RA RA RA IT'S ALL BACK TO THE DOGSTAR

Blank Pages

dogstarbrixton — Mon, 23 May 2011 17:00:23 +0000

Occasionally we have some truly remarkable theatre shows upstairs in the Dogstar Ballroom. This week the Blank Pages theatre company return for another three performances having already packed out the room in 2010 and earlier this year.

True to their name the pages are literally blank when the writers are given a topic to write two shows which they begin scripting the only one month before each performance. The actors usually only have a week to learn their lines before it goes on stage. It’s a unique concept which bends the rules and squeezes natural talent out of the performers and writers involved.

This double bill, ‘Transaction / Common Ground’ runs from Tuesday 24th May to Thursday 26th May (each show begins at 7:30pm). Tickets (available on the door) are only £6 and we can’t recommend this enough to theatre lovers!

LOL! :)

dogstarbrixton — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 14:32:37 +0000

There’s loads of comedy events at the Dogstar at the moment. Here’s a round up of upcoming events starting with tonight’s Battleacts show!:

BATTLEACTS!
THURSDAY 21ST APRIL 2011
£5 // 8PM

**The Independent on Saturday’s TOP TEN COMEDY GIG**
**TimeOut Recommended**
**Smirnoff Hot Pick**
**Fringe Review Highly Recommended**
** FOUR- and FIVE- star reviews**

Each month, two teams of intrepid improvisers battle to the death, proving their worth through a series of punishing impro games. The prize: their audience’s respect!

A ball-busting compere pits players against each other in no-holds-barred games that would have even Uri Geller bent out of shape; such as Big Mouth, The Sonnet Machine, Lipography, Russian Stand-up, and Die!

Who will be victorious? Who will fall? This is no joke. Comedy just got nasty.

CLICK HERE FOR FACEBOOK EVENT

LAUGHING HORSE NEW ACT OF THE YEAR COMPETITION

Following the completion of the Quarter Final stages on Tuesday (April 19th) of the 2011 Laughing Horse New Act of the Year Competition, Laughing Horse have yesterday released the names of this year’s competition semi-finalists.

Nearly 1,100 original entrants from 60 nationwide heats have been whittled down to 87 semi-finalists who will now compete to win one of the 12 places in the grand Final.

Laughing Horse Promoter, Alex Petty, says: “After 10 years of running this competition, this year has been one of the strongest years of the competition to date, and with such quality across the board which has made the decisions of who to put through to the semi-finals this year very difficult!”

The Line-ups are:

Wed 20 Apr
Darren Walsh, Darius Davies, Patrick Lappin, Chris Norton Walker, Mike Shepherd, Tudur Owen, Chris Boyd, Peter Callaghan, Sean Turner, Saban Kazim, Jimmy Glavey, Ignacio Lopez, Karel Hutter, and Kishore Nayar

Mon 25 Apr
Tom Toal, Laurence Tuck, Liban Diriye, Gareth Waugh, Tom Rowson, Nicci Mack, Stuart Laws, Alice Frick, Rory O’Keeffe, Alex Holland, Nicola Mantalios-Lovett, Don Biswas, Lindsay Sharman, and Jeff Leach.

Wed 27 Apr
Dan Lees, Romesh Ranganathan, Masai Graham, Adam Belbin, Ryan McCann, Fraser Millward, Helen Keeler, Matt Rees, Hannah Warman, Aaron Twitchen, Bobby Stardust, Stephen Bujema, Joe Wells, Andrew and McWhirter

Thu 28 Apr
Tommy Reid, Nicholas Marshall, Andy Davies, Max Dowler, Damian Kingsley, Antoinette Keane, Max Shepherd, Laura Lexx, Rob Hughes, Sarah Callaghan, Phillip Cooper, Chris Turner, Dane Baptiste, Mark Stephenson, and Max Shepherd.

Mon 02 May
Brennan Reece, Henry Ginsberg, Flange Krammer, Kate Roxborough, Paul Dennis, Red Redmond, Suzy Wylde, Leo Kearse, Angelica O’Reilly, Scott gibson, Michael Mansfield, Linus Lee, Darren Maskell, Palan, and Andrew Doyle.

Wed 04 May
Lee Kyle, Richard Perry, Rory O’Hanlon, Paul Osborne, Alex Bothwell, Danny Sutcliffe, Andy Fury, Sarah Hendrickx, Richard Fox, Lauren Shearing, Christian Steel, Tony Basnett, Tez Ilays, and Sarah Lavis.

The Top 12 comedians from the semi finals will perform at the Final on May 29th, also to be held at the Dogstar in Brixton. The overall winner recieves a prize package including a £1,000 cheque, gigs with both Laughing Horse and Highlight, the triophy, and performances at Edinburgh and Brighton Fringes showcases

The Final this year will be Judged by Steve Bennet (Chortle Editor), Julia Chamberlain (Highlight/So You Think You’re Funny), Ben Williams (Time Out Comedy Editor), Ian Franklin (Comic Voice Management), Corrie Maguire (Objective Talent), Mike Manera (Comeian/Promoter) and Laughing Horse Promoter Kevin McCarron.

