Live Music London

 

Punk rock bands, Iceage and Eagulls will performing at a punk all-dayer at the Shacklewell Arms, Dalston, on Sunday, December 2, as part of ‘Freedom from Torture Presents…’ – a festival of music taking place throughout December in support of survivors of torture. Sexbeat and human rights charity Freedom from Torture have got Iceage, four guys from Copenhagen, Demark to headline the punk event. Punk News said: “The post-punk revival of the ’00s can’t touch this stuff. This is post-punk straight from the gutters and streets of the late ’70s, early ’80s.” Eagulls will be the penultimate act. The five piece band from Leeds have been hailed “a welcome breath of fresh air amongst a sea of career bands currently occupying the airwaves” by DrownedinSound.com Performing at the event are Mazes. Formed in 2009 in Manchester a critic from the Independent compared them to ”the holy heights of The Clean, The Vaselines and Television Personalities”, whilst Marc Riley, on their recent BBC 6 music session called them a ‘sort of really garagey Kinks.’ Also performing for the all-dayer are: Vision Fortune who comprise of two brothers from south London, Chain of Flowers a band from Cardiff and Boneyards a group from Brighton and London. They are all looking forward to being part of the amazing live music for an incredible cause. Chain of Flowers’s Joshua Smith said: “Freedom from Torture speaks up for the survivors of torture and organised violence, alerting people of the unthinkable experiences these people have been through. These events are an incredible way to spread the word of what this charity does for these people, and we are really happy to be a part of it.” Boneyards’ James Burgess said: “Freedom from Torture provides humanity towards people who have suffered unfathomable inhumanity. The charity offers a unique support to these survivors of torture and organised violence, and that’s why we are supporting them.” Throughout the day there will be a raffle, with prizes from Matador, 4AD, Rough Trade, XL, Wichita, Mute, Warp, Bella Union, Domino and more who are also coming together to support the event and ‘Freedom from Torture Presents…’ Sexbeat, an inaugural figure in London’s DIY music scene since 2007, their blog sexbeatlondon.com is the go-to guide for the latest in emerging new bands and features listings of their upcoming live events. The label – Sexbeat Records – is an online store on their blog where their releases for bands such as Virals, Eagulls and Fear Of Men can be bought direct from the group. As well as stages at festivals including SXSW, Beacons, Camden Crawl and the Great Escape, Sexbeat’s key date in the calendar is their annual one day festival – RADFEST which is expanding every year. Marika Chaplais, Freedom from Torture’s events fundraiser, said: “We are so excited to have so many great bands in such a brilliant venue, all supporting Freedom from Torture. “It’s going to be an amazing day of music, and we can’t thank everyone enough for their support. Every single penny raised from this event will go towards Freedom from Torture’s work with survivors of torture and organised violence.” Tickets cost £7 with all proceeds going to Freedom from Torture and are available to buy from www.freedomfromtorture.org/presents. The Shakewell Arms is at 71 Shacklewell Lane, London, E8 2EB and the event, this Sunday, starts at 4pm until 11pm.

BROOKS BLUES BAR FAREWELL PARTY

AT

THE PARSONS GREEN SPORTS AND SOCIAL CLUB

BROOMHOUSE LANE

LONDON SW6 3DP

Tel: 020 7736 1401  (between 12-3 & after 6pm)

Music room doors 7.00pm

Music 8.30pm

Special Bar extension until 1.30am – drinks at club prices.

 

 

VERONICA AND THE RED WINE SERENADERS (ITA)

(UK TOUR)

 

 

Veronica and her band have wowed audiences in Europe, and are well on their way to winning the hearts of the British as their first short tour last year drew enthusiastic audiences all wanting more.  They have just returned from a tour of the USA, and the UK tour is based around the Brooks Blues Bar date and which we confidently expect to be another triumph.

The Red Wine Serenaders are Veronica Sbergia on vocals, ukulele and washboard; Max de Bernardi on guitar, vocals, mandolin and ukulele; Mauro Ferrarese on slide guitar and vocals; and Alessandra Ceccala on double bass and vocals.

Hailing from Italy, they came together 3 years ago, rekindling good-time blues, country blues, ragtime, hokum and jug band music, and all that rural music from the 20s and 30s.

Each is a virtuoso musician in their own right. They play a wide range of musical styles covering artists such as the Mississippi Sheiks, Billie Holiday, Hank Williams and Memphis Minnie, and they are big favourites at numerous international music festivals, and are now establishing their fan base  in the UK.

If you caught them last year, you will know why they are fast building a reputation as one of the best live acts around – if you haven’t seen them, come and see why they earn standing ovations. A quick search for them on YouTube will give you a good idea of their repertoire.

This band provides something different from the norm, playing and singing with great skill and virtuosity, with the emphasis firmly on having a good time.… Red Wine Serenaders is not only a project; it is a lifestyle, like good wine: honest, amusing… engaging!

 

There will be guest appearances from Steve Morrison and Alan Glen  and maybe impromptu jamming from other guest musicians tbc, to add to the party atmosphere.  We are offering a complimentary first drink at the bar (at the Club Manager’s discretion) with your admittance ticket on the night on a first-come basis.

 

Admission £15

PGSSC Members £13

www.redwineserenaders.it

 

PS  Brooks Blues Bar moves to a new exciting venue in 2013 commencing Saturday 5 January 2013.  It will be at the Jazz Café Posk  in the basement of the Polish Cultural Centre in King Street Hammersmith.  Nearest tube is RavenscourtPark (2 minutes’ walk) and  numerous bus services outside. There will be more information and the Spring/Summer 2013 listings (including Maria Muldaur, Dana Gillespie, The Spikedrivers, Steve Morrison, Giles Hedley, Sonny Black, Guy Tortora, Gordon Smith & Alan Glen and the very first BBB CD launch) on www.brooksbluesbar.co.uk.

On Monday 1st October the Live Music Act 2012 (LMA) comes into effect.

At a stroke it will create tens of thousands of potential new live music
venues in England and Wales.

The LMA amends the Licensing Act 2003, introducing a new and historic
exemption from entertainment licensing for performances of live music
between 8am and 11pm.  If the performance uses amplification there is an
audience limit of 200.  If unamplified there is no audience limit.

In pubs and bars that already have live music permission on their
premises licence, existing live music conditions will not have effect
when live music is being performed between 8am and 11pm. Within those
hours, conditions such as restrictions on performer numbers, genres, or
amplification would no longer be enforceable.

Under the LMA, pubs or bars that don’t already have a live music
authorisation on their premises licence will now be free to host live
music between 8am and 11pm, subject to the 200 audience limit if the
live music is amplified.

But in these and other alcohol-licensed venues, the live music exemption
could be reversed if the venue disturbs local residents. At a licence
review, the LMA allows for local authorities to re-impose conditions on
live music performances.

The benefit of the LMA licence exemptions goes much further than pubs
and bars.  Subject to the same hours and audience conditions above, the
exemption for live music extends to all workplaces.  This is a broad
term that includes offices, shops, schools and hospitals.

The LMA also does away with the requirement to licence the provision of
entertainment facilities. Among other things, this means it will no
longer be a potential criminal offence to put a piano in a bar for
customers to enjoy, or for a school to provide instruments and a PA for
a charity fund-raising concert by pupils.  Lastly, the LMA makes it
possible for recorded music, rather than solely live music, to accompany
morris or similar dancing.

It all sounds great – but the benefits for pubs and bars could be
undermined if a worrying and indeed misleading suggestion within the
DCMS revised licensing Guidance is ratified.

This Guidance is secondary legislation to which licensing authorities
‘must have regard’.  The words of the Licensing Act take precedence, but
the Guidance is what usually informs licensing officer enforcement.  And
paragraph 15.14 of the revised draft wrongly suggests that licensing
officers might in certain cases circumvent the LMA and impose
pre-emptive conditions on live music even when there has been no licence
review. The draft was put out for public consultation by DCMS on 22
August and this closes on 28 September:

http://www.culture.gov.uk/consultations/9291.aspx

Serious concerns have already been raised by the music industry and
campaigners, but it is not yet clear whether they will be satisfactorily
addressed.   The new Guidance will probably not be published until the
end of October.  If it fails to meet the concerns already raised, its
implementation could be further delayed in Parliament or subject to
judicial review.

For some campaigners, like John King, the revised licensing Guidance may
create more problems than it solves for live music.  His thorough and
entertaining analysis has been published today by MusicTank:

http://www.musictank.co.uk/blog/devil-in-the-detail

For a DCMS summary of the effect of the Live Music Act see:

http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/regulated_entertainment/8955.aspx

NEW ARTS & MUSIC CENTRE PROPOSED FOR NORTH LONDON

‘BRAND NEW START’

 – a breath of fresh air for arts & music –

North London – that’s Crouch End, Haringey, Hornsey, Stroud Green and the surrounding area was once home to a thriving music & arts scene – famous names from the arts who lived and worked in the area abound – they include -The Kinks, Pete Brown of ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ & Cream fame, Mick Kidd (Biff of the Guardian), Anthony Minghella, Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) Laurie Morgan (legendary Jazz drummer) , Tim Healy, Denise Welch, Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth; Bob Dylan – yes he resided in Crouch End for a while. In recent years some of the area’s best loved venues, theatre, cinemas and arts centres have gone – recession, corporate Gastro Pubs and the like have taken over. A once thriving area feels like a cultural wasteland.

