Pack your picnics and gerron down...
Summer Nights Outdoor Film Festival
Winter is a time of year usually reserved for smashing film upon film, fixed to the settee, curled up with an entire cheesecake. But thankfully, it’s not winter, it’s summer. And we’re gonna make a bleddy stonker of it. Helping us on our warm, fun-filled endeavour while retaining the square eyes is Derby Quad – they’re teaming up with Wollaton Park to deliver outdoor screenings of everyone’s favourite pictures. You better move fast though. Dirty Dancing and The Dark Knight Rises are already sold out, but there’s still a chance to bag tickets to see Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa on Saturday 29 August. If that don’t butter your muffin, there’s always the option to stray a little further afoot, into the depths of Derbyshire, to watch a flick at Calke Abbey or Hardwick Hall. Grab yourself some bevvies and a pack-up, and you’re good to go.
August - September, 7pm, £11.50, Wollaton Park and beyond
1000 Years of History Week
You’re reaching the fourth week of summer holidays. You’ve exhausted the picnic at the park option, and forking out £30 for a mind-numbing animation at the cinema is bound to tip you over the edge. All you need now is a few paracetamol and a cheap way of entertaining the delightful sprogs before you can pack them off to school again. Luckily for you, mums dads and everything in between, the ‘Lion is here to aid you in your quest. Nottingham Castle are providing you with a week's worth of delightfully easy on the moola activities to celebrate the last 1000 years of our city’s history. Take the sprogs on a ‘Turbulent History Trail’, or have them create replicas of historical artefacts for you to stick on the mantlepiece. They’ll have a whale of a time, learn heap loads, and you can have a coffee. Win win.
Monday 24 - Friday 28 August, 10am, free/£1/£2, Nottingham Castle
The main man Huw himself...
Huw Warren - Trio Brasil
If your weekly outings consist of the same quiz night, with the same over-zealous host, at the same alright-for-a-cheap-pint pub, then you my friend, need a social events makeover. Who better to give it to you than yours truly. Always here to help, we’re advising that you dust off your jackets and put on a fancy pair of shoes, and get over to Arnold, for an evening of Brazillian inspired jazz. Huw Warren is exploring ‘groove heavy lyricism’ by performing works by Hermeto Pascoal, Guinga and Tom Jobim on the piano. Never heard of ‘em? All the more reason to get down and educate yourself. It’ll make you sound well cultured during moments of awkward silence on that Tinder date you’ve set up.
Thursday 27 August, 8pm, £5/£10/£12, Bonington Theatre
D&D Attack Wing: Elemental Evil Month Two
We’re pretty darned proud of Nottingham’s nerd heritage with Games Workshop, but they’re not the only goliaths of the table top gaming world - the ubiquitous Dungeons and Dragons has been uniting and dividing people over large tables for over four decades. Not something you want to be doing alone, mainly cos it’s nigh on impossible, there are enough groups to never have to worry. One of which is in the now highly accessible Beeston - not that it was ever that hard to get to, but you know, they suffered for those trams so you may as well use them. Chimera comic shop hosts a monthly game, it’s only a fiver and there’s prizes as well as those all important ranking points up for grabs. This month’s event is using The Altar of the Elder Elemental Eye special rules and standard Legion Building Rules, so check your rule books (p28) and have your figures at the ready.
Thursday 27 August, 7.30pm, £5, Chimera, High Road, Beeston
Family friendly, apparently...
Fuzzbox
Make sure you’re lapping it up in the bar at Rough Trade for the first Fuzzbox live garage, punk showcase from our pals at I’m Not From London. The night will feature the awesome Nottingham band Cans playing live and loud, followed by INFL’s DJs until late – including the one and only Stiff Kittens’ Sonia. And if you’re worried about what to do with your little terrors, there’s no need to bother arranging a childminder – bring them along, it’s all ages welcome. Introduce their innocence to tunes from the likes of The Standells, The Cramps, The Trashmen, Iggy Pop & The Stooges, Gay Bykers On Acid and plenty, plenty more. It’d be a right old shame to miss out on a beauty of an evening like this, so come on down or don’t even bother reading LeftLion again – actually, ignore that last one.
Friday 28 August, 6pm, free, Rough Trade
The Great Food and Drink Festival
If you haven’t had a chance to visit the gorgeous Newstead Abbey this summer, then The Great Food and Drink Festival is the perfect excuse. Held over a weekend, the event hosts hundreds of stalls selling high-quality, local produce, and a large range of hot food vendors to satisfy all tastes and appetites. Not only will there be plenty of food and drink to sample and buy, you’ll get the chance to watch a host of celebrity chefs, including Chetna Makan, Sean Wilson, Marcus Bean and Dean Edwards, show you a trick or two in the kitchen. There’ll also be a selection of live music spanning across the whole weekend, ensuring every sense is catered for. Round up the whippersnappers, get down to the glorious grounds, and fill up on a weekend of pure culinary prowess. Probably one for the stretchy pants.
Saturday 29 - Monday 31 August, 10am, £5 - £15, Newstead Abbey
Upside down, right way round, still a bangin' night...
Whisky Stain, Badmen, Ryan Farmer
Got the blues? We hope not, unless you’re putting them to good use by chucking some rock in and making music that rips through even the most hardened of hearts. Two such souls that know how to write a stomping blues rock tune are Whisky Stain, and to make a righteous fuss about the release of their new single, The Lord’s Revolver, they’re having a bit of a do at Contemporary. If you haven’t caught them live before, this is the time to make amends. To make a night of it, they’ve got the artist formerly known as Ryan Thomas, Ryan Farmer, playing his Americana, and Bad Men, who we promise will do strange things to you but in a good(ish) way. Enough said.
Saturday 29 August, 8pm, free, Nottingham Contemporary
Do your bit with a bitta rock n' roll...
Punk 4 The Homeless
Homelessness is an issue that is difficult to monitor. It is neon impossible to collate accurate statistics and numbers of those who are sleeping rough, or who do not have a safe, secure place to live, due to the nature of the kind of life these people may lead. Caused by all kinds of situations - financial crisis, relationship breakdowns and addiction - those who are forced to turn to the streets face the kind of hardships one can’t even imagine. Particularly for children. The Summac Centre and the punk community are doing something about it. Putting on a gig this Saturday with a suggested donation entry fee of £3, you’ll have a right good time, all for a brilliant cause. There’ll be the yummiest of vegan food available from People’s Kitchen, all for a suggested £3.50. Pull yer finger out and do your bit - all in the name of punk.
Saturday 29 August, 7pm, donation, The Summac Centre
Pop Up Party: Ibiza Part 2
If the cobwebs in your wallet have prevented you packing your flip flops into a strictly seventeen kilo suitcase and jetting to some gloriously sunny Spanish island this summer, then wail into your pillow no longer. The trendiest bar in Bridgford is bringing Ibiza to you. This bank holiday weekend, head on down to Riverbank and make the most of the extra lie in with a proper boozey party night. Jamie ‘Fatneck’ Low is warming up his decks in preparation for a proper big one, and DJ Sneak is gearing up to headline, taking you all the way to 3am with only the cream of the crop of all party tuneage. Tell me, what’s not to love about that? If you’re one of the unfortunate bank holiday workers, fear not, as a liquor laden early morning night is not necessary - it’s early doors so you can show your face and pop home for a bath before ten.
Sunday 30 August, 6.30pm, £12 - £20, Riverbank Bar and Kitchen
For the motherload of everything else going on this week check out our comprehensive Nottingham events listings.
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