Hey all,

Happy New Year and all that! I’m writing because I wanted to tell you about one of my new projects. It came about whilst sat drinking (too much) Peroni and watching the ridiculously talented Vikki Stone perform an awesome parody of Lily Allen at Behind The Mic in December.

After being delightfully entertained by Vikki, I was overwhelmed with the urge to start up a new night dedicated to this particular genre of comedy. It’s two of my favourite mediums merged and I must add, a welcome respite from working in a serious and troubled music industry. (I am actually inlove with the serious side to the music industry but balance is important, no?… ‘let there be spaces in your togetherness’) Anyway, a quick Google later and it transpired (much to my surprise) that there were hardly any events catering to this fantastically entertaining medium, so I asked Vikki if she was up for starting a musical comedy night with me and henceforth, The Comedy Song Club was born.

I had been looking for new venues for other projects for quite a while and one day Peter Parkers Rock’n'Roll Club popped onto my radar. It’s located at 4 Denmark Street and seems ideal. For those of you unaware, Denmark Street has forever been associated with music thus earning the nickname ‘Tin Pan Alley’ back in the 1920’s. In the early 1800’s it was renowned for selling sheet music and rent was so cheap struggling artists could afford to set up home there, come the 1890’s music publishers had moved in and by the 1960’s, recording studios and instrument shops were springing up. One of the most notable studios was The Regent Sounds Studio, which was actually established on the same site as our Comedy Song Club’s home! It was here that the Rolling Stones recorded their first album and later welcomed the likes of Stevie Wonder. Anyway, I won’t rattle on with too much history. You get the picture, this really is one of the best musical streets in Europe.

So, The Comedy Song Club at Peter Parkers, 4 Denmark Street, Soho. Expect current pop parodies, original comedy songs, comedy bands, dance sketches, improvised singing and an audience participation jam - bring your triangle for the final song!

Vikki Stone, the Jools Holland of Musical Comedy will MC the night from the piano and introduce circuit favourites such as Pippa Evans (Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Newcomer Nominee 2008), Isy Suttie (Dobby from Peep Show), Earl Okin, Rob Broderick, Jay Foreman and sometimes top secret famous types trying out new stuff - ooooh.

Launch: Monday 1st February
Peter Parkers, 4 Denmark Street, Soho, London, WC2H 8LP
Doors: 7.30pm. Showtime: 8.30pm
Entry: £7/£5
Acts included for Feb 1st - Pippa Evans, Rob Broderick, Jay Foreman, The Segue Sisters, G3 & Olly The Octopus. MC, Vikki Stone.

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Jen x

Hey all,

Below is a web flyer for my last Behind The Mic gig of 2009. Thank you to all you fabulous art lovers who have supported the night over the past year. I have plans to take BTM up a notch in 2010 and hope you’ll continue with me on the journey…more details in the new year! If I don’t see you on December 9th, have a great festive season!

Jen x

This Wednesday at The Library we’ll be celebrating the launch of Sophia Blackwell’s debut collection of poems ‘Into Temptation’. As well as Sophia, the night will also feature performances from some of London’s finest artists from the worlds of music, spoken word and burlesque; music from Theo Bard, an eclectic singer/songwriter with a rare passion and lyrical power and Rosabella Gregory, whose strong narrative songwriting, crystal-clear voice and dexterity on the piano holds audiences spellbound, spoken word slots courtesy of soulful, strong U.S poet/playwright E. Amato and London’s Michelle Madsen-macabre, funny and glorious- and burlesque performances from Soho’s sauciest cabaret girls.

‘If Amy Winehouse wrote poetry, she might sound like this,’ DIVA
‘Dirty, juicy, knowing and open- works for me,’ Stella Duffy

‘Blackwell’s poems deliver what poetry usually only promises….astonishingly intricate, precise, witty, self-aware and formally complete.’ Will Holloway

For more information about the event or book, please email Jen jr [at] jenroberts.co.uk or Sophia sophiablackwell [at] googlemail.com

Check out this new music radio player that Diesel has created. I’ve been listening to it this afternoon and I’m impressed. Some cool DJ’s with top music…

Want this player for your own site? Visit http://www.goviralnetwork.com.

Hello you,

I am over the moon for a variety of reasons. Firstly, our Roundhouse gig on April 22nd was a fabulous sell out event. The vibe was warm and friendly and all the acts really shone. Thank you so much to all of you who came down and a particular thanks to Bohemia Beer & Songlink. Secondly, I just read that Carol Ann Duffy, one of my favourite poets, has been named as Poet Laureate (the first woman in the 341 year history of the post!) Great news! Thirdly, Behind The Mic has been asked to promote the London leg of a rather special show ‘Phrased & Confused‘ on Sunday May 10th at the Cross Kings. If you’re a fan of our fusion of words and music then you’ll love this…

Phrased & Confused: Which comes first? The Music or the Words?

SUNDAY 10TH MAY. CROSS KINGS, 128 YORK WAY, N1 OAX, SHOWTIME: 8PM.

“**** An inspiring meditation on exile and return.” - THE GUARDIAN

“**** Seductive.” - MOJO

“**** Melodic and affecting.” - Q

“Delightful … poetic and effortlessly gorgeous.” - THE WORD

Before I go, I’m going to leave you with a poem by Carol Ann Duffy. Enjoy!