But not any more if entrepreneur Jonny Rogers has anything to do with it. Jonny’s vision of a community arts & music centre based in Stroud Green and serving North London’s creative community is gathering momentum – read on…

 

 

BRAND NEW START

A home for community arts and music in North London

With recession devastating the arts & music scene, a single individual has come up with an exciting plan to launch a creative complex within the community.

BRAND NEW START (BNS) envisages the realisation of an ongoing ‘creative village life’ in the heart of North London. BNS would enable a multifunction network channelling independent creative practice into the community and vice-versa. It would harness music, visual & performing arts, film-making, fashion, craft and other disciplines, with particular care taken to accommodate the disadvantaged. All this would be in the confines of a 10,000ft² live-work complex.

BNS seeks those with an interest in this project, investors or donors, who possess material assets that they are willing to contribute. Financial investments will go into a co-operative fund held in trust to facilitate the instigation and day to day running of the centre.

At a time when one of North London’s iconic buildings – Church Studios in Crouch End is in imminent danger of conversion to flats – BNS offers those with a vision a brand new oasis in the present cultural desert.

Initial enquiries to jonny-rogers@hotmail.co.uk

 

 

 

 

ABOUT JONNY ROGERS

 

 

Jonny is an established successful  professional antique & furniture restorer who specialises in prestige period property renovations. He has wide experience and connections with the local creative and charitable community and previous experience of involvement with creative premises. Further information on application to jonny-rogers@hotmail.co.uk

ABOUT THE PROJECT

 

BNS envisages offering space, support services and facilities to those believing in developing local creativity. Its core principles would be justice, community, equal opportunity and creative expression, as well as creating a level playing-field for individuals coming from vulnerable or under-privileged circumstances and who are in a position to benefit dramatically from its services. With music as one of its core creative areas, BNS would provide stage, recording and rehearsal settings, as well as a touchstone for shared musical contact, dialogue and interaction.

BRAND NEW START will consist in self-sustaining and community-dependent artists, musicians, tradespersons and other people of relevant profession, who will occupy live-work space and help to run the continual flow of workshops and events that make up the BNS scheme.

THE SITE The project is presently is pitching for is a 10,000ft², A1-status premises in Stroud Green, N4. This would be occupied by project contributors and sub-let to other artists. Work has been done to secure a series of pre-let guarantees for the property.

 

 

 

August 22, 2012

 

Fancy a drink of Slivovitz, served by Balkan gypsy brass kings Boban i Marko Markovic, to celebrate the start of Euro 2012? 

Cheers!

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Boban i Marko Markovic

‘Golden Horns – The Best of Boban i Marko Markovic’

Album out 11 June 2012

CD/ Digital/ LP

Piranha Musik/ UK distributor: Republic of Music/ !K7

Watch “Sljivovica”: http://youtu.be/Lk1l2x46HO4

Listen to “Sljivovica”: http://soundcloud.com/piranha-musik/08-sljivovica

Listen to “Go Marko Go (Robert Soko RMX)”: http://soundcloud.com/piranha-musik/15-go-marko-go-soko-remix

(Please feel free to share these links.)

The best of legendary Balkan Gypsy Brass Kings Boban i Marko Markovic, selected by DJ Robert Soko, inventor of the international BalkanBeats party movement.  Fifteen boisterous dancefloor tracks, including a previously unreleased bonus remix of “Go Marko Go” by DJ Robert Soko and “Od Srca” as featured on the soundtrack of Angelina Jolie’s film “In the Land of Blood and Honey”.

***DJ Robert Soko will be DJing at BalkanBeats London on Saturday, 16 June, at The New Empowering Church, full info below – please contact me for interview requests.***

Boban Markovic and his son, prized protégé Marko, have managed the nigh-impossible: Leaping from a deeply rooted Roma (Gypsy) scene in Serbia, they have ignited hip club dancefloors, innovating effortlessly and integrating everything from jazz to disco in brilliant, organic ways. They sound authentic, yet utterly fresh. Combining the absolute flexibility of Miles Davis and the cool funk of Herb Alpert, the Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar has found the funkiest expression of their Southern Serbian Roma roots.

Golden Horns offers the perfect summary of the Markovics’ stunning career, with tracks that reflect their dancefloor-friendly best. “As a DJ, I’ve had nearly twenty years to see the reaction Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar get from the crowd,” explains album compiler and Berlin-based, Bosnian-born Balkan beatologist, DJ Robert Soko (BalkanBeats). “Tracks like “Khelipe e cheasa,” “Od Srca,” and “Mundo Chochek” simply kick a**. They get people dancing like crazy.”

Now fans and new listeners can join the party with classic cuts, from the hard-hitting, almost Latin-inflected “Sljivovica” to an aching live version of “Ederlezi,” a deeply moving song beloved from Balkan bars to the silver screen (thanks to Emir Kustarica, who featured Boban in his groundbreaking film Underground). The greatest-hits collection features two swinging remixes, “Go Marko Go” by Soko and “Cinnamon Girl” by {dunkelbunt}, adding another layer to the already rich sonic heritage of the Markovics.

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Celebrating Sanctuary London

bringing a whole new buzz to Refugee Week from 17 June

This summer, the eyes of the whole world will be on London, so Celebrating Sanctuary London 2012 will be unleashing three free amazing events across London during Refugee Week (http://www.refugeeweek.org.uk):

Sunday 17 June on the South Bank

Friday 22 June at the V&A

Saturday 23 June at Rich Mix

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Lou Reed is the latest artist to be added to this year’s Meltdown Festival at London’s prestigious Southbank Centre.  This year’s festival is curated by Lou’s friend and collaborator, Antony.

Reed will perform a rare one-off London concert at the Royal Festival Hall on Friday 10 August. Tickets from £45.

Tickets will go on sale to Southbank Members at 10am Tuesday 29 May, and on general sale at 10am on Thursday 31 May.  Tickets for Lou’s Meltdown show can be ordered from

www.southbankcentre.co.uk/meltdown, 0844 847 9944.  Tickets will also be available from Ticketmaster, 0844 844 0006.

Reed’s concert is part of Antony’s Meltdown, which also features performances from Diamanda Galás, Laurie Anderson, Elizabeth Fraser, CocoRosie, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Joey Arias, Marc Almond, Hal Willner: Freedom Rides and many more.  For the full Meltdown line-up visit – www.southbankcentre.co.uk/meltdown.

ASIA – ORIGINAL LINE UP – UK & WORLD TOUR DATES – NEW ALBUM JULY 2012

ASIA, featuring the original line-up of Geoff Downes (keyboards),  Steve Howe (guitar), Carl Palmer (drums) and John Wetton (bass, lead vocals) will release a new studio album entitled “XXX” on Monday July 2^nd.  The new album dovetails the news of the band’s upcoming 30^th Anniversary World Tour and the collectors’ edition of their eponymous debut album.

Planet Rock will launch an exclusive 48-hour ticket pre-sale for ASIA’s UK-leg of the 30^th Anniversary tour at 9am on Wednesday April 25^th.  Fans can order their tickets from www.planetrock.com. From Friday April 27^th, tickets will go on sale to the general public from the 24 Hour Ticket Hotline: 0844 478 0898, www.thegigcartel.com.

ASIA will play the following UK concerts in December 2012:

Tavistock The Wharf                                               Saturday 15^th December

Holmfirth Picturedrome                                           Sunday 16^th December

Edinburgh Queen’s Hall                                           Monday 17^th December

Salisbury City Hall                                                    Wednesday 19^th December

Birmingham Town Hall                                            Thursday 20^th December

Manchester Royal Northern College of Music       Friday 21^st December

London o2 Shepherds Bush Empire                       Saturday 22^nd December

Thirty years after its eponymous debut album, ASIA ascended to the top of the Billboard Top 100 chart (where the album remained No.1 for nine consecutive weeks). The new album, “XXX”, is produced by Mike Paxman, and features a stunning front cover illustration by the legendary Roger Dean. “XXX” has been hailed as ASIA’s best album since their classic early 80s releases. The album will be released on CD, collector’s edition CD/DVD (featuring new music videos and behind the scenes footage), and on a limited edition vinyl.

The first single taken from the new album is entitled Face On The Bridge, will be released digitally worldwide on Monday May 14^th.  “We wanted to recapture the energy of the first album,” says ASIA’s guitarist, Steve Howe. “ASIA has always been about great songs, fantastic musicianship and I am sure fans of the first album, will fall in love with XXX.”

BOB DYLAN TO RECEIVE THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM

Bob Dylan is to receive the highest civilian honor awarded by the United States – the Presidential Medal of Freedom, as first reported in the New York Times. The award will also go to author Toni Morrison, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, astronaut John Glenn and former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

In a statement about the honor released by the White House Dylan was praised as one of the “most influential American musicians of the 20th century”. The White House also acknowledged that Dylan had “considerable influence on the civil rights movement of the 1960s and has had significant impact on American culture over the past five decades.” The award will be made by President Obama who said of all the awardees ‘They’ve challenged us, inspired us and they’ve made the world a better place’.

Dylan was previously honored with a National Medal of Arts in 2008 and at the age of 71 shows no signs of slowing down – in 2011 he played 89 live shows on his ‘Never Ending’ tour and he rolls right on.

It s interesting to reflect on what Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone wrote about the first interview that Dylan ever did with the iconic US media magazine – Nov 29 1969
‘They say Bob Dylan is the most secretive and elusive person in the entire rock & roll substructure, but after doing this interview, I think it would be closer to the point to say that Dylan, like John Wesley Harding, was “never known to make a foolish move.”’

