Send us a text

The old is the new: Graham on experiencing modern US jazz star Kamasi Washington at Project House in Leeds.

Good news for Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture as art deco venue is to reopen in August with new Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra launch.

Record Store Day boost for Bradford and the lingering influence of Leeds indie scene of 25 years ago.

Charles reports on seeing both Al Murray (The Pub Landlord ) and John Simpson, journalist and broadcaster. The political connection is interesting in the light of the rise of Reform.

Keep in touch with Two Big Egos in a Small Car:

X
@2big_egos

Facebook
@twobigegos

Send us a text

Graham and Charles take a look at the struggle facing small venues in the UK, the continuing rise in ticket prices and the beauty of My Bloody Valentine.

Graham examines why The Beatles road manager and the hidden aspects of the story are unlikely to come out in Sam Mendes forthcoming films on the band.

Graham explores the work of the underrated Val Kilmer after his recent death and why he is the best thing in Michael Mann's film Heat playing opposite Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.

Charles discusses the aural and visual splendour of a Public Service Broadcasting gig at York Barbican.

Music Venue Crisis; My Bloody Valentine; Sam Mendes’ Beatles Films; Val Kilmer RIP; Public Service Broadcasting

Keep in touch with Two Big Egos in a Small Car:

X
@2big_egos

Facebook
@twobigegos

Send us a text

Interview special: Toby Manning

Toby Manning is a London-based music journalist, author, and academic with a career spanning popular culture, music, and political history. He’s best known for his work examining the intersections of music and ideology, often through a Marxist lens, as well as his deep dives into specific artists and cultural moments.

Manning’s most prominent book is Mixing Pop and Politics: A Marxist History of Popular Music (2024), a 500-plus-page exploration of how popular music from the 1950s to the present has reflected and resisted political and social upheavals.

Plus:

Graham explains happened when he met celist, Julian Lloyd Webber in London at the launch of Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.

Graham also explores the sonic world of London's Fat Dog - an indie band from South East London. They’re known for their chaotic, high-energy live shows and a genre-defying sound that mixes dance, punk, techno, klezmer, and industrial elements—think something like a feral lovechild of Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, and a rave in a Brixton basement.

Keep in touch with Two Big Egos in a Small Car:

X
@2big_egos

Facebook
@twobigegos

Send us a text

Graham and Charles report that York is about to have Britain's biggest independent book store with Topping Books https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/
Is it going to be an opportunity or threat?

Charles asks what do two Robert De Niro for the price of one add up to in The Alto Knights?

Plus Edwin Collins announcing autumn final tour after releasing National Shall Speak Unto National last Friday.

Graham previews the next Vinyl Sessions event in Harrogate which will focus on The Beatles in film and the continuing significance of the albums A Hard Day's Night and Help!.

Keep in touch with Two Big Egos in a Small Car:

X
@2big_egos

Facebook
@twobigegos

Send us a text

Graham explores why Steven Soderberg's new spy/com film, Black Bag starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender isn't as good as his best and most under-rated film, The Limey from 1999 which starred Terence Stamp and Peter Fonda.

Charles and Graham chew over the headliners for this year's Glastonbury Festival.

Graham takes a look at Grant McPhee's exceptional new book on Scottish indie bands, Postcards From Scotland.

Graham relates how an enquiry from Fibbers owner Tim Hornsby led to uncovering Charm Magazine's spat in print with the early Kaiser Chiefs.

Keep in touch with Two Big Egos in a Small Car:

X
@2big_egos

Facebook
@twobigegos

Send us a text

Graham rejects on this year’s Academy Awards: Is Anora really the Best Picture of this or any other year?

The Beta Band are reforming and are coming to Leeds.

Richard Hawley is to play Museum Gardens in York this summer. Hurrah! It's the twentieth anniversary of the releases of his classic album Coles Corner.

Charles reports on sci-fi/comedy Mickey 17, the new film by Bong Joon Ho whose last film was the Academy Award winning Parasite.

Keep in touch with Two Big Egos in a Small Car:

X
@2big_egos

Facebook
@twobigegos

Send us a text

CHarles and Graham interview Yorkshire-based Scottish musician, Gary Stewart.

Gary Stewart is a Scottish singer/songwriter who has carved out a strong fan-base in his adopted home of Yorkshire with songs about paranoia, love & resilience. When not playing his own music, the left-hander plays drums for fellow Bandcampers Hope & Social, bass for Leeds-based Fleetwood Mac tribute Weetwood Mac and performs regularly up & down the U.K, performing Paul Simon’s classic 1986 album Graceland with his seven-piece band.

https:www.garystewartmusic.co.uk

Keep in touch with Two Big Egos in a Small Car:

X
@2big_egos

Facebook
@twobigegos

Send us a text

Graham explores the mystery of rock n roll and Jim Jarmusch's 1989 film Mystery Train and talks about his meeting with Marxist rock writer Toby Manning at a Harrogate International Festivals event last week.

Charles shares his recent experience at the National Museum of Science and Media in Bradford, UK Capital of Culture 2025.

Charles and Graham revisit the films that won big at the BAFTAs.

Keep in touch with Two Big Egos in a Small Car:

X
@2big_egos

Facebook
@twobigegos