An open letter to all lovers of Acoustic/Roots/Americana music....

I said to Alan Cackett at a recent gig that if only more people were to once experience live music of the calibre that he promotes in Maidstone, the place would be filled to bursting every week. That prompted me to put a few thoughts down in the hope that it might encourage a few more music lovers to come out of the woodwork and be treated to some great evenings in Maidstone. The first gig I came to was Allison Moorer over 5 years ago, and since then have been treated to a succession of superb musicians from the UK, the US, Canada, Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, and elsewhere at the old Soul Cafe in Maidstone. The driving force behind all of this [and the owner of Maverick Magazine as most people are well aware] is Alan himself, supported by Dan on sound and the Maverick team in the back office. Alan's contacts and feeling for the best the genre has to offer are without equal, but latterly the Soul Cafe as a live venue became less and less suitable. There was a sad period when the Soul Cafe as a venue closed at the end of 2006 and live music lapsed. A brief reopening took place, but even the new ''tasteful decor'' and the revised seating at the Cafe [although great for a disco] was hardly suited to live gigs - there was no stage for a start. It all looked quite bleak until Alan recently organised a move to the new venue, the Zebra Bar, not far away from the old Soul Cafe. There have now been a number of gigs at the Zebra Bar and last night Rod Picott with a full band played to a packed house. Having seen and enjoyed Rod three times already, this was easily the best I've ever seen him, and his tight band really brought the house down.

Alan often makes the point that the gigs which are well attended [75-100 people] are a great success and everyone then thinks that this is the norm. It's not difficult, after all, to fill a room if the big/popular names are playing, but covers up the fact that when there are only 30-40 devotees there, the venue struggles to break even. People who only come once or twice a year to packed houses think that Alan and the venue must be doing very well indeed! Errrrr, not quite so!

Everything about the new venue - Maverick @ Zebra Bar - is so much better than the Soul Cafe. The building itself is very attractive and inside there's a welcoming feel; the seating is more comfortable, with tables and bar chairs and even a few sofas. The owners thoughtfully provide some nibbles for patrons, the drinks are cheaper and the service is slick. Sight lines to the [raised] stage are great as are the sound and the acoustics - and the owners behind the bar are clearly as enthusiastic about the music as the audience. And last but certainly not least for those that drive some way to get to Maidstone, there is a CCTV-monitored secure multi-storey car park right across the street which couldn't be more convenient. All in all, it's a superb venue with great music.

I would urge all you acoustic/live music lovers out there to come and support the new venue -because if you don't use it, you WILL lose it. Take a chance on a name you might not have heard of before - we did, when Shawn Jones and Darden Smith last came to Maidstone and were so pleased we did so. They are both coming back soon, Shawn on October 25th and Darden on October 29th. Don't miss either of them! Check out those unknown artistes on the internet as we do, and listen to their music. For those who loved the Jayhawks, one can hardly believe that one of the founder members of that terrific band, Mark Olson, is coming to the Zebra Bar on October 15th. It'll surely be a great night. So get off that couch [there's nothing exciting on the telly these days anyway] invest around a tenner and come on down and support live music and Alan and the Maverick crew. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Sincerely,