Art Junky 2010 sounds not only quite grandly-named but also fun. It's an arty flea market that's taking place at the Phoenix, with a giant mishmash of 50 stalls with lots of different things. The Phoenix's Art Junkies tend to be really popular with hundreds of jumble fanatics, art enthusiasts, and other people that fall into neither category.
Regardless of whether you're planning to buy, the 'unique and inspiring' art sound good for a nose around, including paintings, books, illustration, music, photography, fashion, collectibles, sculpture and more. They've also got a Cafe and Bar full of hot and cold homemade edible and drinkable things, but most importantly there's live DJs throughout the day. DJs you say? What will these arty folk be up to next? It sounds a brilliant Sunday thing in terms of lazy strolling and flea market cultured-ness.
You can find the Facebook event here, and a map here (it's round about near The Level), and I believe that's pretty much all you need.
Testing Grounds is fond of a Roland Barthes quote and the exhibition is focused around this; the human mind's endless creation of stories to process and interpret the world:
“Myth is not defined by the object of its message, but by the way in which it utters this message: there are formal limits, there are no ‘substantial’ ones,” he says, Myth Today.
The works could be defined for a large part as construction of mythology, and in a big mix of performance, story, sound, and movement all focused around fictionalised realities. Regardless of the words though, the concept of Myth is interesting and has interesting arty potential:
Plymouth-based art duo Got Any Rice will create their sound-based story of Brighton that looks at the history through "stethoscopic exploration" and present a taxonomy of their ethnological finding.
Sylvia Rimat’s work intertwines subtly and gently with the ‘real’ and the ‘imagined’, and wittingly plays with the audience imagination by writing the story of what has not happened yet, or that is just about to happen.
Mim King's movement piece will follow a very personal story reflected through her own body, thinking about ideas of stillness and waiting, of endings, markings and the traces we leave behind.
Anne Gaelle Thiriot and Marcel Sparmann’s performance aims at reaching imagination in adulthood and at involving the audience as story-makers through action with the use of “cards of Propp”, a Russian formalist who analysed fairy tales and folk-tales through a series of functions.
Officially this big mix is know as:
"autobiographic elements; anatomic and sonic examination of a town from an outside stance; stories that reflect an ambiguous presence somewhere between text and reality; and finally the re-exploration of fairy tales and folk tales to bridge the narrative and abstract features of live performance."
It's on today at the Permanent Gallery at 7pm for £4, and you can find the Facebook event here and a map here.
I've an aversion to suggesting comedy I don't know but try the 'Rabbit in the Headlights' show at Upstairs at Three & Ten on Steine Street tonight. Things that give me confidence include the gratuitous use of 'hilarious', 'bizarre' and 'mind-blowing.' The night's hand-picked as opposed to any old soul shouting into a mic and is hosted at Upstairs at Three and Ten, an award-winning fringe venue upstairs (the downstairs spends its time being a pub). It sounds young and lively, and careful of providing a good show. "We specialise in bringing all of the most talked about talent to you," and whilst this sounds like anyone could have written it, have a look at the website and there's something a little more honest about the whole affair. They're also a Brighton Fringe venue, and the area's meant to be gorgeous, so says the Argus. It's also 'bijou' though and the night's gaining in popularity, so arrive on time - which is 8pm.
It's £6 for adults, £5 for concessions which isn't bad in my opinion. You can avoid the queues and buy tickets via TicketSource. Find it on the map
Noisy poetry tonight as tonight sees Hammer and Tongue come to Komedia. A favourite social haunt with something interesting and different; today fabled (well, of rather good reputation) Poets vs MCs 7th annual event comes to town. It's Bards vs Rappers which is far better than I can put it. With Rosy Carrick who is essentially fabulous as host, it's touted as Brighton's biggest monthly spoken word & slam event, so if you're a fan of Floetics this might be up your poetical alleyway.
Tickets are £3 and better booked in advance as I missed last year's when tickets sold out to the queue stretched out of Komedia and off down the road. Buy them here or be early and try your luck on the door. It starts at 7.30pm.
If you're on a lunch break or happen to be about by Dyke Road, there's a lunchtime recital. Today's is by James Sheriton and Glen Capra, on Violin and Piano. On one hand you might be a serious music enthusiast, or more like me and know incredibly little about classical music but like to eat sandwiches and pretend one is cultured. Whatever your inclination, head to St Nicholas' Church at 12:30pm for half an hour. Take friends, and show off your [pretend] culturedness. They do tea and coffee, although I suggest it's more about the music and persistent elegance of churches.
