Dj Marc Reck Djing Events Tutorials and life in Birmingham

In his own inimitable way..

Here’s my “review”

At 7.59 a crowd of people were stood in clusters around the bar at the old Joint Stock, hastily finishing their drinks, in order to gain access to the theatre upstairs to see Rich Batsford’s solo performance.

After rave reviews after his last performance there with kraut rockers Einstellung, there was an atomosphere of eager anticipation to see what the boy wonder would pull out of his gloves. We could be sure of some sublime moments from his debut album Valentine Court, and he makes no secret of being one of Brian Wilson’s biggest supporters, so you’d expect a few beach boy covers.

Photo by Pete Ashton

Sure enough we were taken on a 45 minute ride of Rich’s own beautifully expressive piano music, coupled with some previously unreleased and touchingly heartfelt songs, with vocals that lay somewhere between conciousness and meditation. Highlights for me in the first 45 mins were Rich’s own masterpiece “Namaste” (a track often played by Mixmaster Morris), the specially dedicated and synchronistically expressive “Gudonya”, and 2 wonderful new pieces dedicated to two of the women in his life, (his partner Lyndall - “its easier for her” and to one of his best friends Ali - “let go of letting go”)

After a short interval we walked back in (a little late), to a great rendition of The Beach Boy’s classic “Im waiting for the day” This was definitly Brian Wilson hour, with Rich tackling some difficult pieces i’ve never him play before with great skill and conviction. Highlights in this half for me where a beautifully sung “God Only Knows” and “Love and Mercy” from the beach boys, and from Rich’s own works, “Ralph’s trip to the Orient”, and an amazing new piece called “Naryan”.

In short (and this “review” is), Rich played a beautiful and engaging solo show, all tied up nicely with his warm humour and likeable Batsford charm. Leaving the stage to raptuourous appreciation, his encore did him proud, and left us all with a feeling of joy, and big smiles on our faces. Nice one Rich

I recorded the gig on my binaurul microphones and will be featuring the show on our next Mr Elephant Radio, so keep your ears out, or eyes on this blog.

are flyer design and cd production….Here’s one of my current projects i’ve just finished for 2 leading primary workshop deliverers.

I’m not a “real” graphic designer, but i have got enough photoshop and flyer design experience now to do a good job, so if you got the artwork/details/idea, i can put it together. Its not a job role/request or anything, and i’m maxed out with plenty of unpaid projects at the moment, but if you need something doing publicity wise, and i have the time/ or you have some money, i’d be happy to help. You can view some of my other “design work” here

Just heard from Boogie (literally) that we are booked to play this tonight!

Other gigs that we are booked for (according to our Rockfall 3rd half Russ Caine) are a gig with Timo Mass at the Que Club in November, and a weekly one at the Que, every wednesday

Just received our new project X presents flyers, and they looking good.

I was going to blog about economic, cultural and social regeneration ideas of Birmingham, referencing some very interesting blogs and research i have been exploring over the last two days, mainly on how to shine a big spot light on Birmingham and its spectrum of creative talent.

Some days though pictures speak louder than words.

Inspired by the Event Management Course i am currently doing, five years of toying with the idea and a team of friends, i have started work on Mr Elephant Presents into a substantial and wholesome N.F.P.O.

Our first two events went down amazingly well, packing out the Epic Skate Park, and generating all sorts of interest from artsfest to a range of local creative businesses, artists and clubbers. Unfortunatly, we had to stop when the skate park lost its license due to a local obsessive compulsive resident. The community and cultural seeds that were planted however have continued to grow, and I’ve always had a strong desire to weave a lot of the other threads of that which i spend large amounts of time doing, alongside developing skills and network into some sort of cohesive whole. I have always worked for free, but now i am hoping that with the ideas and potential income streams, that Mr Elephant could provide the wholesome carriage that we have spent so much time working towards.

I won’t go into to any more details at this stage, but suffice to say, that with the advent of the website (with transfer of fellowship support from the inspiring Andrew Dubber,and the next event planned to elephant scale proportions, we’re hoping you will hear the tremors resounding in the not too distant future.

One of Birmingham’s brightest young composers Rich Batsford is set to appear at the old Joint Stock Theatre on Thursday 27th September 2007.

Okay.. he may be a good friend of mine, but his musical talent is widely renowned, and his album freely available for all to hear/download/judge for yourself, etc

The one thing i can report that with years of experience in the stand up comedy scene and beach boys big gig tribute concerts, his presence on stage is warm and entertaining

If there are any left, tickets are available online.