Previous winners and finalists of this competition include: Russell Kane, Imran Yusuf, Rhod Gilbert, Jack Whitehall, Daniel Rigby, Greg Davies, Marek Larwood, Steve Hall (all of ‘We are Klang’), Carl Donnelley, Nina Conti, Matt Blaize, Matt Kirshen, Julian Deane,

Semi finals Take Place at:
The Dogstar, 389 Codharbour Lane, Brixton, SW9 8LQ
Show 8.30pm (Doors Open 7.30pm),
Tickets £7.50/£6 Students.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS AND ONLINE BOOKING

And the final takes place on May 28th at The Dogstar.

COMEDY UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Brand New Comedy…Where top comedians will be.. Building.. Banging.. Breaking & Making new bits of comedy and re-working their old favourite routines in the heart of Brixton, every Tuesday from September.

“Cut Price Culture” TimeOut

“Award-Winning Comics, break in brand new material” TimeOut

Previous Acts to Drop in include:
STEPHEN K AMOS, PAUL FOOT, DAVID SCHNEIDER, ANDI OSHO, DAN ANTOPOLSKI.. plus many other exciting folks.

Every second & fourth Tuesday of the month.
Next Show – 26TH APRIL 2011

LIBRARIANS WANTED

dogstarbrixton — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:48:00 +0000

In recent months we’ve had some very pleasant shows in the Ballroom full of live music, poetry, cabaret & comedy. Some of our favourites have been the Librarians Wanted shows which have quickly become a monthly highlight in the brixton calendar filling the room with bands, books, bodies, buddies, booze, cakes, indie pop, 60′s soul, post-punk and dancing until late! We’re looking forward to their next event in May…

At the last show someone whipped out a camera and filmed Tracey’s Love:

THE NEXT LIBRARIANS WANTED…

MAY 7TH 2011 // THE DOGSTAR BALLROOM

TICKETS £5 adv / £6 on the door (£5 on the door with a valid library card – as we oppose the closing down of local libraries!) / £3 after the bands (about midnight).

www.wegottickets.com/event/113232

STARS IN COMA (SE)

POCKETBOOKS

HELLA BETTER DANCER

CORPORAL MACHINE & THE BOMBERS

HAIKU SALUT

————————————

After the bands the Librarians Wanted family will be DJing a mix of indiepop, 60s soul, 80s and post-punk until 3am!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE FACEBOOK EVENT

WE ARE SELLING GET LOADED IN THE PARK TICKETS FOR DIRT CHEAP!

dogstarbrixton — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 21:09:30 +0000

Dogstar is one of the official sellers for the Get Loaded In The Park in Clapham Common on Sunday 12th June 2011. The festival features some incredible artists including Razorlight, The Cribs, Noisettes, British Sea Power, Patrick Wolf & Los Campesinos! You can buy tickets directly from the Dogstar bar for £36. That includes booking fee and is the cheapest price in town! Get yours before they run out!

EASTER EGGS & ROYAL KNEES

dogstarbrixton — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:33:41 +0000

Yes, you can’t get away from the royal wedding. It’s guarenteed mayhem across the capital, laaaarverly! Plus we get loads of chocolate this week too!

This is how we do at Dogstar over the bank holiday season: -

24th APRIL 2011
FREE EASTER BANK HOLIDAY PARTY WITH JOE EGG // THE COLLECTION
FREE ENTRY // 9PM-2AM
JOE EGG
BLONDE AMBITION
JOSH YOU ARE
DISASTRONAUT
THE COLLECTION DJS
THE AUDIO SUSHI DJS

ONE OF THE BIG DOGSTAR PARTIES OF THE YEAR. TOTAL MAYHEM ON THE DANCEFLOOR WITH LEGENDARY RESIDENT JOE EGG RETURNING TO HIS SUNDAY SPOT AND THE COLLECTION DJS!
CLICK HERE FOR THE FACEBOOK EVENT

Choice Cuts presents GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!
9pm-4am // Free before 11pm, £5 after
The Choice Cuts team celebrate our Queeny and her royal ways with a mash up party of Dubstep, DnB, Hardcore Party Bass and pop classics with special guest Harry The Dirty Prince on the decks until 4am!
CLICK HERE FOR THE FACEBOOK EVENT

Audio Sushi presents ROYAL HANGOVER PARTY
9pm-4am // FREE before 11pm, £5 after
So you’re obviously celebrating the royal wedding all weekend and the party didn’t stop last night. It’s a bloomin bank holiday! Audio Sushi DJs will be spinning until 4am tonight playing the best new Pop, Hip Hop, Dubstep, Funky, Electro, Indie, House, Old School, DnB, Reggae, Classics and more. Free Entry for all those who dress as the Queen.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FACEBOOK EVENT

