Starfish Showcase

I receive a telephone call from Starfish organiser Steve Harrison alarmingly close to deadline. He sounds pretty harassed. You alright? I say. “Not really.” He’s been having a hard time tracking down the line-up for the forthcoming Starfish Showcase and he knows I’m waiting for the information. “They’re all in a wood somewhere. I can’t get a sane word out of them.” After a few moments of bafflement, it transpires that he’s talking about a selection of former members of Starfish who’ve all been to an open air festival somewhere and not come back yet. Some of them (although we’re still unsure which) will be participating in the Showcase gig. It’s run as an annual fundraiser for the organisation which gives kids a leg-up with their prospective musical careers. All the performers are former members or helpers - it being the sort of organisation that induces this kind of loyalty. Resident rock star and Starfish alumna Hugh Harris of the Kooks apparently said of it, “It’s amazing… genius, it really helped me out when I was younger.”
Steve can offer the rest of the bill with more clarity, though. Friend of Starfish, Nicki Day will be doing a turn, described by Steve as ‘a bluesy soul diva’. Finally The Hamilton Yarns - the band of Junior Starfish co-ordinator Iain Paxon - have confirmed they will play a set. Their MySpace page describes their influences as anything from pre- 1930s jazz to Kraftwerk. “They sound like the bottom of the garden”, says Steve”. Who? “Like they come from fairy-land!”  What does that sound like? It’s probably worth going just to find out. ER