The Weekend Ahead in Brixton

Friday 18: It’s time to transport yourselves back to the 1970s with a little bit of funk from The Soul Immigrants, playing at Upstairs in the Ritzy for their ‘Around the Decades‘ night. 8.30pm, free, The Ritzy

Saturday 19: Another new market for Station Rd  – the monthly Retro and Vintage market starts today from 10am-5pm. Once you’ve got your glad rags sorted, head to Plan B for the Reggae Roast Jamdown session. Reggae Roast, Plan b, from 9pm, £8 Advance and £10 on the door. 

Sunday 20: A perfect autumnal Sunday in Brixton = brunch at The Lido Cafe, a walk to the top of the hill in Brockwell Park for views of the City, and – after a big Sunday lunch – catching the highly recommended film, ‘Weekend’, at The Ritzy at 9.15pm.

OxJam Brixton 2011

It’s OxJam Brixton today. The festival is taking over four venues – The Windmill, Dog Star, Plan B and Upstairs at The Ritzy – with up to 30 acts including drum ‘n’ bass DJs Logistics, the Work It! DJ team and the BAC Beatbox Academy with performance poet MC Angel.

They aim to raise £6000 for Oxfam with the money from the tickets, costing £10 each for a day pass. Here’s what you can see for a tenner:
PLAN B (6pm-Midnight)

Nu:tone B2B Logistics ft. SP:MC
Ayah Marar
Drop/ Dead
Somethink Sounds
DJ Strago

THE DOGSTAR (3pm – Midnight)

Work It! DJs
The Stow
Wara
The Great Malarkey
Electrixcity
Vibeadeliks
Jack Leon Colton
Hejira
Colomboloco
BAC Beatbox Academy ft. Deanna Rogers and Paul Cree

THE WINDMILL (3pm-11pm)

Kay Suzuki
Beaty Heart
Lo-Fi
Spectre Spector
A Sweet Niche
Soccer 96
Stinger
Little Big Noise
Zoe Konez
Mercy Alexander

UPSTAIRS AT THE RITZY (7pm-11pm)

Russell Swallow & The Wolf
I Am A Pilot
Jon Nickoll
Grace Banks
We Are Goose
Tim Lacy

The Brixton Week Ahead (plus the weekend)

Tuesday 20: This one is for the film buffs only – it’s film quiz night at The Ritzy Upstairs bar. Tickets are on sale from 6pm. Competition is tough.

Thursday 22: Herne Hill’s live jazz bar, the Poet Bar on Railton Rd, plays host to the Collective Jazz Jam – listen along with a cocktail in hand and try to pretend the summer’s still here.

Friday 23: The Magic Tombolinos are playing live at The Hootananny. It’ll be a classic Hootananny night – gypsy, ska and Balkan music. And keep an eye out for Pete Doherty (though not in the Hootananny…), playing at the Brixton Academy tonight.

Saturday 24: The legendary Fridge closed earlier this year and today Electric Brixton opens in its place. For £15 with advance tickets, you can attend the Grand Opening and dance all night to music from Felix Da Housecat and Hannah Holland.

The Brixton Week Ahead

Brixton Blog is on holiday this week but you lucky things can enjoy lesbian speed dating, art in Dulwich, record-breaking performances at the Ritzy and lots of live music.

Monday 4: For ‘ladies who love ladies’, the Ritzy is hosting ‘Chicks on Speed‘, a lesbian speed dating event in the Upstairs bar with live DJs and a ‘sexy host’. From 7pm, Ritzy Upstairs

Tuesday 5: OK, it’s not Brixton. But if you have time on a weekday, then hop on the P4 bus to the Twombly and Poussin exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Seventeenth century French painter Nicholas Poussin is exhibited here next to 20th century Cy Twombly to draw new comparisons between the two artists.

Thursday 6: The Prince Albert is putting on an Open Mic night from 9pm and after that head to the Offline Live Music Special at Plan b, featuring Brixton musician Morton Valence, the Lost Cavalry and DJs.

Saturday 7: In honour of its centenary, the Ritzy is attempting to break a world record by putting on 100 performances of live music, comedy, dance and spoken word  all in one day. You can buy tickets for the charity event for the two halves of the day – before 5pm or after 5pm. There’ll be an all-day BBQ and acts include Nina Conti and Levi Roots. See here for the full list.

Weekend Ahead in Brixton

Friday: A new gallery is opening today on the Camberwell/Brixton border, just off Coldharbour Lane. It’s called Coldharbour London, it’s in a beautiful warehouse space and it’s very ‘Shoreditch’. In this opening exhibition, ‘Illumination’, five contemporary artists play with ideas of light. Most beautiful is ‘Twins’ by Lawrence Lek.

Update: A few of you on Twitter have also been recommending the return of the Sambalanca night at Living Bar – disco, dub, Afro, and Tropical rythms from these Camberwell DJs. Free before 11pm, £3 after.

Saturday: Fat Freddy’s Drop are playing at the Brixton Academy and Reggae Roast – a new London reggae collective – are hosting the after party at Plan B. Plan B, Brixton Rd. Free before 11pm, £5 after.

Sunday: It’s the Brixton Farmers’ Market on Station Rd until roughly 1pm – Dulwich bakery Coco are joining the traders from this Sunday, selling cakes with ‘floral’ flavours such as elderflower and rose. In the evening, Simo Lagnawi is playing traditional Moroccan Gnawa music at Ritzy Upstairs.

