West Coasters, sync your iCals with these 2 new Crimea shows :

• July 18th - Epicenter in San Diego  (8pm) Advanced tix are $7/ $9 day of show
• July 19th - Venice Beach, Los Angeles (7pm) Free show, the West Coast version of the Official SOTWH release party. 

Also, you’ll want to check back here on a regular basis because there’s a LOT of press and other stuff in the pipeline.   In the meantime, check out this interview here,  see Davey’s little promo blurb for 7-Digital here, CultureDeluxe.com’s review of 48a Waiting Steps here, and by the way, did you people forget there’s a competition going on?  This guy didn’t - he’s the first entry in the “make your own video for the 48a Waiting Steps” thing.  (Maybe a winner will actually be declared, unlike the ‘remix Loop-A-Loop’ thing…)  

If you’re looking for something to do in London Thursday night (05 June), might I suggest popping down to the North London Tavern around 7:30-ish, which should give you enough time to gather a fine spirit from the bar before Davey and Joe take the stage at 8pm. Davey said this is a warm-up gig for the *free* Proud Gallery solo set on Sunday afternoon (08 June) and the full Crimea gig at the Enterprise on Monday (09 June). It’s only 5 quid to get in and there are two other acts on after Davey and Joe. (Burning Leaves at 9pm, Rodney Fisher & the rest).The Crimea are bringing their candle-lit shows to Cardiff and Glasgow next month. Catch them at The Gate in Cardiff on Wednesday, 02 July and at the Barfly upstairs in Glasgow on Monday, 07 July.Finally - one more new London gig - Bush Hall on Wednesday 09 July.  Crimea by candle light in an Edwardian- era music hall…if you haven’t been to this venue check out the website.  Chandeliers, fancy millwork…stunning.   All I can say is they better play there again when I move back to London!Watch this space - there are probably more shows in the pipeline!

A few posts ago I mentioned the Tripwire Podcost (#037) that featured the ‘Always on My Mind’ mash-up and Loop-A-Loop.  Well the blackbirds’ best friend (otherwise known as Davey to you and me) let me know that at 50-ish minutes into the podcast there’s an interview he did with the DJ. Granted, the DJ gets a tad few more words in than Davey did but bless him, at least he was enthusiastic about the band.  So follow this link,  scroll down the page until you find the embedded player, and just fast forward to the 50-ish minute point

And a quick update about the Playground at the Proud solo gig happening this Sunday — Davey goes on at 4pm.

Proving once again that I sadly reside in “fly-over country”, the Crimea have announced two shows on the west coast.

July 16th - Tangier (2138 Hilhurst Avenue ,between Los Feliz & Ambrose; Los Angeles 90027) Show starts at 8.30pm

July 17th - Silverlake (4019 Sunset Blvd & Parkman Avenue, Silverlake, CA ). Show starts at 9pm.

And omg — just learned that Silverlake is the home of infamous DJ Lance Rock who is recently of Yo Gabba Gabba fame…one of the absolute coolest shows ever to be on TV. Period. Get us an autograph, will ya boys?

“You gotta dig a gig that is not only FREE but also describes Davey as ‘a living legend’. Hey, they certainly get it.

The Playground is a series of shows at the Proud Gallery in Camden described as “an afternoon session with the cream of London’s Acoustic talent and rock burlesque show evolving into a full blown indie electro-riot as the sun sets and the horses go to sleep.”

Davey treats us to one of his famous Sunday solo performances in the ‘Acoustic Afternoon’ session. The event kicks off at 2pm , D goes on at 4pm…For more info, here is The Playground Press Release

Well, while some of us may have been engaging in too much drink or having BBQs in the rain over the Bank Holiday weekend, Davey slogged on with a show at Two Floors on Sunday followed by the Rob da Bank appearance in the small hours of Tuesday morning. In case you didn’t stay up for it, the radio appearance will be on Rob’s webpage for one more week. Rumor has it that Christopher has a digital recording of Davey’s performance. Maybe if he is merciful, kind, and loving he would consider SHARING them with us HERE at HIS website.

Really, Christopher. Is this what it’s come to? I have to beg…on your own site?

Moving on - new interview new interview new interview here from seatwave.com. It’s another interview before this peculiar Rage Into Spring show in Shoreditch that none of us seemed to know a stinking thing about. Well, a little light was shed on this. Rage gigs– you have to be a member of their thing/club/whatever,  and you get priority invites to their shindigs and tix at a discounted rate. So our  collective worries that we had suddenly becomel so frightfully uncool that The Crimea didn’t want us turning up at their shows…just a load of rubbish, really.

