PRESS RELEASES & NEWS

SEE TOM DALPRA & CHRIS FULLER HOST
THE CAMBRIDGE BAND COMPETITION
STARTING THURSDAY March 3rd
@ The Portland Arms / Cambridge
Organised by "The Strawberry Fair"
- MORE INFORMATION -


Ride with Me !!!

CBSCENE - 2010


image courtesy www.perfectyellow.co.uk

I had an epic time at Fordfest. As the compere I met a bit of Manchester rock history in the shape of Bez - he was lovely: came, vomited, stumbled about sideways after a minor case of mistaken identity, took his money, went) and Bonehead - not a let down as a funny, cool Manc-fucker with his new singer and protege John Mackie).

I enjoyed watching Rat Scabies start his set with a fat dooby in his mouth and proceed to knock ten parts of crap out of the drum kit with The Bermoundsey Joyriders. Then Dreadzone just grooved- on-out joyfully, on Saturday Night.

X Simple Minds drank and sang all night from sundown to sun up and there was a rare appearance from Deaf School- that Liverpool Art College entity from 1974 - with their fascinating cast of music industry success stories.

Thinking Merseyside, Kerry and Keltrix have been working hard and they were brilliant on the Saturday night. Kerry is talented, honest, driven and beautiful.

She reflects the spirit and the people around Fordfest in general.

" Some say it can take seven years to establish a Festival. On the back of the good vibes of this one, support is already gathering for next year. it's exciting. Good times. Thanks Ange and Mark. xx "

VISIT - http://www.fordhammusicfest.org/


Tom Dalpra to Host Strawberry Fair Day
ALL DAY June 5th @ The Hopbine
ATTENTION: EVENT CANCELLED!
Amanda
of The Hopbine has decided to cancel the all day event through "fear" that the Police and Authorities would hold it against her and the Pub for marking the Strawberry Fair day and somehow encouraging protesters that are in favour of Strawberry Fair. Amanda would like to make it clear that she supports the Strawberry Fair and looks forward to it's return next year ! She also adds that "peaceful protesters" are welcome at The Hopbine on the 5th June.

KELTRIX WILL STILL PLAY ON THE EVENING OF JUNE 5th
www.thehopbine.co.uk


SPECIAL FEATURE

WATCH TOM DALPRA CELEBRATE THE STRAWBERRY FAIR BY FILMING ON THE MID-SUMMER COMMON ON JUNE 5th AT THE EVENT KNOWN AS THE RASPBERRY FAIR

www.CBSCENE.co.uk


ALSO, ALL DAY BANDS @ The Zebra


Tom Dalpra has embarked on a series of "secret" gigs to "work up" his new Album and his new Band !!!
Lately Tom has played at the "Red Lodge Inn" and The BIkes & Bands Bash to enthalled audiences.
To Book Tom Dalpra + friends - C
ALL TOM- 07984 391070

TnT Live at Roundchurch Cambridge Sat - 29th May
Bikes & Bands Bash - Soham
SUNDAY 30th May before 2pm & after 6pm
Tom Dalpra+ friends
ALSO AT THE FOX BURWELL
Between 2pm & 6pm

June 9th @ The Portland Arms
Tom Dalpra+ friends - Love Songs Set
Supporting "Th'Parish" & others.

June 9th @ The Portland Arms



See Tom Dalpra present www.CBSCENE.co.uk
An informal look at Music & Entertainment in the CB area !

CAMBRIDGE BAND COMPETITION
SEE VIDEO OF THIS EVENT ON CBSCENE -
CAMBRIDGESHIRE ARTS & MUSIC CHANNEL

The Cambridge Band Competition 2010
Presented by "Tom Dalpra"
Thursday 15th April @ The Junction - Cambridge
organised by the Strawberry Fair

16 bands compete for 5 places in the final and the chance to win £250, lots of great gigs and the hearts and minds of the Cambridge music scenesters! The first heat featured the indie rock stylings of The Whisky Jax, Trevor Jones, Yo Yo Yo Litvinenko and The Loop and the standard was really high with great sets from everyone. The winners were Yo Yo Yo Litvinenko by a whisker and this weeks heat looks just as promising.

