Acoustic Night

The evening’s MC was Julian Ramsay-Wade who started off proceedings with a short introductory poem while everyone settled down and the piped music was switched off. He then welcomed Dario Gerchi who sang two old Italian songs with his guitar accompanying him. “Volare” was slower than the original with the chorus slower than the verses: this meant that we could hear Dario’s rich voice better (even though he asked for audience participation on the choruses!); and Nella Fantasia – most recently performed by Il Divo – was semi-operatic and sounded great. (I would congratulate Dario in Italian but I don’t have the languages!).

DARIO GERCHI

David Johnson performed a thank you poem composed for the thoughtful gift of a Dictionary of Difficult Words using difficult words (“Words that inveigle right into your ear” - ”words that will rollick, roister and roar”) to most amusing if occasionally incomprehensible effect. (I would congratulate David using difficult words but I don’t have the dictionary or the vocabulary.)

DAVID JOHNSON

John Trimble stepped up next for a rare solo slot and after one or two interruptions (how did we start picking up the Leeds game, Andi?)(blame it on John’s pedals Ian!) embarked on a two-song performance with voice, guitar, loops and harmonica. “Little Wing” included a complex, even showy guitar part in homage to the recent death of the last remaining member of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Mitch Mitchell. It may hardly have qualified as acoustic but it sure was entertaining. Canned Heat’s “On the Road Again” was a little less spectacular but still a joy to watch and listen to: so very different from the previous guitarist but equally enjoyable.

JOHN TRIMBLE

Craig Wilson followed with a poem, “The Old Duke”, about his performance at that venue in late 2006 (“On the other mic…beatbox, flute and do it!”) and “These Violent Times”, a 2007 piece against the Iraq War and many of society’s modern crimes (“Oil, arms, land, power, control”).He has returned as assertive of his opinions and as strong in his pronouncements as ever.

Charlie Ansell became the night’s third distinctive guitarist with his now familiar mix of old folk songs and up-to-date punk sensibilities. “Jim Jones” was a song of transportation to Australia: sung in the first person, it oozed rebellion and lack of remorse. “Hanging on the old barbed wire” detailed the different experiences of officers and men in the First World War and its jolly tune failed dismally to hide the social commentary and the contempt the ranks had for their “superiors” (“If you want to find a sergeant / I know where he is / Drinking of the company rum”). You know what you will get from Charlie and you can be pretty sure you’ll like it! Julian then switched from MC to poet to tell the sad story of his first day at school and his difficulties with dyslexia – it is a far better piece than that makes it sound and I never tire of hearing it. That completed, a short, early break was taken.

CHARLIE ANSELL

BREAK

Julian introduced Gary Death, Bristol’s wry, perceptive transplanted Scot, who shared a little of his drinking past in “Coke Addiction” (“carbonated water slaughter”, “caffeine riddled, full throttle”) and a little of many people’s drinking past, present and future in D. F. F. (Drink, F**k, Fight). Very redolent of Viz characters on the town (indeed the piece was set in Newcastle!), this transported the audience from a nice café bar restaurant to a back street pub where the drinkers were set for the weekend (“Friday, Saturday, Sunday to the Monday night”). Wonderful.

GARY DEATH

Gary then introduced his fellow Scot and our special guest for the evening, Fiona Lindsay.

Fiona remembered visiting Bristol from her then home in Swindon “20 plus years ago” and performed “Prostitute Scotland” “about Glasgow or anywhere”, followed by an older piece, “21^st century woman”. She had got quickly into her stride, performing thoughtful and observant poems from this woman’s point of view (“Real woman – a dying breed”). A short, dark piece of suicidal behaviour was subtly sneaked in behind a quote from Peter Pan (“I do believe in fairies”), after which, to make up for the “trick”, we heard “a nice love poem” entitled “The Hairdryer”, which dealt with the episode in the Bible when Jesus’ feet were washed by Mary Magdalene using her hair. Surprisingly, Fiona admitted to having received criticism for that piece from some Christians (the thoughts of both parties are not entirely pure!) but not for the next one “Fundamental Politics” which dealt with the eternal paradox of Holy War (“They preach murder and never to yield”, “If this is the right path, then God I’ll be damned / Amen”). Not an uncommon subject, but tackled uncommonly well. Her next poem “St Paul’s Cathedral” told the moving story of Paul, who had “got mental health” and was “supposed to take medication”. This was a close study of a disadvantaged man who still considered himself “lucky” and offered to pray for others. Finally we heard “The Butterfly Collector”, in which a monster is revealed to be somewhat less than monstrous. It was a long way for Fiona to come, but we were very grateful that she did so.

