(c) Alexa Hawksworth 

I haven't been out for a while due to several factors all meeting up and forming a committee that seemingly wants me to stay away from gigs, perhaps the invisible forces want me to be a true Nottingham music champion and are getting me prepared by stopping me from going out. Tonight I decided that I wanted to leave the house and watch some open mic action courtesy of Alexa Hawksworth and her regular night at Filthy's in town. I turned up a little bit late and there was a duo performing as I arrived. Of course there were people talking but not loud enough to be intrusive.

My surprise was seeing Ryan Farmer (as he is now known although he remains Ryan Thomas in the blog labels to save me having to go back and change everything) in the bar as I thought he was supporting The Most Ugly Child at another venue. A feature of this night is the headline appearance from a well known face and last night Ryan was that headliner. After a couple of pints of Guinness I was in the mood to discover new stuff which is what I did, although I rather twattishly forgot for once in my life to take my trusty notebook with me so I am unable to report on any of the acts I saw for the first time last night. Apart from Ryan of course who I have probably already recommended at some point in my life as he is an artist I rate very highly. He usually plays with a band these days but last night he played a solo set to an appreciative crowd and it was a nice change as I didn't think he would come out without his band these days but it is nice to see both sides of a performer of his calibre. 

Next time I go to a gig I will remember to write down the names of people I am impressed by. This will help me to listen to them and find out more when I get home, and also make writing about it later a lot less vague.

The Sunday Alternative #49 is available from here.

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July Housekeeping

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Picture from Facebook

After a week away from live music I was really looking forward to a whole day of it today. Filthy Fest 15 was my destination after cooking myself breakfast. Downstairs was the acoustic stage managed by Alexa Hawksworth and later in the day bands played upstairs. The whole thing was operated smoothly so there was no overlap and the whole thing (from what I as a punter could make out at least) ran to time. There was only one issue with one of the daytime artists ringing in sick leaving a gap that couldn't be filled, but that didn't put a dampener on things.

What did spoil things for me slightly was the thing I have written about and tweeted about many times before, talking. It wasn't much of a problem straight away as it wasn't very busy to begin withI seem to have developed a way of zoning out and focusing on the music to the point where the fire alarm could go off or someone could get shot and I wouldn't notice. Again a lot of this stems from the fact that this was being held in a public house and a section of people in there weren't bothered by the fact that a gig was taking place and acted as they would during any Sunday afternoon drinking session. On the other hand I have seen this happen with gigs you have to pay to watch so I really don't know what the ultimate solution is.

Believe it or not I am not the only person with this disdain for people who ruin live music in this selfish fashion, so maybe this could be sorted if enough people complain and make a fuss. I personally would be in favour of dragging them out and sticking a knitting needle through their windpipe but then I would be seen as the bad guy, it's political correctness gone mad. A quick fix to the problem was staring me in the face this afternoon, Filthy's rather unnecessarily had a bouncer on the door. He could have made himself useful by wandering through to keep an eye on things, just a tap on the shoulder and a fingers to lips gesture would have sufficed to start with. 

As this is getting to be a bigger and bigger problem perhaps the time has come for positive action, if I and others have to go outside to smoke thanks to a ridiculous law then I don't see why people with something obviously important to say can't leave the building too.

My idea might be deemed as a touch extreme but here goes. The music venues write a joint letter to the council asking for the re-introduction of the stocks. In the evening they are placed in rows in (to use Nottingham as my example) in the Market Square and surrounding areas such as Trinity Square and Lace Market Square, the big space in Hockley outside Hartley's and the goth shop and Sneinton Market. We then give those pretend police officers in fancy dress some power at last, and employ them to patrol live music venues removing persistent offenders (I am aware that there is a difference between exchanging greetings/expressing approval and rudely yabbering away oblivious to how much of a pain in the arse you are being) and placing them in the stocks for the night to think about their actions while passers by throw rotting fruit at them. They would be freed at sunrise and after helping to clear up the mess would be allowed home. As bad as my idea seems, it would ensure that those people would never talk at a gig again.

To return to Filthy Fest, the talking pissed me off enough to make me go home early but not before I had seen some fantastic performances from Alexa Hawksworth, Nanuk, Brett Sinclair, 94 Gunships, Anwyn Williams, Breakfast Club, and Beth Frisby. 

No podcast this week.

