Brighton Live

road_roller_3
Originally uploaded by fred pipes.

This blog was only ever meant as an aide memoire pour moi, so please don't expect any detail or critique! It's been a busy week what with the wonderful Brighton Live putting on free gigs all over the place, and often nearby. Last Tuesday I popped down to Audio (formerly the Escape) to catch The Fuck You Planet Earth (aka Mark's band) who are a lot less frantic than they used to be, in fact quite mellow! Just Mark on acoustic, a Jack Black-lookalike electric guitarist and drummer. It was an early gig so I got back home in time for Holby City and Silent Witness. No mySpace yet. Wednesday was the NUJ Brighton Branch AGM at the bland Brighthelm (but pub after) and I thought I'd catch Peggy Sue and The Pirates at Barfly (formerly the Gloucester) but there was a long queue so I didn't bother. Thursday was the monthly Brighton Illustrator Group meeting at Castor and Pollux (on the subject of Agents), but it was late when it ended so went home. Friday aftrenoon I popped down to the Corn Exchange for the Brighton Art Fair, had a bottle of Harvey's and a natter with some old mates, then home. I'd filmed the road-roller printmaking in Pavilion Gardens on the Monday - see photo above (and spent most of last week trying to improve the video on YouTube to no avail!) and the finished prints looked great. After my tea, I popped down to the City Gate Centre above Blockbusters and caught the end of a set by Los Piratas, a jolly South American style band with accordian and ukulele. I'd come to see The Ukes of Hazzard, 3 ukes and a bass, 3 blokes and a gal, but they were disappointing and only came alive during the last number.Don't get me wrong I love Django-style jazz numbers but more variety would have been nice. By this time the quasi-religious hall was filling with 50s throwbacks and rockabilly joungsters awaiting the jumpin' jivin' sounds of the Fat 45s (hear 'em here) - there were hundreds of them and they were great - doing a mixture of Louis Jordan and rock 'n' roll - any band with a honkin' baritone sax is OK by me! Well, the joint was still jumpin' as a pedalled up the road to the grand old Duke of York's for David Bramwell's Oddfellows Casino: David on piano, sounding a cross between Paul McCartney and Victoria Wood, singing wistful Northern songs accompanied by a lovely lady flautist (Eliza?), an electric guitarist and another bloke on trumpet (it was getting late!). David's website is a bit out of date; so is the MySpace! This was followed by a screening of the 1932 film Freaks - amazingly I stayed awake throughout! Aiming to see Asbo Derek and The Curst Sons tonight, but I do need an early night. Well done, Brighton Live - I just wish I had more stamina!