Tag: Norwich

It’s Friday, I’m In Love

Poetry Gigs

Since Tuesday I’ve been out every night.  For the first time I was able to go to Norwich Poetry Club at The Bicycle Shop.  I was wearing small heels but inside was so dimly lit I had to be careful down the stairs and it took Hannah Walker a while to recognise me.  She was the only person I spoke to as I was feeling shy for some reason.  I also spoke to a woman briefly who I’d asked to sit next too.  I noticed she left before the last act and Luke Wright sat next to me.  He was hosting the show and although hosting is not a job that goes hand-in-hand with performance poetry (I am not so good at it!) he does it well.  He read a lot of new poems and they reminded me of old poems I’d read as a kid, a kind of naughty children’s poetry, and I mean this as a good thing (I’ve studied Children’s Literature after all).

Hattie Grunewald was the first feature for the evening, and although I already know and like her poetry I learnt about her successes so far – she has been taught by Caroline Bird after winning awarded withe the prestige of being a Foyle Young Poet, and had her poetry on the Underground, and as you can see on the link I’ve placed on her name, she has published books out there!  Slightly jealous if I’m honest.  I get annoyed at myself for not remembering details so I made a note of a couple of expressions I liked – the idea of someone tasting like a newsagents and eyes that rust.

John Osborne was next, promoting his new book.  Now, I’m far too promiscuous to state as Luke did, that he is my favourite poet, but he is up there.  He told a poem about a surprise party his girlfriend had organised and nobody turned up, which I related too… until he said it wasn’t true and “I don’t have a girlfriend, so the joke’s on you”.  This blend of fact and fiction inspired a poem I wrote that night, called Circumstances, which was also influenced by a poet called Tao Lin who I’ve been reading and I hoped for a kind of dry humour combined with a bleakness.  Anyway, back to John, and other favourites from the night include a poem about a guy that didn’t pay his pound into a syndicate at work the week they won, called ‘that money would have turned you into a bastard anyway’, and a heart-warming poem about a break-up.

The headline was Thick Richard, but if I’m honest, he wasn’t my favourite part of the evening.  He had a bit of a death theme, and I do like a theme, but still, I wasn’t impressed.  The crowd seemed to like it though, laughing where I couldn’t muster a chuckle.  The poem I most liked was something like ‘why don’t girls who like men like that like me?’ about seemingly nice girls going for bad guys.  He’s a chef though so maybe he could win my heart through my stomach.

It ended a bit past 9pm so I got to pop to The Birdcage for Lucy Day and The Knights’ EP release!  Inlay flaked out of supporting but the other acts, Blanche Ellis and Drew McDonnell were really great.  Before Lucy came on, I noticed the girl next to me put out some burning paper, and I was like fuck!  I smelt it and wondered what it was but didn’t even realise it was right next to me.  I think she only put it out because I turned my head and saw it, weird!

The gig was amazing and I’m so glad I went along!  I’ve listened to the collection of songs from Lucy a few times and had a few running around in my head.  I loved Forsaken and the lyrics have made me think about my own pursuits.  Sometimes I feel like I agree with the song, something does have to be forsaken.  For me, I’m so sucky at relationships, at times I think it’s just not meant for me – the happily, or not-so-happily married with kids life.  I could deal with the current patterns of my love life if only it meant I could be a success in other areas, namely my career.   We get told we can have it all, but maybe we can’t always.  I have this need and desire for love and for faithfulness and matrimony but I know the reality of this is near impossible, and that even if I did get married, it just may be a more serious example of how things end in tears.  It can be frustrating to have this desire but I guess it’s as much a part of living, to go through those kinds of ups and downs, as all the other elements of life, and should be embraced as such.  I think that since finishing my university work I feel a bit weird, like there’s so much I want to do that I don’t know where to start or if I have enough time.

Anyway, Wednesday I had a gig at The Birdcage myself.  I wore this dress with birdcages on it from Topshop, and an hourglass necklace from Urban Outfitters. Oh! And these cute bird earrings from UO as well.  I teamed it with green tights and my vintage Charles shoes.

My friends Helen and Laura came to watch and we went for a half-pint at spoons afterwards.  I knew all of the performers so I didn’t much feel nervous or anything, though I was a little unprepared as I kept switching my mind about which poems to read, and I did the new one, ‘Circumstances’ though it probably needs a lot of work, and I don’t know if people got the humour, or if I delivered it right.  The rest was okay, and I did a few by heart.

So, the list of performers… Bethan Williams, Jennifer Grey, Imogen Steinberg, Andy Bennet, Catherine Woodward, me and, headlining, John Osborne.  Jenny said she was nervous… in fact, so did Catherine and Andy!  Jenny always gives a confident reading though and was fine once she was up there.  Andy’s was really interesting and amazing considering he’d written them in the past 48 hours!  I knew why Catherine was nervous once she was up there, she gave a very different performance – all by heart and even including a cheeky lip-licking and winking!  After that, I was scared to follow her but think it went okay.

