Christmas Spoken Word Anagram Quiz- Answers

Posted on January 2, 2013 by garylongden

Thank you to everyone who tried – and failed! 27/35 was the best effort. I hope you enjoy seeing the anagrams unravel before your eyes:

1.Gary Longden- grandly gone
2.Bohdan Piasecki- backside siphon
3.Emma Pursehouse- measures up home
4.Gary Carr- Rag Carry
5.Mal Dewhirst- Warmth Slide
6.Jonathan Taylor- Jolt arty ha anon
7.Lisa Ventura- unreal vista
8.Heather wastie-weathers his tea
9. Jacqui rowe- quo jaw rice
10.Giovanni Esposito- Positive Gas Onion
11.Liz lefroy- zero filly
12.Julie Boden- job nude lie
13.Antony R owen- annoyer town
14.Charlie Jordan- Jailer Hard con
15.Laura Yates- sure lay at a
16.Maggie Doyle- Oily am egged
17.Richard Grant- ranch grid rat
18.Stepehn Morrison Burke- housebroken sperm inert
19.Alan McGeachie- mechanical age
20.Jodi ann bickley -Blink enjoy acid
21.Jack Edwards – jaw desk card
22.Tony Stringfellow- strongly flew into
23.Emergency Poet- Creepy get me on
24.Matt Windle- lewd mint at
25. Simon Fletcher- fishermen clot
26. Amy Rainbow – Win by aroma
27. Fergus McGonigal – Alfresco mugging
28. Mulletproof poet – roomful pelt poet
29. Deborah Tyler Bennet -Northernly batted bee-
30.Catherine Crosswell -Cartwheels score nil-

31. Hot he tied – Hit the ode
32. Greatly hop it – Poetry Alight
33. Dreadnought Pong raid – Pure and Good and Right
34. Humid coma nuts- Mouth and Music
35. Dish Gin -Shindig

Posted in Blog | 2 Comments

Christmas Midlands Poetry Personalities Anagram Quiz

Posted on December 24, 2012 by garylongden

Just for fun ,the first 30 anagrams are of people who either organise, or are prominent at, poetry events across the Midlands. Inclusion is not by prominence- but by anagram interest! The final five are of events themselves.

Answers on Boxing Day.

1. grandly gone
2. backside oh pain
3. measures up home
4. rag carry
5. warmth slide
6. jolt arty ha anon
7. unreal vista
8. weathers his tea
9. quo jaw rice
10. positive gas onion
11. zero filly
12. job nude lie
13. annoyer town
14. jailer hard con
15. sure lay at a
16. oily am egged
17. ranch grid rat
18. housebroken sperm inert
19. mechanical age
20. Blink enjoy acid
21. jaw desk card
22. strongly flew into
23. creepy get me on
24. lewd mint at
25. fisherman clot
26. win by aroma
27. alfresco mugging
28. roomful pelt poet
29. northernly batted bee
30. cartwheels score nil
——————————————————————————————————————-
31. Hot he tied
32. Greatly hop it
33. Dreadnought Pong raid
34. Humid coma nuts
35. Dish Gin

Posted in Blog | 1 Comment

The Snowman’s Lament

Posted on December 15, 2012 by garylongden

snowman

Winter is my favourite time ,
Otherwise I just melt away into the background,
And although I am always a little tubby in the middle
And can never see my feet, it’s neat
Being a Snowman.

It’s just the way I am made, it’s genetic you see,
Just down to tradition ,
Not the Maccy D,
Or whiskey,
I’m strictly water only.

I always dread the placement of the carrot.
It should be for my nose, but just suppose
They put it somewhere else……………
It causes particular embarrassment you know,
If they choose to put a baby carrot, well , “down below”.

As for my dressing, well I wish I could modernise
Get Gok wan in perhaps,
But when the cry goes out “accessorize”
All I get is a scarf, a hat, and maybe some coals for eyes.
It’s not very chic ,in any sort of guise.
Sunglasses are a bad omen, for too much sun
Makes my complexion begin to run,
Resulting in my demise, then, that’s your lot,
All that’s left of me on your grass, a sorry white blot.

Rpm Mem (Kubla Khan- slight return)

And when those remembered sounds come , what do we hear
Instruments, chords, voices and arrangements
Or faces and places parties and engagements
I heard funky weekend last night drifting ,teasing calling
And I at once remembered Keith’s drunken caterwauling
Of the same song
Almost forty years ago
It does that to you, one tune, a thousand memories

The album cover was as big as a coffee table book
We would gaze, stare and look,
(Sometimes it was used for a coffee table, If we didn’t like it)
At the artwork, the credits, who was in the band
Those in the studio who had given a helping hand
Then there were lyric sheets to help you read along
So you could sing out aloud, before you even knew the song,
And couldn’t get the words wrong, because they were there, in front of you

When they were not, you were in trouble, I worried for some time about Bonnie Tylers’ breakfast problems with her hard egg.

The vinyl was tangible. It was big. It was circular. It felt complete.
You started on the outer groove, and twenty minutes later you knew it had finished – by a scraping, booming noise
You had no choice
But to get up and – turn it over
Unless you wanted to skip tracks, which was usually unwise
As to do so you needed the eyes
Of a wartime precision bomb aimer
Able to release the needle ,with finger and thumb, over exactly the right point over a moving target travelling at 33 and a third revs per minute

Sometimes the boom of impact was followed by a reassuring silence
Other times there was the embarrassment of missing the intro, or worse still the dying chords of the previous song, or even worse still, you had counted the wrong number of wide grooves and you would have to turn around for another sortie
To hear your desired melody.

But like the Dambusters, like 633 squadron, like Guy Gibson, the elite got it right, first time.
It was rumoured that by playing certain Ozzy Osbourne records backwards there were secret messages from hell
But with Ozzy, forwards, or backwards, it was difficult to tell.
You could buy them anywhere as well
Newsagents, Woolworths, Debenhams and Boots,
All stocked Toots , and the Maytalls, their back catalogues in full,
There was no supermarket cull ,of just the top 20
With listening booths for youths, where you could ask to hear a song first
To enliven your thirst,
For what was new, or just because you wanted to hear it
Which is what I used to do,

I would try to impress the counter girl in the company dress
With my musical taste but it was always a waste,
She had heard it all before, it was what happened in store
All the time- and she didn’t like music anyway, well she liked David Cassidy and the Partridge family, which meant that she didn’t like music anyway, I guess, and the company dress looked awful, a thought I had tried to suppress ,as I had tried my best, to impress, but made a mess, I confess, of my advances to the girl in the company dress.

It didn’t need to make sense either, Jethro Tull were thick as a brick
Genesis had the Trick,
Of the tail
Tales from topographical oceans was a window on an unseen world
Zeppelin’s stairway hurled
You into another place, carried by John Paul Jones bass

A damsel with a dulcimer in a vision once i saw
It was an Abyssinian maid
And on her dulcimer she played, singing of Mount Abora
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight ‘twould win me
That with music loud and long
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! Where Frankie said “Relax”
Just do it, they were the facts
Those caves which Foreigner told, were cold, as ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
Plants flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For we on honey-dew hath fed
And drunk the milk of Paradise City
Where the grass was green, and the girls were pretty,
Where the Doors of perception open to allow the crystal ship
To sail every day from an internet you tube clip

Posted in Poems | 3 Comments

British Female 1970’s Pop Stars

Posted on December 15, 2012 by garylongden

The music produced by female singers in the 70’s outstripped fashion trends by some distance!

A year ago, I posted a blog on British Female 1960’s Pop Stars. It has subsequently gone on to be one of my most read pieces even though the majority of this site is about spoken word. So for my 500th blog, and with over 15,000 site visits this year I thought that I would take a look at the 1970’s. The following artists are not “the best”, or the biggest selling. But they all follow the tradition of great British female pop stars. They are also, in my view, amongst the most interesting and influential.