Here’s a link to listen to extracts of that first ever Rolling Stone interview and to read the whole interview

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/listen-bob-dylan-on-drugs-john-lennon-and-much-more-in-1969-20110510

MINA TINDLE DEBUT ALBUM OUT MAY 28 2012

releases debut album ‘Taranta’

- out 28 May 2012 on Believe -

… and supports Camille on the 27th April at The Barbican

- RSVP for guest lists, and also Mina will be available for interviews on the day too …

http://www.minatindle.com/

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/user/MinaTindleOfficiel

http://www.believedigital.com

Taranta is Mina Tindle’s debut album. Her name has been whispering through the pop-folk scene like a breath of fresh air for some years now. And a cosmopolitan name it is too (borrowed from Milo Tindle, a character in Joseph Mankiewicz’s 1972 film Sleuth) for a French singer (with Spanish roots) who has electrified anyone lucky enough to see her live or hear her self-produced songs. Now, after the buzz, the breakthrough, with a debut album that delivers on its promises – and much more besides. “It’s all there. It sums up where I’ve got to, but it’s also a new stage on the road.

But there were other stages before this one of triumph. The first was when, like many music-lovers of her generation (she’s 28), Mina Tindle – who was called Pauline at the time – saw the light in Catpower’s songs a dozen years ago. “When I heard her cover of ‘Satisfaction’ by the Stones, I fell in love with her voice. It knocked me over backwards, but I could identify with it. My first song copied Catpower. I discovered that singing wasn’t that hard – and that it was thrilling. But I already had a special relationship with music before that; my grandfather and my mother were both keen singers. I remember spending summers on my own at my grandparents’ in Spain. I sang as I played and my voice kept me company. But it took me a while to start taking it seriously.”

Second stage: A few years after her first song, the Parisian moved to Brooklyn for a work placement for her final year of studies. She lived upstairs from the Zebulon, a bar that put on three gigs a night. “I lived right above the stage and I didn’t get any sleep for eight months.” It was a wake-up call. She confronted her budding songwriting skills with her music’s American roots, met musicians, played her first gigs and formed a Franco-American band, The Limes, via MySpace. “The environment was good and things started to take shape.” Her profession was becoming clear, and when she had to go back to France, Pauline decided to make a go of it.

Third stage: “I wanted to make a record, but it was more about crafting an object than launching a career.” So she took her time. Back in Paris, she teamed up with the gang at Sauvage Records again (they would later release her first 45), had quite a few joint projects and experiences, played a lot of gigs (with Beirut, Lee Ranaldo and Alela Diane among others) and created a stir in the media. Then, again via MySpace, she met one of her musical idols, whose songs she used to sing when she was small: JP Nataf, former lead singer with The Innocents and one of the great craftsmen of French pop. Mina Tindle wrote to tell him she was longing to hear his second album. The ensuing correspondence proved fruitful and their admiration mutual. JP Nataf fell head over heels in love with Mina Tindle’s voice. He brought her in to sing on his own second album and then produced her debut album. This adventure, too, was a long haul. It took over two years to record Taranta (at Garage studios in Paris). “I didn’t have a ready idea of the record; we tried things out together. I learnt a heck of a lot from JP. He gave me confidence – he’s a perfectionist and a dreamer. He wasn’t in a hurry; we could’ve spent five years on this album. When we were mixing the final track, we found ourselves re-recording the drums at midnight. This album is all about my meeting JP.”

She’s responsible for the intimate, heartfelt songs she sings in a magnificent, magnetic voice that is delicate and sensual, profound and restrained at the same time, as if conjuring up memories of summer nights to make it through the winter. “I sing to cure myself of something,” she says discreetly, and the therapy is contagious. He’s responsible for producing a sound like a rising sun, scattering touching arrangements like intersecting rays and a multitude of subtle but sophisticated details.

Together they have made a debut album that sails off towards unknown horizons like a yacht driven by tropical winds on a quest for moments of voluptuous grace. On an album of inner journeys, we meet some of the great dreamers of modern pop music such as Feist, Catpower, Emily Loizeau, Emiliana Torrini, Regina Spektor and Kate Bush.  Mina Tindle isn’t a singer under the influence, more a place of confluence. She sings mainly in English on Taranta, with a little French and even some Spanish. But her album title comes from Italy. “The last few years, I’ve spent my summers in the south, in Puglia. I’ve got a friend who’s really into the traditions – the tarantella, music and dance. There used to be a festival for women, for the mad women of the village, the depressives of the time… I wrote a song about that called Taranta. It isn’t on the album, but I will come back to that song some time. I’m waiting to be able to really bring it to life.” Another stage…

Earl Scruggs, who is widely regarded as the “father of bluegrass banjo”, has died aged 88. He pioneered a colorful “picking” style that helped to transform American country music. It is Bill Monroe who is generally regarded as the one who brought various diverse styles of mountain music together and made it bluegrass, a style he once described as “Scottish bagpipes and ole-time fiddlin’. It’s Methodist and Holiness and Baptist. It’s blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound.” Earl Scruggs’s banjo transformed the genre even further and raised it to new levels of popularity. Rather than frailing he picked the strings with three fingers, coaxing the instrument to produce recognisable syncopated melodies.

Earl Scruggs was best known for his partnership with Lester Flatt which produced the hit ‘The Ballad of Jed Clampett’ the theme song for the 1960s television series The Beverly Hillbillies, and for Foggy Mountain Breakdown (1950), a fast-paced instrumental piece which was heard during the car chases in the film Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Both were recorded with Lester Flatt and the Foggy Mountain Boys.

One critic observed “It’s hard to say what might have happened to bluegrass had Earl Scruggs not come along, but without question, it wouldn’t be the music form it is today without the Scruggs banjo.”

Earl Eugene Scruggs was born on January 6 1924 at Flint Hill, a small farming community in North Carolina. His father, a small farmer and bookkeeper, died when he was four, leaving his mother to run the farm and bring up her five children on her own.

Everyone in the family played music and, although Scruggs acknowledged the influence of the banjo player Snuffy Jenkins on his own style, he claimed to be self-taught and to have developed his three-finger technique on his own. The bluegrass historian Neil Rosenberg described Scruggs’s style as “a ‘roll’ executed with the thumb and two fingers of his right hand” that essentially made the banjo “a lead instrument like a fiddle or a guitar, particularly on faster pieces and instrumentals”.

In 1939 Scruggs joined a local string band which performed on the radio, but left to work in a textile mill during the Second World War. In 1945 he took up his banjo again and performed with “Lost” John Miller and His Allied Kentuckians in Nashville. He soon came to the attention of Bill Monroe, whose Blue Grass Boys performed at the Grand Ole Opry. Monroe booked Scruggs to replace his banjo player, Dave “Stringbean” Akeman, who played in the more traditional “clawhammer” manner.

Scruggs made his recording debut with the Blue Grass Boys in 1946 on Heavy Traffic Ahead and embarked on a gruelling touring programme with the band. But in 1948, frustrated by the low pay and hard work, he left, planning to return to the textile mill. Before he could, however, he was persuaded by his former Blue Grass Boys colleague, the guitarist and vocalist Lester Flatt, to join him in a new group. Flatt & Scruggs with the Foggy Mountain Boys secured a radio show and signed with Mercury Records. By the mid-1950s it had a nationally syndicated television show and a regular slot at the Grand Ole Opry.

Scruggs’s banjo gave the band its distinctive sound. They performed several times at the Newport Folk Festival and recorded a live album at the Carnegie Hall in 1962. The Ballad of Jed Clampett made it to the top of the country music charts, and in 1968 a re-recording of Foggy Mountain Breakdown won a Grammy for best country performance.

But Scruggs was never content to rest on his laurels and was always looking to develop to new techniques and styles of playing. As bluegrass lost ground to rock and folk rock, Earl Scruggs began playing with his three sons, recording material by Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones and appearing alongside The Byrds, Joan Baez, Elton John and other stars.

Flatt, however, resisted innovation, feeling that it would alienate the band’s grass-roots fans. In 1969, amid growing discontent, the two broke up. Flatt continued to work with the other Foggy Mountain Boys,  and Scruggs, with his sons, formed the Earl Scruggs Revue. This was a mostly acoustic group which took what Scruggs described as a “no-cubbyhole, category-free, barrier-less approach to music”. They released several albums and toured until 1980. Scruggs’s wife, Louise, died in 2006 and a son died in 1992. His other two sons survive him.

After a successful 14-date UK and European tour in 2011, and having just returned from playing at the Volvo Ocean Race in Abu Dhabi, The Straits will be heading out on an 18-date European tour during March 2012.

Dubbed as The Sound of Dire Straits, The Straits kick off the European tour at Belfast’s Ulster Hall on 5^th March, with concerts in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, and The Netherlands, wrapping up with two UK dates at London’s indigO2 on 29^th March and Guernsey’s Sir John Loveridge Hall on 1^st April.

The upcoming European tour is a direct result of the overwhelming demand to hear the band’s much loved catalogue of unforgettable songs. The Straits will perform songs from the classic albums Dire Straits (1978), Communiqué (1979), Making Movies (1980), Love Over Gold (1982), Brothers In Arms (1985) and On Every Street (1991).  Expect to hear all the classics including Money For Nothing, Sultans of Swing, Walk of Life, Romeo and Juliet, Brothers in Arms, Private Investigations, Solid Rock, Tunnel of Love, and many more.

