an event or a project coming up, get in touch with Arts about Manchester and watch the sparks fly.

Are you a snivelling sponger? Are you scrimping off the state or living on beans and Special Brew?…read moreNeed a job? Call Morgan Hunt. One of the better recruitment agencies on the market, Morgan Hunt offer a professional, tailored job search and recruitment service. They work across the UK with a base in Manchester as well as some other prime locations which makes them a great place to start if you are a graduate looking to spread your wings. Working on both sides of the coin, they help the unemployed masses find work whilst offering headhunting services for companies and businesses. I've had some great temp work through them and regularly check their site for new vacancies and training opportunities. As they are a large company the service is a little cold and impersonal, but the flipside of this is that they have a lot of fingers in a lot of pies so there are plenty of juicy jobs for you to choose from.

Oh dear, oh dear.......... details of my agency experience…read morecan be found on my blog: http://grahamchalk.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html Morgan Hunt keep sending me job emails where if you click on "apply now" you get "error 404" It's been like this for aaaages. I told them about it. aaaaaaaaages ago....It's still like this....lol Oh and I signed up in a branch (Newcastle) that according to their website...doesn't actually exist. Hogwarts here I come!

Housed on Fairfield Street, behind Piccadilly Station, the Star & Garter is a red brick pub that…read morelooks like a crime scene from a Hitchcock thriller. It was featured in the 50s film noir Hell is A City and since then, seems to have gone from chic to shabby with little investment or TLC. The carpets are frayed, the seats are grubby and the walls upstairs are painted chocolate. Endearingly, none of this seems to bother the students and regulars who flock there for the monthly Smiths nights and occasional rock and punk gigs. The gigs are housed upstairs on the first floor - where there's a small stage and bar - whilst the club nights straddle the ground and first floor. Drinks are cheap and cheerful and there's a long-running indie night every Saturday called Smile. You might hear the odd Brian Wilson song but you're more likely to hear everything from Pulp and Placebo to Belle and Sebastian. In short, the Star & Garter is a venue that's more about the music and the people than the ambience or the interior. Which takes us right back to Pulp and..... A Little Soul: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XMDfMaKDa0

I'll never forget the first time I went to the Star & Garter. I was really dubious about what my…read morefriends had planned for me, considering we were heading in a direction that seemed to be slighty outside the city and more than slightly IN to Manchester's Red Light district. 'Guys...' I found myself saying ominously in the way the first dingbat of a bimbo to get killed in a horror movie always does. Then when we arrived, I was confused. 'Why are we at what looks like one of those run down burnt out old hotels on Chapel Street?' my brain was asking me. But I pressed on. I was accompanied by indie expert Mr Bateman, his lovely girlfriend and the Bambi-eyed Jess X, all of whom seemed to have the lowdown on what's cool these days. And upon entering all my woes disappeared. For here is a pub-cum-club almost as famous in the city as Night and Day, with something to offer every poetic soul with a floppy haircut and a love for Morrissey. (That includes myself, and you'll hear more Smiths songs in here than you can shake a stick at.) The Star and Garter is a great venue, with a pub downstairs and seats comfy enough to think you're in the Crescent, and a club upstairs where you can dance your socks off to the best of Manchester's music scene. The Smile clubnight, held every Saturday, is always filled to capacity and something of a phenomenon. Live bands often appear on Thursdays and Fridays, but one Friday each month is reserved for the worship of the miserablist with the quiff, the legendary Morrissey, and The Smiths. Yes, it's an actual Smiths disco. Where else would you find a disco dedicated to one man/band? Not only does this speak volumes about how important Morrissey is to Mancunians, it says a lot about Star & Garter's knack for pleasing their public. I've never had a bad night here. Brave it through the brothels and find your way to this gem of a place - you won't be disappointed.

Totally lucked out on a Monday night and there was a New Orleans Jazz band playing. The food was…read moremeh bar food for the US but since we were in the middle of the U.K. It was glorious. Having to go up to the bar to place every single order was a bit cumbersome but they brought it to you when it was ready. If you are looking for a fun dive kinda spot in Manchester with live music it's a must go.

I was lucky enough to catch the Paul Farr band at Matt and Phred's last night. It's safe to say…read morethat I entered what Howard Moon and Vince Noir would refer to as a 'jazz trance'. My word, if you get the opportunity to catch these guys when they play again on the 17th August (they play here quite regularly and it's always free entry) or at the Cinnamon Club you really must - even non-jazz fans would thoroughly enjoy their awesome musical prowess, it's absolutely universal to appreciate the percussive banter between the awe-inspiringly superb drummer and the creative percussionist armed with an absolute arsenal of unusual instruments. The guitarist has worked with the likes of Tom Jones and Lily Allen and along with the fabulous bassist, they're all just mind-bendingly supreme. The pedant and I (have I introduced you to him before?) popped in for some cocktails while the Thursday salsa classes were still going on, and I tell you, if you're remotely nervous about salsa you must join this group. Beginners are from 7-8, improvers from 8-9 and everyone was having an awesome time. The teachers seemed very sweet. The pedant took on a Dave Walsh special pizza, a great combination of anchovies, chorizo and spring onions, and if you get the opportunity (and are comfortable in your masculinity) try out a Pixie's Potion cocktail. It might look girly, but it contains absinthe. Talk about a kick and a half. As well as this, I had no idea Matt and Phred's did fresh-baked cakes - they look amazing. And the bar staff, as always, were truly magical. There's a wonderful cosy atmosphere to Matt and Phred's, and had we not had any pressing errands the next day the pedant and I could have stayed there all night. It's one of those places where whoever you're with, you constantly find yourselves looking back and forth at one another and smiling in agreement at the joy of seeing incredible music in such a cool little place. I'm making a late New Year's resolution. Visit Matt and Phred's far more often. Like on a weekly or fortnightly basis perhaps? I'd best start saving up for all those caipirinhas...

Cam, Ry, and Olly were great & friendly bartenders. Very respectful and made great drinks!!!…read more Sully, Cal, and Greg, on the other hand, were rude and were incapable of manning the bar. Will not be coming back. (due to the fact that I live in America, not Manchester)

Hallelujah! After…read morefour years of redevelopment, not-for-proft charity Inner City Music finally re-opened the doors of Band on The Wall last September. Aside from redecoration and a spacious chill out area, the main difference to the legendary music venue is the stage. There's a spanking new state of the art PA system installed, new lights, new audio-visual equipment and for the jazz fans amongst you, a concert grand piano. What's more, the venue looks set to make local funk, soul, blues, jazz, hip hop and world music fans extremely happy with a packed programme of live shows and deejays most nights of the week. They've already had gigs from Breakestra, Nitin Sawhney and The Mad Professor and Southern soul legend Candi Staton is set to grace the stage in April. The show you have to reserve a ticket for however, is 27 March when 10 piece band Introducing will be attempting to recreate DJ Shadow's seminal Entroducing album live. Yup, that's note for note, loop for loop, for the very first time, live AND in front of an audience! Listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmzHRGoKca0&feature=related