It’s busy
days……………
So let’s
start with the positives of the weeks.
The really
good news is that, fanfare; we’ve finally made contact and met the good people
behind the Diversity Festival, hopefully this will lead to firm co-operation
between RAE and the Group.
As a group
the Diversity Festival are celebrating that they are all but a few pounds short
of covering their budget requirements to deliver their show at The Rotherham
Show (8th – 9th September). The Diversity Web Site is up, and you can navigate
your way there HERE
Topping this
year’s fantastic line up on the Diversity Stage is Nottingham Reggae Band “Ossie Gad and the Ites Band”, and dare
I say, oh go on, all the usual suspects, of local Indie, Folk, Acoustic and
ethnic roots music.
There is
much frantic work going on at the moment to get the publicity for the Diversity
Stage out into the public domain, so if you see the links appearing on Facebook
then please start sharing them, it’s only two weeks to the Show.
Spiritual
news too. The Diversity Festival has been
blessed by the Dalae Lama, which might explain how it is all coming
together in such a short period of time.
And don’t
forget the Folk and Jazz Tent as well.
Judy has put together another interesting programme for the Folkies on
Saturday and I’ve put a special page on Acoustic
Rotherham featuring the Acts HERE and
a reminder that the “Singaround” Takes
place on the Sunday afternoon in Park Wall Garden. (That’s the brick building
close to the Museum.
The
appearance of Buddy Wakefield proved
beyond doubt that a quart can be poured into a pint pot; but only if one
ignores fire regulations and the comfort of the audience.
Buddy
Wakefield gave a super slick performance.
His work is both well observed, provocative, with a heavy dose of subtle
humour, which suited my taste perfectly.
A bit like fine art, I know what I like, and Buddy Wakefield I liked
very much.
It’s a real
boost when one of Rotherham’s Art Groups brings one of the so called top names
to the Borough, it can only enhance the reputation of Rotherham as being an
active and lively Arts community. What I
object to is Genre showboating, which unfortunately we saw a bit of on Friday
night. Let’s not get carried away, only
about 20% of Friday’s audience actually came from Rotherham, the rest came from
home bases outside of the Borough.
We’ll leave
aside the stuff that none of the Art Groups are good at the moment, publicity! And of course the Borough wide problem of suitable venues……………………… there
were though a few lessons to be learnt from the structure of the night in my
view.
It’s my
experience that audiences investing time and money to see a specific artist
rarely want to see the evening’s entertainment over decorated, especially when
crushed into a room like sardines on steamy August evening.
Our old mate
from down under, whose patience was eventually pushed to the limit, might well
have stayed mild tempered if the evening’s structure had simply been a local
support for 30 mins or so – break for refreshments into the main
performance. It means evenings can
start a little later and finish earlier before people need worry about buses
and trains.
The same Australian
gentleman may also have been saved from overheating if those who were drawn from a hat to “read”
actually understood the word “short”.
One such reader declared at the end of his work, “thanks for listening,
that’s one of my longer poems” thus demonstrating zero respect to assembled
audience and perhaps others who were denied a chance to read by his
selfishness.
For those
who missed the exit from The Bridge of the Australian might have been amused to
hear his rant about white middle class up their ar** hot air merchants. I thought it best not to comment, having left my walking stick inside the building.
It’s little
things like that which can spoil an evening.
Go HERE to find Buddy’s Web
Site
And on to
the latest from The Fringe Festival desk.
The right
venue has been found……………. This show
was not an easy one to place because of the mixed nature of the content, but
it’s a goodie. So on the 30th October , at THE
CHARTERS, will be John McCullagh - John
Lennon McCullagh – Phil Sinclair – and a
really special bonus Alan McGee the founder of “Creation Records” doing a
special disco spot of the best in Indie.
We might also throw in a Band for good measure. Tickets will be strictly limited so when
you see that they are on sale get in quick £5 and £2.50 concessions.
On the 19th
October (it’s a Friday) we’ve a Special one man Show presentation, with Tina McKivett performing the work joint
written with Matt Hegarty, “A Poor Prospect: Tales From the Workhouse”
providing an insight into life in the Workhouse, in words and music. Extremely powerful, with a touch of
humour. On the same night we present Stan Skinny performing his knock out
one man show “The Tesco Chain Store Massacre”.
(“Didn’t stop laughing for 50 minutes” The Masher) An insight into Workhouse of the modern
era. Provisionally on the Diary for
the Old Market Gallery. Tickets £5 and
£2.50 concessions. Another night sure to
sale out, so watch out for ticket availability information.
