Learn to Dance with Laganja Estranja
The time has come. Kitty Tray, Nottingham’s best-loved drag queen, is bringing the girls of RuPaul’s Drag Race to Nottingham. That’s right, this week is home to none other than Laganja Estranja and her fabulous Britney Spears impersonation. And for the bargain price of £30 you can have a dance lesson with the queen herself at Backlit art gallery. She’ll teach you all you’ll need to know to dance like a true drag queen, and you’ll have the chance to appear on stage with her at her gig at Black Cherry Lounge the following evening. Polish off your dancing shoes and round up a good bunch of your most up-for-it mates. It’s bound to be an absolute corker of an evening.
Dance class: Thursday 22 September, 7pm, £30, Backlit
Gig: Friday 23 September, 8pm, £18.50, Black Cherry Lounge
Soapbox
If you’ve got summat to say, and you just need somewhere to say it, The Lofthouse have got you covered. In a variety event to end all, they’re exploiting the virtues of language in all of its forms. Be you a spoken word artist, acoustic musician, comedian, poet, actor or any other performer that uses words as part of your set, get on down for a right mash up of local talent. They’ve had a couple of gigs already, and it’s gone down a storm. They’re also working towards documenting the performances in a one-of-a-kind zine, so you can relive your experience over and over. If you want a slot, get a hold of The Lofthouse via their facebook page. If you’re not one for performing, get down and support anyhow. You might just catch a glimpse of the next big thing…
Thursday 22 September, 6pm, free, The Lofthouse
By Our Own Efforts
New Art Exchange are dead good at bringing us art from all over the world. This month, they’ve got Threshold Studios, media arts producers who’ve been working with artists and communities all over Cuba, taking over the place for the first in a series of collaborative projects. The series offers a peek into the social, economic and political transformation of Cuba after the removal of the United States’ trade embargo. The country has been isolated for over half a century, and now, residents are being asked to document their experiences and perspectives to further educate the world through art and film. Having had extremely limited access to the internet, now a wealth of global culture will become available like never before. Threshold are taking a closer look into how the lives of ordinary people will morph, and how their communities are dealing with the radical change. Proper eye opening stuff.
Thursday 22 September - Sunday 6 November, free, New Art Exchange
The Great Notts Show
Originally set up by two guys who think that Notts is great (see what they did there) – they’re contributing to that greatness for the fifth year running with four days of fun in the Market Square. I’m Not From London are on programming duties, so you can expect an eclectic and wonderful sounding line-up over the extended weekend. The launch on Thursday includes The Lizards, Blessing Magore Music, and Ivoryserfs headlining at 4pm. Friday is a jam-packed day that starts at 11am and will see You Want Fox, Sea Monster Eyes, Mrs Green and Super Furniture grace the stage. Saturday includes Gallery 47, Whisky Stain, Trekkah and Lois, among others. Check out the full listings to make sure you don’t miss out. Not just about music, there will be food and drink galore, crafts, gifts, services and, well, everything Nottingham. The weather’s supposed to hold out, so make the most of the end of the summer in style.
Thursday 22 – Sunday 25 September, free, Market Square
Junkyard Second Birthday
Tucked away at the top of Bridlesmith Walk is one of Nottingham’s worst kept secrets. A safe haven for craft ale specialists to seek sanctuary from the humdrum of Heineken draught and clinky clunky Peroni bottles. This week, they’re turning the grand old age of two. To celebrate, they’re having a right owd knees up, with a load of Stone Kegs on tap, as well as the usual beers from Beavertown and Magic Rock. There’s also a birthday card competition, in which punters like you and I are challenged with the task of creating our very own wrestler to take on the Junkyard Dog in the ultimate fight to the death. We’ll see you there, kiddo.
Friday 23 September, 10-1am, free, Junkyard
Mark Thomas: The Red Shed
After taking the Edinburgh Festival Fringe by storm and collecting five star reviews like they’re stamps, Mr Mark Thomas is bringing his red shed to Hoodtown and we can’t bleddy wait. The Red Shed itself is a Labour club up in Wakefield, currently celebrating its fiftieth year. The building stands opposite a former Tory club, which hasn’t stood the test of time as well as its rival, and is where Mark’s debut performances took place, alongside his political enlightenment. Intriguing. The third in a trilogy, The Red Shed is Mark’s interpretation of the history of the club, revealing working class life in all its glory. From strikes to dinnerladies, commies to burger slingers, the production is described by The Guardian – who awarded the Fringe show four stars – as “Thomas’s love letter to the Shed and to half a century of Labour activism.”
Friday 23 - Saturday 24 September, £7 - £13, Djanogly Theatre, Lakeside
Musicians Against Homelessness
There’s nothing better than an event that gives you a double whammy of good feels. And sampling some of the finest local musicians alongside donating money for a cracker of a cause don’t come much more good feels than that. Hop on down to Broad Street this week, and poke your head into Rough Trade to catch the likes of Alias Kid, Nick Aslam and Smith and Groves performing for your viewing pleasure. Set up by Creation Records Alan McGee, there’ll be independent shows taking place all overthe country, building up to becoming an annual event. Tickets are available online, and all proceeds will go towards Crisis, the national charity for single homeless people. We know times are hard right about now, but we can all spare a little something for those right on the fringes of society.
Friday 23 September, 6pm, £7, Rough Trade
Running Horse Reopens
Live music in Canning Circus has seen better days. The bulldozing of Junktion7 was like a death knell to Nottingham’s post-millennium musical youth. But there is a silver lining as The Running Horse is set to re-open its doors again this week under the stewardship of Hotel Deux veteran Rob Gibson. The plan is to open Thursday nights (6pm-midnight), Saturdays (midday – midnight) and on Sundays (times tbc). This weekend features music from The Most Ugly Child, Alexa Hawksworth and Andy Whittle (Friday) and Huw Costin (Torn Sail), E. R. Thorpe (Saturday). Keep on running, guys!
Friday 23 and Saturday 24 September, 6pm-12am and 12pm-12am, Running Horse
Bath Bomb Making
There is nothing better than having a good old soak in the tub after a long, hard day at work. Well, apart from a good old soak in a tub that’s multi-coloured, scented and filled with the goodness of fresh botanicals from the sea, that is. For just fifteen bob, you’ll be provided with everything you’ll need to make two batches of bath bombs – that’s between eight to twelve bath bombs each. Buzzing. You’re not expected to know what you’re doing, as there’ll be folk there who spend their days crafting the perfect bath bombs. Take ‘em home, save ‘em till Monday, and rinse those beginning-of-the-week blues out in your rainbow magic bath.
Saturday 24 September, 11am, £15, Malt Cross
Archery GB National Series Final
If you didn’t pay much attention to the Olympics and are feeling a little guilty about it, fear not. There’s gonna be some proper Hoodtown sporting going down at Batman’s gaff and it’s kind of a big deal. Sponsored by The Nottingham Building Society & Estate Agency, the day will see the UK’s 24 best archers go head to head, battling it out for the crown of GB champion. Tek your packup, and make sure you keep an eye out for Robin Hood – rumour has it that he’ll be knocking about. Don’t fret about the weather either, cos there’ll be plenty of covered seating, plus food stalls, music and entertainment, as well as the chance for your lot to have a go at archery yourself. All this, completely free. You couldn’t make it up, could you?
Saturday 24 September, 10am - 5pm, free, Wollaton Park
For the full motherload of everything else going on this week check out our comprehensive Nottingham events listings.
Promoters: Want your event featured in one of our upcoming Pick of the Weeks? If so then you can start by adding your event details into our magazine and website database.
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