Pick of the Week: 13 - 19 October

Word.

Festival of Words
Innit amazing how these lines, curves and shapes fluidly communicate sounds, rhythms and ideas? We think so. And so do the literary fetishists pulling together Nottingham Festival of Words. A horde of authors, poets and scribble enthusiasts are collaborating to celebrate and explore our letter-laden world, with everyone in the city invited to join. Guest readers include the wonderful Will Self, Ali Smith, Judith Allnatt, Bernadine Evaristo, Jon McGregor and Sujata Bhatt. There’s also a crime writing evening at Galleries of Justice, run by three of the UK’s best-selling crime writers, and a celebration of words in Market Square, with storytelling, public speaking and drop-in activities to be getting on with. Check out the website at nottwords.org.uk for the finer details, then pens and party hats at the ready muckers, it’s time for some wordy goodness.
Monday 13 October – Sunday 19 October, various times, prices and locations

The Unloved
There’s a film showing at Broadway and our kid Samantha Morton was the one to direct it. The 2009 flick tells a story of a young girl and her search for peace after being abused by her father. Dealing with the tough issues faced by kids in the social system, the story explores the relationship between young Lucy and her newly-found rebellious mate from a foster home. The Nottingham born and bred director has faced her fair share of experiences in care, so we can look forward to an accurate and revealing piece. Whether you’ve seen it before or not, don’t miss the chance to see a real masterpiece on Broadway’s big screen and get booking.
Monday 13 October, 6pm, £8, Broadway Cinema

School night skankin'

51°27’
It’s a Bristolian takeover. After first establishing their club night in the land of Brizzle, 51°27’ first brought their vibes to our fair city this time last year. Providing a showcase of the best in house, garage, techno and grime, the numerically-named bass droppers churn out regular sellout evenings for one reason – they deliver. This Tuesday they’re bringing Black Butter Records’ My Nu Leng to the table for a deep, dark, midweek raving session that’ll take you right back. Flitting between spacious dubstep-esque face screwers and busy garage bangers, the DJ duo are sure to lead you through a winding journey of sound.
Tuesday 14 October, 10pm, £5, Stealth

Retro Gaming and Comic Making
If you feel like getting creative this week, then you’re more than catered for at Hackspace. They’re putting on a retro computer evening where you can have a gander at what people have been doing with their old PCs, and get a bit of help on that piece of kit you’ve been tryna fix for donkey’s years. Or, if you fancy trying your hand at making a comic, you’ll be in the right place - the comic making group are having their meetup on the same day. Go on, make something.
Thursday 16 October, free, Hackspace Nottingham

Topless
A play presented by The Acting Group and written by Miles Tredinnick, Topless will have you guffawing into next week as your talkative tour guide hosts an open top bus sightseeing tour around London. Yes, London. Forget about the Alfreton Road reality outside and get lost in Sandie’s version of history as she excitedly pokes at points of interest with a twist. There’ll be two showings over the weekend and, for the cheap price, you don’t just get a belly full of laughs but a stylish, old-school style ticket you can chuck in your memory box. But they are limited, so make sure you call 07898316560 to reserve one.
Friday 17 – Saturday 18 October, 7.30pm, £8, Gamble Street Studio, off Alfreton Road

Skinneh

Skinnyman
Can’t Stop Won’t Stop continue on their quest to serve up legends to Nottingham. This month it’s one of the most influential, gritty hip hop artists to come out of the UK. Gold tooth-laden Skinny moved to London at a young age and it was from there that he churned out a working class, council estate narrative that speaks to a worldwide audience. With a spitting skill that stirs shouts of respect around the room, he’s worked with Foreign Beggars, The Elementz, Braintax and Rodney P to name a few. Joining him on the night are local sound system pioneers V Rocket, Nads Buhdha, Joe Buhdha and Old Boy. The lovely bleeders are dobbing some of their ticket sales to the Hockley Hustle pot too, so grab one from fortytwo, Non Stop, What’s on Urban, Mimm, gigantic, or a ticket rep around the city.
Friday 17 October, 10pm, £5/£6, Market Bar

Rites of Passage
Starting this month, The Chameleon will be playing host to a monthly night where you can find a whole host of DJs playing all different kinds of niche genres. As it’s the launch party, they’re proper going for it this month with DJs hailing from the north, south, east and down under. Whether it’s psychedelic house, dream pop, techno or disco you’re after, or even a musical journey through the Yorkshire countryside, Rites of Passage have got you covered. Have a proper good dance and forget all your worries, it is the start of the weekend after all.
Friday 17 October, 10pm, £4/5, The Chameleon

