//With Peter York taking part in new literary/comedy festival Walthamstow Weekender at Walthamstow Trades Hall last Saturday. Photo: Mark Hart//

My new book Totally Wired: The Rise & Fall of the Music Press is out in the UK, Europe, Australia and other countries, so I have been active on the promotional front.

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Tags: Alexis Petridis, Bound Art Book Fair, Dave Haslam, David Hepworth, Laura Snapes, Manchester, Mark Ellen, Monocle Radio, Natty Kasambala, Peter York, Robert Bound, Robert Elms, Walthamstow Weekender, Write Idea Festival

//Flyer for Ludus performance at Cabaret Futura, London, 1981//

//One of two hand-painted t-shirts given to the author, depicting him and Linder’s sister Nettie in a lover’s embrace in 1983. No reproduction without permission//

On the eve of the opening of Linderism, a new exhibition by the great contemporary artist Linder, I’m publishing a guest post by a follower of this blog who, like many, was introduced to her work via the sleeve artwork for Buzzcocks’ 1977 single Orgasm Addict.

“To me, it was punk for the eyes rather than the ears,” writes the contributor, who has asked for anonymity and was a 17-year-old school-leaver living in south London at the time.

He went on to forge a connection with Linder by following her post-punk group Ludus and encountered many in her circle, including the pre-Smiths Steven Morrissey.

Here he tells his story and shows a selection of the artworks Linder gave him:

The message I received from the Orgasm Addict sleeve was: “Think A.N.Other way. See it as it is”. A few months later I purchased The Secret Public, Linder’s print collaboration with Jon Savage.  Again I’d never seen anything like it, hardcore pornographic imagery redirected into a cocktail of consumerist lust.

//Back page of The Secret Public, Linder + Jon Savage, 1978//

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Tags: 101 Club, Buzzcocks, Cabaret Futura, Cargo Studios, Charles Hawtrey, Christina Birrer, Clapham, Howard Devoto, Jon Savage, Kettle's Yard, Linder, Linder Sterling, Ludus, Magazine, Manchester, Orgasm Addict, Psychedelic Furs, Rafters, Real Life, Richard Strange, Rochdale, Secret Public, She/She, Steven Morrissey, The Hacienda, The Lyceum, The Secret Public, The Smiths, Whalley Range

//From the series Skelmersdale, 1984. Photograph by Stephen McCoy//

//Derrin Crawford & Demi-Leigh Cruickshank, The Liver Birds, LOVE, 2012. Photograph by Alice Hawkins//

//Raf Simons menswear Autumn Winter 2003, Paris Menswear Fashion Week. Copyright Catwalking.com//

Here is a selection of amazing images featured in new exhibition North: Identity, Photography, Fashion, which is open to the public from today at Liverpool’s Open Eye Gallery.

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Tags: Adam Murray, Alasdair McLellan, Alice Hawkwins, Brett Dee, Demi-Leigh Cruickshank, Derrin Crawford, Doncaster, i-D, Liverpool, Lou Stoppard, Love, Manchester, Open Eye Gallery, Raf Simons, Skelmersdale, Stephen McCoy