When I compiled the 1960’s blog I was overwhelmed with choice, both of singer and song. The first thing that struck me in looking at the 1970’s was how few British female singers there were who had made it. There were some notable women who enjoyed success as part of, but not fronting on their own, bands, such as Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac, and Lyn Paul of the New Seekers. Otherwise the list was pretty thin. Elkie Brooks with Vinegar Joe is an exception- more of her later.

Siouxsie Sue, who fronted Siouxsie and the Banshees was seminal in numerous respects. Hitherto, women rarely fronted rock bands on their own . American Suzi Quatro, with her eponymous band, had led the way in the early 1970’s with some mainstream pop. Again in America, Janis Joplin had crashed and burned in the late 1960’s and Grace Slick was probably the most notable pioneer with Jefferson Airplane then Starship. In Britain there was nothing.

Punk is , and was, probably the most misrepresented of all popular musical genres. “Three chords, anyone can do it, you don’t have to be able to play you just need the spirit” were the popularised mantras. Individually they were true. But collectively punk offered muck more than that. Rather than providing a free pass to the untalented, it opened the door to those who had talent, but whose talent had been suppressed by prevailing trends and institutions. Her musical influences are obvious in her music; David Bowie, Lou Reed, Marc Bolan, Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music and Iggy Pop of The Stooges. She chose wisely in who she gathered around her. Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Steve Severin provided a solid musical base, in succession, John MCKay, John McGeoch and Robert Smith were amongst the most talented guitarists of their generation, and writer and friend Caroline Coon was crucial in promoting the band in the early days.

I first saw her at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park, 1979 on April 7th playing a benefit for MENCAP. It was her first headline show at a major venue, which had sold out in hours. Rema-Rema opened, the band put together by original banshee guitarist Marco Pirroni who later encouraged Adam Ant whose band he played to copy Siouxsie’s image. They were followed by the Human League boasting Phil Oakey and Martin Ware before the Heaven 17 split. They were sensational, Being Boiled, Circus of Death and a wonderful slowed down version of You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling soared, although possibly soared over the heads of a rabid, boisterous punk crowd. Then came Siouxsie.

Dressed in pirate jacket, white blouson, tight leggings and boots and with white make-up and a shock of black hair standing as if electrified she commanded the stage from start to finish- and oozed sex-appeal. Although then the music was raw, the invention and arrangement of a fairly minimalist sound was evident, and her charisma and power subsumed any technical shortcomings. Hong Kong Garden was her hit number, and this is as good a representation of her as anything she did.

Shirley Bassey’s career spans an incredible seven decades now, her first hit coming in 1957, her career paralleling that of veteran Cliff Richard. As a consequence, deciding what decade she should be in is arbitrary. She made her name and fortunein the 1960’s, such that she went to live in tax exile at the end of that decade removing her from the domestic limelight. However the 1970’s was when she was at her commercial peak. This recording of her performing Something from 1971, her recording of the song outselling that of the Beatles ,showcases all that made her a star, her voice, her stagecraft, her phrasing- unusually she is not wearing one of her trademark shimmering evening dresses.

Tina Charles only had one big hit, I Love to Love (But My Baby Just Loves to Dance), but it was a huge hit and has been played at discos pretty much ever since its release in 1976. America had lots of disco queens, Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, Patti Labelle, Thelma Houston et al, but Tina is OUR disco queen, and she, and the song, are superb here, perfectly capturing the era. She had a perfectly respectable minor career after that, which would probably have been far more commercially successful if punk had not swept disco away in the popular zeitgeist in the following twelve months. Tina herself had a wholesome likeability. It is impossible to listen to this song without smiling, tapping your toes, humming the melody and mouthing the lyrics with visions of glitter balls, makeshift discos and martini and lemonade seeping into the sub conscious.

Kiki Dee was an industry stalwart who performed cover versions and backing vocals professionally across the industry. Three hits define her career. Amoureuse, I’ve Got The Music in Me, and her No1 duet with Elton John, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, the latter of which unfortunately left the public with a taste for more with Elton, restricting he subsequent appeal. As versatile as Cilla Black, she would certainly have prospered if she had been older and she had been able to launch her talents in the 1960’s when the market for solo female singers in Britain was so much greater. This performance of I’ve Got the Music in Me in 1974 shows her at her funkiest and punchiest with a lovely Motown feel to it.

No resume of female British talent in the 1970’s would be complete without reference to Kate Bush. Kate was extraordinary, with the right talent and voice at the right time. Progressive Rock had peaked, visuals had been pushed by Genesis. Dave Gilmour protege Bush ,helped by mime artist Lindsay Kemp who had assisted David bowies embryonic career, had the talent and the help at the right time to launch the wonderfully preposterous Wuthering Heights on an unsuspecting British public. The consensus was that she was mad- but good.

Ridiculously talented, and with numerous fine albums , her career has always been stymied by a refusal to tour, she has only ever been on the road once, for six weeks in 1979, other appearances have been one offs. Her sense of the dramatic, her vocal talent, and inventiveness are every bit a match for lady Gaga, whose contemporary success she would surely have emulated if she had been prepared to tour her music.

This performance of Wuthering Heights in 1978 sets the agenda for her career, although conventional songs like The Man With the Child in His Eyes show off her mainstream talent more effectively:

Another wacky Seventies star was Lene Lovich. An erstwhile radio one road show go-go dancer she found fame with Stiff records and a series of off-beat but catchy songs, Lucky Number, Home and Bird Song amongst the most successful. Yet it is a cover which I regard as being her finest work, her interpretation of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons hit The Night recorded at Liverpool University in 1979. Although not possessing the vocal quality and range of Kate Bush, unlike Bush she toured hard and her bohemian eclectic dress sense anticpated many of the trends developed by the male new romantics.

Poly Styrene enjoyed a relatively brief, but influential period of fame with X Ray Spex. Their only album Germfree Adolescents was acclaimed at the time alongside the Clash’s eponymous debut album and has grown in stature as time has gone on as have their five singles Oh Bondage, Up Yours,Identity, The Day the World Turned Day-Glo, Germ Free Adolescents, and Highly Inflammable. Wholly anti-sexual in her stage appearance ,she embodied an anti-consumerist girl power stance and anticipated the Riot Grrl movement. Although she , and the band, were about attitude and politics, the band could play, and she knew how to front a band. This performance of Identity is from 1978

Elkie Brooks is curiously often overlooked as a British talent, yet she released her first single in 1964 and is in her sixth decade as a performing artist. Once again, deciding which decade to place her in is arbitrary. Her solo album career commenced as a mainstream pop singer in 1975. In 1977 she had two top ten singles with the enduring Pearls a Singer, and Sunshine After the Rain, yet her credibility on the professional circuit was established by a distinguished stint with Robert Palmer’s Vinegar Joe. Her wild woman of rock reputation somewhat at odds with the schmaltzy cabaret style singing which made her subsequent fortune. But Elkie could rock, as this clip, recorded in 1973 of her singing as part of Vinegar Joe with Robert Palmer demonstrates.

I offer honourable mentions to the following; Pauline Murray from Penetration, Ari Up from the Slits, Ana da Silva from the Raincoats, Faye Fyfe from the Rezillos.