Carnival of Monsters
Don’t worry, we’re not pointing you in the direction of wardrobe-dwelling nasties just yet - it ain’t quite Halloween. Carnival of Monsters is actually a festival of contemporary art held in Barton’s old bus station in Chilwell and, as well as activities after this week, they’ve got a great craft workshop this Saturday for the little ‘uns – The Big Draw. Get wrapped up in some old clothes and help create the world’s largest ‘squish painting’ using one of the Barton buses and make pretty tables you can take home with you. In the evening, the charity music festival Oxjam is taking over Beeston, joining the rest of the country in raising money for Oxfam this month. Get involved.
Saturday 18 October, 12pm onwards, free/£5, Barton’s PLC, Chilwell

All aboard

Inspiration Station
Newsletter pros The Dilettante Society are taking over Hopkinson this weekend for a day full of inspiration. The top floor of the gallery is going to be turned into an all day installation exploring various art forms to open a few eyes. Whatever it is your brain is ticking over at the minute, make sure you pop down and get a look in at the exhibitions and activities, as there’s plenty of creativity to soak up in every corner. Even if you just pop your head in for five minutes, chances are you’ll leave with an idea or two. It’s suitable for everyone from little nippers to old gits, so get down on a one way train.
Saturday 18 October, 12pm, free, Hopkinson Gallery

Read Hear
Over the past year, Read Hear has been bringing beautiful music to a place that is probably best known for being silent - the library. I’m Not From London have worked with Nottingham City Libraries and the University Of Nottingham’s Black History Month programme to bring something very special forward. Daudi Matsiko kicks off proceedings with his stunning acoustic folk sounds before incredible kora player Sura Susso takes to the stage. Both acts will be reading excerpts of literature they’ve been influenced by. Considering it’s all for the sweet price of FA, there are no excuses to shun the insights.
Saturday 18 October, 1pm, free, Nottingham Central Library

Farmyard
Those lovely local promoters over at Farmyard are known for bringing some incredible live shows to Notts, and they’re also pretty damn good and at bringing something completely different to the city too. They’ve worked in collaboration with The Royal Concert Hall to bring you two brilliant classical musicians: harpist Catrin Finch and kora player Seckou Keita, putting them on in the beautiful venue that is St. Mary’s Church. With the likes of The Guardian expecting this to be one of the classical concerts of the year, we recommend you book now. Our ticket senses are tingling to tell us this may be a sellout.
Saturday 18 October, 7pm, £15, St. Mary’s Church

H'ark at this

Hockley Hustle
The most pimpin’ music and arts festival of the year is back, and this time it’s serious. Well, as serious as dancing your tootsies off can get. Almost every promoter in Nottingham has been working tirelessly to deliver the biggest and best collaboration of the year, including Sounddhism, Unplugged, I’m Not From London, Phlexx, Under the Tree, and yours truly. More than 400 local acts will be performing in over forty Hockley venues, with all the money raised going straight to charity. That’s right, the cost of your ticket will not only get you entry to a ton of amazing parties, but it will line the pockets of organisations pumping hope into our community. There’s Framework, who help Nottingham’s most vulnerable people escape homelessness, John Van Geest’s Cancer Research Centre at NTU’s Clifton Campus, Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum, who aid anyone in need of help and advice when seeking refuge or asylum, and the NG7 Food Bank, who provide vital supplies to people on the breadline. All this do-gooding wraps a pretty bulky musical parcel. Catch the cheeky Rob Green at Broadway, dip a tab in Mouthy Poetry at Wired, go mental to Jimmy the Squirrel in The Vintage Warehouse, sink into Can B’s deep lyricism in Pepper Rocks, bounce along to Origin One’s funky vibrations in Cape, catch open mic stalwart Adam Peter Smith in Boiler Maker, and that ain’t even the half of it. There really is something for every bleeder and if you don’t believe us, get to the Hockley Hustle website so we can cackle hysterically together over how wrong you were. It’s an explosion of all things musically massive, born and bred in our city. Who said you can’t have both quality and quantity? Fools. That’s who.
Sunday 19 October, 2pm onwards, £10, All over Hockleh

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.