I’m playing at the Green Room in Altrincham tonight from 9pm (Thursday, 12th August 2010). It’s been a while since I’ve done a gig, so I’m looking forward to it. Here’s the address:

17 Goose Green
Altrincham, Cheshire WA14 1DW
07971 676 049

We have live sessions from Sam and the Bathroom Crooners, plus We are Willow – who are made up of Chris Butler from Butler Williams, and Kathryn Edwards.

So it’s going to be a great night of live music, and we’ll be fitting in as many of the best unsigned tracks as we can too…

Tom

Glastonbury festival was great. I worked for a lot of it, but had a really good time. Saw the Levellers headling the Glade on Sunday night, plus The XX, The National, Florence and the Machine and lots of other good performances.

The work part of it involved driving 4×4s across the site – mainly scanning in stewards at different gates on the site, and giving them tea and coffee in the middle of the night. Quite a fun job really!

The weather at Glastonbury was absolutely fantastic – no rain at all for the whole week.

Looking forward to next year’s festival already!

Tom

• 8pm – Pablo’s Finest Hour
• 8.45pm – Tom Kerswill
• 9.30pm – Passenger

I’m really excited about doing the gig. You can buy tickets here…

Hopefully see you there!

Tom

I now have a SoundCloud dropbox, which you can use to send me any tracks you think would work for the Unsigned Show on All FM 96.9…

Here’s the dropbox — feel free to upload anything you’d like us to listen to!

Send me your track

A lot of the arrangements involve vocal harmonies, but there’s a cellist, two keyboards, guitars and djembe between us, so lots of scope for doing stuff.

The gig starts at 7.30pm tonight (Sunday, 9th May) and it’s £4 on the door. The venue is the Ariel Centre, Totnes.

Tom

Next year’s beer festival is Monday, 2nd May 2011…

The lineup is looking really good – it features seven acts, including Karima Francis, Kristyna Myles, Glyn Bailey, Robin Mukherjee, Risa Hall and Pavor Nocturnus. I’ll be playing a couple of songs too.

I think entry is by donation, 3 or 4 quid. Should be a really nice night. Things kick off promptly at 8pm…

It’s a free gig — and is in aid of the Nordof-Robins music therapy charity. There will be donation boxes, and they’re aiming to raise £1,000 after the series of gigs.

It should be an excellent night… With A Little Help is every 2nd Sunday of the month at Oddest Bar, Chorlton.

Tom

I wished I’d been able to see more of the festival – I missed bands such as Samson and Delilah and acts such as Vanessa Lewis and Robin Mukherjee.

I’ve been busy doing a new job over in Sale – doing IT-related stuff, which is actually really fun. And the other website-related freelance work and music stuff is also going well. I’m still doing the open mic each Monday at Trof Northern Quarter, and helping out on the Bay Horse open mic each Tuesday.

And this blog itself is going well, generating lots of page views, especially to the open mic night. It’s nice to be doing physical jobs in Manchester day-to-day, and also be doing the “virtual” web stuff and the music stuff.

Tom

Tonight there’s a free gig at Oddest, Chorlton, featuring John Herring, Kamal Arafa and John Lowndes. The night starts at 8.30 and it’s being put on by With A Little Help, to raise money for the Nordoff-Robins music therapy charity. It’s a completely free gig, but donations are welcome.

On Monday, we have the usual open mic night at Trof in the Northern Quarter, starting from 8pm – just turn up around then if you’d like to play.

And on Tuesday, it’s the brand new open mic at the Bay Horse, beginning 8.30pm — that’s in the downstairs bar.

Tom

The night will begin at 8.30pm… Three slots each. Just turn up and sign your name up to play. It’s in the area downstairs.

The Bay Horse is an excellent venue for gigs and open mics, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how this night turns out. Hopefully see you there later on this evening!

For anybody who’s in the Bristol area tomorrow night, go down to the Prom on Wednesday. NYC-based Lisa Redford has returned to the UK and is doing a mini-tour. She’s on around 9.30pm.

It’s a free show, and doors open 7.30/8pm. I’m really looking forward to the gig – it’s been a while since I’ve seen Anna Kashfi playing live, and it will be good to hear tracks from the new album.

The album is available to buy from Amazon.co.uk, or you can listen to and download the album as an MP3.

Talking of live music — tonight, also at Contact, is the launch of Kirsty McGee & the Hobopop Collective’s new album “Number 5″. The event is completely sold out, but we’ve got tickets and I’ll do a blog post about it after the event.

