Category: Poetry Gigs

Personal reviews of my own poetry performances

So Near and Yet So Far

Poetry Gigs

Last night was the Farrago Zoo Awards and New Year Slam.  I hadn’t been to a slam there for ages and so, despite the depressing weather and sore throat, I went along with my new Motel dress and newly cut hair.  I was asked to read out an award that went to Fran Landesman, and this made me more nervous than performing my poetry, especially as there was a name I was worried about pronouncing properly, but I think it went okay.  It’s a bit of an honour to present an award to this lady, clad in an Iron Maiden t-shirt, she’s still rocking and holding her own for the older generation.

I didn’t have any friends with me this evening, but was introduced to photographer Oliver, who sat with me through the first half before getting a better view from the back.  Ray Antrobus came to talk to me as he saw me on my own, and told me about a new poetry event that will run in the daytime on Sundays, welcoming more “page poets” than perhaps other events to add to the Chill Pill events.  I assumed the implication that I was more of a “page poet,” though I try to present myself as bridging the gap between the two.  That said, I would like to see the pages I am on, as I have only been published a handful of times in magazines.  A major problem for me, other than confidence issues, is my bloody memory.  I need an autocue or something!  Anyway, he’s a lovely guy and very talented performance poet haha.

The slam itself was won by a girl I can’t remember the name of or find via the internet but I knew she was going to win before the scores were shown.  She did a poem about weave, which reminded me about when I watched Good Hair last term, and was in a similar sort of humour to the film: amusing, but with more serious undertones.  I was pretty close to winning, I think by like 0.5… if I remember correctly I got 6, 7, 7.4, 9 and 9, so I was pretty pleased.

So I’m not mentioning the same people over and over, I’m just going to mention a couple of people to check out.  First of all, Vanessa Kisuule, who I mentioned won the slam (when I was featured I thiiiink).  She’s so good I hate her.  Not really, I love her, but am a bit jeal of her, in an inspiring way though.  Btw, I’m loving the abbreviated ‘jealous’ ever since The Only Way is Essex.  If anybody has Kirk’s number, heeeeyyy there!  Anyway, another one to watch is Mab Jones, she was perfectly hilarious.  They both deservedly won awards, and to prove I don’t really hate her, I did vote for Vanessa.

I’d actually forgotten I had to pay entrance of £5 so I could only afford one drink.  It was probably for the best as I’d already had a bit and drank water instead.  At the moment I’m checking out the NME one’s to watch for 2011.  I’m so out of touch so I figure it’s a good idea.  Only a few stand out so far, but I’ll have to look into them more to see what I really think.  Although, this one female singer, Spark, appears to have a similar hair-do to me.  Mine is basically very short at the sides (man-short) and the middle section (and a bit extra) is long and is brought forward.  The back has already grown a bit, and as they shaved my neck a bit I’m slightly worried what I’m going to do about that… attempt to shave it myself? Eeeek!

Anyway, before I start talking about Keith Jarrett’s beautiful poetry with his eyes that make you think of sparkly chocolate buttons melting, I shall go and give myself a bit of time before watching Hustle.  Though as it’s taken me an hour to finish this, I will have to save the bath until 10pm.  Then I shall be a good girl and read The Female Eunuch in bed.  Before that, I shall leave you with a quote from Germaine Greer herself:

“I’m sick of weighting my head with a dead mane, unable to move my neck freely, terrified of rain, wind, of dancing too vigorously in case I sweat into my lacquered curls. I’m sick of the Powder Room. I’m sick of pretending that some fatuous male’s self-important pronouncements are the objects of my undivided attention.”

Since writing the book though, she wrote a terrible piece on Mrs Obama’s dress which i wrote a poem about but it’s on my external hard drive in Norwich.

xxx

The People’s Mass

Poetry Gigs

I went to The People’s Mass last night, an event organised by The Oubliette at Limelight Church – squatted and made into a venue, complete with automatic-sensor-flush toilets and a fully stocked bar.  A nice stage space was also set up with a curtain backdrop and plenty of seating.  I was greeted with a warm welcome from fellow performer Alain English.  His energy made me realise how knackered I was but it was really nice to see him.  I then got my travel money and drinks tokens from Catherine Brogan, the host of the evening.