Those curious as to which artists caught my eye and ear in the 1960’s may wish to check this earlier blog:

British Female 60’s Pop Stars

Posted in Blog | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 29 Comments

Parole Parlate, Little Venice, Worcester

Posted on December 7, 2012 by garylongden
Host Lisa Ventura

Host Lisa Ventura

Parole Parlate does not normally meet in December, but this year the organisers took a chance by doing so, resulting in one of the best attendances of the year. Much has happened poetically in Worcestershire in 2012 and those involved in organising in, and participating in, Parole Parlate have been at the heart of that. The second Worcester Literary Festival built on the promising foundations of the inaugural event, and the third, next summer promises to be the biggest yet boosted by a new “Friends of Worcester Literary Festival” scheme. The Hive, a joint venture new library, university and arts building opened in the year and played host to several PP regulars. Outdoors a very successful Malvern Walk lured those normally indoors , outdoors, and provided the platform for some great poetry too. So the Christmas special was as much about the years as a whole as it was a solus event.

Maggie Doyle

Maggie Doyle

Headliner was Worcestershire Poet Laureate 2012/13 Maggie Doyle. Every time I see her perform her heels seem to get higher, and her delivery more accomplished. She is proving to be an ideal ambassador for the post, hard-working, straight-forwards and unpretentious. She aims to connect with her audience- and invariably does. Her Merry Widow sequence is becoming quite a treat, her fantasy of bondage with Beckham the undoubted highlight of about the best set I have seen her perform.

Lindsay Stanberry-Flynn’s milieu is prose and flash fiction, and her seasonal short story How was it For You Joseph was customarily well crafted, her hymn to the moneylenders and politicians in playful light contrast. Worcestershire Stanza was very well represented this evening, not least because they nominated it for their Christmas social . Jenny Hopes White Light “ the trees were unashamed by this close scrutiny” and Sarah James the Garden Party “We dig under our nails for the dirt” both shone.

Suz Winspear

Suz Winspear

In Christmas party mode the tightly bodiced Suz Winspear entertained with Ode to the Christmas Shoplifter, the khaki helmeted Christopher Kingsley delighted with his quick-fire verse , and the bepiped Ian Glass enthralled with the Monster of Du Vet delivered at a speed which the waiting staff at Little Venice might have done well to emulate that evening.

Chris Kingsley

Chris Kingsley

Short stories are difficult to pull off performed, but Tony Judge’s extract from the parish magazine of Little Hope was funny sharp and an all round delight, Ian Ward read “A rebel Without a Clause” with his tongue firmly in his cheek.

In truth there was not a weak link in the entire evening. Host Lisa Ventura’s decision to pick experienced performers paid her back in dividends, and not just artistically. A gastronomically delayed start meant time was at a premium. Without prompting, everyone was concise, on time and sharp, with no overruns and performers routinely happy to underuse the maximum time available to them- proceedings prospered as a result.

Parole Parlate returns on Thursday 3rd January, 2013 at 7.30pm.

Posted in Behind the Arras Reviews | 2 Comments

A Canal Poet Laureate- Why?

Posted on December 7, 2012 by garylongden
A Canal Poet Laureate Shows the Way

A Canal Poet Laureate Shows the Way

Recently Jo Bell was awarded the inaugural Canal Poet Laureateship for the Canal and River Trust. Boats and writing have been easy bedfellows over the years, however the creation of any new position will always provoke conflicting views. As a professional writer, but modestly experienced canal boater, I thought I would find out more by attending one of Jo’s canal poetry workshops at Bordesley in Birmingham with my mind open, and pen poised.

The canal network in England and Wales ( curiously, Scotland ceded from inclusion in the canal laureateship) is long overdue a makeover. Physically, the canals enabled the industrial revolution and Empire. Yet they are largely out of view, of necessity at ground level, and easily missed. Their industrial urban roots and routes mean that in areas of population , they tend to be tucked away, and in the countryside their modest width is barely noticed. Modern day use is overwhelmingly for leisure, not commerce, now. Although the nagging suspicion remains that anything that physically connects areas of population and business has latent potential beyond mere recreation, the lazy pace of the canal wildly juxtaposes the modern mantra of speed and immediacy.

The historic story is there to be told to a generation who, post the 1960’s have seen canals in recreational terms only. A contemporary story is there to be told about how the canals are now. And a debate is to be had about what the future may hold, as well as celebrating the present and past. It strikes me that writing is an intrinsic part of all of that. Where does poetry fit into that? For me, it is capable of joining up the emotional, historic and contemporary dots, concisely and memorably resonating with the converted, and enticing the non-believers to the subject.

My fellow work-shoppers, a dozen or so strong, were a reassuringly diverse bunch of men and women ranging from twenty something students, to some fifty and sixty somethings. The leadership could not have been stronger. Maya, from the Canal Trust, was on hand to lead the tour and provide expert local knowledge. However the credentials of Jo herself could not be stronger. She is a canal boat owner and dweller, as well as an erstwhile qualified industrial archaeologist, her talents now dedicated to poetry and writing.

Bordesley Canal Poets

Bordesley Canal Poets

The claim that Birmingham has more miles of canal than Venice is now disputed, suffice to say Birmingham has a lot of canals. However the distinction between the two canal networks is not one of relative length, but of visibility. In Venice canals are everywhere, in Birmingham most people never see one. So our tour was of a twilight zone, a forgotten world where commerce is all but gone, and tourists understandably prefer a more pastoral setting. Birmingham’s canal value is as a hub passing through, rather than a destination on its own.

That sense of people turning their backs on canals is physical as well as metaphorical. Gates, doorways, hatches and loading bays that once faced the canals are bricked up as the railways, then roads took the trade, and they were required on the other side of the buildings. Of course the canals remained and abandoned space never remains so for long. Graffiti art blazes across deserted, forgotten walls, joggers jog, ducks paddle and foxes lie low almost indignant at the intrusion of passing boat traffic.

In the workshop itself two exercises stood out. The first was an exercise in simply using place names and how effective that could be. Canals are rich in nomenclature, Farmers Bridge Flight, The Delph Run, and the Anderton Lift are tales all on their own, not simply names. The second was in writing call and response poems where one writer assumed the voice of one canal character, and another the other, most memorably this was demonstrated in a poem of the angler and the fish. What struck me was that the calibre of poet was high, and although their previous connection with the canals was minimal, the results were of a high quality. When replicated around the country this is where the symbiosis develops, of two hitherto unconnected entities, now connected. Where the canals yield up their stories, and the people beyond the towpaths and factory walls are lured to learn, enjoy, celebrate and contribute.

Indeed there is a symmetry between great poetry and the simple enduring physicality of the cut, the canals and their mechanism. Both can do their job with beauty and the minimum of fuss. With this in mind Jo Bell, Ian McMillan and Roy Fisher are to have some lines affixed to some new lock gates. A great unifying force between poetry and canals is time. Writing needs time, canals offer it, whether its is aboard travelling, on the towpath walking and watching, or at the locks waiting, time is available, a rare luxury these days.

Part of the Poetry Lock Engraving

Part of the Poetry Lock Engraving

Why should there be a canal poet laureate? Half a day with Jo Bell provided ample reasons. Why not come and find out for yourself?

Jo’s Blog: http://belljarblog.wordpress.com/
Canal and River Trust: http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/

Posted in Blog | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Promoting Your Poetry- Publishing and Performance

Posted on December 3, 2012 by garylongden

For most poets the news that a collection has been accepted for publication by a mainstream publisher is a cause for celebration for themselves, their families ,and friends. It validates their work and provides third party endorsement affording credibility and kudos, justifiably so. However anyone that looks at the numbers behind poetry publishing may deduce that although the aforementioned are all true, a mass audience and riches are not going to follow.

A print run of 300 is standard for poetry, 200 sales is good, a best seller may be measured in the several hundreds ,rather than over a thousand, and 200 sales is break even on the print costs only. In 2010 not one of the ten poetry collections shortlisted for the prestigious T S Elliot Prize had sold more than 1,000 copies; one finalist had sold only 39, and Sean O’Brien’s winner, The Drowned Book, had sold just 758 copies in the ten months following its publication. So it’s all doom and gloom isn’t it? No.

