Acoustic Night

Acoustic Night 73 – Christmas Extravaganza

Faced by more chairs and people than many believed could be squashed into the back room at Halo, Julian Ramsey-Wade introduced the Christmas Special edition of Acoustic Night and welcomed Wilf Merttens to the stage. Wilf had replaced the indisposed Byron Vincent (get well soon, Byron) and started with a “cover version” poem (“’What’s the truth?’ says Pilate”) before sharing his own poetry with us. “Australia” gave a possible insight into his domestic life (“I was watching Kath and Kim in my pants”) while “The night I stole your soul” carried a darker tone (“That little metaphor that I pulled from your chest”). “Artificial Insemination” (in which he admitted “trying to be funny”) was a far lighter, frothier mixture (“I want to play with words like I play with my food” “I want words to hang on lips like spiders”), only for his style to become more serious and romantic in “Girl passed in the street” (“She is infinitely more defined and more special than them”). Another more downbeat piece – “Silent Sun” followed (“Forgive my breath / forever asking for death”) before the opening cover piece was repeated to close the set. Varied in pace, tone and style, this was a fine opening to the night.

WILF MERTTENS

Suzy Condrad followed Wilf and sang three new songs from her CD – they may not be brand new but Halo had not heard them. The first, “Shine On” (?) “about mentors being only human”, included the moving line “you wish that they’d say to your face / the things that they say at your wake”; secondly “The King of Maybe”(?) was about someone “who pays you back in compliments” and whose “father’s crown weighs him down”. Third was “The Other Frequency”(?) (“there’s a sound / there’s a harmony” “can anybody hear the other frequency?”) in a minor key, followed by not only an older song but apparently Suzy’s oldest, performed on her first visit to Acoustic Night in the King Charles days. “In my own time” is a jaunty song about living life your own way (“I’m just budding while you wait for me to bloom”) and completed a too-short set in which Suzy’s striking, melodic voice backed by guitar and tambourine (women obviously can multi-task!) displayed her well-crafted lyrics.

We will look forward to hearing more from Suzy in the near future.

SUZY CONDRAD

Nathan Filer performed next and his act is difficult to review because it has developed over the years into a seemingly unstructured set which is less reliant on start of poem/middle of poem/end of poem/applause/between piece banter. Suffice it to say that the subjects touched upon included an ewok, a Mexican wrestler, Fifteen to One, Wikipedia and gonorrhoea. Often extremely funny, occasionally slightly crude (although nothing will top the image of him with a magazine in Oedipus Wrecks), Nathan is now blurring the edges of comedy, poetry and theatre and to many of us is infuriatingly good at all three. It must be because he has a “Broadband Internet Connection”, I guess.

NATHAN FILER

After a short break to allow the technical crew to set things up for the next band came the next band. “The Bristol Blue Grass Factory” (a pun I have only just understood now, but then I am slow!) turned out to comprise three players rather than as many as seven, but Martin John and James Gale, who have graced our stage several times in recent months, were accompanied by Clem Clements on banjo as they covered several classic songs from the 50s and 60s with far more skill and style than Jason Bloody Donovan ever will. “Sea of Heartbreak”, “I Wonder Why”, “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore”, “Will the Circle be Unbroken” and “Blue Moon of Kentucky” were all given the BBGF treatment – subtle harmonies here, speedy bluegrass picking there, banjo and harmonica supporting two sliding guitars. “Everywhere I go (you’re following me)”) was James’s own song – the fact that it fitted seamlessly into the set of covers speaks volumes for its quality. The obvious pleasure that the band took in performing couldn’t help but transfer itself to an audience bouncing along merrily.

BRISTOL BLUE GRASS FACTORY

After a longer break with raffle tickets sold and prizes won, the original host of Acoustic Night at Stokes Café 14 years ago stepped up to perform. Tim Gibbard doesn’t look a day older (the advantage of that haircut) and he opened with a dark and scary poem (“too late to bolt the door” -  “you will not sleep but wait” -  “the damp breath on your neck”) but followed it with a love poem (“we don’t spoon in bed, we ladle”).

Switching styles again, he dedicated the next poem to the preceding guests, telling a story of (“how my woman went and left me” and “how I met a blind man who taught me how to see”). The next piece evoked a childhood of Saturday morning cinema (“out beyond the crushed red of folding seats and flashlights” -  “Cellophane slices of reality”) while the cinematic theme continued in his Oz-inspired final piece. The poetry is clearly of high quality: the performance lifts it even higher.

