Oct, 24

2012

SIMON’S LATEST SCANDALS

October 24 2012, Spindle Magazine

What’s that we hear? That dastardly Simon Cowell has been up to some wily old tricks? We’re shocked. If the rumours that abound are to be believed— and we do so, unreservedly— it’s been a busy week for the Svengali, who has been accused by that yappy little Irish fellow of sabotaging the chances of some X Factor pups who supposedly threaten the position of Cowell’s wunderkinds, One Direction (lending an unnecessary weight to that other rumour he so loves to propagate: namely that there’s …read more

CULTURE, MUSIC

Oct, 01

2012

OFF PISTE SKIING IN FRANCE

October 2012, Fit For Europe

Forget the lengthy queues for the ski lift, dodging the crowds on the slopes and churning up the same powder that’s been subject to the skis of the entire resort, more and more skiers and boarders are ditching the over crowded slopes to seek out new, untouched territory by going off piste, of which there are many in the French Alps.

Ah the backcountry: the place where you get the chance to find the holy grail of snow conditions and be the first to ride …read more

CULTURE

Mar, 01

2012

THE WAREHOUSE PROJECT

March 2012, Spindle Magazine Issue 5

“The first night we opened with Public Enemy and we had the governor from Strangeways prison on the phone complaining that he had 2,500 prisoners raving.”

The Warehouse Project opened the doors of its first venue, Boddington’s Brewery, in 2006 and ever since has carved out a new landscape in the Manchester clubbing scene, bringing the great and the good of international DJs and bands to lord it over its stages at one of the most influential club nights …read more

CULTURE, INTERVIEW, MUSIC

Dec, 24

2011

SKINS

December 2011, Spindle Magazine

Opening up my paper this morning, I’m immediately struck by a story about the sharp increase in sexual promiscuity in teenage girls between the ages of 14 and 24, replete with handy colour coded charts to track the degeneracy. Sadly, I shake my head and inwardly tut; my God, Skins has a lot to answer for.

There’s nothing guaranteed to make you feel quite so old as interviewing the current cast of Skins, many too young to watch when the original cast …read more

CULTURE, INTERVIEW

Oct, 24

2011

New Meat In Hollyoaks

October 2011, Spindle Magazine

Hands up if you’ve never spent a hungover (or otherwise) Sunday morning vegged out, cuppa in hand, in front of the Hollyoaks omnibus.

Nope, put your hand down; you’re lying: everybody’s done that. I’m not even going to ask how any of you stalwartly position yourselves in front of the TV at 6.30 every weekday evening; I’ll let you keep that one dignity.

For 16 years, Hollyoaks has been an institution dedicated to making us feel better about or …read more

CULTURE, INTERVIEW

Jun, 01

2011

POP GOES PERFECTION

June 2011, Spindle Magazine Issue 4

The quest for pop perfection: it famously inspired Louis Walsh’s demand that Girls Aloud lose weight (‘From Popstars to Porkstars’ and back again), made cellulite a condemnable sin and validates Simon Cowell’s entire career of passing judgement on the good, the bad and the ugly; the first two are fairly irrelevant but if you’re ugly, you need not apply.

Is there any genre that strives for its own brand of perfection like pop does? It wasn’t always …read more

CULTURE, MUSIC

Jun, 01

2011

LITTLE MISS PERFECT: CHILD BEAUTY PAGEANTS

June 2011, Spindle Magazine Issue 4

“She is beauty and she is grace,

She is queen of 50 states,

She is elegance and taste,

She is Miss United States.”

Sings a doe eyed man staring in adoration, with just a smidge of jealousy, at the weeping my size Barbie, draped in a sash with her tiara firmly in place and a smile stretched from ear to ear (whether through happiness or pain because she can’t move her face anymore is unclear).

The beauty pageant is a staple of American …read more

CULTURE, FEATURE-INTERVIEW, INTERVIEW

Feb, 01

2011

EUROVISION FEATURE

February 2011, Spindle Magazine, Issue 3

Welcome Europe!

To Eurovision: Europe’s most celebrated tradition and all time favourite show.

The institution that first gave us ABBA, so much more than just another music competition, Sir Terry said it best when he called it an ‘Event’.

In other words, off-key singing, spectacularly hideous outfits and dance routines that would make the choreographers behind the Macarena cringe. Royal weddings and the Olympics can sod off: Europe …read more

CULTURE, MUSIC

May, 01

2010

ROXY VELVET, BURLESQUE PERFORMER, INTERVIEW

May 2010, Spindle Magazine Issue 1

Give in to glitz and glamour and surrender yourself to the hypnotic twirl of a nipple tassel (or two). Go on… Roxy Velvet is the princess of the burlesque and she’s showing us how it’s done.

With her bombshell, Marilyn Monroe reminiscent looks, Roxy Velvet epitomises sex appeal, wooing her audiences and making pulses race with her burlesque and fetish shows and dramatic aerial performances. “I always wear make up and heels, even when I’m going to hang …read more

CULTURE, INTERVIEW

ABOUT

Amy Lavelle is a freelance journalist who has written for the Telegraph, Huffington Post and xoJane, among others. She writes a fashion column for Simply Knitting magazine, as well as working as a subeditor for Holt Publishing's monthly All About... magazines. She formerly worked as deputy editor of Spindle magazine and as a subeditor for Haymarket Media's menswear magazine, USC Selects.

ABOUT

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