Gary Alikivi has 30 years experience as a Film Maker based in Tyneside, UK.

Currently working on a book project featuring interviews with North East musicians and researching the life of Italian born artist & author Baron Avro Manhattan who spent his last years living in South Shields.

This blog features over 400 interviews (listed below) with North East musicians, artists and writers. Also includes stories on making over 20 self financed Tyneside documentaries, including Wildflower about South Shields born Eileen O’Shaughnessy, wife of George Orwell. The film was screened on the Isle of Jura in Scotland where Orwell wrote 1984.

Also featured on the blog is a short film Who Were the Marchers ? about Ellen Wilkinson MP and the Jarrow Crusade plus We Sold Our Soul for Rock n Roll, a Tyneside rockumentary.

Most recent video work include the life of author & artist Baron Avro Manhattan, and Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin. Why not check the Alikivi You Tube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkW7F_6t-GNVMCYLT4BNHfg

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INTERVIEWS: 

ARTISTS: AIDAN DOYLE (Artist) 

ANDREW McKEOWN (Sculptor)

BOB OLLEY (Artist)

DAVID G.WILKINSON (Artist)

RIK WALTON (Photographer)

SALLY NEWHOUSE (Photographer)

SHEILA GRABER (Animator)

VINCE RAE (Artist/Photographer).

RESEARCHER, WRITER & AUTHOR:

ALAN WARREN (Researcher & Historian)

ANN AHMED (Writer)

DAN GREEN (Investigator)

DAVE HARKER (Author) 

DOROTHY FLEET (Local History Group)

ED WAUGH (Playwright)

GEOFF DOCHERTY (Music Author & Promoter)

HOWERD HALEY (Author)

IAN PENMAN (Ravendale – Music journalist, Broadcaster)

JANIS BLOWER (Journalist)

JOHN ORTON (Author)

KATRINA PORTEOUS (Poet/Broadcaster)

KEITH ARMSTRONG (Poet) 

PAULA BARTLEY (Author)

ROB KILBURN (Author)

RED SQUIRREL PRESS (Poetry Publishers)

STEVE NEWHOUSE (Author/ex-roadie)

TOM KELLY (Playwright)

TREVOR RISTOW (Author)

TREVOR WOOD (Crime Writer)

VIN ARTHEY (Author).

TV & STAGE PERFORMERS: 

BRIAN RAPKIN (Actor & Musician)

HELEN RUSSELL (Entertainer)

IAIN CUNNINGHAM & WAYNE MILLER (Actors)

JAMIE BROWN (Actor) 

LESLEY SAINT – JOHN (Actress)

MICKY COCHRANE (Actor)

NED KELLY & JACK BERRY (former club entertainers)

PETE PEVERLY (Actor/Musician)

SIMON DONALD (Comedian/VIZ magazine)

STEVE WRAITH (Actor) 

BACKSTAGE/TECHNICAL:

MARK JOHNSON (Stagehand)

NIGEL PEARCE (Author/Radio presenter)

PAR CAN (Tech/Stage Crew)

PAUL KIRSOPP (NOVA radio DJ)

STAN LAUNDON (ex-BBC Radio presenter)

TV & SOUND PRODUCTION:

BLAST (recording studio)

CHRIS COWEY (TV music director)

CHRIS MURTAGH (Club manager/promoter & musician)

CHRIS PHIPPS (TV music producer)

COLIN ROWELL (Stage Production Manager)

COLIN SMOULT (Sound & Lighting Engineer) 

DAVID CLASPER (Electrician, Newcastle City Hall)

DAVID WOOD (Impulse Studio/NEAT record label)

GARNER HARRIS (Creative Seed)

GARY JAMES (presenter The Tube)

GUARDIAN RECORDING STUDIO #1 Tygers of Pan Tang,  

#2 Spartan Warrior  #3 Steve Thompson 

#4 Mythra, Saracen, Hollow Ground 

#5 Peter Lee Hammond 

#6 Ghost Stories (Glenn Coates, Hollow Ground & Dave Wilkinson, Spartan Warrior)

JIM SCULLEY (Manager & Promoter).

LISA MURPHY (Recording Studio Producer)

MARTIN FRANCIS TROLLOPE (Studio engineer)

MICHAEL METCALF (The Tube,  GMTV, Director)

PETER MITCHELL (Writer & TV Producer)

ROBERT MILLS (Concert Promoter)

STU KEEBLE (Sound Engineer)

UNIFIED MEDIA (Film Makers)

FEATURES:

AMY FLAGG (Historian & Photographer 1893-1965)

BUTCH CASSIDY (Wild West outlaw).