For those of you trundling home (or out with purpose) Resident's having an in-store event. Erland & The Carnival are holding an acoustic set at 6pm. It's in support of their new "highly anticipated" album, and the Orkney Island chaps will be popping in to make music. "They make a pastoral, psychadelic sound, described by tong as "pentangle meets ennio morricone meets love meets 13th floor elevators meets joe meek". We believe they're going to be rather big in 2010, and they like wearing funny masks. It's free we believe, so go (and hope they get incredibly famous so you can brag about the super intimate gig of theirs you attended).
Brighton University has free lectures with good arts and media types on Mondays. Generally there's a mix of artists, writers and 'cultural activitists' (a term I suspect extends beyond the criteria of a G20 protester). Today's speaker is Polish/Canadian/English Janek Schaefer who's made a name for himself playing with sounds.
He's essentially a sound 'collager' which sounds slightly like an artsy DJ to me. Perhaps I'm wrong. He first made his name with a sound-activated dictaphone which he sent through the post, gathering sounds and bits and bobs. Since then he's done a host of installations, soundtracks for exhibitions, and concerts using his self built/invented record players. He's given performances, lectures and exhibitions at grand-sounding places include Tate Modern (which seems quite an appropriate home for this sort of thing) and Sydney Opera House, amongst others. There's also grand-sounding awards, like The British Composer of the Year for Sonic Art and some others which are also long in title.
"His concerts and installations explore the spatial and architectural aspect that sound can evoke and the twisting of technology. Hybrid analogue and digital techniques are used to manipulate field recordings with live modified vinyl and found sound to create evocative and involving environments."
Today he's giving a FREE talk that's open to the public. It's a 12noon-1pm presentation, with half an hour of Q&A after. It's at the Salis Benney Theatre - where you can also nose around Emma Stibbon's Stadtlandschaften exhibition that's still going on (and also free). Find it here on Google Maps.
Today, and every day that is a Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday sees Transmission, a lovely exhibition run until January the 31st.
In clever and artsier words than I have to hand (normal service will resume next week) The Grey Area, where it's hosted says the below about Transmission. If you want an abbreviation, this is it: "experimental contemporary art events in an idiosyncratic non-sterile project space." Yes, well. It's free, and good for a nose around to expand one's feeling of atryness. Open 1-5pm, add yourself to the Facebook event and you can find it here on Google Maps.
"TRANSMISSION brings together four artists using different media and approaches, who each share a particular interest in communication as dialogue and interpretation.
Whether it is the interpretation of one’s words, the translation of a text, or a reading and understanding of the world; the dynamics between intention and result and between transmission and reception are significant in the artists’ investigations of communication.
The artists’ common ground is an interest in what’s hidden behind the immediacy of signs. What is beyond our grasp and understanding: meaning. To be universally understood meaning has to be common and uniformed; it requires a conventional acceptance.
The critique of this common meaning that we could call “truth” is carried out by the artists in different ways. Their differences are as important as their similarities.
Their differences show the rhizomatic nature of the truth - of each truth.TRANSMISSION means then a creative process of interpretation rather than an assimilation of unified information. It is the capability to create personal meanings and understandings.
By playing with the visibility of the sign and the invisibility of significance, art can expose our fragile being and the tragicomic failure of the search for a higher and universal truth."
There exists an incredible amount of goodwill towards the various, until recently scattered, members of 90s slacker-icons Pavement, something evident not just in people’s continued faith in the waspish, detached figure of their mercurial talent, Stephen Malkmus (who continues to make his claim as the finest indie rock guitarist on the planet), but also in the love people continue to express for his bandmates. Scott Kannberg, once again trading as Spiral Stairs, has recently made his own return to form ahead of Pavement’s reunion, and the band’s two percussionists, Bob Nastonovich and Steve West have brought their wilful sense of mischief and dubious timekeeping qualities to bear on various projects, most notably David Berman’s recently wound-up Silver Jews.
With excitement building for the Pavement reunion, the opportunity to see West’s anarchic, shambolic Marble Valley outfit at the Freebutt tonight is one that should not be missed. MV’s records are hit and miss to say the least – bumping along somewhere between the psychedelic pop of Super Furry Animals and Pavement at their most chaotic, but their spirit is the draw here – expect a set of deeply enthusiastic, half-coherent underground rock, with high fives all round.
Melting Vinyl evenings at The Basement are a little bit well known for good, and just a little bit hip, evenings (namely as "the region’s leading purveyor of innovative and experimental performance"). Tonight is the second year of Melting Vinyl's (who we've written about before) annual showcase of talent from France called 'VIVE LA FRANCE" and it all sounds genuinely fantastic. I am quite excited.
