Acoustic Night

I’d wandered up to Halo for Acoustic Night after getting depressed over some newspaper article saying Art is the new politics (so why are we paying politicians to do the job most artists, it seems, are willing to do for free?). It was good to see a well turned out audience and a diverse bunch of excellent performers. So I began smoking copiously and settled into the vibe.

The ever-brilliant Andi Langford-Woods was our MC for the night and got us straight into it with the literary-inspired singer-songwriter James Bunting. James reminds of Leonard Cohen but with a better voice: soft, subtle, longing songs of love.

JAMES BUNTING
David Sollors, a poet who seems to improve every time I hear him, began with polite observations that always carry a deep sense of urgent attention and then launched into a faster, ruder take on the not so ordinary life of the ‘egg shell woman’, possibly the best I’ve heard him.

DAVID SOLLORS
Barry came to the stage looking the everyman and then surprised us all with sublime slide guitar serenades.

BARRY

Annaliese has one of the most fascinating voices I’ve heard recently, somewhere between everywhere and yet very warm at heart. Her poems were equally fascinating accounts of exactly what penis-plasty and vagina-plasty is!?

ANNALEISE

Richard Lawson put in a fine effort with his flying fantasy Greek tragedy R.I.P. sung to war gone youth, and the poem Ruins 3000AD, an archaeology of the holocaust to come as food for future shamans.

I’ve seen Talkin Tekla a few times now and it’s nice to see how stories and poems can develop as they’re tried out on new audiences. He reminded us that despair leads to fear and to never steal the clothes of over-muscular AA men! He’s both hilarious and inventive.

Mark Patrick-Hill told us to watch out for devil bearing metaphors and reminded me that it’s probably better if artists do take over politics.

Andy (not Andi L-W) gave a short poem pregnant with feeling and took us into the break and I made this drawing worrying about how I was going to write all this down:

ANDY

Andi Langford-Woods kicked things off again with beautiful tension leaving us just waiting to believe.

The night’s special guest, all the way from Canada, was Mark Berube who I’ve seen before with the multi-faceted and multi-talented outfit The Fugitives. This time he was on a solo Euro-odyssey with Accordion in hand. He’s something like Bruce Springsteen meets Bob Dylan meets Jeff Buckley meets Swaziland, which is confusing of me but means I liked him a lot and you should see him for yourself.

MARK BERUBE

The ever evolving and assured Gina Briganti showed just how eclectic poetry can be with a funky punk take on rap MC’s and a heavenly take on the Jazz standard The Skylark.

Remi T gave political pontifications of social perturbations cut out of crisp air.

Ed Kean was the only Acoustic Night Virgin of the night, I think, and combined flute, vocals and guitar with the help of a pedal, into a breezy rolling performance.

ED KEAN
Then I got up and read a poem about intangible things. (SIMON LEAKE, don’cha know)
The up and coming Wilf Merttens ignited new futures with beautiful burning skylines, always good to watch.

Josie was our resident shaman for the night and got everyone clapping, singing whaaoo, whaaoo, whaaoo!

Jamie Stewart took to the stage and put in a good performance of two poems that reminded me a bit of Paralailia’s own David Johnson: kind of measured take on the profound and inane.

JAMIE STEWART

Poet and Musician Marco regaled us with tales of eco warriors and egotistical situations and how he can’t find his bender!? [I think by now I may have been a little drunk!]

Ben took to the stage claiming he was a drunk, not a poet, only to give a fine performance on Mark Berube’s accordion.

The night wound down with poet Miles Chambers love of loves poetry.

Andi then did the appropriately titled Give Thanks, which brought the evening to a close.

Bits of everyone’s words and poetry have crept in here and there in this blog I think, which hopefully creates a nice little tapestry of an evening of, as ever, excellent performances.

ACOUSTIC NIGHT STATS

AUDIENCE 45
VIRGINS 2
CANADIANS 1

Thanks to Simon Leake for the review

On your marks… get set ….GO!

