CENTREFOLD / Young at heart: Virgin Records is 21. Are you ready to celebrate?
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Your support makes all the difference.Nobody really minds that Thorn EMI owns it; Virgin is still thought of as the baby of Richard Branson, the upstart grammar-school boy running his business out of a phone box, or the bloke in jumper and jeans, a sort of Noel Edmonds with a brain. Can't get excited about the paper bit in the middle of a record? (Most collections are stashed in the garage anyway). Well, to remind you of what a good time you had, Virgin has crafted the anniversary celebrations to suit your lifestyle.
There's the exhibition, Virgin Days: In the Air Tonight, running until 18 June at the Special Photographers Company, featuring photos of Virgin artistes, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, The Sex Pistols, Devo, taken by top pop photographers - Anton Corbijn, Gered Mankowitz, Sheila Rock, Jean Baptiste Mondino, et al.
There's the book. Same pictures, 200 pages, with text by Terry Southern, divided into five eras: Hippie, Punk, New Wave, Megastars and Indie.
The TV programme is on Carlton at 8pm on bank holiday Monday, 30 May. This shows the likes of the Rolling Stones, Janet Jackson, Phil, Soul II Soul and Boy George, some on archive (big names), some playing in the studio (not so big).
There's the song, by Loudon Wainwright III ('Happy birthday, baby, so glad you're still intact]') and a compilation double CD.
And there's the party, in a field in Oxfordshire on 26 May, near to the spot where Tubular Bells was recorded. And you're not invited.
Virgin Days: In the Air Tonight, Special Photographers Company, 21 Kensington Park Rd, W11 to 18 June
(Photograph omitted)
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