City Centre

Yoko Ono art project ‘I love you Earth’ to be plastered on billboards in Manchester

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 22nd April 2021

Highly-revered multimedia artist and activist Yoko Ono is launching a public artwork project on billboards in Manchester city centre.

To mark Earth Day 2021 – which takes place today (22nd April) – the 88-year-old’s iconic message, ‘I love you Earth’, will tower out on billboards over the Mancunian Way, as well as several other prominent locations in Glasgow, Liverpool and London.

‘I love you Earth’ was a song on Ono’s 1985 album titled Starpeace.

Organisers said the art project is to serve as a “reminder to those who see it to ask themselves, ‘Do I love the Earth? How am I expressing that love? Could I do more?’”.

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The billboards – which have been installed with London-based art gallery Serpentine Galleries and are part of a Serpentine project with more than 60 artists, architects, poets, filmmakers, scientists, thinkers and designers responding to the environmental crisis – are to celebrate Earth Day.

Earth Day is annually marked across the globe and seeks to promote and encourage discussions and action surrounding climate change, equality and environmental justice.

Yoko Ono, whose late husband was The Beatles’ John Lennon, said: “There are so many of us in the world who are now awakened, ready to act to save our world, so, let’s work together to save this planet.

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“Together. That’s how we will change the world. We change, and the world changes.

“Have trust in what you can do. Have trust in how fast we can change our world for the better. Why? Because we have to. Believe that we are one and together we will make it. Love is what connects all lives on Earth”.

Serpentine Galleries

Serpentine’s Artistic Director, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Chief Executive, Bettina Korek, said: “As communities across the UK return to public places in our cities, they will be welcomed by Yoko Ono’s powerful positive statement for the planet, I Love You Earth…

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“Planned before this global health crisis hit, Back to Earth could not be more urgent now as we work with artists to understand and address our relationship with the Earth and everything in it”.

The ‘I love you Earth’ project is the first work from Yoko Ono in Manchester since Manchester International Festival’s (MIF) moving curtain-raiser ‘Bells for Peace’, which assembled communities from across the city in 2019.

Featured Image – Jan Koblanski

City Centre

Manchester music store Forsyth is giving away free music lessons

The Manc The Manc

Manchester music store Forsyth is giving away a host of free music lessons next month in a bid to inspire people to learn a new instrument, or pick up an old one.

The store is giving new and returning musicians a chance to receive a 10–15-minute free music taster session as part of its Music for All Learn to Play ’22 event.

Taking place across 8 and 9 October between 10am-5pm (8 October) and 1130am-30pm (9 October),short taster music lessons will allow all ages and abilities to have a musical experience that could turn into a lifetime of enjoyment, or even a new career.

Speaking on the free music lesson initiative, Emma from Forsyths said: “The past two years have shown how important music is to all our lives and how it can bring people together even in the most difficult of circumstances. 

“We aim to help as many people as possible understand the unique joys and benefits of learning an instrument (or taking part in a choir). 

“Anyone interested in learning to play an instrument or looking to pick it up again, should come and join us for this two-day celebration of music making. 

“We’re delighted to be part of Music for All’s Learn to Play ’22 event, and we can’t wait to get started.”

OBE Jools Holland, Patron of Music for All, said: “Making music is very important to me. It’s my work, my pleasure, my friend, companion and therapist. 

The charity Music for All believes passionately in the unique power of music to change lives and that is why it runs Learn to Play.

Music for All believes everyone should have equal access to music making.

The charity supports disadvantaged music makers by providing cash grants for tuition and instruments and by donating instruments directly.

Read more: The best things to do in Greater Manchester this week | 26 September – 2 October 2022

The Learn to Play ’22 event is generously supported by the NAMM Foundation and other partners include Music Industries Association, Musicians Union, Making Music, Music Mark and Black Lives in Music.

Those interested in joining Forsyths for a free music lesson simply need to email [email protected] or pop into the Sheet Music department on the ground floor to register interest.

Feature image – Forsyth

City Centre

Siam Smiles, the authentic Thai cafe on a Manchester backstreet

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant

When Siam Smiles was still a little cafe in a Chinatown supermarket it received serious rave reviews. Since moving up to Deansgate Mews, however, it seems to have been forgotten about a little.

Most famously described as “the most exciting thing to happen since the days of the Hacienda” by Marina O’Loughlin in a 2014 review for The Guardian, owner May also made headlines for teaching herself to cook on Youtube after her chef left the business one month after opening.

National critics, like O’Loughin and others, were seemingly drawn in by the cafe’s novelty – not one review missed the opportunity to mention the supermarket, or tell you how the ingredients in the dishes were often the same as the ones on the shelves.

But since it has moved over to The Mews, an oft-forgotten back street within the Great Northern Warehouse complex, the reviews have gone suspiciously quiet – so we thought we’d pop in to see if it’s all still up to scratch.

Spoiler alert, it definitely is.

Stir fried chicken Pad Ka Paow with jasmine rice and a fried egg. / Image: The Manc Eats
Inside SIam Smiles on Deansgate Mews. / Image: The Manc Eats

Two years after that rave review from O’Loughlin, rising bills forced the cafe to close – but with a little help, May reopened in 2016 at the Great Northern Warehouse. It’s here that you’ll still find her cooking up a storm today.

With bills firmly on the rise once again, we thought we’d pop in to shine a light on this longstanding Mancunian gem and are happy to report her food hasn’t faltered one iota.

We went for stir fried chicken Pad Ka Paow with jasmine rice and a fried egg, and a steaming bowl of KuiiTiwe Moo Nam Tok with fresh egg noodles and roasted duck breast, with two glasses of Singha on the side.

Read more: The swanky new Manchester cocktail bar housed in an old bank vault

A hearty portion of green papaya salad with dried shrimps. / Image: The Manc Eats
A steaming bowl of KuiiTiwe Moo Nam Tok with fresh egg noodles and roasted duck breast. / Image: The Manc Eats

We also couldn’t help but opt for a hearty portion of green papaya salad with dried shrimps, a dish that’s hard to find but something of a speciality here, as well as a second glass noodle salad with plump prawns and minced pork.

The dressings, always made by May herself, completely hit the spot with their balance of hot, sour, salty and sweet. 

Read more: ‘We are facing extreme economical pain’ – District suggests it could be closing

We strongly recommend you pop in and show Siam Smiles some love. It’s not all just about the shiny new restaurants, after all. We need to treasure the veterans too – and this is one we need to protect at all costs. 

Find the cafe on Deansgate Mews Unit G Upper Level ,Great Northern, 253, Deansgate, Manchester M3 4EN.

Feature image – The Manc Eats

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