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Just 'cos we're running the website we think we can put up our list of Favourite Forthcoming Fringery. Arrogant? Bossy? Elitist? US?? Any additions or comments would be welcome on the message board & review section. (Ah! Proves we decided to be provocative here, then...)
Wendy's Words of Wisdom
Fringe Founder & Administrator Wendy Matthews produced this list when challenged as to what she was most looking forward to seeing – so you don't need to ask her yourself now... And what better recommendation could you want?
Cosmic Sausages
Tristram Shandy
Ken Campbell
Fringe Art Fair
MIB
Pinski Zoo / Blurt
Mark Steel
Samuel Oyediji
Queens of Bath (ah, if only...)
Marcos Valle
Mimbre
The Quest
Infinite Number of Monkeys
Earl Okin
Brendan's Poetry Slam
Garth Merenghi
Woods Street Party
Bill Jones / Elle Osborne
Lo'Jo / Tinariwen / Baka
Angela De Castro
Count Arthur Strong
Windows Punk Night
the lost fortnight
(seventeen days of places to lose it in Bath)
see listings for more details
Fr.24
Take tea, no, well something a little stronger then, with The Cosmic Sausages at Green Park from 5pm. Yes i know it's a crap name but these guys fuse music and comedy like no-one else do, and have great players like accordion wiz Danny Fromajio to boot (and you'd better use the boot, don't want him getting too close).
The theory is that then you go round the rolling openings of all the visual arts shows. I'm certainly going to have a go at that. And you know what happens at Art Show Openings (Capitals! it's Art, it's Important!), don't you? Yep, another little drink. Or two. Try and see as much art as you can, case out what looks good and drop back later in the fortnight when you're soberer to take it in a bit clearer.
Then there's Bill Smarme at Windows. He's a hoot, Bill, and you don't have to listen too hard all the time which'll come in useful if you've been boozing since 5. Then more CosSoss. They'll have been going since you last saw them and should be an example to us all.
Sa.25
The Art Fair's always worth a breeze through (and it's on tomorrow too...). You don't have to buy anything but you generally end up wishing you could. There's usually some nice (i use the word carefully) music on too.
Tristram Shandy would be worth a look, really, the book is madmadmad and if the show gets 1% of that in it'll be great. I'm sure some of it happens in Bath too, or at least should have. Jane Austen it ain't.
But really you'd better head for Madnomad and chums at Windows. Espionage is a really top night out too, club music with atmosphere rather than bangin' anthems nonsense. Course if you were passing by, The Mighty Ging would be worth a look, geezer is in Reprazent, etc., after all...
Su.26
Ken Campbell has to be heard to be believed, ignore the show title and just get into the bloke, anything weird from 24 hour plays to inner physics to even-more-inner conspiracies, he's been there, done it different. Douglas Adams meets Ken Kesey but he's still very much alive. There's some entertaining stuff on the web about him at www.cix.co.uk/~dfarmbrough/ken . He'll likely go on for hours too, last time I saw him at the Rondo he did one whole show, took a break, then launched into another one. The bar will be seeing some action. Note that the true Ken believers may well have bought all the tickets by the time you get round to it tho'.
Adrian Burns (MIB) is great if you like your blues with SOUL; he's got great presence, big black man with big voice. Can't say Morrissey Mullen etc. ever did much for me but i guess it suggests that Jim Mullen might know one end of a guitar from the other. Should appeal way beyond the ranks of the blues bores.
Mo.27
NonComposMentis are cool as anything, the rapper's got a major mouth on him, human beatboxes are trendy again & this guy's good, as long as there's some more stuff on the bill it'll be a well-up night
Tu.28
Tricky. That Artaud one looks good but can't say i know anything about the company but then i'm higgerant. I-Contact is always good (and i keep missing 'The British Army on LSD' so i'll try again). Blurt are simply fantastic, dada & @narchism set to Beefheart-flavoured music. It's not easy listening, a drop of the hard stuff, but if you're prepared to push your limits a bit you'll find out that you agree with me. Trust us on this one.
We.29
I'll be watching Mark Steel, I'd say. The old alternative comedy was always more political than the current standup circuit and you get to appreciate that after a few too many nob jokes and observational comics who only observe the telly. If you're around later Hodmadoddery are quite good but they're my mates so i would say that. Huayka, the replacement gig at Moles (instead of Braziliance) looks hot & you know Latin Massive & Co. know what they're doing with South American Music.
