Acoustic Night

Julian Ramsey-Wade invoked the spirit of Eminem while performing “Thin Gravy” with assistance from Andi Langford-Woods before taking up MC duties to introduce Pete Hunter. He recounted tales of “the Bruce Willis spider”, a baked bean tin, a torrid holiday helping his family to move house, his unique “Sonnet for Eyebrows” and a Christmas tale featuring an unlikely Santa Claus. He then joined forces with Ian Sills as the duo became MC Joocee Fruit and DJ Cheezee Quava to perform the seldom seen “Sweet Rap”. Julian then covered Tim Gibbard’s “Cyberpunk” before welcoming Boxcar Aldous Huxley.

PETE HUNTER

Backed by banjo, French horn, clarinet, tuba, saw, trombone and other strange instruments, the songs recounted artistic Victorian London, 1930s fascism, Scottish rebellion and other themes, all in a mélange of sea shanty, French folk and music hall styles, It was virtually impossible not to smile and far from easy not to dance.

BOXCAR ALDOUS HUXLEY

Following the break, Julian, Peter and Ian returned as Elvis Elf, Snowy Snow and Santa C respectively to disinter their “Christmas Rap”. Ian remained as himself to recite “Overhang” before Dave Bosankoe played experimentally to a recorded backing track. Julian then introduced Lucy English, who followed a couple of wintry poems with others describing “full support underwear” and “a f***ing vestal virgin with my elastic knickers on”, returning to a serene Christmas with an audience participation piece based on Silent Night.

JULIAN IAN PETE

LUCY ENGLISH

Surprise (not least to herself) final star of the night was Lou Bell, who sang “Still Life” and “Vampire Butterflies” – always a welcome visitor and performer at Acoustic Night. The pleasure of watching Pete, Lucy and Lou as well as the sheer eccentricity of Boxcar Aldous Huxley was aided by a truly Christmassy atmosphere (thanks to Halo) and sent us all off for the holidays in fine fettle. Just a shame it was still two weeks away.

LOU BELL

Acoustic Night 97 – 30th November 2009 – St Andrews Day and not a Scot in sight

Julian Ramsey-Wade began by performing a piece complaining of “Flu” and then introduced Jen whose poems – “slices of life if you will” were “Whisky Drinker”, a short true tale about a smoker who caused a gas explosion, a story of “my life” and an anti-love poem about a man who “stinks like a bear and he’s got a big beard”. Following was Kudjo who hails from Ghana: “The girl in the red dress” told of her “magnetic pull: harder to pull away from”, while “Love Addiction” was self-explanatory and “Basis (self reflection)” told how “analyses and diagnoses are all in place”. Two contrasting poets with different styles of introspection.

Sam Williams returned with a half song half poem about his travels Down Under (“with possums in the park when it got a little darker”) and an
a capella version of his song “Stillness” (“they can scan you with a camera in the street while you’re walking”). Meg performed “The Drip”, “quite a serious one” (“why does she [her sister] have to go through this now”) and “Chase” which she described as “a bit of an anthem” and included the rapped chorus “Only wanted to chase everything we humans face”. Blurring the lines between song, rap and poetry.

Mike Gower stepped up next and his poem talked of how “the Welsh love a good funeral: more popular than a wedding”, with “the massed choirs of Llandeilo, Raglan and Llandovery”; at the other end of life, “My Grandson” reflected on how “your ignorance stands me star-distant”. Ben sang a couple of songs: “Wintertime” in which “sparrows graze their beaks on hard ground”; followed by a slower song (“I held you in the hollow of my hand”) with a slight Kelly Jones – Stereophonics twang.

Next up was Lindsey with a poem titled “Quarter Life Crisis” (“while my darling sis is earning thirty grand / I’m facing a final demand”) and another about an insomnia curer (“the sweetest sleeping pill I’ve taken”). Finally in a wide ranging first half, Julie Boston celebrated “Braces” (“what used to come up now goes down”) and Julian sang “Horsefair” to speed the jug around.

BREAK

Julian read a haiku before introducing Dave Bosankoe, who played his Bosankoe three times and added some reverb. Andi Langford-Woods then performed “Five Words” which she wrote in Covent Garden four years ago (“psychotic moths of promises”, and “Troubadour” from a recent visit to Earls Court (“your smooth response and ergonomic jive”, ”lifting glasses / grazing asses”), We regulars are spoiled to see these talents so often.

Tom debuted at Halo with “My Demon Eyes” (“I’m working all the off beat nights”) and “Jigsaw Puzzle” (“My jigsaw / scattered around the globe / in pieces / I should have known, I suppose”). These two songs showcased a skilled singer / guitarist / harmonica player who we would hope to see again. Pete Hogg followed with “Not in my name” – his polemic on the Iraq War with lines like “you remind me of Attila or some deranged stamp collector” and two more poems, the second of which ended “a future bereft of rolling my consonants”. Great to see him back.

After Julian plugged the Christmas Acoustic Night, Michael made his Halo debut with two rhythmic songs, the first of which found him “wait[ing] for the end of the world” and the second of which (“a sappy love song”) found him asking “Can you see her soul in your elegant clothes?” An able debut. Mike Gower then returned with “Waiting for Wole” (Soyinka) and a poem that concluded with him “sitting in a pub with a pint”.

Then several more returnees: Jen with “Him”, “the shortest poem in the world” and “O C Dave”; Ben “with a really pure song” (“My Beautiful One” ?) (“we can… stare at the sunset for miles and miles”); Kudjo with “The Voice Within” and a poem including “your words, like seeds, fall on fertile land”, Finally, Ben Sayer played an authentic sounding blues (“ramblin’ on my mind”?) and covered “Hi Heeled Sneakers” and “The Wind Cried Mary”.