Brixton Bank Holiday Weekend

How to spend your entire bank holiday weekend in Brixton:

Friday 27 and Saturday 28: Two of the world’s top hip-hop producers, Just Blaze and The Alchemist, go head to head at Plan B for two nights running. Just Blaze vs The Alchemist Soundclash, £12 advance tickets, 10pm-4am, Plan B.

And over at Coldharbour Lane, Living Bar is re-opening with a launch night that includes new resident DJs Maxi Jazz of Faithless and Rob Birch from Stereo MCs.

Saturday 28: After a night’s partying, try a more relaxing workout at the new ‘Tai Chi in the Park‘ classes from 11am-12pm. Strength-building and energy-giving tai chi for all abilities – outside in Brockwell Park AND for free.  Classes will be taking place May 28th, June 4th, June 11th, June 18th and June 25th. Map and details on the website.

Sunday 29: Levi Roots is hosting the Lazy Sunday festival in Brockwell Park. Expect Caribbean music, steel bands and cookery demonstrations. And Reggae Reggae Sauce.

Monday 30: I love bank holidays because it means another day to spend wandering around Brixton Market – see here for top food shop tips. If you’re feeling daring later on, show off your singing, dancing or joke-telling skills at the Ritzy’s monthly Open Mic Night.

The Weekend Ahead in Brixton

Thursday: The weekend starts early (as usual) in Brixton with the Open Decks night at Mango Landin’. Bring four of your favourite records and compete to win. Or just go and dance to someone else’s favourite tracks.

Friday: Plan B is hosting the warm-up party for the World B-Boy Championships, which will be taking place at Brixton Academy on Sunday. Some of the event’s DJs are on the line-up tonight, including DJ Renegade, Skeme Richards and Shortee Blitz.

Saturday: OxJam take over Windrush Square with a host of local businesses, market stalls and music to prepare us for their real ‘takeover’ of Brixton’s music venues on 23 October. For food: Now it’s no longer summer, it’s back to hot curries, plantain and lots of rice at Negril for the evening.

Sunday: All that partying/eating/more partying. It’s time for something a little more sedate. Ruth Miller of the London Mural Preservation Society is leading a Brixton Mural Walk with a pub stop along the way. Meet at 1pm at Stockwell Tube Station. She’s written some lovely blog posts about the murals here.

If you’re still in party mode, then head to Brixton Academy for the actual B-Boy Championships from 2pm-9pm.

And, in a weird musical fusion moment, end the day at Ritzy Upstairs with some country music from Ryan Carr and guests.

OxJam Line-Up October 23

OxJam Brixton announced the first names in their line-up for the Brixton Takeover on 23 October this week. They are:

Mini Interview: Jacob Fodio Todd, OxJam

Brixton Blog interviews Jakob Fodio Todd, regional manager for Brixton OxJam, about this year’s music festival on 23 October

What is OxJam?

OxJam is a month-long music festival across Britain and we’re organising one in and around Brixton. The money raised goes to Oxfam and they spend it on three different elements of their work – campaigning, development work and emergency response.

What’s going to be happening in October?

We’ve got as many local musicians and DJs as possible – people like Yaaba Funk for example.  People are very receptive to the idea of playing at OxJam if they’re around and available, so we’re going to have some really good events. There are going to be lots of different DJs and it’ll be taking place at all the major Brixton venues – The Windmill, Plan B, Rest is Noise, Dogstar and Upstairs at the Ritzy.

What events have you got planned in the lead-up to OxJam?

We’ve already had a few – a Frock Swap, where people came to the Dogstar to swap clothes, and a Jumble Sale in the Dogstar. They’ve been quite stressful to organise! But there’s always been a really good atmosphere and a nice flow of people have attended. On 9 October, we’re going to do a takeover of Windrush Square with music and stalls from local businesses.

How much are you hoping to raise?

We raised £4,000 last year, so we’re hoping for a bit more this year. About £300,000 is expected to be raised across the country.

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Upcoming Events:

Oxjam Brixton Windrush Square All-dayer, 9 October – promoting local Brixton organisations, Oxjam festival and music and dance entertainment

Oxjam Brixton Takeover 2010, 23 October – @ Plan B(electro/dance), Rest Is Noise(afrobeat/hi-life), Upstairs at the Ritzy(jazz/blues/soul), Dogstar (hip hop/reggae) and the Windmill (indie/rock/ska) – tickets £8 (http://brixtonoxjam.com)

More info:
FB:  Oxjam Brixton Takeover 2010
Twitter: http://twitter.com/oxjambrixton

The Brixton Weekend ahead

Saturday: It’s Open House weekend, so grab a catalogue from Brixton Library and get snooping. And tonight Plan B is launching its monthly Community night with a set from Detroit disco producer, Moodymann.

Sunday: Brixton Academy is offering the chance to take a look backstage from 10am-1pm as part of Open House, although to be honest the halls are not so much ‘hallowed’ as, well, rather shabby. After a quick lunch, there’s still a chance to catch The Illusionist at 1.30pm at the Ritzy and, from 7pm, there’s the Ubuntu Soul Session at Ritzy Upstairs.