Bigger than last year's the festival showcases contemporary emerging French musical talent from the country’s innovative labels, and also celebrates Brighton based French performers, ‘The French Connection’. The event is produced by music promoters Melting Vinyl, in association with France's London music office: ‘Bureau Export’ and the largest French Cultural magazine: ‘Les Inrockuptible’s. All wonderful, and Lisa Li-Lund looks lovely, so we must go.
Here is some quoted goodness about them each individually:
Lisa Li-Lund Not only member and sister of Herman Dune, Lisa Li-Lund has worked with the likes of Jeff Lewis and Zombie Zombie alongside a highly successful career as a solo artist. Come in from the cold and embrace the heart-warming and playful indie-folk indie-folk sounds of one of Paris' most creative artists - namely, Lisa Li-Lund, Hugh Coltman & Hamilton Yarns.
Hugh Coltman Critically acclaimed in France, charismatic singer-songwriter Hugh Coltman was recently nominated for ' La Prix Constantin' (France's equivalent of The Mercury Music Prize). Having inhabited the same circles as Coco Rosie, and compared to Andrew Bird, this intimate performance will be very special indeed.
Hamilton Yarns (with a fabulous name) Brighton's Hamilton Yarns are made up of members from both sides of channel. One if this festival’s French Connections and one of Willkomen Records' own, they make "music through the looking-glass, mapping in sound odd fragments of a parallel universe" - The Wire.
No reserved tickets, it's first-come-first-served - and FREE (as we always joyfully exclaim over these things). We reckon this is definitely one of the better things going on this month - and a little bit different from all the others. It starts at 8pm, and we plan not to be late.
A short, simple (and late-posted) one today. With an amusing picture and blurb involving the words 'Channel 4' and 'critically acclaimed' we are intrigued. If sketch shows and Fringe things are your thing, head to Komedia to see Pappy's Fun Club.
"Fresh from Channel 4 and a critically acclaimed, sell out run at the 2009 Edinburgh Festival, "the funniest sketch troupe on the Fringe" (The Scotsman) continue to take the UK by storm."
Today Pappy's are presenting a World Record Attempt: see 200 Sketches in an Hour. Sounds tiring. They also promise the joy of bonus sketches and an Interval. Horray for it all.
"Sheer joy" ***** Metro One of the Guardian's "Hottest Tickets for 2010" (Sat 2 Jan 2010)
It's ten pounds for a concession ticket, twelve for a proper grown-up adult, and it starts at 8pm. Grab a ticket here. Oh, and it's showing at that lovely Komedia place.
Today recommended by Resident we like the sound of art project HTRK at The Freebutt. As the title suggests its their gig of the week. In the past they've supported The Horrors and more interestingly the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (who I saw last month, they were of course brilliant, so this touring with disgustingly-good-band business is most definitely a good sign) - and before you make a faux pas, pronounce it "Hate Rock."
Heralding (a word all gig reviews must include) from Berlin / Melbourne / London, the trio make it to Brighton tonight.
"HTRK make dark music full of menacing, grinding basslines, caustic guitar feedback & lucid melodies. Recalling Suicide & drawing on krautrock influences, theirs is a bewitching noir-ish universe. 2009’s ‘Marry Me was a truly mesmerising record, so we’re looking forward to this one."
You can find them on Last Fm and MySpace, and some nice photos here. Head to the Freebutt for 8pjavascript:void(0)m, and we suspect it will cost you £7 pounds-ish, as pretty much all the Freebutt gigs do.
One for the kids today. Most people are won over by animals such as Gruffalos and Aardvarks, and so if I was small (well, 6 months - 5 years) I would much like to go to this. It's a musical cacophony of 'fun musical activities' including singing, dancing, musical story-telling and instrumental jam sessions run by UK Aardvarks. It's quite Brighton-esque (depending on your view of the brighton-esque of course) focusing on musical influences of rock, pop, indie, folk and blues.
Class locations vary - today's class is in Hove with varying times from 10am-1:45pm, and other classes are held in Hove (wednesday), Patcham (Thursdays) and Brighton (Fridays). Find the list on the UK Aardvarks site.
Each class is 45 minutes and costs £4.40 for a drop in - and half-price for attending siblings over 6 months, or free for the under 6 month child variety. If you want to attend email emily@uk-aardvarks.co.uk or phone 07886 927081.
Alternatively if singing isn't your thing take the family T-Shirt making at the Brighton Museum.
Today there's a quite fantastic sounding play by Spike Milligan taking place at the Theatre Royal. Milligan, a comic genius, major influence of Monty Python's Flying Circus, and responsible for The Goon Show which my father likes to play loudly from cassette and walk around the house booming "He's fallen in the wet type water thing" [sic].
