Reader Profile: Al Hutchins

Stop Press! Joining the Amnesty international fundraising birthday party at Power Lunches next Sunday is the West Midland's finest wordsmith, Al Hutchins!

Birmingham-based poet and howler in John Peel-endorsed grinesters THE COURTESY GROUP-whose album received 4 stars in MOJO, and from Stewart Lee in "The Sunday Times".

Poems mainly about buses, romance and death in the West Midlands. 

John Cooper Clarke's a fan too and namechecks Al in the recent dcumentary "Evidently John Cooper Clarke" & has played The Courtesy Group group many times on BBC6...

Over the years Al's supported- in no particular order- Steve Tasene's "Klepto" (Bham Rep), Malika Booker, the late great Hovis Presley, Simon Munnery, John Hegley and Francesca Beard; performed with The New October Poets at The Poetry Cafe and Ledbury Poetry Festival, and been main support to pop group Guillemots at both The Alexandra Theatre (Bham) and Brixton Academy in London. 

John Cooper Clarke has said:

" I wish I could find the words to describe the level of enthusiasm I feel for Al Hutchins' work; I'm a big fan, but poems like, "Man Reading Gibbon On The Midland Red", "Loneliest" and "I Don't Wanna Do Or See Shit" come to mind. I only pick out these three to illustrate the breadth of which he's capable. But what can you say about poetry that poetry can't say about itself ?!"   

Al joins Tim Wells, Sid Griffin and Ralegh Long & the Primary Three to complete our lineup for this very special fundraiser.  There are a limited number of £3 advance tickets available here, otherwise there are tickets on the door at £5, with all proceeds going to Amnesty. The night kicks off at 7:30 sharp! 

Reader Profile: Tim Wells

If you don't have Sunday September 9th etched into your calendar as the date of the Bands & Books birthday charity fundraiser extravaganza, then you should probably do that right now!  In the meantime, allow us to introduce you to Mr Tim Wells, erstwhile Bands & Books DJ, and poet extraordinaire!  Tim Joins Sid Griffin, Ralegh Long & the Primary Three and Al Hutchins to complete our lineup for next Sunday's Power Lunches show in aid of Amnesty International.

• Tim Wells has cultivated a laugh that’s more like a caress. He walks properly. He does not slouch, shuffle or stumble about. He knows that wide, floating trousers are only good for wearing on a veranda with a cocktail in your hand. His latest collection, Rougher Yet, is published by Donut Press.

After Tim's disc jockey masterclass at Bands & Books in October last year, we knew to expect something a little special from his playlist.  As things transpired, we've not enjoyed compiling one of these playlists as much as we have this one! Tim gave us a list of bands & producers covering reggae, Chicago blues, soul, doo wop and erm, Chas & Dave!   This was a joy to compile, and you should just sit back & enjoy this little gem:

 

Tickets for Bands & Books are selling fast, with only 50 available for pre-sale, so be sure to snap yours up now and save precious money! 

Band Profile: Ralegh Long & The Primary Three

Joining Sid Griffin, Tim Wells, and latest addition to the Bands & Books Amnesty International fundraising 1st Birthday party BONANZA Al Hutchins, is Ralegh Long & the Primary Three.  

Ralegh is a Bands & Books favourite having attended our inaugural show in Mile End way back in 2011, and we're delighted to complete the circle by having him & his band top the bill at our birthday party! 

Ralegh Long is an English Singer-Songwriter, guitarist and pianist. He makes records and performs either solo or with the Primary 3 (Richard Ellis - Bass, Will Lamport - Drums).  His debut E.P, Sprawl (2011) was celebrated for 'Placing the enigmatic within the classically melodic'. (Sweeping The Nation) and was supported with a U.K tour with Thomas White (Electric Soft Parade / Brakes).

His follow up, 'The Gift' is released late September 2012 and is a solo record of baroque piano ballads. Often compared to cult British luminaries such as Robyn Hitchcock and Epic Soundtracks, as well as stateside bands such as The Db's,  Ralegh writes timeless melodic pop songs.

2013 promises the first full studio record with the Primary 3, which has the working title 'Set to Music'.

http://raleghlong.bandcamp.com/

http://www.facebook.com/raleghlongmusic

http://twitter.com/raleghlong

You can catch Ralegh Long, Tim Wells, Sid Griffin & Al Hutchins in a musical/literary/poetry smash-up on the 9th September at Power Lunches on Kingsland Road.

There are just 50 tickets available for pre-order, so be sure to get yours today - all proceeds from the night go to Amnesty International, meaning you can help fight oppression wherever it exists in this world whilst enjoying a superb night of live music and literature! 

Reader/Band Profile: Sid Griffin

Back from our Summer hols, having had a restful time witnessing the exertions of Team GB from the exhausting heat of Istanbul; team B&B is delighted to bring you news of our September 9th Amnesty International fundraiser! 

