Nithraid - All Hands on Deck!

Last year we were blown away by the response to Nithraid, and this year we have grabbed the opportunity to expand and grow the event for a second year, taking place on Saturday the 13th September. The Nithraid team has once again grown, to include musicians, rollerskaters, performers, and stall holders. There has been lots of work going on behind the scenes, but now that we come into the final stretch - the last four weeks before Nithraid - we would like to ask those interested in volunteering for the event to get in touch.

We plan to run in a similar manner to the Guid Nychburris event earlier in the summer, setting up a temporary 'workshop' in the week running up to Nithraid where there will be hands-on opportunities, preparing flags and pennants, dressing the ceremonial salty cow, and much else besides! 

On the day itself things we need help with are: joining the procession through the town, erecting marquees, general stewarding, helping around the marketplace on the Whitesands there are all sorts of things we would love a little extra help with. There will be a celebratory party held on the Saturday evening to which all volunteers, race go-ers, and crews will be invited. 

One wee special job we need a couple of cyclists for...this year we will be tracking the progress of the race for people waiting on the Whitesands. We need a couple of cyclists to be following progress a long the river and phoning in updates to the team on the Sands.

If you would like to help out please get in touch, we'd love to hear from you! Just send a quick email with your availability, even for an afternoon, before the 3rd of September to katie@thestove.org. 

DMC - taking Dumfries by Storm

The Born to be Wide Seminar Panel on Thursday night

It's been a hectic week or so at Stove - and it is with sadness that we wave goodbye to DMC for another year. It's been insightful, exciting, wild, engaging and fantastic. Having landed at a music conference with very little music background, there was an initial concern of being the cuckoo of the flock however, 
The Dumfries Music Conference kicked off last Wednesday, with a showing of LCD Soundsystem's Shut Up and Play the Hits, a beautifully shot, poignant film about the band's last ever gig in Madison Square Gardens. I decided to avoid googling the band beforehand, and went in with no knowledge of them or their music - and left with a new love. 

Barstow Bats rocked the Stove on Friday night

This buzz carried into Thursday - with a seminar programme, relocated back into the familiarness of the Stove. It kicked off with Born to be Wide's Getting Started in Music - which included a panel of industry experts who gave inspiring but honest insight into the contemporary music scene in Scotland. Grassroots music  Popcop blog was represented, as was Bar Bloc and the Wickerman, as well as Keren McKean of We Make Music Work - and covered everything from managers, getting live gigs, to pluggers, promoting and marketing your music. This was followed by Gary Aitkinson who spoke about the story of Document Records, and it's in-depth archive and back catalogue of musical gems. 

Hector Bizerk Live in Dumfries

Up to pace. Friday saw the Stove taken over by aspiring song writers who landed to join Music Plus in learning from Robert Shields of Finding Albert, who worked from a music composition base, and gave some inspiration into his early career within the music industry and Findlay Napier of Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers - a self proclaimed folkie who had all participants writing a song from scratch in less than 30 minutes... Say cheese, say please sounds set to become a chart topping success!

The beautiful Honeyblood opened the Stove's first live gig

Quick change over and the Stove transformed to Dumfries's newest intimate live music venue.  Chris from Bar Bloc mentioned during the seminar night that remote and unusual venues are often the most atmospheric, and we couldn't have imagined how great it would be when first Honeyblood, at the end of their UK tour and just about to head for the States rocked up and gave the Stove it's first live set. Followed up by the mind-blowing Hector Bizerk, Glasgow based hip hop group, who really blew Dumfries out of the water. Local lads Barstow Bats led the Stove into the night, and the whole place glowed.

Thanks to Zoe Bestel for going out and photographing the DMC programme in situ!

The DMC team didn't disappoint on day four, and another quick costume change for the Stove saw it re-invent itself as a retail outlet hosting Rebecca Vasmant's record fair, featuring DJ sets and sellers both local and down from the big city. Congratulations go out to the DMC team for a fantastic programme, thanks to everyone who was involved and thanks to everyone who came to our events - we hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did! To see more of the photographs taken at DMC head to our flickr site here 

DMC - The Line Up

The DMC2013 is fast approaching - and the lines are now open to book yourself into all of our FREE events. Come along and discover something new:

Wednesday 30th October
DMC2013 presents FILM: Shut Up and Play the Hits
(https://www.facebook.com/events/179099982276208/)
Please note you must be 15 or over to attend this event. Join the facebook event page above to let us know you are coming!

Thursday 31st October
DMC2013 presents Music Industry Experts/ Born to be Wide!
https://www.facebook.com/events/305609966243458/
To book tickets for this event please go to the eventbrite site here as spaces are limited.
Participating speakers include: 
Keren McKean (former Snow Patrol Manager), 
Jason Cranwell and Sarah McMullan (The Pop Cop) 
Derick Mackinnon (Born To Be Wide / The Scotsman), 
Chris Cusack (Booker, Bar Bloc, Glasgow) 

This informal session takes place from 20.00 - 21.00 and the session is preceded by a presentation from Gary Atkinson (owner of Document Records). Doors open at 18.30.

The evening will be rounded off with DJ sets from our industry experts, who will play us some of their favourite music.

Friday 1st November
DMC2013 Songwriting Workshops from Music Plus
https://www.facebook.com/events/673485076004080/
11am-12.30pm
Music Plus Songwriting Workshop led by Robert Shields from Finding Albert
3.30pm-5pmMusic Plus Songwriting Workshop led by Findlay Napier from Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers 
If you would like to attend these events please contact the Dumfries Music Conference direct with your name, postcode, contact number and which session(s)- to secure your place. 

DMC2013 presents Barstow Bats, Hector Bizerk and Honeyblood
https://www.facebook.com/events/206532246191845/
Spaces ARE limited for this event, and it's likely to book up so to get a hold of your free tickets please register on eventbrite here

Saturday 2nd November
DMC2013 Record Fair with Rebecca Vasmant
https://www.facebook.com/events/517770988315595/
DJ, producer and the brains behind Sub Club's Record Fair, Rebecca Vasmant is hosting a very special DMC event at The Stove, Dumfries. This is no ordinary record fair - we'll have DJs, listening stations and some the finest collection of vendors Dumfries ever will see.

All the events are being held at The Stove, Dumfries, apart from our film screening, which will be at Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre.
For more details about specific events - check out the facebook pages listed, or follow the Dumfries Music Conference on facebook and twitter