Happily entitled, "Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall" the play is a mix of gloriously absurd war memoirs and celebrated hit comedy. It's "critically acclaimed" and makes critics and real people laugh, which in achieving both is brilliant. It's also got a pleasing amount of good jazz including, for people that know jazz far better than me, Chattanooga Choo Choo, Ain’t Misbehavin’, In the Mood, Honeysuckle Rose, Kalamazoo and many more.
(Occasional quotes from the official blurb there, but all points to rather bloody good).
"High comedy and tragedy collide, as we follow Gunner Milligan and his jazz quartet, adrift on the tide of great historic events. Using Spike’s own words, the show joyously fuses comedy, song and dance – showing how humour, music and comradeship enabled a hapless bunch of young men to prevail against the might of the Nazi War machine."
It sounds very good, and the reviews section (can be found here by clicking 'reviews') is full of glorious quotes telling you it's all very funny indeed.
It runs from today, its opening night, until Saturday the 23rd. )This is not too long.) It's on at 7:45pm each day, and you can find tickets here for £26 (not sure if there's student prices but online booking suggests not). It's quite a bit, but it's a fantastic play so I recommend it whole heartedly.
Today the Royal Pavilion, big old Brighton palace attraction, opens its doors for free. Whilst my Mother describes it as "the place Queen Victoria lived" its roots, are a big different to this. It was built as a seaside retreat by King George IV (the then Prince Regent) when his Doctor suggestions Sea Water would be good for his gout - and also a quiet place to date his long-time chick, Mrs Fitzherbert.
After this classy beginning, the Indo-Saracenic style (also curiously known as Indo-Gothic) building was sold around a bit, with Queen Victoria selling it to Brighton when she found it didn't hide her from the rowdy masses who came down by train, and playing a short stint as a hospital in the First World War, it's now a museum. Actually, the sale to Brighton is why it's free today - a celebration of this. (Wee, free.)
The Royal Pavilion unsurprisingly costs money but today it's free. It's full of 'chinoiserie style' - something I know nothing about - and traditional big rooms such as 'The Great Kitchen', 'Royal Bedrooms', 'Banqueting Rooms' and 'The Music Room'. None of these interest me personally, but it seems something that's interesting to those into old stylish buildings, and for those that are just curious but too uninclined to pay an end to their curiosity.
It's such a massive landmark that it seems silly to pass up the opportunity. It should be lovely. Details are: free , and open from 10-am-4:30pm.
Yesterday on Brighton's Reverb radio I heard what essentially sounded like a segment involving the presenter reading a newspaper. I was confused as we don't have this segment of radio where i come from, but she payed nice music so it was okay. My point, is that this newspaper reading involved a mention of upcoming plays and entertainment type things. She mentioned 'The Ugly One', which was on my list to talk about and now it means that it must be talked about with slightly more gusto than normal.
'The Ugly One' comes out today at the New Venture Theatre and the blurb says thus of the plot:
"Lette, a happy employee of an electronics company, thought he was normal. But to everyone else, including his loving wife, he is 'unspeakably ugly'. When the extent of his ugliness is revealed he turns to a plastic surgeon for help. But after the bandages come off, he soon learns that there is such a thing as too beautiful."
It's a play involving eight characters played by four actors. Apparently the "role-changing becomes mind-bending as the characters proliferate and share names and faces. The last time I saw something like this was in a World War II play I saw with my school when i was 13. It was a professional acting 'troupe' and it was done really well. I rarely go to the theatre or such to see things in some form of acting (films and TV meanwhile, I am there) and I'd like to go again (because theatre is secretly fabulous, although maybe it's just me who doesn't know this.)
In good news, tickets cost £8, £6 on Tuesdays, and £9 on final night. This leaves you from between £1 - £4 from a tenner to spend on sweeties and wine and such good things.
Director Mike Stubbs says of 'The Ugly One': "This is a fantasy that relies on feeding the imagination of the audience. My aim is to create the world of cartoon comedy on stage where the only real thing is the laughter".
In other good words, they also call it "An evening of fantasy and farce that has the bounce and snap of music-hall cross-talk."
Find tickets and more info here, although I'd hurry as they might disappear soon. Opening night is tonight, and it closes on the 23rd. Which is soon, so chop chop!
Right, whilst the idea of Poleoke scares me half to death, it occurs to me it might not you. Today, Poleoke described as karaoke for pole dancing, minus the singing (this, I suspect is called Pole Dancing for alcohol-fuelled people). "It's a dance, it's a laugh, it' a frenzy. Bring a tune and throw your legs in the air."
