This week has been a quick
succession of gigs, so wanted to quickly day thanks to everyone putting me on.
Thursday I led my first
youth theatre group with the LBT Young Company, so dashed back to York to
support Richard Tyrone Jones and his show Big
Heart. I was amazed Richard’s heart
didn’t implode after doing the show at double-quick time due to an earlier
curfew on the venue. My head was in a
9-11s mode, so I did my Toby
The Tyrannosaurs Rex poem. Thanks to
Rose & Alan for having me.
Then it was off to Coxwold
on Friday night to perform Practise
Patience with Travels
By Telephone, as well as doing a quick set.
This was part of the regular Little Festival Of Everything that Flanagan Collective runs
with the Fauconberg Arms. Thanks, as
always, to the pub, Paul and Alex for having me.
The space we did PP in,
The View, is perfect for the type of show, intimate, friendly and overlooking
the rolling hills of nature. And no
phone signal, an integral part of the plot!
Then I did some poems in
the front bar. I worry sometimes poetry
sets can intrude on people enjoying their meals/drinks. Music can be enjoyed as a background feature,
but poetry and spoken word requires a reverential silence, so it was key to
keep it snappy. Again, I did Toby.
The next day, Saturday, I
performed to a few children some of my children’s poems. Toby reappeared once again.
Finally on the Saturday
night in Selby I opened for Slackjaw, The
Vexed and Nu,Progodi. I was a bit worried, even though I knew a few
of the crowd, the Riverside is an odd shape and people expected grindcore, not
poetrycore. However they crowd were
attentive and really responsive, I couldn’t have expected better from a bunch of
well-behaved punx. Thanks to Sam for the
gig opportunity (and Nick for driving me).
I guess the nature of punk is to try and accept the slightly
out-of-place or odd, and the nature of Selby and small towns is to give
anything a listen, because not much music/art comes through.
That’s seems to be a
recurring theme with the Little Fests and punk gigs is people are willing to
give things a go, and provided they aren’t saturated (I kept sets short) they
appreciate the passion, energy and commitment I hope to bring. I think as performers we can never get
complacent and never take our audience for granted, and never get ego-tistic assuming
that we ‘deserve’ people’s attention.
In the context of spaces not
associated with poetry/spoken word, if unfamiliar audiences give us a modicum
of their attention then its then up to us to prove we can deliver, but not
intrude.
That way spaces can be
gradually transformed, or audiences encouraged into gigs, spaces and venues
where poetry/spoken word thrive.
And, yes, I did Toby again
for the punk rockers and grindcore fans of Selby. Maybe it’s because the engaging theme of
friendship and mischief appeals to elderly residents of tiny villages, eager under
10s and drunk punks. Or maybe it’s
because everyone loves dinosaurs.
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