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:
Fuchsia Saville
Break
Billy Hallett
Break
Me!
Robyn Comfort
Break
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
Poet on page and stage. Creator of She Grrrowls. Facilitator. Writer. 