Break out your Picnic gear as Oye warms up.

Every year I promise that I'll get my blanket ready and head for Sefton Park for Africa Oyé, but every year I turn up and have to sit on the grass but not this year (I hope). I'll also have to make sure I turn up early so the queues at the food stands aren't to long but there is plenty of time as Africa Oye 09 is on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st June 2009 - 12:30pm-9:30pm on both days and it's Free

 
A series of performances on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th March, Manchester

MANTIS (The Manchester Theatre in Sound) presents several concerts of electro-acoustic music each year, and aims to promote, disseminate and perform new works from composers based at The University of Manchester. Facilities at the Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama allow, among other things, for the diffusion of work on a 40-loudspeaker sound system in a 350 seat concert hall.

MANTIS has run the festival in co-partnership with organisations like Sonic Arts Network EXPO, taking the festival to numerous venues in Manchester, such as the Victoria Baths. More recently hosted guest distinguised composer Francis Dhomont at his 80th birthday and focused on themes like MANTIS: South-North, including music from Latinamerican composers and a first MANTIS call for pieces which received 186 submissions from all over the world.

A subject-based non-narrative audiovisual multimedia improvisation using digital synthesis, field recordings, prepared electro-acoustic guitar and manually-manipulated projected images by two free-improvising musicians and an image wizard."

A multimedia experiment documenting the vivid sights and sounds of the Purple Garlic Harvest in Las Pedroñeras, Spain, supported by the Frakture Big Band.

Saturday 28th February
The Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool, L1 3BX
Doors open 7.30 pm for 8.00pm start
Admission: £5
Box office. 0151 707 5324
http://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/

Purgatory is a horror performance set in St. Luke's Church on Friday the 13th of March.

The story of five ghosts trapped within the grounds of the church will be told. Each tale stripped down to its raw emotional impact.
These original short pieces have been devised to explore the dark side of our spiritual nature. The performance will be held together on the evening by an environment of sights and sounds that will turn the church into a cauldron of menace.

The audience will witness an ongoing supernatural struggle between spectres and their fates. The artists involved have dealt with unsettling themes within the stories, but never lost sight of the sheer joy of terrifying people.

Liverpool Sound City will host the most exciting new names in music this year. Headliners White Lies - already chart toppers with debut album To Lose My Life... - promise to be one of the most talked about acts at the festival which takes place from Wednesday 20th to Saturday 23rd May 2009.

Last year's Capital of Culture will be this year's 'Nucleus of New Music' with pop starlet Little Boots joining the West London band and making her first UK festival appearance this year at SoundCity. Fresh from wowing US audiences it will be a North West homecoming for the Blackpool singer. She is joined at the city centre music festival by hot favourites The Black Lips.

  "Five great acoustic musicians performing just for you" 

Graham Holland, the man behind the It's a Frog's Life podcast, the Liverpool Acoustic Podcast and co-hosts the Made in the UK music podcast has been busy - very busy from the looks of it- now he is going the whole frog sorry hog and appearing live at possibly the best acoustic music venue in the city - View Two on Mathew Street. 

Late last year, Graham gave up some of his valuable time to contribute a weekly programme to the Art in Liverpool FM project which ran from September through to November. He is no stranger to producing great content tough, in fact he has been podcasting since July 2006 and has "enjoyed every minute of it" he says.