TIM GIBBARD

Inspired (or maybe filling in time?), Julian Ramsey-Wade performed a piece for and about his father (“After leaving home, your home is still mine”). Wonderful.

Finally Cute Loony performed a set (again after far too long away – they also provided a large part of the audience!). A Bohemian Lie is the most memorable of their older songs with its contrasting harmonies and lyrics that cross each other – it was performed at least as well as I remember previously and bounced along joyously. “Weightless dream” was on the Acoustic Night CD and also came across well (“you’re a zombie in your womb of ignorance / your womb of arrogance.”). Newer songs followed: “Pressing Souls” started acapella which showed off Hannah’s strong and rich voice to the full, while the next song was also showing signs of becoming a future favourite. Finally “Cool Lashings” used a 12 string guitar and harmonies to evoke a summery feel in the heart of winter. They seem to have a good balance between vocals and instruments (well done to the techies on this one, too) and between music and lyrics. I have a nasty feeling they may soon outgrow us!

CUTE LOONY

Andi Langford-Woods thanked everyone who helped set the night up and run it, and we all wandered home. Some of us with smug, successful smiles on our faces.

Thanks to Ian for the review.

ACOUSTIC NIGHT STATS

AUDIENCE               FULL HOUSE!!!

PERFORMERS        12

MINCE PIES              WONDERFUL!

 

The evening started with MC Julian Ramsay-Wade declaring “It’s a mad world (tick tock)” before introducing John Trimble. John apologised for his solo status (why?) but explained that his usual performing partner Caroline had stood him up to be with her boyfriend. He performed two new songs: the first describing itself in self-deprecating fashion (“I needed some help with my upbeat song” “It always works with my flat-pick style”) and the second (“a bit self-indulgent”) a little more outward facing and strident (“exonerated – conscience clear”). As usual the songs were entertaining and extremely well performed – whether they turn into standards remains to be seen.

MC Confusion followed – the rapper of that name, fortunately – and he drafted John in to back his first piece with “a few simple chords”. This was a clear, tragic story of joyriding gone horribly wrong (“killed my mate and lost my legs through cruising”) told with style, wit and beatbox. His second piece was more political – “Don’t let the blind lead” “Looking for Bin Laden check the White House” - but equally clear and skilfully performed.

MC CONFUSION & JOHN TRIMBLE

Charlie Ansell stepped up next and at “the last Open Mic of the year” brought out two old favourites. “Barbara Allen” was a tale of “boy falls in love with girl and dies: girl falls in love with boy and dies” straight out of the folk tradition – indeed has a fairly straightforward folk tune. He followed this with “a song about greed” “Cutthroats, crooks and conmen” (by Show of Hands) but disastrously broke a guitar string in full flow and had to disappear temporarily to effect running repairs.

This brought Middleman to the stage slightly early – another rapper, his two very downbeat pieces were “Emily”: a sad story of a girl who lived a short and brutal life and for whom he cared perhaps too much; and another story of the atrocities of life which he had seen (“my eyes have been raped!”). Not exactly uplifting, but moving, clear and realistic.

MIDDLEMAN

Kiera Mann followed accompanied by Phil Baber. She covered Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” in a slow, low style which left no room for errors (there were none). Beth Rowley’s “Nobody’s fault but mine”, a tale of rebellion against a god-fearing family, was a different type of song, growing and strengthening throughout towards a big finish. The two songs were well performed, with Phil’s simple guitar accompaniment allowing Kiera’s voice the space to be heard to full effect. By way of contrast, Charlie Ansell returned with his new string and bashed it and its five siblings (and the guitar itself) to the raucous conclusion of the song he began earlier in the evening.

KIERA MANN & PHIL BABER

Richard Lawson reprised his 9/11 poem in view of recent occurrences in Mumbai. The poem bears strong reminders of the day itself (“The highest order falling to fiery hate”) and of its consequences (“You’ll be avenged / More sons will die”). He then read a poem about a dream of war he once had, providing a possibly optimistic partner to the previous piece (“for the eternal in man cannot die”). As ever, he provided thoughtful as well as entertaining poetry.

