Word Up, KAF Mouth & Music & 42

The end of August saw a flurry of open mic events in Birmingham, Kidderminster and Worcester.

WORD UP 21st August

Word Up, Coffee Lounge, Birmingham: hosted a special I Am Not a Silent Poet event with Reuben Woolley, Marcia Calame and Jess Davies headling. The nature of our poems fitted into serious, often unperformed pieces which tackled big issues, which is the voice of Reuben’s online publication I Am Not A Silent Poet, protest, exposure.

My set consisted of the poems he published earlier this year https://awritersfountain.wordpress.com/the-write-year/ and some others that I shy away from performing.

It was a great night hosted by Jasmine Gardosi.

All photographs © Reuben Woolley 2015 – there were more performers who I haven’t shared photos of, apologises to them.

 After the event we went to the pub for a catch up, which was great because there is never enough time to talk to people at events and Reuben lives in Spain and only comes back to the Midlands for August. He was a national tour this year too, gigs up and down the country. I hope he is now having a rest!

 

MOUTH & MUSIC KAF Special – Slightly Circus 23rd August

MOUTH & MUSIC, Boars Head Gallery, Kidderminster:

This event was originally in the open air/marquee positioned close to the main stage and the closed street of the festival. However, the weather left us with no option but to retreat into the Boars Head Gallery – which is always a great space to perform in I think. The bands were on downstairs and it felt exciting and intimate. There was optional fancy dress and I am so glad other people entered into the spirit of it.

© PTR Art & Design 2015

I had researched my clown make up but sadly on the day I was too hot getting ready and the white base wouldn’t cover my skin – in the end this was a godsend really as Maggie Doyle and I ran from the car park to venue – me losing half my wrapping paper patches which were all over my PJs/trousers and most of my make up ran too. So imagine the carnage of a white base face!

© Heather Wastie 2015

The event was as exciting as dressing up. Headlined by Amy Rainbow and her wonderfully talent son, Merlin – who in spite of the small performance area, wowed the audience with his amazing Hula Hoopla skills.

© Peter Williams 2015

© Peter Williams 2015

Dave Reeves was also headlining and performed a fantastic, enthusiastic set with Heather Wastie.

© Peter Williams 2015

© Peter Williams 2015

It was lovely to perform as part of KAF (Kidderminster Arts Festival) for the 2nd time and good that this event attracted performers who had not previously attended Mouth & Music.

It was a lovely afternoon. Photo credits to Peter Williams, who also performed, treating us to a couple of songs.

 The event was hosted by the wonderful Ringmaster, Sarah Tamar.

RELATED LINKS:

http://www.halesowennews.co.uk/news/13576317.Kidderminster_s_Mouth_and_Music_goes_circus_crazy_for_one_month_only/

https://mouthandmusic.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/august-review/

42

42, Drummonds, Worcester: Hosted by Andrew Owens

I am delighted that 42 is pulling in such a wide audience and huge collective of poets and writers. It is always an exciting event and recently the list of performers has increased dramatically. The theme was ‘Altered States’ which was more open to interpretation than other themes and produced a varied feast of stories, storytelling and poems. It was a fantastic night, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

42 was my final event/open mic of the month.

Performers included;

Alison May
Myfanwy Fox
Suz Winspear
Sharon Carr
Andrew Owens
Polly Robinson
Dayna Norton
Nina Lewis
Kevin Brooke
Brian Comber
Timothy Stavert
David Harvard
Kieran Davis
Chardonnay Jade
Dan Hurrell
Liam Cortinias

 

John Hegley at Confab Cabaret – WLF & Fringe

I had not seen John Hegley perform since the 90s, when I lived as a poor student/writer/actor/poet/reluctant retailer. Earlier this year news was released that he would be performing and doing a workshop in Ludlow. I snapped at the chance and very much look forward to performing on the same bill later on this year and from what I hear of the workshop, creating an abundance of new material!

Then Amy Rainbow and Catherine Crosswell released the news that they had John Hegley headlining during Worcester LitFest – I hadn’t made it across to Malvern for months as Confab Cabaret kept falling on windows that just weren’t open. I have missed seeing the Malvern crowd – and after a 15 year drought – who can pass up the opportunity to watch their hero in action TWICE?! Not I! So I bought my ticket and have been counting down the days.