The Straits are comprised of former Dire Straits members Alan Clark (keyboards) and Chris White (sax, vocals), plus world-class musicians Steve Ferrone (Tom Petty’s drummer), Terence Reis (lead vocals, guitar), Mike Feat (bass), Adam Phillips (guitar) and Jamie Squire (keyboards, vocals).

The Straits’ 2012 European Tour Dates:

Belfast – Ulster Hall (March 5)                        Zurich – X-Tra (March 18)
Dublin – Olympia Theatre (March 6)               Porto, Portugal – Hard Club (March 21)
Gothenburg – Brewhouse (March 9)                Lisbon – Aula Magna (March 22)
Copenhagen – Amager Bio (March 10)            Bilbao, Spain – Sala Santana 27 (March 24)
Aarhus, Denmark – Train (March 11)              Gijon, Spain – Teatro Jovellanos (March 25)
Stuttgart – LKA (March 13)                              Paris, France – La Cigalen – March 27)
Prague – KC Vltavska (March 14)                    Tilburg, Holland – O13 (March 28)
Vienna – Gasometer (March 16)                      London, UK – Indig02 (March 29)
Munich – Muffathalle (March 17)                    Beau Sejour, Guernsey – Sir John Loveridge Hall (April 1)

The Beaverwood Road, Chislehurst, Kent BR7 6HF – Tel: 020 8300 1385
Bookings/Info: Pete Feenstra 0208 761 9078 – www.feenstra.co.uk

Thu 8 Mar:     MARTIN TURNER’S WISHBONE ASH
Sun 11 Mar:     WT FEASTER Band (USA)
+ Special Guest The HOUNDS

Thu 29 Mar:     ERIC SARNINAS & BIG MOTOR (USA) +DAVE JACKSON BAND
Tue 3 Apr:     STACIE COLLINS Band (USA)
Thu 12 Apr:     BILLY WALTON Band
(ASBURY PARK, NEW JERSEY, USA)
Thu 19 Apr:     CHANTEL McGREGOR  & Band + Ron Sayer band
Sun 22 Apr:     The REVOLUTIONAIRES
Thu 26 Apr:     STACKRIDGE
Tue 15 May:     ERJA LYYTINEN Band

Thu 17 May:     CITY FUNK ORCHESTRA

Tue 22 May:     BLUES CARAVAN/GIRLS WITH GUITARS

If your into old school guitar stuff, this might light your pipe..

Walter Trout launches his brand new CD ˜Blues For the Modern Daze with an
exlcusive London club show at the Boom Boom Club/Sutton Utd FC.
Walter Trout is one of the worlds great guitarists. The former lead guitar player
with John Mayall Blues Breakers, Canned Heat and John Lee Hooker recently
celebrated his 20th year as a solo recording artist in his own right with the
chart busting album ˜Common Ground. Now comes the preview of his brand

new CD ˜Blues For The Modern Daze torrential, gladiatorial guitar player – LA Times
www.boomboomlive.co.uk

WT Feaster launches his own ‘Juggling Dynamite’ cd on Mystic.

KING MOB – the new British rock and roll super group announces new bassist and UK dates.

At the end of 2011 the brand new English beat combo, KING MOB released their knock-out debut album ‘Force 9’. Now, as the  new year develops, KING MOB are looking forward to working hard on the live circuit, with dates already scheduled for the UK and the rest of Europe and summer festival dates in the offing. As it’s going to be such a busy year for the group, they’ve parted company with bass player Glen Matlock due to his heavy commitments on other projects, and in his place have taken on the amazing, young Japanese bassist, Toshi Ogawa. The group first met Toshi in one of London’s vintage guitar shops and when the position of bass player became open he was their first and obvious choice. Lead singer Snips says “King Mob came to rock the joint and raise the dead. We will continue to do so in 2012”

KING MOB have announced the following UK dates with more dates to be officially announced

17th March - Tivoli Theater, Wimborne

28th March – 02 Academy Islington, London

For all things King Mob and for show ticketing information head to the official website and Facebook page:

www.kingmob-beatgroup.com

www.facebook.com/KingMobBeatGroup

As reported to us by Hamish Birchall  The Live Music Bill, co-sponsored by Lord Clement-Jones and Don Foster MP, cleared its last Commons hurdle on Friday (20th Jan).
It is now on the home straight to becoming law.  Two minor amendments
agreed in Commons Committee must be ratified in the Lords, probably
within a fortnight, and dates set for Royal Assent. Implementation will
require secondary legislation.  A lead-in period of several months is
likely to allow time for the live music sections within statutory
Licensing Guidance to be rewritten.

The Bill represents a historic shift in the treatment of live music
under the law.  The Licensing Act 2003, and many preceding Acts,
embodied a presumption against most performances unless first licensed,
on pain of criminal law sanctions. This harsh treatment, dating back
more than 250 years, will end for performances within certain hours and
to a relatively small audience.  The potential risks are already
regulated by separate legislation.  While there were and are rational
grounds for licensing large events, there is also a puritanical streak
in English culture that was amplified by licensing legislation.  The
enduring puritanism was expressed in often unreasonable objections to
even the mildest live music licence applications, with absurd
over-regulation and enforcement by many local authorities.

The Bill could easily have been sunk by a combination of tedious
filibustering on Daylight Saving Bill amendments and arcane
Parliamentary procedure.  Indeed, it came very close to failing, not
because of insufficient numbers in the House to carry a vote (over 130
MPs), but lack of time.

Debate yesterday started at 9.30am and had to finish by 2.30pm.  The end
time arrived and MPs were still on the Daylight Saving Bill. Many
observers present thought the Live Music Bill had been lost.

Lord Clement-Jones said: ‘I was sitting there and I was absolutely,
completely confounded. I had no idea what was happening when the
Daylight Saving Bill was up.’

Then, as one observer in the public gallery put it, ‘something weird
happened’.   MP Philip Davies, the last in a succession of honourable
members grinding through DSB amendments, suddenly sat down as the
Speaker, Nigel Evans, stood up and shouted  ‘Order, order’.  The
remaining private members bills titles were read out. Next up was the
Live Music Bill.

There followed a short exchange between the Speaker and Don Foster, and
the Bill was passed to a loud chorus of ‘Ayes’, with no objections.
(View on Parliament tv, scroll to 4hrs 55mins:
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=9853 )

The good news flashed quickly around arts and music media:

Jo Dipple acting chief executive of UK Music, the UK commercial music
Industry’s umbrella body, said “This is a great day for music. The Live Music Bill will make a real and positive difference to lives of musicians. There is no doubt that the
current Licensing Act has created needless layers of bureaucracy -
making it complicated and expensive for pubs and other small venues to
host live gigs. The entire industry would like to thank Lord
Clement-Jones and Don Foster MP who have made this change possible.”

John Smith, Musicians Union General Secretary, added-
“We are delighted that the Live Music Bill has finally made it through
Parliament. It is a real achievement for a Private Member’s Bill to get
through and the MU would like to thank Lord Clement-Jones, Don Foster
and all of the other MPs who helped to pass this Bill.”
http://www.basca.org.uk/news/live-music-bill-passes-third-reading-and-report-stage/

Links to other press coverage:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16657152

http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/34983/live-music-bill-close-to-becoming-law

Heartfelt thanks is certainly due to Lord Clement-Jones, Don Foster, the
licensing minister John Penrose, many other MPs and Peers who have
tenaciously campaigned within Parliament, especially John Whittingdale,
Chair of the Culture Select Committee, also to the civil servants and
lawyers who have worked hard behind the scenes on the bill, and indeed
to the Coalition government. But the time is not yet ripe to celebrate.
That should be saved for the day the new law comes into effect. And it
will take many months, perhaps years, for the full benefit to be
realised by musicians, venues and the music loving public.

The sharp decline of small gigs in pubs coincided with reform of
entertainment licensing in 1982, when local authorities were given
powers to set their own fees.  These quickly rose by several hundred
percent, and by 2000 the Home Office estimated fewer than 10% of pubs
had entertainment licences, although all of them could still have one or
two live performers (the ‘two in a bar rule’).  But even that modest
musical provision was abolished by the 2003 Licensing Act, legislation
that marks the highwater point of regulation of live music through
licensing.  It was under this Act that even providing musical
instruments became a potential criminal offence unless licensed.  This
ranges from pub pianos to instruments provided by schools for concerts.
The Live Music Bill does away with that requirement.

One long-time campaigner asked me yesterday what I would do next.  I am
not against licensing regimes per se.  Where there are serious risks to
the public, inadequately regulated by separate legislation, prior public
consultation may be necessary and proportionate.
To that end, perhaps MPs should be licensed.

