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Hi, all !
On behalf of Tessa Lowe and her associate Rosie Pocklington, we can announce…
a JakeFest in Birmingham on the weekend of Sat 16th / Sun 17th June 2018 !The venue is The Spotted Dog in Digbeth, a suburb of Brum suitably close to the City centre for travelling purposes, but not central enough to suffer from the huge parking difficulties and expensive accommodation Brum can suffer from. There are plenty of local eateries and places to stay.
A more detailed posting will appear shortly with a description of the sessions and events, etc, but that ought to be a start enough to tickle your tastebuds !
Fantastic news. An exciting weekend of Thackray and related music is planned. We hope to see lots of faces old and new there. The Von Thompsons will be there in force!
This is great 🙂 My partner only recently discovered Jake Thackray and has about half a dozen of his songs (to date). During the weekend will there be the opportunity to perform some of the songs he has learned? it would be great for all his hard work to be rewarded with a genuinely appreciative audience. Here’s a link to one of the songs he has learned https://www.facebook.com/opentosuggestion2015/videos/1990612091167569/
Hi, all ! Behind-the-scenes planning has been progressing nicely, and Tessa and Rosie are able to share an itinerary with you for the Brum JakeFest18 !
The venue is The Spotted Dog in Digbeth
http://www.spotteddog.co.uk
104 Warwick St, Digbeth, Birmingham, B12 0NHSATURDAY 16th JUNE 2018
Guitar Workshop and meet-up until…
2:00pm — Jake concert / Floor Spots
4:30pm — Film / TV program / Talk
5:30pm — Food Break
7:30pm/8:00pm — JAKEFEST Main Concert
SUNDAY 17th JUNE 2018
2:00 – 5:30pm ‘THE FRENCH CONNECTION’
Including:
— Paul Thompson – The Resurrection of Frédéric Debreu
— ‘Brum Breleteers’ (celebration of 40th anniversary of the demise of Jacques Brel)
— Brassens, Jake Thackray and other relevant chansoniers
— Floor spots (hopefully will be takers from ‘French connection’ groups from Birmingham and beyond)
— Talk/videos/film re: Jacques Brel(Pre-scheduled 6:30pm: Classics on Sunday provided by Conservatoire students begins)
– Please contact Tessa (lowe.tessa@gmail.com) for information on a range of affordable accommodation local to Digbeth and Moseley
– Information on local eateries is being compiled and will be made available shortly
and…
Please e-mail Malcy (malcolmjeffrey@virginmedia.com) if you would like to perform in either or any of the two Saturday Jake concerts, or indeed in the Brel/Brassens/chansonnier-themed Sunday afternoon event ! Please let me know
– what songs you perform, with any preferences
– which event(s) (Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening, Sunday afternoon) you would like to perform onand we will begin !
Hi, all.
Thanks for your baggsies so far, JakeFest performers ! Keep them coming in !
As promised, here is a picture of the article posted In Birmingham’s Moseley B13 Magazine by fest co-organiser Rosie Pocklington.
The text reads
JakeFest18
Jake Thackray spent the early years of Rock and Roll teaching in France and Algeria. He came back to England with a love of chanson. Friend and collaborator with Georges Brassens, huge admirer of Brel, he went on to have national and international success with songs such as ‘On Again ! On Again !’ and ‘The Bull’. Such is the wit and insight of his lyrics, Thackray is described as the Northern Noel Coward.
A hardcore of fanatics gather together from far and wide every two years to celebrate Thackray, sing his songs and talk about his work. This year Thackray fans and Moseleyites Tessa Lowe and Rosie Pocklington are bringing JakeFest18 to Birmingham. We will have two music-packed days at the excellent Spotted Dog in Digbeth, 16th and 17th June, during the course of which we will also enjoy performances of the chansons beloved by Thackray. As we speak, Moseley musicians are practicing Brel songs in readiness for JakeFest18 !
2018 is the 40th anniversary of the death of Jacques Brel, so you are offered a Jake/Jacques weekend. One of our core aims is to introduce Thackray’s work to a younger generation : if you love Alex Turner or Jarvis Cocker, you will appreciate the humanity and intelligence of Jake Thackray. Come and meet up with connoisseurs ! Entry to all events is by donation, so… no excuses. Information will be updated on the Facebook page Jakefest18.
Rosie Pocklington
Moseley B13 MagazineHi, all !
A new laptop later and here is an update on the Brum Jakefest. Thank you all for your baggsies – I will be sending sets out this weekend, but there’s plenty of room for more players. Mail me on malcolmjeffrey@virginmedia.com, or even the rather splendid and why-have-we-never-thought-of-this-before jakefest@hotmail.com !
There were several people not planning to be there on the Sunday who still wanted to see the live French items – Tessa has whipped up a phalanx of French Chansonnier players – so the Chansonnier bit is now on Saturday afternoon in between the 2 Jake singing items. Sunday will now feature a morning gathering for anyone still around on the morning, with a Continental Breakfast put on specially by the Spotted Dog, and an informal singaround session / opportunity to play non-Jake material. After that Tessa is planning to show some Jacques Brel material.