It started pretty soon after I arrived and I was first on.  There were a decent amount of people there, and whilst loads more people arrived throughout the night I was glad I read earlier in the night because some people appeared to be there for the wrong reasons and just would not SHUT UP!  I hate that, it’s so rude, Catherine even had to tell people to be quiet so she could perform a poem.  It was also really annoying that people smoked in there.  Anyway, I felt a bit nervous and under-prepared when I started, and didn’t feel like it was going too well, probably because I was doing a poem I’ve done about once before a year ago.  I got more into my set and think it ended up being okay overall as both Catherine and Alain described it as ‘beautiful’ and a lady in the toilets told me I should sing more… oh yes, I sang again – I did Fix It for the second time.  This lady I later realised was another performer, Helen Walford, who was one of many great singers of the evening.  Although there were technical difficulties for some of the time, it was a really good night.

Amongst the poets, I remember enjoying Captain of the Rant, but E.Amato made me want to buy her book, and I would have but I forgot and had to leave early so dashed off in the middle of Poeticat who I always enjoy, yet am jealous of Cat’s musicians.  I was glad they did the Moomin Song before I left though because I love it loads!

So, I’ve been catching up with writing my diary which took over two hours as I had a month’s worth of news and I don’t think I even got into everything.  I’m going to be posting quite a few blog posts in the next couple of days… or at least I intend to… everything always seems to take longer than planned.  I hope to write a few I won’t post up until later so it’s not overloaded, but we’ll see.  I also have left my camera lead… was about to say “at home” but I meant to say “in Norwich”, but anyway, it means I won’t be doing video blogs for a while and won’t upload my poetry readings for a few weeks.  I’m really wanting to move out as soon as possible after the summer and really hope to get on this UEA London Creative Entrepreneurship MA course!  I was talking to Alain about how all the poetry shizzle seems to go on in London and it got me thinking… I’d really like to live in Norwich.  I can always stay with my parents and friends when I’m in London and it’s not that far away.  It just seems a shame, as much as I love London, that everything has to centre around it.  Especially as UEA is meant to have an amazing reputation for writers… the city itself doesn’t seem to offer as much and I want to change that.

Anyway, I’m beginning to digress! 

Adios

xxx

Mistletoe and Whine

Poetry Gigs

Just came back from the last UEA CWS open mic of the year.  I’m on a certain antibiotic at the moment which is supposed to give you an insane headache if you drink alcohol on it so I spent 60p on two pints of blackcurrant squash.  Seeing as I’ve already spent nearly all my money on Christmas presents, this no drinking thing is probably for the best.  I’ve been going to alcohol counselling in an attempt to stop binge drinking and develop a healthier relationship with alcohol so it was interesting when I went to the last LitSoc social sober.  The pub crawl part was actually really fun, and I think I made the most effort of anyone with the two members (who weren’t the committee or friends of the committee) that showed up.  The club was where it went downhill.  I hadn’t heard good things about the change from Po Na Na’s to Lola Lo’s but I went in with an open mind.  Sadly, I couldn’t take advantage of the free vodka, and the mince pies never turned up.  From then on, I felt like I was waiting for people to get drunk, and couldn’t really talk as the music was so loud.  Eventually some of us danced for a bit, but then the others got fed up and I left early with a few people.  It was around 1am so I felt that was an okay time, considering I still had lots of coursework to do!

Anyway, back to tonight.  I felt more nervous as I don’t think I have done a gig without a little dutch courage for over a year at Starbucks (they don’t do alcohol).   Anyway, I felt like it went well and got a couple of compliments, not only on my poetry but also my outfit – Reko dress, white tights, vintage shoes and a Father Christmas hat.  I got to speak to Leo Hunt who I remember liking the last time, and he’s a nice chap.  I also remembered how much I adore Greta Healey’s voice; again, I think my Words & Music lecturer would like it.  Anyway, I read a new poem called I Am No Better which was inspired by events at Hop Farm Festival last year, including a drunken vision of Kaya Scodelario (Effie from Skins), so it has been a long time coming, but hopefully that means it’s a gooden.  I then dedicated my poem Passing Time, to a guy I’ve been acquainted with for a couple of weeks who said he’d never go to see poetry.  I then did Drama as I was reminded of it whilst doing research for my Children’s Literature module.  I finished on Tick the Box, which another performer told me they liked best.

