Bad Town TV looks distinctively trashy, low-budget and satirical. A screening of the first episode is followed by sets from Razorlight's Carl and Skully and Badtown TV resident Randy Toot.
Rumour has it that the Razorlight boy's may even be playing on stage too.....
So we hosted The River Rat Pack tonight at The Old Queen's Head - as you will know from previous posts they are a collection of bands and artists who spent this summer touring the canals and rivers of this country &and this was the first time all the bands had played togethor since!
The River Rat Pack started in 2008 when 3 friends, myself, Beans On Toast and Nat Jenkins were wondering what to do with there summer and had a slightly mad idea of taking loads of bands to Oxford from London on barges playing free shows everywhere we went..... the next thing we new we had ended up in Oxford with Mumford & Son's, Golden Silvers and whole host of other amazing acts having played shows in London, Henley, Reading and Abingdon along the way.
The River Rat Pack 2008
Well, we did it all again this year, with a whole host of new acts - and this Sunday we will be reuniting for a special show at The Old Queen's Head
As with all River Rat Pack show's it is Free Entry, and us lovely folk at The Old Queen's Head are serving up the best roast dinners from 1pm till 10pm! The bands start at 5pm and there are DJ's all night - including the gorgeous Jameela Jamil spining tunes!
Not every day is this blog going to be about The Old Queen's Head. If it was then A) it would get a little bit boring for everyone, B) it would look very self-centered and C) well if all you do is write and think about yourself how are you going to experience and share anything new - which at the end of the day is what being a great venue is all about, finding new things and telling people about them.
So, I'm gonna write about something else today.
I met up for a drink with a good friend of mine, and whilst chatting she told me about a new project she had started called Track In The Box . I had heard of it already, but didn't know it was her that was behind it.
So what is Track In The Box all about? Well, it is very simple, and very very good. All you do is sign up to their mailing list and everyday you get an email in your inbox which has 1 song in it for you to listen to, with a description about the track and what it means to the person that sent it to you.
You click on the link to where it is streamed and listen.
Amazing.
To keep it new, interesting and varied, aside from the editors of the site, they ask guests in to select the tracks, and so far they have had the guys from Chess Club Records (Mumford & Sons, White Lies....), Rock Feed Back, Neon Gold amongst many others.
So, I logged on to the site today to sign up, and the track of the day was Tina & Ike 'Nutbush City Limits', which, guilty pleasure or not, is a great tune. (I had also been playing some Tina Turner in the office earlier - Private Dancer if you wish to know). The track from the day before was Is Tropical, who played the last Loveless at OQH, and before that it was Peggy Sue, who came to see First Aid Kit here on Monday!
So, not only a great idea, a great way to discover both new and old music, but obviously a purveyor of great taste!
Which leaves me with this, if I had to choose a Track In The Box song what would it be? Well here it is - of no relevance to anything other than it simply being an amazing song, delivered by an amazing guitarist and vocalist. Pay close attenton between 2.34 secs and 3.00 secs. Genius.
Every Tuesday we hold a Pub Quiz at The Old Queen's Head. It's not any old quiz, in fact in some respects it borders on a game show - which in my opinion can only be a good thing - I mean, who wants to sit and answer questions on general knowledge and geography all night?
Certainly not the 18 teams that turned up to play last night that's or certain. With rounds such as I'm forever blowing bubbles (the person who blows the biggest bubble) to blind darts (not just named after the results of playing the game wrong!), paper aeroplane throwing, moulding sculptures out of plasticine and playing a kazoo based version of Karaoke our quiz certainly encourages a lot of audience participation, balls and some skill.....
Oh... and also you can win bottles of wine, a meal for your entire team, endless free shots and a cash jackpot which at the moment stands at over £350...!
Here are some photographic highlights from last night...
So on Monday we hosted the exclusive live playback of First Aid Kit’s debut album. The two Swedish girls, backed by a drummer, graced The Old Queen’s Head stage to treat us to a track by track live performance of The Big Black and The Blue, which is to be released next year.
Amongst the audience was a mixture of their own fans who were lucky enough to get the few tickets that were available on the door, and a cross section of record labels, press companies, journalists and fellow musicians (the lovely Katy & Olly from Peggy Sue to name but a few). The show was also being filmed and recorded live – so all in all quite a big show for them to do and us to host.
Regardless of the pressure of the show and appearing slightly nervous on stage they delivered their folk-pop beautifully, leaving the 100+ people in the room completely silent except for the raucous rounds of applause between songs.
They ended their set with an undeniable encore, stepping of the stage and singing their customary cover of Fleet Foxes’ ‘Tiger Mountain Peasant Song’, in the heart of the audience.
As a thank you to us they have let me post this link http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/First_Aid_Kit/music Which will take you to a site where you can download free tracks and watch a huge selection of their video’s.
