Ginger DJ Rob

What a day! Some luxury birthday presents including a future trip to Minecart Madness near Snowdon. After breakfast I was blindfolded (ooh, kinky) and bundled into the car for a mystery tour by my missus. We drove for about 20 minutes and to my slight disappointment had turned up outside an office. When I got out of the car I realised we were at Shoreham Airport . As we walked towards another office I saw the exciting sign of Helifly ! After being greeted by the pilot and a few moments hanging around watching the seagulls getting moved on from the airfield we were treated to an aerial tour of the south coast past Brighton, turning inland after Rottingdean, over Lewes and headed back to Shoreham over the South Downs. Still with a smile on my face and my head still in the clouds we headed over to Devil's Dyke pub . Within the 7 years I've lived in Brighton, I'd never visited this landmark. Beautiful the scenery and the pub food was delicious. The complimentary bottle ...

The beatboxing, multi-instrument playing music supremo was on top form. Loved his intro as he surprised the up-for-it crowd walking down past the audience and inviting interaction with the mic. He was joined with 3 guys doing visuals who mixed up searched for Google Images which worked well. I had expected to hear him mimic well-known dance tracks in his own beatbox style. Instead the show encouraged the crowd to shout out ideas of made-up song titles and musical styles to make up songs. This worked well up to a point but I sensed either the crowd were more used to his past shows of get-up-and-dance or were getting too drunk and leery with predictable suggestions. Don't get me wrong, his performance was excellent. I felt the show's format needed some variation and perhaps a standing room-only venue so people could dance. It might have been the wookie reggae song that was my favourite.

Last night I saw possibly one of the most imaginitive and original puppetry in ages. No wonder their Edinburgh show sold out. Titled 'The Table', it was described as: "Moses the puppet invites you to his home, the Table, where he experiences real and surreal visions in Blind Summit Theatre 's imaginative show combining puppetry and dark humour." The first act involved their main character animated by three puppeteers who bascially introduced himself, his imaginery landscape on the table and his failing persistance to reinact Moses' last 12 hours according to the Bible. The humour was subtle but mature and dark in places but at times had everyone in stitches especially as it seemed there was an improvisation moment when the puppets hand fell off. Here's a YouTube clip showing the Moses puppet: The second act was a clever use of a wall with portrait frames which the puppeteers animated with masks. Again, a very clever scene and chan...

I'd always missed the previous year's Zombie Walk perhaps down to being the same Saturday as Halloween parties or White Night. For this year's Beach of the Dead a few of my friends decided to join the undead celebration which by the end of the day seemed to be the biggest and best yet. Zombie friends consisted of office worker, disco dancer of the dead, dead Alice, senorita and a dead Jane Austin. The dining table was covered in copydex glue, fake blood, powder, some mirrors and a bottle Tuaca , the zombie choice of poison. As if a distant church bell rang at 3pm, all zombies shuffled over to Victoria Park in Brighton where everyone compared bites, cut off limbs and zipped up skin. There didn't seem to be much organisation as for a starting time to get the mass killed off conga through town as everyone was either posing for the living. Somehow, they all set off down Church Street past the Brighton Dome causing traffic queues. I managed to find a good position awa...

First of all, thank you to those who came along to make our first Sonic Sushi night a success. We had a blast and from the grins and giggles of those dancing, looks like you had a good one too. We didn't quite expect the crowd to want it quite so hard and fast but you all lapped it up like tech-house nymphs! As well as our normal party crowd it was great to see and meet some new friends including some from my hometown (Dereham) in Norfolk. Hopefully the venue will get their air-conditioning to work otherwise we'll have to bring in even more fans (the blowing kind). We've already been asked back but haven't quite decided when's the date. If you missed the opening set of Sonic Sushi by myself, gingerdj at the Globe then look no further (well look a little further than this awkward statement...its below here, right.) House set - Sonic Sushi at the Globe (Brighton) 15/10/2011 by Gingerdj on Mixcloud   ...

A date for your diaries: 15th October 2011 will be my first public DJ appearance in Brighton! Along with (secret after-party Disco Dungeon regular, Porntsar (or Kev to his mates) we'll be taking our bouncey, positive house music to the Globe Pub on Middle Street in Brighton . For a taster of the sounds we will be playing visit my Mixcloud page (gingerdj) . Both Porntsar and myself use Traktor and Native Instrument's excllent Kontrol S4 and plan to link our two laptops and controllers to mix 8 channels. Inspired by Xpress 2's legendary 6 deck DJ performaces future Sonic Sushi play outs could involve multiple sound, sample, loops and effects.