So, I was happy.  On top of that, I won a chocolate prize for my attempt at the fancy dress! As the only effort was the hat, I’m pretty pleased… though am not sure I should be as the rest was just a normal outfit!  Oh well, chocolate, can’t complain!  I really enjoyed Christopher Ogden’s prose piece and think I prefer it to his poetry, which is unusual as it is more difficult to keep the audience’s attention with prose.  Angela Robinson was really enjoyable again, and I find her work very cinematic, in an American way, but in a positive way that makes you want to take a trip! Chris Gray was next and his set was really funny, and delivered with confidence.  Catherine Woodward is someone who impresses me more and more each time I see her, and is published so hopefully would be able to get her for a pure LitSoc event if we end up doing that. 

Robyn Comfort did a nice mix of poetry and song to acoustic guitar, including one about her boyfriend which was sweet; it reminded me of when I read at the Poetry Cafe and dedicated a poem to my boyfriend at the time, and how in that moment I made his heart feel more for me than he ever has since.  Amy Wragg didn’t turn up, which I was disappointed about as I was looking forward to hearing her read.  Laurie Eaves was as good as ever, and even worked a reference to one of Angela’s poems in his.  Josephine Lister was headliner, and I’m still working out what I think about her poetry, as she’s quite loud and so maybe she should have more variation or something, I can’t put my finger on it, that said, I loved her poem The Way You Look Tonight.  I also think I might fancy her just a bit.

I’m really wanting to break open my chocolate snowman, but I’ve already had a massive Homemade Quorn Cottage Pie that should really serve two, and a strip of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk.  I should also go to bed now as I still have essays to edit and expand upon (UNDER the word limit!)  I also need to draw and scan in illustrations for my creative project for Children’s Literature.  Then once that’s over, time to start on my Creative Entrepreneurship MA application and reading for my dissertation.

xxx

I also realised I didn’t do any Christmas-themed poems, so here’s one from last year:

Nativity

 

You were Father Christmas in the nativity.

I was a snow flake.

If we met in reception I wonder

what we would be now,

and whether we would have been friends

back then.

Would you have pulled my hair?

Would you have known my name?

In the playground playing games

would you have been my aim in kiss chase?

Or would you be kicking a football

while I was tangled up I skipping ropes

and standing on one leg in hopscotch?

Would you save me if I was stuck in the mud?

Find a plaster for my grazed knees?

Or be the cause for my bruises

for pushing me too hard?

You, eating Christmas dinner in the hall.

Would I be on pack lunch at this time?

‘Cause I always changed my mind.

Would you watch my cartwheels

or comment on my hairy legs?

Would we keep in contact?

Grow older as friends.

Or more.

Would we be shy?

Would we camp together at music festivals?

Would I fall in love with you,

and your family,

would they call me their baby?

Get pissed together?

Bite nails and smoke cigarettes?

And experience what went on behind bike sheds?

Because in reality I stopped riding bikes at secondary school.

Would we comfort eat?

Or have someone to share the cakes with?

Would we swap presents every year?

Would we write pain into our history books

or just play hangman at the back of the classroom?

Would I go away?

And you come visit me,

hug goodbye

but always say see you soon.

Would you ride off with reindeer to the moon?

And dust me off your shoulder.

Would you see life without me is colder?

Share a bed with a hot water bottle, one duvet

and two pillows.

UEA Literature Society Showcase: Autumn

Poetry Gigs

Monday 22nd was the second edition of the Literature Society Showcase in the UEA Hive.  I had organised the one last summer pretty much single-handedly, but this time the whole committee got involved to make this one a success – and I think we pulled it off!  I was worried at first about the performers turning up, the audience turning up, and whether the equipment set-up would be okay.

