NEWSDESK...NEWSDESK...NEWSDESK...NEWSDESK
... News Editor... David Brown..

FIRST PUNK FEST

BRITAIN'S FIRST Indoor punk festival is being planned for July 17 at Birmingham's Rag Market, Digbeth with The Clash headlining.

Also appearing will be The Heartbreakers. The Saints, Stinky Toys, Subway Sect, The Rich Kids (with Glen Matlock), Snatch. Shagnasty, Tanya Hyde and the Tormentors and The Slits.

Tickets are priced £3 from Endale Associates, 148, Edmund Street, Birmingham, and cheques and postal orders should be made payable to Endale Associates, and accompanied by an sae.

They are also available from Virgin Records at Coventry, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham and Leeds, Theatre Bookings, London, Sundown Records, Dudley, HMV, Leicester, Music Machine, Worcester, and Terry Blood Records, Stafford and Stoke.

Admission is from 4 pm, and the venue is located close to the city's rall and bus stations.

THE CLASH: headlining festival

CLASH WILL BE THERE

SUNDAY'S BIRMINGHAM one day punk fest will definitely not take place, despite continued efforts by management of the headlining band The Clash to find an alternative venue.

The band claim that a local publican and church complained that the area would be devastated by punk fans running wild in the streets of Birmingham If the gig was allowed to proceed. A licence for the show was refused by the police.

The Clash still intend to turn up at the Rag Market on Sunday night at 8 pm to see what will happen.

Clash exclusive Full story in next week's RECORD MIRROR

Edited: Derek Johnson

Clash top punk event in Brum

THE CLASH top the bill in Britain's first indoor punk festival at Digbeth Rag Market in the centre of Birmingham on Sunday, July 17. About 5,000 are expected to attend the show which also features The Heartbreakers, Saints, Slits, Subway Sect. Rich Kids, Snatch, Shagnasty, Panya Hyde and The Tormentors, plus lead French new-wave group Stinky Toys

The event, promoted by Endale Associates in conjunction with Clash manager Bernard Rhodes, starts at 4pm. Bar and refreshment facilities are available.

Tickets, priced £3, are on sale at Virgin Records shops in Birmingham, Coventry, Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham and Leeds, Other outlets are London Theatre Bookings, Sundown Records in Dudley, HMV in Leicester, Music Machine in Worcester, and Terry Blood Records in Stafford and Stoke.

Postal application may be sent to Endale Associates (to whom cheques and POs should be made payable), 148 Edmund Street, Birmingham, enclosing s.a.e.

Midlands open-air punkfest?

AS THE Windsor Punk Festival folded, so plans for a massive two-day punk event in the Midlands were revealed This one is scheduled to take place on farmland near Bromsgrove in Worcestershire on August 26 and 27 and the promoters are so confident it will go ahead that they've already put tickets on sale

A spokesman told NME "We have a 50-acre site lined up. We're not saying exactly where it is right now, because the local council have been causing us a few problems. We're meeting them this week and if we get the go-ahead we'll then announce full details. If they remain hostile -and frankly, we don't'see why they should we'll keep it under wraps for the time being. But we are certain the festival will take place."

The organisers claim they'll have 30 top British and American new-wave bands taking part, plus a nuniber of new bands from the Midlands and the North. They further state that any profits will be ploughed back into the business, to sponsor new hands and set up a Midlands-based recording схмаралу

The site can accommodate at least 50,000 and will have bars, shops, cafes and full todet facilities. Fringe events include film shows and a Fun City. The promoters are offering advance bookings at £4.25 each from Minerglo Ltd., Box 57, 4 Coventry Street, Stourbridge, West Midlands.

PHoto: THE CLASH

Windsor project scrapped

PLANS TO STAGE a punk rock festival in Windsor this summer have been ditched-following an intermediate howl of outrage from local authorities and residents. Wind-sor's mayor, lain Harris, and council had threatened to seek an injunction to ban the event.

Festival organisers JPM Entertainments even-tually bowed out last week in the face of increas ing local pressure. One of their associates, Jay Kennedy, took over the plan but this week he decided to drop out.

The final chop was due not only to local hostility, but also to the farmer-who had offered his land for the festival site-backing out. Captain Charles Watson of Raneleagh Farm coinmented: "I won't have anything to do with it I don't like this sort of thing".

He added, deadpan. "I was under the impression it was going to be a musical festival like Edinburgh".

July 16th, 1977 NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS News Desk

A quiet week in terms of punk-bashing controversy and disputes continue to ab ...

Police ban hits Clash punkfest

THE CLASH still intend going to Birmingham Rag Market this Sunday (17), despite the cancellation of the one-day punk festival which they were to have headlined at the venue. A spokesman for the band told NME: "The Clash and possibly a few other bands will be turning up at the Rag Market at eight o'clock, and they are planning an alternative event, which could turn out to be better than the original gig."

Local magistrates last week refused to grant a music licence for the festival and, although the City Council met 24 hours later to discuss their attitude to the event, their meeting was purely academic as it had already been called off.

Promoter Dave Cork commented: "There were no main objections to the festival and, as far as I can make out, the licence was refused simply because the police didn't want the show to take place. I maintain it was a conspiracy. Anyway, I still intend to go ahead with the festival as soon as possible, and right now I'm looking for another venue in the Birmingham area.

