As you probably know we are taking a break from all the monthly events for the forseeable future, to concentrate on other projects, so until we return, we just wanted to say a massive thank you on behalf of the whole Mr Elephant crew for bringing the vibes to our last 41 events, and to everyone who has been part of any Mr Elephant event, workshop, radio show, or website.
We’ll really miss the events, and each one has been a truly inspiring experience, but the time feels right to move on to other projects until next year.
It was really important that we left things on a high, and we’re forever grateful to all the venues that have housed us throughout the last years, the Adam & Eve, Hare & Hounds, Epic Skate Park, Rainbow Beach, the Bulls Head & Prince Wales.
When we return to do events we will certainly be looking to promote local talent through smaller regular events, but there was a unananimous decision that we all wanted to return to another reason why we started Mr Elephant in the 1st place, and that is the larger more festival style events. Like the 1st 2 at Epic skate park in 2007, the family days at the Prince garden, the 12 hour celebration pf Birmingham’s Underground on the Rainbow beach/warehouse, and the workshops & multistage 2nd Birthday at the hare and hounds. Events that are one offs and that encompass all the areas of Mr Elephant in one cohesive event, or to put it another way, a balance of all the events over the last 3 years, and pushing some of the Mr Elephant ideas forward.
We’ll still be hosting our radio show on www.rhubarbradio.com with Marc Reck every monday evening at 6pm & Mr Elephant residents Skeleton & Dolhasz will be hosting The Beat Suite every wednesday from 11.30pm. However to avoid the whole website being taken up with the radio shows, it seems more appropriate for these to exist on their own websites & of course the rhubarb ones, so that the artists & events can remain on the front of this one. One of the main aims of Mr Elephant is to shine a light on great stuff, and so hopefully the videos of the events housed on this website helps further that.
There are many ideas and goals that we have as Mr Elephant and while we’ve achieved so much more than we hoped, (due to the ever expanding platform of talented contributors) there is so much we have yet to explore.
We have always been totally unfunded, and, as most will know, it becomes difficult to devote such a large portion of your life when you have to cover your own costs, and have other ambitions to explore. With that in mind we are looking at ways to fund future events so we can realise their true potential, and we’ll be taking time out to further our own interests in order to bring them back in bigger and brighter. We all want to keep the free party ethos alight wherever possible, simply because it allows the most accessibility to people, regardless of financial status, and therefore the most diverse mix of people, which is always a good thing… The logisitics of sorting the time and resources we can work out.
Anyway, once again, thanks to one and all for a truly inspiring 3 years, and on behalf of all the Mr Elephant crew, we wish you a beautiful hot summer.
Part two of our 3rd Birthday Celebrations & our final Mr Elephant event for the forseeable future saw inspired performances from all, and provided a fitting closure to our monthly live & free. We shall really miss both our homes and we’d like to say a massive thank you to the Adam & Eve & the Hare & Hounds for all their support & great work. And of course to everyone who came and created the vibes.
Til we return this will be our last video & photos for the forseeable, so without further ado, here’s a few of the performances caught on the little camera.
And here’s some photos
And of course the original page with all the artist links
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FREE CONTROL – http://www.freecontrol.co.uk are back. Currently storming through the battle of the bands, and with a packed festival schedule, their last gig was pretty much incredible. Somewhere between Lamb & Unkle. Check the video for their sound
FRANK MOON & JOELLE BARKER – These two are musicians of the highest sense. Frank – http://www.myspace.com/frankmoon on the stringed instruments and member of a huge number of bands and sounds from destroyers to desert groove has just come off a world tour and is thankfully in birmingham rehearsing with destroyers. Joelle – http://www.myspace.com/joellebarker is a percussion magician, She teaches, she composes and she jams with a huge range of percussive instruments. See what they magic up together.
