Mark Gonzalez is down at The Hubb in Sparkbrook on Sunday, with a performance in the evening and some masterclass sessions earlier in the day. Info via muslimwritersawards.org.uk.
Poetry
The other night I went to Speak Up at the Hare and Hounds - a night of poetry, spoken word and music with a little bit of crazy dancing thrown in for good measure.
It was good – the place was busy, there was a nice, relaxed atmosphere and the performers were an entertainingly mixed bunch. I’ve seen Polarbear a few times and usually enjoy his stuff so it was good to catch him again. I’d heard of Byron Vincent but hadn’t expected him to be quite so funny as he was. On the musical side of things, Tom Peel was a revelation, Martyna Baker was impressive and there was a young lady called Mahalia who blew everyone’s socks off.
Everything was admirably compered by Jodi Ann Bickley and Matt Windle, who were both very good too. A good night out, all told. Keep an eye out for the next one of these (if there is one – hopefully there will be).
икониOk, so the new thing from Polarbear isn’t being performed in Birmingham yet but hopefully it will at some point:
OLD ME is me speaking directly, warts and all about what happens when you’ve figured out what you want and where your inspiration comes from. What happens when the life you have created is a million miles from the one you grew up with? What happens when someone goes from being a single boy in Birmingham working on a building site sleeping at his moms house, to a full time artist living with his pregnant partner in the big city of London in the space of 6 months?
The rest of the EP – two duets by Jodi and Poppy Tibbetts and a solo track by each – is worth a listen but this track grabbed me.
This is on tomorrow night at the MAC. Fatima Al Matar, Jodi Ann Bickley and Matt Windle all presenting new work.
More info via Apples and Snakes.
It’s a compelling name, isn’t it? The bio on their Twitter account says:
We combine Poetry Appreciation with Football Hooligan chic. This all happens in a pub. Do you want some? Do you? If so, join the firm.
Which you can do on the Birmingham Poetry Ultras website or email them at birminghampoetryultras@gmail.com.
There’s a couple of poetry events coming up which may be of interest to those of you who like to get creative with words.
On 18 November the next Rhymes event, Meet the Laureate’s, is taking place at Margarett Rose Abri Cafe, Digbeth from 8pm.
Poets at this months event will be Roy McFarlane in one of his first outings as Birmingham’s new Poet Laureate and Jordan Westcarr, Birmingham’s phenomenally talented new Young Poet Laureate. Joining them will be Fatima Al Matar, Sean Colletti, and Andy Cook.
Take a look at their Youtube channel for an idea of what Rhymes is all about, tickets for this event are £5.
On 20 November the Spoken Word All Stars national tour is hitting Birmingham’s mac after launching earlier in the year at Latitude Festival.
Poet in the City and Apples & Snakes present a ‘spectacular evening of wall-to-wall words with an unflagging backbeat’, with the following selected All Star Cast…
Kate Tempest – Hellfiery powerhouse of socio-poetry
El Crisis – combines a hypnotic mixture of rap, spoken word, song and chant.
OneNess – Spoken-word Soulsista from Grenada
Kat Francois – Slamtastic, superphysical storyteller
Ventriloquist – Wordsmith wizard from the West
Jason Yarde – the King of improv Sax.
Tickets for this event are £9/ £6 and can be booked online.
Brewers’ Troupe Present: Pub Poetry Slam at the Hollybush (Cradley Heath), hosted by performance poets Emma Purshouse and Heather Wastie. This slam poetry sesh is on 19 September, starting at 7.30, and is open to all slam virgins, beginners, novices or maybe even the more experienced slammer keen to try out new material in a friendly local pub environment.
For more information or to book your slam place telephone Emma 07950 165265 or email emmaasif@hotmail.com
The Drum Beat Poetry Workshop starts Tuesday 21 September, and will carry on until 14 December. Meeting Tuesdays at 4 – 6pm, the group will discuss a selected poets work, along with sharing and providing feedback for each other’s work. Poets of all levels are welcome, all you need to join in is a pen, a piece of paper, a poem and £1.
