D'ya play guitar, la?

The La's were a legendary Liverpool 'beat combo' of the 1980s/90s, founded by Mike Badger and probably best known for the song There She Goes (a toe tapping ode either to a woman or to heroin - the debate still rages) which was actually written and recorded after Badger had left to form The Onset, the band brilliantly described by rock journalist and historian Pete Frame as

a sort of mid-90s amalgam of the Electric Prunes meets Del Shannon meets Cat Mother and The All Night News Boys meets The Rockets meets pre Liege And Lief Fairport Convention meets Kaleidoscope meets Help Yourself meets Bo Diddley meets The Fifth Avenue Band meets the Burritos, with traces of John Sebastian, Gene Clark, Poco, Phil Ochs and other great sniff-snaff thrown in. Younger than yesterday, fresher than tomorrow - The Onset

Badger himself has remained a mainstay of the Liverpool music and art scenes and apart from playing in his current band, Mike Badger and the Shady Trio, he's developed a bit of a reputation as a sculptor.

Some of his work is on display at the moment at the Bluecoat Arts Centre in an exhibition called 'Honky Tonk'.

The exhibition also includes his guitar case, which is certainly a work of honky tonk art in itself as you can see here.

By the way, for those not familiar with the Liverpool vernacular , la is a commonly uttered Scouse variation on the word lad.