• The Imagined Village - featuring Billy Bragg, Simon Emmerson, Eliza Carthy, Martin Carthy, Sheila Chandra from Trans-global Underground, Andy Gangadeen from The Bays, Francis Hylton, Johnny Kalsi from The Dhol Foundation, Barney Morse Brown, Sheema Mukherjee and Chris Wood.

• Kate Rusby

• The Blockheads and Phill Jupitus

• Palladium

• Piney Gir and the Country Roadshow

• The Epstein

Plus Comedy from, Andy Smart, Phill Jupitus, Dave Johns, Stephen Frost and Jeff Green.

30th May - 1st June - Cheltenham Race Course 

Thursday 29 November 07: Spitalfields is officially a memory for The Spitz, proud to present its first show at The Red Room, part of the Truman Brewery complex in Brick Lane, London E1.

We continue our trademark mix of avant jazz, world, folk, afro-funk and electronica, showcasing underground bands and musicians. Situated deep within the heart of the old brewery that once dominated this part of the east end, The Red Room is a 250 capacity space with low ceilings draped by curtains with gloriously moody red lighting. This will be our new home every month from now on - the shows in December (13th) and January (17th) will feature Audioporn (members of Bella Union erstwhile signees Bikini Atoll) and The Invisible; the hotly anticipated new project from Tom Herbert (Polar Bear, Acoustic Ladyland) and Dave Okumu (Jade Fox).

We believe that The Spitz's survival is vitally important, and we have therefore decided to scrap retirement early and continue what we do best - presenting live music. But we cannot do it without your support - so please come down on Thursday night and let's get the party re-started. This one is aimed squarely at all you wonderful people who have supported us over the years, and the 10.000+ who signed the "Save The Spitz" petition over the summer. Trust us, you will love this line-up:

ELMORE JUDD is a musician, music lover and a fabulous figment of a collective imagination created by Jesse Hackett, a keyboard player of some renown, having worked with such luminaries as Barrington Levy and Finlay Quaye.

Hackett's alter-ego is augmented by his brother Louis on keyboards and percussion, a veteran of the UK hip hop scene and ex-turntablist with the Taskforce Crew. Enrique Joyette adds his sweet soulful home cooked West Indian vocals while Chris Morphitis contributes with his love of 1930s underground Greek music, playing bouzouki, rembetika and guitar.

Gallic flair flashes through the band with John Legend collaborator Leon De Bretagne on bass. Leon has also worked with Ty, Bilal and Estelle. Tom Skinner's drums meld ecstatic, danceable and menacing beats.

Soul meets P-Funk, art-school disco and African roots. Horror soundtracks collide with avant-rock and jazz. An underground discovery, Elmore Judd is the complete thing; an eminently Spitz-like band.

National steel guitarist JOHN CRAMPTON is a one man powerhouse, playing harmonica and foot stomping board. He adds devastating vocals to a stunning set of Bluegrass and Americana. Influenced by Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker, his guitar virtuosity has a flamenco rhythm owing much to Iberian icon Paco De Lucia.

CONIL is an alt-rock band from London who attracted some music industry heavyweights to work on their album before they had a record deal, including twice Grammy-winning producer Tchad Blake (Tom Waits) and legendary double bass player Danny Thompson (John Martyn, Nick Drake).

DJ Neotropic (Riz Maslen) emerged on collaborations with Future Sound Of London and is well established as one of the UK's finest female electro gurus.

www.elmorejudd.com
www.myspace.com/johncramptonmusic
www.myspace.com/conilmusic
www.myspace.com/parkbenchfromthechinamen

THE SPITZ RETURNS: ELMORE JUDD + JOHN CRAMPTON + CONIL
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 29
The Red Room (Vibe Bar)
The Truman Brewery
94 Brick Lane
London E1
Doors 7pm (£6 Adv)
Spitz Box Office:
07948687905

After a long wait, the final tracklist for the Banburyshire Events coverage of the Banbury Canalside Folk Festival has been finalised :

Peggy & PJ - Bread and Circuses
Copper Kettle - The Shore
Linda Watkins - Lisa Lan
Steve Tilston - Slip Jigs and Reels
Steamchicken - Stop The Cavalry
Trefor and Vicki Williams - The Happy Ghost
Jim McAdams - Ae Fond Kiss
Night Owl Jug Band - Will The Circle Be Unbroken
Spire - As The Tide Was Flowing
Blue Coyotes - Walking After Midnight
The Tindalls - Wandering

The two disc CD and CDROM set also includes interviews with :
Martin Green
PJ Wight
Mick Forsyth
John Wright
Bill Bates
Jacqui McShee
Dave Pegg
Steve Tilston
John Tams
Ruth ( Newport Folk Club)
Jim McAdams
Mark (Bedworth Folk Festival)
Mikey Radford
Nigel (Jaberwocky morris side)
Nicolas Turner
and over 400 photos courtesy of Chris Bates.

All for £8 from http://www.banburyshire.com/events.html

(£4 goes to the festival organisers, Derek and Mary) 

Folkie Sleep Over 23rd & 24th February 08

We are holding a fund raising event for the main festival in June. As you may be aware a lot of festivals were hit by the appalling weather that we experienced in 07 and some, alas, have fallen by the wayside. To ensure that the Alcester Festival is not one of those we are holding a mini festival in Alcester at the Greig Center on the 23rd/24th of February 2008. There will be indoor camping with showers and toilets available. There will be limited hard standing for camper and caravans too, all in or around the Greig Centre.

Visit the Alcester Festival Website 

In September, Ralph played in The Guildhall, St Ives as part of the Cornish resort's music festival. Before Ralph's concert, Penzance-based singer/songwriter Jenny Bishop presented a set of her self-penned songs. After the show Ralph and Jenny met to chat about songwriting and we grabbed a picture of them.

In November, Ralph played a Gala Concert in Banbury. The evening was a great success. The concert was followed by a Meet'n'Greet session and our friend Chris Bates was on hand with his camera.

Iconic's Ralph Pictures