CHAS CHANDLER  (The Animals/Hendrix/Slade)

DOWNEY BROTHERS (Photographers)

EMMA LEWELL-BUCK (South Shields MP)

FRANK MEADOW SUTCLIFFE (Photographer 1853-1941)

HANS ZIMMER (Film/TV music composer)

JACK BRYMER (Musician, Clarinet 1915-2003)

JAMES CLEET (Photographer 1876-1959)

KATHY STOBART (Jazz musician 1925-2014)

L.S. LOWRY (Artist 1887-1976)

RAW MEAT IN THE SONIC MINCER (Music Weeklies/Sounds)

RAY SPENCER M.B.E (Director, The Customs House)

RICHARD BLAIR (Orwell Society)

RICHARD EWART M.P. (Trade Union Organiser 1905 -1953)

TREVOR HORN (Record Producer).

TYNESIDE WAR HEROES –

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 (WW1 & WW2 Victoria Cross).

NORTH EAST SOUL/JAZZ/DANCE/POP/INDIE:

DEMON SUMMER – DAVID DUCASSE (Scooch) – IAN MUNRO (Opus 3)

J. VINCENT EDWARDS – MARK ROBERTSON – PROCESSION

NORTH EAST FOLK & BLUES:

BEN HUDSON – CELIA BRYCE – CHRIS ORMSTON

EMMA  WILSON – HAYLEY ELLEN  

JEN STEVENS  – JOHN WRIGHTSON

JOE PETERSON & MICHAEL DAVIS 

LINDISFARNE – PHIL CAFFREY 

TOBY TWIRL – TONY WILSON – TREVOR SEWELL

NORTH EAST ROCK & PROG:

ALAN BURKE (Southbound) – ALAN KNIGHTS – ANIMALS

ATTENTION SEEKERS – BARRY LAMB (Miniatures 2020)

BECKETT – BRASS ALLEY

CIRKUS – DANCECLASS – EAST SIDE TORPEDOES

FIELD MUSIC – GEORDIE

HECTOR GANNET – IAN SLATER 

JOHN VERITY (Argent) – LORRAINE CROSBY

MICHAEL McNALLY – MICKY CRYSTAL

MICKY KERRIGAN – PETER LEE HAMILTON 

PROCESSION – THE QUESTIONNAIRES 

SAM BLEWITT (Ultravox/Emerson/Moulin Rouge/Dizzee Rascal)

SOUTHBOUND – STEVE LAIDLAW 

STEVE THOMPSON (Songwriter & Neat records producer)

TOKYO ROSE – TONY HODGE (The Pirahna Brothers)

THE WHISKY PRIESTS – WARBECK – WHITE HEAT.

NORTH EAST PUNK/ALTERNATIVE:

ANGELIC UPSTARTS – BASTARD SONS OF CAVAN

THE CARPETTES (Neil Thompson) – CRASHED OUT

DECONTROL – DRILL – THE FAUVES

THE FIEND – GUNSLINGER – HI-FI SPITFIRES

JAZZ RIOT – LOWFEYE – MAIN GRAINS

MOND COWIE (former Angelic Upstarts)

NICK REEVES – NOD – PENANCE STARE – PENETRATION

PHANTOMS of the UNDERGROUND – PSYKOBILLY

PUNISHMENT OF LUXURY –  THE RELITICS

SILENT SCREAM – THE TOY DOLLS – UK SUBS

WARWOUND – WAVIS O’SHAVE – THE WILDHEARTS.

NORTH EAST METAL/NWOBHM:

1980 THE YEAR METAL FORGED ON TYNESIDE

ALIEN – ATOMKRAFT – AVENGER UK

AXIS – BLIND FURY – BLITZKRIEG

DARK HEART  – DEF CON ONE – FIST – GLENN COATES

HELLANBACH – HOLLOW GROUND – LUCIFERS CHALICE

MARAUDER  – MILLENNIUM – MYTHRA  

NEAT BITES (Tyneside record label)

PHASSLAYNE – RAVEN – REPULSIVE VISION

ROKSNAX METAL ON THE MENU (Roksnax album)

SARACEN – SATAN – SLUTT  – SPARTAN WARRIOR.  