MAYDAY MAYDAY
FREE ENTRY // 8PM-2AM
The First blast of the summer and no work Mondaymean a total old skool vs. new school workout with anthems, hiphop, dubstep, house & bass & garage mashed up by special guest EM [your army, koko] and dogstar residents.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FACEBOOK EVENT

HEART N LUNG UNIT

dogstarbrixton — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:09:24 +0000

This Wednesday 6th April the HEART ‘N’ LUNG UNIT are back in the Dogstar Ballroom (1st floor) with a another show of comedy, live bands, Djs and legendary locals…

ACHTUNG!!! Headline comic CHRIS DANGERFIELD ‘Original, surreal, filthy, confrontational and really, really funny.’ says Alex Zane…

DAVID STUDDERT Aussie-singer-songwriter “Kinda like a dirty Neil Diamond” says Tito T…

ALEX WHEATLE Award-winning author goes back to his reggae rhyming roots + stories from the ’81 riots…

MARK PICTON – Goosebumpy. Big, big voice…don’t call it a comeback…

Beautiful-hilarious-weirdo JENNIFER WARREN

SUPERBARD – tripped out surreal stories over groovy beats

SAMANTHA ASHLEIGH HAYHURST -If Bjork was from Swindon, that’s Smash…

FINN SHANNON – The bard from the bar!

+ Resident rhyme animal GLENN GUEST
+ Brixton’s third best DJ SENOR TITO TEEBONE

Super-crazy-ill storytelling, rhyme, comedic bombs & killer live music. What more do you want for 3 quid?

FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE

MS CUPCAKE!

dogstarbrixton — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:48:56 +0000

Anyone strolling down Coldharbour Lane this week will notice the new vegan cake shop that’s just opened by Rosie’s called Ms.Cupcake. Now, I’ve never been a huge fan of vegan cakes and my first thought was, “yeah right, when was there ever a need for vegan cupcakes over delicious, creamy, mouth-watering non-vegan cupcakes…?”. But then Ms. Cupcake herself rang up and booked a little spot for the shop launch afterparty last Friday….bringing with her trays and trays of delicious, creamy, mouth-watering vegan cupcakes! Jaffa Cake, Banana Split, Pumkin Pie, Peanut Butter & Jam, Chocolate Irish Cream, Watermelon, Rhubarb & Custard and Pimms being just some of the 70 outrageously addictive flavours that she has to offer…and after one bite of a Ferrero Rocher cupcake I was completely sold. Vegan cake’s alright you know. Ms Cupcake makes amazing cake and everyone loves amazing cake. Go get some!

R U DUMB presents R U GREEN (St Patricks Day Party)!

dogstarbrixton — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:07:03 +0000

DJ FREEMAN’S Thursday night R U DUMB party is a big hit in our Bricky. Dropping major classics and brand new club bangers he’s a machine smashing his way through until 2am each week.

This Thursday is St Patrick’s Day and Freeman’s holding fort with a Dubstep special! Big bass choons that’ll tickle your beer belly whilst you top it up with Guinness.

FREE ENTRY ALL NIGHT!

THE THEME IS GREEN – COME DRESSED IN GREEN THINGS, PAINT YOUR FACE GREEN, OR DON’T DRESS IN ANYTHING, JUST PAINT YOUR BODY GREEN…

VOTE FOR JONNY!!!

dogstarbrixton — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:36:00 +0000

We have some truly creative staff working at the dog and one of the old timers, Jonathan Hood is getting involved with the online hype game to promote his sculptures. Saatchi Gallery have been running a series of competitions from their website giving the winners their own exhibition! After making it to the top few hundred (out of several thousand) Jonny’s decided to enter another piece into a second competition and HE NEEDS YOUR HELP!

His work is amazing. He creates larger than life sculptures out of common objects such as cable ties, records, vhs tapes, beer mats…

The piece in this month’s competition is a tower of cassette tapes, titled Soundpiece:

Help him get through to the next round by CLICKING HERE scrolling down the left hand side of his profile page and and clicking on the ‘vote here’ link. You can sign in with Facebook or email, it’s quick and easy. Let’s get him onto the winners list and featured in Saatchi’s gallery!

NUCLEAR DAWN 30TH ANNIVERSARY

dogstarbrixton — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 13:37:53 +0000

A few Sundays ago marked the 30th anniversary of the famous Brixton mural, Nuclear Dawn which is a stone’s throw from the Dogstar on Coldharbour Lane. This photo taken in 1981 taken after the mural’s completion even has a glimpse of the old Atlantic pub sign.

To celebrate this incredible piece of work The London Mural Preservation Society brought the community together along with the artists, Dale McCrea and Brian Barnes (who were reunited for the first time in 25 years!), for a talk, some films, drinks and stroll down to the Mural itself.