ACOUSTIC NIGHT 22. NOV 20
December 1st, 2006
The 22nd Acoustic Night was brought to us by Andi, back from the road and at the Halo bar to MC for us. She got us off to a bestial start with ‘Nerve Ends’. Following that sublime offering was Wilf, the newest Acoustic Night stalwart with two of his freshest poems. (both acute and profound pieces… ed.)
Dan Poulton took the mantle of our first ‘Acoustic Night Virgin’ crooning a Bob Dylan cover and his original song ‘I Will Wait for You There’.
DAN POULTON
Rosemary Dun, Bristol poetry legend (who after a short debate was agreed to be rusty haired) read for us an intense and un-characteristically serious piece. “I read the news today oh boy, they are killing kids tonight”. The news hits poets hard, being of a sensitive bent, but if Rosemary’s performance was anything to go by then they should all keep watching CNN, if only to write poetry of this quality… Rosemary is our Guest Artist Dec 4.
The Kindly One’s followed. Three young ‘Virgins’, one on guitar, one on flute/vocals and a vocalist. They played for us some transcendental tunes complimented by intelligent lyrics.
There is a concentration of magic at Acoustic Night, but only one artist who actually calls himself a Magician. Simon showed us exactly how long a piece of string is, practiced some bewildering origami and then managed to self harm with-out leaving any scars. A useful trick if you know how to do it.
A duo then headed to the stage, Nikki (another ‘Virgin’ !!) with Derry, an old favourite. Although these things are always special, Nikki’s deflowering was especially beautiful. She took us away with some solo poems including ‘Time Flies’. We were not through considering the truth of that when Derry captivated us with his guitar, the gentle notes colouring the words of a poem vocalizing the experience of breast cancer.
This was Mark Walton’s last acoustic night. He created for us an absorbing collage of one night amphetamine love sessions, gay geezers, London town and lovers not yet met “A glorious sparkling seedy creature”. He’ll be back…
This consummate performance was followed by Tom Montgomery, a singer/songwriter with plenty of ‘front’. “I’ll be inside the maze, cold with-out your gaze”
The 2nd half started with our featured performers ‘Mood Indigo’. Four voices serenaded the assembly, three human and one guitar. Many evocative original numbers including ‘The Wild Night is Calling’ and a re-imagining of a Bill Withers tune ‘Just the Two of Us’. They ended with a song dedicated to Kate, a friend off to travel the wide roads of the world ‘Route 66’.
MOOD INDIGO
Gina Brigante continued the proceedings with two worthy pieces. The first a personal poem about a crazy mother and then an acapella song ‘The Lies of Love’.
Acoustic Night mainstay musician Phil Baber furthered his linguistic reach with a song in Polish and his daughters favorite Leonard Cohen tune ‘Tower of Song’. Phil gave it a new twist by playing it much faster and it became a real punk anthem. cool!
“Perform the poem or give up trying” said Craig Wilson. Perform the poem Craig and cut back
the on-stage marketing!
Next we were blessed again with Stanley Forbes and Jake Manuel on vocals/guitar and saxophone respectively. Stanley ended a period of writers block with some way above par political satire.
Poet David Sollors changed the mood of the night with some thoughtful poems and we were taken straight back into music by Shane “Tear it up and start again, the systems not working anymore we can’t flog this old dead horse no more.” Too right Shane.
Rosanna Hamilton, our penultimate poet, chased that offering “We have been lingering by the breaking of the waves”. Hope we hear more soon!
Acoustic Night was rounded off by Simon Leake. Simon gives many Bristol poets a chance to vent their ideas through the collective ‘Deficit Magazine’. Much quality work surfaces every fortnight at Acoustic Night but Simon’s poetry still managed to stand out as rich, thoughtful and funny. “The girl on the table stimulates sex with a mate.” We’ve all been there Si…” he finished with a poem about woman’s detrimental effect on man, referencing both Samson and Delilah and Superman “with his slippers on”.
Happiness is the only thing that cuts through the guff, and knowledge is your protection from all the lies of the world. For an injection of both head down to Halo on the 4th December.
Thanks to Stan for the last two reviews
