tickets – and so she thinks

New music festival hits Peckham Rye

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 18:43:02 +0000

Peckham Rye Music Festival announces it’s inaugural multi venue London festival launching in May 2016.
Taking place across 13th – 15th May across hip and vibrant venues such as The Bussey, CLF, Rye Wax and The Nines, this highly new weekend festival will celebrate the local music scene and the hive of creativity taking place in this buzzy corner of Sough London. artists, labels and record shops will all come together in a a series of hugs, workshops, markets and more to showcase the scene, and play at their well loved independently run local venues alongside headline acts from across the globe. Organisers Friends Of Ours have said that ‘We’re so excited about bringing some of our favourite artists to Peckham to play alongside friends that make the local scene what it is. From the workshops we’ve got planned on the Friday, all-day dancing on the Saturday and the slightly more chilled plans for Sunday it’s going to be a really fun weekend.’
Early bird tickets are on sale from today at just £18, and keep a listen out for line up announcements very soon!

Mind Body Spirit Festival London

admin — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 18:57:00 +0000

Mind, body, spirit. The triad of the self and life. All three are worth celebrating, and that is exactly what the Mind Body Spirit Festival aims to do. The four day event of complete wellbeing, including self-development, self-empowerment, yoga, natural healing, meditation and music takes place this bank holiday weekend at Olympia London. The festival will feature some of the most inspirational and motivational speakers in the spheres of wellbeing, international workshop leaders and innovative teachers, along with musicians, artists and performers from across the globe, as well as a whole host of exhibitors presenting wellbeing products, organic food, therapies, jewellery, holistic retreats, treatments, meditation, supplements and healing products. As well as the dedicated yoga studio, food demo area, chill out space and mantra lounge, the 2015 event sees the introduction of a a silent disco, soul cinema and ‘Wild Wellbeing Spa.’ Go along to discover fresh, invigorating, empowering and transformative skills and activities to help you create the life you want. Tickets are available here.

Festival Finder

admin — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:59:25 +0000

Stuck for which festival to go to this summer? Check out this hugely useful interactive tool to help you decide. Created by thetrainline it allows you to select your favourite artists – and reveals the perfect festival for you.

Click image to open interactive version (via thetrainline.com).

Secret Garden Party – line up announced!

admin — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:58:17 +0000

A crazy, chaotic, delightful, eclectic, eccentric, joyous celebration, Secret Garden Party is a festival like no other. Set in a 220 acre landscaped garden of a Georgian farmhouse in Cambridgeshire, bordering a river and lake, and taking place 25^th – 28^th July, the festival wins numerous awards, and for good reason. Environmentally conscious, creatively diverse line ups and boutique camping gives it a feel that few festivals can rival, describing itself as ‘a temporary community that is as free, irreverent, friendly and engaging as it is possible to be.’ 2013 is its eleventh year, and the festival shows no signs of slowing down…check out this line up. The full line up has just been announced, and some particular highlights include… Bastille, Deep Sea Arcade, Django Django, Eliza and The Bear, London Grammar, Son of Dave, The Ladykillers, Treetop Flyers, Wolf Alice
For more info visit their website, and buy your tickets now.