We hope to
make a start on putting together the Old Market Gallery Shows, with Paul
Pearson on a Wednesday and David Kidman on a Saturday Brunch time very soon.
Also watch
this space for more Shows coming onto the Diary very soon and some interesting
visual arts news.
You can keep
up to date with all the confirmed new dates HERE
Just to
remind folks that the Rotherham Busking Day is 29th September. Registration can be made up to the minute,
but obviously it would also be useful for us to know if you’re intending to
come and play, and your likely available times.
All you need do is Email HERE or
use the online form HERE
It’s going
to be a cracker of a Month.
The new Land
Lord has unlocked the doors of The
Bridge, and seemingly put out a frightening Black Board declaring “Karaoke
Here on Friday 31st” Yikes.
It’s not an event you will discover within our Listings pages……………… or is that being artistically a “snob”?
There was a
rumour circulating that all live Saturday Gigs at The Bridge had been cancelled,
and some Bands have been announcing that their date is now off. WE ARE
ASSURED THAT ALL GIGS GO AHEAD AS PLANNED.
However, the Land Lord says that he does not have a Diary of the Gigs
booked beyond August, and would appreciate Bands popping in to confirm their
date.
The sad
sight of the For Sale signs going up outside of SNAFU was seen this week, so it’s no longer a strong rumour. I’ve
spotted that The Turf is again on the market; apparently both are owned by the
same Chap. Clearly another person who is
finding the returns delivered by the Town Centre Pub Trade to be less than
profitable.
Good to see
so many people having survived the Whitby experience. Everyone in seemingly in good singing
voice.
Been a bit
of activity on Facebook to. The main
concern being something that I have mentioned in previous years, namely the
lack of any meaningful information on the Whitby
Festival. In my humble view it’s the
one thing that Whitby is so bad at and other Festivals so good at. No maps of the Festival area of the Town
showing the main session venues, no information concerning where the line ups
at the various venues etc.. The Official
reply is that Programme Sales make up 20% of the Festival’s income. Yes that’s £5 per programme. But then many have said that they didn’t have
a clue where to buy a programme, let alone find the Official Information Centre
where they had been placed.
Yes that’s
£5 a programme friends – and I was being criticised for £1.50!
My feeling
is that the cost of the programme and the lack of immediate information on line
makes it very difficult for the casual tourist or a day only folkie to get
involved in the Festival. And let’s not
forget, that for some of us thrown onto the State for a few coppers, £5 remains
quite a lot of money for a book of adverts and few bits of information. Perhaps a more commercial use of the Web Site
might be the answer to any loss of income caused by a drop in sales if more information
and detail were placed on the site. Just
my view though, but one shared.
I also
noticed that post Festival, Ray Padgett is warning that you need to be booking
accommodation to be sure of finding a roof and bed in 2013. I should take heed as Ray will tell you, he
is rarely wrong.
Next
Saturday is Fun Fest, a Community
Festival at Eastwood on the Eldon Road Playing Fields. This is the seventh year it has been staged
and seems to get more ambitious every year.
It all starts at 12:00 noon so fingers crossed for a day filled with
Sunshine. See the poster for all the details.
Who knows, the Masher might even be
spotted mincing around the Park.
This next
week is always a bit like after The Lord Mayor’s Show, as we move into the back
to School time, having had such an intense period of activity. You young ones and Teachers will have that
tingle of excitement as you prepare for the new academic year, if you have not
already started it. This normally means
that Clubs and hobbies get put onto the back boiler for a week or so until the
routines are re-established. So good
luck to you all.
However all
the usual Clubs and sessions will be out there for folks with the time to go
out to play. See the Listings Page HERE
A few dates
for the Diary. This Wednesday, 29th
August Point Blank Theatre and ROAR are
having an Open Evening thing at 25 Wellgate, Rotherham. From what I understand, and I could be a
million miles off target here, but Point Blank and ROAR are collaborating on the use of a currently disused Shop. They are looking for creative ideas and
everyone is invited to go along and stick their noses into Project.
ROAR are also promoting the next in
their series of Personal Development
Seminars for Artists. This one on
the really creative subject of Tax. You’ll
need to Register your interest with Matt HERE
for this event on 13th September.
There’s
couple of other ROAR events which we’ll handle nearer the time.
And it’s the
last full wee where you’ll be able to see the Fabulous Sound Machines at The Old Market Gallery. If it’s an event that you’ve missed up to
now, then get yourself down to have a play with some interesting musical
instrumentS.
And whatever you're doing this week, have fun, support local artists and KEEP IT LIVE.