Mouth & Music – 3rd Birthday ‘SPARK OFF’ Special!

 Last year Heather Wastie asked me to be a team captain for the New Year/3rd Birthday/ Anniversary Mouth & Music in January. Mike Alma was the other team captain, but unfortunately he couldn’t make it.

<Mike, sorry you couldn’t make it, if we had been head to head I think the room would have been full of SPARKS! Bright ones!>

Pete Williams kindly stepped up – although Pete and I discovered we are the least competitive people and far too ‘nice’ to Spark Off. However, that said Pete <I may not be competitive, I am certainly a sore loser though!> There were many reasons that our team was pipped to the post* in a very close and entertaining evening…

 Mary Davis

Pete Williams -Team Leader

* promising the MC Ian Passey/Humdrum Express a pint, not wearing Humdrum t-shirts or promotional goods, not having John Langford or Pete Williams playing guitar, perhaps playing a joker without it being clear that it was and the odd occasion where a promised theme turned out to be something else! I had been pictured in the paper and they hadn’t – something Heather has balanced on Social Media.

 PhotoGiraffe

It was all for fun, no actual winning trophy has been lost or anything and I wouldn’t have missed it or turned down my part in proceedings for anything – including a shiny trophy!

Heather Wastie worked hard organising us team leaders and we scouted the land for talented poets and regulars at M&M who would have poems suitable to fit the themes. The themes were 11 M&M themes from 2014. From these teams of 6 we were then allocated Open Mic-ers as they arrived. I had no idea how it would pan out and the first emails of rules I was sent caused mild panic, until Heather reminded me rules are there to be broken – and I think our team had more than a hint of anarchy about us! I thought Heather and Sarah Tamar were extremely brave to hand the whole evening over to us three, it was smashing!

By Tuesday evening I had worked 2 full days, survived on 4 hours sleep and curled up to watch teatime TV, unable to set an alarm as my phone stopped working. I woke up at 6:40ish with barely enough time to arrive! I managed with minutes to spare and gathered the team to figure out who had poems to fit what (leading) – Pete took the mickey that I had a list and had organised a set list order. Maybe we should have faked surprise, as he may have got extra excitement points for swinging by the edge…

Mary Davis

Ian Passey

Ian Passey did an amazing MC role – having seen him in action at Worcester Music Festival – I knew he would make the night memorable – not helped by Tim Scarborough and I hitting the stage first for ‘Dualogue’ theme and then needing to set up – I offered to pad, tell the crowd it had been over 6 months since Tim and I had performed together etc. I think we were worth the wait – it was great to perform together again. My team certainly provided the MUSIC element in the first half, although Pete wowed us with childhood TV themes on his harmonica in the 2nd half (maybe that is what swung it)!

In addition to two incredibly entertaining teams of performers we had sweets, chocolate cake (with sparklers on it), balloons and the RAFFLE. It was a great 3rd Birthday!

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to all performers on my team, you’re all winners in my eyes! 

Heather Wastie

Fergus McGonigal

 Caution Poet

Paul Francis

 Tim Scarborough

Nina Lewis

& Open Mic-ers Roy Sadler  and Martin Jones

^ What a team!

 

Pete’s team: Jan Ashton, Maggie Doyle, Rob Francis, Andrew Owens, Io Osborn, Sarah Tamar, John Langford, Ian Ward & Pete Williams (yes, they had an extra members)!

 Mary Davis

Thanks to Mary Davis for shooting the event in glorious colour (the venue is a difficult one due to lighting) & Heather & Sarah for arranging such a great night!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY M & M

Link to Heather’s blog where you will find a less biased post about SPARK OFF.

https://mouthandmusic.wordpress.com/2015/01/14/sparks-flew/

 

 

Two Events, One Meeting and The Shuttle – Review of a Week in Poetryland

The past week has certainly been a busy one, I need to find more time for writing (tomorrow I have ONE glorious day off) AND if the weather (snow) is anything to go by, I will need it! I am hoping to catch up on writing as well as sleep.

Last Thursday was the first SpeakEasy of 2015, I was asked to perform and delighted to go (missed a few months at end of 2014) and love this event. Always warm, always wonderful, organised by Worcester Litfest, hosted by Fergus McGonigal and featuring Maggie Doyle. Both Poet Laureates work hard for WLF in organising this monthly night of spoken word, poetry and fun.

“Worcester SpeakEasy” is a monthly event of poetry and prose from the page and the stage (and a little music now and then), which takes place on the second Thursday of each month. The event promotes, showcases and encourages writers from the whole of Worcestershire and further afield; there is an invited headline poet each month.

The event is brought to you by your very own Worcestershire LitFest & Fringe, via Poet Laureate Emeritus Maggie Doyle and the Worcestershire Poet Laureate 2014-15 Fergus McGonigal, SpeakEasy’s host and MC. –

© 2015 Events Page

This month we had a change of venue and it was a small and intimate event, packed full and over-brimming with talent and entertaining and thought provoking performances. Open mic-ers joined in with booked acts and we had not one but TWO headline acts.

Peter Sutton – Poet – who I first came across during Worcester LitFest last summer, stunned us with his word weaving and incredibly intricate poetry and later on at the end of the night Kate Wragg treated us to a magic set, just her, her guitar and some handmade teddy bears! We all wait with baited breath for Kidderminster – The Musical.

