ianjoliet.com

:{UNPLANNED AFTERNOONS #40}: press release
for immediate release

UNPLANNED AFTERNOONS DOES REFUGEE WEEK:
THE UNPLANNED SUMMER SOLSTICE PARTY

The long-running music and charity shindig, Unplanned Afternoons, is throwing a special party on the summer solstice to celebrate Refugee Week 2008. The event is taking place on Saturday 21st June, from 12-11pm, at the fabulous Corbet Place venue off Brick Lane in East London and will be the biggest Unplanned Afternoon in its three-year history.

The day will feature authentic Afghan food, graffiti artists and a great line-up of eclectic Unplanned Afternoons DJs, playing for free. There is no charge to get in but, as always at Unplanned Afternoons, donations will be collected in aid of charity.

This month, Unplanned Afternoons is part of Refugee Week, a UK-wide programme of arts, cultural and educational events that celebrate the contribution of refugees to the UK, and encourages a better understanding between communities.

This will be the 40th Unplanned Afternoon since it was launched in March 2005, in response to the Boxing Day Tsunami Earthquake. So far, Unplanned Afternoons has raised thousands of pounds for 40 different charities.

An offshoot of The Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, Corbet Place is special. Sneakily hidden behind two unassuming wooden doors in a brick wall, the venue has been around for two years, hosting some exceptionally riotous parties, private events, a few secret gigs, exhibitions, film shoots and designer sales. Inside, Corbet Place is spacious, airy and comfortable but, for the summer, there’s also a large terrace and even a secret garden.

Prolix (aka Ian Joliet), DJ and founder of Unplanned Afternoons, said:

“Unplanned Afternoons is a home from home where you can dress up, or dress down; shake your tailfeather, or take a load off; get back on the horse, or have a nice cup of tea. Musically, think of Unplanned Afternoons as your mildly eccentric friend, letting you idly thumb through their vast record collection and discover all manner of curious delights. Old stuff, new stuff and somewhere inbetween stuff, it’s the songs you love and never get to hear, plus new tunes you won’t be able to live without.

My Dad’s parents were Jewish refugees and I don’t have any English bloodline and, yet, being white and not having a foreign accent, no-one tells me to ‘go home’. The representation of refugees, fostered by certain, right-wing sections of the populist media, is often misinformed and very damaging. Why am I accepted, when there remains a refusal to acknowledge the positive influence that refugees and their families bring to Britain?”

Ends

NOTES TO EDITOR:

1. UNPLANNED AFTERNOONS
The Unplanned Summer Solstice Party
ridiculous eclecticism, guaranteed, with Prolix, Spencer & Ruby Rocks, StyleFree [Simon Nash], Ogrizovic, The Cardinal, Arnold Trubshaw
SATURDAY 21st JUNE, 12-11pm
FREE - donations welcome in aid of Refugee Week
@ CORBET PLACE, Ely’s Yard, The Old Truman Brewery
15 Hanbury Street, off Brick Lane, E1 6QR – [020] 7770 6028
nearest tube: Liverpool Street, Aldgate East

More information can be found at:
www.unplannedafternoons.com
www.refugeeweek.org.uk
www.myspace.co.uk/corbetplace

2. For further information, interviews and images please contact:
Ian Joliet on 07941 610 664 or ian [dot] joliet [at] gmail [dot] com
Hannah Ward on 07880 556 931 or hannah [dot] ward [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] uk

3. ABOUT REFUGEE WEEK:
Celebrating its tenth year, Refugee Week 2008 will host hundreds of exciting events up and down the country, encouraging the UK to explore refugee issues, bring together communities and celebrate the contribution of refugees to the UK. Refugee Week looks to dispel negative images of refugees through providing a space for encounters, which also highlights the UK’s long history of welcoming those who seek sanctuary here. Refugee Week 2008 will take place from 16-22 June and further information, examples of events from last year and ways to get involved can be found at:
www.refugeeweek.org.uk or contact:
Carina Crawford on 020 7346 6752 or
carina [dot] crawford [at] refugeecouncil [dot] org [dot] uk

4. ABOUT UNPLANNED AFTERNOONS:
Unplanned Afternoons was born, logically enough, by accident. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon and DJ Prolix didn’t have anything planned so, when the Smackmaster Generale phoned, that’s what Prolix told him. And, that he’d discovered a patch of mould under his living room carpet. The Smackmaster Generale didn’t have much planned either, so little indeed, that coming round to see a patch of mould qualified as entertainment. Thankfully, the afternoon didn’t end there. Booze was bought, some more friends rolled up unannounced, tunes were played and, out of nowhere, a party was in full flight. At 4pm.

Unplanned Afternoons has been running, every month, for over three years and has raised thousands of pounds for the DEC Tsunami Earthquake Appeal, Make Poverty History, Amnesty International, Water Aid, London Bombings Relief Charitable Fund, Niger Crisis Appeal, DEC Asia Quake Appeal, Crisis, Help The Aged, British Red Cross, Oxfam, Save The Children, UNICEF, World Vision, Merlin, Concern, Shelter, Cancer Research UK, CAFOD, Refugee Council, Friends Of The Earth, SOS Children’s Villages, DEC Darfur And Chad Crisis, Contact A Family, Just A Drop, Leukaemia Research, Save Darfur, The Prostate Cancer Charity, National AIDS Trust, Environmental Investigation Agency, British Heart Foundation, Love Music Hate Racism, DEC Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone Appeal and, this month, Refugee Week.