In November, a quiet month, there were over eighty spoken word events in the Midlands listed in Garyswordz. In the summer during festival season that number can touch two hundred. Audiences are typically no fewer than ten, and no more than one hundred, with forty a good turn- out. If twenty is taken as an average, that means that between 1600 and 4000 people attend Midlands spoken words events in a month. Looking at the annual sales figures for mainstream poetry, that is quite an untapped audience. I attend around a hundred poetry events annually. Those occasions when national publishing houses, or their poets, were in evidence were seldom, and were exclusively at festivals. The preparedness of both to put in the hard yards is open to question.

Inevitably, small, kitchen-table poetry publishers have sprung up to fill the gap, compensating for lack of commercial experience with niche expert knowledge and enthusiasm. Unsurprisingly, they recognise where their market is. In the Midlands Nine Arches Press and Crystal Clear Creators co-produce Shindig in Leicester, Flarestack uses Poetry Bites as its showcase, and in the Black Country Bilston Voices and City Voices in Wolverhampton are promoted by Offa’s Press editors.

But nationally ,small presses do have their limitations. Earlier in the year I witnessed a small press published poet whom I did not know talk to no-one, read brilliantly, and then leave at the interval leaving prospective buyers looking at an empty seat incredulously, and leaving his publisher frustrated and let down. Subsidies can help and cripple. They can enable a publisher to take a chance on artistic grounds, but it can also featherbed them from taking uncommercial decisions about who will sell.

I believe that there is still much to be achieved commercially on the performance circuit. The most popular performers are virtually unknown in the published world. Some have self published collections, some don’t. Few organise themselves to sell, understandably tending to wish to concentrate on their art. A small press which grasped who the popular talent is, and took a professional commercial approach to marketing that talent has a largely worked market to harvest.

Self-publishing has traditionally been sneered at, but the economics, and sales opportunities are intriguing. Midlands poets Giovanni “Spoz” Esposito and Amy Rainbow have self published with sales in the thousands and several hundreds respectively. If published by a mainstream publisher they would be “best sellers”. The common denominator? Good work and a relentless performance ethic. Bluntly, if your work is good and you are prepared to actively promote your work, you will sell more books, make more money and be known by more people, than any conventional publishing deal is likely to deliver.

Blogs make no money, but they can be very effective at promoting your work to a broader audience. In 2010, 5305 poetry books by mainstream publishers were sold, in total, in the UK. As I write, this blog has had 15,051 views this year.

The lessons from all of the above? Mainstream publication is still something to aspire to. But mainstream publishers need to work much harder to get closer to grassroots poetry popularity, were they to do so, the sales growth potential is considerable. Small presses, by their very nature, are close to grassroots poetry. Mindful of the numbers of events, and people attending them, the opportunity to convert activity into sales is waiting to be grasped. Poets need to look beyond the holy grail of being published. Blogs can create awareness and achieve reach, fast and far. Those lucky enough to be mainstream published can become best –sellers by going out and performing in a systematic disciplined way, as can small press published poets. And those turned down by both? Self publication with a strong collection and grassroots awareness can outsell pretty much anyone with hard graft.

Posted in Blog | 7 Comments

December 2012- What’s On, Midlands Spoken Word

Posted on December 2, 2012 by garylongden

December is a month in which the normal pattern of Spoken Word events is altered. Some regular events don’t meet, some one off specials appear. I have only listed those events positively confirmrd for the month.

Sat 1st She @ The Drum, Aston, 2pm £5 in, ‘She’ is a 50 minute hard-hitting, multi-disciplinary performance piece consisting of drama, verbatim, dance, music, singing, performance poetry, spoken word, and film. It will be performed by a cast of 30 second-year students from the BA (Hons) Applied Performance (Community and Education] programme and directed by theatre maker Hannah Phillips, films by We Make Art, featuring Antics Dance Crew, finalists on Sky’s Got to Dance.She explores girls relationships to gangs and the sexual exploitation of young females in our City which is gang related.
Tickets are £5 / £3 (concessions),Public Performances, Saturday 1st Dec at 2pm, Monday 3rd Dec at 7pm, Tuesday 4th Dec at 7pm

Sat 1st Smart Poets, at Yorks Bakery Cafe,1-3 Newhall Street, B3 3NH Birmingham, 2-4pm, free in, open mic, Shaun Rolls hosts

Sat 1st Word Up Black Book Cafe The Silver Rooms, Nelson Street, GL5 2HL Stroud, Stroud, (18:30 – 20-30)
We would like to invite people from all walks of life to come together, connect and share through up vibe poetry / spoken word and live music.
Word Up is a new event bridging the gaps between individuals of society in an open, relaxed, creative and uninhibited environment. The venue for our launch is the recently opened Black Book Cafe in Stroud, Gloucestershire.
We aim to offer the open mic to experienced performers and encourage the courage of beginners to take the lime light alike; create a collaborative environment and allow truth to flow for the freestylers in the moment. The theme is conscious connection and emotional release – all ideas welcome. Nothing formal for performers, just join our facebook event page for more details

Sun 2nd Buzzwords The Exmouth Arms, Bath Road, Cheltenham, Workshop 7pm (run by Kate North), Guest reading and open mic – 8pm, Guest Poet: Kate North, £5 waged, £3 unwaged

Mon 3rd Speech Bubble, Loughborough Uni Students Union, free in , 7.30pm, Anna Freeman and John ‘Berko’ Berkavitch

Monday 3rd Beorma Bar, University of Birmingham , 7pm Liz Greenfield, Sally Jenkinson and Dominie Hooper On Tour,Here’s how the girls advertise their tour: “Sally’s a poet and Liz is a poet and Dominie is a singer. We’re going on tour together because we’re ALL AWESOME.” And really, what else do you need?

Mon 3rd Slam final Gorilla Poetry – Poetry Evolution, Dada bar, Trippet Lane, Sheffield, S1 4El, (Off West St) 8pm (7.30 doors)

Mon 3rd The SW@N Club – Spoken Word at the Newhampton, Wolverhampton,Meets every 1st Monday of the month at 8 pm – 10.30 pm. Admission – suggested donation on entry. Peter Chand hosts
Tuesday 4thThe Mee Club cabaret, Kitchen Garden Café, 17, York Road, King’s Heath, Birmingham, West Midlands B14 7SA7.30pm (£7 entry) with Cat Weatherill and Naomi Paul

Tues 4th Cracking Words, Kings Head, Bird St, Lichfield, 7.30pm, £3 inc buffet, Lichfield Poets present an Xmas special

Tues 4th Listen Ere Warwick Space (Old Warwick Youth Centre), Coten End, Warwick, CV34 4NU Listen ‘Ere! 8pm.A new club for performers of original material .

It’s the Christmas one. As usual Dave Reeves and Julie Boden are hosting and Campbell Perry will be playing with the resident band, Bailey, Perry & Wolff. Only two guest acts this time in order to make room for festive fun from the floor. People can wear something glittery and bring Christmas poems and songs along if they’d like to. There should be room for a few short Christmas themed spots if people come along & book early. Guest acts are Matt Black (Derbyshire Poet Laureate) and Three Penny Bits (a cappello trio). Julie will be pulling a few of her festive poems from the Christmas Cracker folder too.