Do you remember (perhaps as a child) feeling really excited the day/night before you went away on holiday? That’s how I feel when there are back to back poetry events (which will not happen as often in 2015 as I have no plans to dominate the circuit with another 100+ gigs), I left SpeakEasy, knowing that the very next evening I would see many poets again for our monthly Stanza meetings.

 I have promised myself that the next Stanza meeting I will take a poem that is more than a few hours old! I always take something in need of tweaking or helping, as that is the whole point. The more you hone in on editing, the less stringy pieces become and so sometimes writing something completely new seems the only option. This feels like turning up to a party with a brewing kit instead of an armful of drinks…

I (as always) enjoyed our meeting and it was lovely to see everyone after the New Year break. There are lots of exciting things happening at the moment for all of us in our poetry bubble, one opportunity is resulting in a poet’s day out later this month, unfortunately I shall not be with them to share the luncheon and laughter, only in spirit. (My own fault for taking a fortnight offline over Christmas!)

The next event to take place happened just this evening – a 3rd Birthday party/Anniversary for Mouth and Music and Heather Wastie and Sarah Tamar kicked off in true hardworking, inspirational style with an event called ‘Spark Off’!

I have written an entire post about this evening – find it HERE https://awritersfountain.wordpress.com/2015/01/18/mouth-music-3rd-birthday-spark-off-special/

Heather sends press releases to the local paper to promote what’s on in the local area I was flattered by the coverage (it seemed only fair after this to let Peter’s team win)!

Photo credit © 2014 PhotoGiraffe

 It has been an incredible second week back on the circuit and I still have lots more to look forward to this month! To make tonight even more magical (despite not winning), we walked out to falling snow. It made the journey home for everyone slightly hazardous but SPARKED my childlike glee ignition and I happily danced out of BHG venue and twirled in the snow as I ran for the car and tried to zip my poetry collection up dry!

Slipping on the Poetry Skin – A Day of Writing

At last, a writing day, slipping on my poetry skin!

Work is always slow to pick up at the beginning of the term and my PPA Music job was cancelled (an hour or so before I was due to start on Tuesday). This could be a blessing in disguise for many reasons, but I found it rather irritating as the garage really needed to keep my car and check the rear brakes and it would have been ready for 1pm. I collected it Monday night instead as I needed it sooner for work!

Basically if my car had started (had to replace battery) on Monday, then I would have worked all day, it would have created about 3 hours writing time, which I actually spent visiting relatives, shopping and delivering a thank you parcel to my neighbour who had helped me with my car.

Tuesday by the time I found work was cancelled I was already into a scheduled day full of tasks and things that had to be done before Midday. I fancied the idea of writing but that is not what happened. I had to tutor and go straight to the Poetry Lounge in Ludlow, so the spare hour or so before this was spent sorting my set as I was one of the Guest poets.

Wednesday rolled around- I was still up in the small hours, pumped with adrenalin after a night in Ludlow, I even watched a film?! So in the morning I woke early, ‘on call’ and knew I needed more sleep… which I managed, waking up to the phone sometime after 10 a.m – finally the office called with work. So the writing I’d decided to do got shelved as I had less than 2 hours from bed to car to work. An hour to get up and an hour to route find and Streetview, really need to get my SATNAV working!

Maybe I would write in the evening. Well, I won’t go into too much detail, the work was fine, lovely in fact… the lanes were unmarked and I needed a helicopter to find the village. It was already a 40mile round trip. I spent an extra hour driving around, up and down the same 5 mile stretch trying to find my turn. In the end after maps, calls and phone apps. I did the terribly old fashioned thing of parking up and popping into the Post Office (I was in a neighbouring village, according to all the gadgetry about 1.8 miles away)! Instructions were clear and simple, 3 right turns and I was there.

Fortunately I arrived in time but flustered after an hour and a half in the car. I got home in 40 minutes but was so tired I just needed the settee and TV. I had a bite to eat and fell asleep. Waking up shortly before 11pm.

When I finally went to bed in the early hours, I prayed I wouldn’t get a work call. Prayers answered, I’ve started on the chores and written a list of writing tasks and things to do before tutoring later and then I am off out to perform at the New Year SpeakEasy.

I had planned to just go and watch, catch up with friends after missing the Christmas event due to ill health, then I got an email asking to perform, which I am more than happy to do, so no night off for me!

Last year I was far more disciplined and organised about the writing time. I feel an analogy coming on; Last year I was like an Olympic swimmer in training, early mornings, hours in training, fitting the pool (writing) into every spare minute.

Whereas 2015 sees me turning up at the Gym by late morning, having a relax in the sauna, steam room and jacuzzi, before walking down steps into the shallow end and gently gliding off with a breast stroke (or maybe a hotel pool with an inflatable and a cocktail). It is meant to be this way, for a few weeks at least.

I am working on submissions this morning, catching up with emails, contacting all the poets in my team for next week’s Mouth and Music Spark Off, finally emailing some much needed poetry to some very important people, submitting workshop poems for publication on websites and taking up a very kind offer from a poet I greatly admire to make one of my poems shine!

I am also writing some new material, seeking out opportunities and checking bits of pre-Christmas admin as well as organising a poem for Stanza (tomorrow) and desperately trying to write my New Year Message post (before mid-January arrives)!

Better get some coffee and get on it!

Happy Writing