Excitement mounts as the new website is almost ready! No longer do we have to puzzle over the ins and outs of myspace and facebook! And we can add as many tracks and photos as we want. Watch this space for updates on gigs and events and the minutiae of Street Voices life! And lots of exclamation marks!!!
We were delighted to have been asked to play at the Homessless and Leprosy Sunday concert at the Leper Chapel, Cambridge on 29th January 2011. Gene Thunderbolt set the scene with a harmonium improvisation.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
We played several songs, including Lee J Thomas’s Up In The Sky.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Amongst the other performers were Ben Sherwood and Toby Peters, both of whom pulled out powerful performances that lay testament to the strength of the human spirit in adversity.
Homeless people often describe themselves as feeling like contemporary lepers so it is fitting that the historic setting of the Leper Chapel is the venue for Cambridge Link-Up’s fifth annual concert of Words and Music.
The event will include songs from homeless singing group – Street Voices as well as sets from guitarists Ben Sherwood and Toby Peters. A selection of readings will be presented by FLACK Magazine.
Tea and Wintercomfort Cupcakes will be served after the concert.
Well, thanks to ALL you lovely people who came out to help us celebrate the launch of the undisputedly fab ‘Akeman Street’ CD. Saint Augustine’s Hall was TRANSFORMED into a cosy bistro cafe with judicious use of acres of red plastic tablecloth – artistically hewn from a jumbo-sized roll – and topped with a sea of twinkling tea lights. Sweet aromas of candlewax and cake mingled invitingly with the steaming cups of fair trade tea expertly and refreshingly poured by Neil and Liz in the kitchen… A subtle jazz vibe was coaxed from the inky depths of the resident concert grand piano by the uber-cool Gene Thunderbolt … and the scene was set for a rare roller coaster ride from the chancel, a play list of musical delights destined to delight and derange, enthuse and engage.
Street Voices were once again joined by our wonderful friend and sound technician Peter Cook on bass; vocalists Lee and Nick duetted and solo’d as well as they’ve ever done; Robert’s harp bends amply showed his reverence for the great blues masters… Emmanuel’s hip and happening hand drum in Hills Road Blues and Walk On had the audience clapping along, and many a voice was raised in song, joining with Elaine, Kay, Dick and Yvonne for familiar classics and and freshly pressed Akeman Street tracks alike.
There will be some of you out there who missed this heart warming and inspirational afternoon, who could not be there because Life, as they say, got in the way. To all of you I offer the simple message: find one of the CDs: buy it – or borrow it. Give a small donation for it. Play it. Take some time to absorb the sleeve notes. Treasure it. Think about it. Sing along with it. Pass it on to someone else. Set it free.
Are you planning to go to Mill Road Fair? You will not be far from completing your quest if you find yourself in St Philips Church or Mill Road Baptist Church. Look for the Cambridge Link Up sign with the slogan ‘Homeless not Hopeless’, and the CD will not be far away. Then again, you could pick one up anytime in Ken Stevens on Sussex Street, or email us with your request at streetvoicescambridge@googlemail.com
If you enjoy the shiny disc HALF as much as we have done then you will certainly be satisfied.
Exciting news!
We are launching our first CD of all-original tracks, written and performed by Street Voices members, on Saturday afternoon, 27 November.
Why not come down to St Augustine’s Hall on Richmond Road – CB4 3PS – between 3 and 5 pm that day to hear a fantastic live set and have the opportunity to buy a CD. There’ll be cafe style refreshments and also a rare chance to hear the inspirational Gene Thunderbolt tickle the ivories of the resident concert grand piano. Entrance is FREE but do come prepared to buy a CD or two.
The CD is named after our Friday-morning musical home, Akeman Street. There you’ll find the community room where the kettle is always on and chocolate biscuits abound, creative energy flows and shapes up into the spine-tingling tracks you’ll hear on the album.
Please tell your friends and colleagues about the launch. Remember it’s at Richmond Road St Augustine’s, because Akeman Street is a bit too cosy to accommodate all our friends! If you can’t make it to the launch but would like a CD please contact us at streetvoicescambridge@googlemail.com and we’ll sort something out.