THE DEVIL’S MUSIC IN THE KITCHEN – BURY ST EDMUND’S DEVIL’S KITCHEN COLLECTIVE

ESTABLISHED AS A ‘REAL’ MUSIC VENUE WITH MUSIC FOR THE PEOPLE – NEW YEAR’S EVE SPECIAL FEATURES LONDON’S QUIRKIEST ROOTS BLUES ROCKERS ‘ELEPHANT SHELF’

The Devil’s Kitchen Collective is described as the most original jazz n’ blues club in the U.K -‘a winning formula of kooky volunteers, from hip teenagers to funky septuagenians’ We are a not for profit music club run by musicians, retired artists & live music lovers in Bury St Edmunds. It’s held on THE FIRST SATURDAY OF EVERY MONTH at THE GREENE KING SOCIAL CLUB THE DEVIL’S KITCHEN COLLECTIVE at The Greene King Social Club, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP33 THE DEVIL’S KITCHEN COLLE… St Edmunds, Suffolk IP33 The venue has presented a very high standard of music in the fields of blues, jazz, roots and rock ‘n roll – artists who have appeared include – Mark Butcher, Hokie Joint, The Untouchables – Steve Downs –Gabrielle Ducrombie –Skip McDonald –Big Mama’s Door- Liane Carrol – past gigs have included acclaimed tribute gigs to Jimmy Smith and Ronnie Scott. Not only is the music acclaimed but so is the food – every gig features a superbly prepared menu that varies from the exotic – Creole Special – to traditional ‘Bangers ‘m Mash’ – spokesperson Fiona Kerr says “We pride ourselves on presenting great music and great food at a great price”

This New Year’s Eve special gig features one of the UK’s rising R&B / Roots acts ELEPHANT SHELF – the colorful band is fronted by two of the country’s leading transgendered musicians – Vicky Martin on Vocals and guitars, and Diana Stone – (acclaimed as a wonderful boogie pianist by London promoter Pete Feenstra) on piano and fiddle – the band’s exciting brand of swing based retro R&B has appeared all over the UK this year Festival appearances at Upton, Plumpton, glamorous Skegness, Cambridge and appearances at venues as far and wide as Swansea, Weston Super Mare, Sheffield Lincoln and Bethnal Green have all added to Elephant Shelf’s burgeoning reputation. Numerous gigs by The DELTA LADIES featuring Vicky & Diana of the Shelf have cemented a reputation for great musicianship and great entertainment.

.

The collective’s supporters are in process of setting up a “FRIENDS OF THE COLLECTIVE” too. They thank Paul Dennet & the team at Greene King for all of their help and kind support and on their website give thanks for the support of many honest local businesses & organizations.

The collective are VALERIE BOLTON, KRIS K, Patricia Routledge look-a- like FIONA KERR, ROGER POWELL, HATTIE (THE LEGEND) ASHTON, plus recent recruits RICHARD (‘DICKIE DARLING’) & RUTH (also known as RUTH & ROGER) you find out more about this wonderful venue and about these lovely people at. http://www.thedevilskitchencollective.com/

DEVIL’S KITCHEN VIDEO CHANNEL – http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=devil%27s+kitchen+collective&oq=devil%27s+kitchen+collective&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=5563l19750l0l21125l28l14l1l10l10l0l938l1156l0.2.6-1l3l0

ELEPHANT SHELF – www.elephantshelf.com

DELTA LADIES – www.deltaladies.com

Lord Clement-Jones’ live music bill, now sponsored by Don Foster in the
Commons, has just passed its 2nd reading there.

If implemented, the bill would create entertainment licensing exemptions
for performances of live music between 8am and 11pm to audiences of up
to 200.  However, it retains the licence review process for bars and
other alcohol-licensed venues if the exemption is abused.

The bill now moves to the Committee stage. A date has yet to be fixed,
but it could be before Christmas.

It is unusual for a private members bill originating in the Lords to get
this far.  However, while encouraging, its success today is no guarantee
that it will become law.  Potential pitfalls, and much hard work, remain.

Meanwhile, another hysterical denunciation of the government’s more
radical entertainment licensing deregulation proposals has been
published, this time by Wandsworth council:

http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/site/scripts/news_article.php?newsID=10856#makecomment

Entirely misleadingly it suggests that pubs and bars ‘…would not be
subject to proper safety checks with potentially no limits on the
numbers of people attending, nor on the hours of operation. This would
negate one of the reasons for introducing a licensing regime in the
first place which was to prevent tragedies where young people have been
injured in fires or as a result of overcrowding or crushing.’

This is complete nonsense and scaremongering of the worst kind.  The
safety of the public in workplaces is no longer regulated by
entertainment licensing, but by separate health and safety and fire
safety legislation, and this applies to all activities taking place.
Also, as alcohol licensing and conditions in alcohol-licensed venues
would remain under the deregulation proposals, enforceable opening hours
would remain.

In their consultation submission to DCMS, Wandsworth puts forward other
specious or contradictory arguments against more radical deregulation:

http://bit.ly/squeVN

For example, their Q1 response states: ‘Of the 579 premises in the
London Borough of Wandsworth with a licence to sell alcohol on or on/off
the premises, 213 also have a licence to provide live music. Of the 48
Private Members Club in the borough supplying alcohol, 32 have a licence
to provide live music. There are, therefore, many venues within this borough
that could allow live music performances (albeit with controls to
protect neighbours from noise nuisance). However, many of these licences
are not used and this Authority would, therefore, question whether live
music is not being promoted in venues because of market decisions rather
than because of bureaucracy and red tape.’

But it is impossible to draw any reliable conclusion from this data
about the reasons for having or not having live music.  How does the
council know that the licences are not being used?  Venues that have in
fact closed often remain on council licence registers as if they were
still in business.  And what licence conditions have been imposed?
These might include costly requirements to provide door supervisers
during performances, or to fit a noise limiter. Or they might restrict
the number of performers, or genres of music.  The venue may have
particularly intolerant neighbours.

And even if the amount of live music currently provided were entirely
determined by factors other than entertainment licensing, as the council
would like to believe, what then would cause the explosion in noise
nuisance that they warn so stridently against if entertainment licensing
is removed?

Petition to: request the Cabinet to reconsider its decision to introduce West End evening and Sunday parking charges before their planned introduction on 9th January 2012 in view of the considerable harm that the proposed charges will cause to residents, businesses and visitors

http://petitions.westminster.gov.uk/WestEndParking/?showall=1

Jump Jive and Shout

Jive Night

Dj: Jeniffer Jackson

Music:  Lively, pulsating 1940s/50s rhythm n blues, doo wop, jump jive, blues shouters etc.

Live: Blues from London’s Florence Joelle’s Kiss of Fire

Saturday 10t^h December  2011

8pm -12.30

Entry £5.00 on the door

Kennedy’s Bar

297 Caledonian Road

Islington

London N1 1EG

Noted Aussiec guitarist, Tommy Emmanuel, has a new album ‘All I Want For Christmas’ released on Monday November 7^th. This coincides with his UK tour starting on Thursday December 1^st at Hull City Hall. ‘All I Want For Christmas’ follows Emmanuel’s last studio album, ‘Little By Little’, released February 2011. Its released on Steve Vai’s ‘Favoured Nations Entertainment’ record label. Tommy Emmanuel was honoured as the Country Music Awards’ Global Artist earlier this year. He co-produced with veteran Nashville picker/arranger John Knowles, CGP. They collaborated on new arrangements of Yuletide classics including ‘I’ll Be Home For Christmas’, ‘The Christmas Song’, and ‘Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer’. Emmanuel also wrote one original for the collection, ‘One Christmas Night’, and arranged a second new composition, ‘The Magic Of Christmas Time’.

Click here for the official press announcement - www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/tommyemmanuel/album.htm

Says Tommy Emmanuel “People have asked me about doing a Christmas album so many times over the last 20 years, and when I had time to really get into this project, it just had a life of its own, and was so easy to make because we all loved the music so much. I’m pleased that there will be so many fans happy about it’s release”

Most of the arrangements for ‘All I Want For Christmas’came together via Skype, while Emmanuel was on tour and fellow guitarist Knowles was home in Nashville..Everything was recorded at Beech Creek Studios in Franklin, TN with KimPerson, who has produced Emmanuel’s last five albums. Emmanuel used several guitars for the sessions, but relied mainly on a new Taylor model that he says, “has a singing quality to it, a beautiful voice
Tommy Emmanuel’s December UK Tour with special guest Gareth Pearson; 24 Hour Box Office: 0871 230 1101, Book online: www.seetickets.com (additional tour info – http://bit.ly/oVpnMD).

Hull City Hall (Dec 1)
Harrogate International Centre (Dec 2)
Buxton Opera House (Dec 3)
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall (Dec 4)
Birmingham Town Hall (Dec 5)
Brighton Hove Centre (Dec 6)
Cambridge Corn Exchange (Dec 7)
Cardiff St. David’s Hall (Dec 13)
London Union Chapel (Dec 15)
Salisbury City Hall (Dec 16)

For interview opportunities, CD review copies, review tickets and photo passes, please contact:
Peter Noble and Will Taylor at Noble PR Consultancy
0207 272 7772, peter@noblepr.co.uk, will@noblepr.co.uk

In a year which has seen several new festivals this weekends’ festival at Bedford Esquires looks like being one of t he best. It runs from Thursday 13^th to Sunday 16^th October and features some of the most popular performers on the UK scene including LARRY MILLER, CHANTEL McGREGOR, THE NIMMO BROS, PADDY MAGUIRE and several more. We spoke to Larry Miller who said ‘this looks like being a really festival it’s a great venue and set-up’. Bedford Esquires is very popular as one of the best run venues around – its 60a Bromham Road Bedford MK40 20G and a very informative website – www.bedfordesquires.com and don’t forget you can win tickets for the festival right here on this page, just answer three questions and Larry’s yer Uncle…

1) Who wrote Ray Charles’ classic song ‘The Mess Around’?

2) Who wrote the song ‘Vigilante Man’ recorded by Ry Cooder?