Last night I was a volunteer at Hannah Rose Jone’s Independently Fashioned.  I was on the door so met everyone and sorted out tickets (which turned out to be inking people’s hands) and all the stuff like that.  It was stressful at times, but I got used to it and it was actually really refreshing how lovely everyone was.  The only embarrassing thing was when one of the designers gave me £40 and I counted on my fingers to work out 40-25 to get her change.  I get so stressed when doing the simplest mental maths that my mind just goes blank.  I was to say ‘I’m not stupid, I got a B for GCSE maths, it’s just the pressure or something’ but I just end up looking a bit silly, oh well.  I should have done my research about the designers because it was a bit embarrassing not knowing know they were.

I didn’t get to see much but it did look like a great show, plus there were musicians Jordan Jackson and Cielo – most people at the end were asking about the band!  It was funny because one of the members asked to put some flyers on the table and said Jordan was good but that Cielo were a bit pretentious haha.  I had a good night, and Hannah even gave me a free headband for it, which I put on straight away and shall be wearing properly tonight!

xxx

Easter Two-Nighter

Poetry Gigs

Right, because I’m at my London home and using the laptop I spilt water on that doesn’t have the letter ‘g’ (and it’s nearly 1am) I’m going to try to keep it short and sweet.  I’m writing it slightly annoyed because I wanted to say something and can’t remember and have been trying for ages to remember grrr!

Last night I SANG with my frex Will Gardiner who played the guitar for me.  It was for the Late Shift at UEA’s Sainsbury’s Centre.  After years of wanting to do this and being to scared to do it, it was actually not any scarier than reading poetry.  There were some other amazing performers and was really happy to be included in such a fantastic line-up.  Check all these people out: Jamnesty, Rachael Durrant, Vince Laws and David Osbiston.  And if you want to look at how it went for me, you can watch  the video on YouTube… though listening to it myself is a bit cringe and it seemed way better at the time haha.  Also, I was aware I messed up some of the words as I was doing it so that’s never nice to hear.

I continued the night with my friends Helen and Laura, and so it was a proper last night in Norwich.  I came home for the Farrago gig by train and it was long and I had a heavy suitcase, so pretty tiring.  My mum picked my up from Worcester Park station, and of course, when I walked past the traffic, a load of guys were being “ultimate lads” aka “ultimate tools” and shouted out at me ‘alright schweetheart, need a hand?’  I didn’t respond at all, even if I came up with a witty come-back, it would just be giving them what they wanted.  I was in a weird mood, maybe a delayed reaction from talking to a friend earlier about something that’s been frustrating me for a while, combined with nerves and disappointment that I didn’t think anyone was coming to watch me.

However, I was mostly in a positive frame of mind, just had a mini-stress-out.  I’m looking forward to tucking into the best Easter chocolate as well – dark chocolate egg and lots of creme eggs!

So, tonight I had a huge surprise coming out of Goodge Street tube station.  An old college friend, Janet Etuk, who was not only there… but there to see me!  And, even better, Anya Destiney came along too – the girl who you could say is responsible for everyone having to endure me read poetry!  Both girls are mighty-fine actresses as well so keep your eyes peeled!

The other features of the night were Charlie Dupre, Fran Landesman, Clair Whitefield, Sharnika Power, The Wizard of Skill, and AF Harrold.  Charlie, Clair, and Sharnika were all unfamiliar to me and they were incredible!  Espesh, Sharnika, at only 16, she was unbelievably good, so confident and intelligent.

I forgot my camera, which was a shame, since I actually had people to record it for me, and I think it went quite well… though it was cut really short.  Anyway, I thought I’d start posting more photos and stuff to make this more interesting and personal.  Part of that will be pictures of me haha, basically, I’m quite into style (I’m inclined to say style rather than fashion for obvious reasons) and any attempt to go to poetry readings in just a jeans and t-shirt combo never really happens… I like dressing up, and maybe coming from a “dance background” it makes me see it more as a performance with costume haha… that’s why the up-coming Glam Slam is exciting!

I’m wearing a yellow Passenger t-shirt (it was quite cheap at some shop, and I got my friend Natalie Cooper a similar design) with a standard red h&m cardi, and not shown in the picture, a high-waisted black skirt.  Note the badge from Russel J Turner, reading “all you pretty fuckers”.

