Bard of Exeter Contest

Has come and gone - hosted with customary brilliance and aplomb by Liv Torc (who really ought to add MC to her list of job descriptions! as performance poet, comedian and Wondermentalist), and with really excellent performances by all the contenders (no kidding - all of them). Performers/contenders included Clive Pig and Jon Freeman (plus ourselves W&D) representing the Storyclub - Jon doing a mixture of serious poetry and Zen-like story, Clive a wacky poem-tale about crazy neighbours and a full-of-energy song with guitar, from Taking the Mic there was Tim King doing his very clever letters-as-sounds piece amongst others with great assurance, Morwenna Griffiths doing the best performance I've seen of her work, having learnt it all and moving well, Jackie Juno from Totnes fresh from the spoken word night which she hosts there doing an amazing turn for the first slot of the evening, and going for audience participation in an A-Z letters-as-words piece, and the Stand Up Philosopher doing a beautiful rendition of Spinoza's Ethics in seven minutes. It was a tough call for the voting audience, and a good result as Clive and Jackie tied! and a resolution was passed that the new Bard could be a double-headed dual entity! Which was a perfect and ideal result. They then both did storming encores to a packed audience, and then much hilarity ensued as they both wore the single blue robe - which it has to be said, was big enough and mysteriously seemed to have holes in the right places for two - so all was well that ended well! All power to Jackie and Clive in their new roles!

Starting the New Year with a Bang!

After a hectic Christmas of seeing lots of folks, and just after taking down the decorations, it was time for last night's Storyclub on Twelfth Night, very appropriately. There were many top notch tales on offer with Jon and Dave doing two very fine stories each including a hilarious explanation of how come the cuckoo lays its eggs in other bird's nests, and a post modern twist on a Zen what's luck anyway? wisdom tale. Jenny Moon turned up and did a great tale from China about a potter, with her usual wonderful dance-like movements. Deor did a truly epic tale from the Finnish Kalevala about the suitors of the Maiden of the North. I was impressed, as it was right at the end of the evening, and we'd had a whole lot of stories, when he embarked on the epic (in all senses) song from the cycle, and it's quite a depressing tale too (despite the marriage at the end) but the audience made such a racket at the end that they'd obviously been held in its grip all the way! It went down a storm. I was going to tell my tale on my own, but had been torn between three tales - a tale about lighting (which Deor assured me I'd told there before!), the Plat Eye (another from the American Deep South tales of the supernatural which I've been telling a lot of lately) and finally, a ghost story set on Christmas Eve from Cornwall. I favoured the last, but the 'voice' wouldn't come. The first two and I knew how I'd tell them, but the third? 'I can't hear it' I said. To which Deor replied as the central character 'Hrumph!' and so it turned suddenly into a duo tale! I told the tale, framed it, and was the two other characters, while Deor was Ezekiel Gross. It seemed to work, and was fun to do for the first time! It was a really good evening, and our book stall had more stock than ever, as, in addition to the Books of...Trilogy, 'Porlock the Warlock' and 'A Brief History of the Concept of Justice', we also had the fourth in the Trilogy, AND - having taken advantage of (rather than getting cross about) the snow having cancelled so many things, in addition to the Christmas break, to work on projects instead, Cartwheels Collective Press has now just issued a booklet of my short stories - 'The Dream Realm'. So the stall could offer seven books, chapbooks, etc. in all, and very kindly, people came up to buy 'Porlock'  and the first copies of 'The Dream Realm' to be sold! Then I remembered something I'd heard somewhere about marketing - that when there are just a couple of things, folks don't generally buy. But when there's a whole lot of things to really choose from...that's a different story.
   Then today, I got paid for a couple of articles which I wrote before Christmas for a web content provider, and Pemmican Press e-mailed to say that the poem they accepted last Autumn is now up on the website! What a great start to the New Year...I hope good things come to you all too!

Widsith and Deor Present...

A good Christmas radio show (less errrr....s) as of course the topic was much more straightforward than abstraction! which was last show's theme). Deor did brilliant and moving versions of Hild, Queen of the Elves - an old Icelandic folktale set at Christmas, and Dicken's 'The Chimes'. The latter is one of those social comment / searing indictments that unfortunately don't date, as news and social policy cycles come round again! So he did it as an excellent then/now part contemporary interpretation, with all Dicken's critique of his own time and its latterday parallels. It's a less well known Dickens' Christmas story than 'A Christmas Carol', but it always has me sniffing into a hanky! We played some wonderful Medieval music, including salterellos, ancient and modern, and also an artist recently featured on Radio 3 - the amazing Cecilia Bartoli, who amongst other projects has released an album of C18th Baroque castrati music called 'Sacrificium', as she sings their roles! Girl sings boy in pretending-to-be-girl roles... Her voice is superb and her projects both historical and sensational as well as seriously worthwhile, bringing neglected music out from under the floorboards and breathing life into it.
   I read/live edited/slightly extemporized a story of mine with a folktale structure called 'Coppelia' which I once told at the Storyclub as a folk story, and hence set it in winter, which seemed to work, so told that variant. Lastly, I read half of Michael Alexander's translation of the extraordinary Anglo-Saxon poem 'Dream of the Rood' from the point of view of the Cross which bore Christ, which also seemed appropriate for a Christmas special. We talked a bit about the history of Christmas / winter festivals, and how even before Christianity, evergreens, lots of food, drink, fire and lights were a common feature, and all in all, I felt it went more smoothly than some, (despite taking over from 'Myriad' the automated system, on arriving, and the lights being so dim it was hard to read!). It's been uploaded to YouTube and is available to 'listen again' at the 'Widsith and Deor Present...' google site (links to the right) for anyone who missed it and would like a listen.

