Stroll on!
18th June 2008Two members of East London Running Club, Forest Gate Strollers, tackled the London Marathon to raise money for Jail Guitar Doors. Angus Forbes and Neil Larkin handed over £1,500.
Neil and Angus (pictured below) were supported in their efforts by other club members and friends who organised a Jail Guitar Doors musical evening at BB’s Dance Club in Forest Gate to support their running efforts.
After completing the marathon in 4 hours 19 minutes, Angus said: "It was a fantastic experience and we are delighted at the support that has been shown to us by friends and our local community."
Neil Larkin, who completed in 3:36, added: "We were proud to run for a progressive cause rather than a typical charity. Organising the party was far easier than doing the run!"
Sound of music to prisons
12th January 2008The Independent newspaper published a feature on the Jail Guitar Doors campaign in its issue on Saturday, 12 January 2008. Journalist Nick Duerden followed Billy Bragg on a visit to Styal prison in Wilmslow, near Manchester, and interviewed him over a curry later.
On a makeshift stage that, on any other day, is merely storage space within a cavernous gym hall, a band called the Meerkatz are halfway through a spirited rendition of "Do They Know It's Christmas?". The singer – a healthcare worker by day here at Styal women's prison in Wilmslow, near Manchester – gurns his way through the song as if it were a bowel movement. But if the crowd seems more appreciative than one would expect of an audience at three o'clock on a freezing winter's afternoon, it's because it is made up exclusively of inmates who would otherwise be doing, according to prisoner Adele, "boring stuff like learning how to read and write".
Read the full article here
A dozen prisons in our first year
1st January 2008Seventy guitars were purchased and distributed in 2007 by Jail Guitar Doors along with 12 keyboards, two full drum-kits, four electric guitars, four basses, a mixing desk and various percussion instruments.
We would like to thank all those whose donations enabled us to assist in rehabilitation programmes in HMP’s Guys Marsh, Wormwood Scrubs, Shepton Mallet, Reading, Bronzefield, Edinburgh, Wandsworth, The Verne, Lancaster Castle, Pentonville, Stocken and Styal.
Let The People Decide
30th December 2007Let The People Decide is a seven-track live album charting Reading band 'My Luminaries' last year of touring across the UK and Europe. It is a download-only release, which can be bought via a donation at the buyer's discretion.
Fifty per cent of proceeds go straight back into the Reading branch of the Jail Guitar Doors campaign, following on from this year's festival at the Fez Club, which raised £2,000 to buy musical instruments for inmates at HMP Reading Young Offender's Institute.
Funds raised from this album are essential to putting the campaign's previous results into action through in-prison tuition, workshops, prisoner led concerts and much more.
www.myspace.com/jailguitardoorsreadingsummerevent www.myspace.com/myluminaries
Ending our first year in Styal
14th December 2007Jail Guitar Doors made its final donation of 2007 to Britain’s largest women’s prison, delivering £1,669 worth of instruments to HMP Styal in Cheshire.
The equipment was bought with the proceeds of the last September’s ‘Symphony-a-thon’ sponsored classical concert organised by Catherine Rose. The equipment included two Yamaha electronic keyboards, a drum-kit, six Spanish-style acoustic guitars as well as an electric guitar and bass.
Eastroad helps out Stocken
1st December 2007HMP Stocken in Rutland became the latest prison to benefit from the Jail Guitar Doors initiative when local band Eastroad delivered half a dozen guitars there last night.
The band, along with solo performer Simon Cornish, played a show for the inmates after handing over instruments that they themselves had sourced from John Hornby Skewes & Co in Leeds, who showed their support for JGD by letting us have the guitars at a very reasonable price.
Bragg and Jones rock Pentonville
29th November 2007Billy and Mick Jones teamed up again today to deliver six guitars, a full drum kit and various items of percussion to HMP Pentonville in north London.
The equipment was purchased with funds donated by top young band The Enemy, who approached Billy about getting some guitars into the prison after they played a gig there last month. Afterwards, Bragg and Jones dashed across town to help inaugurate the new prison radio project at Brixton Prison.