And another album launch for you this weekend. This time it’s the fantastic Anna Kashfi, launching their album Survival. It’s a free gig (donations welcome), and will take place at Fuel Cafe Bar in Withington tomorrow (Sunday). I’ll be there helping to run things and doing the sound engineering. Come down if you can.

Loads more gigs to tell you about – will post another update later today….

Currently it includes open mics in Bristol, Bath, Newquay, Taunton, Leeds, Manchester and loads of others — there’s a bias towards South West towns at the moment but I think it’ll expand more nationally. Useful for bands who are on tour and have a few evenings free!

You can check out his open mic finder here.

I’m running the Trof Northern Quarter open mic night tonight… sign up is from 8pm, and the whole thing kicks off at 8.30….

Tom

Welcome to the free community gig marking 6 months of the Energy Academy, a locally run initiative to help residents in South Trafford live more sustainably and save money to boot!

For your entertainment on this cold and potentially snow-capped night we have secured some of the finest acoustic acts the North-West has to offer. Notably:

Black Jack Barnet
Dan Gallagher
John Condy
Tom Kerswill
Vanessa Lewis
Dan Melrose
The Dandelion Clocks

Plus there will be guerilla conjouring from Mark the Magician to keep you entertained during the breaks.

Not only that, local company SponsorTrees.com will be planting a tree for everyone who attends the event and Energy Academy volunteers will be on-hand to give practical advice on how you can save energy in the home and beyond.

So if you live in the area and want to be entertained for free then get yourself down for some foot-stompin’, toe-tapping and thought-provoking music.

The Fox Inn
24 Roby Mill
Skelmersdale, WN8 0QF
01695 622 449

You can also vist the Fox Inn website for more info.

It starts at 4pm, and features some fantasic music acts, as well as a lot of theatre, poetry and other art performances. It takes place across two stages. Including the Dance House’s lovely auditorium. Promises to be a really good event.

Also happening in Manchester tonight are a charity gig at Jam Street – “Little Green”, and a performance by Denis Jones at the Band on the Wall. For other concerts happening, check out Seatwave to get concert tickets online.

1. Richard Barry – Strolling Along
2. Clare Mooney – Stop the War
3. Caulbearers – Small Spaces
4. Robin Mukherjee – Morning Chorus
5. Hannah Atkins – My Heart is Like a Flower
6. Kristyna Myles – Fooling
7. Kristyna Myles – Just Three Little Words
8. Kristyna Myles – Someone
9. Shimeon – Will in Chains
10. Alexis McLean – Let You Be
11. Aidan Smith – Pockets
12. Kate Sloan – A Romance Unfolding
13. Lorelei Loveridge – Oh, India
14. April Maybe May – Seasalt
15. April Maybe May – White Horses
16. April Maybe May – Fold

I helped present Danny McTague’s show on All Fm last night. It was great fun (though not qute so fun cycling there in the snow!)… Here’s the playlist. I’m back on air 11pm-1am next Monday (allfm.org):

# April Maybe May – An open book
# Jesca Hoop – Hunting my dress
# Charlotte Martin – Stromata
# Nancy Elizabeth – Corriander
# Robin Mukherjee – Morning Chorus
# Diamond Knights – Destination Diamonds (Once we were diamonds EP)
# Explosions in the Sky – The Birth and Death of the Day
# Nic Chapman – Vasal Song
# Emma Burgess – Massachusetts
# Explosions in the Sky – Jesu Mix (14)
# The Huers – In My Dream
# Neko Case – Star Witness
# Jesca Hoop – Murder of Birds
# Alexis McClean – Ride On (Christie Moore)
# Alexis McClean – Make it Snow
# Alexis McClean – Summer rain
# Alexis McClean – Only You (Yazu)
# Delta Wade – Any way I want to
# Denis Jones – Paper
# Delta Maid – Any way I want to

You can catch Vicky’s show every Tuesay night (Wednesday morning) 1am-3am. Here is the playlist:

STEVE FORBERT
Romeos Tune(1979)
JUKEBOX EXPLOSION LP
RONCO 1979

INXS
Elegantly Wasted(1997)
NUMBER 1 DRIVE ALBUM CD
POLYGRAM 1997

THE KINKS
I Wish I Could Fly Like Superman
JUKEBOX EXPLOSION LP
RONCO 1979

TOM KERSWILL LIVE IN SESSION
Wash Away
LIVE SESSION TRACK
ALL FM 2009

TOM KERSWILL LIVE IN SESSION
Flowers Fevers And Dreams
LIVE SESSION TRACK
ALL FM 2009

