RDP at the VTU Fest, SBMJCE Tomorrow!

I know there are a lot pending articles to come on this blog and but this is a quick note to let you guys know that we are playing at the VTU fest in SBMJCE (Sri Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain College of Engineering) on Kanakapura Road tomorrow.

We should be on stage by around 8 PM or so, so make sure you start early if you plan to be at the gig! Its going to be loud and its going to be fun!

Directions to get there – Get on to Kanakapura Road and once you are at the Metro on Kanakapura Road, its 35 kilometers down that road on the left side.

I know its a long drive, but head out anyway, its the weekend and we’ll make sure its worth it.

Meeting at Coffee Day

[UPDATE] – If you couldn’t come yesterday, there are passes left behind at the Coffee Day on Cunningham road. Not the one in Sigma Mall. Please Pick them up on your way to the concert.

Raghu and I went to Coffee Day yesterday for the much awaited meeting with everyone who had asked for passes for our show today! We went armed with about a 100 passes and more importantly went there to meet everyone who would come and were fans of our music

We keep hearing how people who really liked us in a show could not come and meet us after the show and are really excited to meet us and thought this was a brilliant way to do just that!

The turnout was a tad lower than we expected, but it is completely understandable that people from a little far away could not really get through the maddening traffic in the city to make it on time and also like someone pointed out to us later, there was another coffee day in Sigma Mall on Cunningham Road, so I am hoping many people din’t go there and miss us that way.

Anyway, for the people that did show up, we had a nice round of introductions and conversation, lots of photos were taken and lots of passes were given out as well! Now we hope all of you turn up for the show and get more with you when you come!

For those that couldn’t make it, we have left the remaining passes at the Coffee Day counter itself. Please go there and pick it up on your way to the concert!

Nokia – “Touch The Tune” in Bangalore

The Raghu Dixit Project plays at the Nokia “Touch The Tune” concert in Bangalore at the Palace Grounds on the 23rd of January at the Palace grounds. Also playing along with us is Karsh Kale (absolutely brilliant contemporary music from India and has worked with the likes of Anoushka Shankar, Norah Jones and Sting!) and Midival Punditz (one of the biggest electronica acts in the country)

The show starts at 7 PM and goes on till about 11 PM. Head to the event page for this concert on Facebook and RSVP! Also, invite all your friends to the show!

I managed to score some passes for the concert and so if any of wants passes to the show, leave a message here and I will tell you how you can pick them up from me personally! The special Raghu Dixit Project friends and family offer

Raghu Dixit Project in Bangalore – Finally!

So its official! our first public gig in Bangalore after a LONG LONG time will happen on Christmas Eve! The Opus Christmas festival ’08 plays host to The Raghu Dixit Project on the 24th December 9PM Onwards.

If you haven’t watched the band in a long time or haven’t watched the band at all, then this is a very good place to start. So, on the 24th evening, Opus, in Bangalore is where you need to be!

The “landmark” gig in Bangalore

It has been a long long time since we played in Bangalore and yesterday’s show at ‘Landmark’ in the Garuda Swagath mall was one of the most looked forward to! both by us and a few of the people who have been writing in.

But what it eventually turned out to be was just beyond all our expectations and when Raghu exclaimed that “The crowd in Bangalore is the best!” and that “This is one of the best shows we’ve played” .. it was completely true!

There was an air about the show even before it actually began, and there was a welling crowd filling up all the possible standing space around the stage area. I had honestly not expected so many people to turn up, but then it was brilliant to see all of you there!

The gig started with songs from the first album and each of them had a very vocal Bangalore crowd singing along and I guess video taping the concert like I have never seen before. Like someone right pointed out, this is a great example of social media at work and I hope everyone uploads all the photos and videos they have taken and shares it with others!

Raghu then moved on to some songs from ‘Psycho’, the latest Kannada movie sensation and those songs were like a wildfire through dried hay! the whole store seemed to sing along and at times even remind Raghu of the lyrics!

In all, it was a great gig! lots of people, nice place, good fun! Thanks all of you for coming along and making this special. Upload all your photos and videos and send us a link so we can check them out too! and keep coming back here to check about the next time we play where you are

You can check out and you can see the whole set on the Raghu Dixit Project Flickr Page.

The Landmark Show Details

As I mentioned earlier, Raghu is playing in Pune, Chennai and Bangalore at the Landmark stores in each city. He will be playing a solo acoustic set and will be accompanied in each city by a guest artiste.