Despite a few setbacks last night was an amazing experience, and hats off to all the drop beats crew for making it happen.

After a delayed soundcheck for the London Breakbeat Orchaestra, i started my set slightly later than planned (djing right about where the eye shaped thing in the middle of the picture is)….Despite some initial hiccups from the sound engineers, the belly dancers turning up just before the end of the set, and Leon not getting to vj, (having to cover the visual production all night as Tom syzergy had food poisoning), the reopening set went down a storm, and there was plenty of positive feedback afterwards from peers and friends alike. Highlights for me were playing The atomic Jam tune - The bells, the drum n bass into Our Prayer into the Lawgiverz, the reaction to my debut tracks, playing all that jazz, and of course those big room breaks!

The production at times throughout the night was amazing in the main room, and the sound systems sounded great. There was so much quality stuff on, like the mighty Subvert room seeing bands like Mama Matrix and 1 eye witness, the broken minds having a huge bass heavy soundsystem in, (with extra speakers just in case they were needed!) and the jibbering crew rocking out with a wide range of stuff. Boogie Dave had also gone to the trouble of getting custom t-shirts made up for everyone that played. I had my night somewhat dampened when a bouncer took something from me that wasnt his, and there were a few emotionally testing times along the way, but all in all the reopening of the que club was a magical night, and one i wont forget.

is the night, that I dj the main stage of the best club in the world, at one of the biggest nights in the country! I really really honestly truly am most excited, and with the mighty Boogie Dave at the helm, the Que Club reopening/Drop Beats Not Bombs will go undoubtedely down in clubbing history, and you can be damn sure that i’ll be armed with one of my biggest and most diverse sets to open it with.

To reiterate its based on the Joseph Cambell’s “The Hero’s journey”, and will span a spectrum of breaks, drum and bass, with a hint of techno, two of my own tracks (both specially written for the set), some video samples, and a show tune! There’ll be plenty to feast your eyes on from Vj Chromatouch, the khalangi belly dance troupe, some burlesque performance, and interactive performance art from the old ladies.

This night is what dreams are made from

And as you would(n’t) expect, things are not running smoothly….

On a very positive note, this set is one of the best things i’ve put together thus far with a range of styles, tempos, and moods, centering around a spectrum of breaks and drum n bass, all based around Joseph Campbells the Hero’s Journey and debuting two of my own tracks.
which Joebot has very kindly agreed to (quickly) master for me on his work monitors.

The performance art and dance is shaping up to be something quite magical with some Burlesque from Heather Bryson, the old Ladies from Pyn and Lyndall, and the 7 strong Khalangi Belly Dance Troupe.

The photographers and videographers are all set to capture any magic on film, and are a talented bunch i havent yet worked with, and there are so many friends that are planning to be in the audience

Two slightly dissapointing setbacks occured this afternoon however..Leon (Vj chromatouch) has had a nightmare this week with one of his paid projects needing some urgent attention. The multi hexagonal screens and massive drop beats production, mixed with Leon’s vj skills and huge video collection means while it may not synchronise as water tightly to the music as i had anticipated, it will synchronise to the same narrative, (and to be fair its the way Leon seems to like to work)..

The other slight unforseen setback is the live drums. Gaz pulled out last week, feeling underconfident on the kit for such a big piece, and without any access to congas. He passed over the reigns to his drum teacher, the very talented John Tearle, but not 2 hours ago, John has phoned with a very bad case of food poisoning, so the whole drums thing is now looking pretty unlikely.

Either way i have such a great feeling about the set, and a deep confidence that everyone will really enjoy it,and that the atomosphere wil go off in true que club/drop beats main room style. While i have such a mixture of emotions about tomorrow, i think we can all feel safe in the hands of the best promotor in the city organising his biggest drop beats at probably the best venue in the world.

After working relentlessly to finish assesments, workbooks and a business plan for today’s (Event Management Course) plus emailing the dro p beats “book/set” so far to all the collaberators, i earned myself a place on a coach to London with one of my best friends and one of Brian’s biggest fans Rich Batsford to go and check out Brian and his band in his British spiritual home.

While i’m not quite as involved with the great man’s work, i did have a fantastic time, and spent the aftershow in a bar singing beach boys with various tribute bands! Was a shame to leave our capital city, especially as we could have partied with the inspiring Reg Hunter… but then this one of those weeks.