Brixton gig to mark Joe anniversary
28th November 2007Members of Primal Scream, Oasis, the Alabama 3, Carter USM, The Happy Mondays, The Smiths, Paul Weller's band and legendary punk outfit The Members will come together in Brixton on the night of 22 December 2007 to mark the fifth anniversary of Joe Strummer's death and to celebrate the Clash front man's life and legacy.
The show at JAMM on Brixton Road - raising money for the Strummerville Foundation, Jail Guitar Doors and RAR08 - will also feature new bands The Mentalists and The Misfits, with Jamie T and other special guests also expected to make an appearance on the night.
The Strummerville Collective will be coming together to perform some of the greatest Clash songs for what will be a unique rock and roll experience in memory of Joe. Mani from Primal Scream, Bonehead from Oasis, Bez from the Happy Mondays, Larry Love from the Alabama 3, Nigel Clarke from Dodgy and Alan White from Paul Weller's band hope to raise enough money to supply instruments for Brixton prison.
Let The People Decide
26th November 2007Let The People Decide is a 7- track live album charting Reading band My Luminaries last year of touring across the UK and Europe. It is a download-only release, which can be purchased via a donation of the buyers discretion. Fifty per cent of proceeds go straight back into the Reading branch of Jail Guitar Doors, following on from this year's festival at the Fez Club, which raised £2,000 to buy musical instruments for inmates at HMP Reading Young Offenders Institute.
Funds raised from this album are essential to putting the campaign's previous results into action through in-prison tuition, workshops, prisoner-led concerts and much more. For information on its proven benefits towards increasing self esteem and decreasing re-offending
www.myspace.com/myluminaries
www.myspace.com/jailguitardoorsreadingsummerevent
Arms Aloft raises cash
15th November 2007Billy recently appeared at the Arms Aloft in Acton gig celebrating the life of Joe Strummer. The event was a commemoration of Joe's last London gig, at which he raised money for the Fire Brigades Union, which was then on strike.
A decorated acoustic guitar was raffled and part of the bar take was donated to Jail Guitar Doors. The good people from Philosophy Football, who have been selling Clash-inspired T-shirts as a benefit for JGD also used the occasion to present us with a cheque for £250. When all this was added together Jail Guitar Doors benefited to the tune of £1,191.
Thanks to the FBU for organising the donation and for everyone involved with the event for their support.
Music in The Verne Citadel
11th October 2007Billy today delivered four acoustic guitars to The Verne, a prison from the Napoleonic period, where the charity Live Music Now is conducting workshops with the inmates.
£3,500 raised at Labour conference
24th September 2007Billy's gig at this year's Labour Party Conference saw £3,500 raised by raffling one of the Jail Guitar Doors-decorated acoustic guitars.
Money from the raffle was supplemented by donations from the GMB, the National Union of Mineworkers, Thompsons Solicitors, and, in a welcome show of support for our initiative, the Prison Officers Association, who donated £500 to the cause.
Classical fund-raiser
23rd September 2007A group of classical musicians got together for a special ‘Symphony-a-thon’ to raise cash for Billy's Jail Guitar Doors initiative on 22 September.
Twenty-two players performed as a scratch orchestra at St Peter and Paul’s Church in Olney, Buckinghamshire, to play a series of chamber symphonies.
Conducted by Michael Rose and Catherine Rose, the orchestra played for five hours from 10.30 in the morning.
The event, which was organised by Catherine, has so far raised £1,398.65 towards instruments to help in the rehabilitation of prison inmates in Britain.
Phill Jupitus donates fee
10th September 2007During his recent Edinburgh Festival run, comedian Phill Jupitus performed for the inmates of HMP Edinburgh and donated his fee to Jail Guitar Doors.
The prison today received the second of two batches of instruments in time for a series of musical initiatives beginning on 20th September.
Inmates to repair guitars
8th September 2007Following the recent visit to HMP Wandsworth, discussions have begun with staff about the possibility of opening a guitar repair shop in the prison, with luthiers from Surrey Strings training inmates to repair and set-up instruments donated to Jail Guitar Doors.
