PRIDE’S PINK POUND PRESSURE
It’s a make or break year for Pride as it attempts to generate some actual income for once via a ticketed entry system. The days of rocking up with a rucksack full of supermarket booze and food are alas gone, which inevitably means the Preston Park side of the weekend could struggle to pack in punters prepared to pay festival prices, especially in the face of so many free alternative events going on as well. Joe McElderry and 80s pop ‘icon’ Sonia head up a new live stage – hopefully they’ll shore up the day with their many pleasing hits.
BANDS’ HELPING HANDS
Oxfam are obviously doing good things for poor folk around the world all the time, but when they mix it up with bands and DJs and that, it’s even better. Yes, it’s time for Oxjam to kick off again this month, launching on Thursday 28th at Pop Up Playgroup (ex-Hector’s) with bands and DJ sets, as well as Juice FM’s Guy Lloyd having his bits waxed live on air. It’s the start of a run of events that go through til October. Get on it like Bono’s bonnet at oxfam.org.uk/oxjam and help feed the world.
BURLESQUE FEST
Taking the splendid entertainment that is burlesque and propping it up with an array of stalls, sideshows and live psychobilly music, Heresy’n’Heelz come to the Concorde 2 on Friday 5th. It’s their first ‘on tour’ event of 2011 and features Slinky Sparkles and Marnie Scarlet as well as some fire-based performance and retail opportunities from corsetry to cupcakes. Heresynheelz.co.uk is your online pole to gyrate around.
RUN FOR RISE
Ladies – if you can run eight kilometres without keeling over and you’d like to help out women and kids who’ve been on the receiving end of domestic abuse, this is the event for you. RISE, a local service provider charity, is taking registrations now for their annual under-cliff Saltdean women’s run on Sunday 18th September. It costs £15 to take part but you get a goodie bag full of lovely lip gloss and mascara and stuff worth £20 – great value eh? Get registered at riseuk.org.uk, get sponsored and get running.
BE THERE IN THE SQUARE
Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st see Brunswick Square come alive with its 30th annual festival – a neighbourly hubbub of gazebos, face-painted children and dogs with sunglasses on (if the promotional literature we’ve seen bears true). It runs from a sedate midday til 7pm and is the most village green-y event in town over the summer, with a decent crop of local bands, fodder and booze for the toe-dipping festivalgoer.
PUB’S FESTIVAL PUN
Friday 19th kicks off Gladstonebury, a weekend of charity music and arts festivaling at the big yellow pub that is The Gladstone on Lewes Road. Like its almost-namesake, it promises a bill with something for everyone – last year saw the ASBO Retards and the Gyratory Allstars appearing, the latter presumably named after the traffic system the pub overlooks, the Vogue Gyratory. Proceeds go to the Martlets and Macmillan, so top up your do-good reserves and get in there.
LABEL SHOWING
It’s good to see record labels starting up, especially when they’re rocking a BN postcode. Little Known Records are taking bands across town from all genres and uniting them via the medium of Live Lounge-style unplugged performances. The first such compilation is out now, and it’s all run on a non-profit basis; any dough they make gets ploughed back in. Facebook.com/littleknownrecords is where aspiring bands can mither them and punters can check them out.
FOLK FEST
When hot local promoters Melting Vinyl hook up with the estimable Willkommen Collective for a day-long outing, you know you’re getting something ace. Foxtrot promises to be just that, with a celebration of all things folk in the regal surroundings of Stanmer House on September 11th. Top French/Swedish ‘anti-folk godfathers’ Herman Dune are headlining, with special guests including Sam Amidon, Hannah Peel, Nancy Elizabeth and Stephen Craknell’s Memory Band, plus general Willkommen collaborations. Tickets are £22.50 from Resident and Rounder.
WORDS BY NICK COQUET