Rather than being held at the dark end of Yates' it's more of a unique night than this.
Reason 1: There is a meat raffle. Perhaps not the key most important part of the evening, but this goes at the top of my list. I'm now trying to figure how I can fit a meat raffle into my agenda of the year.
There's also a "Bimbo Limbo competition (how low can you go?)" which I can't quite figure if it's sexy or silly. I suspect the latter, which all sounds good. As well as these, there's Dingo Bingo - Australian rules Bingo - and then dancing like crazy until 2am.
It's described by Carola, who sent me the info, as such: "its more of a party disco-thequeue, but interrupted with games and stuff, the pole dancing is a fun competition. In the past we've had all sorts of people, and men doing it, people just having a laugh. There's also a meat raffle and a limbo dancing competition, and some bingo, and in between all those things is dancing. Come along!"
It sounds like good silly nonsense, starts at 10pm, can be found on Facebook here, costs £5, and is held at the Latest Music bar on Manchester Street (Google Maps link here).
Today sees the return of the Catalyst club: a unique monthly Brighton event on the second Thursday each month that "pays tribute to the old traditions of French Salon, debating societies and Gentlemen's clubs." It involves three guest speakers discussing "things close to their heart" - usually odd and unusual things - for fifteen minutes each.
These have previously included Bees, Emergence Theory, Hitler's Moustache, Victorian Lantern Shows, Cunnillingus, The exciting world of Slime Mould, Giant Squid and the Dawn of Civilisation.
Silly, fun and educating we suspect. There's some curious perplexing videos here, and we discovered it via @orbific.
There's more photos here, which all look quite interesting, and a bit more appealing and better quality than the videos.
It's held at Latest Music Bar on Manchester Street (that's a google map link). It costs £5 and starts at 8pm with a late bar, which I suspect stimulates the topics.
Today if you haven't got tickets for Good Shoes at Resident we gave advance about last week, then you might be able to squeeze in according to an email yesterday:
"We have the Good Shoes in-store tomorrow at 6pm (Weds 13th). We will be prioritising entry for ticket holders but we will endeavour to squeeze in as many people as possible, so if you don't have a ticket, come down anyway, stand on your tip-toes & check out the band's new songs in a nice, intimate fans-only atmosphere."
If not a fan of squeeze then we recommend Saxon Shore playing live at The Freebutt.
The Freebutt, you may have noticed we quite like for our live music. Today Saxon Shore with support are playing. From the USA, calling them "one of the most hyped instrumental-post-rock bands during the last years" as press blurb does might sound a bit like an exaggerated NME review. However, they were formed by Matthew Doty and J Tillman of Fleet Foxes in 2001 and released five albums since. Whilst Tillman's moved onto full-time Fleetfoxes (and a solo project), the line-up's shifted around a bit into a five-piece band and they're playing tonight.
They're quite nice and rather instrumentally - a bit related to Explosions in the Sky. A kind of intellectual basking style (perhaps). There's two videos of their tracks here - very sorry but we couldn't find a video without a picture of five posing blokes.
They're on at 7.30pm for £5.50 if you buy online before you go - available from WeGotTickets and SeeTickets and most likely also on the door for a pound or two more.
Ah yes, another exhibition. There's alternatives today such as the happy-sounding Motown Dancing In The Streets at the Theatre Royal, but this costs from £14-28.50 and we thought we'd recommend something cheaper.
Similarly to yesterday's exhibition, this one by Simon Roberts focuses on cold-sounding places. This time though it's all photo based and some are really rather nice. It's held at the Crane Kalman Gallery, big on local artists and contemporary good stuff. In fact the pr blurb covers it all really quite well.
"So you think you’ve got it tough? Take your chilblains down to the Crane Kalman Gallery to see what it really means to shiver. Polyarnye Nochi focuses on winter in northern Russia, finding a region shrouded in darkness nearly 24 hours a day, a phenomenon known as Polyarnye Nochi (Polar Nights). Throughout December until mid-January, the sun remains below the horizon and there is only a faint glow of light visible around midday. One third of Russia's population live and work in these inhospitable climatic conditions. It is perhaps miraculous that factories, apartment blocks, towns and entire cities have been constructed in what should be a deserted, Arctic wasteland."
The Crane Kalman Gallery can be found on Kensington Gardens of the North Laine variety (Google Map link here) and the exhibition runs until the 7th of February.
The University of Brighton Gallery & Sallis Benney Theatre is that shiny, window-filled place residing on Grand Parade, otherwise known as "that bit of road from The Level down to the seafront" (map below). On Friday an exhibition opened up here full of "powerful works" - more specifically also known as pictures. 'Stadtlandschaften' by Emma Stibbons, we can inform non-German speakers with the wonderful help of freetranslation.com translates as "City Landscapes."
