Old media, new media

Plush interview yesterday in a penthouse overlooking the cranes and mills of Salford Quays, which has changed massively in the four years since I was last in Mancland. It's a changing landscape round here, that's for sure - and a glimpse at the Manchester Evening News property pages reveal apartments going for London prices. Saying that, it's a city where it's hard not to be positive, as new developments spring up and landscapes are re-routed and rewired. Easy to be overwhelmed by all these concretes and casinos, so I stepped into a black, beating heart of old Manc, the Hacienda Exhibition at Urbis. A great testament to Tony Wilson, but also the late and oft unsung Rob Gretton, it's an ear-throbbing, visually splendid exhibition going from the cold dark days of Manchester in the 70s through the superb dance culture it beckoned in in the 80s and its sad, gun-related decline. The pictures of Russian spies Philby, Burgess and McLean, which were behind the bar at the Hacienda greet you as you enter. And giant screens mean I spend the post-interview dwellfest being inspired by clips of Curtis Mayfield and Copey. Go and see this exhibition, but not on a hangover.