The HOT-test night in town… HOT logo by Martin O’Neill

Wednesday night is HOT night

If you haven’t paid via the HOT PayPal link for your ticket yet, then please do – or come along early on Wednesday night to make sure you get in to the HOT gig… we have space for 100 HOT readers and we don’t want you to miss out!

The HOT fundraiser is to celebrate ten years of Hastings Online Times bringing citizen journalism to the area. Our musical friends have kindly donated their time and talent to give us a great reason to get out from behind our screens and get together in the real world. The theme of the night is twisted folk, linked together with some sweet ska from DJ Lee of Take It Easy and high energy MC-ing from Tim Crook of the Bavard Bar.

Jiggery Pokery will be the first to take to the stage with their inimitable mix of Irish folk, blues, rock and some of their own songs too. HOT’s Erica Smith says: “I’m really excited that Jiggery Pokery have agreed to play for us. They are my all-time favourite band on the local scene. I call singer Stevie Stone ‘The Human i-Pod’ because his repertoire of songs is so great, and I love listening to violinist Aideen O’Hagan and Stuart Alexander on his phenomenal digital accordion. I’ll be dancing like no-one is watching and I hope some energetic folk will join me on the dance floor!”

Blue Rumour is a Hastings-based duo with Angie Phillip and Paul Way-Rider. Paul plays an extraordinary midi-enabled guitar with Angie on rhythm guitar and lead vocals. They play an exciting mix of folk and blues with a hint of East European.

Headliners, the Necessary Animals are a super-group made from some of Hastings and St Leonards remarkable musicians including HOT web techie Nick Weekes, Fritz Caitlin of 23 Skidoo, Simon Charterton of the Near Jazz Experience, Amanda Thompson of The Big Believe, Keith Rodway of the Trash Cannes film festival and queen of experimental electronic music, Riz Maslen. Keith describes their sound as: “a fusion of alternative psychedelia, folk and free improvisation.”

The ticket price has been kept low to encourage as many people to come as possible, but there will also be some special items on sale including a bundle of music from the artists performing; a mini-sketch book from St Leonards Modern Goods and art materials from Kings Stationers; tickets from OPUS Theatre and the White Rock Theatre and a meal for two from one of the tastiest local food outlets.

As a volunteer-run website, we don’t have high overheads, but we do need to pay for hosting and web development/maintainence. This anniversary gig is to remind people what HOT has done for the community over the years and how you can help keep us going – we would love people to write articles for HOT, to take out an advert on HOT and to donate to cover our costs – either on the night or by setting up a monthly micro-payment via PayPal. Even £1 per month from our regular readers would keep HOT afloat for the foreseeable future.

Do come along and wish us Happy Birthday on Wednesday 25 September.
Kino-Teatr, Norman Road, St Leonards-on-Sea. 7.30-11pm. See you there!

Also in: 1067 & All That