It has been some time since I have made a post on here, but what better way to return than with news of the next Take It or Leave It night in Sydney. This Saturday it will be the seventh night at the Sly Fox under this name and there's no sign of it tapering off at all.
This will be the first month without Torrin spinning, as he is held up in Brisbane for a while, but we have some worthy replacements. As well as myself and semi-regular Marek spinning we will have two debuts. Ben and Sean (of AVO) will fill out the lineup and as usual you expect the best in ska, reggae, punk, sixties and the like. Entry as always is free right up until the 3 am close.
Here are a couple of the latest official Aggrolites videos. The Free Time video is quite good and the Work It video gives us some insight to life as an aggrolite, though I'd like to also see some anecdotes. Gaz Mayall of The Trojans can be spotted if you look closely.
It is that time of the month again! Take It or Leave It is this Saturday at the Sly Fox on Enmore Rd, Enmore. Last month, though a good turn out, was witness to some pretty miserable weather. Let's hope the rain holds off this time around as we have a pretty big month planned with Sara from 45 RPM on the wheels of steel with Thommo from AVO, as well as regular Toz and myself. With two brand spankers this month the sounds could be a little more varied than before with some mod, soul and Oi! added to the usual dose of ska, reggae and punk.
Entry is free as always and we'll be spinning from 9 pm til 3 am. Come along and make sure you have your dancing shoes on!
Being so far from the UK, Madness news has somewhat of a distant effect, but it is good to hear there are plans of keeping the show on the road for a little while to come. They are playing some big shows currently and hopefully I'll be able to catch them next year
Hopefully they won't have too many US sailors turn up at this event, but I'd like to see others. It is of course the return of the great Dynamite Sounds @ the Brighton Up Bar on Oxford St, Darlinghurst. The boys took a month of last month, meaning I've been hanging out for this one a bit more. Franco and Count Doyle will be playing some really great tunes as usual, this month with a bit wider scope than usual, but I'm sure there will be plenty of ska, reggae and rocksteady. The starting time is 930, which is a little later than I want to get going, but these Surry Hills folks are determined to start late.
So the US Aircraft Carrier Kitty Hawk has arrived with other ships that make up the fleet, which means there will be about 7000 male and female US sailors on downtime in Sydney over the next few days. Sydney has long had a tradition of these folk coming into our ports at different times and letting their metaphorical hair down. Sydney during World War 2 was particularly frequented by yank sailors and with the amount of Aussies overseas fighting they would have had their pick of it you would imagine.
Personally, I think it is the best reason to stay in this weekend one can think of, but perhaps I am missing something when it comes to Americans
On Monday I reflected on the first two days of The Beefeaters Sydney weekend. Well today, it is the SkaBQ.
Saturday morning I woke up reasonably early considering the events of the long weekend so far. I did a last minute Yellow Pages search to find a small goods place I could get a whole lot of meat from. I headed out on the Vespa and went to Marrickville Metro to stock up on the snags. 200 sausages, a couple of kg of steak, condiments and loaves of break piled on to the back of the PX200 and I was on my way to Harp. The bloke from Kennards was on time with the BBQ and after we'd set that up, I was back home to get organised
So the bulk carrier that gave Newcastle an accidental tourist attraction is no longer in the place it had made home on Newcastle's Nobby's Beach. I'm sure this is pleasing to many locals sick of the amount of people that have poured into the steel city from out of town, but those who were making a buck out of visitors and those who hadn't gotten a chance to see it won't be as happy. Nonetheless, it is gone and Newcastle goes back to being a nice, relatively quiet coastal city.
The attention will turn to Sydney this weekend with a fleet of US Military ships coming into Sydney. From Thursday to Sydney these ships will enter Sydney Harbour, with the highlight supposedly being the Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier, which is huge, by all reports
I did say yesterday that I was going to discuss the remaining days of the Beefeaters tour, but since then I put a video on Youtube of the Beefeaters performing Ring Dang Doo from Friday night @ the Sando in Newtown. I think everyone will enjoy seeing these guys on video, particularly those who were at the gig. It reflects how much energy the band had over the weekend, helped by the fact they are playing the naturally energetic music of 2-tone ska.