First up I would like to say ‘Happy Birthday ACOUSTIC NIGHT’, as she has reached her 33rd open mic night! Many of us will still agree that she’s kept her class and without a doubt remained one of the most attractive venues within Bristol.

So, without further a do, we bring this party girl our gifts and  ‘presence’!

Helen Gregory cuts the ribbon and introduces. Taking us into her world of modern love. From the hopes of ‘sea-side’ romance to the reality of KFC chemistry. She may feel ‘like a donor kebab’ but definitely makes you feel hungry for more.
A comical poet, with jaunty ideas.

Rosemary Dun is urgently ushered into the spotlight. Her poetic flare and layed back stage presence lights up once again as she looks for her ‘mojo’! Masquerading as the man who fell in love with lust, she is both humorous and controversial. An affectionate and nimble poet!

James White with an almost Damien Rice look and a voice resonating somewhere straight out of the 60s played us some calm laid back acoustics.

Anneliese was not here to bore us! And like a ‘fox at your window’ she is willing to play it wild with her words. From raping God (our oh so ‘higher power’) to ‘smothering cream over alabaster bodies’, she knows ‘words cannot convey emotion’ but her drama skills make you want to melt into her ‘world pool of wisdom’. A passionate poet with gritty ideas.

Initially Marcos may have been absent but he certainly showed up in the end. However this time behind a music-stand where his mysterious voice and upbeat acoustics proved to be highly entertaining. An act to watch out for! Quite literally!

James Hunting? James Blunt? No please get it right…. its James Bunting! Tonight he serenaded us with some chilled out tunes; from the mellow melodies of ‘Cardiff Bay’ too the dark streets of Jack the ripper. Sharing banter with the audience and soothing them with his chilled out acoustics.
Next thing you know, he lost his virginity!

Roisin is an energetic poet with attitude! Touching on the neurotics of narcissism and the eventual stale-mate of sex maniacs. Engaging lyrics and belly wrenching ideas!

Mark Patrick Hill
‘Come look into his closet’ and ‘he’ll show you his master plan’. A poet with fun philosophical lyrics. He is one to show chewy enthusiasm for his work and shear gusto when performing.

Prozac & Pressure
The three piece beat boxing rappers brought the ghetto back into Halo. A cheeky band that spat out their own kind of ‘style’. So listen up or you’ll miss them, that’s a rap boys.

(The whistle blows and we continue with the second half)

Polly Moyer was our special guest and showed immediate signs of ‘word addiction’ as we all snuggled up to listen to her getting ‘intimate with her poetry’. She never once played it ‘meek and mild’ as her confident chatty approach made her poetry accessible to every ear. She brought out a chuckle in some and charmed others with a well-crafted selection of highly engaging poems. In my ‘perfect world’ I would definitely keep this poet in my pocket.

Monty – very sexy

Ben Richards
The man with many accents toyed with our taste buds and this inevitably making him a man with quirky charismatic stage presence. A witty performance, every line spouted out in good timing. Thus he is clever and cunning the way he can juxtaposes a ‘grave’ subject matter and speak about it as if he had just popped out for coffee. Moreover he is the type of poet who has a naughty knack of keeping you on your toes and also wrapped right around his little finger.  A top performance.

Marco
Bemused by the spacious space station of Halo, Marco took off unplugged. Winning us back into the old school days of raw folksy blues. A virgin, strumming those steel strings in style as if he’d been ‘doing it for years! Tickling our earlobes with a deliciously cute voice.

Rich
The virgin with no surname took our stage by storm, transporting listeners into a land of giggles. He showed us that hormones without puppy love can only lead to self-marriage! His wedding of brilliant ideas are riddled with hilarity. A highly original poet who must throw his bouquet of flowers at us again.

Caroline Sawyer
Spot this spotted dress out, she’s ‘an outsider and proud’. Your can’t be ‘brought and sold’ but this lady will always fit in. An energetic and vibrant poet.

?
The friendly-faced, fan of radio four brought us some short and sweet poetry. Her ‘cookie certainly met her mouse’ with us as we enjoyed a pinch of Internet dating in a well executed poem.