3) Which Bob Dylan song did Jimi Hendrix play at the Monterey Festival

Answers by email to diana@lovemymusic.com

Fender Musical Instruments has just announced the arrival of the new EC Series Eric Clapton signature guitar amps, and who better to show what they’re capable of–besides Slowhand himself–than the legendary Buddy Guy. As he showed on his latest album, Guy is Living Proof that being 74 doesn’t mean you can’t tear up the frets like a 20-year-old. There are three new tweed tube amps in the Clapton series–the EC Twinolux, EC Tremolux, and EC Vibro-Champ–and all bear the famed picker’s design touches. Judging by the killer sound Guy gets, you might need one. Here’s the complete sales pitch from Fender:

Each is a specific variation based on three classic Fender tweed tube amps of the 1950s – the ’57 Twin, ’57 Deluxe and the ’57 Champ. Clapton has frequently favored these original amps for specific sounds at various points throughout his amazingly varied career, and the new EC Series amps represent both reverence for his musical legacy and the finest in Fender guitar amp craftsmanship. All three amps are handmade in the United States, with interesting mods under the hood specified by Clapton himself. These include a ’50s-era output tube bias tremolo circuit (which produces a more throbbing pulse than later Fender tremolo circuits) and a switchable power attenuator that reduces speaker output (and can disable one speaker in EC Twinolux for even lower output).

The 2×12″ EC Twinolux, 1×12″ EC Tremolux and 1×8″ EC Vibro-Champ are single-channel amps with high-gain and low-gain inputs, hand-wired all-tube circuitry on eyelet boards with premium components, custom transformers, and premium tubes and speakers.

The EC Tremolux has fixed bias for increased headroom and an internal speaker disconnect that allows use of an external 8-ohm speaker enclosure. The EC Vibro-Champ has an internal speaker disconnect that allows use of an external 4-ohm speaker enclosure, and a footswitch jack for an optional tremolo footswitch.

All three EC Series amps have a cosmetic treatment that elegantly befits an artist of Clapton’s stature. Each is ruggedly built with a finger-joined solid pine enclosure, and each authentically evokes Fender’s original 1950s golden era with lacquered tweed covering, vintage-style brown/gold grille cloth and a leather strap handle.

And in the most outwardly visible personal touch, each amp bears an “EC Series” badge at front lower right and Clapton’s signature on the control panel. Each amp also includes a deluxe fitted cover.

BLUES FOR HEROES a fundraising concert in aid of injured servicemen and women.will take place on October 22 at The Cadogan Hall in Chelsea, on the bill are The Blues Band, Matt Schofield and Ian Siegal London, in addition noted guitarist Robin Trower and ace pianist Paddy Milner will join the show as guests of the Blues Band.

The organizers have gathered some of the best of British Blues talent for the concert. Ian Siegal described by Mojo as ‘the cleverest writer and most magnetic performer of blues in the UK’ will open the show with a solo set. Ina Siegal will be followed by Matt Schofield and his band. Schofield is being talked of as one of the best British blues players of recent years. He is gaining an increasing world audience and comes to the Cadogan Hall from an extensive US tour.

Closing the night, Paul Jones and the Blues band who need little introduction. 30 years and 19 album releases says it all. As noted they will be joined by Robin Trower and excellent pianist Paddy Milner, who has been steadily carving a niche for himself as one of Britain’s finest blues pianists.

Press enquiries:
Richard Pavitt, Nugene Music +44 (0)7973 217140
richard@nugene.co.uk

Bert Jansch a major figure in the British folk revival of the 60s and one of the most respected musicians of his time has passed away, dying from cancer at the age of 67.Bert Jansch was a founding member of one of the UK’s most innovative bands Pentangle; he was a truly renowned as a guitarist of virtuoso standard and was sometimes compared to Bob Dylan.

Bert Jansch was born in Glasgow on 3 November 1943, he released 23 solo albums, the last of which was called ‘The Black Swan’, released in 2006 it featured collaborations with Beth Orton and Devendra Banhart. He was awarded two lifetime achievement prizes at the BBC Folk awards – the first in 2001 was for his solo achievements and the second, in 2007, was as a member of Pentangle. The band reformed in 2008. In June 2009, following what was at first a routine visit to the dentist; he discovered he had a golf ball-size tumor on one of his lungs. Following treatment, he went on to co-headline a US tour with Neil Young. Jansch had recently been forced to cancel a live show in Edinburgh due to ill health and was living in a hospice in north London at the time of his death. He influenced many including Jimmy Page, Nick Drake, Graham Coxon, Donovan, Bernard Butler and Paul Simon. According to fellow guitarist Johnny Marr: “He completely reinvented guitar playing and set a standard that is still unequalled today … without Bert Jansch, rock music as it developed in the 60s and 70s would have been very different.”

Neil Young has said “With deep regret Pegi and I acknowledge the passing of Bert Jansch. We were lucky to play with him on all of our shows for the last couple of years. He is a hero of mine, one of my greatest influences. Bert was one of the all-time great acoustic guitarists and singer songwriters. Our sincerest sympathies to his soul mate Loren. We love you Bert.”

What others said about Bert Jansch –

“As much of a great guitar player as Jimi [Hendrix] was, Bert Jansch is the same thing for acoustic guitar…and my favourite” Neil Young

“At one point, I was absolutely obsessed with Bert Jansch. When I first heard that LP [1965], I couldn’t believe it. It was so far ahead of what everyone else was doing. No one in America could touch that” Jimmy Page

“He revolutionized the guitar…I don’t think anybody has ever been revered as much as he is” Dick Gaughan

“If you didn’t know he was a guitar hero to many – including Jimmy Page and Keith Richards – your ears might tell you” – THE EVENING STANDARD

Robin Denselow wrote: “Bert Jansch was that rarity, a musician who really did deserve to be regarded as a legend, and who retained that status throughout his career. He was an extraordinary guitarist and a thoughtful songwriter, and generations of would-be pickers sat at his concerts watching his finger-work with envy and astonishment.”

Bert (Herbert) Jansch, guitarist, was born 3 November 1943 and died 5 October 2011

Following the success of last year’s Zappa plays Zappa concert as part of the Roundhouse’s 70th birthday celebrations for Frank Zappa, Dweezil Zappa and The Zappa Family Trust are delighted to bring the show to the UK in November and December 2011 for a 13 date UK tour.

Frank Zappa’s eldest son Dweezil and his band ‘Zappa Plays Zappa’ will perform the classic 1974 album ‘Apostrophe’ in sequence and in its entirety, plus there will be a host of other Zappa favourites; and in a final twist, the performance will also feature a section – from grave to stage – in which Frank himself will perform with the band via synchronized audio/video technology using unreleased video footage.

Dweezil Zappa has said

“Not only will we be performing with Frank once again during the live performance via enhanced video;   we will also be performing the works from one of his most well known albums -’Apostrophe’, it’s always been one of my favourites and a fan favourite as well. My first experience playing to a large audience took place in the UK at the Hammersmith Odeon with my dad when I was 12.  Years later I still feel a connection to the UK because it’s part of a touchstone type of memory for me. One day I would love to come full circle and play at that venue again. I know the venue now lives on under a different name but there’s a parallel there. My father’s music is also living on under a slightly different name, Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa.”

“I’m really looking forward to this upcoming tour especially on the heels of the Roundhouse Zappa festival. That was a great experience. We’ll have plenty of surprises in the set as well. We always strive to learn new material each time we tour and this time we’re going to dig deep.” DZ

The dates are as follows: NOVEMBER 2011

Thurs 17th York, Barbican

0844 8542757 / http://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk £24.50 / £28.50

Fri 18th Gateshead, The Sage

0191 4434661 / http://www.thesagegateshead.org/ £28.50

Sat 19th Edinburgh, Picturehouse

0843 2210100 / http://venues.meanfiddler.com/hmv-picture-house/home £28.50

Mon 21st Liverpool, Philharmonic Hall

0151 7093789 / http://www.liverpoolphil.com/ £10.00  / £18.50 / £23.50 / £28.50 (main price) / £33.50 (boxes)

Tue 22nd Manchester, Bridgewater Hall

0161 9079000 / http://www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk/ £24.50 / £28.50

Wed 23rd Cambridge, Corn Exchange

01223 357851 / http://www.cornex.co.uk/ccm/portal/ £28.50

Thu 24th Basingstoke, Anvil

01256 844244 / http://www.anvilarts.org.uk/ £28.50

Sat 26th Coventry, Warwick Arts Centre

0247 6524524 / http://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk/ £24.50 / £28.50

Sun 27th Leicester, De Montfort Hall

0116 2333111 / http://www.demontforthall.co.uk/?cat_id=1&level=1 £24.50 / £28.50

Mon 28th Oxford, New Theatre

0844 8471585 / http://www.newtheatreoxford.org.uk/index.asp?VenueID=103 £29.50

Tue 29th London, Barbican

0207 6388891 / http://www.barbican.org.uk/ £29.50

Wed 30th Bristol, Colston Hall

0117 9223686 / http://www.colstonhall.org/ £25.00 / £28.50

DECEMBER 2011

Thu 1st Brighton, Dome

01273 709709 / http://www.brightondome.org/ £28.50

B.E.F. have confirmed “2manydjs (DJ Set) – a special and unique 80s set” to their “Music of Quality and Distinction” night at the London Roundhouse on Saturday October 15^th.  Other guest vocalists performing at the B.E.F. Roundhouse concert include La Roux’s Elly Jackson, Kim Wilde, Boy George, Sandie Shaw, Glenn Gregory, Scritti Politti’s Green Gartside, Midge Ure, Polly Scattergood, the Noisettes’ Shingai Shoniwa, and former Long Blondes singer Kate Jackson.  B.E.F. will perform songs from their first two “Music of Quality & Distinction albums, as well as songs from their upcoming third MQD album, “Dark.”