Although I've lived in Brighton for fours years this was the first time I've been able to see the Brighton Pride Parade. Starting at 11am from Madeira Drive it snakes its way up West Street then down North Street turning left past Old Steine and down to Preston Park via London Road. We staked out a good shaded spot along Gloucester Place. It must have taken nearly an hour to reach us but it was worth the weight in gold glitter. There were some excellent costumes and some cheeky moments. The local police got a nice cheer after the riots business last week. Surprised to see many politcial parties having their own float and dressing up as outlandish as possible keeping within the brief of 'Out of this world' with so many sci-fi and alien costumes. This year's Pride was no longer a free event at Preston Park (at £12 pre-booked or £18 cash entry). I didn't really enjoy it the other year , mainly because of the soaking wet rain that drowned even the highest platfor...

Lucha Future had been advertised at the Brighton Dome for a while but we had resisted buying tickets partly because of price. It wasn't until a mate gave us a 2-4-1 code via the Dome website we bought some quality tickets. What is Lucha Future? Basically Mexican wrestling for the Pepsi generation., young, bold and masked! The Dome put on some Mexican food behind the bar plus a few special margarita cocktails. The bar started filling up with some true fans donned in wrestling masks with one guy dressed up as Hulk Hogan adding to a great atmosphere. Inside the Dome, you quickly realised how many seats were unsold. The event started with the announcer dressed in some sort of space-suit escorted by a couple of space hostesses. He really knew how to big up the wrestlers and the forthcoming action. Before we got to see any wrestling the electronic band came on the stage behind the smaller than expected ring. It was a four-piece band officially titled, Nortec Collective Presents Bos...

We've been seriously busy over the past week with practically every night out at a different Brighton Fringe show or Great Escape gig. More on that when I invent that time-machine. But first, a pair of sweaty fellas I've been looking forward to seeing (no, I don't mean the contents of my pants after a cycle ride). Tonight Matthew, Max and Iván were going to be 'The world’s greatest detective' tackling 'Chicago’s murky underworld'. It was going to be 'A prohibition-era tale of revenge, whiskey and javelins.' In case you're still confused I'm referring to the latest show from a pair of talented comedy actors who are a regular feature at the Brighton Fringe. Their previous shows used their own style of comedy sketch with their 2009 Televisionaires show (their Mario & Luigi meets Martin Scorsese was hilarious) then their 2010 show, simply titled Max and Iván (loved their bad stand-up comedian character with inner monologue). Unlike La...

To open the Great Escape festival , DJ Shadow brought his Shadowsphere for some top trip hop sounds and AV delights. We arrived just after the doors opened expecting an early show but were treated to two very good support acts. No idea who the first act was but he did manage to whoop up the small crowd with his guitar and sampler set. Beardyman I was a virgin before hearing him but for a first time Beardyman broke me in good and sore for more. I knew he was talented but his range of beatboxing and bang-on accurate rap impressions were excellent. He had such stage presence and confidence that you couldn't help but smile and laugh at his mouth-making beats. There was no mention of McVities though though he'd probably never buy a packet of biscuits again! Personal highlight was his rendition of Daft Punk's Around the World. The Shadow appears All throughout the support acts there was a sphere structure on stage but no mixing table for the Shadow. After Beardyman...

I've only blogged about this Fringe event as it was organised by my employer and I helped out with the social media promotion and event photography. As a public event I was expecting some off-the-street nutters but they didn't really turn up. For a slightly academic debate we had an excellent turn-out with the Friends Meeting House caretaker having to put on extra chairs. Slightly random woman asking me who the speakers were but I let her off for being partially sighted. We had the Telepgraph foreign affairs editor and a Guardian journalist attending/speaking (pictured). At the end we had a Brighton Fringe rep turn up and requested a copy of my photos! The next day they were on the Facebook page - result! All the photos can be seen on Flickr .

I only discovered that the story was based on real events instead of the Michael Caine version that made it a British icon. With last year's excellent Breakfast Club still in my mind, I was expecting this show to use another Brighton and Hove public building. Instead there was a multi-level stage with pub bar, a single bed and a lounge. It started off with a telephone conversation with Carter saying he was going up North to bury his brother and investigate who killed him. Carter arrives at what I assumed to be a relatives house but only work out later that its his dead brother's spirit replaying old memories and giving the audience some background to keep the story on track. As well as the main scenes, instead of playing out the complicated action sequences, the actors would narrate to explain what they were doing or feeling - sometimes this over-simplified the situation. At other times, you glad of it as some of the actors didn't project their voice enough to be heard p...