To hear samples of Cecilia Bartoli, see video, order music, etc., check out;
http://www.ceciliabartolionline.com/cms/homepage.html

Poetry at the Blue Walnut

Last night was Poetry Island night at the Blue Walnut Cafe hosted by storyteller and performance poet Chris Brooks and with Matt Harvey as headline, support from Liv Torc and a host of poets from the Exeter, Torquay and surrounding scenes including Clive Pig, Jon Freeman, James Turner, and Tim King from Taking the Mic. The cafe was packed, and cold as it was outside (it was sleeting at one point), the venue got so hot, that windows had to be opened! Everyone was on flying form, although it was hard not be biased in the view that the Taking the Mic crew were really pulling out the stops (although I'm sure poetry isn't really like having football teams...?!). James' poem about God and the Devil, Clive's singing, Jon's love poem and Tim King's letter based Bob Cobbing style piece were all very memorable. Liv was just before Matt Harvey (there were two intervals as so many were performing), and mastered the space at once with her usual show-womanship, doing poems contrasting lust with love to great effect, before Matt Harvey did his set. - And really, however many times one hears some of his pieces, they just get better. He also broke into a hilarious comic 'true story' about Torquay vs. Totnes 'hooligans' which had the audience rolling in the aisles, and as well as doing many favourites, he did recent ones such as poems written for his residency at Wimbledon Tennis Championships, and as well as being funny, charming and full of a very humane empathy (suited to the creator of 'Empath Man'! his Radio 4 series from which he did a brilliant sketch), they were also clever with language and rhyme/rhythm/assonance and quietly subtle in the deeper points which many of them make.
   All in all it was a really good evening, Chris and his sidekick 'Clipboard' doing the honours, and getting everyone involved with the clapping for his 'The cow is the mother of the milk' opener which most of the audience knew or quickly picked up, and a wacky competition for the Poetry Island advent calendar - which involved everyone writing a preferably rhyming short sentence to fill the empty days, of the festive variety. Incredibly, my rather obvious spur-of-the-moment entry (sitting on the holly is an act of folly) drew the most laughs, and I won a kid's advent calendar from Poundland, plus some Belgian chocolates! I was startled (never having been one to win raffles etc.), but it certainly added some extra laughs and audience participation to the evening.
   It was an excellently put together evening, and I was interested in the contrasts and similarities between it and Taking the Mic...both having committed and energetic hosts, both having an emphasis on performance (rather than just read) poetry, having other acts (eg; comedy, music, etc.) and which are intended to be an evening's entertainment selling itself to people who want a good cheap night out rather than a writer's circle or poetry group/open mike for readers. But the Blue Walnut perhaps has a little more of an emphasis on comedy/comic poetry? Just an impression. It was certainly a big hit with the audience, and while there were poets there who I recognized as previous headliners etc., a lot of the audience seemed to be just that - audience rather than poets. And, just as with Taking the Mic, that's a really good sign of a night that really reaches out to people!
   The Blue Walnut itself as a venue is a charming cafe (if small when coping with larger audiences!) with a tiny nickleodeon cinema at the back with delightful vintage upholstered seating. They serve excellent fairtrade coffee ('Origins') complete with star shaped shortbread biscuits!

   Thanks to Chris for organizing it and putting everything together so well and making things go with such a bang, to Matt Harvey for a great performance, and to Liv and all the supporting poets too, for making up a high quality night of performance poetry. 

