Tuesday 3 February

Unplugged Special In association with Bluecrow Music

The Day The Music Died

Exactly 50 years ago today, 3 February 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and ‘The Big Bopper’ were killed when a chartered four-seat plane they were flying in to play the next leg of their tour at the Armoury in Moorhead, Minnesota crashed. It was the Day The Music Died.

Tonight in the Drill Hall’s Armoury Bar local musicians mark this auspicious occasion and pay tribute to Buddy & co with music from the days when “rock was young”.

For further details visit www.bluecrowmusic.co.uk

Thursday 5 February

Red Herring Comedy Club

Jarred Christmas Lively, friendly and up-beat, Jarred has featured on such prestigious comedy shows as The World Stands Up, The Comedy Store and Edinburgh And Beyond.

Jack Whitehall Just 20 years old and in 2008 Jack appeared as a regular on Tonightly, a presenter on Big Brothers Big Mouth and as a panellist on 8 Out of 10 Cats. A nailed on TV star of the future.

’The new funniest kid on the block’ Time Out

MC Charlie Baker offers a superb mixture of stupid jokes, hilarious observation and musical expertise.

Over 18s only. Acts subject to change.

Friday 6 February

RAF Waddington Band

The Mayor of Lincoln's Charity Concert

This uplifting and highly enjoyable concert by the RAF Waddington Band was originally due to take place last October, but now has a new February slot at the slightly later time of 8pm. All original tickets are still valid.

The concert will raise money for the Mayor’s Charity Appeal, which for 2008/09 is supporting Lincoln Alzheimer’s Society and Lincoln Breast Cancer Unit at Lincoln County Hospital.

Saturday 7 February

Drill Hall Club Night

Stayin' Alive

Staying Alive is the Drill Hall’s occasional dance night and is now on Saturdays, every couple of months. It’s the chance to dance however you want to fantastic music that you know as well as superb music that maybe you don’t. It’s a club night unlike any other with sounds from across the decades and around the world from our resident DJ Heretic (email your requests to djhereticdj@googlemail.com) together with stunning visuals and live cameras from our resident VJ Lee. Each night also features fresh and innovative live music in the café bar. It’s about having a good time. It’s about trying something new. It’s about dancing till you drop!

Sunday 8 February

In association with Old Bakery Promotions

Drever McCusker Woomble

As the old adage goes, if you want something done, ask someone busy. And if you want to hear some of the freshest, savviest, sweetest and most original songwriting around, look no further than three of the busiest musicians in Scotland, newly formed as a trio: Kris Drever, John McCusker and Roddy Woomble.

With their respectively distinguished pedigrees ranging freely across the folk and rock spectrum and overlapping via several previous projects each brings a wealth of diverse experience to the table, in a collaboration driven primarily by that most magical of musical catalysts: pure enthusiasm.

Monday 9 February

World Cinema Obsessions.

(1998) 127 mins (15)

Black Cat, White Cat

Our new World Cinema series continues until the end of March on alternate Mondays. Each fortnight we’ll begin with one or two shorts, then have a break for drinks and then screen the main feature at approximately 7.45pm after a short introduction. After the film, there will be the opportunity to talk about the film over drinks at the Green Dragon.

The second in our series, is Emir Kusturica’s riotous mix of farce, romance, obsession and madcap slapstick which tells a story of dodgy deals, family ties and young love within a community of Serbian gypsies. Beautifully filmed on the banks of the Danube this colourful comedy is crammed with larger-than-life characters, truly surreal situations and the deliriously celebratory brass music of Kusturica’s famous travelling gypsy band.

Tuesday 10 February

Lunchtime Recital

Piano Trio

Our Lunchtime Recital series welcomes back some familiar faces for this concert of piano trios, including David Greed, who was the youngest professional leader in the country when he was appointed to lead the English Northern Philharmonia in 1978. The recital will include Beethoven Trio in E flat, Op 1, No 1, Shostakovich Piano Trio No 1 in C, Op 8 and one movement from Bach’s double violin concerto in D minor, BWV 1043 which will be performed in full by sinfonia ViVA on Wednesday 18 February.