Julian ended proceedings as he began them and a good time was had by all.

ACOUSTIC NIGHT STATS

AUDIENCE 26
PERFORMERS 16
VIRGINS 3-ish

the one with a lot of poetry!

Julian Ramsey-Wade took MC duties and performed Rudyard Kipling’s “If” to warm things up before introducing Rembrandt Clarke. “Looking At Myself” was a poem about poetry with memorable lines like “the Judas Iscariot school of commerce” and images of “poverty candlelight”, while “Pierre and I” was a version of the parable of the talents which also asked questions of Art versus Life. In a short time, the need for an adjective to describe this poet’s style (“Rembrandtian?) is pressing. Danny then gave us two cameos of modern life, examining TV advertising (“the volume jumps up”) and traffic wardens in brief and witty fashion. Marvellous.

REMBRANDT CLARKE

Sam Williams then played keyboards and sang/rapped his first piece. “Stillness” also examined the ills of modern society with a Faithless/Massive Attack type rap over straightforward chords: his descriptions of modern day hustle and bustle (“If the traffic continues to spew down the avenue” “Is there an antidote to this feeling remote?”) in stark contrast to his relaxed delivery. Following that in lighter vein, he declared his intention to “weird out the world” with the help of a “golden balaclava”, a llama, a pineapple, a moose and Alaska. I think that should do the trick! Graham then performed “5:45”, a tale of a journey to London (“these delays are part of a campaign to drain your soul”) followed by “A”, a more optimistic and forward looking piece (“for smiles reflecting off eyes hidden behind hairlines”) which we were informed “will never make sense”. Two contrasting but impressive performers.

SAM WILLIAMS

GRAHAM

Following these relative newcomers came an old hand (sorry, a slightly more experienced Acoustic Night performer) in Pete Gebler. His brand new poem, “Falling Ash”, linked Pompeii and Alzheimer’s in a poignantly real way. Pameli Benham gave us two linked poems in “Ghost 1” (which found her searching through old clothes (“an explosion in a flag factory”) for an outfit and feeling the loss of the person who originally bought the clothes) and “Ghost 2” (which took her back to the free-spending person she had been at the time). The veterans strike back in style.

PETER GEBLER

PAMELI BENHAM

Brian Adger then read a piece on love and death (“I’m only a lonesome idiot”) and “Working Day, Waking Night” which described the changing nature of the city. He was then followed by (Dr) Helen Gregory with 1) a reply to Harold Bloom’s summary of slam poetry as “The Death of Art” with a large helping of art and attitude (“Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated”) and 2) “Kwame”: a tear-jerking true story of a sixteen year old immigrant who provided a rare positive response to interviewers of immigrants for the Guardian a year earlier, only to die shortly afterwards of meningitis. Helen was visibly affected by revisiting this story and she wasn’t the only one.

Our guest performer Sam Sallon then sang a taster song for his main post-break set. His guitar playing pleasant, the anti-war song built from a quiet beginning to a strident finale. Julian then performed an economic poem to ease the jug around.

BREAK

Sam Sallon returned after the break for his guest spot; his songs telling tales of love and war, commuters and jokers. All the comparisons and descriptions seem to veer between insult and faint praise - James Blunt, unflashy guitar playing, everyday lyrics – but the whole was certainly more positive than the sum of those parts. He switched effortlessly from first to second to third person, reflecting his feelings in one piece (“my heart beats light but it isn’t mine”), offering advice in another (“you won’t know who you are until you throw it to the wind”) and observing in another (“who will win this war of words?”). He even resorted to whistling at one point. A definite hit with the audience, Sam was more than worthy of the guest spot. If we are lucky, he may return.

SAM SALLON

Andi Langford-Woods followed, asking the question “So why do we write poetry?” and then debuted a new poem about a recent trip to London (“oiling throats with subtle passes”) which indirectly answered her previous question. Dan Gregory (no relation) read a poem inspired by Bolivia – “El Montacute”, where “cool mist perpetually grazes the tombs of the unknown” - and “Autumn”, a slightly more abstract piece which described clouds as “headache-inducing candy-floss”. Weird.

David Glassman followed with a poem about standing up straight (“Head, neck, shoulders, pelvis, back”) and “The Library” (because “reading is good for the soul”). Reading his poetry here is good for our souls too. Hazel Hammond contributed two vignettes of her current life in “In The Pool”, detailing her regular exercise (swimming) and “Turning Over The Soil”, in which she and her mother “garden together” and “discuss sexy secrets”. The mind boggles!

David Bosankoe produced a “Digital Memorium” for the crashed computer using his traditional instrument, officially renamed the Bosankoe by Acoustic Night (and shortly to be submitted to the OED for certification”). He changed instruments for his second piece and played what will henceforth be known as the “Bass Bosankoe”. Mary Crowder plugged the Totterdown Arts Trail and also read “Dark Delight”, with its “Biting moments dancing on taste buds”. Finally Trevor Carter commemorated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall “from the German side” and Sam Williams started a brief but enjoyable jam.

The only downside to this night was the imbalance between poets and musicians. Then again, the whole thing is run by poets, so…

ACOUSTIC NIGHT STATS

PERFORMERS 18
AUDIENCE 20 SEVERAL
VIRGINS NONE WE COULD SPOT
PHOTOS FEW ‘COS WE RAN OUT OF BATTERIES

Julian Ramsey-Wade compered, and opened with his shopping list for happiness, “Give me…”

Brian Adger dropped a disposable poem and referenced ‘mother trucker earth’

Julie Boston celebrated the anarchy of colourful oldies, and the marvellousness of Chatterton

Pete Gebler dreamed different dreams and fused biblical references with Paint Your Wagon to create a doowop thang.

