Jimmy Burns is not only a massive punk hoarder and collector, he is also a real gent. We first touched base a few years ago when Jimmy contacted me through my blog and shared some images of posters which he had, of punk concerts I had been to in the past. Jimmy then kindly let me use these images on my blog. Last year Jimmy invited me to see his exhibition of memorabilia at Newcastle Central library. Well, he is back there again, with a second exhibition Punk No. 2 of marvellous memorabilia. The exhibition runs from October 8 until November 10.
Once again, Jimmy met me at the library and give me a private personal tour of his exhibition, which is as before, excellent and well worth visiting. My carer Jan and I arrived early and went upstairs in the lift to the space where his collection is currently on display. Jimmy soon joined us and took me around the exhibition space, explaining the details of the wonderful treasure trove of punk memorabilia which she has assembled for his second exhibition. What he revealed to me was another unique collection of memorabilia. Jimmy has a massive collection and this is only one small part of it.
Punk No. 2 exhibition once again takes the visitor through the history of punk, this time including posters from around the country as well as for concerts in the north-east. This includes very rare posters of punk bands including Sex Pistols posters from early gigs, there legendary Anarchy tour, early Clash concerts and posters of other major punk acts such as Joy Division, the Damned and many others. If you go along, you will also see part of Jimmy’s massive collection of flyers, tickets and very rare original vinyl records from around the world.
To say that Jimmy has assembled a unique collection of punk items which not only covers the north-east but is of national importance, is an understatement. I very much doubt that anyone else in the UK has assembled such a collection. And as before, only part of his collection is currently on display in the library. Jimmy has put this together largely through personal connections he has made over the years. He is touch with collectors around the world and is constantly trading with others to try and find other items to add to his collection.
We were soon chatting as before about punk concerts that we had both been to “back in the day” and rare items that we would both love to own, such as a ticket for the cancelled Sex Pistols Anarchy 1976 concert at Newcastle City Hall. I had a ticket and sadly returned it to claim my money back when the concert was cancelled. Big mistake.
Jan and I were once again knocked out by a fabulous exhibition and by Jimmy’s passion for anything to do with vintage punk rock. Thank you once again Jimmy for spending time with us, talking us through the exhibition and sharing happy memories with me. I really appreciate it and look forward to chatting with you more in the future. Good luck with the exhibition. I’m sure that many people will go to see it and that it will be well received. If you are interested in punk rock then I would urge you to go along and visit the exhibition while it is currently on display in Newcastle Central library.
The exhibition runs until November 10. I would urge you to go along and see it. Many thanks to Jan for taking the photos. Apologies for the reflection (the memorabilia is all safely housed behind glass) which has come out on some of the images.
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