Tuesday 10 February

Moishe's Bagel

Rip-roaring, foot-stomping, jazz-inflected klezmer and Balkan music from some more of Scotland’s finest musicians! Formed in Edinburgh in 2003, Moishe’s Bagel combines the energy and passion of Eastern European folk and dance music with Middle Eastern rhythms, virtuoso performances and the excitement and soul of improvisation. An intoxicating, life-affirming mix!

exhilarating, full-flavoured stuff, often breath-takingly intricate but played with jubilation Moishe’s Bagel acquires the momentum of an express train The Herald

expressive and raunchy with a classical attention to detail striking new material The Guardian

www.moishesbagel.co.uk

Thursday 12 February

Vital Theatre

The Man Who Was Hamlet

The True Tragical Comical Romantic History of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. Courtier, duellist, adventurer and poet, more widely known by his pen name, ‘William Shakespeare’.

In his seventh one man show, internationally acclaimed award-winning solo specialist George Dillon explores the extraordinary life of one of the most intriguing figures of the Elizabethan age, Edward de Vere who emerged in the 20th century as the most likely candidate for authorship of Shakespeare’s works and whose life had extraordinary parallels with the plot and character of Hamlet. Expect a tour de force performance from the man who last visited the Drill Hall with his extraordinary re-telling of the St Matthew’s Gospel in 2006.

www.georgedillon.com

Friday 13 February

The Minor Tour (And Other Mythological Creatures)

John Shuttleworth

After the success of the screening of John’s film here last October, he’s back with his brand new show. Join “Sheffield’s finest comedy synthesizer-player and twaddle-talker” (The Telegraph) in a celebration of all things strange and mythological. Expect a clutch of hilarious new songs performed on John’s Yamaha organ, as well as the classics Pigeons in Flight, I Can’t Go Back to Savoury Now, Eggs and Gammon and Two Margarines.

Another gloriously funny celebration of futility and frailty The Times

Saturday 14 February

Lincoln Symphony Orchestra

Caroline Siriwardena is thesoloist in tonight’s romanticallythemed Spring Concert.

The programme includes:

Monday 16 February

YoungPlugged Film Night

The phenomenon that is YoungPlugged returns for a different kind of night this season… This time the focus will be on short films made by local young people. If you have made, or are making, a short film of any sort and you are aged 19 or under and would like us to consider screening it on this night, please send us a copy to arrive no later than 12noon on 19 January. The evening will close with the first public screening of the documentary made at last October’s YoungPlugged, copies of which will then be on sale!

Tuesday 17 February

with Ken Nicol & Phil Cool

Fairport Convention

After the huge success of the band’s previous visits to the Drill Hall, Fairport is back! Come and spend a superb evening with these legendary inventors of British folk-rock music, which will include songs from their latest LP Sense of Occasion. Support for the evening is provided by Ken Nicol and Phil Cool. Ken is a guitar virtuoso and member of the renowned folk-rock band Steeleye Span and Phil Cool is the famous comedian and impressionist, who will be showing his more serious side as a singer and songwriter … although there might be a few laughs too!

www.fairportconvention.com

Wednesday 18 February

sinfonia ViVA

From the stature and elegance of Grieg’s Holberg Suite to the meticulous interplay in Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor and from virtuosic composer Malcolm Arnold’s Concerto for 2 violins to Schubert’s Death and The Maiden (arranged by Mahler a full 70 years after his death) tonight’s concert has a strong emphasis on the excellence and beauty of strings. Director/Soloist Benedict Holland is joined by ViVA violinists Nic Fallowfield and Philip Gallaway for the latest in our biannual series of highly popular ViVA concerts at the Drill Hall.

www.vivaorch.co.uk

Thursday 19 February – Friday 20 February

RAF Swing Wing

Royal Air Force Swing Wing performs the music of the great Big Bands, continuing the traditions of the legendary Squadronnaires. Featuring Matt Walker on vocals the band will once again be raising funds for the Royal Air Forces Association and the Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit at Grantham Hospital. Back for two nights due to popular demand!

