On Saturday evening a small group of people (myself included) boarded The Boat That OxjamBrum Rocked at Gast Street Basin and were taken up to The Vale (in Edgbaston) and back being entertained by a bunch of local bands, musicians and singers.

The bands featured were Hawker (above), Sick Boys Club, the Alchemy Duo, Paul Murphy, two members of The Bluebeat Arkestra, Benjamin Blower (below), The Traps and The Young Runaways. There was a chap called Mike too but, to my shame, I’m struggling to recall his surname.

Very good it was too and congrats to OxjamBrum for another gig with a difference (after last year’s ride on the No. 11 bus). I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ve got in store for next year.

UPDATE:

Blimey, videos of Hawker and The Traps (Your Headland, The Honey Drip and Calypso) are up already (thanks to Caroline for spotting this).

OxjamBrum is fast approaching, the bands are ready to go, with 12 hours of live music coming from 40 local acts from 2pm onwards on Sat 16 October.

Tickets are only £6 and get you access to all the venues at any time. Advance tickets are on sale until Fri 15 October at midnight, but tickets will also be available on the door. The wristband exchange point on the day will be at The Yardbird, where you can also pick up stage times for all the venues.

Here’s a run down on who’s playing where;

The Yardbird – Doors 2:00pm
Nick Pride and the Pimptones
Frutaloka
Arcadian Kicks
Smileymic
The Bluebeat Arkestra
Alex Moir
Big Black Smoke
Benjamin Blower

The Flapper – Doors 3:30pm
Isolated Atoms
Malpas
Bronze Medals
This Burning Age
The Corsair
Shana Tova
Soni-quella

The Victoria – Doors 4:30pm
Tantrums
Sunset Cinema Club
Cajole Cajole
VS
Tom Peel
Savant
Pandas and People

Island Bar – Doors 4:00pm
(Silver) Souvenirs
Hot Monocles
Lady Fortune
Monster Monster
Death Ohh Eff
Jake Bullit
James Rea

The Prince of Wales – Doors 4:00pm
Scat Cat
Corrie Palmer
Tony Wille
Paul Murphy
Mike Smith

Café Blend – Doors 3:45pm
Vijay Kishore
Poppy Tibbetts
Jodi Ann Bickley
Mellow Peaches
Barnesy
Neil Ward
Michael James Butler

I think this show last had an airing (in Birmingham at least) in December last year at the Town Hall in it’s musical version (storyteller Paul Murphy is the lead singer of The Destroyers). I’m happy to be corrected on that though. Here’s an animated trailer for that show:

This is a bit different to that though – the show can be presented in musical, storytelling and animated forms. This’ll be the storytelling version. It’s aimed at predominently at youngsters and I gather it’s the sort of storytelling suited to dark and stormy nights, so here’s hoping for bad weather.

Set in no particular time this opera draws freely from past, present and future to create an upbeat cautionary tale for discerning audiences of adults and children

It’s a family affair by the looks of things, and will be taking place on Sat 6 Dec at the Town Hall between 11am and 1pm.  The first 45 mins will be a workshop to prepare the kids for singing roles in the chorus for the performance, which will start at 12pm.

Pete at Spaghetti Gazetti reminded me of this. His post also has the flyer and a story about Paul Murphy from back in the day.

At 8pm on Friday 24 October, the Songwriter’s Cafe is making a return, featuring:

• Daniel Rachel
• Micky Greaney
• Sarah & Rod Demick
• Friends of The Stars
• Leo Altarelli
• Abie Budgen
• Fola

It’ll be at The (ex-Orange) Studio in the city centre and will be hosted by Paul Murphy & Gary O’Dea.

The Songwriter’s Cafe

started in the autumn of 1996 to encourage the art of song writing by establishing a regular dedicated high profile performance platform for local songwriters, a rare thing in those days

With the Hello World after party ending at 8pm there’s talk in certain quarters of trying to move things along here afterwards.  It may be worth reserving your free tickets now if you’re interested in going.