   FIONA LINDSAY

On a busy night for musicians, Pedro took to the stage next. A three piece, their first song was a sea-shanty about a doomed ship (“no more rum for the Captain’s table”, “We’re going down”). The second, in contrast, was a slow, acoustic version of “Can’t get you out of my head” by Kylie Minogue – stylish and sweet but definitely not cool!

PEDRO

Andi Langford-Woods abandoned techie corner to perform two pieces. Firstly, to “rage against apathy”, being “well-versed in biology”: a frothy introduction to the second poem. “A Woman’s Life” is very uncomfortable listening in the best possible way – describing a night shift in a womens’ refuge, the pain of a battered wife and the “fight…to bring her back” which appears doomed to failure. Should be required listening for abusive husbands!!

ANDI LANGFORD-WOODS

The Sodburys, a duo who have worked together for fifteen years, sang a “world exclusive” of their song “Hang On In”: a song about working at a relationship which bounced along merrily. Next was a reminder to make peace with relatives before the die (“You can’t just leave it like that”) and they then sang an extra song, “Emily”, a bitter tale of a daughter lost to her father except when the CSA arrive demanding money (“Will your momma lie like she’s always done?”). I hope we get to see and hear them again soon.

THE SODBURYS

Finally Hazel Hammond reprised “The Label Gun”, about those who find it easiest to stick nice, simple labels on us, and about refusing to be labelled (“contents may settle – well not for me”). Pointed and skilful as one expects from Hazel, and a fine way to end a most enjoyable evening – early!

HAZEL HAMMOND

It seems Ian Sills has taken on the mantle of blogger and is doing a fine job. We would still love it if a member of the audience would do the blog as we like getting a different slant on the nights but we also realise it does detract from being a punter!

Next Acoustic Night Dec 1^st featuring top Bath Spa poet ANNA FREEMAN plus Open Mic sessions. See the homepage and link to Myspace for details on our fundraiser special on Dec 15. Tickets are on sale now and moving quickly.

ACOUSTIC NIGHT STATS

AUDIENCE 35 (Fiona deserved more!)

PERFORMERS 15

VIRGINS 6

Andi Langford-Woods took up the MC duties and opened with a paean (I think!) to her old carpet, which towards the end of its long and downtrodden existence doubled as the Acoustic Night stage rug (“becoming…the shore on which countless nerves were shed”) (glossing over bodily fluids!). It brought a tear to the eye!

ANDI LANGFORD-WOODS

She then introduced Craig Wilson on his return to the Halo family after “about a year”: he has been adding music to his “High Performance Poetry” collection but stuck to the words of “The Glow Project” (the title track of the revised set) and “Lifejacket”. The former was full of helpful advice (“let loose sometimes: hold back in others”) while the latter was about survival (“actions rarely speak louder than words”) but this was Craig as we remember him and we have to hope it doesn’t take another year for him to return.

Mike presented himself as the four Ms, joking that he “ate the other three”. After ensuring that no-one present worked for the BBC, he sang “Morning Dew” by Tim Rose, a sweet sixties little girl lost song, followed by an altogether darker piece based under the sod. He is keen to return and be less nervous: we have all been there!

Simon Leake was another regular returning after a hiatus – he read “The Art of Imperfection” (“the whole dissolves into a play of vignettes”) and a piece incorporating two characters (“the red light of the answerphone waits for her”). As ever, he rewards careful listening and always comes up with some quality writing.

SIMON LEAKE

Steve Fanger was a newcomer to Halo although he recognised a few of the older hands from Croft/Brewhouse days (Polly, Julian and Ian!). He was still a virgin to us, though! “The Mid Life Crisis Blues” explains itself: any title which gets a laugh is onto a winner from the start, while lines like “I still haven’t decided / what to do when I grow up” certainly struck a chord with some of us. This authentic blues song was followed by a tale “about a dark night of the soul” with a gospellish tint and a spoken middle eight including the line “the sky was as blue as Paul Newman’s eyes.”

