If you're under 25 or don't drink chances are you won't understand what I mean by a "moment". If you're over 25 and have squandered a decade to alcohol fuelled madness and hedonistic idiocy I'm hoping you know exactly what I mean by a "moment" so then I know it's not just me going prematurely senile.
So today was spent for me drinking loads of tea and reading strange old books and cleaning the inner bowels of hell itself sorry I mean the oven along with some other serious cleaning work in the kitchen. I did this happily without complaining or grumbling in the knowledge that tonight I'd be able to go out see some friends and drink some beer and listen to some awesome music. Some of those friends I was hoping to see have performed a miracle and persuaded Jeffrey Lewis (!) to come to Reading and play a gig. Tickets have been on sale for ages (and have since sold out unfortunately), and I'm sure you all know about it and like me are very much looking forward to some good tunes and buying a comic or some CDs. I think we can all agree regardess of how we much we've had to drink the past decade that seeing Jeffrey Lewis is an awesome wonderful thing compared to clearing long indistinguishable burnt things from the inside of the oven.
Of course I didn't realise until about ten minutes ago that Jeffrey Lewis isn't playing in Reading tonight. Turns out Jeffrey Lewis is playing in Reading tomorrow.
Hopefully that's not just me, otherwise I may have unwittingly had another moment writing this.
Everyone knows Oxford has great bands. Hreda are from Oxford and they are a great band. We were fortunate to have Hreda come and play in the Facebar for Pixadelica Vol. 3, we all enjoyed it and hopefully you all did too. Have some photo's.
We're currently finalising bookings for some more Pixadelica nights. We're very excited about this and have listened to a wide range of wonderful moosiks both just down the road and from afar. Stay tuned for more news soon, in the meantime have some music from The Resonance Association, and while you're at it say hello to the nice folks at Mrs Vee and help yourselves to some music for free.
Someone asked me the other day how we managed to pull such a good crowd to a Pixadelica night. It's not the first time I've been asked that in the space of a week. It seems like a silly question really. I'm always tempted to laugh and wave my hand dismissively and talk about target markets and dynamic databases filled with meta information tied into profiling algorithms which then automate personalised interactive mailing lists activated by a secret army of software booby traps and spyware, commercial radio advertising campaigns and subliminal 2 second TV spots on everyones favorite soap opera and Big Brother. About secret orgies and chanting to ancient forbidden and now forgotten evils while dancing naked around burning digital radios. I'm always tempted to talk about forgotten breathing techniques and self control and funny complicated handshakes.
I'm always tempted to say to anyone who asks me that promoting a music night requires exclusive esoteric knowledge that's far too obscure and complicated for normal minds to understand without the proper training.
That's all utter bollocks of course. It's not a silly question and really I honestly have no idea. We created a facebook event which we invited all our friends too (and that then grew and mutated disproportionately), we designed and printed a few flyers and one of our mates hand painted an amazing poster for us and we distributed everything as far and as wide as we could on a shoe string budget. We posted on a few internet forums, talked to people both on and off-line, smiled lots, and I like to think made a few friends along the way.
The real lunacy of it all is we did it cheaply, we enjoyed ourselves, and it was actually very easy.
There's nothing really to stop anyone else going out and doing the same, putting in slightly more effort than we did, having more fun, and enjoying themselves more than we did. Maybe even (whisper it) making some money from it*.
Anyone of you is perfectly of capable whatever you want, it just takes a little independent thought and getting out of bed and doing it. Simple.
Have some photo's of Skyline Dossier, who were awesome despite public transport nightmares in London. Thank you! It was great to see a band enjoying themselves so much on stage.
*We've never actually made any money from Pixadelica. We've possibly lost money, although we have broken even against all odds as well. We've had a lot of fun though, and that's all that matters.
Tanks. Great big hulking steel machines designed for war and crushing and making big boom noises and things exploding violently at long distances. Ridiculously expensive death machines employed for advanced territorial primate shit flinging in these more highl;y evolved cizilised times.
We don't like tanks much, they're pretty evil. Music however is awesome, as is anything which is CREATIVE as opposed to DESTRUCTIVE. That Fucking Tank are all the power and might of a tank utilised as a creative force. From their myspace...
That Fucking Tank is a band that operates on DIY principles; booking gigs, recording records and making music in a way that contributes towards the creation of alternative spaces to the boring mechanisms of 'industry', and challenging the assumption that 'good' music has to be made 'professionally' (i.e as a job). Therefore if you use this myspace account to get in touch, offer gigs, request interviews and so on bear in mind that we will respond as best we can in our spare moments.
If you're familiar with Pixadelica, Doubledotdash, Half A Pigeon, or any of the other underground goings on in Reading, you'll know how much we love DIY and people making beautiful things in their spare time. That Fucking Tank are playing live tonight at South Street Arts Centre, (which is on, er, South Street, that street behihnd the Murco, not far from the Global Cafe). This has been made possible by our good friends from Doubledotdash, who polluted my inbox with this earlier today...
MARK KNIGHT & THE WITCHES. you probably know about these guys by now. if you havent checked them out yet, then you really should. one of reading's finest rock bands. http://www.myspace.com/markknightandthewitches
Three great bands for three quid, what more can you ask for?
Funnily enough, you can ask for more. Tomorrow night (!) there are more awesome happenings in Reading, a whole load of lunatic noise is arriving in Reading in the form of a band called Monotonix all the way from Tel Aviv! I doubt you'll ever see a performance quite like this again. I've heard rumours inanimate objects often spontaneously combust during their gigs. Obviously this means they are truly awesome. If you don't believe me watch a video then get yourself down to South Street Arts Centre Monday evening at about half seven. Support comes from Black Heart Orchestra and Jealous Again who I'm told are some kind of mutant post-modern hybrid of Chuck Berry and Black Flag. Tickets are a fiver in advance, grab one if you haven't already!
It's a noisy start to your week this week, which is better than kick starting a week at work with an obscene alarm beeping you from slumberland back to a grim commuter reality at 6am.
Who said ther's nothing interesting going on in Reading?
Thank you to everyone who came to the Facebar last night to see four of our favourite bands. Thank you to everyone involved in making last night happen. We had a great time, we hope you did too. We'll have a proper update very soon.
Although I'm not a regular customer, Moondogs Cafe is one of my favorite places in Reading. Good coffee, nice friendly atmosphere, and a wide variety of local art on display and for sale. Today, I found this in my email inbox...
Hello Folks, I am asking for a bit of help with our planning application with Reading Borough Council; we want outside seating and to change our opening hours so we can close at 11pm. I hope this will attract more people to Moondogs and make the business financially viable in the long term. For customers I think this provides a real alternative to the pub and external seating will add to the culture on the Oxford Rd. It will also allow us to run workshops in a variety of artforms. Customers should write to the council stating the cultural reasons for Moondogs to be considered for these changes. For Artists I think it provides a better platform for launching work and maximising footfall to your exhibitions. We remain the only independent community exhibition space in Reading. Artists should write to the Council stating what would be lost if Moondogs is not considered for these changes. If you want to support the application, please write to; The Planning Department, Reading Borough Council, Civic Centre, RG1 7AE. Please use our address in all letters Moondogs Art Stop Cafe, 167a Oxford Rd, Reading, Berks. RG1 7UZ. Many thanks in advance for your support. Craig
If you're an artist struggling to make a living purely from your own imagination you'll understand how important and helpful places like Moondogs are. Do something positive today, take 5 minutes to write a letter on why art is important and why Moondogs should be allowed to open it's doors to more customers, in turn generating more support for the local art community.