These guitars, donated by individuals, can then be distributed to other prisons.
Recycled guitars at ‘Wanno’
6th September 2007Jail Guitar Doors today linked up with Surrey Strings to present eight recycled guitars and one JGD special to the inmates of HMP Wandsworth in south London.
Running a guitar workshop just up the road from the prison, Surrey Strings specialise in repairing old guitars and donating them to charity. While on the premises, Billy was interviewed by Radio Wanno, the inmates' radio station.
Johnny Clash single
16th August 2007Q: What would you call someone inspired by Joe Strummer who does gigs in prisons?
A: Johnny Clash. That’s the name that Billy Bragg has adopted for a benefit single aimed at raising funds for his Jail Guitar Doors initiative.
Billy returns to the raw solo style which first made his name, releasing a 7-inch vinyl single of ‘Old Clash Fan Fight Song’ backed with ‘The Big Lie’ on 20 August, 2007, available at billybragg.co.uk for £1.99 plus p&p. Click here to order the single NOW!.
In his book The Progressive Patriot, Billy Bragg recounted how The Clash inspired him by nailing their colours to the Rock Against Racism flag back in 1978. Thirty years later, those teenage Clash fans are now in the front line of the battle against the BNP.
“Time and time again,” says Billy of the members of his generation who are actively opposing the racist right “you find that its old Clash fans who are leading the charge. Although we may have hung up our leather jackets, those of us who were touched by the fire of punk have held onto our anti-fascist ideals.
“The death of Joe Strummer in 2002 brought a lot of us together again to celebrate Joe’s life and we were amazed to find that many of us were involved in activism in one way or another – union organisers, environmental campaigners,documentary film makers.”
‘Old Clash Fan Fight Song’ is a rallying call to this generation – and those that have followed – to take up the fight once again.
£1 from each copy sold will go to benefit Jail Guitar Doors, an initiative set up by Billy to provide guitars for rehabilitation work in British prisons. The first donation made to the fund came from Clash guitarist Mick Jones, who recently accompanied Bragg to Wormwood Scrubs Prison in west London to deliver half a dozen guitars to the inmates there.
Every 50 singles sold will buy another guitar.
Click here to join in the Jail Guitar Doors discussion at the Billy Bragg Forum.
Jail Guitar Doors goes stateside
8th August 2007Americans inspired by Billy’s Jail Guitar Doors initiative are organising a benefit concert in Alexandria, VA, on 19 August. The DC Acoustic Underground and Prisons Foundation will raise money to buy acoustic guitars for a pilot programme to be run in the Crisis Intervention Unit at the Montgomery County Corrections Facility in Boyds, MD.
Prisons Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in Washington, DC, promotes the arts and education in prison and alternatives to incarceration and operates the Prison Art Gallery in downtown Washington, DC. The DC Acoustic Underground provides venues for musicians and poets to perform and perfect their craft.
Like the UK initiative, this co-sponsored event aims to use the power of music to help in the rehabilitation of inmates, and reduce re-offending rates.
Featured performers will be local singer/songwriters Lea, Jim Dugan, Dennis Sobin, Michael Yugo and Joe Shade.
Women’s Rising Music magazine’s review of Lea’s recent CD said: “Not since Tracy Chapman has a singer/songwriter come along whose magnetic voice and deep heartfelt appeal draws us in...”
MusicMonthly.com in a review of Jim Dugan’s CD “Marigold” said it was “Great music, great songs.”
Dennis Sobin spent 10 years in prison learning classical and jazz guitar and will be appearing at the Kennedy Center in September.
Michael Yugo founded the DC Acoustic Underground last year in response to the overwhelming need for more venues for acoustic players.
Musical instruments are being provided at cost for the project from Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center in Wheaton, MD. Admission will be $6 payable at the time of the event, which runs from 1pm to 4pm at the 219 Restaurant.