Focusing on the city of Berlin (which is quoted as being quite dynamic), her work "spans the extremes of the natural and the urban landscape – from sheer mountains, and vast glacial seas to abandoned buildings or grand panoramas." According to quotes Berlin's also "dynamic" and a huge driving force behind her work.
In "often large scale" work (with focus on landscapes of Antartica and the Alps, both rather large themselves) "the work is produced through a range of processes, including woodblock, chalk on blackboard or graphite on gesso. In all her work drawing is fundamental and suggests a sense of the strength, resilience and yet ultimate fragility of place."
There's only so much pomp you can really give an artist and already the paper-based artist has amassed a list of great residencies and awards (very good), and a string of exhibitions at the Stadtmusuem, Berlin, Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge and R O O M London (the latter a bit more than just a room we hear).
And all for free, horray!
The exhibition runs until January 30th and is open today and from all day between Monday-Saturday from 10am-5pm.
I'm about to advocate a dance class. Don't run away (before you've watched below videos) because it's not naff Dad dancing or anything horrible. It's rather nice actually. It's one of those drop-in types, which makes women feel graceful and involves men twirling said graceful women around them (themselves being as stylish or unstylish as they please).
It's one of those dance trends that's growing quite well because it's pretty easy to grasp and every single session (I believe) across the country is a drop-in style. It's a mix of Jive and Salsa but not solely for 30-year-olds (ahoy stereotype).
You don't need a partner, it's most definitely not weird to arrive by yourself (friends are good regardless), you wear normal clothes, and it makes you feel fit (well feel fit, I meanwhile spend my time gobbling Snickers bars having forgotten to eat before going). Be brave and go for fun (even if the menfolk dismiss it).
Here's some videos of people dancing Ceroc, rather than cheesy photos which do little more than scare people. Ceroc, as the two videos demonstrate can be done sexily, or in shopping centres by people that might put you off dancing. Perhaps try to imagine the latter with sexy people - a good compromise.
As this does usefully demonstrate, you can dance to a lot of music with it. Which is good, because I've heard Salsa music, and I like the idea of being able to dance in some sort of organised attractive form without its presence.
Each class involves learning three or four simple moves, after which a short freestyle (or dive to the bar) occurs. Then traditionally you've got the chance to practice beginner's moves in one room, or do some intermediate moves in another (I believe this is how Brighton's Funky Fish works but I've never arrived on time, although it's a pretty standard formula all Ceroc venues keep to).
It all with a freestyle, and there's a few employed dancers to help you out if you get stuck. Interestingly the women in this case can dance both male and female parts, which is interesting not for strange leering purposes but more than they're able to help both struggling genders. (I've also seen two guys play male and female parts and pull it off astoundingly, which suprised a few in the obscure village near somewhat-conservative Guildford when it took place).
There's 55,000 people learning every month with one probably right near you if you're not local - I can vouch for Hayward's Heath being a really nice venue too, if you live more in that direction. It's a lovely hall and runs on Mondays. There's a venue search available on the main Ceroc site.
In Brighton the official venue is at the New Madeira Hotel and the classes take place in the club section (which really works a low-ceilinged room, perhaps the venue's main downside) called "The Funky Fish Club". All the information for the Brighton venue can be found on the CerocFever website.
It's all very nice and not weird. I'm a complete clubfoot and got into this when a boyfriend started learning at university, thus I followed suite. And yes, it can be done whilst keeping your dignity. So try this one. Oh, and it's for any age - the young, the old, and 'the middle'. (yes, and the odd 12 year old I've seen once). It costs £7 for members, £6 for concessions (bring a student card) and if you understand the gist or are a seasoned pro and go mainly for last longer freestyle then it's £5.50.
Please wear deodorant (or a towel if you're the easy sweating type - or a small flannel if you're the sweaty but shy type), and bring a bottle of water.
And there's some sort of "ten commandments" thing to look at for extra guidance.
We're not into writing club nights but this one's a bit special.
You might be aware that the Sussex downs aren't solely good for long walks, but also pretty good to spend a night with blazing eyes stomping in uniform patterns to loud dubsteppy bass. If this is your thing, Rave Crews from around Brighton (aka groups of people with giant speaker sets, a van hired from a shifty mate, and a DJ or two in their ranks) are gathering up for one night - namely tonight - and a bit of the morning for a dance around the Volks.