Ian Sills
To round off the evening Ian just increased the climax! Poetising with his ‘Bristol head and Manchurian heart’, he showed us that being the product of two cities can only give you a ‘bear belly and an ordinary degree!’ Oh and and don’t worry about that message you ‘failed to send’, you ‘sent’ us heavenward. A very down to earth and naturally likable poet.

Blog by Tom Montgomery (Monty) (very sexy)

Acoustic Night Stats

Due to a systems failure the actual figures have been eaten and the those responsible are being closely monitored during the digestive process for any salvageable data. It’s is estimated that there were approximately 45 in the audience. Performers as you can see numbered 17 and allegedly there were 8 Acoustic Night Virgins.

Normal service may resume in the near future
Wanna be a reviewer? See us when you sign in.
Sorry but no fotos, be assured we’re working on it…

The Crew:

Compere J Words

Sound Will Lloyd

Floor Manager Ian Sills

David Johnson
is a poetry Don with a sense of humour.
He began proceedings by, poetically, describing to us the contents of his pants, which were roundly applauded. No, really!

Caroline Sawyer, David Sollors, David Johnson
Monty
is a singer, songwriter.
Accompanying himself on guitar Monty makes a smokey-voiced, feel good sound. The girl in his song should have been there to hear him.

Talkin’ Tekla The Narrator
entertained us with a poetic narration of his humorous ‘women’ troubles.

Hollowbody
is a singer, songwriter.
Playing interesting melodies with skilful finger pickin’, he sang dreamy sounding songs that had political bite.

Craig Wilson
is a regular Acoustic Nite contributor.
Craig is a prolific and scary poet, this evening he conjured maidens and devils, dancing on the Sabbath!

Bryn
Slide blues on a very funky guitar. . . there’s tumbleweed in the room. No, really!

BRYN

Andy Wade
Witty words, dressed in black.

Phil Baber
Accompanying himself on guitar, Phil sang about a person who’d lost their heart in a fountain, in Spanish. I can only imagine what he’s saying whilst tapping my feet and smiling. Mesmerising.

David Sollors
A poet who humorously explores the plastic virtue of (Gro)tesco’s

This weeks Special guest. EMMA HARPER
Real woman, real songs, real talent!
Emma is running an acoustic nite at The Eldon pub. Any interested persons can contact her there.

EMMA HARPER

Simon Leake
is a very quiet poet, which means I had to listen carefully, which meant I was pleasantly rewarded.

Polly Moyer
is wonderful! She said she wasn’t going to sing because she loves us. . . we love it when she does perform her poetry

POLLY MOYER

Mike Gorton
is a singer, songwriter, creating up tempo, swing happiness on his guitar.
To get your free CD (No, really!) contact him through Acoustic Night.

John Christopher Wood
is a poet.
He is championing the cause of the Chocolate Chicken, layer of the Easter Eggs. He will be performing as a one man show as part of Bath’s Fringe Festival, for further details visit bathfringefestival@co.uk

Caroline Sawyer
is a performance poet. She also runs ‘Open House Poetry’. contact her for more details openhousepoetry@aol.com

David Basencoe
plays the Jewish Harp.
Jewish Harp, Psytrance, it’s hard to tell the difference!

Ian Sills
is part of the Acoustic Nite Crew and a top performance poet, even when he insists on singing. No, really! Have you heard The Sweetie Rap?

Gina Brigante
is a poet and a singer who always performs to a professional standard, as well as being rather talented.
What a treat!

Thank you Acoustic Night. Apologies for any erroneous information, or offence caused. Do I look bothered!?

Thanks to Ali Wade for the review

ACOUSTIC NIGHT STATS
OK. So it’s a long time ago and everyone who is anyone can’t remember a bloody thing about tonight apart from the fact that it was a really good night. A shot in the dark about audience brings us to assume there were about 40+ peeps warming the seats. !8 performers and 2 virgins. Apologies for the tardiness of posting but we’re still better than the Royal Mail on average delivery time. We are going shopping soon so you can look forward to better fotos in due course!