Th.30
S'gotta be that Taboo thing. People still talk about that show from 1992 when it also appeared at the Fringe & it's just got wilder in the intervening decade. Trevor Stuart was in Lumiere & Son who were a great influence back when Brit performance wasn't half as twee as it mostly is now, and used to do the old festivals in Walcot when they were going (and people still talk, etc...). Peter Searles is fun, laconic raconteur stuff like i obviously think i can do. Samuel Oyediji does mad poetry & talkies with digital delay loops and percussion so should be just the ticket if everything you've heard so far you've heard before. Purr Club is always good and they've done a special fringe bill which is sweet of them. Mooz are genuinely fantastic, i haven't seen either of the others but Purr quality is usually high, all the stuff that the weirder Radio 1 presenters play and the NME likes & you never get a chance to find out what they're really about.
Fr.31
It'll be Marcos Valle & Suv, that's one major night out; Marcos is big news in Brazil and has been for years and that means a lot to slavish followers of authenticity in music like i. Suv's more Bristol talent and not hyped as much as some of his erstwhile colleagues which is good. Le Club Dada nights are always a good crack, tho', the guys are entertainingly deranged. There's a particularly mind-expanded selection tonight, The Velveteers are particularly difficult to find any rational explanation for. Dress up for this one.
Sa.1
Far too much to do today. Mimbre are excellent even if you don't 'understand' dance, think it's overindulged & overintellectualised, and suspect (as i do) that most acrobat shows go on too long doing the same stuff. I really do reckon it's not a festival until you've seen Tragick Roundabout playing, preferably acoustic and somewhere unexpected, so this'll do all of that at once. The Quest is on early so can get that out of the way, the description in this programme is vague because they haven't worked out what they're doing yet, but the crew doing it are really really good so expect something special indeed. It's later that the trouble starts. Infinite Number of Monkeys do smartass intellectual pun-a-second comedy that spins your head & flatters your intelligence simultaneously, which i have to say i'm a sucker for. There has to be a pun-gent connection to Johnny Vegas (last year's Bath Fringe comedy highlight) but i can't be arsed to make it. The Dub Circus Experiment is always always worth seeing and they're on a bit of a high at the moment so a good time to make the effort. Note it's not a whole evening & you'll need to stack up something else. I'd try & see Earl Okin, myself, but that's mostly because I've never seen him and some old chums are always going on about him. Not that they'll be bothered to go either ...tho' it'll do alright for audience you can be sure. Just make sure you get in for Bedlam Cabaret, which has on the right occasions been genuinely the most deranged show on the Fringe; with the dangerous comic genii of the one & only Woody Bop Muddy and the one & several Stompy the level of hysteria will not be low.
Su.2
A day for catching up on some repeats of shows that were on last night but you missed 'cos you were at something else, Monkeys, The Quest, etc. In fact if the weather's there you can sit in Garden of Delights and the shows will come to you. Calima are supposed to be ace, i know the individual players are. Little Johnny England, i have to plug that, 'cos it's not the sort of thing you usually get to see in Bath, this not only appeals to fans of ye olde English FolkeRocke (Fairport, Steeleye, Oysters, etc.) - as do a lot of rather naff rather long-in-the-tooth bands – but they've got a few new angles too and a political edge on the songwriting. They rock like a beast for a folk band too. Garth Merenghi is undoubtedly well worth catching, a one-off like the best character comedy, and he did win the Perrier which used to mean something.
Mo.3
Go to Woods Street Party to eat. Probably. There will be some drinks involved doubtless. Don't mention the J word. No, that J word. I'm told by 'a geezer who knows' that Schalom Bakhshayesh are brilliant, but you might need to be a bit of a muso to connect with it. They're at Woods and The Bell. Project Vision has its own crowd and own scene (ex-art students who have bothered to stay on and try to make something happen - respect) and it's great to visit, and easy to wander in & out too. Not all of it's brilliant, but that would be asking too much and the vibe is most excellent.
Tu.4
mmmm... Woods in the afternoon, but after that it's a bit of a flat day unless the Fashion Show appeals. If it does, you'll be there, i have no doubt. Bill Jones & Elle Osborne will be my tipple of choice and i guess you don't even really have to like folk music to connect with them because both these women do their own thing with it. If you like songwriter stuff, acousticy-indie, country, give the new folk a twirl too.