Tuesday 4th , Wordsmiths, The Studio Theatre, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry CV4 7AL, 7.45pm,Featuring Special Guest poets: Jacob Sam-La Rose, Lemn Sissay, Laura Dedicoat and Maria Taylor join host Jo Bell for a unique gathering of wordsmiths to celebrate the power of the spoken word.Praise for Lemn Sissay: “His name is magic. His poems are songs of the street” – The Independent on Sunday
The UK’s first live poetry talk show, featuring a crossover of poets you know from the pages of books and from festival stages. A rare opportunity to witness them sharing stories, poems and opinions as they engage in no-holds-barred conversation right before your widened eyes. Gasp as words are made to perform daring feats of sound and meaning! Shudder as you discover how these shape-shifting poems came to be! Cheer wildly at the apparent humanity of their creators! This is live poetry. Not for the faint of heart. This is Wordsmiths & Co.This series of events is a collaboration between Apples and Snakes and Nine Arches Press, with support from Bloodaxe Books and Warwick Arts Centre.Running Time: Approx. 90 mins Tickets: £5.00,A limited number of free tickets are available for young people aged 16-25. Please contact bohdan@applesandsnakes.org to find out more. Featuring Special Guest poets: Jacob Sam-La Rose, Lemn Sissay, Laura Dedicoat and Maria Taylor join host Jo Bell for a unique gathering of wordsmiths to celebrate the power of the spoken word.Praise for Lemn Sissay: “His name is magic. His poems are songs of the street” – The Independent on Sunday

Tues 4th Spire Writes, Havana Whites, Chesterfield,7.45pm Spire Writes is back in December with a pre-Christmas treat for you all: great poetry from Kathryn Daszkiewicz, plus open mic and a festive bar at Havana Whites.

Kathryn Daszkiewicz lives in Lincolnshire. She was awarded a writer’s bursary by East Midlands Arts in 2001, and her work has appeared in a variety of magazines including The Rialto and Poetry International. She has two collections, both published by Shoestring Press: In the Dangerous Cloakroom (2006) and Taking Flight (2012).

There’ll also be the usual open mic slots (let me know if you’d like to read). Doors open 7.45 and we start at 8. We’ll be finished in time for the last train to Sheffield.

And not to forget…..it’s FREE ENTRY! Don’t miss it.

Thursday 6thBlackdrop,New Art Exchange,39-41 Gregory Boulevard, NG7 6BE Nottingham,8-10pm £3 @ NAE,features the silky smooth voice of Miss Salome from Nottingham…. And of course YOU in the open mic if you want to brave the final stage at NAE.ALL WELCOME OVER 16.

Thursday 6th Poetry at the Shrewsbury Coffee House, Castle gates, Shrewsbury, 7.30pm Readings from regulars and new poets. Including Deb Alma, Paul Francis, Carol Witherow, Michael Thomas, Jeff Fox, Stephen Foot, Adrian Perks … Come and enjoy an eclectic mix of poetry in a welcoming environment. A warm welcome and good coffee too.

Thurs 6th Big Irish Night, The Old Crown, Digbeth, A night of Irish Poetry and music, in the warm and welcoming surroundings of the Old Crown in Digbeth. We are excited to welcome a very special guest to this festive edition of the Big Irish Night; the singer, song-writer and poet, Paul Murphy! If you would like to sing, or perform poetry of an Irish persuasion, please contact Laura Yates. With Paul Murphy.

Thurs 6th Parole Parlate, St Nicholas St, Worcester, 7.30pm, £3,

“Parole Parlate : The Spoken Word” is back on Thursday 6th December 2012 and is a dedicated spoken word and “music that tells a story” platform. If you would like the chance to read your short stories, poems, prose, try out your performance poetry or music that tells a story, this evening is for you!

Hosted by Little Venice in Worcester, there will be a full bar service, cakes/snacks and you can of course take advantage of their full menu and enjoy their delicious pizzas, pastas or salads. Try out their £7
.95 menu which includes a pizza or pasta dish and a drink.

This Christmas Special event has a wide array of performers who will be reading something festive as part of their sets, and in order to accommodate everyone slot times have had to be reduced from the normal 10 minutes to 5-6 minutes. The final line-up will be:
Gary Longden
Lindsay Stanberry-Flynn
Suz Winspear
Beth “Knuckles” Edwards
Polly Robinson
Holly Magill
Kathy Gee
Jenny Hope
Cass Osborne
Christopher Kingsley
Sarah James
Ian Ward
Ian Glass
Tony Judge

Plus a special Christmas themed headline slot from our Worcestershire Poet Laureate, Maggie Doyle.ENTRY FEE AND HOW TO PAYThe entry fee for this event is £3.00; tickets are available on the door on the night of the event.We will be having a raffle as well to raise funds for the Worcestershire Literary Festival. A strip of 5 tickets will cost £2.00.FUTURE PP EVENTS – TAKING PART AND PERFORMINGIf would like a slot to perform on one of these dates please let us know by emailing info@worcslitfest.com, leave a post on the wall of this event or visit http://www.facebook.com/worcslitfest and leave a post on the wall.Performers get free entry for taking part.ADVANCE INFORMATION

“Parole Parlate : The Spoken Word” is on the first Thursday of every month, so advance dates for your diary will be:

Thursday 3rd January 2013
Thursday 7th February 2013
Thursday 7th March 2013
Thursday 4th April 2013
Thursday 2nd May 2013
Thursday 20th June 2013 – Festival Special

Friday 7th Benefit for Communities against the Cuts,The British Oak, 1364, Pershore Road, Stirchley, B30 2XS 7.30pm. (£3 entry) with Naomi Paul

Fri 7th Monkey Poet, Arena theatre, Wulfruna st, Wolverhampton 7.30pm Double bill from the critically-acclaimed, multi award winning simian guaranteeing a night full of thought-provoking laugher.

A full on set of stand-up comedic poetry. “Mixes righteous frustration, educated reason in one hyperactive, occassionally sweary, often very funny bundle.”

Fri 7th Scroobius Pip – Spoken Word Tour 2012, The Library at the HMV Institute, Birmingham 6.30pm, A full and engaging 60 minute live show with the intent of taking you on a journey through more than just chin stroking nods. With him he will be bringing the electrifying force of Kate Tempest along with fore father of the modern spoken word scene, Polarbear.

Saturday 8th Charity fundraiser for Birmingham Settlement,Tyseley Community Centre, 280, Formans Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham, B11 3BY ,(£7.50 entry) with Naomi Paul

Saturday 8th, Andy Croft with Beeston Poets, Foster Avenue , Beeston, Nottingham NG9 1AE. 7pmFor further details http://beestonpoets.wordpress.com/ or email at beestonpoets@gmail.com

Sunday 9th A Flash of Fiction, Swan with two Nicks, New St Worcester 4pm, We are delighted to announce the launch of the Flash Fiction anthology from writers in the first WLF Flash Fiction competition. Selected writers will be reading their Flashes, starting at 4pm. Please let us know if you want to Flash with us :

Competition organiser and judge, Lindsay Stanberry-Flynn, our local Queen of Flash Fiction, will be the host at Drummonds, The Swan With Two Nicks, Worcester.

Copies of the anthology for just £3.99 ~ perfect Christmas gifts ~ come along and get yours signed by the authors!

Tues 11th Scribal Gathering,The Crown, Market Square, Stony Stratford MK11 1BE, 7.30pm,Sign up for open mic on the night. Arrive early to avoid disappointment. Or arrive after the pubs shut with a Santa hat on, claiming that John said it would be alright to come, then heading to the fridge and caining whatever you can find.

Christmas comes earlier every year, and Scribal Gathering jumps on the seasonal bandwagon once again on Tuesday 11th December for a feast of pre-emptive festive fayre – a bit like having the works Christmas do in November, the advent calendars in the shops in October, or Slade on the radio by August.

‘Tis the season to be jolly-well up to your ears in the overdraft and ding-donging merrily on high-interest payday loans, so for one evening this month, hide your financial anxieties under the carpet, forget about strained relationships with distant family and push your emotional obligations aside as we hang a stockingful of music and poetry beside the fireplace of open mic. And try to remember not to leave a candle going and burn the house down.

