Writing on the Wall announces record audience numbers

TWO very different legends bang out the most successful Writing on the Wall festival to date this week – and Liverpool Confidential is helping celebrate with sweet deals on three big events - including the festival's closing party.

We have "the most sophisticated drugs baron of all time" (eatcha' heart our Curtis Warren), a reggae icon, and the resident DJ at Liverpool's very first club to play black music.

First up

Author, raconteur and ex drug smuggler Howard Marks will talk about his amazing experiences at a special event in Liverpool this Thursday. 

Notorious for his audacious exploits in the 70s and 80s, Oxford graduate Marks avoided the grasp of international law enforcement for two decades while building one of the biggest smuggling rings in history. 

The law finally caught up with the Welshman in 1988 and he served out seven of a 25-year sentence, before being released in 1995. 

Described as the most sophisticated drugs baron of all time, Marks is the writer of the best-selling autobiography Mr Nice and performs critically acclaimed one man shows, drawing on a wealth of experience ranging from growing up in South Wales and his time at Oxford University, to incarceration at America's toughest federal penitentiary.

It's some story - so especially for Liverpool Confidential readers, WoW are offering tickets with a whopping 60 per cent off the asking price. Just key in the promo code “NICE” when prompted on this page and you will receive tickets, normally £10, for just £4!  

But wait, there's more

This year WoW, which has included literary competitions and appearances by the likes of Janet Street Porter and Melvyn Bragg, has attracted record numbers - with organisers hailing “fantastic feedback from audiences and artists” over the festival's five weeks.

So it goes out with a fitting bang at the Kazimier this Friday with a conversation event led by Hacienda DJ Dave Haslam.

DJ Derek

The topic? The development of black music in the UK, racism within the music industry and the stories of some of the DJs, black and white who were pivotal in bringing black music into the mainstream. 

Appearing is Derek Morris, a 70 year old former Cadbury's pen-pusher from Bristol.

He gave the white collar up for black roots, becoming DJ Derek, spinner of rocksteady, reggae, ska, dancehall and soul music.  Now he's a cult hero in the industry, and feted by the likes of Massive Attack, DJ Derek has appeared at Glastonbury, the Big Chill and even in a Dizzee Rascal video. 

Les Spaine, right, with Stevie Wonder at the Hotter Than July party, a while back

He is joined by Les Spaine, agent of Aswad, Billy Ocean and Soul II Soul, who was the resident DJ at the Timepiece, the first Liverpool club to play black music. Tickets, £6, are limited.

And last but not least

Still at the Kazimier, we have 2 for 1 tickets for the exciting Writing on the Wall Closing Party, which follows the Q&A, from 10pm. It will include DJ sets and live music from Liverpool's emerging Ska Heroes Bolshy. Hit here now for the deal and key CONFIDENTIAL into the promo code box

As Howard Marks might have said, they are deals not to be spliffed at.