Saturday 21 February

High School Hits 2

It’s back! After the sell-out shows at the Drill Hall last September, High School Hits Returns!

This brand new, fantastic one-hour live and interactive show, stars Lincoln’s own pop band ‘The High Schoolers’ and is a high-energy, high-volume show, that involves plenty of singing and dancing and audience participation! The show will include loads of well-known songs, including numbers from the recent smash hit ‘High School Musical 3’.

If you couldn’t get a ticket last time – book early!

Sunday 22 February

Young Classics

With a relaxed and informal atmosphere, these new occasional afternoon concerts (on the final Sunday of each half term holiday) offer opportunities to hear some of Lincolnshire’s best young classical talent… for free! Three or four soloists or ensembles will be showing their talents each time, so why not join us?

Monday 23 February

World Cinema Obsessions.

(2007) (80 mins)

Helvetica

Our new World Cinema series continues until the end of March on alternate Mondays. Each fortnight we’ll begin with one or two relevant shorts, then have a break for drinks and then screen the main feature at approximately 7.45pm after a short introduction. After the film, there will be the opportunity to talk about the film over drinks at the Green Dragon.

This season we focus on the theme of obsessions and tonight’s film, the third in our series is Helvetica, a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which recently celebrated its 50th birthday) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives.

Wednesday 25 February

The Paper Birds

In a Thousand Pieces

After a total sell-out and Fringe First award at last year’s Edinburgh Festival, The Paper Birds present their critically acclaimed new show that tells the physically and visually moving tale of a young Eastern European girl and her journey to England. A beautifully woven patchwork of accounts, misunderstanding, movement, text and live original music, this is an extraordinary, powerful, witty, touching and delicate depiction of the violent, isolated and brutal world home to thousands of women forced into the British sex trade. www.thepaperbirds.com

A sharp, compassionate and deeply felt show The Scotsman

Imaginative physical theatre that tackles the issue with wit, verve and compassion The List

Please note that tonight’s performance will last around 1 hour and is not suitable for those under 16.

Friday 27 February

Literature at Lunchtime

Moby Dick

This month Dr Jane Mackay uncovers the classic tale of Captain Ahab and his whaling ship the ‘Pequod’. Herman Melville’s own adventurous life, sailing round Cape Horn and being captured by cannibals, feeds into this tale of obsession as Ahab pursues Moby Dick to the destruction of all but one of his crew. Meet the wonderfully varied crew who are trapped in one man’s nightmare.

Friday 27 February

Trinity College of Music

Music of the Mediaeval and Renaissance Ages

London’s Trinity College of Music has a fine reputation for Early Music, having been the first UK conservatoire to introduce the study of renaissance and baroque music into its curriculum. Tonight students from the Early Music Faculty present a recital of instrumental and vocal music from the Middle Ages and the 16th and 17th centuries, conjuring up a sense of the past and of a continuing musical history.

This is a Lincoln Early Music Festival Event

Saturday 28 February

New Jazz 5

The Steve Grossman Damon Brown Quintet

Steve Grossman on tenor saxophone, Damon Brown on trumpet, Robin Aspland on piano, Mark Hodgson on double bass, Sebastian de Krom on drums.

When Wayne Shorter left the Miles Davis band in 1969, his place was taken by 18 year old Steve Grossman. Says it all, doesn’t it?! Steve and Damon have been playing together since 2004 and their Quintet has performed in many European jazz venues and festivals, most notably at ‘The Jamboree’ in Barcelona and at Brecon. A new album by the Quintet is due for release around the time of this concert. Damon Brown works with some of the jazz greats as well as co-leading the award winning band ‘Killer Shrimp’ with Ed Jones. They are supported by a superb rhythm section of top class musicians, including Jamie Cullum’s regular drummer Sebastian de Krom – an amazing Quintet. www.myspace.com/damonbrownjazz