The premise is to raise money for louder, heavier, noisier, and more bothersome sound equipment. Rave crews traditionally don't make too much from events, and it's mostly all reinvested so tonight's got free entry for you to dance around inside (with toilet facilities - no more accidentally peeing on your shoes in dark woodlands boys and girls) and donate some cash if you feel so inclined.
Havoc, insanely well-known and popular with join Wastetek, with icon strangely similar to Brighton's waste removal service, along with TearOut, and Entrobang.
It's 11pm - 6am for you nocturnal types - add yourself to the Facebook event here.
The official blurb goes like this:
"As the memories of new years fade and the last xmas decorations are finally purged prepare yourself for a riotous foray into 2010 as a conspicuous alliance of Brighton's sound system crews go head to head. As you'd expect it's free to attend but we'll be welcoming donations to raise a few bob so as to fund the sort of summer activities you've come to expect. Being the season of goodwill we encourage all of you that appreciate watching the sun rise to the shuffle of an amen break, to dig deep and help the cause. Upstairs plays host to a mixture of quality underground sounds from the cream of the south's autonomous contingents.
Havok - Legendary long standing profligates of drum n bass mayhem
Tearout - Finest purveyors of mashup jungle and murderous frictions
Entrobang - Anytime, anyplace cohorts of kickdrum wompage
Wastetek - Wonk hole scientists and aptly named merchants of filth ridden breaks.
Downstairs meanwhile features a more upbeat eclecticism of summertime sonics and salubrious slammers covering the amusing, the absurd, the insane and the unforgettable. Plus a guest appearance and a load of extra rig.
The Cowley Club is "a collectively run libertarian social centre" which does the odd talk, acts as a bookshop, does big meals for nice amounts of money and houses a heap of other projects as well. It's also run by volunteers so you may have heard a few cries for donations and fund-raisers to keep the club open. If you're into grassroots, social change and independent thinking, this is probably your thing.
"The slender venue is a mish-mash of different chairs, sofas and tables, bookshelves and a long bar. The array of furniture gives the venue a relaxed and unpretentious vibe, where you while away the hours drinking herbal tea and reading radical books and pamphlets."
Today there's the first in a series of bookshop events; a talk by Clive Boom, author of 'Violent London: 2000 years of Riots, Rebels and Revolts', and 'Terror Within: Terrorism and the Dream of a British Republic'. He'll be discussing his work in progress on Edwardian anarchism.
The event is free, so head there for 4pm. It will last until 6:30pm, and there'll be Q&A so get your intellectual anarchistic thinking cap on.
"The Community Hall is exactly what you'd expect; a little community centre behind some flats that used to be joined to a church. They host salsa lessons and political meetings, and extremely loud art-rock concerts and drawing lessons. It's very weird; like a little primary school with school chairs and coat hooks and loud Japanese heavy metal." - Jonathan
Every Wednesday a Ba Gua class is taking place at the West Hill Hall. In a mix of classes today there the Brighton Bagua teachers are offering workshops in Ba Gua, and cheaper classes in Chi Gung.
It may be that the closest I come to understanding the I-Ching is the mention in Philip Pullman's The Subtle Knife, and Thai Chi cycling past a man in a field doing slow arm movements, but I'm interested in a curious British way all the same.
"Ba Gua is a Daoist practice. It's the physical manifestation of the I–Ching, the Book of Changes. Like Tai Chi though it can be be practiced to maintain and enhance your health, as a meditative practice or as a martial art."
It sounds quite Tai Chi-ish to unqualified and simple me. At the beautifully introduced West Hill Centre, a regular and cheap Ba Gua is taking place over at the beautifully introduced West Hill Hall in Seven Dials. This costs £7 an hour for a drop-in at 7.15pm- 8.45pm - maybe today's the day to get .. spiritualised. And healthy.
Today, following on the "tradition of good music" at St Nicolas' Church, is a Wednesday recital which regularly takes place at 12:30.
This week's is a Soprano and Piano performance by Audrey Edwards and Muriel Hart. It's a half hour lunchtime recital and it is advised that you bring your own sandwiches.
Free and good music? If you're on a lunch break or in the area, it might be nice to pop along to.
A bit of a press release today as I am somewhat unwell. This will be improved upon when I am not unwell.
Today Hove Museum and Art Gallery is running an exhibition entitled 'War Stories' - which has free entry - something that's always nice.
"War stories tells the story of the Home Front in Brighton and Hove during the Second World War, using photographs from the archive of the Brighton Herald Newspaper. The images remind us many aspects of Wartime experience, including air raid precautions, evacuees, bomb damage, funding drives, troop parades and victory celebrations.