London Story Slam

admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 20:17:19 +0000

Written for the London Story Slam
The guy to my right takes a sip of his coffee, the thud of its stained base being placed on the table just masking the name of the person on the other end of the phone.
‘Yeah, I’m living in London unfortunately.’
Mid gulp, the hot syrupy liquid in my mouth swells, as difficult to swallow as the overheard comment. Over the rum of my mug I scan the room. No one else flinches. There is not a flutter. Heads buried in laptops, bottoms planted in seats, they don’t seem to have registered that last word. ‘I’m living in London…unfortunately.’
I push back my chair from the table, the chair legs scraping the tiled floor in the same way that his comment grazed my ears. A middle aged women in the corner twitches her disapproving head towards me, with a glare that surely made her soya milk curdle. Moving with ferocity is not on the menu here.
‘Unfortunately?’ I splutter. ‘Oh yes, one is so unfortunate.’
The poor guys looks up at me with a degree of bewilderment in his eyes.
‘You don’t deserve to be here’
‘8 million people call it home. All afflicted souls are they? I’d hazard a guess that the 26m who visit every year don’t share your views.’
He looks away from this madwoman, sips his drink.
‘London is still paved with gold in the dreams and hearts of many, the place for destiny to become reality. As a child I used o press my nose against the dirty window pane of the South Eastern service, my heart leaping with knots of excitement, the mantra of ‘I’m going to live here, I’m going to live here’ nestling in perfect unison with the soundless spaces left by the clackety clack of the wheels of the track. I wouldn’t say I am unfortunate to be here.
‘Where else, in one saunter, can you be Elizabeth Bennett, Oliver Twist and Septimus Smith, all by simply crossing the street or turning a corner?’
By now a few other members of the clientele have been jolted into, not motion as such, but a certain level of curiosity as to what the hell this frantic female is yelling about.
A paused for breath enabled me to to just catch the old man in the purple leather chair grunt a derisory ‘Hormones’ into his grey beard, then settle back into The Times.
‘Have you never stood on Parliament Hill and seen London stretched out before you, icon after icon, all in one neat row, a scenic snapshot of beauty over a myriad of activity.
He gathers his papers, eyes firmly fixed to the floor.
‘Or gazed on the moonlight on flickering on the Thames, a thousand million different mirrors, glistening at variegated angles, ricocheting lights of the city, sometimes right into your eye, so bright that your brain is dazzles and you tumble in love again.
‘Do you want to go for dinner? ‘ I venture enthusiastically, as though the last few minutes have been a witty interchange of banter between the two of us, rather than a tirade of abuse at his choice of vocabulary.
A vehement ‘No’ turned my offer down.
‘Yeah, let’s go out – I’ll prove to how lucky you are to be here. Lebanes on Edgware Road, or some Greek up in Green Lanes. Or maybe you’d prefer a snack – we can get a bagel from Daniels in Golder’s Green.
‘Think about it, what can possibly be lamentable where you can be anyone you like, changing identity through a desire for exploration or escape, faster than any superhero can by putting his pants on the outside. London is the ultimate date – looks and a personality.
He goes to take another sip, and stalls. The cup runneth empty. I now have his full, if not voluntarily devoted, attention.
‘I mean, yeah sometimes the tubes are delayed, light pollution is a problem, and it rains, but where else do you pass through places on your way to work that as a child you thought only existed in board games?
Needing support, I rack my brain for opinions of those more authoritative than myself. Plato said that what makes a city is the people. Do you think that everyone here is doomed, hapless souls wandering their cursed streets? Or John Berger, he reckons that London is perpetually a teenager. A heady cocktail of hope, desire and potential – sometimes tough to be sure, but exhilarating, and with all of life ahead, certainly not unfortunate. Or Blake, he believed there to be no finer sights that the view from Westminster Bridge, and he didn’t dish out praise lightly. I stop short of asking ‘when the sun is in the sky, why oh why, would you wanna be anywhere else?’
Except of course, I don’t say any of this. I push my chair out, pick up my bag, and walk out of the American coffee chain, into the soulless shopping centre, and vow that rather than think about how much I like London, I need to live like I love it.

Win tickets to see Charlie Lankester & The Mojo Killers!

admin — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 20:16:40 +0000

There are some people in the music business that, whatever your listening preference or favoured genre, you just have to acknowledge as bloody magnificent, and an inspiration. Charlie Lankester is one of them. Diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma – incurable cancer of the liver – on the day he finished mixing it,his new album Songs In A Minor Key is released on December 10th on Proper Records. A man immersed in the blues rock scene since the early 70s, Charlie has played shows alongside the likes Fats Domino, BB King, JJ Cale, AC / DC, and Billy Joel, and on Thursday 13th December Charlie Lankester & The Mojo Killers will be finishing off the supporting tour at The Islington Academy 2, London.
We have a pair of tickets to give away, by answering this ridiculously simple question – name one of the other cities that Charlie will be playing as part of the Songs In A Minor Key tour. Tweet, facebook, or email us your answer, and we will let you know if you are a winner on Wednesday 12th!

It's All Happening festival – the video is here!

admin — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 19:37:40 +0000

Here it is. Evidence that not only did the It’s All Happening festival did, er, happen, but that it was a damn good day to boot. Check out performances from Alessi’s Ark, Soulmates Never Die, The Ruby Kid, Silent Devices, and Fallingham Fair, and many others, marvel at the ambient surroundings of The Gallery Cafe, appreciate the delightful adornments and decoration, courtesy of Bronwyn Opland and the girls.
Again we would like to thank all the artists, be you of the music, art, spoken word, poetry or craft type, for your time, talent, and entertainment, The Gallery Cafe and St Margaret’s Settlement – good space and great staff, Rob Taylor & Aidan for making sound happen, Bronwyn & the girls for beautifying things, Lara for preserving the memories, The To Do List and everyone who helped spread the word, and all those who came down to enjoy the day.
Of course, the beauty of the visual art form is that you don’t have to read lengthy written musings – you can let the images do the talking. Here you are then:
[vimeo 45900953 w=500 h=281]