thetootsierollers

Swingamajig Review 2016 , our 32 page souvenir with extended coverage from this year’s Swingamajig Festival, will be on shelf from the 13th June.

Priced at £5+p&p, you can pick up a copy direct from us at Birmingham Review or over the counter at venues/outlets across the city.

To keep up to date with where, when, even why you can get your hands on the Swingamajig Review 2016 – click here.

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Over the past fortnight, the Swingamajig Review 2016 editorial team has been pooling its words, pics, memories & hazy/dubious recollections – compiling a compendium of decadent debauchery from May 1^st. There have been laughs, there have been tears, there was one moment of serious confusion, but we’ve got a stonker of a souvenir from Swingamajig 2016 for you.

Just like being back there again (except with a mug of tea and a comfy seat) the Swingamajig Review 2016 is a perfect little keepsake from one of the most fun events on the city’s calendar. So if you were at Swingamajig 2016, or even if you weren’t but wanted to, you should really treat yourself to a copy – for proof, posterity and every reason in between. Remember the glitz, remember the glamour; remember how freakin’ cold was it on the roof terrace at 4am!?!?!

But honestly, I’m not sure how some of us made it home. You know that moment when you wake up on a strange sofa, in a strange room, in a strange house, with a peacock feather stuck to your… anyway, times that by a gazillion; let’s just say you all had a LOT OF FUN. Naughty monkeys.

N.B If you came to see us at the Swingamajig Review tent to have your moment of madness captured on camera, please check out our profile pics – click here. All should have been emailed out safely by now to the email addresses we took down at the event, but if you’re on here and you’ve still not got yours then give us a shout.

A 32 PAGE SWINGAMAJIG REVIEW, FOR ONLY FIVE ENGLISH POUNDS STERLING!?!?! WHAT A BARGAIN, I hear you cry… But in the interests of a healthy free market here’s a quick breakdown of what’s inside.

Read Helen Knott’s full festival Swingamajig 2016 feature, traversing the burlesque shows and Balkan jazz mosh pits (…not for the weak footed) of this year’s event.

Follow Kimberley Owen as she stalks the dappers & flappers to bring you a special fashion feature from Birmingham’s best-dressed-fest.

Whilst Ed King enjoys chai, rum and the occasional almond biscuit with The Destroyers; well, some of them anyway (it was a small tent).

There are also interviews with the glamorous gals from The Tootsie Rollers, Bristol’s ‘definitive party band’ The Rin Tins, The ‘Queen of Queerlesque’ Rubyyy Jones, and ‘Suffolk’s premier international Electro Swing artist’ Tallulah Goodtimes. Plus the extended Swingamajig Review 2016 – Picture Gallery, bang in the middle of it all. Not bad for a fiver.

We’ll be drip feeding you tantalizing morsels of the Swingamajig Review 2016 souvenir over the coming weeks – before we shamelessly try and make some money and put the damn thing on sale.

But we’re a little itchy in the content trigger finger department, so click here to read our Q&D (quick & dirty) vox pop with The Rin Tins – a band so lovely I’m honestly exploring adoption.

Swingamajig Review 2016 will be available from 13th June. For updates, offers, more info & pre orders – click here.

For more on the Swingamajig Festival, visit http://swingamajig.co.uk/

Words by Ed King / Pics from The Tootsie Rollers

6 days to go…

In BIG BOLD TYPE on the Swingamajig 2016 bill are The Tootsie Rollers – bringing their all girl line up of mischievous glitz and femme fatale glamour to the best dressed festival in Birmingham.

Comprised of six styled and sassy lasses from darn sarf, The Tootsie Rollers ‘are a retro girl band who fuse old-school classics with contemporary hits’ – reworking modern chart familiars with their homage to a catalogue of Swing standards.

Backed by their booted and suitably named band, The Dappers, a Tootise Rollers’ set can give Pharell Williams’ ‘Happy’ a rouge blush, Lordes’ ‘Royal’ a sparkling new smile, Rhianna’s ‘Umbrella’ a touch of the Gene Kelly, and make Meghan Tranior’s ‘…Bass’ pale in comparison – with a little help from George Gershwin of course. Great fun, and arguably sexier the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.

So who are these debutantes of debauchery? First up we have Katy, aka ‘the poppet’ – who ‘is cheeky, lively and cute’ and the blonde doppelganger of someone I used to work with (…Christina?). Next up is the ‘enchanting and seductive’ Khiley, aka ‘The Siren’, who’s hopeless romanticism may cost more than an H. Samuel gift voucher, followed by the ‘wide eyed, charming and loyal’ Anna – aka ‘The Sweetheart’.

Flo, aka ‘The Bombshell’, is the ‘epitome of old school glamour’, whilst Lisa, aka ‘The Diva’, has a self confessed ‘penchant for the decadent’ which no doubt earned her the high maintenance moniker. Then last but not least is Meg, aka ‘The Peach’ – a ‘5^th avenue princess’ who strikes a remarkable resemblance to Grace Kelly. With a bit of Audrey Hepburn round the eyes. Blimey, it’s like a hen party from heaven.

But it’s serious fun with The Tootsie Rollers, whose website boasts collaborations ‘with everyone from DJ Yoda to Bruce Forsyth’ and a recent sell out show at the 1340 capacity London Hippodrome. Hard to argue with that CV.

Birmingham will get its chance to see The Tootsies for itself when they roll into town as part of the Swingamajig 2016 headline bill – kicking off across the Rainbow Venues on Sunday 1^st May.

Meanwhile, back at the speakeasy…

‘All About That Bass/Slap That Bass’ (Meghan Trainor/George Gershwin) – performed by The Tootise Rollers & The Dappers

Other acts appearing at Swingamajig 2016 are The Destroyers, JFB, Electric Swing Circus, Balkan Beat Box, The After Hours Quintet, Jim Wynn Swing Orchestra, C@ in the H@, The Chicken Brothers, Aries, Tallulah Goodtimes, Jenova Collective (DJ set), Father Funk + burlesque from Kitty Bang Bang & friends.

Swingamajig 2016 comes the Rainbow Venues in Digbeth on May 1^st – running form 2pm until 6am. Tickets are priced at £22/£25/£30. For the full Swingamagig line up, alongside everything else you need to know about the festival – including online tickets, visit http://swingamajig.co.uk/

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For more on The Toosie Rollers, visit http://www.thetootsierollers.com/

For more on Rainbow Venues, visit http://therainbowvenues.co.uk/

Tag: thetootsierollers

SWINGAMAJIG REVIEW 2016: Available from 13th June

BPREVIEW: The Tootsie Rollers @ Swingamajig 2016 – Rainbow Venues 01.05.16