Sliding down your chimney to leave a surprise by the tree and get filthy footprints on the new Axminster is this month’s headline poet, the wonderful Vinnie Gibbons, whilst the featured musical performers getting hammered on egg-nog and telling everyone what they really think of them are the fabulous Dodobones, supported by The Antipoet on cold turkey and probably nicking the sherry.

There is also the open-ended, open-minded, open-them-all-in-two-minutes-and-lose-the-labels open-mic, welcoming all performers of any kind, to sing, play, read and recite before a warm and welcoming audience. Just keep the receipts in case they have to go back.

Tues 11th Mouth and Music, the Boars Head, Kidderminster, 7.30pm, This month KAF Creatives present:YULE OFF! A spoken word and music face off
with poets –
MAGGIE DOYLE
SARAH JAMES
GARY LONGDEN
FERGUS McGONIGAL

& singer/songwriters
JOHN LANGFORD & DAVID COUGHLIN

Team Captains: SARAH TAMAR & HEATHER WASTIE

Inspired by KICK OFF!, our football-related event last summer, YULE OFF! brings together the same teams to compete with seasonal verse and worse, refereed by a familiar white-haired gentleman ….

To perform spoken word or music with one of the teams, sign up from 7.30pm.

Please dress appropriately!
Lots of audience members needed to cheer on their favourite team.

Admission £3 (free to performers)

Wed 12 Spam at Bad Edit, 12 Wedgewood St, Stoke on Trent, ST 6 4JH 8pm FREE EVENT Some Poetry And Music gives you a night to come and have a go at some poetry, prose, bring a guitar or tell some jokes! While relaxing in our comfy sofas and make your self at home with a beer and great company.A little shy? No problem just come and watch, and you won’t be disappointed!

Wed 12th “The King and the Corpse” with TUUP and Sheema Mukherjee,The Voicebox, Forman Street, Derby, DE1 1JQ, 8pm We are delighted to present this very special evening in conjunction with the Crick Crack Club. Storyteller TUUP and musician Sheema Mukherjee with their fantastic “The King and the Corpse”. TUUP has the most amazing presence – as does Sheema – and in this show they work very closely together to weave the most amazing piece of storytelling. Two of the Donkeys saw the show at Settle Storytelling Festival last year and were blown away by it! You could see the whole audience completely transfixed the whole way through!. So definitely not one to be missed.
A king is obliged to carry the corpse of a hanged man on his back – but the corpse is not dead, it is possessed by a storytelling vampire, whose enigmatic puzzes threaten to burst the king’s head into a thousand pieces…
With customary charismatic style, The Unorthodox, Unprecedented Preacher- TUUP – takes to the stage with sitar virtuoso Sheema Mukherjee, to tell transglobalised versions of these stunning 2000 year old tales. As much an encounter as a performance, this formidable collaboration by two core members of the wild world music collective Transglobal Underground, brings an 11th century Indian fairy tale to the contemporary stage. Enter a place of metaphor, magic and ritual! Tickets are £7 adults / £5 < 18 years old, available on the night or book in advance email info@flyingdonkeys.co.uk.

Thursday 13th, Jodi Ann Bickley Fundraiser Sixth Form College, Widney Manor Road, Solihull 6.30pmPoet and mentor Jodi Ann Bickley has been suffering with health problems for a very long time now. The Future Poets have decided to try and help. They will all be performing on the night alongside some poets from the college itself. Half of the money raised will be going straight to Jodi, half to the mental health charity, Mind

Thurs 13thDown the Rabbit Hole Esquires, Cov Transport Museum Coventry,Cv1 1JD 6.30pm,Once again Down The Rabbit Hole is sweeping (and sweeping up) Coventry’s Arts scene with a writhe and ready team of musical, theatrical, poetic and artistic souls ready to share their offerings with you all …

LIVE ART * LIVE MUSIC * LIVE POETRY * LIVE COMEDY * LIVE STORYTELLING*

Coffee, tea, wine and beer available all night!

If you have anything to offer, please don’t hesitate to contact the Down The Rabbit Hole page or Kathleen/Leena/Kathy Normington at any time to opt in to sharing something – anything!

Thursday 13th . Utter, storytelling, Thimblemill Library, Thimblemill Road, Smethwick B67 5RJ
Utter Bearwood is a new performance storytelling venue for adults in Thimblemill Library,0121 429 2039 . Doors open 7pm for a 7.30pm start, until 10pm.

Resident storyteller Cath Edwards brings Fiery Fables, Winter Ghosts to Utter Bearwood. Revel in a mix of Russian tales, local ghosts and seasonal stories.

Fri Dec 14th Culture, Real Ale and Poetry.Old Cottage Tavern (Byrkley Street, behind Town Hall). Starts 8pm. Usual format. Please bring along your favourite light-hearted poems, monologues or limericks to share. Original or borrowed equally welcome. Do invite any interested friends. Check http://www.pubpoet.blogspot.com for up to date info. Join in or just sit back and enjoy!Adrian Thompson hosts

Friday 14th Writers Bloc, Boerma bar, University of Birmingham, SU, Edgbaston, 7.30 free in with ben Norris, open mic poetry

Friday 14th WORD-UP Christmas Special, Yorks Bakery Cafe, 1-3 Newhall Street, Birmingham – 6:30pm-9:00pm – Come and join us for our Christmas Special – What is Christmas without Word Up? My point exactly! With Mark Watson

We’re gonna have a most festive time full of spoken word goodness! The night is FREE so bring everyone to enjoy this heart felt night.

We’re holding the special at Yorks so you guys can enjoy the lovely festive baked treats they bake themselves – not for getting their lovely stone baked pizzas! You can eat and drink yourselves fat whilst our set-list fills you with poetry.

Sat 15th Poets Place, Birmingham Central Library 2-4pm free:Apples and Snakes and Birmingham Libraries present, Poets’ Place,Poets’ Place is an informal gathering of poets that happens twice a month. It is an opportunity to meet like‐minded people, give and solicit feedback on your poetry, or just sit back and write for a couple of hours without interruption. You can use the Poets’ Place to make new friends, discover new poets, share and have your work critiqued, make useful connections, set a writing schedule… The Poets’ Place can be whatever you decide to make of it.Whether you are a published poet, a slam champion, or someone who is still wondering whether poetry might be worth a try, stop by. There is no need to book ahead: just show up with your poems or a blank notebook. There will be someone there to make you feel welcome and advise you on how to make the most of your time there.The Poets’ Place is located on the Lower Ground Floor of Birmingham Central Library

Wed 19th Tea for Two, 92 Derby Rd Stapleford, Jeeston, Nottingham, 7.30pm Dwane Reads and Rosemary Sheehan headline an evening of spoken word.those wishing to read/performz(approx 5 mins) are welcome. Entry buy a drink

Wed 19th Speak Up, Hare and Hounds, Birmingham, 7.30pm, £5,It’s Christmas, Christmas is by far my favourite time. I get to put up even more fairy lights, tinsel and make Christmas cakes and bring you some of the best poets to make sure 2012 is wrapped up nicely!
RAYMOND ANTROBUS AND ALEX GWYTHER.AND! JAMES WALPOLE – A regular highlight of Speak Up 2012. It’s going to be just lovely.