Namesakes

It's always good to check that titles to your books / chapbooks/ pamphlets / CDs / etc., either haven't been used yet, or alternatively, have been used for something else that they won't get mixed up with. 'The Book of Contentions' hasn't really any exact namesakes that I could find - but interestingly, there IS a monograph called (and in other editions just 'Strife between the') 'Al Maqrizi's Book of Contention and Strife concerning the relations between the Banu Umayya and the Banu Hashim' - now, whilst I know nothing about the latter two clans, it appears (from cursory Google research) that they are Islamic tribal peoples, AND that Al Maqrizi was an Egyptian scholar 1364-1442, and so seeing as 'The Book of Contentions' starting point was the Occupation of Iraq, that seems itself something of a serendipity.
   'The Book of Indictments' also has some interesting connections - again, there isn't (so far as I've found) an exact match, but what there is is fascinating - 'Officium clerici pacis: a book of indcitments, informations, inquisitions and appeals...with large additions of modern indictments' !!! about which it says; 'The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars. This collection reveals the history of English common law and Empire law in a vastly changing world of British expansion. Dominating the legal field is the Commentaries of the Law of England by Sir William Blackstone, which first appeared in 1765. Reference works such as almanacs and catalogues continue to educate us by revealing the day-to-day workings of society.' Fantastic! for a history fanatic, anyway. Plus, from 1618, more court records - 'PROCESS REGISTER BOOK OF INDICTMENTS. VOLUME. I. f. 122. James Scutts and George Richardson of St. Martin's-in-theFields for burglary; both at large.' Perfect!      
   For 'The Book of Offences', I made it into a feature, citing it on the back cover, the fact that the Swedish law codes were codified in the Code of 1734, divided into two parts - The Book of Offences, and The Book of Punishments! Absolutely classic. As it says in the back cover blurb; 'Not to be confused with the Swedish Book of Offences of 1734, and undoubtedly not its companion, The Book of Punishments...'

   Finally 'The Book of Convictions' also appears to have no exact namesake, the nearest being 'The Book of the Beliefs and Convictions' a phrase in a book of 'Medieval Jewish Philosophical Writings'. So, also historical, and not without a kind of resonance. 

   It was really interesting to find oneself trawling through places like the National Library of Australia online catalogue to find out about the texts with 'names like..' - I recommend it! 

The Book of Convictions

The fourth in The Books of...Trilogy / series is now out, 'The Book of Convictions', and it was odd how new pieces kept on getting themselves written, and then how another Book shaped itself out of the majority of them - themes emerging, following on from the previous Books, deepening and broadening the notions explored, in some cases. At last I managed to decide on a title (from the various options), and a cover image - another from the brilliant Banksy. 'The Book of Indictments' having the scissors cutting out a section of wall, 'The Book of Offences' having the famous barcode as gaol bars, and 'The Book of Convictions' having the wall built by the Israeli government in the West Bank with the image of an opening in the wall looking out onto palm trees etc..
   In a sense it is still a Trilogy, as 'The Book of Contentions' can easily act as Book Zero, as it's quite different in character to the other three. It certainly starts the ball rolling, but being 150 odd aphorisms all in sequence, it's a different kettle of fish to the others with their 'chapters' each often self-contained as poems. The project appears now to be ongoing! But then there is an awful lots of news...bad news, and stuff going on all the time... Like a satirical cartoon strip, it seems that there's no lack of material for such a series.
   There are plenty of other pieces, some pasted up as 'Indictments of the Month' on the Cartwheels Collective website, some that just didn't fit the feel of one of the Books, some I just don't like very much! Having to write about something, especially something unpleasant, doesn't automatically make one like a piece of work! Even if you think it has 'something to say'.
   But I think I'm pleased with how 'The Book of Convictions' hangs together...and it's rather a nice shade of green...

More Radio Show Adventures

You turn up and the previous DJ/show host never turned up...but at least there is light in the studio this time! Albeit that of a bedside lamp mended with stripy safety tape...however, things generally seem to be working, and your co-presenter figures out how to switch off 'Myriad' the automated system, and you can begin! The show dealt with the idea of critique - i.e. those looks at or steps back from, the mainstream, the orthodoxy or dominant culture which often surface as satire, personal choice to 'make a difference', historical throw back or call on a historical event, figure, movement, period etc.,  and suchlike. As well as a chance to look this multi-faceted theme, and cue for some interesting discussion (and finding some great historical tracks!) it was an opportunity to showcase some Stand Up Philosophy and The Books of...Trilogy, from our respective solo shows. Deor performed the justification for a 'Just War' by Thomas Aquinas, complete with Tony Blair impersonation! and Kant's 'What is Enlightenment?' a splendidly ambiguous text - revolutionary or reactionary? And I performed work from 'The Book of Indictments', 'The  Book of Offences' and the latest in the 'trilogy', 'The Book of Convictions'.
   We felt it went well, and didn't have the terrible feedback in the headphones that thankfully, the person after us last time showed us how to switch off! But it was still despite no one turning up once it went 10 either! and so having to mix carrying on with impromptu performances while ringing numbers on the noticeboard to ask how to put the automated system back on again...to not leave silence! which was all rather stressful. At one point I just read from the posters - 'this is Phonic FM, 106.8 FM, Exeter's sound alternative - no adverts, no playlists...no training for the DJs...' afterwards I wished I hadn't! but one does strange things under stress...