Isle of Wight News on Ventnor Blog

Blues fans don’t forget that this Saturday night the Winter Gardens will come along to the sound of Big Joe Louis and his Blues Kings.

The award-winning “Jamaican Blues guitar supremo” will be dishing up some real down-home Blues with his band and bringing the venue to life.

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More acts announced today for the 2010 Bestival.

Joining the already bumper list of music talent will be Jonsi from Icelandic post-rock giants Sigur Ros.

He’s described as one of the most inventive and evocative artists around and we hear that this year he’ll only be appearing at two UK festivals, so make sure you catch him at Bestival.

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If you’re a fan of the Ryde Regatta, or perhaps you feel it could be improved, read on for this message from Ryde Councillor, Brian Harris. Ed

Ryde Town Council has set up a Regatta steering group to organise the event, which will run from Friday evening to Sunday evening, 2nd – 4th July, on the Eastern Gardens.

It will be family-orientated fun, especially in the daytime.

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This coming weekend sees the sixth annual Spring Blues concert take place on the Island.

On Saturday night, the Ventnor Winter Gardens will play host to some amazing blues talent, as Jamaican born Big Joe Louis makes his way to the south of the Island.

He’ll be bringing with him his band, The Blues Kings, and promising to deliver their special kind of real down-home Blues.

These guys have been touring the world for 18 years and have worked with the likes of Mississippi Delta Blues legend David “Honeyboy” Edwards, Van Morrison and Jools Holland, making this one gig you should not miss out on

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Tickets are still available for tonight’s concert at Quay Arts.

Barrington Pheloung wrote and performed the original music for much of Anthony’s early work, from the BAFTA-nominated soundtrack to Inspector Morse to Truly, Madly, Deeply.

Since then, he has gone on to become one of the most prolific composers for television and film in the UK.

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This year’s Isle of Wight Jazz Festival will not be going ahead, VentnorBlog has learnt.

We hear from one of the directors that the decision was made after what they cite as, “a number of difficulties and delays in response to the request to hire the Salisbury Gardens so that it is now too late to complete plans.”

When the Isle of Wight Jazz Festival was cancelled last year, punters who had already bought tickets were encouraged to keep hold of them to use at this year’s festival.

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Bestival have been holding off announcing their Sunday night headliner for this year’s Bestival over the past few weeks, but reveal today that it will be none other than those bad boys of punk, The Prodigy.

Rob tells us that The Prodigy have been an important part of his record collection over the years, so securing them to play at Bestival must have been a highlight for his scheduling this year.

Apparently this is the last gig the band are planning for sometime, so catch them while you can.

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Island blues outfit, The Folsom Prison Blues Band will be making their way down to the Ventnor Winter Gardens this Saturday night.

Taking over the bar area on the ground floor, Mick Cooch, Tim Hollis, Rich Wilson and the Man in Black, Damien Paul, will be ripping it up performing their favourite Johnny Cash tunes along with a few other Rock’n'roll’n'blues thrown in.

Having seen Thee Waxworks gig in the bar last week, we reckon having live acts perform there is a great use of the space.

Kicks off around 9pm and it won’t cost you a penny to get in. You can’t ask for better than that!

Image: Franco Folini under CC BY-SA 2.0

Those lovely lads from Island band Goodbye Stereo are hoping that VB readers might be able to lend some support in their direction.

They tell us that they’ve been selected along with many others to perform at the ‘Surface Unsigned Festival’.

The festival itself takes place across various venues around the UK running up until September.

Its aim is to showcase the best new emerging acts throughout the UK.

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Rob da Bank tells us this morning that news of Howard Jones being confirmed to play Bestival 2010 has been leaked through the musician’s Website.

Hailing from Southampton, Howard Jones may be best remembered by many for his work in the 1980s, but his discography reveals that he’s been busy creating music through each of the decades since, most recently releasing his Ordinary Heroes album in 2009.

As revealed on his official Website, he’ll join the likes of Gil Scott Heron, Roxy Music, and Echo and the Bunnymen at the festival in Robin Hill Country Park in September.

This coming weekend sees another fundraiser gig for the benefit of those affected by the devastating Haiti earthquake that took place in January.

Organised by IW Radio DJ, Omar, the night promises a great selection of Island DJs.

Spinning the hip hop and house tunes will be Jakey Chan and Wills of Steel.

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After the successful launch of Newport’s first indie and live music night, Radieux, its creators dream of fuelling a new Arts movement.

The Shutes’ frontman Michael Champion and his friend Michael Yates were inspired by Sixties’ culture and Berlin’s ‘White Trash’ club night in conceiving Radieux (pronounced ‘Radio’), which will bring together mainland bands and local talent.

The pair say it was a ‘mutual agreement’.

