Get your Summer of Love underway with the most hip of super-hip happenings these coming months… Rachael, tell us where it’s at?!
For starters, there’s an
invitation across the nation extended to all
psychedelicised brothers and sisters, courtesy of club night Harvest. The journey started in 2003, when Koba Promotions decided that the psychedelic revolution needed to be dragged into 21st Century Cardiff by way of multi-media, multi-sensory far-out events. All to a soundtrack of the finest freakbeat and folk you can find. Originally situated in Café Calcio, Harvest has now found its ultimate home in The Globe and its authentic ’60s artwork and trip-tastic Filmore-esque décor makes it the perfect place for Friday night freakouts. With appointed flower girls spreading the psychedelic message, phantasmagorical lightshows and sets from the best live bands (March’s launch night saw jangly folksters and IAHT stars El Goodo take to the stage), where better to spend the first Friday of every month? “The long and strange trip continues,” says promoter Andy. “Come along for the ride!”
Of course, if you want your strange trips to take you further afield, pull on your white boots and check out Shazzula, go-go dancer and oscillations virtuoso turned DJ. Hailing from Belgium, shakin’ Shazzula brings her wild groovy tunes and super-psych look to bars and clubs all over the continent, spinning “old freaky sounds to ‘now’ sounds to make everybody dance.” Formerly a go-go dancer for The Vice Barons, Shazzula left Belgium for the crazy rhythms of Italy and then landed on the groovy shores of France, where she now plays oscillations and sings for savage voodoo fuzzsters Aqua Nebula Oscillator. Between performing and dancing she runs some of the wildest nights in Europe, from Brussels’ Suicide Twist Parties to the Parisian UFO Club. Tune in and shake
But assured, you can still get your kicks a bit closer to home. The Bar on Hanway Street hosts a once-monthly Saturday smash-up for the danciest of London’s feet. Ricky Ticks describes it as “a bunch of teenagers with ever-growing record collections in a cupboard underground” – which sums it up rather well. Resident DJs Speak & The Spells share the spinning duties with some of London’s finest young freaks (including yours truly) on the first Saturday of every month, with the wild sounds walking the line between savage garage and frenzied freakbeat, with a sprinkling of ’60s pop and mod gems thrown in for good measure. The floor of this Lilliputian venue shakes with dancing feet and the beat every time, so if you like your primitive far-out sounds served with a side of old-fashioned fun, descend the stairs and prepare to freak out!
DENVER VIA SAN FRANCISCO
From 21st March – 19th July, Denver Art Museum plays host to an exhibition that will no doubt please the eyes and minds of many Shindig! readers. Psychedelic Experience: Rock Posters From The San Francisco Bay Area, 1965-71 is a collection of over 300 psych-era artefacts that will be opened and exhibited to visitors looking to discover the lost art of psychedelic design. In depth discussions of ’60s and ’70s history will surely follow, along with sights and sounds shown through video, music and interactive activities. Fans of Wes Wilson, Stanley Mouse and Lee Conklin will do well to attend.
THE GREEN MAN COMETH
Wreck It Up
Although, if dynamic vibes and crazy grooves are more your bag, then East London’s Wreck It Up Club should be just the ticket. Featuring the smoothest sounds from shuffling ska, to insane Hammond beats, to swinging Rocksteady, Wreck It Up promises the finest of Jamaica via London. DJs Amma and Eli play the best beat stomping sounds on monthly Thursdays at 93 Feet East and it’s all “at strictly 45 rpm to get the floor shaking.”
Shazzula
down to her fantastical freak-outs at Paris’s Point Ephemere on 20th May and Brussels’ Roi de Belges on 29th May. Just remember to bring your dancing shoes…
10
Speaking of strutting in your boogie-twistin’ boots, the ever-reliable New Untouchables are back for their second bank holiday blowout of 2009! The Hot Wax Weekender is moving to Leeds, and promises to be even more action- packed than last year, with the bunny-hoppin’ bashes taking place at super-happening venues The Wardrobe Club, Wire and The Shed Bar for your dancing delight! Spinning the discs will be NUTS regulars Rob Bailey and Lee Miller and they’ll be joined by hotshot guests and mod authorities including Brighton Beach’s Gav Needham, Hideaway’s Paul Welsby and No Way Out’s Phil Saxe to make sure you’ll hear the slickest soul sounds and nattiest Northern Soul numbers. For your money you’ll also get to tap your winkle-picker twinkle-toes to Leeds’s finest young hedonists The Bacchae’s own brand of fuzz-garage, and twist ’n’ shout to Hammond modsters Mourning After. So dust off your three-button hand-me-down and get Ready Steady Gone!
We’re counting down the days until The Green Man Festival (21st – 23rd August) and with the initial line- up newly announced; those crosses on our calendars have just got that bit bigger. Quickly becoming Europe’s most anticipated festival, 2009 will welcome sleeper genius Bon Iver, Shindig!’s latest faves Sound Carriers, Vetiver, Beth Jeans Houghton and San Fran- giants Wooden Shjips. All of whom will spread psych, folk and rock like wildfire through the forests of Glan Usk. Excited? Oh yes. Are we going? You bet’cha. We currently make it 143 days and counting.
BACK ON PLANET GONG
Gong are back this November after a lengthy hiatus off the road and even lengthier career to showcase to one and all. Reunited once again on a monster 40th anniversary tour, fans of Daevid Allen’s space rock stylings and deeply idiosyncratic psych will be doubly pleased to hear that he has called upon the services of a line-up that will also see (amongst many others) Steve Hillage and Gilli Smyth take to the stage. Check the web’ for dates and venues and be sure to check that all items are stored securely in the overhead lockers provided.
JAZZ YOUR BAG?
Do you know your Cakewalk from your Lindy Hop? If you do, the BFI’s Jazz and Film Weekender could be for you. Part of the institute’s Story Of London season, and also in honour of the 50th anniversary of legendary London jazz Club Ronnie Scotts, the event will celebrate the capital’s links with jazz from morning ’til night. Rare archive footage of the genre’s major players (including swingin’ divas Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone) will be shown, along with screenings of classic jazz-scored movies. It will all take place at the BFI Southbank on 12th – 14th June.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84