On the previous night, Friday October 14^th, the Roundhouse will see Heaven 17 perform the world premiere of their seminal 1983 album “The Luxury Gap,” for the first time, and in 3D sound.  H17 will perform their iconic hit single “Temptation” plus other songs from the Luxury Gap, including “Come Live With Me”, “Crushed By The Wheels of Industry” and “Let Me Go.”

Click here for additional info about the B.E.F. and Heaven 17 London Roundhouse concerts: http://www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/meanfiddler/heaven17-bef.htm

Day tickets for “The Luxury Gap” concert in 3D sound on October 14^th and “B.E.F. presents Music of Quality & Distinction” concert on October 15^th are each priced £23.50.  Weekend tickets for both nights are £42.50.  24 hour ticket hotline: 0844 844 0444.  Book Online: www.ticketmaster.co.uk (direct link for tickets: http://bit.ly/npTMBH).

Todd Rundgren, iconic rock and roller plays the Manchester HMV Ritz on Saturday October 1st. The Manchester date is the first of several UK concerts billed as “An Evening With Todd Rundgren”- the shows are described as “The greatest hits tour Todd fans have been waiting to see for years.” Todd Rundgren is widely regarded as the godfather of music and multimedia. He founded and The Nazz, a notable `60′s power-rock psychedelic band. He left in 1969 to pursue a solo career, recording his debut offering, the classic Runt. It was 1972′s seminal Something/Anything, on which he sang and played all the parts, and acted as producer, that catapulted him into the superstar limelight.

Tickets for the Manchester HMV Ritz concert on October 1st are available from the 24 hour ticket hotline: 08700 603 777, www.seetickets.com. Meanwhile, Rundgren’s three night residency at the London Jazz Cafe (October 3-5th) is completely sold out. These are Rundgren’s first UK dates since 2010′s sold-out London Hammersmith Apollo concert where he performed his 1973 album A Wizard, A True Star.

Todd Rundgren many production projects include albums by Patti Smith, Cheap Trick, Psychedelic Furs, XTC, Grand Funk Railroad, New York Dolls, Hall & Oates, and Meat Loaf’s multi-platinum debut Bat Out Of Hell.

Read the official online press release – http://www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/meanfiddler/ToddRundgren.htm

Queen of Irish folk-song Eleanor McEvoy – new solo acoustic album & UK tour

Ireland’s noted singer/songwriter, Eleanor McEvoy, will embark on an intimate UK concert tour in support of her forthcoming new studio album ‘Alone’.

‘Alone’ is a beautiful collection of 12 stripped-down songs, recorded in a spontaneous studio session between tours, just Eleanor, her two guitars, and a sound engineer. The album is released on Monday September 12^th by Moscodisc. ‘Alone’ features new tracks, alongside re-workings of Eleanor’s best loved songs and including her world-wide hit smash-hit ‘A Woman’s Heart’.

Eleanor’s 17-date UK tour kicks off on September 21st at Birmingham’s Glee Club, she then continues nationwide to October 9^th, with concerts in London, Winchester, Nottingham, Brighton, Portsmouth, Stratford, Hedben, Kendal, Isle of Bute, Bellshill, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Essex, Owestry, Bury and Inverness.

For more information and to stream the new single “You’ll Hear Better Songs (Than This)”, click here – http://bit.ly/ke34OA

Los Angeles, CA (August 30, 2011) – Big D and the Kids Table have a new record ‘For The Damned, The Dumb & The Delirious’, ( released July 5^th, 2011 SideOneDummy Records) clenched in their teeth and a list of cities to sonically decimate. The US Ska/punk veterans are gearing up for a European Fall/Winter Tour. They’re coming off of a 7 week headline US Tour and a successful summer featuring on this summer’s Vans Warped Tour and will be hitting fans, new and old, hard. Joining Big D will be the British Ska band Random Hand.

The new album ‘For the Damned, the Dumb, and the Delirious’ is explosive with an impressive 17 tracks and countless number of performers; blasting punk, old school thrash, adrenalin charged Ska plus the good old traditional Boston bar room anthems. It is Big D’s most diverse record to date will provide listeners with endless new favorites and new classic for the future.

This is an album that all of Big D’s community of family, friends, and fans  have got behind and supported. When unforeseen troubles plagued the recording process, Big D turned to their hometown of Boston, Massachusetts, for help and support. Multiple engineers, studios, guitar techs, drum techs and more put aside industry standards and opened their doors to the band offering their time and skills for free and showing true artistic friendship.  ‘ For the Damned, the Dumb, and the Delirious’ highlights the skill, creativity, and community that the band is known for.

A full list of the dates is below.

11/15 Kingston, UK  @ The Peel
11/24 Wermelskirchen, DE @ AJZ Bahndamm
11/26 Ulm, DE @ Betelgueuse
11/28 Berlin, DE @ Wild at Heart
11/30 Winterthur, SWZ @ Gaswerk
12/3   Dunkerque, FR @ Les 4 Ecluses
12/4   Nantes            , FR @ Le Ferrailleur
12/6   Paris, FR @ Les Combustibles
12/7   Melechen, BE @ Metteki
12/10 London. UK @ Underworld
12/11 Peterborough, UK @ Club Revolution
12/12 Manchester, UK @ Moho Live
12/13 Leeds, UK @ Cockpit
12/15 Belfast            , IE @ Speakeasy
12/16 Dublin, IE @ Grand Social
12/17 High Wycombe, UK @ Nags Head

Black Country Communion, the rock and roll band featuring Joe Bonamassa Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater), release of their first ever live DVD & Blu-ray; “Live Over Europe”. on Monday October 24th UK and European

The double live DVD is released by Mascot records, and was filmed with 14 HD cameras and 5.1 Surround Sound during the band’s 2011 summer tour. I was recorded across three nights in f Hamburg, Munich and Berlin, the 18-song set includes tracks taken from both of BCC’s albums and from Thursday September 8th, fans will be able to download a live version of “Song of Yesterday” (taken from Live in Europe) absolutely free by visiting here. Bonus features include an exclusive 28-page collector’s booklet, and an additional DVD containing a 20-minute ‘behind the scenes’ feature and a photo collection.

Read the full “Live over Europe” DVD press release here – http://www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/blackcountrycommunion/liveovereurope.ht

Following the September 26th release of Beth Hart’s ‘Don’t Explain’  album collaboration with guitarist Joe Bonamassa -– she’ll perform two intimate UK concerts in November. The first date will be The Flowerpot, Derby on Monday 28th November, followed by London Dingwalls on Tuesday 29th November. Tickets for both concerts are available from 0845 413 4444, www.seetickets.com, www.ticketline.com and www.alt-tickets.co.uk. Further press information for Beth’s UK concerts is available here.

Beth is already a platinum selling solo artist across Europe, her collaboration with Joe Bonamassa on the Gil Scott-Heron classic, ‘I’ll Take Care Of You’, was recently BBC Radio 2’s Record of the Week and has been added to their playlist; the recently reached Nr 5 on the Amazon UK pre-order chart.

Beth has been compared to the likes of Janis Joplin and Etta James, and the concerts will showcase tracks from the new album, including a brilliant rendition of Tom Waits’ ‘Chocolate Jesus’, as well as songs from her back catalogue.

The album is produced by Kevin Shirley (John Hiatt, The Black Crowes, Black Country Communion), and combines Hart’s raspy and soulful vocals against Bonamassa’s signature guitar sound. They collaborate on an excellent collection of soul classics from such as Delaney & Bonnie, Billie Holiday, and Aretha Franklin. Tour and album details – click here http://www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/provogue/hart-bonamassa.htm

‘Tracer’ the exciting three-piece heavy rock band from Adelaide, Southern Australia, release their debut album, “Spaces In Between”, in the UK on Monday October 3^rd by the independent Dutch rock label, Cool Green Recordings.  If Robert Plant and Jimi Hendrix made love to the sounds of Audioslave, it might sound something like Tracer – a distinctive sound reminiscent of 90’s grunge/stoner rock, mixed with the brio of 70’s classic rock. The line-up of brothers Michael (vocals, guitar) and Leigh Brown (vocals, bass) and drummer Andre Wise delivers a driving, sonic sledgehammer of sound.

Tracer join Royal Republic as special guest for the second half of their “We Are The Royal” European Tour, taking on 24 dates through France, UK, Germany, The Netherlands and Sweden. The UK leg of the tour starts at the Sheffield Corporation on Monday October 24^th.

The new album includes 12 catchy in-your-face songs and the first single “Too Much” includes an energetic promo video that will premiere on YouTube soon.

For tour details click here – http://www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/tracer/album.htm

BLUES  & ROOTS FANS – ONE OF THE HIPPEST CARTOON PARTNERSHIPS EVER – LONDON RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBITION!!

Exhibition: Ancient & Modern -Biff Cartoons & Strips 1976 to 2001

Dates: Thurs 1st to Sat 17th Sept 2011 – Private View: Wed 7th Sept 2011, 7 & to 9pm

Biff Cartoons by Mick Kidd & Chris Garrett are widely regarded as one of the hippest cartoon features of the past thirty-five years Biff cartoons have been running in British magazines and newspapers since 1976, most notably the Guardian. They’re especially noted for their satire of media people and places and of people who write the sort of stuff you’re reading now. The Original Gallery at Hornsey Library hosts a retrospective exhibition of their work from 1976 to the present day.