“It’s all standard club nights. We wanted to do something different with live music as well, Island bands, UK bands and DJs.”

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News reaches us that a Facebook group has been created following news of the mixup surrounding heat two of the Live Wired competition.

The CP had reported (article not available online now) that Golden Strands, who had competed in the live heats on Friday, would be joining Damien Paul at the final, giving them a chance to win a slot at the 2010 Isle of Wight Festival.

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If you live on the Isle of Wight, this Saturday is your chance to get slightly discounted Islander tickets for Bestival 2010.

For one day only, you’ll be able to buy tickets without paying any commission or booking fees.

Judging from our archives, it looks as though this special offer took a holiday last year, so good to see it back. After all, a small part of Bestival’s success can be attributed to those who supported it as it was growing.

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Many thanks to David Champion for his review of Trevor Moss and Hannah Lou’s trip to the Island a couple of weeks ago. Ed

Freshwater Memorial Hall played host to London’s Lantern Society folk music group on Sunday 21st of February. The evening was the final date of the ‘can’t wait for the spring’ tour, and featured a superb mix of Lantern Society regulars and local talent.

The evening kicked off with a mesmerising performance from Swedish born, London based Benjamin Folke Thomas.

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Oh go on then, one more piece of music news before we head back to the boring things like being thrown out of court or decisions to cut millions of pounds to the vulnerable.

Saturday night sees the return of Quality Control at The Studio in Newport. This monthly event which launched near the end of last year is proving hugely successful, so if you intend to go, make sure you turn up early.

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Update: Just heard from organisers that the event has been moved to the 22nd March.

Keeping on the music theme just a tad longer, there’s another music battle taking place on Monday night 22nd March.

The Battle of the Bands competition also boasts the prize of a slot playing at the Isle of Wight Festival.

Doors open to Medina Theatre at 6.30-pm with the first band plugging in and ‘kicking ass’ at 6.40pm.

Winners of the heat will go through to the final on which takes place on 20th April (more on that nearer the time).

Check the full list of who’s playing over at Events On The Wight.

Heat Two of the Live Wired competition takes place tonight.

The Scores, Damien Paul, James Hunt and The Golden Strands have been chosen by the public to battle it out tonight.

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Anyone who has been to Bestival over the years will testify to the amazing effort thousands of the people go when it comes to fancy dress (like the guy pictured here from last year).

This is not just a matter of buying a wig and throwing on some odd looking clothes (although that always works well if you’ve left it too late).

Those who go to great lengths and spend many months creating their masterpieces are always grateful for an early heads up.

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Another newly confirmed act for this year’s Bestival is none other than that lovable Bristolian, Tricky.

He’s produced some trailblazing work over the years.

Rumoured to be working with Massive Attack again (who played Bestival last year) on a new project, we could be in for a glimpse of something pretty bonkers on the Island this September.

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Bestival HQ have been working like beavers to secure the next round of acts for September’s music festival at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight.

Their hard work has most definitely paid off, as they now confirm that the legendary Bryan Ferry will be bringing Roxy Music to main stage on Saturday.

Roxy Music are thought of as one of the most influential bands of the last 40 years. The attention to detail they gave to their music was mirrored throughout their videos, album covers and promotional material. We’re sure they’ll be bringing plenty of style to Bestival this year.

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Tom ‘The Hat’ Blackwell and ‘The Demon’ Damian Walshe, the guys from Headfunk (the monthly funk fest at the Black Sheep Bar), tell us that tomorrow evening they’ll be launching their new weekly slot on online radio station, Vectis Radio.

Each week between 5-7pm they’ll aim to play you the best Friday night tunes, mixed in with lots of local Island talent.

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If you’re a regular VB reader you’ll know that we’re big fans of Island band Thee Waxworks.

The four piece, who all learnt how to play instruments so they could form the band, have been working their smelly socks off on a load of new tracks which they’ll be giving an outing to this coming Friday.

Yes, the long awaited next live performance is almost upon us. Thee Waxworks will be playing live in the upstairs bar at the Winter Gardens at the monthly Psycho Beat gig.

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With sun-kissed vibes and surfer videos, The Studio hosted a happy blend of retro, rock and psychedelia in Newport’s first indie/live club night, Radieux.

A gleeful spree of teenagers skipped along to the event, with the police in pursuit to sniff out underage drinking.

Having spent my high school gigs in the back-ends of pubs and drafty halls, I’m jealous of the Island’s new wave of indie kids – this is better than anything on offer five years ago.

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The temperature is rising at Isle of Wight Festival HQ as more acts are revealed.

This time we get hot and sweaty with the boys.

Six new acts have been confirmed, but it’s Devendra Banhart who we’re most excited about.

We’ve not had the pleasure of seeing him perform in the flesh, although his slot on Later With Jools Holland last year was mighty impressive.

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