Jail Guitar Doors Event Coordinator
Joe Shade
comjoeyshade[at]gmail.com
703-856-2411
Prisons Foundation
Dennis Sobin
Dennis[at]PrisonsFoundation.org
202-393-1511
DC Acoustic Underground
Michael Yugo
michaelyugo[at]yahoo.com
703-475-7636
219 Restaurant web site
First delivery to women’s prison
30th July 2007Jail Guitar Doors made its first donation of instruments to a woman’s prison today when Billy delivered six acoustic guitars to HMP Bronzefield, near Staines in south west London.
Using £375 donated by an individual supporter, Jail Guitar Doors was able to supply instruments ahead of rehabilitation work by the Changing Tunes charity due to commence in the prison within the next few weeks.
http://www.changingtunes.org.uk/
Guitars delivered to Shepton Mallet
24th July 2007Billy was at Shepton Mallet prison in Somerset today to deliver the first batch of equipment purchased with the donations raised at the Glastonbury Festival.
Along with the standard six acoustic guitars, the prisoners also received a set of conga drums and various other pieces of percussion. Billy was accompanied by officials of the Fire Brigades Union, who matched the funds donated by the audience at the Left Field.
Customised guitar donated
by Deadfisch
21st July 2007
Deadfisch, the anti-war political art/music project founded by artist Andy Bullock has donated a customized guitar to Jail Guitar Doors.
Andy presented Billy with the guitar at today’s Spanish Civil War memorial event on London’s South Bank. Billy used the guitar to perform Jarama Valley in honour of the members of the International Brigade who fought against the fascists in the 1930s. The guitar will be among those delivered to the inmates of HMP Bronzefield later this week. See a photo of the guitar decorated by Andy in our gallery.
deadfisch
Clang clang go the jail guitar doors
5th July 2007Accompanied by ex-Clash guitarist Mick Jones, Billy delivered the first batch of donated guitars to Wormwood Scrubs prison in west London today.
Jones, who wrote the song ‘Jail Guitar Doors’ from which the campaign takes its name, was the first person to promise a donation after Bragg launched the initiative at this years NME Awards.
Full guardian story...
Billy’s busy Glastonbury Festival
26th June 2007Playing four sets on different stages, Billy’s festival climaxed at the Left Field on Sunday night with a fund raiser for Jail Guitar Doors. The evening began with Alan Miles’ film of the work done by Jail Guitar Doors since its inception at Guy’s Marsh prison in Dorset in February this year.
Malcolm Dudley, who originally wrote to Billy with a request for guitars, came onstage and played a song he had written, as did one of the former inmates of Guy’s Marsh, Thearon, who won the crowd over with a song he wrote as part of Malcolm’s workshops.
During the evening, one of the guitars that Jail Guitar Doors supply, covered in slogans, was raffled to raise money to be spent in nearby Shepton Mallet Prison. The Fire Brigades Union kindly promised to match the amount raised. This came to £1,127, which means that Shepton Mallet will have more than £2,000 with which to purchase instruments.
Thanks to everyone who contributed.
Local bands stage first
Jail Guitar Doors benefit gig
16th June 2007
Four hundred people attended the first ever Jail Guitar Doors benefit gig this weekend at the Fez Club in Reading, Berkshire. The 24 hour music marathon involved 16 bands and raised more than £2000 to be spent on instruments and equipment at the Reading Young Offender Institute.
The event was organised by James Ewers and Pete Middleton of the band My Luminaries, who contacted Billy Bragg via the Jail Guitar Doors website asking how they might get involved.
Jail Guitar Doors Festival Reading 2007
Clash T-shirts
15th June 2007Four new Clash-themed T-shirts launched by Philosophy Football for the summer will help raise money for Billy’s Jail Guitar Doors project.
The shirts feature designs inspired by classic images such as Paul Simonon smashing his guitar, the Hate and War slogan sprayed on Joe Strummer’s boiler suit, the words from Garageland, and the song English Civil War.
A share of the profits from the sale of the Philosophy Football shirts will go towards the initiative and help provide instruments for prison inmates as part of their rehabilitation.