Thursday 27th Word Wizards, Buckingham, Hotel Buxton 7.30pmWe are scrapping the rules
Note – it`s THURSDAY – not Tuesday,It`s a Word Wizards, free for all do what you choose day.
You can juggle or dance you can hop, skip or sing. Even read us a poem If that is your thing.
Bring Santa, bring Rudolph,your kids and your Mum.Bring an M.P. a P.C.It`s sure to be fun.
Just two days past Christmas four nights from New Year. There`s sod all on TV.

sat 29thHillfields Animal Sanctuary Benefit, Waggon & Horses, Digbeth 7pm -3am.£4 Amy Rainbow reads poetry,DJs El zilcho and Stalingrad

sat 29th Ani Slam e festa di noncompleanno,Caffè il Manoscritto, via Pascoli 43, Alghero e poi, più tardi, in serata, Teatro Civico di Alghero,
ANTI SLAM
e festa di noncompleanno
per il titolo di anti-poeta di sardegna
vinca il peggiore
―
ANTI SLAM, la sfida in cui i poeti partecipanti (anche tu se sei alla bassezza della situazione: PARTECIPA!) hanno 3 minuti a testa per eseguire schifosissimi componimenti e dare il peggio di sé.
Mentre il pubblico fischia i fiaschi i giurati li valutano: da 0 a 10:
chi totalizza il punteggio più basso: vince.
La straordinaria posta in palio sono finesettimana da sogno, trofei, etc.
―
Se credi di poter scrivere ed eseguire tu le poesie di compleanno più cattive e pessime fai al caso nostro:
iscriviti all’ANTI SLAM con una mail a: sergio.garau@gmail.com
o di persona direttamente al Manoscritto ( Via Giovanni Pascoli, 43, Alghero), prima, durante e dopo la gara –
la lista resta infatti aperta oltre l’esaurimento dei posti –
MUSICA: il pomeriggio sarà allietato e stonato da un’agguerrita selezione della pessima one lesson symphony orchestra –
gli anti-poeti peggiori e vincitori si esibiranno al teatro civico di alghero la sera stessa .
Regole in breve: 3 minuti, testo scritto di proprio pugno (ma inserti e collages di varie origini sono anche ammessi), tema prediletto: il cattivo compleanno, ma andare fuoritema può essere una strada per la vittoria, no oggetti scenici.
―
La serata è offerta da ATTI IMPURI, luogo di scritture da esplorare e sostenere
ed è molto a suo agio all’interno della Festa di Buon Compleanno del 27, 28 e 29 dicembre – http://ignaziochessa.blogspot.it/ anche perché se Ignazio non fa 50 anni io non ne faccio 30.
vinca il peggiore.

Sat 29thNotes From the Underground, The Hollybush,53 Newtown Street, Cradley Heath B64 5EA 7.30pm, freee in :for this month only there will be a change of date for ‘Notes From Underground’ at The Hollybush. This months date is Saturday 29th December, when we will be having a Christmas/New Year special. So if you’re coming along and have any Christmassy/New Yeary stuff that would be great. If you don’t, it doesn’t matter.
It will be the usual start time of 7:30 PM at the usual place. For more details just get in touch.

—————————————————————————————————————–

Into 2013

Thurs 3rd Jan Shrewsbury Coffee House, Castle Gates, Shrewsbury,Gareth Owen is our guest poet for January 2013 to get the new year off to a great start. A former presenter of R4’s ‘Poetry Please’, Gareth is widely published. He will also entertain us with a couple of his songs. I can’t wait. More to follow.

Sunday 6th Buzzwords, Upstairs at The Exmouth Arms, Bath Road, Cheltenham,Workshop, led by Anne-Marie Fyfe 7pm,Guest readings and open mic 8pm,guest poet: Anne-Marie Fyfe,£5 waged, £3 unwaged,

http://buzzwordspoetry.blogspot.com/

Sunday 6thBlackdrop,New Art Exchange,39-41 Gregory Boulevard, NG7 6BE Nottingham,8-10pm £3 @ NAE,with Mother Hubbard…. And of course YOU in the open mic if you want to brave the final stage at NAE.ALL WELCOME OVER 16.

Mon 7th Jan Poetry train. Wolverhampton

Tues 8th Scribal Gathering,The Crown, Market Square, Stony Stratford MK11 1BE, 7.30pm, Free entry. Sign up for open mic on the night.
Scribal Gathering is knocking on the door of your new year to step across your entertainment threshold, bringing goodwill and merriment from front of house to back stage and leaving great big poetry footprints all over your musical carpet on the way.

Stony Stratford’s premiere music and poetry open mic night is back –bearing evergreen sprigs, a pinch of salt, a lump of coal and a parcel of the finest music and poetry performance, with headline acts The Further Adventures Of Vodka Boy and Shadwell Smith making featured appearances. The open-minded open mic welcomes performers of all kinds to share their talent before a warm and receptive audience. So break your resolutions, drop off the diet, crash the wagon and get back to those cosy old vices that make you feel so guilty but so good.

And we’ll take a cup of kindness yet, with milk and two sugars. Join us!

What else: Don’t forget that 12th February will be the third anniversary of Scribal Gathering. A whole evening showcasing some of the finest performers we can get to come back again!

Tues 8th The AntiPoet/ Mark Niel, Mouth & Music, Boars Head, Kidderminster 8pm, £3 in.

Fri 11th Word and Sound- Dancing with Janus, Art House Cafe,Chapel walk, Crown Gate Mall, Worcester,7.30pm,Yes, Worcester’s Original Open Mic – Spoken Word and Acoustic Music Night is coming back!

January is the perfect month for our return as we will have one pair of eyes on the creative brilliance we’ve all enjoyed over the past year and the other pair, will be fixed on what is to come over the next twelve months, be it Spoken Word, Poetry, Music, Stand-up, Story-telling and all those creative bursts of energy and inspiration we all love at The Word and Sound. Can you tell we’re excited?

Come and join in, to listen or to take part.

The format remains the same – sign up on the night for your slot!

£3.00 entry.

There will be a limited menu available – more details soon.

Mon 14th January, Pure and Good and Right, The Sozzled sausage, Leamington Spa, 7.30pm with Adam Horowitz

Thursday 24th January – GRIZZLY PEAR (with Vanessa Kisuule – Bristol Pear, Selly Oak , Birmingham– 6:30pm doors (open-mic slots available), 7:30pm starts

Tues 22nd Jan Purple Penumbra, Oldbury, 7.30pm :The 1st Purple Penumbra open mic of 2013, in the bar of
the Barlow Theatre, Langley (The Oldbury Rep) 7:30 p.m. – free in – bar drinks available!

The fifty shades of badly written grey and gloomy weather
that saturate the soul and tighten up the bladder
will never penetrate the poetry like permafrost.
We’ll be there, spouting forth whate’er may be the cost.

So get you down the happy road that leads to Langley village,
as folk have done since Viking times of bumpy roads and pillage,
and join the celebration of a pristine clear new year
Hug us, tug us, chugg-a-lug us, on open mic down here.

And if you have to sing a song
Bring it, bring it, bring it along
But otherwise just soak us in
Happy New Year! Let it begin!

Wed 30th jan 42, swan with two nicks, New st, Worcester:Gothic, Horror, Sci-fi & Fantasy event “42” last Wednesday of the month at the Swan with Two Nicks, Worcester 7:30pm start. MC Andrew Owens. Contact us if you wish to read / perform your work.
Confirmed performers include:

Suz Winspear
Andrew Owens
Math Jones
Polly Robinson
Tony Bryan

Wed 6th feb Penning Perfumes, Le Truc. 7.30pm With readings from Tim Wells, Bodhan Piesecky, Camellia Stafford, Jacqui Rowe, and James Webster.

