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Post by papastalawatt on Oct 5, 2006 22:57:32 GMT
At last, a regular weekend session in Newcastle - during October, anyway.  Stalawatt celebrate the weekend with a new Saturday night residency, featuring our usual blend of the finest roots rocking reggae dancehall in the city. With guest selectors nicing up the dance in their own style - week one features local upstarts Lion's Den. Saturday 7 / 14 / 21 / 28 October Fusion, New Bridge Street, Newcastle (tel. 0191 261 0358). 8pm 'til late, free entry. All welcome  |
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Post by papastalawatt on Oct 9, 2006 12:22:05 GMT
Scrub that. It ain't happenin'. Pure fuckry a gwaan. Arrived to find that a complete lack of communication between the owner and his new manager meant that a house night was also booked. And we lost out. Confirmed these sessions a month ago, and then again two weeks ago. Invested time and effort in publicity; the owner invested money in printing flyers. But because the manager had phoned some of his mates to come down and didn't want to be the one to look a prick, he cancelled us. The depressing thing is being dismissed out of hand, without being given a chance, without even being asked for my opinion as to how a weekend session might run. Reggae is simply not suitable for a Saturday night slot. Disregard the fact that the only time the bar has been full on a Saturday is when I've run a session, disregard the opportunity to target a niche market with a loyal customer base, and run with the same formulaic house music as played in every other bar in the city centre on a Saturday night because that's what everyone else is doing. Bollocks to the bloody lot of 'em.  |
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Post by admin on Oct 9, 2006 15:16:10 GMT
Let's face it mate. We're fucked.
Spen's got a good thing going at Stepneys but reggae gets placed midweek as the bottom line is they'll pull in more money by running an indie or hip hop night on weekends.
CREAU these days as the Wu Tang Clan might have almost said......
I think the way ahead for local crews and DJs is to play dances with/against crews and DJs from other cities on their patch. It's how I've been getting by here and there...
Fuck Newcastle. Respect to the people still trying a thing such as yourselves, Life and Soul, Panagea, Jumpin Hot but the bottom line is reggae gets treated like fucking shite here. There will be a couple of thousand at the Boss Sounds weekender and then they'll go home and forget about reggae until the next big "known" act comes to town. I wish people would just fucking try supporting the grass roots scene for once. You guys drop great modern and roots selections, Glen, Spen and the guys drop the best in the heavy duty dub and dubstep stuff and I'm the best local revive selector but the average so called reggae fan in the Toon hasn't got a fucking clue who we are really........
Still we soldier on.
Respect
Gordy
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Post by Dr Cool Breeze on Oct 9, 2006 17:03:26 GMT
Sorry to hear that Pa - Me and Claire where going to pop in this Saturday coming as well.
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Post by papastalawatt on Oct 9, 2006 21:20:16 GMT
Okay, spoke to the new manager a little while ago - and we're back on.
He spoke to the owner earlier, and I think he got his ear bent. I'd like to think that the owner's sticking up for us, but I suspect it may have a little more to do with the money he forked out for flyers...
I think the new manager can afford to be a little adventurous, personally, at least while Ikon, Envy and Dobsons are all shut for refurbishment - it's a small bar, it's out of the way of anywhere else so there's no real passing trade, and it's been dead on Saturdays for months anyway. But he's young, vastly inexperienced and he wants to have an immediate impact. He'll learn.
Newcastle can sustain a weekly weekend session in a small venue - you only have to see the number of people who turn up for one-off things at the Red Rooms, say, to know that they're out there. Last month's Curves was all about the back room, too - it was rammed from early, and far busier than the main room. Hopefully we can tap into that over the next three weeks and get a bit of leverage to make it more of a long term thing...
Not sure what's happening at Stepney's, btw. Last I heard Spen was leaving due to a disagreement over his budget. Not sure how amicable it was, or whether Life & Soul will be there from now on.
Doctor, hope to see you guys this weekend. Gordy, hope you can make it some time, too.
Respect,
PapaS
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Post by admin on Oct 9, 2006 22:03:12 GMT
I'll definitely make it down sometime, not the 21st obviously but I'll come down as Saturday's okay for getting a lift home. (It's my dad's bingo on Wednesdays and the last bus doesn't run to the village anymore, which is why I've been missing midweek).
Respect
Gordy
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Post by admin on Oct 9, 2006 22:04:36 GMT
I'll drop Spen a message, see what the latest is. I do know that the night I played there, he was asked to turn the music off cos the football was on!!!  Hopefully it's not the end of Life & Soul as we need all the crews we can get around here. Respect Gordy |
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Post by papastalawatt on Oct 9, 2006 22:25:58 GMT
Life & Soul will still be around, doing their thing - just maybe not at Stepneys.
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