Simon Kirk looked into wage slavery –‘no work today’, ‘imprisoned fantasy’.

Dru Marland - “Alabaster Thomas”- detailed visual observations in a Welsh cemetery…. ruminations on ruinations.

Dan Gregory had a seasonal ‘Indian summer’ –‘when shall I taste the sweet fruit of our land?’

DAN GREGORY

Mike Pout – truth and love or hate in Christmas cards –Dear John –falling in love over burgers.

Julian then celebrated the tally of Acoustic Night virgins reaching 69, as it were…

Guest poet Molly Case –sharp observations: a gastroerotic love poem to Nigella Lawson; the perils of meeting your parents when your mouth is full of semen; the drugs don’t work; gutturally challenged; International Women’s Day… a comprehensive set from this Bath Spa writer who has featured in several worthy programmes this year and we are seeing good results.

MOLLY CASE

Sam Williams - first of the musicians, on keyboard; sang about exile in a Cornish factory; who would have thought there were so many rhymes for Redruth? “Got my cricket bat out for the zombies…”

Drift Snowbarger - a lament that the celebrities for whom he is a lookalike are not the sort of celebrities that he wants to lookalike

DRIFT SNOWBARGER

Liz Greenfield- Holy matrimony “good work is hard to find” –a Dutch to English love poem, and things that are lost in translation; “I hold of you”. Another talented young newcomer we hop we see again.

LIZ GREENFIELD

Ben Sayer - guitar: “How long has that evening train been gone?” Moody rhythms aplenty.

Graham - Webs on the wing mirrors “brave and blind” –Jack Daniels wisdom

Jack Dean on the horrors of shared student digs: Vestment Defenestration; action man v. zombie beanie babies – “two doves fucking - someone taking the peace”

Danni Ford – another blank face, stressed and lost, relationship with clothing all drew out the maternal instinct in some of us…

Brian Becket - bouzouki- a strong voice reminiscent of Ewan McColl; Rise Like Lazarus

BRIAN BECKET

Thanks to Dru Marland for a concise blog.

ACOUSTIC NIGHT STATS

AUDIENCE   37

PERFORMERS  17

VIRGINS  3

Julian Ramsey-Wade opened proceedings with his usual “Why Poetry, Ju?” poem, familiarity with which breeds no contempt whatsoever (“coursing through your being like a dam bursting) and then introduced Pete Gebler. Pete provided two contrasting pieces about stars: in the first – “Above” – he used their “mindless beauty” to question the existence of God (in contrast to others); while in “Star Wars” he mused on the distance between two stars and the way that “down here we make them fit our small imagination”. Pete always makes you think while he’s entertaining you.

PETE GEBLER

Julian then introduced Simon Kirk, the first debutant of the evening, who read a pastoral poem: “Seasons” (“In sunshine, golden breezes laugh your freshness”) and “In a Strange Town” about “a friendship through boyhood, youth and old age”. Very refreshing. James Bragg followed – another virgin, he accompanied himself ably on keyboards and sang “Freedom” (?), a slow, straightforward protest song (“cut us clear of this wire”) and a jazzier, more uptempo number with a more romantic thread running through. Hopefully these two virgins will feel like returning.

Dan Gregory became our third successive virgin and claimed not to have read in public before: “Divinity” (including “the sounds of the ocean / a primal beat” and “Premonition” (in which “leaves drift…across the vast, slow river”) were concise and well-written poems enjoyed by the audience. John Terry then performed two poems inspired by the work of sculptor Carol Peace: “Mirror” was inspired by “Valentine”, in which a man holds a woman (“she holds and is held close as love”); while “Listen” features a woman listening (surprise, surprise) until ”tensions hold hands with tensions”. The voice of experience to follow all those virgins. Thanks, John.

DAN GREGORY

Skint but Sexy were our planned guests for the evening: four poets/musicians on a British tour from Berlin. Moon began with a legal disclaimer “all persons are fictional and have no resemblance to anyone living or dead etc etc” and then read “Why I shouldn’t have bothered” “about an ex”. This list of vain efforts to impress a girl (“I tried being Presbyterian”) was followed by a cautionary tale about getting caught with “dope on the dashboard” in North Wales by a bent and drug-taking policeman. “Wrong” followed next, an evocative description of Frankfurt’s red light district and its troubled inhabitants (“Woman, girl, addict, jacked up with Sunday dirty needle”) which sounded a little like bOYDEN gOODMAN’s “Vehicle” for those with long memories (and for those without, that is a compliment). Finally, a tale of the boy racers of Bury St Edmunds and their skewed world view (“I didn’t believe it when a friend / Told me Ali G was just pretend”). Very descriptive and amusing.

MOON

Paula Varjack followed, half-rapping over music with a story of a night out with a man who destroyed everything by calling her “his hot, black chick”, emphasising the “black” and then calling her “a commodity”. “Tightrope walking” was music free: an intimate description of a meeting between two like minds almost despite themselves (“and it would have been safe if we had kept to small talk”). Sixties French film style music backed the next piece “A Day in the Life of Paula Varjack” which repeated the refrain of “you were just going for coffee” “It was just one of those days” as the day and then the night become more and more extreme. Striking and convincing performance of fine poetry.

PAULA VARJACK

Michael Haeflinger claimed this to be his first reading in England, so beginning with “Video Game Lessons” which used familiar characters (Super Mario Brothers, Pacman) to pass on life lessons (“Eat and eat and eat….ghosts will scatter to avoid your new found power”) was a sound move (as well as funny). “The Hitler Oak” told the story of a tree planted in honour of the ex-Fuhrer and questioned whether his crimes fell on the tree itself, then “Grocery Shopping in the Valley of the Clueless” described a part of East Germany at one time unable to receive Western TV. “Love Poem for the Everyday” was self- explanatory (“I love your hair pulled back” “I love the sound of your key in the lock” before “The Letter” (joined by Joe on guitar) described love separated. Varied and interesting set.