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May housekeeping 

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Anwyn Williams photographed by Alexa Hawksworth

In my blog entry for last Friday I mentioned how I had never formally met or spoken to a local singer called Alexa Hawksworth. Someone on Facebook pointed out that she played at the Rosie May Memorial gig in 2013 so we have exchanged a brief hello but besides that we have had little to do with each other. There is no real reason for this, in fact it is a bit weird given all the mutual friends we have and the fact that we are probably in the same room together quite often. Anyway, Alexa commented on the blog via my Facebook page that we should talk next time and I agreed. On my way to work yesterday morning I was scrolling through Facebook and I saw a post from Alexa saying that she had a gig that night. It wasn't until I was on my way to this gig on the tram that I realised that the post was a day old and I was travelling to a show 24 hours too late. Rather than turn around and go home I decided to stick with it as I knew that an open mic night took place on Tuesdays at Filthys, the same bar I was bound for anyway. I had the taste for live music now so to satisfy the craving (not been to a gig since Friday) I went with fairly low expectations. The reason for the low expectations was that I am not someone who ever fully embraced the open mic concept. I know there's a chance that you could discover the next big thing but a lot of the time that is never going to happen. My last visit to an open mic was a couple of years ago at Jam Cafe and it felt like the very opposite of a talent show.

Alexa runs this night so I knew it wasn't going to be another low quality night of tuneless caterwauling and this came true as I walked in to find Motormouf holding court. Hip hop is something that I don't activley seek out for some reason; it isn't dislike it is probably just not knowing where to start. The rappers I have come into contact with have all been great company, on NottinghamLIVE we were initially nervous about having to deal with what we soon learned was stereotypical ego and bluster as they were always the best guests to have on. What little exposure I get to it though has always been highly enjoyable (and I am aware that 'highly enjoyable' isn't rapper lingo) and having never seen Motormouf let loose before I was blown away. The guy is a magician who filled the place with noise thanks to his loop pedal, I had seen him joining Huskies and The Gorgeous Chans on stage at Rescue Rooms to freestyle (as I believe it to be known, 'freestyle' is rapper for 'making it up as you go along' - I'm so cool) so I knew that he had talent but this was something else. No disrespect to this gig but he is too good for this sort of thing. 

Then again, this wasn't about who the biggest names were on the night. Alexa could quite easily have put herself on as headline but last night wasn't a clash of egos. She went on next and did a handful of songs that I hope she records, I heard mention of an EP in the pipeline! Next up was a young chap who played a covers set which in my opinion perhaps didn't show him in his best light, but he had a good voice and I would like to think he writes his own material too. He was doing medleys of two songs together, something Josh Kemp does a lot better. A young guy who fancied himself as a comedian wangled his way on the bill, and I came back from the toilet to witness him doing an observational piece about why pigeons can't just go into McDonald's and steal from there instead of from people sitting on benches, or something. He tried to paint a picture in our minds of hoards of pigeons flying overhead gripping burgers and chips in their beaks, you had to be there. I was there and went out for a cigarette rather than witness this. His friends had presumably told him he was funny and that he should try stand up, this in my mind means that they can't be real friends because real friends wouldn't allow you to put yourself through that torture. The poor fucker has to face his so-called friends at work/college/university today after dragging them out to watch him die on his arse.

The next turn was a good performer but had quite a bit of anger and attitude to spout from the stage as if he was at a march, and a guy I think was a member of bar-staff got up to play a set of covers albeit better presented than the first guy. I like cover versions when they are done differently and Johnny (I think was his name) played a blinder. Anwyn Williams turned up off duty but was persuaded to play which was a nice surprise. I will definitely make a point of attending this night on a regular basis, especially now I have spoken to Alexa who turned out to be a really nice person. Sadly I was bound by the last tram so couldn't stay for all of Anwyn's set, which was especially sad as she just kicked into a cover of 'Where Did You Sleep Last Night?' as I was walking out. I hope she plays it again next time I see her if the first line is anything to go by.

Weirdly, I shared this link on Facebook yesterday afternoon with the comment that I collect covers of 'I Love Rock & Roll', 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'. When I got home I looked on YouTube to see if Anwyn had recorded the Leadbelly cover and although I couldn't find it (I didn't do an in depth search to be fair) I did find this!

This week's edition of The Sunday Alternative can be heard here.

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April housekeeping

Please consider making either a one-off or regular donation using the PayPal button above this blog. Every penny will be used to fund creative projects that will be made available for free.

Saturday Breakfast: We are making a pilot episode of this music and cookery show and we need your help. Your donations will help to get this made.

The Sunday Alternative is a free weekly podcast. I am aiming to start making this podcast in a studio with live bands in session. This will cost at least £50 per episode so please give whatever you can.

52 podcasts and 365 blogs a year must be worth something to you?

steveEoliver@gmail.com

@SteveOliver76