The only thing that disappointed me was that, after being so happy that so many people turned up that we ran out of chairs, loads of people left towards the end which I found really disrespectful to the last acts who had sat through most of the night waiting to perform.  Especially as I was really looking forward to Hannah Jane Walker and Russell J Turner performing and thought it would end the night on a high – which it did, but it also REALLY pissed me off that people had left!  I guess I’m still learning about how to organise events though.  Next time we’ll have to have fewer acts and end earlier.

There were quite a few performers I’d put on the bill that I’d never seen before, and a couple of cheeky personal favourites were Ashley Johnson (an amazing acoustic act with a beautiful voice), and Grenouilles (a blend of voices, guitar and violin with poignant lyrics) and Billy Hallet (comedy act with hilarious anecdotes of “youths”).

The bill itself included a lot of acts I was already familiar with (obviously, as I put the bill together) and so here’s a run down for anyone reading this to check out:

Ashley Johnson

Mother Superior

King Laconic

Fuchsia Saville

Break

Grenouilles

Amy Staniforth

Joshua Jones

Billy Hallett

Break

Sula Mae

Me!

Robyn Comfort

Break

Late Arrivals Club

Hannah Jane Walker

Russell J Turner

Jake Miller hosted the event, which worked well for most of it, but I think I needed to brief him more about the acts as there were a few awkward moments.  I found his introduction for me funny: ‘some may say the next act put on this event just so she could perform’… partly true I guess!!

I was about to upload some pictures but it doesn’t seem to be working and time is of essence haha!  Well, about my own performance that night… I hadn’t practiced so didn’t expect much of myself.  I picked ‘Space Station’ as I know it by heart, however in attempting not to look at the page, I ended up missing out a stanza or two.  I then read a new one ‘The Social Network’ but regret doing so and never want to read it again; I’m starting to realise some poems should be kept as personal and not read out.  Lastly, I did a poem-song ‘Fix It’ and thought I’d probably just read it since I’ve never sung in front of an audience, other than drunken karaoke.  Until now!  I ended up singing the chorus, as is meant to be, and although I was paranoid about the echo of the microphone and whether I was standing right, and moved away from it to try to sound okay… I was proud of myself!  So… that, and getting a 67 in my latest essay… almost makes up for the amount of hangovers I’ve had recently!  Though I am having nightmares about the next essay I’m due back where the mark morphed into different low numbers… all lower than 45!

Anyway, I’m due to write a review on Luke Wright now, wondering whether if he Googles his name after and ends up reading this.  Most of the time I don’t think about people actually reading this, which has its downside… tending to be when I mention names or let slip in some emotional rant about unrequited love.

xxx

CWS Scream Poetry Night – UEA Grad Bar

Poetry Gigs

I found out at the weekend that Luke Wright, John Osborne and Tim Clare were going to be performing at this Creative Writing Society event.   I’d recently been told An ex-boyfriend I still care (too much) about has a new girlfriend and was half wanting to read a whole set of poems about him and half wanting to read nothing to do with him, prior to finding out that these poetry celebrities were attending.  Oh hiya, curator of Latitude poetry stage… I think I might think a bit more about what I’m going to read now. So, I thought vaguely thematically and did a couple I read quite regularly; The Mirror and Space Station.  Plus, two I’d never read before; Ghosts on Stairways and 90s Kidz.  Okay, so two poems about the ex, but they were good choices, I think.

The Mirror has been published in the Poetry Rivals 2010 anthology, and as I was disappointed by the standard of the other poetry included, I’m hoping I’m in the top 100 that get to perform.  I’d read afterwards warnings not to enter the competition, but seeing as I know half of last year’s judges, I thought it can’t be that bad… apart from the paying for your own copy of the book instead of actually getting paid!

Anyway, acts that stood out that I hadn’t seen before to my knowledge, were Amanda Gosling and Leo Hunt.  Both prose acts, which is a more difficult task than reading poetry, and yet, they stood out the most.  The Aisle 16 members obviously stood out like a sore thumb and I felt stupidly starstruck, as I am shy at the best of times.  I was happy with my own performance, but obviously looking back at the video is never as good, plus I stumbled on a couple of lines (once in Space Station, which I know of my heart, but then again I had zero time to practice!)  I was comforted by the professionals’ own stumblings though.

