Routledge Reference

Wheatstock 2012: Routledge supports the Prince’s Trust

Routledge organises its own gig night in Oxford to a sell-out crowd and raises plenty of cash for the Prince’s Trust

In June 2012, Routledge and its brothers and sisters in Taylor & Francis Journals joined the Million Makers challenge. This is an ambitious project run by The Prince’s Trust which challenges businesses across the UK to raise money for charity, the aim being to get together a cool £1,000,000 overall. We are hoping to contribute our own amount to this pot.

There are eight members of this year’s Million Makers team and each has been tasked with running a charity event. Ideas include a Halloween party, a trip to the races at Ascot and a bring and buy sale. There was only one thing I was going to do … get together a load of great Oxfordshire-based bands, charge £5 on the door at The Wheatsheaf in Oxford, and give people the chance to rock out for a solid four hours. And so Wheatstock 2012 was born!

Despite the pub vetoing the offer of free madeira cake to punters (there was a cake brawl two weeks ago), the crowd was nontheless wowed by the slide guitar skills of local bluesman Richard Brotherton. Following closely on Richard’s heels were the young rockers Hell’s Gazelles (pictured) who blew everyone away with their Rob Halford-esque vocals and AC/DC riffage. Great stuff.

The three closing acts on the night offered something for everyone. Quadrophobe, from Wantage, offered up a thick slice of jazz-infused ska-pop featuring lyrics touching on themes including how to break up with your beloved aboard a space rocket.

Fuzzy Logic Baby were definitely the wild card on the night, with their fusion of ska, reggae and indie rock, something I don’t think any of us had heard before! The phrase ‘does anybody speak Martian?’ was indelibly ingrained in everyone’s vocabulary by the end.

And to round things off in style, the crowd were treated to Oxford-based rockabilly maestros The Long Insiders (pictured below), whose sexy vocal style and atmospheric guitars certainly got feet tapping and heads nodding. Thank you to everyone who turned up on the night. Your generosity means everything!

 

Graspop Metal Meeting 2012: Belgium get’s heavy

Ozzy Osbourne - Slayer - Black Label Society - Slash - Hatebreed - Thin Lizzy

We are a diverse bunch of people in the Reference team and could never be accused of ‘going with the flow’. Yes, we might like to listen to a bit of pop cheese every now and again, but our musical passions lie elsewhere. Whether it’s Florence & the Machine, Duran Duran or Lamb of God, somone will be nodding, bobbing or head-banging to some kind of beat.

And on the weekend of 22nd-24th June, it was my turn to indulge in my own personal passion; HEAVY METAL! Well, technically metal, but in reality everything from hard rock, metalcore and thrash to blues rock and punk. Graspop Metal Meeting in Dessel, north Belgium, is an annual mecca for guitar aficionados from all across Europe. The only prerequisite? That you are willing to raise those horns and head-bang for three days straight.

Kicking off with US grungers Godsmack, the festival offered up musical delights from Slayer, Hatebreed and Lamb of God on Day 1, not to mention a fantastic performance from one-time Guns N’ Roses axe-wielder Saul Hudson, aka Slash, with his new(ish) band The Conspirators, fronted by Miles Kennedy. Personal highlights also included Thin Lizzy playing ‘Cowboy Song’ (I am just a cowboy!) and a lunchtime rendition of Beastie Boys classic ‘Sabotage’ by Cancer Bats.

Next year? I’ll be there! If you like your guitars downtuned and heavy, you should think about it too.

(Source: graspop.be)

Turl Street Kitchen: Great Food, Great Crowd

Breakfast - Lunch - Dinner - Drinks

We here at Routledge Reference are big fans of the the Turl Street Kitchen, its a place that offers you a proper Oxford experience. Right in the heart of the city on the corner of Turl Street and Ship Street and just a hop, skip and a few cobbles away from Broad Street, The High and the Radcliffe Camera.

Open 8am till late and open to all, it offers relaxed eating and drinking with a focus on great local produce and independent drinks makers.

Why not dine downstairs before heading a floor up to check out some great live music which is part of the Oxford Hub a place to meet, learn, play, talk and create.

Recently the Kitchen played host to Oxfringe which is still currently running til the 9th of June. Some event highlights upstairs included nerd-comedy, surreal song-writing, giant panda performance poetry and scientific magicians.

What more could you want from an evening out which included great food and a fun atmosphere!

World Book Night 2012 in Oxford

On the evening of Monday 23rd April we donned our rain macs, pulled on our wellies, and – like true bibliophile troupers - shrugged off the rain and set off into the city to celebrate the wonder that is World Book Night (WBN).

Ensconced in a cosy cavern of books, fairylights and artily hung newspaper decorations at the Albion Beatnik Bookstore in Jericho - the setting for the Oxford Society of Young Publishers’ World Book Night celebrations - we supped wine, and snacked on peanuts, pretzels, and poetry by the lively and talented Lucy Ayrton.

We didn’t see anyone giving out WBN titles - WBN without (the official) books? – but on my rain drenched cycle home it occurred to me that this was precisely the point. WBN is about celebrating books and reading, yes. But more than that, it’s about encouraging people who wouldn’t normally open a book and read it to do so. For me, the following story – an account of a WBN ‘Giver’s’ experience of WBN 2012 encapsulates everything that WBN represents:

Maybe the best story was about the book I didn’t give away. I asked a woman if she would like a copy of Small Island; would she promise to read it if I gave her one. “No” she said, “I’m 57 and I can’t read nor write, I can’t take your book” She wants to learn so much, she says, but how do you find out about where you can learn to read if you can’t read? When she goes to the hospital or the bank, she says she has forgotten her glasses so other people fill in the forms for her. She told me she can’t use trains as she can’t read the stations. Her life is truly impoverished by her inability to read.
 
So, we have made a pact. I have her phone numbers. I will find her a local literacy scheme, get her on it and next year, she will take a World Book Night book  - and read it for herself.   

Sara World Book Night Giver

Read Sara’s full account of her WBN 2012 experience at the following link: http://www.worldbooknight.org/wbn-blog/a-very-moving-givers-story.html

The Countdown to Oxfringe 2012 has begun

Oxford Punt 2012 Music Festival

Oxford plays host to annual Nightshift magazine Punt festival

On Wednesday the 16th May Oxford Punt 2012 will take place across several venues in Oxford.

This is the only way to experience a wide cross-section of the best music in Oxford right now in a single evening.

Check out the poster below for the full line-up and ticket information for this year’s event.

We cannot wait to check it out and see our personal favourites Dallas Don’t and Tiger Mendoza rock out!

The Albion Beatnik Bookstore

SYP Celebrates World Book Night

World Book Night is a global celebration of reading and books which sees tens of thousands of passionate volunteers gift books in their communities to share their love of reading. WBN encourage people across the world to host their own events and join in the celebrations.

To celebrate World Book Night 2012 in Oxford, SYP (Society of Young Publishers) is hosting a candlelit evening of entertainment to celebrate reading.

This event is FREE for members and £2 for non-members.

There will be a complimentary glass of wine for all guests, with wine at £2 a glass thereafter, and nibbles will be provided.

Routledge Reference are heading along to get involved and meet new people, why not join us tonight at the Albion Beatnik Bookstore in Jericho from 7pm.

Everyone is welcome!

Where: http://g.co/maps/tvwm6