I had a great night, on a par to the feelings you get from a great music gig, of course there was some great music, both from Catherine & Lindsey and later John Hegley, juggling, poetry & song. Photo credit: Myfanwy Fox © 2015

The open mic support was the best of Malvern Confab Talent including;

Amy Rainbow,

 

Clive Dee,

Myfanwy Fox 

Lindsey & Catherine,

Sue Thompson

Adrian Mealing

With a fabulous audience poem and added merriment from international circus performer Steve Kaos!

John Hegley, Steve Kaos, Amy Rainbow & Catherine Crosswell

Elizabeth Crosswell © 2015

‘Poet, comic, singer, songwriter and glasses-wearer. John Hegley captivates audiences with travel tales and amusing anecdotes, blurring the line between profound description and fine comedy. A consistent favourite at the Edinburgh Festival and with over half a dozen bestselling books under his belt, he is not to be missed.’

‘Comedy’s Poet Laureate’ (The Independent)
‘Scandalously talented’ (Sunday Times)
‘Bl**ding marvellous’ (NME)
‘Marvellous, joyful fun’ (The Daily Telegraph)
‘An incurable entertainer’ (The Guardian)

It was a SELL OUT gig! And despite incredible heat at a packed out venue, I had a ball. Even managed to catch a few words with John, very briefly at the end. (I will wear different glasses to Ludlow, so he doesn’t think I am a complete stalker!)

Sadly John had not taken any books to sell, hope he has them at Ludlow. He did gift one as a special raffle prize, which was generous! I laughed more than I did when I saw him before. He was amazing. I think even poetry friends who are not fans of the style and wit fell in love with him after the 1st 1/3 of his incredible show. I am so happy that I booked to see him as part of the Worcester Lit Fest, despite already having tickets for Ludlow. What a star SUPERSTAR!

Many thanks to the Confab team – you were FABULOUS!

This was a collaborative initiative as part of Worcestershire Litfest & Fringe Festival 2015.

For more events happening during the festival please go to www.worcslitfest.co.uk

Thcooy

A Return to Worcester – SpeakEasy

It is incredible how time works in the poetry world;

there is never enough time to work on drafts, edits and important major focus projects,

there is always time to talk to other poets (just not at events)

months speed up and pass by in a matter of what feels like weeks

short time elapsing between monthly events (usually 4 weeks 😉 ) and yet it feels like a homecoming from a long trip when you manage to get to the next event.

 

That’s how I felt last Thursday (9th). I missed March’s SpeakEasy due to overwork in the real world and a need for sleep, also my car wasn’t well and I was trying to use it as little as possible. I was there at the February event and performed back in January, but it felt like 12 months had passed since the last time.

I was booked in for a 6 minute slot, but more than that I enjoyed the reunion, seeing old friends return and poets I had not seen in a year.

Amy Rainbow headlined and treated us to a whole new set a mixture of the familiar and personal.

The whole night was in remembrance of Tana Durham, one of the WLF team. I didn’t know her that well but she was a lovely lady with a lot of friends, including all the WLF team. Poems in her honour was very moving.

I left feeling I was walking on air.

Photos to follow

 

Confab Cabaret

 Last Wednesday night I managed to get across to Malvern for Confab Cabaret -always a great fun night with Amy Rainbow and Catherine Cresswell! We were back in Oliver’s again – they have had to nomadically shift venue after the Confab Club closed.

The furniture was the other way around to last week and I preferred it – a cosier performance space. The 2 minute slots were fab and varied – including a chap on a tin whistle. I loved seeing Adrian Mealing in action again, a great poem about his son!

I was very excited to see Dizraeli and he impressed me so much. I have seen him on You Tube, but in real time, he was amazing. I see a lot of beat poetry in Birmingham and although it’s not my thing I can appreciate it, Dizraeli crosses the line though – he is more than a beat poet – he blends folk and beat and there is a story, a moral, a heart tug. His set was a mix of music and words – he was superb, and just playing on and on – his set could have lasted forever as far as we were concerned, but he had a gig at the Grizzly Bear in Birmingham so he had to stop at some time!

He had never been to Malvern and I am happy to say Malvern was ready for him, by the end of his set I think he had melted us all!