TYGERS OF PAN TANG  – 

Craig Ellis – Dean Robertson – Gav Grey – Jack Meille – Jon Deverill 

Micky McCrystal – Fred Purser – Robb Weir – Brian Dick 

Richard Laws – Steve Lamb – Chris Percy

Glenn Howes – Steve Thompson – Francesco Marris.

TYSONDOG – VENOM INC – WAR MACHINE

WARFARE – WARRIOR – WHITE VICE.

METAL/NWOBHM:

ANVIL – BERNIE TORME  

BODO SCHOPF (Schenker) – CHARIOT – CLOVEN HOOF

DEALER – DESOLATION ANGELS – FIREBIRD

GOLD  – JAGUAR  –  OLIVER/DAWSON SAXON

OVERDRIVE – PAUL DI’ANNO – SACRELIGE

SALEM – SAVAGE  – SNATCH BACK – SOLDIER – TAROT

THUNDERSTICK  –  TOKYO BLADE

TROYEN – TYTAN  – VARDIS –  WEAPON UK. 

REVIEWS:  ANVIL (Metal City) – LOWFEYE

TYGERS OF PAN TANG (Ritual)

RESEARCH:

CHANGING FACE OF SOUTH SHIELDS 1 – 4 (Photographs)

DARK ARTS OF THE STASI 1 – 6 – (East German Secret Police)

LETTERS FROM JARROW 1 – 3 –

(Tyneside IRA, Jarrow March, Ellen Wilkinson MP)

LOOKING FOR LUCIFER (Baron Avro Manhattan) 

POSTCARDS FROM SPAIN 1 – 13 (Spanish Civil War)

DOCUMENTARIES:

DESIGNS FOR LIFE (Tattoo’s)

THE HILLS OF HOLBORN (South Shields)

HOME FROM HOME (Workingmen’s Clubs)

JARROW VOICES –

(William Jobling, Jarrow March, Ellen Wilkinson MP)

LITTLE IRELAND (Irish immigration into Jarrow)

ON THE FRONT LINE (Miners strike 1984)

SECRETS & LIES (Baron Avro Manhattan) 

SKUETENDERS (Lawe Top, South Shields) 

TYNE DOCK BORDERS (South Shields)

THE KING, THE QUEEN & THE PUNK –

(Muhammad Ali, Angelic Upstarts 1977)

TYNE STORIES (Pilots, Foyboatmen, Tugboatmen)

WAR STORIES (South Tyneside 2nd W.W.)

WESTOE ROSE (Amy Flagg, photographer)

WE SOLD OUR SOUL FOR ROCK N ROLL –

(Rock Music in 70/80s South Tyneside)

WHO WERE THE MARCHERS ? (Jarrow Crusade 1936)

WILDFLOWER (Eileen O’Shaughnessy, George Orwell’s wife)

ZAMYATIN (The Russia – Tyneside Connection) 

VINYL JUNKIES: 7 songs that shaped their world

NEIL ARMSTRONG – WILL BINKS – JOHN HESTON

MARTIN POPOFF – COLIN SMOULT – NEIL NEWTON

TONY HIGGINS – VINCE HIGH – JON DALTON

GARY PAYNE.

BIG MOUTH STRIKES:

HAVE YOU HEARD THIS ONE ? –

#1 #2 #3 #4  (‘Best of ‘ stories from interviews)

IT’S ONLY ROCK N ROLL

LAST GANGS IN TOWN –

(Photography of South Tyneside bands late 1990’s)

LET THE MUSIC DO THE TALKING

LONDON CALLING: NIGHTS AT THE MARQUEE –

(North East bands playing the London club)

LOST IN THE SUPERMARKET.

MOTORHEAD (8th of May)

NEVER MIND THE SEVENTIES (North East punk book)

HIT THE LIGHTS (First time I heard Metallica)

PYROMANIAX – 

(Bands using pyro & bombs on stage- what could go wrong!)

ROCKIN’ ALL OVER THE TOON

& ROCKIN’ ALL OVER THE TOON AGAIN ( The Chronicle)

ROKSNAPS –

(Fan’s concert photographs)  #1  #2  #3  #4  #5  #6  #7

SOUNDS ALIVE & POWER OF MUSIC

TATTS

THIS FLIGHT (Airlines damaged instruments)

TUNE IN/TURN ON (Music TV in 70s & 80s)

 

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