Mick Kidd and Chris Garratt met at school in Leicestershire around 1955 and they subsequently went to University, it was after that BIFF was borne. The Ancient & Modern exhibition follows the evolution of Biff cartoons as they went from homemade cut and paste comics to realising their motto ‘raising trivia to exciting new heights’. The prototype of Biff Interplanetary News was self published in 1976 followed by Biff Quarterly Nos. 1 & 2 in 1978 and 79. In addition to comics Biff was produced on badges, postcards and t-shirts selling from a stall in Camden Lock. The cartoons were picked up by the underground media and appeared in International Times (1976-80), City Limits (1983-88).  Subsequently they appeared in mainstream media -the Guardian (1985-2005). Since then Biff Cartoons have appeared in NME, Building, BBC History, History Today, Corgi and Methuen. Icon published various compilations of Biff between 1982 and 1996.

Mick has taken time out from running his sanctuary for small lost animals in Crouch End and Chris has taken time out from his cottage industry of carving wooden heads of famous people to give his blessing to the exhibition. The exhibition will be blessed and sanctified by the Right Reverend Father O’Jacobson Bishop of Golder’s Green and will also feature an appearance from the DELTA LADIES playing Delta Blues and Bluegrass.
Ancient and Modern will be on show at the Original Gallery from the 1^st to the 17^th September 2011. Visit www.haringey.gov.uk/theoriginalgallery for more information and opening times.

To visit Biff’s own website click here http://www.biffonline.co.uk/

The Delta Ladies can be found at www.deltaladies.com

Father O’Jacobson’s web-site has sadly been compromised

Chickenfoot, featuring Joe Satriani, and Sammy Hagar New album ‘III’

Chickenfoot, featuring Joe Satriani, frontman Sammy Hagar, former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and noted drummer Chad Smith, have confirmed multiple UK release dates and formats for their second album Chickenfoot III. The album follows their 2009 award-winning debut album. It will be released in the UK initially as an exclusive Limited Edition Fan Pack, coinciding with the international album release date of Tuesday September 27th. The album is produced by Mike Fraser (AC/DC, Metallica) comes in special 3D packaging.

The Fan Pack includes exclusive bonus tracks - Down The Drain and Oh Yeah! Both live in Phoenix- and a 132-page magazine dedicated to the band approved , the fan pack magazine contains exclusive interviews with each member talking about the album and their careers. It also details the making of the band’s new video, and the creation of the 3D album cover. The magazine includes rare photos of the band, an exclusive muso section, a Guitar Pick Pack, 3D glasses, and a 3D CD digital book pack with postcards.

On Monday October 24^th, Chickenfoot III will be released in the UK on CD, Deluxe Edition CD & DVD, and 12″ vinyl. The Deluxe Edition CD & DVD will include a Chickenfoot III EPK, Big Foot promotional video, Turning Left (live in Phoenix) and the Sexy Little Thing promotional video. The official promotional video for the Big Foot single is available on YouTube and details of the band’s September 27^th worldwide web simulcast concert, will be announced shortly.

The forecast for August Bank Holiday is good and the music promises to be even better. The ever popular Abbey Fest at Merton Abbey MIlls in London SW19 has a great line up of classic blues & R&B, running from Friday 27th to Monday 29th August. Some of the finest up and coming acts in the UK will grace the stages of the bandstand and the lovely Colorhouse Theatre.

The Line-up includes -The Robin Bibi Band with guitar master Robin Bib, Bad Influence featuring the wonderful blonde bombshell Val Cowell, Crosstown Traffic with Charles Shar Murray and Buffalo Bill Smith, Elephant Shelf featuring the boogie piano and red-hot fiddle of Diana Stone, Roadhouse with the elementally powerful guitar of Danny Gwylim, Incredible Blues Puppies with harmonica virtuoso Alan Glen, the Dave Raphael band with (yes you got it) Dave Raphael, B’Mused, and others.

Bandstand events are free Colorhouse Theatre events incurr a door charge – BOX Office is 0208 542 5511 and a full list of events is on www.abbeyfest.co.uk

Canary Wharf Jazz Festival

Friday 12 – Sunday 14 August 2011

Canada Square Park, Canary Wharf, London

FREE EVENT

Canary Wharf becomes the hub of all things jazz on 12-14 August when some of the best performers on the circuit take the stage at the Canary Wharf Jazz Festival.

The diverse line-up, announced today, is arguably the best in the Festival’s five year history and includes the sparkling jazz-folk talent of Gwyneth Herbert, influential purveyors of rare groove The Herbaliser, brilliant BBC Award winner and Mercury Prize nominee Kit Downes and world class Canadian jazz trumpeter Jay Phelps performing with special guest Clare Teal and a brand new 16-piece Big Band. This will be the premiere performance by Jay Phelps and his new band.

The Canary Wharf Jazz Festival opens on the evening of Friday 12 August with the gentle fusion of jazz and traditional Yoruba Song performed by Femi Tomowo and band at 7pm, followed by the slick trans-Caribbean rhythms of big Band Ska Cubano at 8.30pm.

Saturday’s programme commences with the laid back vocals of special guest Cousin Alice and the Boisdale Blue Rhythm Band. Next up, the quartet Aquarium led by pianist Sam Leak perform material from their critically acclaimed self-titled debut album, released earlier this year.

Following a bewitching performance from Gwyneth Herbert, the stage will be filled with the infectious Latin sounds of Cuban Combination. The evening will close with the extraordinary and über-established sound of The Herbaliser featuring James Morton of Porkchop fame on alto saxophone.

Sunday’s line up will kick off with a highlight performance by the Kit Downes Sextet, followed by the Latin jazz flavours of Grupo X. The critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Sarah Gillespie with her quartet, featuring guest maverick sax player Gilad Atzmon will perform her unique mix of jazz, blues and urban folk. Superlative trumpeter Jay Phelps provides a fitting grand finale featuring Clare Teal and his 16-piece Big Band.

Part of the festival for the first time this year is Jazz on the Screen; a series of stylised documentaries shown on the big screen in Canada Square Park in collaboration with Rich Mix Cinema and Arts Centre. Ben Stern’s landmark Jazz on a Summer Day (1966) features the Newport Jazz Festival of 1958. The Monk and Monk in Europe (1968) films provide insight into the complicated life of Thelonius Monk, one of the most influential figures in the history of jazz.

The Canary Wharf Jazz Festival is part of a summer-long array of free performing arts and music concerts in Canada Square Park. It also comes hot on the heels of April’s opening of Boisdale of Canary Wharf, which is one of the capital’s best new live music venues featuring nightly jazz and soul performances overseen by Patron of Music Jools Holland.

Sian Astrop, Arts & Events Manager at Canary Wharf Group plc said: “The Canary Wharf Jazz Festival is going from strength to strength and Canary Wharf itself is growing in stature as a music hot-spot. We are particularly pleased with the diversity of performances this year and it’s all free to enjoy. It’s going to be a memorable three days in Canada Square Park this August.

MOVING FROM A PUB VENUE TO A DEDICATED LIVE MUSIC VENUE – The Old Bell Enfield
Live Blues – rock ‘n roll – rockabilly-ska & reggea- swing -jazz-regular live music

Vicky Poyser and Pete talk about live music at Enfield’s  Old Bell

At a time when pubs and music venues are  struggling to survive it is really good news to see a long established pub making the step to a dedicated music venue; that’s exactly what’s happening at The Old Bell Enfield – its been established for over 35 years, as a music pub –now it’s being transformed and is set to become the live music place in Enfield North London. It’s a tale of community spirit and of the fans making it the place they want to it to be – the proprietor Vicky Poyser and partner Pete asked the regular customers and local people for their contributions to the look of the place. The result was astonishing; locals showered the couple with rock & roll, pop and blues memorabilia from the 50’s right through to the present day. The result is a trip down memory lane with tables covered in cuttings and pictures from the great days of live music with highlights that include a signed cheque from George Harrison to Donovan Leitch plus a signed picture of Buddy Guy. The tables are laminated so that customers can enjoy the memorabilia and the walls are covered with old 45’s, vinyl albums and covers, posters and flyers. Its fascinating to look around at and has a real rock ‘n roll vibe. The venue is featuring some of the local acts and acts from Hertfordshire. As it fully establishes through 2011 they are looking to feature acts from the national blues / roots / rock circuit which will bring them to the attention of many more people. For once a venue seems to be doing everything right and the future seems assured, the venue is valued by and performing a service to the local community; it’s something that’s long been needed in the area and at last its happening.

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Merton Manor Club 76 Kingston Road SW19 1LA Nearest tube :South Wimbledon (Northern Line)
Tel: 0208 542 9340
Saturday 20th August 2011 8pm TILL Midnight
£12 advance from Ticketweb £14 on door tickets available from Ticketweb via this link: http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=448396

Chas and his band play all the Chas and Dave hits including “Rabbit”, “Gertcha”, “Ain’t No Pleasing You”, “Sideboard Song”, “Margate”, “London Girls”, “Snooker Loopy” and more.Plus songs from his new solo album plus his special Jerry Lee Lewis tribute from the time he played in the band.
Although Chas is now sin Dave, it’s nevertheless still a rip-roaring, knee-shakin’ rock ‘n’ roll affair of oompah proportions.