Rhymes on the Roof will be happening 24 September, from the roof of RoguePlay’s new space at The Old Fire Station, Moseley. With the usual poetry goodness and awesome Raffle, this month’s will also host a pretty view and fresh air. Starting at 8pm, bring a brolly and a jumper.
Some monthly poetry workshops starting this week and carrying on to the end of the year.
Making Poetry are responsible, they cost up to £18 per workshop (with discounts available) and the Shakespeare Memorial Room (at Birmingham Central Library) is where it’ll all happen.
This is what they’re doing:
- 17th April – Getting it Out There – Preparing work for publication, sending out, putting together a pamphlet with Jacqui Rowe
- 22nd May – Serious Play – Masterclass with Mario Petrucci, aiming to release the imagination into fresh realms populated by the unexpected, and an incisive language with which to meet it.
- 19th June – Painting the Picture with Jacqui Rowe. Ekphrastic poetry, including a chance to visit Birmingham Art Gallery
- 17th July – ShadoWork – Writing and Performance as group activity. Masterclass with Mario Petrucci. Participants will explore Mario’s “co-vocal” approach to writing and performance, culminating in the performance of a short piece formulated on the day.
- 14th August – Finding the Form with Jacqui Rowe – choosing the form for a poem, including a look at some specific forms such as haiku and sonnet
- 18th September – Ideas in Things with Jacqui Rowe and Meredith Andrea – using objects as an inspiration for poetry
- 23rd October – The Mapmaker’s Workbox with Jacqui Rowe and Meredith Andrea – a re-run of last year’s popular workshop on the theme of maps and journeys
- 13th November – Windows and Icebergs – Masterclass with Mario Petrucci. Observation, the senses, personal memory, reflection, imagination, other people’s work – all of these are potential paths into new and exciting writing.
- 11th December – All The Ages We Have Ever Been: writing poetry for children and adults equally -Masterclass with Philip Gross. Qualities of playfulness and sensual delight in sound and form and image, and direct access to astonishment and real emotion.
Details on the Making Poetry website.
DJ and Wordsmith Charlie Jordan, fresh from her West Bromwich Albion poetry residency, with team mates Byron Vincent, Matt Windle & Dan Cullen – refereed by Jo Bell. Live Entertainment kicks off 7.30pm.
West Brom Words is some poetry and spoken word goodness at the Library Theatre on 25 March.
Says here tickets are free and only available on the door.
Jodi Ann Bickley is a Moseley-based poet.
This is Jodi performing one of her lovely pieces ‘You Make Me Lose My Cool‘ to an improvised jazz soundtrack:
You can hear more from Jodi over on her Myspace page.
There’s a new open mic spoken word and poetry night called Coffee Shop Poets that’s starting at The Margarett Rose Abri, in Digbeth – a relatively new place that’s billed as being friendly to artists (the cafe, that is).
Actually, on that theme, the flyer insists that there will be no alcohol served, that the audience will be purely there for the poetry and that the surroundings will be safe and appreciative. Which makes me wonder what the heck when down the last time they put an event on.
Anyway, the flyer also says:
If anyone fancies coming along to perform their work (or anyone elses!) or just to listen – they can feel free to come and relax and enjoy a coffee – and will be very welcome.
…admission is free but there will be collection tins for the breast cancer charity ‘Breakthrough’ strategically placed around the joint!
Sounds nice. The next one is on Thurs 12 November and they’ll be running on the first Thurs of the month after that.
The same cafe is also running acoustic sessions on Sunday afternoons and The Espresso Sized Theatre on 27 November
With a cast of three or less, minimal props and each play being between 15-20 mins long
I’ve had an email from Steve Tromans, a Birmingham-born composer who’s been globetrotting for a little while and, well, I’ll let him tell it:
I’m emailing to tell you about my upcoming return to Birmingham – specifically at the Yardbird Jazz Club, Paradise Circus, on Thurs 8th January 2009. I’ll be presenting the premiere performance of my musical setting of Gregory Corso’s “Bomb”, which is part three of a project I have called “Beat Series”. Back in 2003 I was commissioned by Birmingham Jazz to write “Howl”, part one of the series.
