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

Well, I have some good news and some bad news with regards our Behind The Mic shows. The bad news is that our beloved Soho Revue Bar ceased trading after last nights gigs so our Soho show is homeless. The good news is, Time Out love our radio shows…‘a splendid arts series’ they say! On the live show front, we’re back at The Library (Islington - Opposite Union Chapel) on the 19th February with Sound of Rum headlining. They were guests on our radio show last Monday and were brilliant! Kate Tempest is one hell of a rapper and the guitarist and drummer were not only lovely lads but highly skilled themselves.

Below’s the latest press release for the next few shows in the series…(NB it was too late to include this Mondays info but I can tell you we have the vampy performance poet Sophia Blackwell and singer songwriter Idan Rabinovici who’s recently supported Jose Gonzalez. http://www.myspace.com/idanrab )

Behind The Mic, Mondays 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd Feb, 10-11pm

Resonance FM 104.4FM www.resonancefm.com

Presented by Rosie Wilby (Finalist, Funny Women 2006) with Jen Roberts

www.myspace.com/behindthemic06

Showcasing the cream of emerging and established London talents in music, live literature/poetry and comedy, from Behind The Mic’s live events.

Feb 9th – Rosie and Jen present live acoustic sessions from London songstress Tallulah Rendall whose voice sits somewhere between Alison Goldfrapp and Regina Spektor, and bluesy Marcus Bonfanti who supports Sandi Thom in Feb. www.myspace.com/tallulahrendall www.myspace.com/marcusbonfantimusic

Feb 16th – live music from husky voiced Italian rock songstress Elena and spoken word from 2007 UK Slam Champion, 2007 Glastonbury Slam Champion and 2006 Blackdrop Slam Champion John Berkavitch www.myspace.com/musicelena

Feb 23rd – live acoustic music sessions from Dan Raza, who recently opened for Joan Armatrading on her European tour dates and, daughter of Bill, Rosie Oddie will be in the studio with some of her band the Odd Squad and their fabulously leftfield songs www.myspace.com/danraza www.myspace.com/rosieoddieandtheoddsquad

Jake Morley in the studio for Behind The Mic

Well. Wow. Behind The Mic has been going well. The last gig was another sell out. Dan Raza (pitched as the ’saviour of English folk music’) performed a rather special set. He completely shone - moving seamlessly between tender and fragile folky ballads to dynamic and rhythmic rock’n'roll orientated songs. He’s a very mature storyteller for his 23 years on earth. I can’t wait until he has some well produced tracks available. I don’t think his MySpace does him justice. Poeticat was refreshingly down-to-earth and really made us think (and laugh), Greg Holden, bringing with him a strong audience from his successful YouTube series, was good with some strong, hooky songs and Sarah Barton Keeley, as always, shimmered with a magical quality behind the piano.

I went to visit a new venue opposite Union Chapel last week. It’s endearingly called The Library and is run by the Fratelli’s management. I’ll be starting a new Behind The Mic night there on January 22nd with a strong emphasis on spoken word but still with some really fresh, original music. So far, I’ve confirmed George Pringle (she had a good feature in The Sunday Times last week - did you see it?) and Gideon Conn. I’m still waiting to hear from a couple of dynamic performance poets. Scroobius Pip would have been ace but unfortunately he’s off the live scene in early 2009 to focus on writing new material. He said the line up sounded brilliant and would try and make it down anyway. Also, just confirmed this morning, is our return to Resonance FM.

We’ll be broadcasting from London Bridge every Monday between 10-11pm. Sooo…now, I have to find guests for the following dates:

Monday 12th, 19th, 26th Jan, 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd Feb

The last series we did was great fun so I’m looking forward to it!

Right, I gotta get back to work.

Over and out.

x