DIK GURU - http://www.myspace.com/dikguru – This man is a legend, and who’s last 2 albums have been creating waves all over the place, both truly deserving of the label Urban Folk. Hilarious tales about Birmingham life & characters presented with great musicianship and instantly likeable charm.
CABSTERS – http://www.myspace.com/cabstars – The full ska band complete with brass section will be performing and kicking up a storm
JAM JAH (Robin G) – http://www.friendlyfiremusic.com/
We’ve said it time and time again, but Jam Jah sound is something to beholden in Birmingham, and is why we at Mr Elephant never fail to get them playing wherever possible. Legends.
JIBBERING (Tangawizi) – http://www.jibbering.com
Jibbering for over 10 years have been bringing bands to Birmingham, the majority of which have gone on to be huge. 1st time we heard Jon play we’ve asked him back ever since. Great music and wonderfully done.
Vj BLENDSTATE – http://www.blendstate.com
A huge part of Mr Elephant ever since the 2nd event where he bought the indymedia films for the chillout room. Now one of the leading vj in Birmingham3 years later, and puts on some wicked events to boot.
VENUE – http://www.theadam.co.uk
Located on the 50 route at the top of bradford street, in Digbeth, and a short walk from the city centre, the venue has been putting on music events every week for years. A place to chill and chat, as much as it is to see quality local and international bands and / or dance til 4am. There’s a cool heated smoking area, pool table and chilling areas, quality bar and proper friendly staff, great in house engineer and just they’ve spent loads on new bassbins, so expect the sound to be even bigger and crisper than every before.
NB a lot of people have been asking why we are stopping Mr Elephant events as they are all going really well. Truth is is that its a really hard decision but they take up a huge amount of time, and we dont earn money from them. We could spend less time, but they wouldnt be the same, so we are taking some time out to focus on other projects and ways to fund the development of the events.
We will still be running the odd free event, our radio show will continue every week, and we are planning a return to the big festival style events, which was the reason to start it back in 2007.
You can check all the associated video, photos and blog posts for every single event on our website http://www.mrelephant.com by clicking on the events menu item.
Here’s the camera video of two of the live artists, Relative Dub & 360 who both delivered fantastic sets.
Proper video to follow, and here are some photos from the same said camera
Below is the full line up / preview of last night’s event with links and a little background on the artists.
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Following our haiti fundraiser last month, we are back with our last two live and free events for a while at one of our favourite venues in Birmingham. UPDATE – The mighty 360 will also be joining us for a special live set, courtesy of a mixup at another venue Get your skanking shoes ready for the crowd pleasing skafunkapunkreggae rockers! – http://www.myspace.com/360sound
On the live stage will be Relative Dub – one of the freshest new Dub bands on the Birmingham music scene, who have been creating big waves with their unique blend of electronic dub, featuring live bass, guest vocalists, & a huge mixing desk all creating a live sonic journey. – http://www.myspace.com/relativedub
Their guest vocalist this time will be none other than Laura Louise, a live loop pedal artist from New Zealand who has played a many at mr elephant event, due her amazing voice & beautifully written songs. Normally armed with her acoustic guitar, & boss loop pedal, we know not what to expect with her collaboration with Relative – http://www.myspace.com/lauralouiseowen
Also up will be Cabsters – a band who are tearing it up on the ska scene with their crowd pleasing blend of ska, dub and funk. In just over a year, they are fast becoming big names on the circuit, and we’re well pleased that they are able to come down to once again rock the adam and eve. UPDATE > -We had news this week that their drummer can’t make it, but everyone else can, so cabsters will be bringing a special acoustic sublime style ska set with keys, bass, guitar and vocals. http://www.myspace.com/cabstars
On the 1210′s we have 3 treats keeping the venue toasty til 4am. The mighty Jam Jah will be adorning the new bassbins courtesty of Mr Bongo Damo & his seriously fine roots, reggae & record collection. – http://www.friendlyfiremusic.com/
Also returning is Tangawizi from the legendary Jibbering, who will be mixing it up once again with funk, hip hop, reggae, and anything else he has laid his hands on. – http://www.jibbering.co.uk/
Any also we welcome Shelley from Arts de Ville who hosts the sunday city musicbox every week on rhubarb, and heads up the arts de ville events. Another great record collection which spans, reggae, funk, soul and a whole load more. – http://www.rhubarbradio.com/programmes/sundaycitymusicbox/
You can also feast your eyes on our resident Vj Blendstate’s big screen antics, which will be a mixture of live camera work, and his unique vj style. – http://www.blendstate.com
As always its free entry all night long and we’ll be partying until 4am.