MICHAEL HAEFLINGER

Joe Czarnecki produced a unique performance which almost defies description. Using the frets of his guitar rather than strumming over the sound hole, he picked at the strings with both hands, producing bass notes and utterly distinctive melodies on top. He varied this with a little percussion on the body of the guitar, before dumbfounding the audience in the third song by actually playing conventionally. The tunes were named “Watch Now”, “Unfettered” and “Cuckoo’s Nest”: one had to watch, the hands were unfettered and the cuckoo in the nest was obvious to all.

JOE CZARNECKI

To summarise the group: extremely varied and very entertaining. So we needed a

BREAK

Andi Langford-Woods read “Oases” – describing her memories of the Bedouin Jerry Can Band tour last year – as the only reasonable introduction to an impromptu appearance from Rango, another group of Egyptian friends who were taking a night off from their current tour. Growing from the first couple of songs which only used three or four people to having ten on stage for the last two songs, they were wonderfully unlike anything seen here before (except the BJCB, see above. Their exotic variety of Egyptian / Sudanese /trance music was performed with an obvious, contagious joy which started off encouraging the audience to clap along and ended up compelling them to dance. (Even those of us too fat/sober/shy to dance along were doing so in our heads.) Hopefully the band had as good a time performing as we had watching and joining in. Quote from the band “what’s a night off? music is life…”

Hazel Hammond then performed “Silver Wolf” - a concise reflection of the softness and power of the animal – followed by what I shall for very good reasons refer to as “her mermaid poem” This is typical Hazel: poetic, crafted words and suddenly VERY NAUGHTY INDEED (but meanwhile still poetic and crafted). David Glassman waited patiently to reappear after his debut a fortnight earlier and read poems inspired by the glorious Autumn including “Dusk” (“the world hushes as if suspended”).

Finally Gina Briganti gave us a short poem “In disguise” and a song/poem/rap “Liminal G” which has a very positive feel, even this late at night. Andi read a piece “Give Thanks” and thanked her fellow organisers before closing a long but great show.

We work hard to bring you good fotos of the night but sometimes we get distracted by ‘stuff’. We had a film crew in tonight which kinda threw the lighting out a bit but we just might have a rather good short film to show you soon.

ACOUSTIC NIGHT STATS

AUDIENCE 53

PERFORMERS 24

VIRGINS 15

Our genial host Julian Ramsey Wade started us off with a wonderful rap style piece and reminding us of Acoustic nights longevity

Pete Gebler worried about his Brave New World of genetic engineering… (I want to belong to those green eyed, hook nosed poets ) but his worlds included getting rid of all those human genes. This was followed by a poem Birds Eye View .. where from this soaring perspective Pete considered winter, wolves and childhood.

PETE GEBLER
Doreen graced us, although a seasoned performer, came to us as an acoustic night virgin, she dedicated her poem ‘Lau me’. To all those who had been made small She did not talk too much, was not softly spoken but allowed herself to be at full stretch through the medium of performance wondering why as a child and an adult she needed permission to be her big, black, loud self !!

DOREEN
Richard Lawson started with txt – is it really a leap for mankind messaging at random? This in a strict rhymic style. Following it with a world premiere for acoustic night – his version of a Himalayan tune on his 1971 Mountain Dulcimer.

RICHARD LAWSON

Craig Wilson pondered on his Unborn Children much more reflective in style than much of his work. Returning to his political anger for his second poem and gave us the launch of his Common Sense Party

CRAIG WILSON

Elana Farrell was inspired by a scrap of overheard conversation between a child and her mother but reflected all the Magic there can be in childhood. Elana followed with The Secret which reminded us of some of that persistence and terror that can be part of keeping secrets in childhood.

John Terry read two pieces from WINGS his most recent publication. He shared some of his experience of factories and heavy metal. How many fingers am I holding up . was the title which enfolded memories of his father ,working life and Gus master heavy machinery. Reviving some of the words, skills and memories of men working together.

JOHN TERRY

Jack Medley gave us the chance to choose a fast song … We enjoyed his Message for you skilled guitar and voice We listened carefully to a song with ‘quite a lot of lyrics’ – about a late night experience – soft melancholy coming through in the music and the words. Moonlight and medication might be the title for this youthful composition but was it Morning Reverie or Simple in the Moonlight

JACK MEDLEY

Trevor Carter took a satirical view of the Gordon Brown need for safety and his Gestapo followed by the Chinese government party celebrating of 60 years of the communist party Trevor poetically commented on their need to have the people stay at home.and see the party on telly.

TREVOR CARTER

Gina gave us stirring poems, speaking poetically but from the heart - she wanted to know your heart for longer pleaded with the listener… all we have is now ! She followed this with a retelling of some of the Japanese myths surrounding Shinagami (gods of Death) again in totally contemporary language, moving and appealing.

GINA WYATT

Dr. Helen Gregory PhD…

Congratulations Helen well done . After all Helens hard work she mused on Englands greatest cure for anything Tea - even having to rewrite a thesis. ( not Helens problem of course !!! ) She then gave us a spoken word piece called Gravity part of her latest collaboration. A finely judged feminist consideration which covered many womens’ issues.

Dr HELEN GREGORY

David Glasman gave us a walk through Bristol, evocative and lonesome wishing for what might have been. Followed by a Dads wishful missing of his daughter where the hurt is still palpable in his words.