TOM KERSWILL LIVE IN SESSION
Sometimes These Words
LIVE SESSION TRACK
ALL FM 2009

BEN FOLDS
Landed
YOUTUBE TRACK
YOUTUBE 2007

SERGIO MENDES AND BRASIL 66
*(HERES 1 I MADE EARLIER)
Scarborough Fair(1969)
NAUGHTY BUT NICE CD
FAMILY 2005

SIMON AND GARFUNKEL (HERES ! I MADE EARLIER)
Scarborough Fair/Canticle(1966)
SIMON AND GARFUNKEL COLLECTION
CBS 1980

LEDDRA CHAPMAN(MYSPACE SPOTLIGHT)
Story
TELLING TALES CD
MYSPACE 2009

WALTER EGAN
Magnet And Steel(1979)
STARTIME LP
RONCO 1979

TOM PETTY
Free Falling(1989)
THROUGH THE YEARS – ANTHOLOGY CD
MCA 2000

THE LEVELLERS
Pour
GREEN BLADE RISING CD
HAG 2002

TOM KERSWILL LIVE IN SESSION
Gravity
LIVE STUDIO TRACK
ALL FM 2009

NANCY ELIZABETH
Coriander
BATTLE AND VICTORY CD
THE LEAF LABEL 2007

TOM KERSWILL LIVE IN SESSION
My Minds Eye
LIVE SESSION TRACK
ALL FM 2009

GIGOLO AUNTS
Where I Find My Heaven(1995)
NUMBER 1 DRIVE ALBUM CD
POLYGRAM 1997

GIN BLOSSOMS
Hey Jealousy(1993)
NUMBER 1 DRIVE ALBUM CD
POLYGRAM 1997

AMERICA
Ventura Highway(1972)
NAUGHTY BUT NICE CD
FAMILY 2005

PETER SKELLERN
You’re A Lady(1972)
NUMBER 1 DRIVE ALBUM CD
POLYGRAM 1997

Acoustic Sundays are taking a break for Christmas, but will be back on Sunday, 10th January 2010. The music starts at 2.30pm.

The sessions are open to any musicians who want to play – and to get a slot, you just have to get in touch with him and book one:

http://envirosonic.blogspot.com
http://myspace.com/acousticsundaysatnexus

Carl says: “Thanks to everyone who has played Acoustic Sundays this past year. It has been geat to hear so many fantastic acts every month and I hope this will continue throughout the new year.”

So, yup – on air in 10 minutes’ time. You can listen online at allfm.org…. or on 96.9 FM near Manchester, UK!

Tom

The organisers say:

We will bring both hardware and computer based recording systems, and give a tutorial covering the basics of multi-tracking with particular emphasis (of course) on recording acoustic guitars followed by a Q&A session. Let me know in advance if you have specific questions

I also hope to invite the local Roland/Boss Hi-Tec demonstrator Mark Hassall to bring some demo kit along (an hopefully do a feature spot with his current band “John The Dancer”) to illustrate what is available to suit a range of budgets (or that last minute Christmas present request?).

Anybody who wants to go along, can get in contact with them via their website.

I’ve not been to the night myself yet, but I’ve heard it’s pretty good..

It’s the Bar One open mic tonight. As always, pints are two quid all night. Ollie will be running things this time. It runs from 8.30pm till late every Sunday.

Note (20th Jan 2010) Bar One has now closed down, sadly — check elsewhere on the site for other Manchester open mic nights

And I’ll be running the open mic at Trof Northern Quarter tomorrow night (Monday)…

See you soon,

Tom

There was also an open mic session beforehand – players included Robin Mukherjee, Ed Turner, Jon Orpheus and Tony Ward.

On the subject of open mics in Lancashire, the Greater Manchester area, and further afield, I’ve just spotted an open mic in Todmorden, on Thursdays. It’s at a venue called Jack’s House. They’ve messaged me to say they’ve got new equipment, and will now record your performance for free. Slots are 15-20 minutes long. Might be worth checking out. Their next is tonight (Thursday 26th), from 8.30pm till 12am.

And, closer to Manchester, I’m now running an open mic at Bar One in Withington each Sunday. Last week’s was especially good, with a big turn out and a set from Nic Chapman (Hebden Bridge)…

And of course there’s the Trof NQ open mic in Manchester city centre each Monday.

Finally – don’t forget that Jon Gomm is playing this Friday, 27th November at Kro Bar. Also on the bill are Laienda (Bristol) and the Woe Betides (London / Birmingham). £4 in. It’s going to be a great night – can’t wait.