The final gaps of
2014 are weaving through the air, it’s breath rancid and rotted. In the doorway stands 2015, bright, handsome,
head full of hair. 2014 smiles one last
time. “It was a good life” he says, a
voice pained but essence of a brightness.
Then he passes on. “No” 2015
says, in a voice like honey. “It was a
good year.”
This has truly been a good year both home and away. Here’s some of my highlights:
HOME
I put on Hannah Nicklin’s show A
Conversation With My Father totally DIY in the Black Swan with ace support
acts. I forgot to get everyone to sign
up to a mailing list though.
AWAY
I toured with Travels By Telephone to
Birmingham, Norwich, Brighton, Bristol, Manchester, Knaresborough, Scarborough,
Newcastle and various rural venues with our show Practise Patience. We are dead proud of the show, and still
looking for any dates in 2015! We met
some wonderful people, caught up with old friends and had some amazing feedback
(“The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen”).
We did the show in York to a packed out crowd! AND NO BLOOMIN’ MAILING LIST!
Download the live recording and get a zine here
HOME
I put together TWO compilations of poems and songs about my favourite game/cartoon: Pokémon.
Off the back of this, I started playing more acoustic sets under the
name Pewter City Punk and went outside my comfort zone. Download here
AWAY
I performed at Boomtown Fair, the biggest festival I’ve
been to so far. My set went down well, I
met some cool poets and saw a whole bunch of brill bands and acts. Thanks to Tim for driving me and Sally for
putting me on!
HOME
Me and my Emma made a zine with interviews from over 25
female York musicians about their influences and experiences. We did a launch with Kinky, Freaks + Geeks,
Chrissy Barnacle and Jenn Hart. You can
pick up the zine here,
and a good read it is too!
AWAY
I did more rural touring in Suffolk and Norfolk, and it’s
always nice to write poems for random people on random topics, thanks to
Creative Arts East! Read about it here
HOME
Alongside Stu Freestone, I put on the first Say Owt Slam
featuring Mark Grist. The night sold
out, and we had 15 amazingly high-quality poets fighting for the title of first
slam champ! Mark was superb as always,
and we got great reviews in One & other and The Nouse. Next slam is 23rd Jan with Sophia Walker,
and the one after that in March. Again,
forgot to do a mailing list. Whoops.
AWAY
I went and say a WHOLE LOTTA Youth Theatre (see my
blogposts here
and here). I wrote a play for Harrogate Youth Theatre,
adapted A Midsummer Night’s Dream for them and wrote a play for York Youth
Theatre. I became a Trustee of Upstage
Centre YT and have done more freelance work than ever before in the
sector. Looking forward to writing
another play for Harrogate in 2015 and hopefully other freelance
opportunities. Check out my website for
more info here.
HOME
I put on WORD & WHIPPETS 2 at York Theatre Royal
featuring Rob Auton and the Sky Show.
Rob’s show is very odd but magical, very funny but very moving and I’m
dead happy we also had Chris Singleton, Lizi Patch and Genevieve Walsh
performing their ace poetry. Hopefully
will be another W&W in 2015, more info to come. And although it sold out, totally forgot to
make a mailing list. Agh!
AWAY
I compared and programmed the spoken word & comedy stages
at Galtres Festival 2014, putting on ace acts like Jess Green, JB Barrington, Jenn
Hart, Danny Deegan, Zach Roddis and loads more.
Though we were small in the poetry
section, everyone who came had a wicked time seeing something different amongst
the music, and the comedy tent was always rammed with people eager for some
gags which Peet Sutton and Seb Bloomfield provided admirably with their cast of
comedians. I know Galtres had issues
with paying traders and acts after Galtres, and I know there is an uncertainty with
2015, so I’ll say as much as I know: I
do not know if all my acts were 100%, nor whether Galtres will return in what
capacity, and I have not been asked whether I’d want to be involved as yet. But I did dance to The Levellers and forgot
to get a mailing list. Eeeek.
HOME
I put on Buddy Wakefield, one of the greatest poets in
the whole wide world. And he was
amazing. Mind-blowing. Highly skilled. Thanks to York Lit Fest for their support,
and All Saints Church for letting me use the space. And guess what? I MADE A MAILING LIST!!! Whooooop!!!
Go sign up here
So thanks to everyone that gave me a gig or came to check me
out home or away, all the acts I gigged with, all the acts I put on and most
importantly YOU. Yes YOU.
Always looking for gigs, writing and workshop opportunities or
new connections, here’s to 2015!
Henry ‘Mailing List’ Raby
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