Fellow composer and poet Sid Peacock will be narrating and vocalising, Birmingham jazz scene favourites Chris Mapp and Miles Levin are on bass and drums respectively.
There’s a load more info about Bomb here.
This was officially announced back on 9 October but I only noticed today when a copy of Forward flopped onto my doormat with the information on the back page.
Meanwhile, 13 year old Megan Bradbury is the new Birmingham Young Poet Laureate.
Here’s Chris Morgan’s poem The Car Body Plant:
I always cycled in through pre-dawn
gloom, it seemed, for the 7.15 start,
yellow and sweating beneath my cape,
just one of a tide of half-asleeps
flowing into that infernal manufactory,
smoke-city of the blood-red night, each
of us squeezed into a terrifying conformity;
for them, fat pay-packets like an addiction.My green boiler-suit, APPRENTICE
on chest pocket, possessed me,
marking me out, to be sent
for left-handed screwdrivers, for tubs
of elbow grease, for a laff. My O levels
and RP accent made me an outsider,
fuelled a mutual misunderstanding,
and a soupcon (my word, not theirs) of guilt.Huge presses shook the floor, crunching
improbable shapes from steel sheets,
Richter six point something as I walked past;
older press operators all lacked
a finger, blood sacrifice to inattention;
hearing dimmed by decades of carcrash;
I never asked about their hearts or souls.
On assembly lines, spotwelding gunswere like futuristic weapons from a movie,
spitting chains of sparks across gangways
as their superhero crab-claws pinched,
and the air smelled sharply of lung-
destroying metal dust. Always loud hissing
and screeching, as of dying breaths,
as bodies were tortured into shape
The première of the short film ‘Birmingham: The Creative City’ will be held at the Electric Cinema tomorrow afternoon.
From the Press Release:
Birmingham City Council Creative Development Team and Audiences Central are premiering a short film directed by BAFTA Award Winning Director Natasha Carlish on Tuesday 11 March at The Electric Cinema, Birmingham. Birmingham: The Creative City celebrates some of the personal stories and amazing work delivered as part of the Equal II: The Last Mile programme in Birmingham over the last two years.
The Equal II: The Last Mile programme was established to develop the Creative Industries as a route to employment in Birmingham. This creative business support project was established in 2005 to develop the creative industries as a route to employment for creative talent and arts professionals in Birmingham.
Co-ordinated by Birmingham City Council’s Creative Development Team and funded by the European Social Fund, the Equal II: The Last Mile programme has engaged over 400 individual artists and creative businesses and 18 partner organisations across Birmingham. The programme, and the creative industries, have made a significant contribution to Birmingham’s economy through employment and improved quality of life.
The film, Birmingham: The Creative City is testimony itself to the wealth of creative talent within the region directed by one of the region’s BAFTA award winning directors, Natasha Carlish and Dreamfinder Productions and created with partners including John Mostyn who worked with music for film debutant Bass Flo, Quench Design who titled the films DVD menu and cover artwork and Supercool Design who worked on brand and design elements.
Director Natasha Carlish said: “Nurturing and developing new creative talent in our city is something I feel extremely passionate about. So to be asked to create a film to illustrate just one area of work that is focusing on this very important issue was a real privilege. I was really inspired by the contributors to the film, their determination to success and their stories and I was really lucky to work with some great collaborators such as Endboad, Quench, John Mostyn and Bassflo’, the Audiosuite, Aquila Film and Television and Shefali Oza.â€
Talking about the impact of the Equal II: The Last mile programme overall, Paul Cantrill, Head of Creative Development at Birmingham City Council said: “The creative industries are one of the key sectors of growth and expansion in the region. In partnership with 18 organisations across Birmingham, the Equal II: The Last Mile programme has created many opportunities to enrich and support the wide diversity of talent located in this unique city.â€
To find out more about the amazing journeys that the beneficiaries and partners have undertaken as part of Equal II: The Last Mile visit www.creativecompass.co.uk.
Unfortunately invitations for the event are now closed. However you can watch the film online.