DAVID GLASSMAN

Danni Ford - Poems are dedicated to June - literally sitting through time ..where he enumerated times where he has sat including with the devil and in A Jesus house…
May contain resentment showed in rhymed and rhythmical fashion us how he resented the loss of risk and in our times, ..

DANNI FORD

Ben Daniels started with a love song for a beautiful woman , gentle guitar support and although sung, gave a whole spoken story/ lyric…His second piece was Christian The Lord is my shepherd in a current musical setting.

BEN DANIELS

Rembrandt Clarke remembered the loneliness of the TV Ariel and recalled the relationship he was not yet really over gave us the sadness of a Tomorrowland never to be.-With some fine lines which gave us insight into that wasteland.

REMBRANDT CLARKE

Rupert Hopkins claimed he was writing an allotment poem but his fine metaphors made us know it was pleasure at Pearletta’s imminent arrival renewed his vision of the work he has done to make this possible.

RUPERT HOPKINS

Hazel Hammond and Elana performed one of Hazels Tattoo poems. Bubbles rising .. thanks Elana.

HAZEL AND ELANA

David Bosankoe completed the night with two pieces on the Jews Harp. He filled the room with sound as if from a land far away .. rhythmic and steady so enlivening people were tapping their glasses or anything else that could let them join in.. lovely finish. .

DAVID BOSANKOE

Andi Langford-Woods MC’d and read “Nerve Ends”, a discourse on sexual stereotyping and then introduced Ros Martin. Ros declared she had something “to get off her chest” and it turned out to be the new Colston Hall foyer (“Look at you / all shiny and new” “Money talks / Kicks open wide doors”).

ROS MARTIN

Topical and pointed, this was followed by Pete Gebler, who read a new poem - “By the New Mostar Bridge” – in which he demonstrated that although the physical bridge has been recreated, the symbolic bridge between Moslems and Catholics remains destroyed. (“We can sip our wine and watch” but “you can never have the bridge we had before”).

PETE GEBLER

Mike Sheridan was our first debutante of the night and played guitar and sang “Tears In Heaven” by Eric Clapton” and “Blackbird” by The Beatles. These covers showed a skilled vocal and a swift (possibly slightly too swift) guitar style (maybe down to first time nerves). We will hopefully see him again to know better.

MIKE SHERIDAN

Craig Wilson shared the information that “Sleeping Rough” is tough (“chilling in the park”) - clearly a personal experience – and then touched on present day politics “Afghan rebel noise…revenge hits back”) No punches pulled there.

CRAIG WILSON

Gina debuted with a poem entitled “A Kiss of Love and Hate”: a beautifully simple poem at the outset of what may be a relationship, performed impressively without paper by a young lady who overcame her nerves and blew us away.

GINA WYATT

Trevor Carter followed with what he described as “about the natural environment”: “Mother Nature – an expression of natural love” turned out to be a light-hearted story of unrequited love (“I want to make love to Mother Nature / I want to clasp all corners of her girth”) complete with funny voices and bizarre thoughts (“Is age difference such a crime?”).

TREVOR CARTER

Finally before the break, “Magic” Simon Awkin provided his usual interlude of tricks, this time involving cards, cups, a rope and a slightly surprised Ollie and Trevor. The confidence required to invite audience members onto the stage to help or wreck your act is considerable, but it paid off admirably.

SIMON AWKIN

BREAK

Following the break, Andi promoted future events (especially Acoustic Night 94 on October 19 which includes the fabulous Skint but Sexy and more unexpected entertainment) and then brought John Terry to the stage. He was ably assisted by Alannah Farrell in performing “All At Sea” (about Admiral George Anson) in which he opined “Love is the heart’s Ascorbic Acid…its lack attacks like scurvy”. John then plugged his book, his gig on Oct 29 at the Thunderbolt and read (from the book) “The Eighth Day” (“It was Saturday night before anyone missed the polar bears”). Marvellous writing and performance from one of our long-term friends.

JOHN TERRY AND ALANNAH FARRELL

Mike Pout then considered his life in “Cynical Pinnacle or To Summit Up” (“I stuck upon the path of most resistance” “I have not peaked too soon but too low”), following this with a tale of sharing the view of the stars from the mountain with a beautiful woman (“The height that rarifies the air must cause my dizziness”). Stylistically different, but equally entertaining.

MIKE POUT

Ben Daniels stepped up next and sang a song about the end of a relationship – “Reason Don’t Ask Why” (?) – a mid tempo song with guitar accompaniment which was simple but effective (“Cry lover cry…I need more space so say goodbye”). His second song “My Child” started as a soft, sweet lullaby but grew louder.

BEN DANIELS

Rembrandt Clarke read a poem about fleeting moments of intimacy (“with drunken lipstick smeared”) and one about a friend dealing with addictions (“parallel lines of ketamine…like an origami firework display”). As usual, a contribution from the unique, wonderful world of Rembrandt!

REMBRANDT CLARKE

Graham made his personal debut at Acoustic Night with two poems: “Dance to Silence” described two people interacting (“we’ll run stationery / stare into each other’s eyes” “I’ll race you down the up escalator”) before “Notwani” recalled his former home near Gaberone in Botswana where “The summer burned our lungs / The winter froze our tongues / and our fingers” and “Life was small”. Two very different poems.

Dave Peake then returned after too long with a couple of well-judged covers, the first of which was Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” (a message for Celine Dion, I think!).

Andi then read “Questions”, her response to grief received from Turbo Island, that tourist magnet and historic attraction in Stokes Croft, before Dave Bosankoe was prevailed upon to play a couple of tune on his Jew’s Harp (which has now become known for ease of reference as a “Bosankoe”). Cathy Keal then treated the audience to a new poem telling of domestic bliss and then Ollie Snow completed proceedings with his dark poem, which was placed in the Anthology a fortnight earlier.