See you there!
Hi y’all, it seems about time to look back and reflect on the summer months as the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is upon us. What a summer we’ve had… thanks to a grant from Cambridge County Council’s adult learning/development fund Street Voices has been busier than ever with quite a number of new recruits joining (and some old friends coming back).
We were really excited to meet Marie Benton, the director of London’s homeless people’s choir ‘The Choir with No Name’. We had an inspiring time singing her arrangement of ‘Movin on Up’ by Primal Scream, and we hope to visit the choir on their home patch near Kings Cross very soon.
Meanwhile the creative juices have been flowing to produce some excellent tracks for an upcoming album of our original songs, expertly mixed by our friend Peter Cook. Watch this space – and you’ll be among the first to hear when the CD is available. Not just a great sound engineer, Peter also played bass for us at the Akeman Street Summer Street Party… a great gig and our first go at leading a community procession! (Yes, the samba band couldn’t make it).
The highlight of our summer has to be the day some of us went to the Cambridge Folk Festival to the ‘Mojo Interview’ with Seasick Steve… What a great man he is, so genuinely himself, and full of humility. He never stopped talking of his surprise and gratitude for the popularity he now enjoys – and which we think he so richly deserves. Steve is of course a man who knows about homelessness from first hand experience. He and his drummer Dan Magnusson sat and talked to us backstage, then listened to some of our songs, with Steve singing along here and there. It was truly an ‘as good as it gets’ moment for us. Thanks to Eddie Barcan and the others on the Folk Fest organising team for fixing this up for us… also to the Cambridge Evening News for featuring the story and putting a video featuring Nick and Robert on their website too.
More recent happenings have included the acquisition of a new Roland Micro Cube for harmonica player Robert, courtesy of a donation from the proceeds of the Clag Beast benefit gig in Huddersfield. I know Craig, aka the Clag Beast/Cambridge Bongo Man would have been well chuffed, as they say. Thanks are also due to Millers Music, who offered a special, internet-matching price for the Cube. If you are in Trinity Street, Cambridge, listen out for Robert and his fantastic blues harmonica… now amplified, courtesy of the Cube.
Street Voices are a talented bunch, what’s more we don’t just stick with what we know, we like a challenge! So last Friday we all joined together for a West African drumming workshop with Cambridge drumming guru Daniela McDermott and had fun honing our rhythmic and listening skills at the same time – a task made somewhat easier by repeating handy mantras about wanting ice-cream and fish-awareness. ‘I know all the fish are in the sea’. Who could argue with that?
So as we look ahead to the chillier months, we know our fish from our ice-cream, we have a few gigs to look forward to, and we have just about enough money in the bag to get us through to the 31st December (thanks to Cambs City Council Small Projects Fund and Cambs CCF/Grassroots Fund). The quest continues for funds to take us forward through 2011 and beyond… but, along with our umbrella charity Talking in Tune, we are hopeful that things will work out, one way or another.
Street Voices are thriving and looking forward to a whole new summer season of sessions – we are working on some cool original songs which we’ll upload as soon as they’re fully formed. Meanwhile we’re looking out for some summer gig opportunities – anyone?? Community events, barbecues, celebrations of various kinds, the ever-popular sing-alongs – all our speciality.
Since the end of last year we’ve been independent of our ECHG ‘mothership’ and responsible for seeking our own funding. Cambridge community music charity Talking in Tune have taken us under their wing. It’s been a steep learning curve and at times a bit hand-to-mouth! If any of you reading this has a great fundraising idea for us please get in touch. Even small amounts are really handy for equipment etc. And of course a plentiful supply of sandwiches and tea help the recording sessions go so much better…
Don’t forget to check out our videos, kindly made for us by David Richardson of The Kringe arts project.
Hope to see you at a gig VERY SOON. And a special ‘hi’ to our new friends ‘The Choir with No Name’ and ‘Camden Calling’ in London, and to all the lovely people in Huddersfield organising a memorial gig for Craig Wood – aka ‘The Clag Beast’ or ‘Bongo Man’. He was the one who got me involved in all this in the first place.
