So let’s
make a start on what may of the surface may seem to be quiet week, yet so many good
things have happened.
But first,
what do you do with a credit card sized piece of plastic claiming to be a
CD? This is what happened to me on
Saturday when the flap of the letter box at Masher Towers was wedged opened by
a medium sized envelope. The contents of
the envelop claimed to be the new album from Stompin’ on Spiders, (something we
have been doing all Summer if the papers are to be believed), “Blacklisted”.
The package was a bit of surprise, not least because the sender of the parcel
was at that very moment telling all his Facebook friends that he was arriving
in Hong Kong on his way to the land of Auz..
The plastic was an even bigger surprise.
I did try it in the local “hole in the wall” only to be told “NO BUGGER
OFF MASHER” by the screen, before a helpful Mr Phil Hartley dug me out of the
hole by giving me step by step instructions.
What a
fantastic idea for distributing a physical music product! A bit of a push and you have a storage stick
which slots into a USB port and lo – there shall be music and so there
was. I remember muttering at the time
that it had better be worth all the packaging hype, and so it proved. It
would certainly halve the number of boxes under the beds of many Bands.
We’ve long
been trying to find a slot for Stomping on Spiders at Slamfest, unfortunately
their lead guitarist and vocals often gets called away on business at short
notice, which means the closest we have come is Gazza in his guise of The
Abbott of Unreas Gazza has made a couple
of appearances at Acoustic Rotherham events as well.
on.
The
“Blacklisted” CD demonstrates why we are so keen. This is Blues at it’s very best, coming at
you in many fused formats. There’s a
bit of bluesy, folk, rock, Country, and straight at you. The Band call it “new tradition blues”. This
CD is one of the most enjoyable “indie” releases I have had the privileged to
listen to this year, the professional mixing and production gives the listener
a complete experience of the instruments and vocals – on one track in
particular the use of a harp makes for an amazing sound fusion.
I cannot
recommend the CD enough, you can get hold of a copy via the Stomping on Spiders
Web Site HERE
And another
blast from the past. Niven Smith the
writer behind so many of the songs sung by West Midlands outfit Beechwood,
another Band that Acoustic Rotherham brought to South Yorkshire, has produced a
super solo CD, entitled Past and Present.
There is a real Indie feel to the music, melodic and very much chirpy
and cheerful, he says with qualification as some of the lyrics are rather
deep. Some songs have their roots in the
eighties. You can find Niven’s CD at a special price for download HERE on his Web Site. You can listen to the tracks before you buy,
always a clever idea to tempt you to try music from an artist you might be
unsure of. I liked it; it’s a fun
listen
Live at The
Trades was a sensational high spot of the week. The Trades was packed for one of the best
Tribute Bands I’ve had the pleasure to listen to, Livewire performing their
AC/DC show. Over two hundred in the
venue, a minimum fifteen minute queue at the bar for most of the evening, says
it all. The music was loud, brash and a
full two hour plus thrash of the rock musicianship at it’s very best. For those who did not get to see the show, we
hope to ask them back sometime next year.
Some venues
though really have to get their act together.
The Management was told that the show was pre – box office record for
sales. Yet three bar men had to work
two bars for most of the night, at one point this slipped to two when change
had to be got. Madness. My hat is off to the Bar Staff though who
fought manfully to get the queue down, and some had not had a break throughout what
by the end of the night was a near thirteen hour shift – far beyond the call of
duty. I was disappointed though when
they tried to charge the Band for drinks.
They must have taken near record takings on the night, yet were so
miserly as to want to charge the Band who had brought the crowd in; a crowd
that will keep them in a job.
At the end
of a night we are all tired, performers, RAE Crew and Venue Staff; tempers get
short, especially when “jobsworth” like attitudes come to the fore. Best for everyone to chill out and Mick and
I ain’t going anywhere until at least Christmas; if you want paying, speak to
us when everyone has a clear head.
And that
seems to be the problem with our Venue.
They cannot get their heads around the fact that it’s a
partnership. RAE is viewed as outsider’s
gate crashing their cosy existence. The
Venue has been sold, receipts not being up to the level required and the fact
that the previous Management could not get planning permission to bulldoze it
to make way for Offices or a car park. The
Management need to wake up to the business we have brought to the Venue. By the way there is talk that they will be
looking for Bookings bringing in a Hire Fee of £300 per night. Talk about live on another Planet.
On a more
positive note the Kinkids girls were out shaking their collection boxes at the
end of the night, and collected a remarkable £80 towards the Children’s
Christmas Party. They will be out again
for Lovehunter, the best Whitesnake Tribute Band in the UK, coming to Live At
the Trades on the 1st November.
Get your tickets from Mezmerize, the Cutlers and Trades or Online HERE
Prepare to rock one more
time. More details about Kinkids can be found HERE You can find
ticket links to all the remaining shows in 2014 HERE
Well, it was
also a busy time for Meetings.
The ArtNav
Co-ordination Group met to consider the Consultants to take on the difficult
task of identifying the holes in Rotherham’s arts network. It’s disappointing that so many Groups have
decided that the Meetings of this Group are not a priority on their busy schedules. It was interesting that the very first
Meeting following the news that Lizzy was going to leave her post in the
Council was packed and since then the numbers have dwindled significantly.