My exclusive reign as the only person on this side of the Atlantic who had ever known the glory of well-penned Davey Macmanus lyric has, fortunately, come to a resounding end. My fellow residents of the North American continent, now is the time to step up and do some PR gunslinging on behalf of The Crimea by joining the US Street Team. Come on…it’s gonna be fun. And there are all sorts of grand perks like free entry into Crimea gigs. Find out more by e-mailing Martin at thecrimea.teamamerica@yahoo.com

Last but not least -Davey and The Crimea turn up on the latest Tripwire Podcast (that’s #037 if you’re keeping score) in the form of the now-infamous mash up “Always on My Mind” and “Loop-A-Loop”. Thanks to Tripwire for giving them the Pole Position in the podcast.

Way out where the ocean meets oblivion…?
Note that by 26th they mean very late night Sunday (25th), or very early morning 26th.

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A bit of mandolin on a Sunday evening…seriously, how can you go wrong? The late great John Dowland will certainly be smiling (ok, so he was a lute player…whatever. I just like to give the old boy a plug whenever I can).

Davey and Joe will be joining The Big Sur Sunday Sessions this Sunday, 25 May. Catch it at Two Floors in Soho, London W1 (Kingly Street off Carnaby). It all kicks off at 3pm and goes all the way to…what! 1am?!!? Sorry - just reading the details for the first time myself. That’s a pretty big chunk of time…will see if I can find out what time Davey and Joe take the stage.

If you’re on Facebook, you can check out The Big Sur Sunday Sessions events page here and RSVP.

UPDATE - J&D go on at 9pm.   But if you’re one of the first 50 people at the venue when the whole shin-dig kicks off, you will get a **free drink.**

DontPanicOnline.com has posted an interview they did with Joe and Owen right before the Shoreditch show. Hoovers, whiteys, explanations of the business model…yes sir, defintely a little something for everyone. Check it out…

In case you missed it, Colin Murray featured the mash-up known as Crimea vs. Elvis on his Black Hole program Tuesday night. If you missed it, just click here and listen to it again. But the radio goodness does not stop there…Mr. Murray said he will play the new Crimea single on Thursday night’s show. Not sure if the new single he’s referring to is 48a Waiting Steps or You Never Smile for the Camera…it’s all gone a bit confusing with singles being released from SOTWH and new demos for the 3rd album being introduced. Sounds like a good enough reason to start entering wagers, everyone ante up and place your bets. I’m leaning towards 48a, which should be your cue to place your bet on the other song because I’ve been getting everything wrong lately.

And if for some reason you haven’t heard Crimea vs. Elvis, you can listen to it at The Crimea’s MySpace page. It’s a lovely blend of Always on my Mind and The Crimea’s The Great Unknown. Your auditory pathways should find it most agreeable.

I wasn’t kidding when I mentioned a few posts back that a brilliant summer campaign was about to get underway. Check out The Crimea’s MySpace page for a list of new shows slated for the summer, including four dates in New York and one in Boston.

You can win tickets for the Enterprise show tonight (14 May) from Xfm…that’s all Davey said…you’re all on your own, best of luck…I’m sodding jealous of you if you get to go…

But this link may (or may not) be helpful.

Thanks be to Andy for passing along this link to the Crimea Xfm’s Radio session in April. Unfortunately they don’t have the session in its entirety, but you can listen to them perform Lottery Winners on Acid, Loop a Loop, and The Psychologist (a/k/a I know how to make you laugh).

Ok, it’s obvious a fair few of you are a bit gutted that you didn’t find out about Friday’s last minute gig until it was too late. Well Davey sent over a recap of the night –

Joe performed as Jose Blase
He played 2 of his own songs:
-half left (the last time I played this was in leicester at the charlotte and someone filmed it - see youtube)
-somewhere to live
and 1 cover:
-the bad touch by the bloodhound gang which went down pretty well and everyone sang along

davey played as davey macmanus
loop
the only living boy and girl
shredder
how to make you laugh
blue dog (ive stuck an old live version up on myspace/crocketts)
lottery

amazing night, great gig etc. good to be able to smoke in a pub.

Joe and Davey will be playing TONIGHT (as in Friday 09 May) at 71 Great Titchfield Street, London. (It’s a speakeasy kinda joint) Troubadour Joze Blaze will serenade you starting at 1:00am, Mr. Macmanus at 1:30am. OK, technically that’s Saturday morning. Bring your PJs, it’s an all nighter…