A quiet night, but not without it’s quality and variety, with a number of newcomers who we will hopefully see again soon (and some veterans and mid-range performers of whom we think exactly the same!).

ACOUSTIC NIGHT STATS

AUDIENCE 33

PERFORMERS 19

VIRGINS 3

Acoustic Night 91 – 7^th September 2009 – Instant Anthology Night

(The Instant Anthology Night is now an integral part of the Bristol Poetry Festival and as such was kindly supported by Bristol Poetry Can).

Julian Ramsey-Wade introduced the event, explaining the history and the concept of this night and going through the practicalities of creating an anthology. He then apologised for having failed to get his own poem into the anthology and performed “Why Poetry?” (“It’s OK to be this way…do you feel the way you want to?”). He then introduced Craig Wilson, who performed “Success” (“Success is a war – hijacked” and “No more staged car crashes”) in his usual high velocity manner, before Polly Moyer (one of the founders of the Anthology Night many years ago) gave us “Breathe (Note to self)”, a calmer (karma?) piece of self-encouragement (“Let the reaction chain you to the earth” “head straight and true to the dawn”). Next came John Terry, another veteran of anthology nights past, whose “Bluebeard’s Castle” told the well-crafted tale of a serial wife-killer meeting his match (“an excitement of galvanometers: a hum of thermiotic valves”), and Ian Sills, with “B.A.P.S.”, his heartbreaking explanation of how difficult he finds it to compliment a woman.

After four old hands came four relative newcomers. Brian Adgers told a tale of “when I was eighteen and keen”; Tim Burroughs performed a surreal poem “The Moment” (“the casket of yesterday passes with a jazzband playing ‘Mood Indigo’”); Olga Amelina Unwin introduced us to “The Asperatus Cloud”, “a new type of cloud” which she expected would eventually be invited to “interviews with it on TV”; and Ceri Lowe-Petraske performed a romantic poem to a lover - “It is the smallest of things” – which ended “It is the smallest of things which remind me of you / every moment of every day, and every moment of every night”. Touching, and such a contrast in styles to the previous three top quality poems.

Next Hazel Hammond tipped the balance back towards experience. “See the Stars” was a poem from her major project “Needlepoint” which was to appear as part of the Bristol Poetry Festival a few days later. Describing a number of tattoos on a young woman’s back, it showed how each meant something different and important to its wearer. Newcomer Clare Benjamin followed with “Why do they say to kids: ‘Colour in neatly?’”, a complex title leading into a “night ride through the city” and an image-rich flicker through Bristol. Rembrandt Clarke read “Memories” which included “hallucinations of Bleriot” and “pots of boiling marmalade” (another unique talent), before Andi Langford-Woods performed “I’m a poet get me out of here (part 1)” a stylish attempt to overcome writer’s block by…writing about writer’s block.

Old hand Pete Hunter produced a top class piece as usual, comparing a man’s tent to (something else) in “Tent Envy” (“[my tent has] retractable landscape gardens…grade 5 listed status!). Rupert Hopkins took us to a “Caribbean coral beach” in a typically evocative travelogue. Derek Brake described an avian tale in “Bird” before Helen Gregory finished off the pre-break poetry with “Funeral for an Atheist” in which she imagined glorious demises (“stunned by news of my sixth Nobel prize”) and detailed how her vacated corpse was to be (re)used afterwards. True black humour. So as Dave Bosankoe played us into the break on Jews Harp, Julian returned to guide us through the Anthology assembly process.

BREAK

Following that unique part of an Anthology Night – the compilation of the Anthologies – Julian performed a piece completed a few short hours earlier and then had the privilege and the delight to introduce an old friend of Acoustic Night back to play for us. Lou Bell is a talented singer-songwriter who has faded from the scene (if not our memories) in the last three years as motherhood has taken up much of her time. Her songs are crafted and poetic, creating images in every head as they tell the stories of individuals to which all can relate. “Monkeys” asked “Why do wishes have wings / If we never intend them to fly?” while the speaker in “Runaway (Thursday’s Child??) fled “from where flowers grow in ordered lines” and, in the final song, the “Beachcomber” who was “searching for a past / of golden sands” concluded “never was / should’ve been / just another daydream” (Apologies if I got the titles wrong, it has been a long time for me, too!). But the largest part of the set was a combination of “Vampire Butterflies” with Helen Gregory’s poem “Diva”. Renamed “Stages”, it interwove lines of the song and the poem into a genre-busting piece (so-em? pong?) which examined the effects of fame on the famous and of the impressed. The mixture of voices and styles emphasised the poetic quality of Lou’s song and the musicality of Helen’s poem as they sounded as if they had been written together rather than having existed separately (and quite happily) beforehand. Lou was left in no doubt of the affection and respect in which she is held by the Acoustic Night crew.

The final contribution to the Anthology came from Cathy Keal: “Doormouse “ (sic) was a nostalgic tail (?) of a real mouse and a grim story of a human rat, neatly combined into a short, Kealesque (?) poem and adeptly performed. Julian then invited further contributions from previous performers and was rewarded by Polly Moyer (who spent longer on Poetry Festival plugging than on performing a piece titled “Student Debt”; John Terry (who reincarnated the witty and amusing “Dear Miss Smith” despite having to change the name of the organisation yet again); Ian Sills (who crossed Eminem’s “My Name Is” with The Ting Tings “That’s Not My Name” for reasons best known to himself) and finally Pete Hunter (who disclosed that “Elvis is Alive” but didn’t come up with any conclusive proof). As usual, a good time was had by most if not all, although for once in a year the audience had something more solid than mere memories to take home.

