What's on in London this week (including FREE shows) w/c Aug 10th 2009

Sorry it's been a bit quiet round here but as a rule I tend to go for the "don't speak unless you've got something to say" style of blogging and over the last week my mind has been occupied by a combination of good books and trivial things that if you let them seem to consume all the thinking space that's available. There's one thing I can guarantee, I'll always have something to say on a Monday and here it is, my hand picked list of concerts happening in London over the week:

Monday August 10th

Kill It Kid instore @ Pure Groove 1:15pm (FREE)
She Keeps Bees instore @ Pure Groove 7:30pm (FREE)
Brandi Carlile with Kill It Kid @ Scala
The National with Broken Records @ Royal Festival Hall

Tuesday August 11th

Devotchka with Tristen Prettyman @ Cargo
Emmy The Great & Friends instore @ Pure Groove 7.30pm (FREE)
Helios with Goldmund and Rameses III @ Union Chapel
Laura Marling and Friends @ Royal Festival Hall
Pearl Jam @ O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
She Keeps Bees with Babe Shadow and The Dufflefolk @ Old Queen's Head
Sound Bites ft. Si Falconer, Izzy Detroit and more @ The Abbey Tavern, Kentish Town
Norman Oak with Jess Bryant and The Bibles of Twang @ The Slaughtered Lamb

Wednesday August 12th

Led Bib instore @ Rough Trade East, 7pm (wristband collection 1 hr before) (FREE)
End of the Road Records Showcase with Woodpigeon, She Keeps Bees, and Sons of Noel and Adrian @ The Borderline

Thursday August 13th

Mary Hampton with The Lofty Heights and Lewis Garland & The Kett Rebellion @ Tamesis Dock
Canary Wharf Jazz Festival: Martha Lewis's Cafe Aman @ Canada Square Park 1 - 2:15pm (FREE)
The Doctor And The Pencil + Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip + The Chapman Family + Spy Catcher + Frank Turner + Jersey Budd + Eight Legs + Citadels + The Xcerts + more @ various venues
Yaneka with Ayu and Sam Brookes @ Monkey Chews 7:30 - 11pm

Friday August 14th

Forest Fire with Broadcast 2000 @ The Luminaire
Billy Childish instore @ Rough Trade East 5pm (wristband collection 1 hr before) (FREE)

Saturday August 15th

CANARY WHARF JAZZ FESTIVAL: Gilad Atzmon And The Orient House Ensemble + Lauren Dalrymple + Porkchop/James Morton + Lizzy Parks Quintet + Twelves Trio @ Canada Square Park, 1 - 9:15pm (FREE)

BRIT JAZZ FEST: Tommy Smith/Arild Anderson/Paulo Vinaccia + Kit Downes Trio @ Ronnie Scotts

Rota ft. Function / Badge of Friendship present: You’re Smiling Now But We’ll All Turn Into Demons, The Monroe Effect and Ex-Libras @ Notting Hill Arts Club 4pm - 8pm (FREE)

(In case any concerts have changed dates/ changed venues/ been cancelled or I've made a typo, you'd be wise to check out the venue websites before heading out the door)

There's a very jazzy feel to my listings towards the end of the week, this is partly because there are lots of free jazz concerts going on but I also chose to recommend them because I think I'm partially experiencing a reawakening of the love affair with Jazz I experienced as a student.

Far from being an obsessive infatuation with this particular genre of music, at the time it more sort of slowly crept up on me and invited me into dark basement rooms with the promise of warmth, cheap coffee and a distinct absence of the usual beered up revelers who graced the students union. I guess it was like a soundtrack to a treasured time I spent with close friends, ordering bowls of ice cream with six spoons and chatting quietly until the wee hours of the morning.

The jazz club managers were kind in the sense that they knew they were never going to make much money out of us but since we behaved ourselves and caused no trouble the most they ever asked was that we made a small donation to the musicians, whatever we could manage. Good times and some great music. Most of the artists names I don't recall, I wasn't a 'music journo' back then, I was just busy finding ways not to study.

Dizzy Gillespie - 'And Then She Stopped'

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