Several hundred tickets have already been sold and, even though The Clash plan to turn up, cash refunds will be made to ticket-holders. The exact nature of the band's "alternative event" hasn't been revealed, and their spokesman would only offer the mysterious advice to "wait until Sunday to see what we're going to do."

Second Midlands event in jeopardy

ANOTHER projected Midlands punk festival is in jeopardy because of local council objections, despite the promoters attempts to keep secret the exact location. This is the open-air event, reported by NME two weeks ago, scheduled for the Bromsgrove area of Worcestershire on two days over August Bank Holiday weekend (26 and 27).

Tickets are already on sale for the festival,

appear, although they haven't taken the trouble to discover that this isn't so. In fact, the main bands booked so far are 999, Slaughter and the Dogs, Buzzcocks, Headbanger and the Nosebleeds, Chelsea, Cortinas, The Police, The Models, Alternative TV and the Electric Chairs featuring Wayne County

The organiser, local businessman Bob Green, says he will be adding other British and American bands to this line-up. And he remains confident that he will be able to thwart official objections to the event.

Alternate OCR

News Desk

A quiet week in terms of punk-bashing and punch-ups. But new-wave controversy and disputes continue to abound. All is revealed below.

Police ban hits Clash punkfest

(A large vertical black-and-white photograph shows three members of The Clash leaning against a rough stone wall in an alleyway. They are dressed in leather jackets and punk attire, looking toward the camera with serious expressions).

THE CLASH still intend going to Birmingham Rag Market this Sunday (17), despite the cancellation of the one-day punk festival which they were to have headlined at the venue. A spokesman for the band told NME: "The Clash and possibly a few other bands will be turning up at the Rag Market at eight o'clock, and they are planning an alternative event, which could turn out to be better than the original gig."

Local magistrates last week refused to grant a music licence for the festival and, although the City Council met 24 hours later to discuss their attitude to the event, their meeting was purely academic as it had already been called off.

Promoter Dave Cork commented: "There were no main objections to the festival and, as far as I can make out, the licence was refused simply because the police didn't want the show to take place. I maintain it was a conspiracy. Anyway, I still intend to go ahead with the festival as soon as possible, and right now I'm looking for another venue in the Birmingham area."

Several hundred tickets have already been sold and, even though The Clash plan to turn up, cash refunds will be made to ticket-holders. The exact nature of the band's "alternative event" hasn't been revealed, and their spokesman would only offer the mysterious advice to "wait until Sunday to see what we're going to do."

Second Midlands event in jeopardy

ANOTHER projected Midlands punk festival is in jeopardy because of local council objections, despite the promoters' attempts to keep secret the exact location. This is the open-air event, reported by NME two weeks ago, scheduled for the Bromsgrove area of Worcestershire on two days over August Bank Holiday weekend (26 and 27).

Tickets are already on sale for the festival, which is billed as taking place at "Farmer Giles' Farm, Hell Field, near Bromsgrove". But this venue is fictitious, the promoters opting to keep the site secret until mid-August, to lessen the risk of injunctions.

However, negotiations of this kind have a habit of leaking out; last week local papers revealed that the proposed site is at Wychbold, near Droitwich - possibly at the old Wychbold Sunday market ground. And the Wychavon District Council stated last week that they will block any attempt to stage the event.

They have apparently been swayed by rumours that the Sex Pistols are among bands due to appear, although they haven't taken the trouble to discover that this isn't so. In fact, the main bands booked so far are 999, Slaughter and the Dogs, Buzzcocks, Headbanger and the Nosebleeds, Chelsea, Cortinas, The Police, The Models, Alternative TV and the Electric Chairs featuring Wayne County.

The organiser, local businessman Bob Green, says he will be adding other British and American bands to this line-up. And he remains confident that he will be able to thwart official objections to the event.

Councillor Charles Richardson said the festival must be prevented from coming to Wychbold "at all costs". He added: "Punk rock has got the very worst of reputations. The area would be devastated if 50,000 of its supporters were to arrive for the weekend."

The council is still seeking firm evidence that the event is planned for its area. But farmer Kenneth Baillie Hill, who owns the land on which the Sunday markets were held, has confirmed that he has been approached about the possibility of holding a show there - but he wouldn't say if it was THE show in question.

Damned Blow Reading Date

(A wide photograph shows The Damned performing live, with lead singer Dave Vanian in a white shirt in the foreground).

THE DAMNED have forfeited the opportunity of becoming the first new-wave band to appear at the Reading Festival. They had been booked provisionally for a spot on the Sunday bill (August 28), but their name was being withheld until after their four-night stint at London Marquee last week (July 3-6), to enable the festival organisers to assess the behaviour of the band's audiences.

In fact, The Damned played only two nights at the Marquee, when - according to a spokesman for the club - the audiences were "exemplary". But the band themselves became involved in a dispute with the Marquee management, leading to the cancellation of their projected third and fourth gigs at the venue. And since the Marquee also organises the Reading event, the band automatically missed out on the festival.

One of the causes of the dispute was the free Damned single being presented to members of the audience as they arrived. There was also a row over The Damned putting up posters which covered the club's list of forthcoming attractions and the Marquee name sign.

After a band dropped out of their last two gigs, the Models deputised on Tuesday and Generation X on Wednesday.

Would you like me to transcribe the additional stories on this page, such as "Pistols' secret overseas tour" or the report on The Heartbreakers?