Thanks to Lou Bell for her music, Olly and Dave for their audio and visual skills and Ian for the constant quality of the reviews.

ACOUSTIC NIGHT STATS

PERFORMERS 19

AUDIENCE 52

VIRGINS 4

JULIAN RAMSEY-WADE
CRAIG WILSON

POLLY MOYER
JOHN TERRY

IAN SILLS

BRIAN ADGERS
TIM BURROUGHS

OLGA AMELINA UNWIN

CERI LOWE-PETRANSKA

HAZEL HAMMOND

REMBRANDT CLARKE
ANDI LANGFORD-WOODS

PETE HUNTER

RUPERT HOPKINS

DEREK BRAKE
HELEN GREGORY

LOU BELL
CATHY KEAL

.

Andi Langford-Woods introduced Pameli Benham who introduced her poems with the observation that “if you are a parent you never get over the responsibility”. “Making Babies” was based on a misheard phrase and found the narrator “barefoot on soaking grass”, ending “Never looking back”. “Mother of Invention” described the maternal imagination running wild on a child’s late return (“she is limping: one heel caught in a grating”) until “they’re at the door smiling: they are hungry”. As usual the listener is drawn into Pameli’s entirely believable world. Gary Death followed with a plug for his show, a “wee story about when I lived in Newcastle” (“Two Little Girls”) and “Lovers at the bus stop” describing one partner on the bus and one off it.

PAMELI BENHAM

GARY DEATH

Martin stepped up next to sing and play the ukulele – his first (self-penned) song considered “the easiest thing to do” and swung along merrily; while his second “based on a film” appeared to describe most of Blazing Saddles in two brief minutes. John Terry then plugged his Poetry Festival gig before performing a Sestina (“Feet in the Clouds”) which incorporated six pre-chosen words and included the original line “No-one steals a frog’s favourite anorak”. “Contraptions” followed with its description of his parents’ domestic ups and downs (“for a while they were inventing new kindnesses”).

MARTIN

JOHN TERRY

Nick (V) claimed that she was “usually a pianist” but sang and played guitar on a strong and skilful cover of Bob Dylan’s (“You’re a big girl now” (I think)), following this with a simple gospel/blues song which exclaimed “Hallelujah! I love her so”. Gill Wigness (V) followed with poetic stories of “Judy” (a nostalgic look at days with a schoolfriend) and “Billy” (“life has a way of catching up with you”). Again, the audience were almost there with her.

NICK

GILL WIGNESS

Finally before the break, Wendy performed two very short poems: “Pool” (“a whale’s tail emerged from the water”) and “Running Free”, before Keith sang a song of unrequited love on a bus – “Carrie” (“like an actress on a real life stage”) – and a quiet, pastoral instrumental.

WENDY

KEITH

BREAK

Hazel Hammond and Steven Perry used the guest spot to showcase excerpts from the show “Needlepoint”. Hazel has spent the last months travelling widely to collect the stories of tattoos: why people have them, what they represent and the art of creating them. Steven revealed his tattooing in the first piece (he said “It didn’t help my first marriage”) and Hazel explained her tattooless state (“Sacred only to me / my unbroken flesh upbraids me”). She described trips to the Newport tattoo festival and the “specialisations” she discovered (“pink peonies, my fingers at their paler edge”), as well as her visit to the red light district of Amsterdam. The use of a “power animal” was explained in “Jaguar” (swish of monkeys: falling fruit” and (while asleep) “My pattern enters you”), following which she disclosed the use of tattoos after “cutting” or self-harming. Her disappointing visit to “the tattoo lovers’ website” was touched upon; she described “The Leopard” (“she returns / whiskers alert to danger” “strong sinews, warm breath and purr”) and finally analysed the tattooist himself (who “loved origami as a young boy”). Fascinating stories on a subject many would not otherwise consider.

HAZEL AND STEVEN

Jack Medley (V) followed with a cover of a Bright Eyes song and “Girl from the North Country (which referenced Scarborough Fair): he showed an adept guitar style and a mellow vocal. Helen Gregory performed “Lovebirds”, written for her brother’s wedding, and “Treading Gingerly”, a pun-fried sprint through the herb garden and the spice rack (“condiments will get you everywhere”).

JACK MEDLEY

HELEN GREGORY

Dave Bosankoe contributed some sharp Jew’s Harp before Andi Langford-Woods regaled us with a breathless “I’m a poet: get me out of here” and “Five Words” (with its “psychotic moths of promises”). Finally Ian Sills debuted “Who do you think you were?” (inspired by contact with old schoolmates on Facebook) and “We Can Only Get Richer” indebted to greedy MPs.

DAVID BOSANKOE

IAN SILLS

As a taster for the riches to come in the Bristol Poetry Festival, this was a very pleasant, varied evening.

Thanks to Ian for the blog, Olly for the fotos and Dave for the recordings.

ACOUSTIC NIGHT STATS

PERFORMERS  15

AUDIENCE       38

VIRGINS             3

Julian Ramsey-Wade was MC and opened with an old friend - “Graham” (“Now you’re sayin’ I’m just another fla-ham, Graham”) and then introduced Trevor Carter.

His first poem was “Tescopoly”, “a rant” about the plans for Ashton Gate (“they’re not content to dominate / they want to have it all”) (“no choice for those who want to lead un-Tescoed lives”); his second “The Obsolescent” was a “self-pitying” look at being unemployed. As usual, Trevor presented serious points in an artful and entertaining fashion, unlike many rants and self-pitying pieces.

TREVOR CARTER

James Bunting followed with one song (due to a dearth of musicians he was happy to split his set in two). “Stories” is an older song heard here before, but it still evokes a very strong image of characters in a bar.

