Acoustic Night

Set against the new backdrop Andi started us off with ‘Quest’ a diatribe on festival organisers… “no place to park, no place to pee”. Then David Basencoe kicked off the evening proper to a less than packed house – but then the aim is always quality with quantity if possible, if not then we go for quality – where was I? Oh yes, David with his Jew’s (Jaws) harp (or harps). An amazing and inventive performer. I always used to think this was a boring instrument but not in David’s hands/mouth/jaw.

DAVID BaSeNCOE
John Terry followed with two poems – ‘Mountain Rescue’ and ‘Out of her mouth tumble light fabrics’. Two pieces that captivate the audience, the second one drawing collective imagination into the room with narrator and subject. John’s writing should be an English curriculum subject.

JOHN TERRY

Phil Baber My favourite musician started to play ‘Nancy’ but after two false starts and a rebellious mic stand took us instead to ‘Amsterdam’ giving us a rollicking tale of a hard drinking sailor.

Poems from Sarah Tamar followed up Phil’s success. ‘This is Life’ a tourist’s guide to life followed by one about ‘Ale’ an amazing many sided journey!

Sofia Gradin who “took stick with the shit I write” and went on to prove that what she writes and sings is always great to listen to. Her second song (saying “yes, everything we do IS fucked up –but”) gave us her highly original view on life. For good measure she gave us an ‘angry’ poem built around a poor relationship and what may lie beyond.

SOFIA GRADIN

Angel Tonight’s only Acoustic night virgin opens with ‘Talking ‘bout my generation’ a strong first piece followed by ‘Three Steps’. Both poems about life and what it does to us all and especially those who fall in love and take the consequences.

ANGEL

And last in this smashing first half is Peter Hunter who said he had brought three poems but had ditched the best. He tells a true story of what happened to him on Friday, describing his meeting with an Sikh in a green turban claiming to be an astrologer. He follows with “When I am brave I will wear orange” built on Pete’s highly original take on life.

PETER HUNTER

Andi starts the second half of the evening introducing the Corporate Watch group who have travelled from Oxford and Reading for tonight.

Claire Fauset describes what they have done, putting together the anthology of many worthy contributors and demolishing the statement “you can’t do a political poetry anthology” with the retort “Bullshit!!” then starts with a poem by Will Holloway (formerly Mr Social Control) called ‘I did not speak out… because history is rising in waves’. She follows with her own piece ‘Steal this Poem’ –“anyone can copy because it’s copy-left…I steal a verse here and a line there”. Her next poem ‘My direct action poem’ written pre G8 time –“I wanna make poverty history…erase it from the dictionary” echoes many of our sentiments. A worthy opener for this dedicated trio of activists.

CLAIRE FAUSET

John Hoggett is up next, a multi-coloured hippy wonder musing on the delights of handsome didgeridoo players, stating that “the world is in hock to the corporations”. He gives us ‘Changing the world’ – “If I wrote a poem to change the world I would give instructions on what presents to give your lawyer”. This one is in the anthology. Next he gives us ‘A poem of Prayers’ –“from the dawn of the world to the death of my Dad” a piece delivered in a hushed but potent tone. He finishes his spot with ‘We’re all in this together’ – “ants and seaweed and summer wheat” before calling up…

Danny Chivers who starts with his poem “How far has the Sahara grown to make up your banana –phone?”. Danny is a lively performer who moves into a piece from the book by Rob Gee ‘The Day the world stopped turning’ – “Politicians everywhere admitted they were lying … on the day the world stopped turning” Finally he rounds up a truly great set of poetry with ‘Don’t buy it!’ – “about economic justice, you can ask…Bono. He knows the way out of this fix: SHOPPING: it’s the new politics!”

DANNY CHIVERS

Andi returns to the mic and slips in ‘Insects’, her observations on the effect Ikea has had on our lives “Ikea! Ikea! The insects cry with accumulative hunger for interior DIY…” and then introduces

Pete Gioconda who plugs his new position as MC at Oppo on Thursday nights before singing a new song about apathy ( I just couldn’t be bothered to write down the title… ) and then a favoured old song on traditional theme of love and heartache. Andi still thinks he reminds her of Arlo Guthrie.

PETE GIOCONDA

Mark Patrick Hill took the stage and got everybody to sing Happy Birthday to his partner Roisin and then invited the whole audience to her party on Thursday! ‘In the beginning’ is a piece based around his plans for the UK University of Life, much as we would like life to be and then he gave us a sound poem as often performed by (and tonight dedicated to0 George Melly.

Phil Baber came back for a second stab at the mic starting with a subdued song in Polish which drew some response from a young woman delighted to hear her native language and then rounded off his night with ‘Dance me till I die’ a first airing for the song done in part Spanish a la Flamenco style.

Julian Ramsey-Wade Opens with ‘Peace is the way’ – “In my Father’s house there are many mansions” He has many fine pieces of work, this is one the best. Julian follows this with a dedication to his son Eric “speaking the language of friends…” Class act as always.

Hazel Hammond Shares her experience of a disturbing visit to a local Psychiatric Museum “a key hung on the nurse’s belt…unwashed calico rises… soft feet no longer walking” dark sensations indeed. Her second poem is a tribute to Tracey Emin “ She’s got balls!” and Hazel ends her slot with details of her project where she will knit herself into a cocoon. See myspace.com/hazelcocoon

HAZEL HAMMOND

Ian Sills rounds off the night with ‘Abolition Rap’ a contemporary piece on the murky history of Bristol’s slavery years and then ‘Present Participle Principle’ before handing the mic back to Andi who closes with ‘Daily Dirt’ a final rant about the greed of media moguls.

ANDI

Thanks to John Terry and Ian Sills for the review, occasional editing by Andi. Still waiting for our new camera but thanks to Julian for the shots tonight.

ACOUSTIC NIGHT STATS

AUDIENCE 58
PERFORMERS 17
VIRGINS 1
REPUTATIONS SHOT 3