RICHARD LAWSON

Rose Marie followed Richard and covered two unorthodox songs acapella: “The Man With The Child In His Eyes” (by Kate Bush) and “Dreams” (by Fleetwood Mac). These were both difficult to sing solo but Rose Marie’s performance was confident and her voice was pleasant. David Bosankoe then played some Jew’s Harp as a backdrop to the donations collection.

ROSE MARIE

BREAK

Andi Langford-Woods introduced our special guest. Anna Freeman both witnessed and took part in her first performance poetry gig here at Halo, so was delighted to return as a special guest. She gave us “Pants”: a tale of domestic bliss threatened by the discovery of an unknown person’s underwear (“Do you know where your pants are tonight?”). She then performed her “Rubbish Poem” which takes us from recycling (“Make a shiny retro jacket from empty crisp packets”) via a rubbish shortage to “armed guards outside recycling facilities” in easily-believable steps. Her next poem was a pantoon – a form of poem with repeating lines - which told the story of her love’s night out while she was “tied to the bar” (“she tunnels my vision: I only see her”) and how difficult she found that situation. “Notes on Love” was inspired by (previous Acoustic Night guest) Shane Koyczan’ non-cliched love poetry but reinforced the feeling of love as dependence from the previous piece (“I get the fear that I will lose you”). To change the mood entirely, Anna claimed to have fed the lyrics of “Yesterday” by The Beatles through internet translation facility “Babel Fish” via Russian and Portuguese and back into English. (Why?). The resulting song made one grateful for Paul McCartney’s way with the English language (“Love was similar light sport to play”). Finally Anna proclaimed her gingerness with a pride that shamed those who have ever oppressed this vocal minority (“We are the cockroaches of the genetic universe” “Mutants like the X men”). A fine set: in turns funny and heartfelt but always skilfully written and performed.

ANNA FREEMAN

Phil Baber embraced his gingerness (“from one MC1R to another”) and played his “Mexican Death Song” (“Cantos nuevas”) with its flamenco-style guitar and Spanish sounding lyrics. He followed this with “Yist Sharaz”: a multicultural, multilingual tale of infidelity and the Russian mafia which has either been fed through an internet translation service (“Baber Fish”, perhaps) or should be. As ever, Phil entertained with his songs, his guitar playing and his between song comments.

Andi Langford-Woods then performed two poems: “Witness” – (“an old fart’s view of people coming through”) with which I rather worryingly empathise and “Just Look” (“can you see the bruised and scarred landscape of a soul long-travelled?”). Wonderful stuff, but boy does it make me feel old!

ANDI LANGFORD-WOODS

The Sodburys returned after their virgin performance a fortnight earlier and sang two more new songs (to us, at any rate). “Fly Away” was a hearty endorsement of the gap year travelling to round one’s education, while “Little Girl” told the story of a little begging acrobat with sparkling eyes encountered a few years ago in India. As last week the impression left was of entertaining and crafted songs performed with joy and skill.

THE SODBURYS

Ian Sills followed with Sergeant Rocks (about Strictly Come Dancing’s valiant participant) and England’s Gloomy (about certain newspaper’s tendency to treat sport as war and continually bemoan the national teams and their failings.

Rupert Hopkins read next – forty years on from his first performance at Teacher Training College. He is currently writing companion pieces to artwork and showed us two etchings while performing pieces written alongside them. Both poems worked well as part of the larger concept, being short but carefully styled evocations of place and time.

RUPERT HOPKINS

He was followed by Trevor Carter, whose first poem was based on Blake’s “Tyger Tyger” and criticised “The Banker” of its title. He followed this with “Cracking Up” – originally intended to pour scorn on the famous Tate Gallery exhibit of a huge crack in the floor, the poem took on a life of its own and became far more celebratory.

TREVOR CARTER

Finally, Jade Oldfield debuted with “GenerationY” (or “Why”?) honouring the 15-25 year olds (“I’ll serve you a Martini but I won’t laugh at your jokes”) (and making me feel very old again. Her second poem found her trying unsuccessfully to be cynical in the modern age (“listen…some people do amazing things”) Yes, like perform quality poetry at Halo for the first time, Jade.

JADE OLDFIELD

Thanks to Ian for the blog and Olly for the fotos.

ACOUSTIC NIGHT STATS

AUDIENCE 37

PERFORMERS 17

VIRGINS 2