John Terry plugged his Poetry Festival event (unfortunately clashes with Hazel’s) before performing “Wireless” which remembered “the day war broke out” (C Robb Wilton for those old/sad enough to know). The childish disbelief of “A whole country of grown ups fighting another country of grown ups” recalled accurately and with humour. “In My Garden” also looked back in time to when “Granddad’s moustache was enough to scare God” and “Always there were new rabbits to care for”.

JOHN TERRY

In contrast, Pameli Benham took us to “Brandon Hill” on Balloon Festival weekend, which featured characters like “a two foot high explorer…unafraid of the sweet-toothed Labrador’s approach.” “The Contented Cannibal” recounted the story of a man who could not live up to his mother-in-law’s standards (“he’s not a Cambridge man like Daddy”). Great stuff from two talented poets and regular contributors.

Dave Bosankoe inserted a couple of Jew’s Harp pieces to break up the poetry, because he can (and is also rather good!!) before Gary Death performed “Ghost Flower” about flowers left at the scene of a car accident and the “The Letter P” about paranoia (“Does it annoy ya? Does it feed ya through the media?”) concluding “Well, the drugs have helped again” before plugging the next Piranha Poetry night on September 1 at the Lansdown. (You can tell that he has run his own nights because he always gets everything done in double quick time, plugs included.

DAVID BOSANKOE
GARY DEATH

Finally in the first half, Piers Smettem returned to Acoustic Night for the first time since he had a very nasty accident a year ago and sang “The Rat Within The Grain” (by Damian Rice) and “Roses From My Friends”? (by Ben Harper). His voice was rich, his guitar playing skilful and as Julian pointed out it was just damned good to see him.

PIERS

BREAK

Julian introduced our special guest, Mark Maslow, from Austin, Texas via Holland. His first piece, on creationism, noted that “an uneducated populace is still capable of a mob mentality” and that “the teachers aren’t teaching and the scientists are scared”. Having observed that he sees lots of BBC TV from Holland, “Not Even One “ compared over half a century of futile campaigns against the drug of the decade (90s – Crack; 40s – Reefer) with the anticipation of a Crystal Meth backlash to come. “Threadbare Blues” examined the UK economic crisis (“the kind of blues…that have time as an ally” “blues that gnaw at your edges”), before “Booty Call” recounted the unique pleasure of a deaf girlfriend’s words being passed on by “a middle-aged Hispanic woman “ and “a deep voiced black man” (a bit like getting heavy breathing from your Satnav, maybe.) Next, “Eighties Night” regretted the passing of “Pac man, Dig Dug and Thrash Metal” and the fact that Eighties night in clubs “It’s never my Eighties”.Finally the incomparable “If My Penis Were My Most Prized Possession” brought the set to a lowbrow but highly amusing end.

JULIAN RAMSEY-WADE
MARK MASLOW
James Bunting then returned with his take on the Faustian pact (“Wasn’t there when Buckley drowned / but I bet the Devil held him down”). Thanks again James for forgoing a poem to help us out and for giving us great music too.

JAMES BUNTING

Samantha (V) was a visitor from Vancouver (Canada) who has been writing and performing there – her first poem dealt with the way the English language personifies our internal organs (“hearts can’t literally break” “suture your own wounds…wipe away your own tears”). Following this was a piece on a women’s shelter (“today is the day a man’s right fist will first reach his wife’s left cheek”). Two contrasting but well written and performed poems.

SAMANTHA FROM CANADA

Mike Pout was accompanied by James Bragg on Eclipse Drum (I think) and after asking wittily “Does anyone remember nostalgia?” performed a short poem about road signs (“Hidden Dips”); “Is This Supposed to be Funny?” about performing this poem (“listen…as delights are dredged from dross”); and “Curse of the Caverns” a trip a la Indiana Jones/Lara Croft “devoid of Davy lamp” “once more unto the bogey mine” Very strange but fun.

MIKE POUT AND JAMES BRAGG

Tim Gibbard followed with “Madeleine” (or Mad Elaine”?) about a former housemate (“she is love in the lay-bys” “dawn-collected blackberries”) and his take on Saturday Morning Cinema (“beyond the crushed red of folding seats and flashlights” “just outside my bedroom window…where good guys cover their eyes and bad guys cover their mouths”).

TIM GIBBARD

Ben stepped up next with two songs – “All The World’s Asleep” (“for all you lovers out there”) and a song based on a Psalm including the lyric “better is one day in your house than a thousand elsewhere”. Thank you for the variety, Ben. Rembrandt Clarke performed next. He is fast becoming a regular but has varied and interesting poems – this time his pair included his “only love poem” which covered “the imperfections of desire” (“hitting every bum note on the scale”)

BEN DANIELS
REMBRANDT CLARKE

Hazel Hammond read a triptych of poems about “The Leopard Man of Skye” (Britain’s most tattooed man) which looked through his life and why he had done what he did before musing that we “talk quietly of taming” Very evocative.

HAZEL HAMMOMD

Nick Jardine, the acoustic maverick (V) then sang a love song unlike any other in “Dead Girls Don’t Say No!” with tasteless but funny lines like “I’m not getting laid so just pass me that spade”. (I wonder if he knows Hal Camplin?).

NICK JARDINE (50 LINES)

Finally Andi Langford-Woods reprised her IKEA-baiting masterpiece – Insects – before Julian called a halt to proceedings and said goodnight to the Birthday Party group, the Mark’s groupies group and the Friends of Samantha group.

ANDI LANGFORD-WOODS

Very odd night, that, but great.

ACOUSTIC NIGHT STATS

AUDIENCE 47

PERFORMERS 18

VIRGINS 4