Atters is a Brighton Chap legend who models himself on English scoundrel, Terry Thomas . His show is almost a PowerPoint presentation on his paranormal investigations then has special, sexy guests filling in with saucy acts. A kind of Carry on X-Files . Catchphrases involved 'swabs' and 'probes' etc. I loved his persona and caddish approach but you couldn't quite help thinking it was a bit unreheresed. The cabaret element was a little borderline at times especially the pant-wearing pervy female strippers giving the audience an eye-full more than expected. Perhaps the show would have been better on a Friday night at about 10pm. Since writing the above I've since discovered this video which is dated three years ago and is the same material. No wonder some of the audience were a little quiet, perhaps expecting some new jokes?

Saturday night was a Brighton Festival free event in a Hove public park . The fire-art installations were beautiful with some eerie jazz music for a chilled feel. Very much like the hedonistic feelings of Glastonbury and Big Chill.

Location: Three and Ten Pub, Upstairs Theatre One of our favourite's from last year's Fringe returned with 99% new comedy sketch material. These five guys pack in some great laughs and seemed to have invested in some in-between videos as the next gag gets set up. The humour is low-brow, silly and childish in places but that's typically perfect for my level that's guaranteed to shock you into laughter. Highlights for me were the CCTV of one of the Gimp's mum and her bedroom plus the opening and closing musical numbers were brilliant. When will these guys get a TV break?! See the Late Night Gimp Fight website Related articles Fringe Review website - Late Night Gimp Fight Ginger DJ Rob: Late Night Gimp Fight 2010 review

Typical isn't it?! Last weekend proved that getting to see good DJs and live music is like waiting for buses i.e. you wait ages then two roll up at the same time. Friday night was a masterclass in live techno performance from the French legend, Laurent Garnier at Concorde 2. It was a mature crowd but an up-for-it one packing out the venue. He was joined to two fellow Frencies, Scan X and Benjamin Rippert Rocco who built up a Detroit, melodic sound then peaking the sound effects into a right royal rave-up. We couldn't remove our smiles. The 3 man set lasted for about 30 minutes then Laurent Garner DJ'ed for another 30 whipping up the crowd into a frenzy through sounds of tech-house, techno, some jazzy mutations and my personal highlight, his Acid Eiffel (listen below and educate your ears!). By 2am, we needed some air but made the (regrettable) decision to leave with the next day's Vietnam cycle training and Goldfrapp performance the next night. Goldfrapp at the ...

Tickets have been booked to see Greg Davies this Saturday at the Brighton Dome . Some people will know him from The Inbetweeners but I'll associate him more with We Are Klang (introduce yourselves to this episode clip on YouTube). Looking forward to this and thought I'd add a preview video. Sadly, for anyone wanting to go, his stand-up, 'Firing Cheeseballs at a Dog' has sold out.  Related articles Greg Davies | Edinburgh comedy review (guardian.co.uk) Greg Davies: Firing Cheeseballs at a Dog, Pleasance Courtyard (independent.co.uk)

I was getting used to this TV production lark so it was slightly depressing to know it would be the last day. Pub du Vin was our last shoot location and they'd picked a great function room with a multi-tiered, drinking glass chandelier. Martin had already done his intro bit so we had to flick through our photos from our assignment and comment on them whilst being filmed. Despite using the Panasonic camera provided (which I bitched about on Monday) the photos ranged from ok to brilliant. The director had already picked his favourite dozen which I couldn't argue with. A few 'noddy' shots again from behind and the side before we met Martin again. Slideshow The second scene was to show Martin our selected photos in front of a huge Panasonic plasma TV (can you guess who sponsored this programme). Behind the telly was a guy pressing the laptop key to go show the next photo. The feedback was fair with a few constructive improvements suggested but a few more compliments ...

Sleep eluded me from a combination of worry and the stuffy, warm conditions. 8am was supposed to be the start time. Met the crew at Jury's Inn hotel and the day did not bode well as Toby, the director admitted he woke up feeling for the first time in the 4 week shoot he felt genuinely unmotivated for the day. Great, no pressure then. Kensington Gardens   I had originally in mind to take photos around St. James Street, Kemptown with the chance to see some colourful gay characters but wanted to capture a particular Brighton character. I had a hunch I'd see him and it paid off. Thank god 'Spyke' appeared as my first subject around 9:30am. I thought he'd only brought his pug dog but thankfully his white rat was inside his zip-up top. It was a rare day for him not to cycle with his rabbit in the basket. Lovely guy to meet who loved his animals. Shops were still mainly closed at this point and not much else was going on so we stopped for a coffee. As we headed for...