Amazing vibes and inspiring performances from everyone involved, Mr Elephant is full of good vibes after last night.
Massive love, props and gratitude to all who bought the vibes and all who made it happen.
Together we raised just over £300 for Haiti, and created a night we wont forget.
Here’s a little video of some footage of a few of the artists caught on camera last night, until the “proper” footage shot by our man Jack, gets edited together.
Mr Elephant Presents “Live & Free Haiti Fundraiser” – Friday 26th Feb @ Adam & Eve – FREE ENTRY til 4am
Its one month ago today that Haiti was struck by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake. Obviously a collossol disaster with 200,000 killed, 1 million homeless, huge international response…everyone is aware of the details.
Something that the quake has thrown up is that there is an urgent need, now moreso than ever, to address the fact that Haiti as one of the world’s poorest and least developed countries is in a very vunerable position.
The long history of oppression by dictators has markedly affected the nation and so as well as provding aid, we must also work towards enabling the people to create a sustainable infrastructure that isnt at the mercy of big businesses or powerful governments, like many previous reconstruction attempts have been (and shown).
Haiti needs rebuilding from the ground up and local economies need to be built in small towns and villages. Local people need to be trained and equipped with skills so that the economy can be built from the ground up, and not the top down.
herefore for this fundraiser, we are looking at 2 (Now 3) organisations, who are setting up long term solutions – http://www.earthship.org/haiti-disaster-relief & http://www.haitifoundation.org/ If you can suggest any other options please feel free to let us know. (UPDATE : We have emailed earthship to define their position, as we werent clear on exactly how the money would be used & are looking at http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti as an alternative)
This is a totally free event and on til 4am. Musicans and Djs from Birmingham & Bristol are coming together to produce a quality line up. All costs of the gig will be covered before the event, so that 100% of donations can go directly to two organisations
There are more artists being added to all the time, and the set times and more info will follow next week, but here are the confirmed artists so far.
————————————————————————————————————————————————– DUB MAFIA(Live jazzy drum n bass & dub) – http://www.myspace.com/officialdubmafia
Coming all the way from Bristol, and with one of the most played videos on youtube, this band features seriously talented Vocals, Keyboards, Guitar, Drums, Bass, Turntable, Percussion, Saxophone, musician and are set for very big things. Possibly the only chance to see them (for free) in Birmingham before they go on their big festival tour in the summer.
World fusion at its finest, with spanish guitar, latin percussion, and 2 vocalists. The Hidden Half always go down a storm at our Live and Free Events. Check our website for past videos
EVA LAZARUS (Acoustic and vocal) – http://www.myspace.com/evalazarus
Making a huge storm in Bristol, the vocals are quite simply jaw dropping. Another artist you may be more aware of via a you tube vid that went viral, this exclusive solo performance is going to be something very special.
A legend on the live scene in brum and the man behind many bands from Dr Dan Blues remedy to the ever impressive Playing Django. If you are in anyway interested in guitar or musicianship then very special live looping performance will be a treat.
Another live looping performance but this time in a very different one man band style with human beatbox, acoustic guitar, vox & xylophone. Smiley mic has rocked two of our previous Mr Elephant events and recently supported De La Soul, so if you havent check him out yet, get there early as he’s opening the live sets, and you prob wont have heard anything quite like him before.