Okay, that took just under an hour.  I have lots to occupy myself with tomorrow and will hopefully be swimming again, with my mum.  I went the other day in Norwich and it was really nice.  I kinda wanted to go to Tooting Bec Lido but my mum keeps changing her mind.  That reminds me, there’s poetry stuff going down in Tooting, which is where I spent most of my childhood.  If anyone is near 833 Garratt Lane, please ask for my Barbie dolls, I miss them.

xxx

Alphabet Soup

Poetry Gigs

Last night I read a whole collection of new poems from my creative writing coursework.  One I named after a Henry Holland patishe t-shirt I have called ‘Blow Bubbles Not Bombs’ and the whole set was based around love but that poem was probably the most personal and it wasn’t about relationships, and less moaning about guys is defos a good thing! I was really pleased with the collection so I hope I get a good mark.  My housemate Kirstie, and my friend Laura came to support me, which was cool as the crowd wasn’t as packed as usual!  Laura said even though I did a lot of ‘page’ poems I did them well and I seemed really professional, so yay!

I ended the set with a sneak preview of what me and my frex Will are gonna be doing at the Late Shift next Wednesday (20th April) at the Sainsbury’s Centre in Norwich.  It’s basically him on guitar as an “assisstant” as Hasina, the event organiser, called him haha!  I will be singing and doing poetry and luckily Laura said she’d come so that’ll be cool.  Anyway, we did ‘Drama’ and people thought it was cool!

Omg!  It’s suprising how much “poetry beef” (as The Ruby Kid has referred to it!) there is on the scene.  One of the poets who I know from uni did a poem about another one of my friend’s and even though it was funny and spot on and a brilliant poem, I feel a bit bad because I imagine he won’t take it so well.  She’s going to email it to him but I think if he was there when she read it, it may have provoked debate so may have a more negative consequence now.

Gossip gossip!  I was excited a while back to find out that Time Clare is going out with a girl from Bearsuit.  Most amazing couple or what?!

xxx

Aisle16: Poetry Boyband

Inspiration

This weekend my oldest friend, Hannah, came to visit me in Norwich and I made her come with me to celebrate 10 years of Aisle16 at The York Tavern, a pub on the end of my road.  Luke Wright hosted the evening, tying up the loose ends with poems about the poetry collective.

I was familiar with most of the performers individually, but not the first two.  Joel Stickley was on first and I remember enjoying his set but looking back the poem that really sticks out in my mind is the one about fish: clever and witty – both boxes that need to be ticked to be a member of the group.  Archie Macjoyce was next and although I feel like I should like everyone who performed, I have to be honest, and I could either leave his name out, or admit I was less keen.  I think I may have preferred his act without the music background, maybe that was it.  Anyway, then there was Tim Clare who I’ve seen perform a lot recently and am quite frankly sick of him… just kidding!  He was obviously enjoyable as always.

In the break, me and Hannah began to turn into teenagers, and Aisle16 were simultaneously morphed into a poetry boyband.  We admitted over our fourth drinks that we actually both fancy Tim a bit.  And later face the dilemma of who’s hotter – Ross Sutherland or Chris Hicks?  Sure, Ross has amazing hair, but look at the arms on Chris!  If only they did posters we wouldn’t have to choose.

The feminist in me is a bit begrudged the group doesn’t have any girls in it.  Then again, maybe that’s why I turned into a starstruck teenager in their presence.  There was an a’cappella performance from a token female so that’s good enough for me. 

Chris Hicks was up next, with a voice that would be sure to seduce my Words & Music lecturer.  Oh, and his poetry was good too.  Jason Raper and John Osborne carried on a good show through to the next break. 

During this interval, Luke Wright came up to thank me for the review I did of his live show.  I was still a teenager. Well and truly starstruck.  I didn’t know where exactly he saw it as it’s not out in Concrete yet, and I post this blog in three other places than here.  Anyway, that was really nice but I was such a loser and shy despite my drinking.  Straight afterward Tim Clare said “hello Carmina” and I had no idea he knew my name so I had a double whammy of starstruckness and pretty much acted the same way.  I’m really going to have to work at being a normal human being.

Anyway, next up was Joe Dunthorne, who I met at an event I was working at for Penned in the Margins in the summer.  Again, I really liked it, but the highlight of the night was when Ross and Chris joined him for a poem together and it was AMAZING!  Proper boyband stylee haha.  Ross was last up, another favourite after constantly reading over his latest book prior to publishing whilst on my internship.  Luke then finished off the night to the sound of party poppers and me and Hannah rushed off to try to get the bus to go from one birthday party to another.  We had to wait an hour, but that’s another story.

I did notice Ross was wearing what I only assume are my lost trainers.  If they are a size 8, then they are most definitely mine.  I post the following poem as a plea: give them back!

Adidas Trainers

 

Two sizes too big,

cosy and warm,

bought in Camden

at a second-hand stall.

You walked away from me in the night

and I don’t know where to look.

you were dragged from place to place,

having to call each one home.

You have been trapped in wardrobes,

only to be taken out occasionally,

mostly on rainy days;

you did not enjoy the puddles.

So you left me.

You left me to look for something.

A truth and reality

amongst the confusion.

You went outside without me,

you went outside alone,

perhaps you’ve gone

to find your first home.

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