Get Involved blog

This week sees not one but two Heavy Pencil (in association with the ICA) events – where some of London’s most in-demand illustrators draw live to a soundtrack provided by DJs and live acts…

First up is Heavy Pencil East – tonight (Wednesday March 10) at Catch, 22 Kingsland Road in Shoreditch – which will feature live drawing by Adrian Johnson, Al Murphy, Hannah Waldron and Charlie Duck, who will all put pen paper to a soundtrack provided by two bands - Three Beards and illustrator Andrew Rae’s musical combo, The Marmosets – not to mention a DJ set by yours truly: G the P!

All the illustrations created during the course of the event will be stuck up on the walls and offered for sale at the end of the night. Details on Facebook and also on the poster designed by Rae (shown above).

Then, on Thursday night (March 11), at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in central London, Heavy Pencil is taking place alongside the Birds Eye View film festival’s closing party. In keeping with that party’s theme of femmes fatales, Heavy Pencil has enlisted the talents of set design and art direction duo, Anna Lomax and Lauren Davies of Jiggery Pokery, who will be doing the live drawing while music is provided by Iain Woods, aka Psychologist. Here’s the flyer:

More info at jiggerypokery.blogspot

I originally posted this on the Creative Review blog

Sprinkle me with flour and bake me for forty minutes… is it really FIVE YEARS ago that me and a few buddies set up a little monthly clubnight called Gerry’s Joint with the intention of playing the most cooking, jumping and infectious 50s and 60s records we could lay our hands on?

YES IT IS! Myself, Leo, Max and Roo will be celebrating Gerry’s Joint’s 5th birthday up at The Boogaloo this Saturday night. And as it’s our birthday, we’d very much LOVE for the night to go off in a special way - so if you like what you hear on this ol’ blog - and if you’re in the London area - come and join the fun!

We will, but of course, be spinning records and generally encouraging shimmying, shaking and other dancefloor hi-jinks with our selection of - well, you know, Gerry’s Joint style tunes!

As it’s a landmark anniversary for Gerry’s Joint, (I can still hardly believe we’ve been doing the night for FIVE YEARS!) I’d also like to let y’all know that over the course of this year we’ll be releasing a series of special mixes - each created by one of us Gerry’s Joint dee-jays as a personal celebration of what Gerry’s Joint has meant to us / taught us over the last five years… Oh yes, and each mix will have it’s own artwork - created specially by the man, the legend: James Joyce. Good times! Got no idea when the first of these mixes will present itself - but it’ll be soon.

PLUS there are exciting plans afoot to produce a Gerry’s Joint CD compilation of rare old gold selected by us and mastered directly from original vinyl for the most authentic listening experience. That’s work-in-progress - but we’ll keep you posted on that project as it develops…

In the meantime, it’d be great to see you up at The Boogaloo this Saturday night - as Gerry’s Joint enters it’s sixth year of rockin’ the joint!

Details on the flyer and also at http://myspace.com/gerrysjointclub

NB: We’re charging £3 entry for Gerry’s Joint this session. ALL the money we take on the door will go to the DEC Haiti Earthquake Appeal.

Well, it’s been a long while coming but I’m pleased to announce that Shing-A-Ling podcast No.3 has finally hoved into view! And this time it’s a dance-themed selection in celebration of the fact that Shing-A-Ling’s venue, The Smithfield Tavern, has (at last!) been granted an official “dancing license”. So yeah, stream or download it or subscribe to the podcasts if you haven’t already:

Shing-A-Ling podcast No.3 New!
“Do The Whatever!”
by G the P

DOWNLOAD IT(47Mb) / LISTEN TO IT / SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHING-A-LING PODCAST FEED

1. Baby Jean – If You Wanna
2. Ervin Rucker – Done Done The Slop
3. The Vocaleers – The Cootie Snap
4. The Debelaires – Wa-Wabble
5. King Coleman – Do The Booga-Lou
6. J J Jackson & The Jackals – Oo-Mi-Liddi
7. Bobby Miller – Uncle Willie Time
8. Lattimore Brown – Say What (Hully Gully Twist)
9. The Miracles – Mickey’s Monkey
10. The Liberty Belles – Shing-A-Ling Time
11. Round Robin – Do The Slauson
12. Marveluss Mickey & The Rock-A-Sonics
– Do The Robot
13. The Champs – Tequila Twist
14. Bob Landers with Willie Joe and his Unitar
– Cherokee Dance
15. The Meters - Chicken Strut

I’ve got dozens of early 60s “dance” records - (I feel sure y’all know how to do the Twist and the Mashed Potato) but hopefully there are some dances here that you weren’t aware of - such as the lesser-spotted Oo-mi-liddi and the not-often cited (or sighted) Cootie Snap. My advice is simple: clear away the tables and chairs, press play and do whatever dance comes naturally!

NB - It’s our Christmas Shing-A-Ling special on Friday 18th December - we’ll be partying till 4am and dishing out mince pies and mulled wine - as well as encouraging the development of new dance crazes. Facebook event page is HERE

This Friday night we’ll be officially launching our new Shing-A-Ling night at the Smithfield Tavern in London. I say “we” because Shing-A-Ling is the collaborative efforts of a group of vinyl-hoarding DJs of which I’m just one: Dean Chalkley (Shake!), Miss Red (Shuffle Off To Buffalo), Si Cheeba (Hip Drop / Shake!), DJ Paolo and G the P (that’s me) - are the main protagonists – and we will, no doubt, invite friends to DJ / party with us along the way as Shing-A-Ling is now happening EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT.

We’ll be spinning a jumped up blend of Rhythm’n'Blues, Ska, Soul and Rock’n'Roll (and whatever else we fancy) with the aim of keeping hips-a-twisting and faces smiling. Join us for the launch party this friday - free entry!

Look us up on facebook and on myspace for regular updates and irregular downloads.

Big thanks to Alex Spiro (No Brow) for the awesome launch party poster artwork

After three years of fun, Get Involved is winding down its monthly parties on Little Portland Street – ending with a suitably lovely party this Friday 19th December.

Get Involved has been an absolute joy to put on thanks, mainly, to the lovely guys and gals who work behind the scenes at The Social, but also because so many of you have come down to shake a tambourine and a tail feather of a Thursday evening with me. Thank you.

So, all that’s left for me to do now is to say thanks to all my guest DJs over the years – with an extra big special thank you to Becky “Grandmaster” Nolan, Leo the Amateur/Rave/Wizard, Paul Pensom, Mayor McCa and Dean Chalkley.

I’d also like to deliver a massive WHOOP to all the artists that have kindly created bespoke artwork for the night over the years. I’m both delighted and humbled to know that artwork created for the night has now appeared in FOUR different books - that you can buy in shops and everything. Amazing! Big shout to David and Jodie at Peskimo for creating the smiley maracas logo and for creating Hobson, the maraca and tambourine wielding monster that adorned a poster they created for Get Involved and who now exists as a KidRobot toy. Oh yeah!

The Get Involved website will remain up and running, as I regularly select music from my dusty old record collection for anyone to get involved with / download / read about etc – and do look out for Get Involved appearances at nights such as Dean Chalkley’s splendid SHAKE! at The Boogaloo, and at festivals such as Secret Garden Party Festival, Glastonbury and Bestival…

PLEASE come and get involved this Friday at our last party at The Social - at which we’ll be dishing out free schwag including instruments, badges, screenprinted posters and a rather lovely compilation CD - while stocks last!

Come along now, everyone… Get Involved!