Pure Acoustica at the Dolphin on the 19th November

Possibly one of the best if not the best nights so far. Jim Chorley kicked us off with a cracking set, Raj as entertaining as ever despite breaking a string. The amazing Keeley Filgo made her Pure Acoustica debut and fitted right in and managed not to beat me to a pulp as I continued to get her name wrong. I'll blame the ale....
Myself and Dave Miles, who managed to drag himself down from Bristol for the night, played a few old Drunk On Logic tunes then it was straight in to The Shimmering Bees who with bazooki, hurdy-gurdy and a selection of drums, managed to keep us spellbound for the duration.
Then, in true Pure Acoustica fashion, we all played again! By this time the pub was heaving and the beautiful and marvelous Carly passed amongst the crowd exchanging raffle tickets for e-mail addresses, the prize being a selection of cds from the performers and a jar of honey from The Shimmering Bees. How happy does the winner look? He was made up!
Thanks to all involved and here's hoping that the Xmas special will be just as good or even better!

Thursday at The Dolphin

What jolly fun we had!

Kicked of with Jo and Botyov 1791 who was off to a festival the very next day and gave a great show.

Next came Tom Caulfield and his mate Barney on the cajone (it was Ben wasn't it?) who blew everyone away, just amazing.

Steve Picken bought along his guitar excellence and mesmerized us all with his skills

Then it was down to me to sew up the first half.

As you may or may not know, all artists play two sets the length dependent on how many artists are playing eg 4 artists - 2 hours - each artists plays 2 x 15 min sets.
I think it works well at the Dolphin, it keeps everyone interested plus we don't get that awful situation where fans of an artists disappear after their act has finished, you know what I mean?
I was very pleased with the whole night. We managed to fill our corner of the pub and had folk actually change their seats so they could hear our noise.

THIS IS WHAT WE WANT.

Chris (the landlord) did have the ambient mic on and that worked pretty well except that I think it would be better to have it higher so that people don't just stand in front of it and let it be more....ambient.
Considering this is a slow time of year with many people on holidays, at festivals  ect I reckon we did bloody well and estimate there was about 40-50 people there which for a Thursday night was pretty damn good.
So onwards and upwards, the next show is the 17th September.
Who's up for it?

Pure Acoustica @ Winchester Mayfest Update.

Went and had a quick look around on Saturday and the place looks perfect. I want to have a chat with the manager this week just to make sure that they're expecting us and will have a nice space ready.

I managed to make some posters and have left them with them but will take over more later this week.

I also had a chat with Nick from the Coffee House across the road who will give you a free cup of coffee if you go and play a tune or two.

It's a nice shop and they do great coffee. Also he is looking to put on some music in the future so it would be an idea to go over and say hi and stuff. He plays a resonator so he's on our wavelength.

Should be one more update this before Saturday.

Pip Pip

Pure Acoustica at The Winchester MayFest

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Created by OnePlusYou

This is the proposed timetable for the Winchester MayFest on Saturday the 16th of May.

As you will notice there isn't any changeover time. 

As we are all acoustic there shouldn't be any.

If you have a problem with your time comment here by clicking on the "comments" tab at the bottom of THIS post.

OR

Email the person you want to swap with making sure you copy me into your request and the reply. 

I will alter the timetable as soon as I'm informed of any agreed change.

All artists must turn up at least 30 minutes before their start time. Call or text me on  07812150809 if you have a problem.

I have made a Facebook group for the event here http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=75299481708

I will have cds made from recordings that I made at The Dolphin. You're welcome to bring any of your own. 

I'll be putting some publicity stuff together; posters and flyers as well as more web stuff.

Keep checking this blog for updates. Any ideas please comment here.

Artist	Start	Stop
Nick Tann	2.00	2.20
Tom Caulfield	2.20	2.40
Joe Woodham	2.40	3.00
Matt Blake	3.00	3.20
Emmy Lee	3.20	3.40
Ben Woodward	3.40	4.00
Julia K	4.00	4.20
Simon Javens	4.20	4.40
The LCD	4.40	5.00

Winchester MayFest

*UPDATE*

**UPDATE**

Hi All,

the Winchester Mayfest looms and will be upon us on the Saturday the 16th of May. We shall be in the Discovery Centre Cafe from 2 untill 5 pm.
So far I have confirmations from THE LCD, Matt Blake, Emmy Lee, Joe Woodham, 

Julia K, Ben Woodward 

Tom Caulfield and Simon Javens.

If you want to play then please let me know as soon as you can.
Getting a nice bit of publicity for it
http://www.winmayfest.co.uk/2009/performers.htm
http://www.hampshirepoliceauthority.org/print/culture-all/whatson-ca.htm?search=undefined&startDate=2009-04-05&endDate=2099-12-31&location=0&venue=0&categories=0&themes=14&text=&show=15&start=61
http://www3.hants.gov.uk/ca-eventdetail?id=53264 fuck knows where that picture came from!
Everyone will have 2 slots, I'll work out how long each slot will be nearer the time.
As I mentioned before, I will compile some promo cds with the material I recorded The Dolphin gig.
Emmy has stated that she doesn't want her stuff to appear on it and if anyone else is of the same mind then LET ME KNOW.
I'll set up a Facebook/myspace/reverbnation and remotegoat event and will send you the links as soon as I have.
If you haven't already then could you please send me your contact details i.e. your home address and your mobile number, it's just handy to have.

We pop our Pure Acoustica cherry!

Well we did it! The first Pure Acoustica event, and what an event it was.

The place (The Dolphin Inn) was rammed for a Thursday night and the audience were treated to 2 and a half hours of amazing and diverse entertainment - all delivered without amps, mic and pa's.

