Radical song takes over the Bluecoat’s John Lennon bed in tomorrow (Saturday) when myself, the Liverpool Socialist Singers, and a gaggle of other radical songsters will be climbing into bed for a day of peace and protest.

Come along and support us.

The day starts at 11am and will run through for a solid five hours worth of music until 4pm.

I’ll be kicking off the day at 11am, with a second set of tunes later in the afternoon.

The Liverpool Socialist Singers will be singing every half hour, and we’ll also be joined by Rich Man’s Ruin, Vinny T Spen and Lotzie Weaver, amongst others.

If you can’t make it there’ll be a live stream of the fun and frolics at the Bluecoat’s website on http://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/events/view/events/828 so tune in and drop out, man!

Peace!

Do you qualify for a free live show from me?

I’m offering a no fee solidarity price for people who are typically outside of the music industry. That means you can book me for a free live show if you qualify, so read on to see if you do.

Of course, my usual price is at the commercial rate.

That naturally remains so for festivals, standard gigs, venue bookers, and when booked by organisations that are in a position to have full time employees etc.

Solidarity

But there are two groups of people I want to show solidarity with in these times and so who qualify for a free live show from me.

Rank And File Groups

The first are rank and file campaign groups and the like – groups of ordinary folk who get together to make our world a better place in some way. To clear up any doubt, yes this would include most union branches.

Ordinary Fans

The second are ordinary fans. Ordinary music fans are battered by the major record industry in my view. At best it sneers at us and at worst prosecutes and attacks us in a death throe attempt to blame us for the demise of an old (and exploitative) business model.

I want to make it clear to all ordinary fans who might want to organise a live show for me, and to all rank and file campaign groups, that I will play for you at cost only. No fee.

What’s cost?

Just out of pocket expenses like petrol, parking and a bit of dinner.

Why??

Why am I doing this? Simple. While I still need to get paid somewhere along the line in order to keep doing what I do, the reason I do music is not to become rich and famous.

If I was famous I’d hate it, and if I was rich I’d give a load of it away again so both are pointless goals for me.

No, the reason I do what I do is to share the stories that are important to me, and to promote the idea that people like us deserve our joys, struggles and experiences to be heard.

Movement for change

I also want my music to be part of the movement for change and to use my songs to counter the lies fed to us by the political parties of the wealthy and the media that support them.

All of this depends on getting the messages within my songs out there, and live shows are a big part of that because they are face to face and personal.

Note: Look at this site’s Impact page and you’ll see how important this is to me.

Claim Your Free Live Show Now!

Claiming your free live show is easy.

Give me a shout here at my contact page or feel free to connect with me and send me a message over on Facebook.

I’ll even help you with advice of how to go about organising something. It’s far easier than you’d think.

Two quick points to make life easy for you.

1) Don’t think you have to gather tons of people. Small makes life simpler for you. And let’s face it, given that its no fee, even 10 people will more than cover any cost. Yes, I’d play a gathering of that size!

2) Don’t get freaked about venues. I’ll play in your front room, or the back room of a pub, or somewhere grander. Keeping it simple is a good idea, and I’m ok with that. I don’t need superstar pampering.

So give me a shout to claim your free live show, and we can start chatting it over to make it happen.

In solidarity!!

A big thanks to the good people at Musicport this weekend. It’s the largest indoor festival in the world and it was great fun to play.

As you can see I was on the South Sea Stage which looks all very exotic.

I saw Andy Irvine at the Liverpool Irish Festival last week and heard him do The Close Shave. I loved it so much that I decided to learn a version of it myself and sang it to the good people at Musicport.

It’s a comic song so I hope you enjoy.

I’ll be performing live at the North Sea Stage in Bridlington tomorrow (Fri) at the massive Musicport Festival.

Musicport is the biggest indoor festival in the world so I’m more than excited to be playing. I hope to see some of you there.

I’ll be on stage from 8.45 to 9.30.

For late tickets go to http://musicportfestival.com/tickets-and-merchandise/tickets.html

Also playing at Musicport are The Imagined Village, Norma Waterson and Eliza Carthy, John Cooper Clarke, and Richard Hawley.

It’s at The Spa, South Marine Drive, Bridlington, YO15 3JH.

You’ll be pleased to know that the Working Class Life & Music Festival will be taking place next year bigger and better than ever.

Now a city-wide event with the city’s leading arts and cultural organisations lining up in support, it will be a unique celebration of the lives and experiences of everyday people spanning nine days and forty events.

There is no other festival of its type and scope anywhere in the world but it will be here in Liverpool from April 22nd to April 30th 2011, leading nicely up to the traditional May Day Celebrations.

It will encompass music, song, poetry, drama, lectures, walking tours, photography, writing, cinema, community arts workshops and more.

The new Working Class Life & Music Festival website has recently been launched so please take a look.

In particular, we are looking for sponsors, event organisers, artists, and volunteers.

Our sponsorship document is available for download here so please forward and distribute to colleagues and organisations.

It is crucial that we receive sponsors for the event, so please help us out by lobbying on our behalf to get people interested in being part of this magnificent event.

For artists, volunteers, or those wishing to organise an event for the festival, please drop us a line here.

Note that our brochure deadlines are 3rd December 2010, so sponsors and organisers need to let us know their intentions by then.