It was a great night and I thoroughly enjoyed it! The group poem about graffiti* was compiled and read by Myfanwy – humorous and great as usual.

* Banksy has hit Cheltenham and Malvern! 🙂

ConFab Cabaret – Celebrate their 1st Birthday! (Weds 19th March)

When I wrote this post https://awritersfountain.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/an-afternoon-of-editing-haikus-rehearsing/ on Wednesday I didn’t expect to spend so long writing Haikus. I wrote 21 Haikus for What’s the Agenda? Before getting ready for Confab Cabaret, I didn’t have time to rehearse but did a quick run through and it was one of my favourite poems. I know it quite well.

Confab Cabaret was conceived by Amy Rainbow, Catherine Crosswell and Adrian Mealing. It was named after the original venue- ReCon, which sadly closed down at the beginning of the year. Not only have Amy and Catherine kept up the monthly evening of Open Mic and booked performances, they have faced the challenge of finding new venues each month.

Last month we were in a plush function room in a hotel and this month we were in Olivers, a very red bar, that usually shows sports and had accepted us creatives piling in instead.

Now I am a firm believer that part of the fun and energy of these events I go to comes from the Compere/ MC/ organisers, there is an awful lot of ‘beside scenes’ work that goes on and for Amy, Catherine and Richard the transformation begins as soon as they reach the venue- tealights on tables, the Poet-Tree*, the silliest raffle prizes all have to be displayed, the PA system and everything else besides.

I was really looking forward to this event, as I had such a great night in February and the headline acts were the Decadent Divas and Men in General. Over the past 10 months I have met all the Divas and seen them perform individually. And Men in General are a talented five-piece acapella group, definitely worth seeing if you have a chance – look out for gigs in the midlands. Hereford is there next stop, I believe.

Catherine had baked cakes, Myfanwy had made vegan flapjacks and the party was in the full swing from the get go.

Spoz – there very first headliner was there too and treated us all to a Jeremy Clarkson poem!

Myfawny did Foxpops – the audience all get a piece of paper to write 1 -2 lines on and she has the task of sellotaping it all together and making a poem, which she then bravely takes to the stage and reads.

You can read the audience poem here (Warning – a bit risky in places) the theme was parties.

 I had a great night and shared a poem in one of the #prepare to share slots. People seemed to like it. And thanks to Catherine’s generosity I also got to choose a silliest raffle prize. A book of quotations I thought I might use as prompts for writing new poetry.

This was the first of 3 nights of poetry events and a great way to start.

* Which in Oliver’s was too tall, so it became a Poetry Bush!

An Afternoon of Editing Haikus & Rehearsing

I have managed to make it home in good time, another afternoon of assessments which were sprung on me…. so not an easy time. I am now finalising the Haikus for submitting to  and then I will be getting ready for a night out in Malvern at Confab Cabaret!

© Copyright 2014 Amy Rainbow

I am excited as I finally get to watch the Decadent Divas – I know them all now, having met Maggie Doyle first (last Spring on the Custard Factory children’s writing course) and Charlie Jordan – who I met in the Autumn at the Birmingham Literature Festival and then Laura Yates – who I saw perform at Mouth & Music and finally Lorna Meehan – who shares a Jim Morrison passion with me and has headlined and performed at several events I have performed at since. Tonight I get to see the ensemble!

© Copyright 2014 Amy Rainbow

I am also hoping to bag one of the 2minute open mic slots and share a poem with everyone. There was a really fantastic turn out last time, about 60 people, a lot more than I am used to performing in front of, a great atmosphere and I had a wonderful evening.

Fingers crossed for more of the same!

The other headline act is Men in General and it is Confab’s 1st birthday party to boot.  Cakes have been baked! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

A Fabulous Night at Confab Cabaret!

This wonderful evening of entertainment has been running for nearly a year, I have known about it since last Autumn but have never been able to make the dates before tonight. Sadly they have lost the original venue and now like a roaming, travelling. great spectacular they are touring venues in Malvern for the next few dates!

Truth is a great Cabaret or Spoken Word event (or in my experience any club, group, or meet) is as strong as those who host, lead and organise the event to begin with. Confab will be fab and will go on, driven by Amy Rainbow, Catherine Crosswell and Myfanwy Fox.

This event attracts a massive audience (I think the biggest I have performed to yet) and the atmosphere is as divine as melted chocolate!

