Music : Electro House, Dirty House, Fidgit House, Tribal House, Old Skool House, Acid House, Alternative Dance, Techno, Drum and Bass, Hip Hop, Reggae, Dubstep, Industrial, Electronic Body Music, Jazz, Chillout / Leftfield and Acoustic
After 2 years and 14 events at 6 of our favourite Birmingham venues, the time has come to celebrate Mr Elephant's 2nd birthday with our biggest festival style celebration to date, featuring lots of interactivity, the launch of Elephant Workshops in conjunction with Dramask, and the community based Elephant Tv project in partnership with The Lab.
On Saturday 23rd May 2009 @ the Hare and Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham, we have a 12 hour, 4 room event over 3 stages, featuring a massive lineup and a 3am license.
Alongside some groundbreaking international artists, there will also be free grassroots workshops, inspirational birmingham artists, promoters, bands, djs, vjs, and local orgs, and plenty of ways for everyone of all ages and tastes to get involved with the festivities.
A Live Stage, A Dance Stage, An Acoustic Stage, A programme of workshops, and local stalls will be the main focus of the 12 hour celebration at the award winning Hare & Hounds venue in Kings Heath Birmingham.
There is too much going on to fit on a facebook event page, so we've wrote a media rich version with artist videos, photos, and a little background - here
mrelephant.com
Alternatively check out the post on the links for all the information, and if you're looking to buy a ticket, they are on sale here -
theticketsellers.co.uk
Saying that for anyone who prefers the text format here's the lowdown :
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Workshops Area (3pm til 7pm)
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(All welcome / Children Must be accompanied)
Our workshop area is due to be in the hare and hounds garage and is hosted by leading community arts organisation Dramask, taking the previous workshop elements of Mr Elephants forward, and featuring plenty of ways to get involved and try/learn cool stuff.
Animation (Mr Elephants journey - Stop Frame Animation creating to be used on the visuals on the night)
Vjing - (Suitable participants will get to perform on the night with Vj Blendstate & The Lab)
Beatboxing - With Bass6
Drumming - With Jon Elliot - Suitable participants will get to drum in the midnight parade
Poodle Making - To parade and win prizes in our midnight mask poodle parade
Mask Decorating - To parade and in our midnight mask poodle parade
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Acoustic Stage (7.30 - 9pm) Times t.b.c
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Rich Batsford - richbatsford.com
A core member of Project X Presents, one of Birmingham’s finest piano players, and all round top bloke, Rich Batsford is one of Birminghams’s musical treasures, and his music has been compared to that of the great steve reich, Keith Jarret, Michael Nyman, Claude Debussy, and Brian Eno. His debut album is currently free to download on his website, and his live performances are not to be missed.
Laura Louise - myspace.com
Hailing from New Zealand, Laura is a huge talent, and somewhat undiscovered on these shores. An amazing voice, and multi instrumentalist, she creates beautiful layers and well crafted songs with her loop pedal and a microphone. She performed a great set at the gigbeth fringe show, and we look forward to welcoming her back for our our 2nd birthday.
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Live Stage (9pm - 3am)
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Dub Fx - dub-fx.net
We are more than excited to have this guy down from Bristol on the 23rd May 2009. He’s one of the best beatbox and loop pedal artists we’ve seen, and just check out his youtube videos for what to expect.
Alphadrive - myspace.com
These guys are quickly gaining a reputation for being one of the freshest live dance acts around showcasing “a perfect fusion of danceable dub, breaks and electronica” (Raise the Roof Festival”. Following a string of high profile appearances at UK festivals and club nights, this up-and-coming live trio have supported acts such as: Atomic Hooligan, Beardyman, The Bays, DJ Deekline, Tayo, Rogue Element, Scratch Perverts, and DJ Yoda. Definitly one to watch.
Bass6 (Hosting) - myspace.com
What can we say about the beatboxer Bass6, a real grassroots star in our opinion. With superb hosting skills, a inspiring attitude and a huge range of skills from beatboxing to workshops, this guy really brings the vibes. He hosted our Midnight poodle parade on the beach at Celebrate Brums Underground, and he’s back for our next big event on Sat 23rd May 2009 to vibe it all up again.
Circadia - en-gb.facebook.com
Circadia have really come into their own this year, and one of the reasons why we are chuffed that they will be performing at our 2nd birthday. They house a great line up of talented musicians, inlciuding a lamb style sounding vocalist, a great rhythm section incorporating electronics with and percussion and bass, and some nice skanking guitar and drums to boot.
Jam Jah (Djs) - friendlyfiremusic.com
A big festi style elephant event wouldn't be complete with out the mighty Jam Jah, and we are very pleased that they will be hosting the live stage djing their fresh conscious dancefloor roots & reggae music.
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Also on the live stage, the return of mr elephants midnight mask poodle parade. Get your poodles and masks made (materials provided) interact with the dog handlers, and win some prizes.
Interactive performers and the percussionist are made up from local people, and is an open door, so feel free to get in touch if you want to join in
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Dance Stage (hosted by Osmosis!!) - myspace.com
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We love Osmosis, and anyone who's been will know what we mean. For anyone who hasn't Osmosis are a co-operative run by a group of people who are passionate about their music and sharing it with like minded people. Each member of the crew has given their talent, equipment and time freely with any money made being ploughed back in to improve lighting, decor, sound, produce free CDs.
Supported by the vibrant and eclectic venue, Rootys (rip), Osmosis has developed a reputation for it’s atmosphere, music and support of local talent, with names like Paul Damage (1881 Recordings/House of God), Sir Real (House of God) , and Sub Citizen (Resistor Records/Inukshuk) joining Residents and local heroes DK Roon’, Mack, Dr Pepperspray, HijACKER and M-AK.
Now they are back hosting the dance stage with their residents and their very special guest
Jerome Hill - myspace.com
A huge techno and breaks artist, and an international legend in his own right, we can’t quite get our hat on that he’s going to be headlining the dance Osmosis stage! Prepare yourselves.
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Alongside the workshops (3pm - 7pm folks) there will be stalls from local people from reflexology to local art, some fine drinks promos courtesy of the hare and hounds, interactive performance from james, dom and the crew, the mr elephant midnight mask poodle parade featuring local percussionists (with prizes for best mask and poodle made), multi projector visuals from Vj Blendstate & The Lab, and a whole lot more....
Early bird tickets have all gone but advance tickets are available from theticketsellers.co.uk
We are a not for profit collective, and are currently not funded in anyway with all of us involved with the event, (including all workshop providers) working for free.
We are commited to keeping the door price at the minimum so that its accessible to as many people as possible. As the capacity of this venue is 300 and the costs of the event are just under £2000, we only could offer 50 early bird tickets.
This is kind of an elephant experiment especially on the workshop front and community front, so if you do like what you see, please think about inviting as many facebook friends to the event, (and/or the group) as you have time to click on as it makes finding and keeping in touch with interested or local people loads easier.