Go there to catch a complete new twist on the songs from the debut album, buy the CD if you haven’t already and get your CD autographed by Raghu!

The details for the shows are -

Pune
Date: 14th November 2008
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Venue: Landmark, 1B Moledina Rd, (Next to Dorabjee’s) Camp, Pune. Tel: 4006 8888

Chennai
Date: 15th November 2008
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Venue: Landmark, Chennai Citi Centre, R.K Salai, Chennai. Tel: 2847 777

Bangalore
Date: 16th November 2008
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Venue: Landmark, Garuda Swagat Mall, Jayanagar, Bangalore

I will put up links here to the posters for all 3 gigs, please feel free to take the right poster, print it out and put it up in your offices and schools and colleges! For now, just send this link out to everyone you think will be interested and come for the shows! Who knows you might get a cool t-shirt as well

And while you are at it, go for the gig, take some pics and send it to us or just upload it somewhere and send us a link and I will feature it on the blog

Raghu Dixit @ Landmark

Raghu is going to be playing a series of gigs in Landmark Stores across the country this weekend. There are shows planned in Pune, Chennai and Bangalore on the 14th, 15th and 16th of November respectively. I will put up more details about the shows very soon, but if any of you are in these cities, keep those days free to catch Raghu unplugged at a Landmark Store near you!

Please don’t stop the music!

Bangalore, long time back used to be this place where everyone was laidback and happy and things moved along leisurely, infact, there was a time, the old-timers say when everyone in Bangalore knew everyone else in Bangalore. But with time, Bangalore grew to become a cosmopolitan, modern city. The influx of IT brought with it people, ideas, cultures and so much so that the once ‘retirement town’ had now become a ‘melting pot’ of cultures and traditions and people!

Over the last few years, a lot of things changed and clearly our city has struggled to cope with that and in many ways it has begun to catch up.

Last month however, the law makers and the law enforcers in a stunning twist of events banned live music in the city (yet again!). Well technically, ALL live music is not banned, but performances of any kind, music, dance, theatre etc in a place which serves alcohol is banned. Which essentially means, there are *NO* venues to perform in the city.

For all you naysayers and people who believe that there are venues and we should just organize shows in the myriad halls that exist and any variation of that idea, all I have to say is .. please organize something like this .. one gig a month with whichever band you want to or any dancer or theatre performer and then see how it works out for you. Then you will realize why these venues were of such importance to the young artistes in the city.

Raghu Dixit at the protest

Raghu and I being the only Bangaloreans in the band, came out in full force last week (or atleast as much force as we could) to be part of the protest against such illogical ruling by the police. We certainly hope that this situation is resolved quickly before we end up living in a place that is permanently devoid of culture!

If you would like to see this situation changed, please go right ahead and sign the petition to the government online at http://bengalurubleeding.com/petition and leave your message there. This will be taken officially to the government and we hope that something good will come out of it!

Sign the Pledge

We’re ripping the charts apart at Crossword, Bangalore

I went today to Crossword on Residency Road, Bangalore to get something for a friend and while I was there I decided it was time to check if our album was available there and so I went to the music section and asked for ‘The Raghu Dixit Project’ CD.

The sales man was ecstatic! he was overjoyed that someone was asking for the album .. he personally walked me to the section and said that he recommends it whole heartedly and I should definitely buy the album. Now, at this point, he still doesn’t know that I play for the band, so I play along with him and ask him why he thinks so and he keeps raving about how the songs were lovely and how it grew on him and how he plays it in the store and everyone asks which CD it is and wants to buy it!!!

So then I mentioned to him that I play for the band, and he was even more kicked!! he changed the music in the store to play his favourite, the Kannada songs from the album and was going non stop about how he likes the music!

Since I am anyway all set for a life on the road, I pulled out my recorder which was in the car and went on to record him saying all that!

So push play and yenjoy !!

Something’s Brewing!

Its been a really really long time since we played in Namm Ooru ‘Bengaluru’ and it seems quite strange to have a show in the town we are from! But we are .. and that is the good news!

BrewHaHa in Koramangala is where all the action will happen, so come there early if you want a realistic chance at sitting and watching us, but then who sits and watches us anyway!

Date: Saturday, February 16, 2008
Time: 7:30pm – 9:00pm
Location: Koramangala – Next to Jyoti Nivas College!
Street: JNC Road
City/Town: Bangalore, India

This is a free show, so there are no tickets, there is limited space so the early birds get to peck first!

PS: Put on your dancing shoes and come in the best of your spirits! its going to be a party!!