I introduced the evening and we kicked off with Emmy-Lee who treated us to 15 minutes of passionate, heart-wrenching glory. Next up was 3 piece Botyov 1791 who, with fiddle, bodran and guitar, really got the crowd going. As Matt (Blake) and Chris (The LCD) were running late, Cath (Botyov 1791) and Nic Bradford (Louche Manouche) gave us a couple of fiddle and guitar tunes and I filled in with a couple of my own but then The LCD played an amazing 15 minutes. We were then joined by Ben Woodward (or Wood, why don't people wear name tags!) who was an unexpected pleasure. Matt Blake stopped the show as he managed to break a string before even playing a note. After being offered a plethora of replacements, he gratefully took up Nic Bradford's offer and ripped into a most wonderful set.

I had planned to have a little interval but due to the amount of good folk wanting to play we cracked on and Emmy-Lee, Botyov 1791, The LCD and Matt Blake played another short set each.

For a first try at this Pure Acoustica event it surpassed my expectations. I had full confidence in all the acts, otherwise I wouldn't have booked them. They (you) all played wonderfully and the audience was well into it, as were the owners Sandy and Chris.

The eagle eyed amongst you would have spotted a rather sexy Sennheiser microphone sitting innocently positioned on a small table. This was connected to an equally sexy mini-disc recorder. THIS was possibly, the most important aspect of the evening. The recordings of the evening are of a very high quality and show everyone off very well. The plan is to use these recordings  to attract other venues as well as to sell at gigs and on the net.

I spent most of Saturday mixing and mastering these tracks and have loaded 10 of the best on to the Pure Acoustica Reverbnation site. They are for anyone to listen too at present but may be for fans only in the future. They are only little MP3 files, I do have sexy fat wav files too. Visit the Pure Acoustica label here to listen If you are part of Pure Acoustica then you should have a profile on reverbnation and if you haven't, why the fuck not?

So, what lessons have I learned from this?

Was it all wonderful?

Could I have done anything better?

When I arrived, Chris the landlord suggested that he hang a mic over the performing area. the Dolphin has an "ambient" kind of speaker system that allows music to reach all areas of the pub. It's not strictly a pa system as it has no volume control and there is only one mic. 

Nevertheless, I asked him not to as this would go against the whole Pure Acoustica idea.

I think this was a mistake and told him as much afterwards.  In a pub as big as The Dolphin, it would have been appropriate to use. Plus, as far as the policy of Pure Acoustica goes, I make the rules so what does it matter eh?

I could have remembered to turn the fucking mic on at the beginning of the evening and NOT miss Emmy-Lee first set!

I could have publicised it a little more. Mrs Nick (the Memsaab) usually does all that arty stuff but she has been stricken with a chest infection (slacker) so wasn't able to come up with her normal selection of pretties. 

Apart from that though, a pretty damn good start to the Pure Acoustica venture. 

So, dearly beloveds, any comments/questions?

Our First Festival!!!!

Pure Acoustica have been booked to play the Winchester MayFest on Saturday May the 16th.

Between 2 pm and 5 pm at the Discovery Centre Cafe.

I'll need to know availability as soon as possible as brochures are being printed.

The MayFest is a great festival with dozens of acts playing all over the city.

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First Pure Acoustica Gig Confirmed!

Yes indeedie. The first or dare I say "Inaugural" Pure Acoustica gig in confirmed for Thursday the 12th of February at The Dolphin Inn at St Denys which is here

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Right next to St Denys train station.

Confirmed artists so far are Emmy Lee, The LCD, Matt Blake and Tom Caulfield.

All artists with reverbnation profiles please add this date to your gig list so it will show up in the widgets. 

The Dolphin is regarded as one of the best pubs in Southampton and have quality acts there regularly. They do not pay, but pass a jug around so can't promise much but I'll be encouraging them to pass it round more than once! They serve amazing beer and there is always a friendly atmosphere. I've played down there and know that we'll all go down a storm.

The plan is to start at 8.30 and for everyone to play 2 x 15 minutes sets. That may change but stands at the moment. If acts can be at The Dolphin by 8.10 at the latest that would be fantastic.

If you are going to be late or can't make it call me as soon as you know.

If you can't commit to playing now but find you can on the night then just turn up and I'll try and fit you in or just come along and say hi.  I will introduce everyone and act as compere' for the night as well as play a few tunes. Obviously if you invite people to come along that would be great, especially if they turn up! Any questions please PLEASE PLEASE comment here and don't email me.

I am hoping to make audio and video recordings on the night if all goes to plan.

The Pure Acoustica website will be revamped once we have more content i.e. pics, video, song samples etc.

Questions anyone?

Update......

Botyov 1791 have just confirmed that they will also be playing.

Podcasts

I have now started featuring artists in my podcasts. 

Pure Acoustica artists, friends and people I have stumbled across.

To listen you can use the red widget on the right or if you're not actually sure what the fuck a podcast is then here is the explanation that I posted on my other blog "Is This Thing On?"

Ok in a nutshell a podcast is a piece of audio, usually speech perhaps with some music. Like a radio broadcast. This piece of audio has to be posted on the web so that people can hear it. You can download this podcast to your computer so that you can either add it to your MP3 player (iPods etc) or play it later. If you have an application called iTunes then you can use that to download it. You can subscribe to a podcast so that every time a new one appears, you will automatically download it.
You can also just listen to it from its source (stream).

My latest podcast has just gone live. You can stream it OR download it from http://nicktann.podbean.com. It's about 17 minutes long and has me chatting a bit and playing 2 songs from some fantastic independent artists that I have discovered.