Acoustic Night

“I have come to see the turbid blood. The blood that takes the machines to the cataracts, and our souls to the Cobra’s tongue”

Lorca.

Sally Bowles eat your heart out. The Kit-Kat club re-emerges as a fervent one-year old, sneezing Tourettes and fougasse! This was no pre-war Berlin, No Nazis in sight, but more Nobel Prize-winning talent than you could aim a Kalashnikov at. This then, was ACOUSTIC NIGHT’S first birthday at HALO party…

Julian Ramsey-Wade goaded the throng into a half-hearted rendition of “ Happy Birthday to Us” following with a barrage of well-remembered words – this rallying call to prospective poets:

“You’re right to listen to these voices!” urging us to “Write that feeling down” he asked “Why poetry?” Julian knows…

Paul Moyer (the first Acoustic Night Virgin tonight) and his Bouzouki gave us two instrumentals, gentle and evocative. Reflective with a New Mexico accent.

PAUL MOYER

Sarah Tamer (ANV#2) reminded us of the fragility of our brief existence with the tale of a young Door-Man/Bouncer in a bone-marrow transplant unit, followed by “Freedom Sucks” and then cheekily slid in a love poem “Leonard Cohen 007”.

SARAH TAMER

A first outing for Mike Scott, (ANV#3) with his song “ Men bugger off” revealing the woman’s lament of the serial desertee, or a male’s propensity to avoid commitment to long term relationships. He followed that with a sweet ditty about “Myrtle”

MIKE SCOTT

Ian Sills invited us to “Check it out” then his poem “ A sheep in sheep’s clothing” signified that he is “100% country-born lamb” not a wolf, and nothing for potential partners to be wary of, bringing coos of endearment from several ladies.

Rapturous applause escorted John Terry to the stage – “This product contains Poetry!” a clever and funny poem. “Papa’s pigeon” somehow wove Erik Satie and ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ into a fevered dream of hallucinatory eloquence.

JOHN TERRY

Rupert ‘Jazzman’ Hopkins invoked the spirit of Ivor Cutler with his swelling organ sounds and occasionally overcast intonations – “A bank of Albion” how many bird’s names did he cram into that piece? Astonishing!!

Sarah and Charlie Groves (ANV#3&4) donated tunes both mellow and with frisson. The first an American folk-tinged love song followed by an almost soporific outing in musical relaxation.

SARAH AND CHARLIE

Next, the return of Yasmin , the diminutive raven-haired Poet Princess, who endearingly eschews the stage for an audience-inclusive round of the front tables. “My short skirt is mine!” is her second poem demanding to know why a girl can’t dress for her self and not for some slavering dog to drool over.

The Roaming Broncos gave us “Mary Rose” a mandolin instrumental then a sweetly sung and performed “Rise up” infused with classical guitar playing.

THE ROAMING BRONCOS

Which brings us to Totnes. And virgin No.5. Is it really twinned with Narnia? (this may explain why I’ve been finding globs of jam and smears of clotted cream in the back of my wardrobe).

From this very place comes Steven Park who told us what he had seen “With these eyes I have seen a drunk man urinating on his own dog” (we shall draw a veil over the part about his girlfriend’s sister…). His second piece is about the unequal distribution of beauty in the world “You are beautiful in more ways than there are species of monkey on this planet, or reasons to be in hospital…” Stealing a little more time Steven, bare-chested and be-wigged, adopted a crazed Geordie flautist persona and assailed us with an avant-garde piece “Dinna gi’ mi provocation!” We ended the first half with mental images we didn’t arrive with. Personally I was glad of them!.

STEVEN PARK

The Second Half

Have you considered “The Fairytale Character Psychiatric Unit?” Helen Gregory asked where all the kitchen-ware had gone and we were told that “The dish ran away with spoon” and the situation seemed Grimm. Her next poem revealed that snails do indeed have sex: in ways that “will make your eyes pop out of your head” that they get “pissed out of their shells” and “the things you can do with a pole when you have no spine” Inspired, but hold the Tequila and salt…

If you have ever been to an Eldon House event then you will have encountered the wonderful Emma Harper, accompanied tonight by talented Dai Jessop on guitar, we were given a Nick Drake song followed by Pentangle’s “No Love is Sorrow” If you haven’t heard Emma singing then you won’t know we have in her probably one of the finest female voices in the British trad. music scene. Check her out.

EMMA HARPER AND DAI JESSOP

Chris Brockes, (ANV#6) the second Totnes invader (these guys should be sponsored by the Devon Tourist board..) gave us insight into Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and then had us all in stitches with “The Cow is the Mother of the Milk” Hilarious!.

CHRIS BROCKES

Andi Langford-Woods sobered us up with a piece of hard-hitting reality she found on the Net. “I am..” and then “Insects” her wry observation on the way we have been sucked into the Ikea lifestyle “Sod’s law there’s something missing and no answer when you call”. Andi has great stage presence with poetry in turns powerful and infinitely amusing.

Proponents of re-incarnation will find solace in discovering Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holliday within the sweet, deep, nut-brown tones of Gina Briganti. She opened with her poem “Plug your soul into the system” then chilled us with that voice. Mmm!

Polly Moyer (yes, she is married to the bouzouki player) delivered questions for prospective partners, gave us “I’m going to buy a big Roundabout” urging us to save for a rainy day so we could spend the money on an umbrella (or an axolotl, or labial bling…)

Next up, a Gallic tour de force. Parisian Dame Gabrielle (ANV#7) presented a mesmeric poem in her sensual native French (more please Gabrielle!) Phil Baber pursued it with “L’Amoureuse” (a Paul Elouard poem rendered into song) again delivered in husky French.

PHIL BABER AND DAME GABRIELLE

We then had “Breakfast in America” with David Johnson – a treatise on the sugary delights of post-sleep noshing in the US of A followed by the trials and tribulations of a ‘poet in residence’ at the Humberside Constabulary’s HQ “I was wandering lonely as a cloud, in a Northerly direction, when I came upon an unlawful insurrection…” A tribute to the Beat Generation.

Caroline Sawyer contributed “In defence of pink” and “Nothing changes” stating “ Why take a horse to water when you can drink it yourself?”

Hal Camplin exposed us to raw Ukelele and a homage to America “Hip Hip Hooray! Abraham Lincoln was gay!” egregious and hilarious in a skillfull way.

HAL CAMPLIN AND PETE HUNTER

The ever patient Pete Hunter gave us a Haiku workshop “ Nee-na Nee-na Nee-na Nee…Haiku Police” then told us he liked to have ”at least one independent thought a day” but is rather prone to “binge-thinking”. He got us all thinking about thinking about thinking.

As time stole away Phil Baber came back with “About that” then Emma and Dai returned with “Trees that do grow high” (Eliza McCarthy’s got nada on this!)

Julian Ramsey-Wade concluded the night in fine style and let’s not forget Wills, the unsung hero of the sound desk without whom it would be much more frantic!

WILLS

Tonights stats:

Acoustic Night Virgins: 7
Performers: 26
Audience: 90+
Cakes devoured: 100+
Hangovers: awaiting results
MCs: Julian, Hazel, Ian, Helen and Andi

Thanks to Phil Baber for the review, Hazel and Andi for the cakes