So, the next event will probably be 22nd November at the UEA Hive, which is an event I’m putting on for LitSoc with poetry, comedy and music.  Also, Aisle 16 are doing a birthday gig for FREE at the York Tavern which is across the road from me, yay!

Carmina

xxx

National Poetry Day

Poetry Gigs

To celebrate National Poetry Day, as secretary of LitSoc at UEA, I organised a reading session for people to share any poetry they liked in a nice, relaxed environment.  We put up fairy lights and lamps, and set out rugs, cushions, snacks… and FREE WINE!  Here’s a picture of some of the committee members there… just under twenty people turned up in the end.  I would have liked lots more, but there we are.

Aside from the regular people reading, fellow committee member and some of her friends read, as well as a couple of freshers and Josh Jones, who has never read before and is now addicted and now has his first collection of poetry out – Thought Disorder. 

All in all, a good time was had.   Here is a video of me blogging a bit about it, and doing a (pretty bad) reading of a couple of the poems I did on the night as I didn’t film any of it, and it’s a rare thing for me to read Benjamin Zephaniah and Kate Nash.

Carmina

xxx

CWS Speakeasy at The Birdcage

Poetry Gigs

 I arrived at the familar setting of the Birdcage and already there was only the floor left to sit on.  The crowd grew so much that there was no room, as people stood in the doorway.  John Simpson Wedge was hosting, and did a great job with jokes and little poems of his own.  Hasina Allen, Jennifer Grey and Cora Benzie started the night off to a great standard as expected. 

Greta Healy and Christopher Ogden followed after the first break, and I mentioned them both at the last Birdcage event. Emma Webb was next, and I enjoyed her set, and her love of West Ham (which I also “support” due to my dad being a big fan) though I don’t follow football so it’s more moral support haha.

I was up next, decked out in 1920’s style dress, I explained that we were asked to do that – though I like dressing up so wasn’t fussed that not many others actually did it!  I wore a cream dress with matching shoes – not a flapper dress, but a similar ’20s shape.  I also wore my fascinator – any excuse to wear it, as I love it – I got it for my 19th birthday, specially handmade by a Spitalfields Market stall-holder.  I also had a white feather boa – I would have prefered my black one from New York’s Screaming Mimi’s but I can’t find it anywhere – gutted, as it was mega over-priced!

Anyway, less about clothes… I enjoyed my set.  I had a cold, but then so did everyone else really.  I performed my creative writing module pieces from last term, which I never had read out as they are more “page” than “stage” poems.  To pick up the pace, I read Space Station, which I pretty much known by heart now.  I then did newbie Drama, and a plug for an event LitSoc are putting on tonight, and then had time for an unplanned reading of White Lines.  I got a decent amount of compliments, particularly for Space Station, and the rhythm of my performance.  I think maybe because I knew it by heart it was well liked, or maybe because it’s quite emotional and raw.

 Christopher Young was next, and read prose, which many people thought was surprisingly entertaining, as it can be harder to follow prose. I can’t remember seeing him before, but he was really good.  Catherine Woodward was next, and in the past I’ve not been blown away, I thought she was great that night, really engaging. Maybe I was blinded by jealousy before haha, since she gets quite a lot published!

Robyn Comfort was again one to watch – sadly no singing this time though. Josephine Lister delivered her set with confidence, although I can’t remember if I’ve seen her before, I think confidence makes up a lot of how good someone’s set is… I hope I’ve grown in confidence haha! Laurie Eaves was the best I’ve ever seen him, he has improved so much in such short time.  I wondered where he practices because that’s a problem for me, as I like it when other people are out the house!  His set was pretty much perfect, very well prepared and everything went together so well.

CWS were filming the night so hopefully it’ll be up on YouTube at some point in the near future!

Carmina

xxx

HEADcrash Cabaret

Poetry Gigs

Last Wednesday was my first feature since being back in Norwich; HEADcrash Cabaret at The Birdcage.  After getting a glass of wine, some postcards and a ‘cocksucker’ badge from actor, poet and host, Russell J Turner, we found somewhere to sit – on the floor as it was rammed.