The tweaked event list is…
The Spotted Dog in Digbeth
http://www.spotteddog.co.uk
104 Warwick St, Digbeth, Birmingham, B12 0NHSATURDAY 16th JUNE 2018
Guitar Workshop and meet-up until…
2:00pm — Jake concert / Floor Spots
4:00pm — ‘THE FRENCH CONNECTION’
Including:
— Paul Thompson – The Resurrection of Frédéric Debreu
— ‘Brum Breleteers’ (celebration of 40th anniversary of the demise of Jacques Brel)
— Brassens, Jake Thackray and other relevant chansoniers
— Floor spots (hopefully will be takers from ‘French connection’ groups from Birmingham and beyond)5:30pm — Food Break
7:30pm/8:00pm — JAKEFEST Main Concert
SUNDAY 17th JUNE 2018
10:00 – Continental Breakfast gathering and singing/playing session
2:00 – 5:30pm
— Talk/videos/film re: Jacques Brel(Pre-scheduled 6:30pm: Classics on Sunday provided by Conservatoire students begins)
– Please contact Tessa (lowe.tessa@gmail.com) for information on a range of affordable accommodation local to Digbeth and Moseley
– Information on local eateries is being compiled and will be made available shortly
and…
Please e-mail Malcy (malcolmjeffrey@virginmedia.com or jakefest@hotmail.com) if you would like to perform in either or any of the two Saturday Jake concerts, or indeed in the Brel/Brassens/chansonnier-themed Sunday afternoon event ! Please let me know
– what songs you perform, with any preferences
– which event(s) (Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening, Sunday afternoon) you would like to perform onand we will begin !
Hi, all.
The Saturday afternoon Jacques Brel / Georges Brassens Chansonnier-themed event is being co-ordinated by Tessa Lowe, and here’s her poster for the afternoon event. If you want to play a spot on the Saturday afternoon (the Sunday morning session is an all-comers performance) then mail her on lowe.tessa@gmail.com.
Although I am stuck up here in North Wales, my thoughts are very much with you Jakefesters down in Brum.
Hope it all goes well.
HughieI’m VERY surprised that there’s been not a single post on this event since it happened (always assuming that it DID actually happen !). Have I missed something ??
It did happen. Everybody’s knackered! Me, I loved it. Haven’t giggled and sang so much in an age. Thank you, Tessa and Malcolm for getting it together, and everyone who made it. It was really nice to see you all 😆
mea culpa – I’ve had a few employment and family distractions to sidetrack me after the Fest, but I’d just like to thank the ensemble for rising personfully to the challenge of delivering Jake to the masses in Digbeth. Thanks to Tessa for doing the donkeywork in sorting out the venue, the PA, the various lodgings and the traditional post-fest curry – the event would not have been possible without you. Thanks to Matthew and Kim for performing Jake as has rarely been seen on an English stage, with such originality and joy ; to new friends David, Jonny and Edward for stepping up to the plate with such an excellent standard ; and to Busking Bob, Jamie, John and Paul for providing the backbone of the show with your usual quality work. :o)
Thanks to all the attendees too – it was great to see you all again, and it’s very much appreciated by the players for you to make the effort. The afternoon show was great fun, the chansonnier interlude a thoroughly entertaining treat, and for an open-air venue in a pub in central Birmingham on a Saturday evening, it was no noisier than you would expect, I suppose ! ;o) Although this time around many regulars were unavailable and you had to keep plugging away to get a date agreed on, it was all worth it in the end. Well met, Jakesters, and here’s to the next one !
I’ll post some pics here in a bit.
Malcy
So pleased that it all went well.
I don’t really “DO” jealousy but if I did…… well, you know.
Hope to hear some news regarding “The Biography” in the not too distant future ?
See what you think ……Not sure what the crack is I can only log in at home on my PC !…one of life’s mysteries lol
Just a quick note to say we had a fab time, Jonny really enjoyed playing to an appreciative audience and we both loved listening to everyone else play too. It was especially good to here songs done in a different a very impressive way, thank you Kim and Matthew.
We certainly loo onward to seeing everyone again and on that note
Jonny and myself will be in Monmouth on holiday from rom Wednesday 26th September for three nights, we are booked onto the campsite which is right in the centre and easy staggger distance from the local hostelries !I’ve been in touch with the Gate House and they have an Open Mic on the Wednesday, which anybody is free to go to, it is not a Jake based evening, it’s any genre open mic They have a quiz on Thursday so that would not be convenient for any other music going on. There are of course other pubs in Monmouth. If there are people keen to meet up in September on any of the above dates I could make enquiries with the pubs to see if we would be welcome anywhere to have a Jake singaround, even if it were during the day.
If it’s just a couple or three people we can just arrange to meet somewhere on one of the three days mentioned above Let me know what you think or if you are interested. It will be a very informal thing 🙂
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