Acoustic Night

Mardi Gras Fringe came to Acoustic Night tonight. The wonderful Andi Langford Woods was the perfect MC for this, and got the acts going with two warm up poems. After Andi came Tom, who with his multi-stickered guitar played a bass-heavy comment on traffic and The Othering, reflecting on ‘love, if I was that way inclined’. Lord Biro followed his tragic tale of Gilbert the Glowworm, aroused by anything bright, with his modern take on an old monologue, Brian and the Prince Albert. Rob Page sang two songs from Life in a Second, his new CD: Indulge Me, a love song, and another, more political, piece.

Craig Wilson paid poetic tribute to Sid Barrett for inspiring him to write, to Gilles Villeneuve, a great Grand Prix driver. Then came three Acoustic Night virgins: Jack and Megan, 16, performed a guitar instrumental (just Jack) and an intricate and soulful duet; Dean played a drinking song (“a bottle a day / seven or eight”) and an anti-9 to 5 song; and Cynthia Qwek gave us The Asian Wife (about mail order brides) and covered Your Song, two original, different performances.

Simon Leake’s two poems were Yesterday and The Drinking Room (‘the obese bloated cream’ being ‘beyond redeeming’), pulling no punches. Pearce Holden’s covers of Sympathy for the Devil (with backing vocals!) and No Woman No Cry completed the first half.

Our guest poet was Mark Walton. After a poem requesting peace in the Middle East came “the gay stuff”. The Maze – a chemical romance, a tale of the fumbling, route into a relationship. The Headmaster Ritual, a story of misbehaviour from one who “should have known better”. Results, the moving story of HIV test results awaited; the impossibility of fatherhood was the theme for the next piece. New Routine, turned the taking of numerous tablets into “a never-ending nursery game” and the last two pieces returned to the swampy ground of good and bad relationship choices. These poems were cleverly written and bravely delivered.

Andrew Lawrence sang He Walks in Shadows and I Don’t Know If You Can - one sad, one happy, both good. Helen Gregory’s poems were She’s a Cleaner – a powerful retaliation to easy pigeonholing – and The Feet – a nostalgic poem recalling waiting for Santa’s visit. Guy returned with five (easy?) pieces on tubas, texts and cake (good to hear from him again) and John Helman told of mucking in as a student until “my parents’ money arrives” and then bade farewell to his hair. Ian Sills performed a piece for a recently deceased friend (Never again), one for Top of the Pops and one for the Middle East (One-Eyed) and Andi finished off with a poem of self-discovery (“that puzzle of gender I’ve finally solved”) and “El Fuego” a tale of Hispanic love and soaplessness.

Another fab night and we all left delighted we were back on form after a slight hiccup last time when we realized we’d to stop very, very drunk people performing. You live and learn and we only do that if we get feedback, so please do tell us what you think.

Mardi Gras Fringe came to Acoustic Night tonight. The wonderful Andi Langford Woods was the perfect MC for this, and got the acts going with two warm up poems. After Andi came Tom, who with his multi-stickered guitar played a bass-heavy comment on traffic and The Othering, reflecting on ‘love, if I was that way inclined’. Lord Biro followed his tragic tale of Gilbert the Glowworm, aroused by anything bright, with his modern take on an old monologue, Brian and the Prince Albert. Rob Page sang two songs from Life in a Second, his new CD: Indulge Me, a love song, and another, more political, piece.

Craig Wilson paid poetic tribute to Sid Barrett for inspiring him to write, to Gilles Villeneuve, a great Grand Prix driver. Then came three Acoustic Night virgins: Jack and Megan, 16, performed a guitar instrumental (just Jack) and an intricate and soulful duet; Dean played a drinking song (“a bottle a day / seven or eight”) and an anti-9 to 5 song; and Cynthia Qwek gave us The Asian Wife (about mail order brides) and covered Your Song, two original, different performances.

Simon Leake’s two poems were Yesterday and The Drinking Room (‘the obese bloated cream’ being ‘beyond redeeming’), pulling no punches. Pearce Holden’s covers of Sympathy for the Devil (with backing vocals!) and No Woman No Cry completed the first half.

Our guest poet was Mark Walton. After a poem requesting peace in the Middle East came “the gay stuff”. The Maze – a chemical romance, a tale of the fumbling, route into a relationship. The Headmaster Ritual, a story of misbehaviour from one who “should have known better”. Results, the moving story of HIV test results awaited; the impossibility of fatherhood was the theme for the next piece. New Routine, turned the taking of numerous tablets into “a never-ending nursery game” and the last two pieces returned to the swampy ground of good and bad relationship choices. These poems were cleverly written and bravely delivered.

Andrew Lawrence sang He Walks in Shadows and I Don’t Know If You Can - one sad, one happy, both good. Helen Gregory’s poems were She’s a Cleaner – a powerful retaliation to easy pigeonholing – and The Feet – a nostalgic poem recalling waiting for Santa’s visit. Guy returned with five (easy?) pieces on tubas, texts and cake (good to hear from him again) and John Helman told of mucking in as a student until “my parents’ money arrives” and then bade farewell to his hair. Ian Sills performed a piece for a recently deceased friend (Never again), one for Top of the Pops and one for the Middle East (One-Eyed) and Andi finished off with a poem of self-discovery (“that puzzle of gender I’ve finally solved”) and “El Fuego” a tale of Hispanic love and soaplessness.

Another fab night and we all left delighted we were back on form after a slight hiccup last time when we realized we’d to stop very, very drunk people performing. You live and learn and we only do that if we get feedback, so please do tell us what you think.