JuicyNightlife – Juicy Summer Jam at The Deaf Institute, Friday 13 July
Classic rap, old school R&B, disco, bashment, party hip hop, disco bombs and more will be blasted out on all three floors of the Deaf Institute courtesy of the Juicy DJs. Doors open 10pm-3am and advance tickets cost £3. They can be bought online here. Tickets on the door cost £5.
Food – Northern Comfort Food Club, Friday 13 and Sunday 15 July
Northern Comfort is a new venture, catering for private parties with an emphasis on freshly made food prepared from scratch and using locally sourced produce wherever possible. On Friday there will be a North African Night, serving Harira spring lamb tagine with coucous, rose petal ice cream, and mint tea (£25). On Sunday Working Class Tea will be served, along with white bean soup, giant seasonal salad, home-made bread, and chocolate and apricot tart for dessert (£12). You can contact the Food Club by phone (07730982334 / 07988459522) or e-mail northern.comfort@yahoo.co.uk. Follow the Food Club on Twitter @N_Comfort_Food.
Northern Comfort Food Club
Music – dLo Media Launch Party, Friday 13 July
Manchester video production collective dLo Media is celebrating its official launch this weekend. Manchester’s best dubstep and drum and bass artists including Virus Syndicate , Sappo, XTC and Tonn Piper will perform, raising money for mental health charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). dLo is a new video production house rooted in Manchester’s vibrant music scene. Over the past two years they have created video content for some of Manchester’s most exciting artists, events, venues, promoters and groups. All profits from the event will go to CALM, a charity formed with aim of reducing the high suicide rate amongst men under 35 in the UK. The dLo launch will take place at Dry Live, beneath Dry Bar, 22 Oldham Street, Manchester. Doors open 11pm-4am. Admission is £5 with ticket, £6 on door and £7 after 1am. E-tickets available here.
Virus Syndicate
Music – Manchester Jazz Festival, 13 – 21 July
Accessible to all and mostly free, MJF features nine days of contemporary jazz from the North West, the UK and abroad with national premières of original work and international debuts. A unique commissioning scheme, MJF originals, is being pioneered to encourage musician-composers to experiment with new ideas whilst MJF introduces brings up and coming young jazz artists into the spotlight. MJF also brings new international artists to Manchester for their first UK appearances. The festival will take place at Band on the Wall, MJF Festival Pavilion in Albert Square, Matt & Phred's Jazz Club, Midland Hotel, Royal Northern College of Music, and St Ann's Church. For more information click here.
Manchester Jazz Festival
Theatre – A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Royal Exchange Theatre, 5 July – 4 August
‘The course of true love never did run smooth.’ Wise words, but Shakespeare enthusiasts will certainly love this production as young lovers collide with warring fairies in a magical, irreverent and music-filled retelling of the Bard’s most loved comedy. Celebrated for their unique take on classic texts, Filter and Lyric Hammersmith Artistic Director Sean Holmes reunite, following the success of Three Sisters and smash-hit Twelfth Night, to remix and rework Shakespeare’s magical exploration of the disruptive power of love at the Royal Exchange Theatre. Tickets range from £9 to £33, and can be purchased by phone (0161 833 9833), or via the website www.royalexchange.co.uk
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Family – Archaeology Day, Saturday 14 July
Celebrate the Festival of British Archaeology with activities such as coin and object handling, a dirt box excavation, a chance to make your own mosaic, flint knapping demonstrations and themed storytelling. Admission is free, and is the first of a series of events that will take place on the second Saturday of every month at Hall i’ th’ Wood Museum in Bolton. For more information, please ring 01204 332 377 or visit www.boltonmuseums.org.uk
Music – Naymedici, Saturday 14 July
This Saturday Manchester fast folk band Naymedici will take to the stage of Manchester Academy 3 to release their debut single and video ‘Paddy McGee’. The band will play a 30 minute set in support of The Portlands including a performance of the single and a screening of the video. Copies of the single will be available at the gig whilst the video will be screened again at the official (free) after party at Jabez Clegg. The band and cast and crew of the video will be in attendance. Tickets cost £6. Doors open at 7.30pm.
Naymedici
Comedy – Work in Progress towards Edinburgh Festival at the Frog and Bucket, Sunday 15 July
The Edinburgh Festival looms near, and five budding comics are coming down to the Frog and Bucket in Manchester to try out their material. Every month comics will be put through their paces, honing their material in preparation for Edinburgh, and you have a chance to see it. The event takes place this Sunday, with MC Dan Nightingale will present Andrew Ryan, Katie Mulgrew, Rich Wall, Hanks & Conran and Phil Walker. Doors open at 7pm, and admission is £5.
Sport – SkyRide Manchester, Sunday 15 July
This Sunday a traffic-free bike ride through Manchester where everyone's invited is taking place. It's a great opportunity to experience Manchester’s highlights in a very special atmosphere. The 14.7km route is closed to traffic, and will take in Castlefield, Deansgate, and the National Cycling Centre – home of British Cycling. There’s no official start point or start time, and you can ride as much or as little of the route as you like, stopping as many times as you want. Most people join in at one of the activation points along the route, where you’ll also find plenty of fun things to do whether you’re on a bike or not. To register and for more information please visit www.goskyride.com/ManchesterSkyRide. The route opens at 10am.
SkyRide Manchester
Music - National Street Choir Festival, Bury, Friday 13 – Sunday 15 July
The Street Choir Festival was created in 1983 to promote development through song of a society free from all forms of oppression, exploitation, exclusion and violence. Organised each year by a choir in a different town in the UK, this year’s festival will be held in Bury. Twenty-eight choirs from all over the UK are taking part, performing a wide variety of different genres as well as songs of protest, vision and ideals. On Saturday all 28 choirs will perform en-masse, before splitting into their individual groups to ‘busk’ around the town. Friday and Saturday tickets cost £5 each and can be purchased by ringing 0161 761 2216 or clicking here.