 There were several more rows behind this too!

I had such a great night I am falling over my words, struggling to communicate how alive a night like tonight makes me feel. I am going to fall back on a world of synonyms and hope they convey the message!

Astonishing – astounding – awesome – fantastic – incredible – marvellous – spectacular – superb – terrific – peachy – rad – tops – wicked! (I am so glad I am only working a half day tomorrow and get a lie in!)

It was great to get a sign up 2 minute spot and share my poem ‘Honesty’. To meet my friend Ali again (from Custard Factory Writing Class), to know she has heard and enjoyed my poetry, to see other friends who have been off piste (off the circuit) for a while, to share all our good news face to face. Michelle Crosbie – is a headline act at Gary Longden’s gig Poetry Alight 9, this month (in 2 weeks) alongside Jo Bell and Matt Merritt. My Assistant Writer job – which starts this Saturday. New relationships. Birthdays recently celebrated….

 

I have had a wonderful evening, I am dancing on air – (imagination still running!) BIG thanks to everyone involved, everyone who came to talk to me about my performance.

And it’s not even Friday! 🙂

Amy Rainbow’s Book Launch

The Book Launch was a fabulous night out, I seem to have lost my much loved -pre-Christmas-present-to-myself snood/ scarf though, which was a little upsetting when I realised. It wasn’t expensive and comes from the same store I need to collect my nephew’s birthday present from tomorrow though, I hope they still have them in stock. Buying a new one seems easier and possibly cheaper than driving a round trip to collect the old one or even paying the postage.

‘Jasmine Somers Makes Amends’ was kept under wraps for most of the evening, whilst we were entertained by the wonderfully talented Jenny Hallam and Loungetoad. Amy Rainbow read some poetry in between the musical sets and then finally read part of Chapter 1 – enough to whet your appetite! The evening was as sparkly as Amy’s evening dress and it was a well attended book launch and I met Ali, one of the writers from Writing for Children classes I attended at the Custard Factory earlier this year. It was nice to see her again.

A Day of Excitement, Fulfillment and a Book Launch!

I have the wonderful treat of writing time today! Hurray!
I have an action plan to catch up with and some submissions to make. I thought I had missed the deadline yesterday and then realised that the 16th is TODAY! This is my first port of call this morning and I will feel so good when they have been made.
It has been a few months since I worked through an action plan properly as I have been very busy with Spoken Word events, work, festivities and keeping my head above water!

This evening I had planned to go to a spoken word event, but then I was invited to a book launch (so many events this year have been launches and if you had told me a year ago that I would be attending book launches I wouldn’t have believed you!) I figure the spoken word event will be there again in January – but people only tend to host a book launch once. Besides it is in another town, where apart from one Stanza meeting (my 1st), I have yet to spread my poetry wings, so it will be good to meet people and know where the venue is for there next event.
The author is Amy Rainbow – and apart from being totally in love with her name, she MC’s the monthly event that I still have to get across to.

I am looking forward to a night out after a long, hard day writing and finally meeting the much talked about Amy Rainbow!

 

 

Amy Rainbow
It’s here! Only five years in the making… Please come to the launch of Amy Rainbow – Writer’s debut novel, Jasmine Somers Makes Amends. With entertainment from Loungetoad and Jenny Hallam, and ample opportunity to peruse, stroke and buy the book, this is an evening you can’t afford to miss. The PERFECT Christmas present for yourself and probably everyone you know.

THE BLURB:

‘Jasmine Somers is determined to put things right.

Inspired by an unexpected confession from a former university friend, Jasmine resolves to look back over her thirty seven years and make amends for her own misdeeds, from dodging the television licence to using her dad’s toothbrush on Fluffy the cat.

But when Jasmine prepares to tackle the issue that has haunted her throughout her marriage and beyond, she realises that some parts of the past might be best left undisturbed…

A humorous and poignant novel following one woman’s journey towards self-acceptance as she slowly begins to grasp the true nature of forgiveness and the real purpose of making amends.’

‘A jolly good read. A delight!’
Maggie Doyle, Worcestershire Poet Laureate Emeritus.

‘Beautiful and funny, touching and brutally honest.’ Lisa Bames.

FIVE YEARS! COME CELEBRATE 🙂

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