4
the gazette lifestyle
Friday April 17 2009
lifestyle entertainment
Delovely DeLaria
OK, I will be bluntly honest: beyond prog rock and The Project, I have hardly any experience with jazz. Beyond the sadly cancelled Jazz Festival (another local event, like White Air, gone) and the occasional set in the small, rural pubs we hold so dear, there doesn’t seem to be too many places to widen your musical mind in this sense.
However, it is good to see that one venue continues to provide some alternative music to the Island. Previously part of the Jazz Festival, the Royal Hotel in Ventnor is still set to host the multitalented jazz singer, playwright, comedian and activist Lea DeLaria. Just having come over from the states, and playing a show in London the night before, I managed to have a chat with the lady herself. RH: “Have you aimed to keep the venues on this tour quite traditional? LDL: “We’re playing all over the place on this tour. Some of them are traditional jazz clubs, some of them are the back of pubs, some are hotels and some are festivals. We’re going from 300 - 400 seat venues to 75 seat venues. We’re all over the place!” RH: “So, you have used your music to both educate and protest about a number of issues…” LDL: “I do what I do because I am trying to change the world, I am trying to make a statement, I am trying to get paid. And there’s always the
fourth reason we all do it which is to get laid of course.” RH: “Of course, you have toured the world so many times. You must have seen some amazing places. Is there anywhere you would call home?” LDL: “New York City. New York City and London. I’d call those places home. London has some great jazz venues and a terrific music scene which is an integral part [to a home]. I love it here.” RH: “Is there anything new really exciting you at the moment happening? LDL: “There isn’t anything new, which, really blows me away. I know we’re all kind of sitting around wondering who’s going to follow up on ESP. To me, a lot of my problem of what is happening to new jazz is, for example, that every piano trio is either trying to be or sound like ESP or Brad Mehlda so I’m looking for that person that is coming out with something completely different and new.” Catch Lea at the Royal Hotel, Ventnor on Sunday April 19. Alternatively (or as a warm up - your choice) local jazz musician Joe Stilgoe is at the Quay Arts this Saturday (the 18th). Also on Saturday April 18, Gwyneth Herbert is at the Royal Hotel and on Friday 17 ‘princess of jazz’ Jacqui Dankworth, daughter of Dame Cleo Laine and Sir John Dankworth, will entertain diners at the hotel. RH
Accordion clown-core
ACCORDION fuelled clown-core came to the Island last Saturday in the form of Ed Cox of the Life 4 Land party collective. Straight out of Cambridge he joined forces with the Islands very own One33 party curators to make for one very special night of music, visuals and chaos at The Studio. I caught up with ‘b3n’ from the One33 crew for a bit of background on them:
events” for the month everyone in attendance had a certain buzz about them and a gut feeling a good night was to be had. The energy increased as the headliner arrived around 1am, even more so due to one of the resident DJ’s jumping around shouting “Ed Cox is here! Ed Cox is here!” clearly showing his excitement. Ed was met with a huge cheer when he started his usual mix of mashup drum and bass. As much as everyone was enjoying this it was obvious that they were dying for the man to get on the accordion. An even bigger cheer erupted as he reached out for the instrument and what happened next I’m finding hard to explain in words. Try and imagine a spiky-haired raver, mixing sped up DnB, dancing and jumping excitedly behind the decks whilst playing an accordion over the top! Everyone gravitated towards the front of the club to witness the spectacle for themselves and one of the unsuspecting audiences reactions probably paints a picture of events better than my words ever could remarking “What the?! It’s not even music?! Why is everyone dancing like mad?!” Another One33 night not easily forgotten. CC
“One33 isn’t a club-night like most events you see advertised around the Island. It is something that has slowly evolved from a group of friends; who fed up with bland nightlife started having small parties for their mates in secluded spots on the Island.” Originally starting as a night called “Shoom”, named after one of the first dance nights in London events, it spread to various venues around the island. The money made went towards improving the group’s sound system. “In 2008 we upped our game a little and started One33 - one hundred and thirty-three beats per minute is the optimum tempo to keep a dance floor moving all night. We decided to book Ed Cox as we wanted Ed Cox, Accordian meets Drum and Bass at the Studio someone a bit different. It’s always been important for us to push the boundaries of what people are expecting and Ed definitely does that - a dreadlocked clown playing an accordion to mashed up drum and bass!” The night wasn’t just about the headline act though. Support was provided to get the party pumping by resident One33 DJs Loki, Brown Noise, Slater, B3n and Lovegunn playing filthy electro, dubstep, breaks and a bit of house for good measure. Decorated throughout with camouflage netting among other things and visuals supplied as usual by Loki, the One33 sound system was also added to the clubs existing set-up adding an extra 11k of Turbosund rig for earth shattering bass! The party started around 8:30pm with the One33 residents getting the crowd warmed up, not that they needed a lot as the night already had a lot of hype surrounding it. Having been featured in DJ Magazine and listed in the “Top 5 southern UK