We.5
KAOS are archetypal Fringe theatre, always excellent reviews, so if you fancy dipping a toe into the theatre world this could be a good night to do it. Otherwise cruise the music bars. Les Savants will be worth a look.
Th.6
NoFitState Circus early, Demolition Doll Rods (fresh from Detroit) late, in between it's got to be the double bill of surrealist music & rock'n'roll sleaze at Windows. Fuji is Japanese, but he plays brilliant acoustic blues guitar with an urban modern feel reminiscent of the late great Rainer Ptácek (no, he really WAS great). Singing the blues in Japanese is the first eccentric element that strikes you, but subtly. In Japan he's a very successful and well-paid painter, but his inspiration comes from the trips he makes in the other half of the year, busking round the streets of the world. The Fujii teams him with some affectionate & humorous textures from out of the experimental end of the London music scene, geezer playing gas main and other odd objects, to great effect. Lol Coxhill last appeared in Bath up a tree in Victoria Park. It'll be great to have him back, he's a one-off. It's not so much free jazz as 'spontaneous composition' (Richard Cook said that and he's a proper critic) so don't be afraid, it's not difficult listening. He's got one enormous sense of humour and he doesn't enjoy winding people up with noise if they're not getting it like some people you could mention. Slaughterhouse Lounge continues the Blurt connection, these tales of Rock on the Road to Excess include Jon Wygens of Blurt & the Blue Aeroplanes.
Fr.7
It's another one of those nights to clone yourself and catch several shows at once. Count Arthur Strong is a genuinely deranged comic character creation. Angela De Castro is a small round Brazilian ball of laughter & comic invention. Shit I sound like a review. Trouble is you'll have to miss both of those and go to the Pavilion instead. Tonight sounds like a night at WoMaD without dodgy bogs and with a proper bed to look forward to when you've danced yourself stupid.
Lo'Jo are French and Fringe organisers have been wanting to put them on for years. Their music is a sultry and very contemporary take on the great French Chanson tradition but with a strong rhythmic edge and powerful Arab & Afro flavours, showing in truth where that tradition came from. They're charismatic and very atmospheric and went down a storm at WoMaD a couple of years back. They also have a great reputation in France for connecting with bands from other parts of the world.
They met Tinariwen at a festival in the desert. Tinariwen are the latest revelation in the Desert Blues cycle which has already brought us the great Ali Farka Toure and Afel Bocum. They're Touaregs, the original desert nomads, and their culture is strong and proud, if beleaguered to the degree that the band, as well as being figures of cultural resistance to an entire people, have taken up arms themselves in the struggle to retain their millennia-old freedoms. This is no rebel posturing, this is the real thing. The music is compelling, hypnotic, otherworldly, but it calls to a place we all have deep within us.
Both these bands have been produced by Bath resident Justin Adams, who has agreed to come and play us some of his music collection tonight. Ex Invaders of the Heart (Wobble & Co.), a guitarist with his own take on the Desert Blues (his 'Desert Road' CD, with/as The Wayward Sheikhs, was excellent too), & he's currently working with no less than Robert Plant who's known for liking powerful world music.
Baka Beyond live and work in Bath and have made a great contribution to local music on all levels from children's workshops & community choirs on up. They are the originators of the Afro-Celt bandwagon, blending melodic elements from Northern European folk, the stunning Breton fiddle of Paddy LeMercier, European trance-rock textures and compositional structures, all with rhythms and chants from West Africa. The current lineup includes players from Cameroon, Senegal, Sierra Leone & Ghana and yes it's 100% live.
Sa.8
Spend the day doing The Wheel Thing & The Carnival, two sub-festivals of Bath Fringe with masses of elements of their own devising. Start the evening at Green Park for the Carnival Party. Spend the night either catching up with Arthur or Angela from last night, or out with the deeply wonderful Morning Star and others at Newton Park (aka. 'Shoot the Pianist'). Or you could do the Jubilee of the Jubilee punkerama at Windows, that will be entertainingly messy, these benefit nights always are.
Su.9
Walcot Nation Day! Don't even think of doing anything else. Do I make myself clear? It's for your own good, you know.
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