The one about The May Bash and all things acoustic!

Hey! I know I know I know, its been ages since I’ve blogged and to be honest I didn’t realise that so many people read my random waffle but it seems, I do have readers and you’ve been waiting patiently, so here it is folks. A new post! I have a lot to tell you, it’s been a busy time. With five bank holidays in just over one month we weren’t too sure of how busy we would be on our May Bash, but as always we needn’t have worried. You guys were there with us all the way. The sun kept it’s promise and although we had a little quieter start than usual, by 3pm we had almost 400 people through the doors and everyone was in the mood. The day was filled with amazing bands and our staff even got in the spirit of things by dressing up in themed fancy dress – Emergency services! check out the photos – we were definitely given top marks for effort on this one, however I did have to change by the time the evening came, there’s only so much running around you can do in fishnets – it was becoming dangerous! When the rain finally decided to set in it was a decent hour and everyone headed inside for the evening bands, and I have to say we had a great time! The last band on was fondly changed to ‘The Passion Hounds’, a delightful mix of two-thirds of ‘The Floating Greyhounds’ and…… Me!  When Butty first mentioned to me that they probably couldn’t do this Bank Holiday we had a small panic thinking we had no time to find a replacement band, however having played with the band for some time almost 10 years ago we thought that it would be fun for me to fill in for Brendan and fun it certainly was! luckily we all had a pretty good sense of humour and took it in our stride. It was for charity after all. Speaking of charity, this one was in aid of East Anglian Air Ambulance, something that we all take for granted at times. The government do not give these guys any funding whatsoever, they rely solely on charity. It is a mystery to me, why such a vital life saving service get no help from the powers that be. These guys are out there saving lives every day while they’re out their putting up more lampposts and re – tarmacing Wroxham Road again… Ooops,I nearly slipped off my sop box there – enough of that, I don’t want to get into all that really – all I’m saying is that this cause is so important, it is close to many of us, I know at lease two people who wouldn’t be here had it not been for the Air Ambulance. It is you guys that keep the chopper in the air. We had a brilliant day and raised some good money….this is what we raised and how – check it out…

DOOR MONEY £910.13
TOMBOLA £381.20
DILLIP (BBQ MAN) DONATED £45
ANNIE (DOORGAL) DONATED £5
EMMA HART FACE PAINTER £48
NIGEL CLEANED WINDOWS FOR A TENNER £10
2 GUINNESS GLASSES SOLD £4
TUB ON BAR 1 : £58.61
TUB ON BAR 2: £22.36
PATTIES FLOOR PICKINGS/GRAHAME’S SUNDAY NIGHT CHANGE £125.18
CHARLEY DONATED WAGES FROM GREYHOUNDS £50
TOTAL RAISED: £1659.48

WELL DONE EVERYONE!!!  – a great amount of dosh 🙂  We would like to say a massive THANKYOU to the bands – ‘Mismatch’,  ‘Nina Baker’, ‘Gameplan’, ‘Riot on the 3rd Floor’, Firewire’, ‘The Claire Barker Band’, ‘Pandemonium’ , ‘The Burning Crows’, ‘Aftershock’ and ‘Floating Greyhounds’ you guys all gave up your bank holiday and came to play for free, we appreciate it so much.  We also have to say thankyou for all of you that helped out on the day, Emma Hart  – for providing some amazing works of art on many faces throughout the day, Gerry – for helping on the door, John 2pints, Pip & Clare for helping with the bar and glasses and everyone who pitched in to help us out. Thanks to you all for coming, without your support we couldn’t make these days so successful, let alone raise any money for charity. Now we look forward to the BIG ONE! yes folks – BRICKFEST 2011 is just around the corner, we have a little over two months to finish organising things, with three stages and 39 bands it takes a little more effort. We can’t wait tho – it’s going to be awesome!

And now for something completely different – I know I go on about it quite a bit but I want to do it again. Yes! I’m going to tell you again about our Acoustic nights! They are masters of disguise and change every week, no Wednesday is ever the same.  We have a few regular players that turn up to showcase their new material but every week we are meeting new people and hearing new artistes on our stage. It’s incredible, who knew we had such talented songwriters in the city?  When people mention The Brickmakers, you often hear us associated with heavy rock and metal. I won’t deny that it dominates the majority of the genres here but we do have other types of music too (for example – there is a Ska & Reggae night this Friday with THE STYLATONES! and then a pop/soul night with EMMA HALL on Saturday). If you prefer a more chilled approach to live music then you really should get down here on a Wednesday night. Last week we had no less than 14 singer/songwriters get up and play 3 of their best songs. It’s a fantastic night and is so totally different from any other night at The Brickies, it makes a refreshing change.   From the artist’s point a view it’s a brilliant way to promote yourself and get new fans, you can now get some fantastic photo’s taken for free too – We have been working closely with Dan Gavrovski from the awesome
‘Bananafudge Studios in Wymondham. He has kindly offered to come down every Wednesday night and photoblog our Acoustic Open Mic sessions. We started a couple of weeks ago and so far the photos have been amazing.  Knowing how hard and expensive decent photos can be, Dan offered his time to try to help local musicians promote themselves.  Anyone who performed and who is featured can take the photo’s and use them as they wish all we ask is that you please credit Banana Fudge Studios . Check out Dan’s Acoustic night galleries here…  

Right, that’s it for now folks, I have to get a move on – we’ve got The Big Music Quiz this Sunday and I haven’t even started it yet!! ooops!

Wind me up and watch me go!

Have a great week guys – see you soon 🙂

Cxx