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

Another Action Packed Week!

I have a busy schedule between now and August, none more so than the next few weeks.

This week I have a meeting*  – Confab Cabaret – The beginning of WLF Worcester LitFest, starting with the New Poet Laureate being announced – event at the Guildhall, on Saturday I am missing Ruth Stacey’s  workshop ‘Native American Myths, Story Telling and Poetry.’ I wanted to attend but am already committed to covering the Writing West Midlands group with Jean Atkin over in Kidderminster. On Sunday I am going to be a Pop Up Poet on the ‘Pop Up Poets’ Bus Tour for WLF and then later in the afternoon am heading over to Birmingham for Tessa Lowe’s Poets With Passion at the Sahara Restaurant.

In addition to this I am working EVERYDAY – although 3 of them are half days.

I am also working on several writing projects/ submissions for the end of month deadline. And I will be reviewing Sarah Hymas’s new pamphlet.

 

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!

Quick Mini-Update! The Past 3 Days of Poetry Me.

I plan to write separate posts over the weekend for the events of the past 3 days… for now – having just come home from the MAC (Midlands Art Centre) I am buzzing and too excited to write blog posts!
Surging energy….
news in brief….

WEDS
Wrote 21 Haikus on Hikikomori for What’s the Agenda, a project Hayley Frances is producing, isolation in a digital world, this weekend at The MAC.
Then I went to CONFAB CABARET which was a superb night. I performed and my poem went down well.
I finally got to see the Decadent Divas and Men in General would have blown me off my chair, had I been sitting on one. Fortunately the settee was up against a very solid wall!
I came away from the silliest raffle with a silly prize and there was free CAKE!

Then Thursday I managed to HIT THE ODE and support my friend Andrea Shorrick in her new SWINGERELLA persona, as well as catching 3 amazing headliners, chatting to many poets and buying a new pamphlet of poetry!
I got in on a high and was up until 2 a.m….

Tonight I went to the MAC to see The Quiet Compere a show created by Sarah Dixon across the country. I know 8/10 poets and have been lucky enough to perform at the same events and open mics as 8 of them in the past 6 months too.
It was a great mix and I discovered 2 new, very talented poets.
My Worcester poetry friends blended with my Birmingham Poetry Friends and it was a bit weird for me cross mingling -torn, I wanted to be a part of everyone’s conversations… I am glad they had the opportunity to meet and hear the talent that I discovered at the very start of my journey back in September!
Homegrown talent!

I have come home and written 2 new poems for 42 next week. A themed birthday edition.

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! 🙂