Pick of the Week: 17 - 23 August

Scorzayzee's Aeon: Peace to the Puzzle, out now

Black Lead and Bleaching
Over the past two weeks, the street directly underneath the 'Lion office as been overrun with youths on fag breaks, as a team of city centre performers attack a community heritage project ran by Greenshoots at The Lofthouse. A fair few Notts youts have bravely sacrificed their 3pm lie-ins during their summer holidays, in favour of creating a production surrounding the history of the Lace Market. With help from Scorzayzee, BBC comedy writer Esther Coleman, West End performer Molly-May Gardiner and local part-time musical granny, Ben Welch, expect to hear a fair few raps and a bag of hilarious sketches. With the possibility of taking the show down to London next year, you’d best catch the kiddos now, before they’re blasted into the glistening realms of stardom.
Monday 17 August, 7.30pm, free, The Lofthouse

Malt Cross Memory Lane
The old Victorian music hall is opening its doors for all to embrace in some nostalgia, this week, inviting all for a cuppa char and a good old natter about days gone by. Relive your childhood on one of their soft, leather chesterfields. Take your mates along, or brave it alone and meet a whole host of friends who share the memory of your favourite TV series from days gone by. Make a morning of it and treat yourself to their famous eggs benedict. If you can’t make it this week, or you get too carried away remembering your school days that you forget to turn up, don’t panic, cos the event runs every third Tuesday of the month.
Tuesday 18 August, 11am, free, Malt Cross

This'll be yow in no time...

Salsa Class
Get your hips back in the swing of things this week, Latin and Cuban style. Impress Sandra from Accounts or Steve from HR with some new moves at the Friday work-night-out, courtesy of master salsa instructor, El Nico. For only a fiver you can brush up on some proper smooth moves that’ll be sure to keep you on your toes in the best way possible. It’s also a crackin’ way to get in shape without boring yourself to tears with endless treadmill sprints. It could even double up as a new idea for date night with the missus – inject some latin passion into the love life and spin her round to your hearts content. There’s never been more reasons to pop down.
Wednesday 19 August, 7pm, £5, Bunkers Hill

Jumpers for Goalposts 
Possibly the ultimate night out for rockers, artists and oddbods alike. Alley Cafe are pulling out all the stops with their creatively affluent evening, stocked to the nines with pipe cleaners, plasticine, googly eyes and loo roll tubes. You’ll be tasked with creating the most hilariously offensive entity out of said supplies that can be found on their deliciously-named craft buffet. If you’re not into making and doing, you can paint your hands with PVA and peel it off while you listen to acousto-punk duo, Bend Like Hell. Following some good owd-fashioned female led punk, sample the delights of DJ TBC, and get proper lairy of a Thursday's summer's eve.
Thursday 20 August, 8.30pm, free, Alley Cafe

YMCA Digital Young Creatives at Sobar

YMCA Digital Young Creatives
The youngest creatives on the block have managed to secure summat that often takes the most seasoned of creative veterans a whole lifetime to procure – a monthly residency. Sobar, the East Midlands' first alcohol-free bar, have offered the youngsters working with YMCA Digital the chance to showcase their work. Performing this week, will be Ashley Kerlew, The 0115 Mob, Onkaur and Elmz. There’ll also be CDs available from the project, Youth Insight, ran by Josh Bruce aka Bru-C and Natti Rudyj, that has focussed on creative writing. Who knows, you could be seeing the next Notts superstar before they even turn eighteen...
Friday 21 August, 6pm, free, Sobar

Aba Shanti-I Soundsystem: Nottingham Carnival After Party 
Kontakt and Rigbee Deep present the Nottingham Carnival 2015 after party. For one night only, the humble Irish Centre will be host to two mammoth sound systems. In the main arena is the Aba Shanti-I Soundsystem, one of the highlights of Notting Hill’s infamous carnival, playing an exclusive seven-hour set. Expect plenty of roots, reggae, and deafening dubs. Nottingham’s own Rubberdub Soundsystem will be bringing the vibes in the second room. This is one for the bass lovers, not the faint hearted. As well as plenty dub plates, there will also be plates of food to buy from the caribbean food stalls. Don’t miss out. It’s gonna be tasty!
Saturday 22 August,  9pm, £5-10, The Irish Centre

Everyone's favourite schoolboy warbler...

Blues in the Blood 
Everyone’s favourite tucked-away arts cafe opens its doors to newly-established promoters RIP Raw Promotions, presenting an evening of blues and Americana from Nottingham’s finest. The lineup includes six-piece country powerhouse The Most Ugly Child, who’ll have you dancing on the tables with their up-tempo Americana, rockabilly tunes or break your heart with one of their country ballads. Alongside them is Nottingham’s youngest blues and country star Tom McCartney. At just fifteen, he’ll blow your socks off with his whisky-stained husk of a voice, get you boogying with some bluesy rock ’n’ roll numbers and may even knock out a more mellow country tale. Concluding the bill is Ryan Farmer, a recent chart-topper on the iTunes blues charts – his recent release Worries and Troubles is perfect fodder for a beer and fag. It’s also pretty good for when your head’s pounding the next morning.
Saturday 22 August, 8pm, £5, The Chameleon

Scorzayzee 
It feels so good to have the biggest, baddest man in rap back in our ends. Following his immensely successful Kickstarter campaign, in which you lot managed to raise over £16k towards the creation and completion of his Aeon: Peace to the Puzzle album, the our man is back to celebrate the release of his limited edition, double LP. Don’t be fooled by the timings, this is not going to be the chilled-out, early afternoon vibe one may assume. After all, this is the guy who managed to get his track banned by the UK government. Make sure you grab yourself a copy of the album pronto, cos once the place is full – and we have a feeling it won’t take long – there’ll be no entry for empty handed fans.
Saturday 22 August, 3pm, free with album purchase, Rough Trade

Bowery's Industry Sundays

Industry Sundays 
Bar staff, we salute you. You coat yourselves in cheap sambuca and lime day in, day out, so that we can have a good time. You rarely moan when we demand to know the price of every drink that is clearly marked and priced on the menu we clutch in our sticky-with-vodka hands, and you maintain a level of composure known only to Gods when tasked with clearing up stag-do induced vomit at the end of a fourteen hour shift. For that, We think you deserve a night to really let your hair down. Fortunately, so does Bowery club, who have played host to Industry Sundays – the wildest night in Notts – since the dawn of time. Remove your aprons. and put down those bar blades. It is time for you to embrace the night.
Sunday 23 August, free before 11.30pm or with restaurant/bar payslip, The Bowery

Learn to Knit Socks 
It may be August, and the sun may just be poking its golden head from behind the clouds, tempting all to abandon their shoes in favour of a paddle in the Market Square fountain, but these are not weather conditions that we can expect to last. In no time at all, we will be trudging through inches of snow and ruining brand new loafers in knee-deep puddles. You need to start preparing. Luckily for you, Eleanor Burke is on hand to teach you how to knit yourselves a warm, toasty pair of foot gloves... aka socks. Experts and beginners alike are welcome, as are adults and children of all ages – but be warned, Eleanor has a ‘penchant for fruity language.' Take a packed lunch with you for the break, and get yer knit on in good time for the winter freeze.
Sunday 23 August, 10.30am, £35, Knit Nottingham

For the motherload of everything else going on this week check out our comprehensive Nottingham events listings.

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