Jen x

We had to make a very last minute relocation to The Brickhouse for this weeks gig due to a licensing issue with The Library. Despite this however, it turned out to be a great night in what transpired to be a very cool venue. All the acts were remarkable in their own unique ways and we had lots of fabulous feedback. Some piccies…

I have been thinking for the past few weeks of how to create a healthy economy surrounding the unsigned circuit whereby artists can make some money. The majority of promoters on the showcase scene in London do not pay unsigned, emerging artists. The benefit for artists when they first start out on this circuit is to have the opportunity to hone their live performance skills and hopefully convert more fans. Once their fan base is built to a reasonable level they can start to earn some money. If an artist performs at my night and overheads have been met then I’ll give them a slice of door revenue that reflects the numbers they have attracted. I think that is only fair. In the least, they’ll get some free drinks and maybe some food, dependent on the venue. In many instances, the promoter also works hard to acquire press and some, including myself, use their influence to put their artists under the radar of talent scouts and publishers. To add to the value of the gig to artists I like to also source good photographers who are looking to develop their portfolio and keen to provide live shots for artists websites. Some promoters also spend time providing artists with the opportunity to broadcast their music and be interviewed on associated radio shows. All with the goal of extending the reach of their artists and highlighting to the public just what great talent there is out there waiting to be discovered. There are some unsigned artists to whom this is very frustrating indeed and I’ve heard of so many incidents of genuinely caring, hard working promoters who get confronted at the end of the night by angry unsigned bands and artists who feel exploited if they don’t get paid, despite not having brought an audience themselves or the overheads being met. I know from experience it can be quite daunting if they don’t understand the situation clearly and aggressively accost you at the end of a usually exhausting evening. There are a fair few female promoters I know who have been corned by male bands at the end of an evening and have been traumatised into almost giving up. Fortunately they never did.

Anyhow, as most of us know, the chances of getting signed are slim and many performers continue to grace the unsigned circuit for years without progressing. In my nights I also incorporate a poet and/or comedian which brings added financial problems in terms of pay out. Performance poetry is on the rise and with people such as Scroobius Pip breaking into the mainstream it surely is only a matter of time until this particular art form receives much more recognition. But it’s not there yet. Part of the reason I book poets for my nights is to help spread the popularity of this medium. Many people are unaware of just how dynamic, engaging and enthralling live spoken word can be and I like to convert my predominantly music orientated audience to this delight. Only with bigger audiences and more media attention can performance poetry start to develop it’s own economy and be less reliant on charitable income. The difficulty with booking poets and emerging comedians is that they don’t generally attract a following therefore a cut of door revenue does not work. At least comedy is mainstream so the hard slog of unpaid gigs can more regularly be paid off when you hit the bigger clubs. The progression ladder for these poets are more limited unfortunately. So, we’re left with many very talented and lovely people who should be afforded the chance to make some money. What can we do about this?

A few options I can think of:

Acquiring Arts Council funding to subsidise fees - very difficult indeed to acquire, particularly in this climate when budgets are slashed to fund the Olympics.

Sponsorship - again difficult in this climate and you have to have built a strong brand with good press and a proven good following in order for the company to reap the benefit of marketing with you. However, this is a route I’m keen on persisting with.

Book well known acts to help subsidise the lesser known acts in these shows - many well known acts once they’re off the unsigned circuit tend to want to stay away; or at least their managers/agents want them to focus on bigger venues and they’re just too busy etc. Plus their fees are often too high for the smaller capacity venues to cope with.

Merchandise - help create merchandise to sell at gigs that can generate more income for the artists. Perhaps collectively, promoters and their artists could compile a CD and sell it at gigs, splitting the income. Perhaps a live, edited copy of the night could be made available for download afterwards? I like these ideas and wish I had more time to pursue it…fingers crossed I may come across that time soon! If anyone wants to get involved to help with this, please let me know!

I’d also love to hear anymore ideas as to how to make the unsigned circuit more fruitful for artists…

Jxx

Last week Anna was involved in the making of a music video for the very talented Claire Tchaikowski (for whom Anna provided the art work for her debut album ‘Those Thousand Seas’ - you can check out some of her dreamy music here: http://www.myspace.com/clairetchaikowski)

The setting was a stunning Edwardian town house located on Chiswick Mall - literally metres away from the river Thames. (What I would give to own one of those houses!) It was great to observe Anna’s creative processes and the ideas behind the video were beautiful.  I won’t reveal too much about the video - I’ll post it here when it’s ready. For now, I’ve uploaded some pictures I took…(click to enlarge)

I agree with Shazia , you are a pioneer and a hardcore badass offensive ruthless showbiz machine, that’s why I love working with you too. I feel damn lucky.

You nurture and believe in me and you’re a tough cookie who pushes me forward and won’t suffer tossers along the way. I am proud to have you supporting me. Lets knock em’ dead Jenya.

I am very happy you came along today to experience the filming of Claire’s video. Recreating the atmosphere from that special painting all over Claire’s semi naked body was lush. We all know so. Wouldn’t you all like to have been there too. Yes we know so.  We will post some images soon.

Till the next time,

Hugs

Anna