For the
record we had a limited choice and decided to go with Culture Partners who we
hope will be able to be flexible enough to think outside of the box. We need a positive change and a heap of new
ideas to kick start a change in the way that the Arts Or
I
hope; the Group hope; that more Artists and Organisations will not only play a
role in the Consultation and the deliberations following the Report.
It is being
treated with some urgency, and the Funds made available for the Consultation
are limited so all hands to the deck.
I also went
along to the first Meeting of those intending to follow the British Council’s
Citizen Action Programme. This offers
fantastic opportunities to Volunteers or Voluntary Sector Pro’s to learn about
Citizen Action and develop ideas for Community programmes. The Course also provides an opportunity for
collaborations, and the building of a Network of contacts from across the
World. There’s an opportunity for travel
too. Given that it is fully funded it
was rather disappointing to find just three people at the inaugural
session. One hopes that future sessions
will be better attended. 
Two of the fantastic artists that RAE has collaborated with over the past couple of the years, Minx Taylor and Caz Maz have had their work entered into the Doncaster Open Arts Exhibition. The Exhibition opened last Saturday and their work created considerable interest. It's fantastic their work is being seen outside of Rotherham by whole new audience and lets hope that Commissions follow.
It does make me wonder sometimes about the subjective nature of Art, when Rotherham Artists have to go out of the Borough to get their work shown.
Then it was
onto the launch of the new Office in the Imperial Building for The Mix, who
will be leading a series of projects with young people, mainly theatre
based. The Organisation has it’s HQ in
Huddersfield and Vicky Hilton has been recruited to help develop the projects
locally. We look forward to seeing the
proposals.
The
Rotherham Shakespeare Festival for young people, a project that has a following
throughout the World is in financial danger, as there is likely to be a £20K
shortfall in funds for the 2015 Festival.
Unfortunately I can’t divulge the reason for this shortfall at the
moment, but needless to say it has to do with short sighted Leadership in the
corridors of power.
An appeal
has been started and you can donate by text -
that makes it easy - see the poster / sign. The details are also available on the RAE Web
Site HERE
Had a
message from ROAR this morning to say that the call for work for a new
Exhibition that goes under the working title of “The Darkness” has gone
out. Previously there had been little
response. So get those brushes out, and
get in touch with Matt at ROAR. Email HERE
Yes, I’ve
let it happen again. My Email client
has been wiped out. This time I have
managed to not only loose the Emails, but also my entire contact list!! Not good.
PLEASE IF YOU ARE A REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OR EVEN AN OCCASSIONAL ONE –
SEND ME AN EMAIL SO THAT I CAN REPAIR MY DATA BASE. Email HERE Thank you.
Speaking of
things technical, a new look Web Site, less heavy on the download will be
developed over the next few weeks.
Please be patient though.
Editor in Chief of The Word Pit has been on to me, apparently some of the Poets who submitted work have not been told that the Word Pit 7 has been published. It has and links were published on the day and in subsequent Blogs etc. But for those who have missed it - you ain't 'cos it's HERE
This weekend
promises to be an excellent one;
Friends of Mick and a few others, will be gathering at The Trades for
what promises to be a special birthday Party for the man, who hits 50 this
week. I know you didn’t appreciate that
he was so young, but that’s modern living for you. A sign of his age reared it’s ugly head on
Saturday when he actually turned down a pint of beer at the end of the evening
saying he could not handle it. Never
mind Mick, I do have a spare walking stick you can make use of. His celebrations also include Led into Zeppelin
Acoustic at The Cutlers on Friday.
A quick word
for The Cutlers who in addition to their regular Saturday shows are also
attracting some super audiences for some more chilled out sounds on a Sunday
afternoon. Keep the eyes on the Facebook
for details.
SYDA (South
Yorkshire Disabled Arts) will be performing in the ROAR Arts Space on
Westgate. Entry is free, and this
evening of comedy and tragedy starts at 8:00pm.
This is the Company’s second performance in Rotherham, and is called “Second
Performance”. Details HERE
Throughout
the day there are plenty of Anti-Fascist activity, with Hope Not Hate having a
Newspaper distribution, details HERE and there is a Rally in The Town Hall at around
12:00 Details HERE
In the Old
Town Hall area, be prepared to be scared out of your wits from around 10ish
when Something Special have their Halloween Market. I’m resisting a Minx joke……….. All
the details are HERE
Finally on
Saturday, it being the closest Saturday to Halloween, The Bridge will again be
awash with zombies (I know it’s like that most Saturday’s) as Papa Legbus call
up the voodoo Pirates for a full on ghostly, yes I said ghostly,
performance. Details HERE
Sorry to
hear about The Bridge’s clash with the Leeds Utd supporters last Friday. Glad to say that the morons did not cause
too much trouble. Mick claims not to
have been amongst the rioters; I believe
him, but only because I saw a photograph of him dressed very smartly been
hugged by a six foot giant who once played for Leeds. We all know Mick would not endanger his best
T shirt by throwing beer around.
This Sunday
around 1:00pm to slip down nicely with your lunch, the Masher will be interviewed /
maybe performing LIVE on Youtube for the Performers Lounge, with Richard Green
in the Chair. You can find the Link for
the Live stream HERE in the Facebook
Event.
And at 7:00pm,
more Acoustic Joy as Karen and Nigel (Acoustic Swansong) host the Acoustic Warm
Down at the Titan’s Rugby Club. More
details HERE
So plenty to
get your teeth into there.
Whatever you
are doing this weekend, have great fun, support local traders and artists, and
KEEP IT LIVE
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