The exhibition also includes extracts from the Herald newspaper, such as new reports, editorial comments and readers' letters. These help tell the stories behind events and characters portrayed in the photographs. Sometimes dramatic, but often mundane, these show that local experiences of the war were often more complex and ambiguous than the photographs suggest."
The exhibition runs until the 31st of this month. Find directions & more info here
I saw Good Shoes a while ago. Long ago enough that I have no sensible recollection of thrilling antics, but I do remember that they were a good fun band despite the dingy but traditional Oxford gig house. They make me think of bright colours and I had a silly dance or two, all rather nice.
"They play danceable, shed rehearsed guitar music. They like to dance, drink, draw, pretend to be on a mobile phone whilst they are not and write songs," says Last.fm.
On the 13th of January - nine days time - they'll be playing a gig in Resident, one of my favourite music stores in Brighton.
Ticket details are a bit hush-hush and involve asking staff in-store. So, rather than blog about this event on the 13th, the day when it happens and the day when the tickets will in fact be all gone, rending the blogging process advising you to go a little pointless, today we advise getting to Resident, and finding out about the in-store gig, if you're so inclined.
They're also playing later in April, on the 22nd at Audio.
At the risk of talking about a Sunday lunch of which I have good recommendations but suspect everyone's perhaps a bit tired of roast dinners for now (I meanwhile am not), Brighton Museum at the Royal Pavilion Gardens is currently running an exhibition. Entitled 'Jewels of the Nile' it's a display that 'explores vivid images of Egypt captured in tourist albums over 100 years ago' and is on show as part of the Prints & Drawings gallery at the museum.
With free entrance in the Pavilion Gardens as I mentioned, which is a beautiful place - especially if the frost from last night is still lingering throughout today.
Find a map and museum information here. The exhibition is open until March 1st 2010.
The Xuma gallery is an interesting one. Hyped as a small-bar-gallery, many of which can potentially just turn out to the awkwardly busy sofa-filled places to view art, this is more of a gallery. It's a nice haunt with a warm atmosphere and a mass of comfy red velvet seats, and is running a romantically titled 'Dreamland-by-the-Sea & Eastern Soul' photography exhibition.
Photos by Kit Fordham 'technicolour reclamation of our love affair with the English seaside and 'Eastern Soul: Russia & The Balkans', a soulful black and white odyssey of life and church life in post-Communist Christian Orthodox Europe.'
Xuma is definitely hyped as a unique little place and can get a little busy with 30-somethings at weekends, located on the corner of Seven Dials. It's split over two levels and serves real ale (which, not being an ale fan, I believe is a good thing).
We're very please today to have nice things written about us by Tired of London, Tired of life yesterday. Tom, who writes it, was supremely helpful when I wrote about a month ago asking him for a bit of advice on starting a Brighton version. Astoundingly helpful actually. He, like me, thinks that anyone can enjoy where they live. Sometimes it just needs some investigation, although I'm already as big fan of Brighton.
Writing Bored of Brighton has also been made a lot easier by Jonathan who has been writing music articles about Brighton - something he knows about a lot better than I.
So.. on with today..
Whilst we don't post early enough to recommend the Digital 'New Year's Eve Afterparty' which began at 3:30am and finished at 8am, there's still alternatives today. There's lots of highly-prices restaurants today - take your pick - but we're traditionalists. Our plan today is very simple: we're going to eat our best attempt at a Sunday Roast, drink Champagne (and temporarily feel upper-class) and go for a walk along the sea front.
Brighton sea front's always lovely and makes you feel slightly less like dying after a giant dinner. It might meet your New Year's resolutions but it's also fun. And we suspect our plan might involve popping into pubs we find on route. Always a great voyage of discovery. Wear a hat!
In resolution news, one of mine is to go to more events we talk about on here and take photos to go on a BOB Flickr - which we'd love to have your photos on once it's all nicely sorted. What are yours?
(And in unrelated female-fashion news, Noa Noa in the N Laines have got the nicest knitted, fleecy-inside mittens in the world, investigate this at some point).
Unsurprisingly, I like the sea-front, as do most residents. Here's a photo of a man with a metal detector on the beach. Also being followed with a bloke with a camera.
IMPORTANT! The Freebutt is at risk of effectively shut down by the council! We love the venue and brilliant bands they put on! Please sign the petition to save the Freebutt here: here
Bored of Brighton brings you one thing to do a day in Brighton, telling you what's on. Bands, pubs, clubs, music, art, and the peculiar.
It's lovingly written by Claire and Jonathan. Let us know what your favourite bits of the city are - send us an email to boredofbrighton@gmail.com. We'll be very happy to hear from you.