I suddenly remembered I forgot to spell check my last post.  There must be lots of errors.

Anyway, Chris Ogden, former president of the Creative Writing Society, was first up.  I knew what to expect as LitSoc showcased him at an event we held at the Hive at UEA.  I really liked his menstruation poem, and it reminded me of how I always forgot I was due on my period a number of times staying round a certain friend’s house, and what it means that he didn’t care and it didn’t feel awkward, which is basically what the poem was about – comfort.

Next was a girl called Greta, not sure of her surname, but I really liked her… that’s all I remember.  Robyn Comfort was next and I especially enjoyed her set, though I’ve seen her a few times, this time it was because she SANG! Well jealous, but of course, very happy for her as she was quite nervous about doing it! 

Then there was Andy Bennett, who a lot of people seemed to know, but I didn’t.  He was really good, and did something similar to Tim Clare in relation to Tom Cruise’s ‘Last Barman Poet’ performance in the film ‘Cocktail’.  It seems to have turned into some cult interest and I don’t know why but I really liked it.  I have been trying to write my version for this event that I won’t be able to make anyway, sadly.

After a break, I was next.  I really enjoyed performing and felt it went really well.  I think because I did so many new poems, although I was worried about the newness of them, it made it more enjoyable because there was a mix of poems I knew pretty much by heart, and those that just felt really fresh or something.  My housemate Kristy said how I had improved so much from last term, which was amazing to hear because it means all the open mic and feature gigs I’ve had over summer have been worth it!

Hannah Walker, who I mentioned in my set, was the last poet.  I’ve written about her before and really liked her set, naturally.  I was hoping to speak to her, but she disappeared or I was busy talking to other people or something like that.  Pay No Mind were the band at the end, I liked the songs but it felt like the singer was singing from the wrong part or something, so she was potentially good, but something was wrong that I couldn’t put my finger on and it kind of annoyed me.

I’ve also now got my heart set on an MA, so plan to take a year out to earn money so I can live back in Norwich.  Ideally I’d do it this coming year, but I won’t be able to afford it.  This probably means I won’t be able to afford to go inter-railing either but I can always do that after my MA… or any time in my life.  I don’t want a job that restricts me to not being able to do that.  I see myself doing lots of different jobs rather than one big one.  I read an article about work-life balance recently in the Sunday Times Style magazine that makes me think a merge rather than a separation is how people are more inclined to working these days.  I want to enjoy my work, and it be part of my life, not waiting for the work day to end so I can start my life each weekend or whatever.

Anyway, to save myself from rambling, I’m going to get reading and try to find someone who will come to see The Neutrinos with me and my housemate Kirstie, only asking for £2 compared to £8.50 on the door! 

xxx

Word of Mouth & After Hours

Inspiration, Poetry Gigs

So, I didn’t make it to any more poetry events the week before returning to Norwich, for three reasons:

1. Monday: kept up by snoring at a friend’s house, went home at 5am, took two hours, had three hours sleep.

2. Tuesday: went round to friend’s house, mum didn’t want anyone staying round, was home by 2am.

3. Wednesday: goodbye drinks, ended up going clubbing with one mate, everyone got chucked off the bus, got home at 5am and was hungover all day.

Anyway, back in Norwich, I went off to the NAC to see Tim Clare headline at Word of Mouth.  Andy Spragg was up first, who I know from previous Soapbox events and the Poetry Choir.  I really liked his poems and would have liked to read as well as hear them, which I got to do later on!  Although confident, he was a bit shaky – which is what I’ve been doing recently at events and know how annoying it is, like… why is my leg shaking.  A bit like Will’s arms on The Inbetweeners (which I watched the next day on 4od, very funny!) 

The Anti-Poet I had performed alongside at Speech Motion, at the Horse & Groom pub in London.  They were even better than the last time!  I really want my own music stand and one of those microphones; it’s the perfect solution to my bad memory, and well, the microphone just looks and sounds cool.