Cambridge Band Competition Final
www.junction.co.uk


Strawberry Fair presents the legendary Cambridge Band Competition Final.

Strawberry Fair Cambridge Band Competition Finalists !!!
Heat 1 winners - Yo Yo Yo Litvinenko
Heat 2 winners - Th' Parish - 2010 WINNERS !!!
Heat 3 winners - KTP
Heat 4 winners - Unit Nine
Audience Vote winners - Sachanovak
Young band winners - Chloe and the Soundjackers
Audience Vote winners - Injera


Strawberry Fair Appeals for Aid to Fight Court Battle

We have been grateful for the many messages of support for the Fair - it is very heart-warming to realise how many people appreciate and enjoy the hard work that goes into the Fair year after year.
We would like to give a little more detail about our decision, and in particular why we felt it was impossible to fight the appeal and continue to organise an event for this June.
At the licence hearing that the police spent a great deal of time and money attempting to get the fair closed down, employing a London-based law firm and barrister to present the evidence they had gathered at significant cost to the tax payer.
Strawberry Fair is almost entirely reliant on income from traders. With no event there is no income and the battle through the magistrates court is going to cost us dearly so we are appealing to the people of Cambridge to come along to our fund raising events, for example the Band Competition final on Thursday 15 April at the Junction (more to be announced soon) and possibly to donate a few pounds via our website.
As a voluntary group we don't have access to the kinds of legal resource or the public finance used by Cambridgeshire Police in their objections to the license. It is going to be an very tough task for us to prepare for the appeal hearing both in time and money, we hope that the people of Cambridge will support us in our mission to secure the fair for 2011 and onwards and give generously whilst not doing anything to exasperate the situation unnecessarily and damage the future of the fair. We would also welcome people to come up with their own fund raising ideas, please contact us if you want to get involved. community@strawberry-fair.org.uk
At last years fair, Cambridgeshire Police invested a significant amount of time and money into information gathering activity at the Fair. Despite several written and verbal requests from the Committee, they declined to share important information they had gathered other than the overall assessment they published in the press. It appears to the committee, therefore, that the purpose of that information gathering activity was not to help improve the event, or assist our planning processes, but specifically to object to a license for the Fair.
In spite of this lack of information the committee had implemented a raft of changes that were widely accepted to be moving the fair in a good direction. We have regular meetings with the council, residents groups and police and we have made massive changes to the event in recent years in response to the concerns raised. We feel it would be more productive for the police to raise any specific concerns they have with us about the event at these meetings rather than pursuing it through the courts.
It would have been an impossible task to fight the appeal whilst also being able to maintain the high standards of event planning and management necessary for a successful and safe Strawberry Fair. We are surprised that the Police had not realised what the effect of their decision to appeal would be. The timetable for the appeal process is well known, and will take us to within weeks of the Fair. They are also fully aware that the Fair is a community rather than a commercial event, with all the work carried out by volunteers.
The committee would like to stress that much of the work the police have done with the fair in previous years has been very constructive and helpful and we would very much like to build on this but it is hard to see the constructive input from this year?s objection to our licence and the appeal against a decision by publicly elected officials.
Strawberry Fair 2010 Stopped
In view of the continuing hostility of the police towards Strawberry Fair and their decision to ignore the decision of elected councillors to grant it a licence to run in 2010, the organisers have reluctantly taken the decision to cancel this year's event.
Justin Argent, Chair of Strawberry Fair said "Gaining a secure license that will allow the Fair to continue for many years to come has to be the top priority for the Strawberry Fair committee. The police appeal of the decision made by Cambridge City Council means that we now have to put all our efforts into fighting that appeal, rather than into the detailed preparations for the 2010 Fair which should now be taking place, and we are not prepared to compromise either the appeal or the Fair itself.
The timetable for the appeal means that we will not know whether the Fair can go ahead as planned until far too late in the day. We do not want to pass this risk on to the many supportive suppliers, traders, and artists whose livelihoods would be severely damaged by a last minute cancellation. By taking this decision now, people will be able to find alternative activities for 2010 safe in the knowledge that we are doing all we can to make sure Strawberry Fair returns in 2011 and beyond.
Cambridgeshire Police have made it absolutely clear they do not want the event to go ahead and have put an incredible amount of time and resource into preventing it. We feel the police action shows just how far out of step they are with the people of Cambridge, who have shown overwhelming support for the event; and had the same enthusiasm been spent on working with us rather than fighting us, many of the key concerns would have been dealt with.
We sincerely hope that the police will make use of the extra time before the 2011 event to develop a more sympathetic and realistic policing strategy - and we look forward to entering into detailed discussions with them, the Council and local communities to ensure that there is a secure future for this well-attended and popular cultural event."
The programming committee will be working on plans for alternative, venue-based activities across the city through out the year to provide an outlet for the fantastic local talent showcased every year at the Fair. Keep your eye on www.strawberry-fair.org.uk and the local press over the coming weeks for details.
Green Area Strawberry Fair Benefit Thursday 1st of April