STEVE FANGER

Simon the Magician followed with more of his tricks including bad puns (“I’m dressed in black – does that make this black magic?”) and poor French (“Un, deux, three, double deux”). Fortunately the magic was somewhat better than the French or the puns!)

Mike Billing read a poem written quite recently about living next door to a pub (“I would live there if I could”) and, apologising in advance for his rare use of bad language, “The Streetfight”, in which “he pushed him and him pushed he”. Proving conclusively that swearing can be clever, even if only in a poem.

David Johnson then performed a very new poem (not written today on the bus, though, I presume!) about a middle class childhood memory of the lighthouse that sits opposite Appledore, of fish “escaping my net as it trawls by”. He then presented a second Devon-inspired piece of farm cats who “stroll the tables” and of “sweaty hikers (who) heft their packs”). Watch out for a longer set from David as a guest performer in the New Year.

DAVID JOHNSON

Tilted City comprised 2 guitars, 1 bass and three beards and were collectively our second virgins of the night. They combined a steady, constant beat with a gentle storytelling style in their songs: “Noxious Doll” and “Quarter to Four Pork”; the latter celebrating junk food eaten at an absurd hour of the night. Technical problems overcome, they made a strong impression in their short allotted time.

TILTED CITY

BREAK

Our first post break performer was the Trowbridge Titan himself, Talkin’ Tekla tha Narrata (in turquoise!) who gave us the momentous one to one hun-dread piece. I never catch the title but the poem itself is unforgettable and the performance is unreal.

(16 love rhythm and 17 melody”) (“49 and 50 me love me heart and soul”) ( “74 me love me mum”). He then performed “The Would-be Poet”, dismantling the art of writing in an amusing manner (“me and my mind are one of a kind…obviously”).

TALKIN’ TEKLA

To follow this was no mean task so the Winterbourne Wonder, Julian Ramsey-Wade, stepped up to plug the big Christmas Acoustic Night (15^th December, £5 per ticket but they’re going fast and changing hands on Ebay). In honour of its subject’s final day in office, Julian then performed the blindingly funny “’W’ 2” (“My fellow Armenians… Renaissance is fertile!”) (“No toleration to pterodactyls”). (You had to be there!).

Steve Fanger then returned with “Just a feeling”, an upbeat, poppy song and (“a song I wrote to cheer myself up”). Miles Chambers followed to plug his Ujima radio show (98FM - Sunday 8-10pm - “Lyrical Minded”) and to encourage poetic participation.

He was then (easily) persuaded to introduce Bertel Martin, a third former regular who has been missed. Compelled by his lack of paper support to perform old poems (for which he unnecessarily apologised!), he read “Immigrant’s Son” a deceptively pointed description of the careless racism which he suffered despite his Bristolian birthplace and accent. (“Caribbeans see me as a  white English rose”). The same unarguable points as Miles makes, but in a very different yet equally valid style! Then, in an entirely different vein, “Sex with Sandra” described the blooming of a sixteen year old falling in love for the first time…in his mind. Again, most of us have been there (although not necessarily with Sandra).

BERTEL MARTIN

Souls Liberation stepped up and performed opinionated rap/poetry with beatboxing – again a sharp contrast to some gentle poetry and music that preceded it. “True Deep” was “about my life” and the second piece was equally forceful (“If you come around you know it’s profound”). I don’t think we’d seen him before but I hope we see him again.

SOULS LIBERATION

Chris Beckett followed with Steve Fanger’s guitar, a waistcoat and a hat and sang Dylanesque songs 1) referencing “A Day in the Life” (“I saw a film today, oh boy”) and 2) taking us from an Autumn city bar/restaurant to a summer meander through America (“where the wild pastures meet the wide open sky”). If he gets here earlier he will get the larger audience he deserves!

CHRIS BECKETT

Finally Ian Sills pushed his way onto the stage insisting that he had written two new pieces and had to perform them. Anyone would think he helped to run the show! Fagin’s Credit Crunch referenced Lionel Bart’s version of Dickens’ favourite stereotype (“I think I’d better think it out again!”) to try and make sense of the monetary disasters befalling us all, while “The Kissing of Georgie” was based on Radiohead and karaoke. I wonder why no one thought of it before?

IAN SILLS

Thanks to Ian Sills for the review. Do you fancy writing the review for us? Talk to us when you arrive!

ACOUSTIC NIGHT STATS

AUDIENCE    47

PERFORMERS 17

VIRGINS  5