Inspiring singer, guitarist & part of some of Brums finest bands over the last ten years from the Starries to Baxter, this guy made his solo debut last year at our 4th Live & Free and was literally that good, he caused 2 reviews to be written the very next morning! Another probable early performance as he has two gigs on that night.
A poet that is making big waves in brum and london at the mo, witty, honest and charming poetry delivered with personality. Just back from a string of special performances in London don’t miss this.
Host of the Beat Suite, Resident at Trigger and here at Mr Elephant, Kipp is one of the most versatile and talented djs. We couldnt find any video footage of the turntablist style he’ll be playing on the night, but you can rest assured you’ll be treated to a very special scratch set from one of the city’s best djs.
We’ve said it time and time again, but Jam Jah sound is something to beholden in Birmingham, and is why we at Mr Elephant never fail to get them playing wherever possible. Legends. (Again this footage doesnt do them justice, but gives an idea of the sound at the start of the vid)
Jibbering for over 10 years have been bringing bands to Birmingham, the majority of which have gone on to be huge. Tastemakers in their own right with each core member a dj and blatant music devotee, so any opportunity to hear their record collections is always a treat. Tangawizi has a huge spectrum of music and while the vid below is all we could find at the mo, expect funk, soul, reggae, hip hop and maybe even some more underground bizness as he surfs the decks with Jam Jah til 4am.
A huge part of Mr Elephant ever since the 2nd event where he bought the indymedia films for the chillout room. Now one of the leading vj in Birmingham3 years later, and a promoter in his own right, with his own cinephonic event going from strength to strength and his managing of the party rockin mammal sessions over the last 6 months. Footage adorns many mr elephant videos, but this is one that doesnt get seen regularly, with soundtrack from another bristol guest from our 2nd birthday mr dub fx.
VENUE – http://www.theadam.co.uk
Located on the 50 route at the top of bradford street, in Digbeth, and a short walk from the city centre, the venue has been putting on music events every week for years. A place to chill and chat, as much as it is to see quality local and international bands and / or dance til 4am. There’s a cool heated smoking area, pool table and chilling areas, quality bar and proper friendly staff, great in house engineer and just they’ve spent loads on new bassbins, so expect the sound to be even bigger and crisper than every before.
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Final note. (Sorry this has been such a loooong event page!)
We moved this event to a Friday as there as there is another haiti fundraiser on from subvert on the Saturday. As we normally do Saturday - http://www.mrelephant.com/category/events/live-and-free we were a little aprehensive, so if you can help spread the word in anyway it’ll make a big difference and be very much appreciated by all involved.
Obviously everyone is coming together to put on a great free night in the hope to raise money, but also we hope will appeal to a wide range of tastes and make for a proper memorable one, so if you’re in birmingham, and can drop by for a beer, drop a few quid into the donation buckets etc, it should hopefully be another night to remember….and raise plenty of cash for where its needed.
Mr Elephant favourites Munchbreak, (this time with multi genre skills of Home Cooking djs) & the mighty Jam Jah once again showed us why Birmingham is packed full of flavour with 2 inspiring live performances and 4 dj sets which kept our last live and free event of 2009 nice and toasty all the way until the 4am close.
Here’s a little video of part one of Munchbreak where they took us back to their seminal jam session days.
Despite being probably the wettest, coldest night we’ve had thus far, nothing seem to hinder a whole pub full of revellers. Robin from Jam Jah kicked things off with their unique blend of roots, reggae, and dancehall.
Followed by some choice genre hopping funk style crowd pleasing cuts from Maxwell from Home Cooking
Then it was time for the headline live act of the night in the first of two sets. First the Jam session you can see above, and then their full live set. Here’s a little more footage this time from their 2nd set.
and if you want more, do go check out their album. It’s well recommended
P.s there are more photos here and our mr elephant facebook group is here.
UPDATE – The mighty 360 will also be joining us for a special live set, courtesy of a mixup at another venue 
