Eclectic Cabaret #10

The next Eclectic Cabaret will be on Friday 25th January, 2019 at 8:00pm.  We're very pleased to say there will be a bar along with the usual fantastic food for sale.  Please do feel free to also bring your own drink if you would prefer.  Money raised from food sales and a collection goes towards the costs of running the WADSStock Festival which in turn raises money for the Wootton and Dry Sandford Community Centre and Thames Valley Air Ambulance. We also provide a table for our performers' merchandise.

Never mind that it's cold and dark. The Eclectic Cabaret has a fantastic line-up for you:

Tim and his Mercenaries are returning to the Eclectic Cabaret with an acoustic set which will feature some new tracks. They are currently in the studio recording their follow up to the highly acclaimed Sawdust Town and will be giving us a sneak preview of some of the new songs that will grace the tracks of their upcoming album, as well as some old favourites. Tim Friers and the Mercenaries will also return to us in September when they hope to have their album finished and they will perform as much of the new album as they can fit in. So keep 27 September free for that too!

Tim Friers and the Mercenaries are a rock pop band with strong melodies central to their sound. Sometimes raw sometimes painfully pretty but always entertaining.

We are hugely proud and privileged to be able to tell you that Nancy Campbell will be performing poems created during her year as the UK's Canal Laureate and some from further afield - the Arctic!

Nancy's series of residencies with Arctic research institutions between 2010 and 2017 resulted in many projects responding to cultural and climate change in the polar regions and water conservation. Her canal poems are from her time, now drawing to a close, working with the Canal & River Trust and The Poetry Society as the UK’s Canal Laureate.

Her first poetry collection Disko Bay (‘a beautiful debut from a deft, dangerous and dazzling new poet’–Carol Ann Duffy) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection 2016 and the 2017 Michael Murphy Memorial prize. Her latest book, The Library of Ice, a blend of cultural history, nature writing and memoir, is published by Scribner UK. Her many artist’s books include How To Say ‘I Love You’ In Greenlandic: An Arctic Alphabet which received the Birgit Skiöld Award.

‘There are some vocals which you feel like you could listen to all day.’ (Sarah Gosling, on Tom Robinson’s Fresh on the Net blog, 2018).

A singer, songwriter and artist from Oxford, Rosie Caldecott is known for the dreaminess of her soundscapes, the wistfulness of her lyrics and the warmth of her voice. Her successfully crowdfunded debut LP, Inside Out (2015), was described as ‘combining bravely progressive structures with unapologetically poetic folk sensibilities’ (A Lonely Ghost Burning, 2015). Rosie recently released a new EP titled The Lost Gardens (2018), which was also 100% crowdfunded. This latest release was recorded, produced and released by Oxford-based Upcycled Sounds, a local mini-label, and has also been warmly received: ‘The melodies, twists, turns, and general execution are top-notch, and likely to sweep you away in a most-beautiful auditory manner.’ (Jason Grishkoff on indieshuffle). She has regularly performed on BBC Radio, performed at BBC Countryfile Live, is a regular with Sofar Sounds and the famed Catweazle Club, and has performed at many other local Oxford festivals over the past decade.

Ben Avison has been praised for his “beautifully rich voice”, “tasty guitar work” and hailed as a “master of many styles” by the BBC. Music critics from all over the world singled his 2013 debut album Good Day Mr. Magpie, describing his songwriting as “perceptive,” “authentic” and “inspiring”.

A new album, The Boater’s Box, written while living on a narrowboat on the Oxford Canal, is set for release in 2019.

A great live performer who toured Australia in 2002, Ben plays an eclectic mix of original and more familiar material drawn from folk, rock and world music traditions.

Ben has worked with several other great acts including The Moonbeams, Rise Kagona (of the Bhundu Boys), Count Drachma (of Stornoway), Haula and Seby Ntege.

For more information: www.benavison.co.uk