If you haven't yet booked your tickets, now is the time to do so, only 50 are available for pre-sale, and they're going fast!  Your ticket not only gets you access to a night featuring live performances from the majestic Tim Wells and the peerless Ralgh Long & the Primary 3, you will also get to see SID GRIFFIN:

 

Sid Griffin is perhaps best known as the leader of alt-country founders the Long Ryders back in the 1980s in Los Angeles.

Since those heady days Sid has written four books; Gram Parsons: A Musical Biography (1985), Bluegrass Guitar: Know The Players, Play The Music (2005), Million Dollar Bash: Bob Dylan, The Band & the Basement Tapes (2007) and Shelter From The Storm: Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Years (2010). In addition Sid wrote for BAM, the L.A. Times, German Rolling Stone, Gosh!, spent ten years writing for Q, wrote for Mojo starting with issue two, has authored several late night BBC Radio 2 specials including a memorable one on The Carter Family which was narrated by Dolly Parton (!),  and he also did the research, interviews and wrote the script for the Warner Bros/BBC TV documentary Gram Parsons: Fallen Angel.

In 2002 he flew to Florence, Italy to received the Piero Ciampi Award for service to the arts, accepting the award on national radio. He is a native of Kentucky, a graduate of the University of South Carolina and now lives in Camden Town, north London. He has compiled and annotated over forty collections, anthologies or reissues for various record labels such as Rhino, Warner Bros, Universal and PolyGram, perhaps most notably Flying High, the well-received collection by his old friend Gene Clark (the Byrds, Dillard & Clark).

Sid Griffin is a raconteur, a solo performer of note with two solo CDs out, a mandolinist with “alt-bluegrass” heroes the Coal Porters, the resident musicologist on BBC 6 Music’s Radcliffe & Maconie Show and a political junkie of the first order. He has no chemical dependencies and is a vegetarian. 

Sid will be telling us stories about Bob Dylan and singing us some songs. We can't wait to see you there!

Bands & Books & Amnesty International & Pussy Riot

The 1st Birthday Party for Bands & Books on Sunday September 9th will raise money for Amnesty International. This means that aside from the wonderful talents of Sid Griffin, Tim Wells & Ralegh Long and the Primary 3, you will also have a chance to help an organisation whose purpose is to protect people wherever justice, fairness, freedom and truth are denied.

Amnesty carries out the most unbelievably awesome work, including recently campaigning for the freedom of Bands & Book's favourite feminist punk protest band Pussy Riot.  If you're not familiar with the story of the arrest and detention of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Ekaterina Samutsevich, it would do you no harm at all to read a little more on the subject.

Bands & Books is not known for political activism, but when we see bands getting arrested for reading poetry in a church, we get upset.  For that reason, we are proud to support Amnesty international and stand shoulder to shoulder with luminous balaclava clad feminist activists the world over! 

You can help to free Pussy Riot here

You can support Amnesty International, and catch some unbelievable live music and reading here

Bands & Books 1st birthday party

Bands & Books is 1! 

We're throwing a party on September 9th at Power Lunches, to mark the wonderful occasion of our 1st Birthday!

  

Doesn't time fly?  

Join us for an evening of literature, music, poetry, drinking and fun, all in aid of Amnesty International!

Where?

Power Lunches

446 Kingsland Road

Hackney

E8 4AE

When?

  

Sunday 9^th September 7:30-23:00

  

How much?

  

Tickets from just THREE POUNDS (+ booking fee) here (or £5 on the door)

  

Who’s playing?

Sid Griffin - Musician and Bob Dylan Biographer (reading and performing acoustic set)
Tim Wells - Poet
Ralegh Long & The Primary 3 - Band
Al Hutchins- Poet

Should I go?

YES.

Special Summer Party Line-up Announcement!

If you're heading down to the Bands & Books summer party this week, you're in for a treat!  Not only will you get to see bands Fountains and Tied To The Mast, writers Stuart Evers and Zoë Howe, but you'll also experience the Audio/Visual mastery of Graphic Novelist & musician, James Eve.

James Eve is a musician and illustrator. His serialized online graphic novel Universal Son combines songs with comic narrative to tell a unique story, set in the current climate of music industry meltdown:

“I was writing these songs that all seemed to have a linking thread, and to place them in a graphic story seemed like both a natural and innovative thing to do What seemed interesting to me was the way songs can tell a very different story to any other form of art – and to present them with a graphic narrative really highlights that - in the same way music is used in film.”

We'll be displaying audio/visual extracts from Universal Son throughout the night, but if you can't wait until Thursday, you can get a sneak preview here. 

James also contributed to Bands and Books Spring by playing all the music between acts, we then bullied him into turning it into a spotify playlist, which you can check out here:

Bands & Books Summer Party takes place at Dalston's Power Lunches from 7:30 on Thursday 21st June, you can get cheaper advanced tickets here, or pay £5 on the door.