IndieGo Music and Arts Night

@The Two Brewers, Olney

This Thursday, 12th February, 8pm

This is the first night at the Two Brewers in Olney, and it's set to be a great evening. Lee Ross will be opening, and will play a set to include his recently released and brilliant new EP “Fly Girl”.

"Lee is one of the most talented people I have ever met" says IndieGo's Ian Roberts, "I have had the privilege of knowing and playing in bands with Lee for many years...I know at firsthand what an extremely gifted musician he is."

Lee is also a great actor, and has featured in a number of films including Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Mike Leigh's Secrets and Lies.

The night also features appearances from the wonderful published author and poet Jeremy Holtom, the brilliant artist Debbie Hutchinson Murray, the fantastic film maker Frank Scarito, bread-maker Gareth Roberts, and magnificent musicians Martin Barby and Lana Camp. Ian Roberts and his band will close the night.

There's free entry, and of course the opportunity to sample some great food and drink while enjoying an evening of entertainment. IndieGo Nights are to be held on the second Thursday of every month. If you are interested in sharing your talent you could feature at a further show, head over to the Two Brewers this Thursday to find out more!

Sponsored by the Phonebox Magazine.

Burns Night- This weekend

Robert Burns was a great Scottish poet, who died in 1796. Burns night has become a celebration of his life, held on, or near, his birthday, the 25th January. Burns night traditionally involves a Burns supper, where groups of people gather in order to eat a traditional Scottish meal and enjoy Scotch whisky, and also traditionally his poety would be recited.

Nowadays, the emphasis is often on the whisky, and pubs will tend to advertise Burns night as a great excuse to drink their Scotch! However, the tradition of meals on the night is still around, and a number of restaurants will be offering a Burns night special this weekend.

• The Loch Fyne in the Hub, Milton Keynes is one of these places, offering a special menu for Burns night featuring some of the best Scottish foods.

• More locally, the Cowpers Oak in Olney is holding it's annual Burns night supper on Saturday night from 8pm, featuring the best Scottish cuisine and of course some classic malt whisky.

• Similarly, the Rose and Crown in Newport Pagnell will be serving haggis, neeps and tatties and whisky gravy from 6pm.

Check out your local restaurant or pub for some burns night events, and enjoy remembering the works of the great poet.

The Two Brewers Presents: Beer and Cider Festival

The annual Beer and Cider Festival is back again, Friday- Sunday at the Two Brewers in Olney. There will be a large selection of ales and 10 different ciders, including Orchard Pig 'Explora' and Gwyet 'Farmhouse Scrumpy' on offer over the weekend. It's always a great weekend, so make sure you stop by at some point over the weekend.

What's on When?...

Friday 11th: 5.30pm-11.30pm
Music from 8pm with local band 'Spaced Out'

Saturday 12th: 11.30am-11.30pm
Music from 12 midday until around 11.30pm, acoustic music until 7.30pm and local band 'Charlie's Uniform' from 8.30pm

Sunday 13th July: 12 Midday- 7.30pm
Rock with BOFF Band heats- various bands go head to head for a place in the Rock with BOFF Finals, and the World Cup final will be shown at 8pm on the big screen so you can enjoy the music, food, drink and football without having to move a muscle!

The event will be include a BBQ and live music throughout the weekend, and the World Cup final on Sunday night will provide the perfect close to the event. With plenty to eat, drink and enjoy, it will be a really laid-back festival with great music around the clock, and the marquee in the garden will mean you're comfortable whatever the weather!

For more information visit the Two Brewers website, or find them on Facebook.

The British quiz obsession?

Quizzes- love them or hate them, are a huge part of our British culture. Even if they've never won a quiz, many people take part in pub quizzes regularly, often seeing it more as a social than playing to win each week (obviously a bonus though!) As well as all the pub quizzes out about, come all the television quiz shows that crowd our screens every evening. The number of different spins and twists they've managed to put on the general theme of answering questions and winning money is pretty impressive if you ask me, we've got pointless, the chase, ejector seat, university challenge, eggheads, the million pound drop, the weakest link and so many more, it seems Britain really does love the quizzes! Then on top of all the regulars, we get the big fat quiz of the year, which is basically a glorified pub quiz (with a few obvious differences, the fact that it's not in a pub and in a television studio for starters!)

So why do we like being questioned? Surely it reminds us of exams, interviews and tests?! Is it only the idea of winning that motivates us- would we take part in quizzes if there was no prize incentive?... I've got a feeling that many of us would. Maybe it's the challenge it provides, racking our brains for that fact we just know we know... somewhere far back in the memory bank.

With technology and social media has also come the unending stream of online quizzes, you can take a quiz to see which Simpsons character you are, what actor is your lover, what age you 'really' are and so many more... is the British quiz obsession getting a little out of hand?! Maybe we are better off sticking to the old fashioned pub quiz, then at least you get the social aspect and (hopefully) some questions that make sense and which you can actually answer! Why not head down to your local pub this week? Most pubs hold pub quizzes once a week or so, in Olney alone there are pub quizzes at the Two Brewers pub and the Cowpers Oak, just to name two! I might start truing and learning some random facts in preparation for the next pub quiz!...and the capital of Venezuela is...

How did we get here?

It's not often that we back-track our trains of thought out loud to work out where our conversations started, but this is something I found myself doing last night in a local Newport pub having a post-work drink with a few friends. Stopping ourselves in fits of laughter as we had ended up talking about relationships, from the new film 'her' where a guy falls in love with a female Operating system (apparently, I haven't seen it!) to catfish, to pretending to be pregnant to get away with eating more food… we stopped to work out how we had arrived at these bizarre topics, and it turned out the conversation sparker had been me telling them about writing a feature on fracking for the Phonebox magazine. Fracking, probably one of the least interesting topics for a group of girls to be discussing in the pub, and yet we had found ourselves talking about one loosely related thing to another... Along the way also discussing how one would keep track of their kids while out shopping (introducing conversations about tracking devices, mobile apps and voice activated controls) as well as reminiscing over our childhoods- 'accidentally' stealing trikes, and all things Scottish. So what, you might say, but I'd challenge you to think back in those bizarre conversations you may have down the pub, because realising how you managed to get from one topic to another can actually be more funny than the conversation itself… or maybe we'd just had a few too many J20s…

The national day yesterday was the day of awesomeness: 'A day for celebrating all things awesome, and everything awesome that you, your friends, and everybody else does.' I think random pub conversations can fall into this category!

Sarah

Introducing...

Hello!

I'm the new kid on the block here at the Phonebox magazine- nice to meet you! My name is Sarah, I'm 23 and originally from Brighton.

I graduated from Southampton earlier this year with a degree in magazine journalism and am now putting my skills to good use at the Phonebox (or so I hope!) I've been working at the Phonebox magazine for a couple of months now and am now going to be writing regularly on this blog. It would be great to hear any feedback on anything I write- please don't be shy!

You can expect to see a little bit of everything, and like I said, do give your feedback and I can learn more about what you want to be reading! I'm new to the area, so will be writing about my discoveries, and letting you know how I'm adjusting to living away from the sea! So far so good, I'm loving driving through all the little villages and countryside- it's very picturesque! I've been on a mission to get to know the local pubs in Newport Pagnell, so will be keeping you updated with my findings- if you happen to have any tips of good ones I'd love to hear, equally any to avoid! I visited my first restaurant in Olney today, the courtyard for our staff Christmas lunch, very nice- now there's just a few more to visit, what a hard task!

Well I'd best get back to writing for the mag, working an issue in advance is quite confusing but I'm slowly getting used to it… February here I come!

Sarah