Fri 12th Scribal Gathering,The Crown, Market Square, Stony Stratford MK11 1BE, 7.30pm, Free entry. Sign up for open mic on the night. 3rd anniversary special

Fri 1st March Level Up,The Fusion Centre (part of South and City College Birmingham) in Digbeth7.30pm ,The first half will have four open mic spots then a featured young artist, then the second half will have four open mic spots then a featured adult artist. There are five dates in 2013

Thursday 21st March – Apples & Snakes presents FORKED!, The B-bar, Barbican Theatre, Castle Street, Plymouth, PL1 2NJ – 8:00pm

Thursday 25th April – GRIZZLY PEAR (guest tbc), Bristol Pear, Selly Oak – 6:30pm doors (open-mic slots available), 7:30pm starts

Friday 26th April – CHELTENHAM POETRY FESTIVAL, Cheltenham – 6:30-7:30pm – more details tbc

Posted in Midlands Poetry What's On | Tagged , | 3 Comments

“42 Flashes at 42″, Drummonds, The Swan With Two Nicks New St, Worcester

Posted on November 29, 2012 by garylongden

Host Andrew owens

42 is a monthly event which focuses on the Gothic, Horror, Sci fi, and Fantasy genres in prose and poetry at one of the oldest, and most atmospheric , pubs in Worcester, The Swan With Two Nicks. This month was given over to the emerging Flash Fiction form which the Worcester Literary festival has done much to help promote. The objective being to perform over forty two flash fiction pieces at the eponymous event, a neat idea, and one which attracted a sizeable, and eminent audience.

So what is flash fiction? A short story with a limited word count. Tonight, the limit was three hundred words per story, a limit which is becoming format defining for competition and performance. They can be shorter. Although in principle they could also be longer, clearly all submissions for any event or competition need to be written to a uniform limit to give the exercise credibility and value.

My personal preferred writing milieu is poetry, but I entered and performed one piece for the evening myself in order that I could understand the mechanics of what I was to review. What most impressed me was how every word had to count, work, and earn its place in the story. The word count is sufficiently long to tell a story in, but the skills normally applied to an extended narrative are amplified, tested and stretched.

As I watched others perform I identified three types of story. The first was a simple observation, more than a story, which was stretched out to meet the word count. The second was a bigger story that was condensed and cropped. The third was a story crafted to match the form. On the night, there was no restriction on themes, which were diverse in the extreme, in turns funny, sad, thoughtful and whimsical.

Three performers spearheaded the evening artistically, the most distinguished of whom was Calum Kerr, director , and instigator of, National Flash- Fiction day and managing editor of Gumbo Press. Also a lecturer in Creative Writing at Winchester University, Calum read extensively from Braking Distance , a collection of linked flash-fictions written in November 2011 as part of flash365. All the stories, set in a motorway service station, provide different perspectives of the same event. Clever, concise and inspired, he set a formidable standard.

Flash- Fiction Guru Calum Kerr

Local luminary Lyndsay Stanberry-Flynn runs hugely popular creative writing workshops, having previously worked full time teaching English, and is an award winning author and queen of local flash-fictionistas. A driving force and judge behind last year’s inaugural Worcester Literary Festival Flash –Fiction competition, she was on hand to strut her own meticulously crafted flash fiction whilst encouraging and cajoling others. On Sunday 9th December, at 4pm, the Flash Fiction anthology from writers in the first WLF Flash Fiction competition will be launched, with readings, at this venue.

Lindsay Stanberry- Flynn, Darling of local flash-fictionistas

Reigning WLF Flash Fiction Champion, and Warwick Words Flash fiction champion , Amy Rainbow was on hand to demonstrate her champion credentials and did so in customary style with two pieces, the malevolent and taut Childs Play and The Prison.

Flash -Fiction Champion Amy Rainbow, the radiator in the background was not on.

It was fascinating watching the other forty seven pieces unfold ( the odd one being mine!) and a number of common denominators emerged. Prose, read from a static position needs to be performed. Math Jones exemplified this with his animated and modulated rendition of Sign Up. A strong opening line is vital to grab the audience’s attention, Rod Griffiths did exactly this with his two playful pieces about the problems that Zombies have aided by an ingenious i-phone/i-pad combination which enabled a teleprompt facility- technology which worked! A story which grips the imagination so that the audience buys into the proposition is invaluable. Alan Durham did just that with Figurehead, the tale of rough justice for a thief at a shipyard based upon Alan’s own working experience. That idea can be comic, as Tony Judge demonstrated with the Sociopath Olympics, amongst the funniest pieces of the night. The quick-fire conveyor belt of performer and performance means that readers have to pedal very hard to create an identity for themselves, and their story ,as quickly as possible. Catherine Crosswell delivered that in performing The Crime Scene, her witty, and fey, introduction the perfect appetiser for the main course. Words fifty four and fifty six lived up to their advanced billing!

Andrew Owens hosted the evening with charm, and a light touch, shepherding the burgeoning performance roster with a wet nose and an occasional nip at the heels. Congratulations are also due to Geoff Robinson whose original idea it was and who did much to realise the evening’s success. “42” returns to the same venue on Wednesday January 30th, 2013, 7.30pm.

Gary Longden

Photography by Geoff Robinson

Posted in Behind the Arras Reviews | 2 Comments

Bilston Voices, Metro cafe, Bilston

Posted on November 26, 2012 by garylongden

“And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew,” a description borrowed from Mathew 7, but just as apposite to WV14 on Thursday night as a storm of Biblical proportions lashed the Black Country with the savagery and intensity of a slave drivers whip. Inevitably roads became impassable under water, and those caught outside were drenched, reducing the normally fulsome attendance a little this night for November’s Bilston Voices. Yet those undaunted by adversity outside were rewarded with a typically entertaining evening’s fare inside.

A double header of Malvern talent opened the evening commencing with the sartorially distinctive John Xavian who revelled in teasing the audience regarding the solemnity or satire of his work. Assuming the demeanour of an eccentric Doctor Who he in turn played to the eccentricities of Tom Baker , whilst also offering the reassuring gravitas of a Jon Pertwee. Whether eulogising The seed of the Sunrise, or an addiction to doughnuts, he engaged and entertained in equal measure. Fellow Malvernian Myfanwy Fox is an accomplished poet, and photographer, who never seems to perform as often as her talent demands. Her pastiche of Hilaire Belloc’s Tarantella about Rebekah Brookes continues to be her party piece, witty, well crafted and waspish. Belloc inspired Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd to write Mathilda’s Mother based upon Belloc’s Cautionary Tales , Myfanwy continues a fine and honourable tradition.

Unusually, host Emma Purshouse had invited singer songwriter Alex Vann to perform an acoustic set, accompanied by guitar to provide variety for the evening, and he did just that in some style. Appleside Cafe was his strongest song with his vocal sound very similar to Graham Nash and the song structure itself similar to Crosby Stills and Nash’s epic Suite; Judy Blue Eyes. The genre is an increasingly difficult one to excel in with the likes of Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Cohen and more recently Craig David having set the standard so high. Alex had a good go at providing a 21st century twist.

“Robin Hood” David Calcutt’s latest work

After the break there was a change of Calcutts, the billed Helen being replaced by her father David who promoted his new book on the legends of Robin Hood, entitled Robin Hood, illustrated by Grahame Baker-Smith. He read the hangman’s tale, a representation which was warm and affectionate to the tradition. Although suitable for children, it will strike a chord with anyone whose childhood was influenced by books on Robin Hood, the films starring Errol Flynn, or numerous television series. David is good at myths and legends and his language and delivery is quintessentially English and credible, so much so that I half expected Friar Tuck to appear at the door to take refuge from the rain soaked forest.

Richard Tyrone Jones

Headlining the evening was local boy made good Richard Tyrone Jones performing as part of his nationwide tour of Big Heart, his show about (his) heart failure- but with jokes. His delivery is frenetic, his black humour all-encompassing. A varied set did venture beyond his near death experience to his relationship with Tories and wheel clampers, both of which are somewhat unsatisfactory. More acerbic than lyrical, he carves a fairly distinctive niche on the current performance scene. His delivery is pacier than the similarly laconic Byron Vincent, but eschews the chiming rhyme of Polar Bear.

Bilston Voices next meets on Thursday Jan 24th at 7.30pm when Tom Wyre will be amongst the featured poets.

Gary Longden

Posted in Behind the Arras Reviews | 2 Comments