Hey Hey People...

Well by now you're all aware that this years Fair has been stopped...however we at Strawberry Towers have decided to carry on with the fundraising to ensure that next years event is even more fabulous that usual!! ;))
So, we have one of the best festival acts in the country, a selection of Strawberry Films (as shown at the film night a few weeks ago) and a host of other luvli things to sate your strawberry needs!
TARANTISM: A very welcome return for one of our favourite bands..if music and dancing led to drug taking (as the police would have you believe) these guys would have had us in and outta rehab for years now!!
DAVE CROWBARR: Dave went down a storm at our December benefit, so we've asked him back for more punk classics, done in his own unique style.
And if that wasn't enough we have our very own NOVA7 filling in the bits between the bits, CRAZY EDDIE on visuals and the special selection of Strawberry Films.

http://www.strawberry-fair.org.uk/


LISTEN AGAIN TO TOM DALPRA
This text will be replaced by the flash music player.
on the BBC SUE MARCHANT SHOW

SEE TOM DALPRA with NUTMEG LiVE !!!
Colonel Gomez + Tom Dalpra & NUTMEG !!!
Location: Melbourn Rock Club @ Eternit Sports & Social Club
Time:7:30PM Friday, April 30th


Tom Dalpra joins the download generation !

Tom Dalpra, well known in Cambridge as a Singer Presenter is about to release his debut album on the world wide web albeit a "Greatest Hits" copulation (no spelling error ! ).

Many old rockers will remember a high-energy Tom heading the Soham band Nutmeg to victory in the 1988 Cambridge Rock Competition as it was and after that, on the Cambridge circuit, playing with master musicians Ted Koehorst and Kimberley Rew in The Lonely.

A regular face on the Cambridge Music scene Tom is currently promoting "Johnny Wright's Wednesday Night Hopbine Revue" presenting and filming selected events for exposure on the web via the website - www.hopbine.ge.ms and youtube. Tom is also presenting the 2010 Cambridge Band Competition once again which this year is at The Portland Arms, Mitchhams Corner every Thursday evening.

The Greatest Hits Rock Copulation is the first of the Tom Dalpra releases for 2010. As well as performing his past "hit" songs at a string of forth-coming gigs ( TBC & kicking off with a "Live Launch" performance at The Hopebine on Wednesday the 31st March, he will be playing some of his new material which he is also recording for his first official solo album due to be completed and available for release sometime this summer.

"It's been great putting the album together. After twenty five years there was enough material to put together at least a volume two, but really it just serves to tidy up the past, release some things that should have been and promote Tom Dalpra as I have my first serious go at a solo project in 2010. It's an honour and a joy to be able to do it all. It's quite a mixture of songs. There's some memories there for some and a few surprises maybe. I hope it's fun and that people think it's worth downloading.''

Follow Tom's progress on his web site www.tomdalpra.com where you can discover where he is performing, join his Facebook group, have your say, plus see and hear, lots of video and music. You can also visit the Hopbine site @ www.hopbine.ge.ms where Tom is presenting some of the cream of Cambridge musicians or www.cambridgebands.com/ where is is compering the Competition.

As well as encouraging local Music by way of promoting the Cambridge Rock Competition and The Hopbine Sessions Tom is also a respected activist for The Strawberry Fair and is willing to speak out to help find a solution for the crisis now facing the much loved annual Cambridge celebration.

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