So, the headline act, Tim Clare, I had seen at Latitude but couldn’t hear that well, and was chatting to a uni mate I bumped into and was pretty pissed off that I couldn’t get back to where I was sat as it had gotten so crowded.  Also, it seemed to be more comedy and music than poetry… so I didn’t know what to expect this time.  It ended up being… AMAZING!  Tim’s act wasn’t so much comedy but just him being himself and rambling on about his night drinking Cocktails, and reciting Tom Cruise’s “poem”.   He was really quite endearing; what a charmer.  I loved his poem about loving crazy women and the epic “9-minute poem”.

The After Hours Club was a scary ‘Swap Shop Special’ which involved putting our poems in a bag and picking three different ones.  I knew some people had put in awkward poems, so I was lucky enough to avoid any of that, PLUS I got my very own ‘Cinderella’ poem.  I didn’t record the event as I just wanted to enjoy it for what it was… wasn’t really about me haha.  It was weird seeing Tim Clare in the audience.   I hoped he thought I was good.  It’s cool when the bigger names come to the open mic bit.  Though I would probably judge them badly if they didn’t to be honest! 

There was a bit of drama with the LitSoc Vs. CWS.  It turned out to be an issue of improving communications and never using the term ‘open mic’ for LitSoc events to avoid confusion for the Student’s Union in terms of the distinctions between the societies.  Anyway, after some passionate and persuasive arguing from me (I did get an A in that at GCSE) it seemed to be all sorted, and we should be able to work together the way I had intended, rather than against each other.  And I avoided crying – yay!

 So, everything ended up being okay, and in a few hours shall be seeing a lot of the same faces for HEADcrash Cabaret at The Birdcage with some friends coming along.

xxx

So She Said

Poetry Gigs

I enjoyed the last fundraiser for LadyFest Ten so much I decided to go again to this one.  I was worried the tube strike would force me to take buses and get lost as I have a habit of travelling in the wrong direction.  Since I came all the way from South West London to Mile End, there was really no excuse for anyone not attending!  I think it’s more the idea that there will be problems travelling that stopped them coming, rather than any real obstacles.

I was with my friend Elliot again as he lives walking distance, and we sat in the same place as before; I’m a creature of habit.  We were given Poetry Bingo cards and edible DIY-poetry biscuits which we made with icing sugar glue.  I thought that was really fun!  The other acts this time weren’t as impressive and it wasn’t really as good as the time before, if I’m honest.  The performers that stood out for me were Sophia Blackwell, of course, and Elliot’s friend Aurélie Jestin who played guitar and sang – I didn’t understand what she was saying as it was in French but I loved everything else you can like about music with lyrics you don’t understand.

My own performance, I wasn’t that happy with… I don’t know, I just wasn’t feeling it.  I had to bend to the mic a bit as it wasn’t positioned right, which is wierd as I’m quite short… and I messed up a few lines.  Aurélie and Elliot liked it and the audience did make some ‘woo’ noises so I suppose I should stop being so miserable and just be pleased haha.  However…there was this group of girls that wouldn’t stop talking throughout my set, and Sophia Blackwell… in fact, everyone!  They seemed like such posers, all like “we’re at a feminist event!  We’re lesbians/bisexual/friends with lesbians!  We’re at a poetry event! We’re so cool!”  It was just like, why are you here if you’re going to talk throughout the whole thing?  I get really annoyed at people like that, it’s just plain rude!  I wouldn’t make those statements about them normally, but that’s just the impression I got from their ignorance of attending something like this and not bloody paying attention!

Well, rant over, that’s pretty much all I have to say.  I’m deliberating whether to go to an open mic night next week… and if so, which to go to?  It’s between Farrago and Spoonful of Poison.  Farrago costs £5 which is a big factor really, since my main reason for wanting to go is out of obligation as I said I’d try to go to one before I go back to uni in Norwich.  Spoonful of Poison I said I’d go to a couple of weeks ago but forgot and double booked, so feel a pull to go to that as well, but this one is also FREE to go to, so that would be good.  I’m also hoping to see my friend Natalie on that date and she would probably prefer Spoonful as it’s free and she even did her first poetry reading there.

Dilemmasss!  Any advice about that would be welcome, but I’ll probably end up going to whatever Natalie wants to go to… hopefully she will actually be back from Greece by then.

xxx