I can't speak for everyone, but that isn't how I am. I like seeing different people - if we relied simply on those we know to make up the crowd we wouldn't have a very good turn out. And I don't know that you are being judged - most people I have met are more concerned about having a good time than judging others. The Sydney ska scene is quite a tightly knit community, as most of us are long term friends by now, but I'd disagree with the term judgmental. I'm sorry you have found it to be that way.
Thanks Selecta Bing. Take It or Leave It appears on the Madness album Absolutely, but I suppose it is a common enough phrase to turn up in multiple ska songs.
If you care so little why are you reading it or engaging in argument? Your comments hardly reflect a "water off a duck's back" type mentality.
The main problem I have with your rhetoric is that you seemingly think feedback shouldn't be be a part of the club running process. Okay I didn't hold back in the title, but I did justify the strength of my language. Personally I would want to know if price was holding back people from coming to my nights, but as you said, you aren't interested in my opinions.
I love how I wasn't allowed to comment when I had no clue because you made assumptions and now it is a matter of minding my own business now I have established I do have a clue. My mention of bands was not because I was saying it was a more legitimate form of entertainment, rather to say that there are a lot greater costs involved with bands. However, you can still keep prices low. I have had the experience of running a night of just DJs and a night of bands and know for a fact that a DJ night costs considerably less to run. The exception being you have a DJ who demands as much of a band, but that's another story all together. So I will criticise if I see fit thankyou.
The original post was a reflection on my weekend. I was going to go, but what stopped me was the price, and the price only. If that, combined with my knowledge of the industry (I don't know everything, but I know a bit), doesn't allow me to crisiticise, then you may well expect to never face criticism in your life. I hate to tell you this though, you want the public to support your night and I am part of that public, so expect the occasional piece of public criticism or get out of the game.
As well, it's not as though I am saying my nights are better because they are cheaper, they won't be better to many people, but a simple observation about the price of your night is warranted, in my opinion.
I have other forms of income because I realised early on, when I was about 18, that Sydney wasn't the place to run a business on the back of reggae (or ska or any JA music) because it doesn't have the support of the mainstream. Charging 15 bucks in order to overcome that lack of interest from the mainstream inevitably means you will turn off certain dedicated lovers of the music, which gets me back to my original criticism.
Using Dynamite as an example, they can charge a fiver on Oxford St, but they run their nights frequently, similarly to us, and with good support you make enough to advertise your next night and some money for new records with maybe a little bit left over.
If you are chasing a mainstream market then running a reggae night at a bar which is part of the uni I go to (because I have realised the nature of Sydney and need a regular income) then you have to expect complaints over a 15 dollar cover. Students are poor and so are most reggae lovers in Sydney.
I'm not saying I am more experienced or have greater insights than you, but I have enough of both to know money is rarely made from these things - the money is in owning the venue and also people with few dollars want to spend what they do have on beer.
Actually I've put on heaps of nights and DJed a large amount of times. Many of the nights I've put on have been with bands, where on top of the costs you noted above, you have to pay musicians. I've put on nights where there would be 30 band members performing that night - see Mods Mayday, SkaBQs, the Skorcher Weekender and never had to go up to 15 bucks. I am currently running a monthly night - free entry. Ok, not every venue allows for a bar deal, but don't go trying the "I bet you haven't done" line without reading some of my other blogs where you will find I am plugging the nights I am putting on.
My favourite example: December last year I put on a weekend event. Friday night club night with DJs, Saturday night with 6 bands and Sunday a harbour cruise with 3 bands including 2 bands from Melbourne. ALL FOR 30 BUCKS. So I know mate, I know.
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Comment by Glen
on Take It or Leave It August
Reggae