<Deleted User>
City Lights, Urbis, Manchester 27/04/06
The Write Out Lord word army marches, the invasion has begun. The WOL word army has launched its latest offensive into the heart of Manchester (well the Urbis) to do battle with the good people (sorry enemies) of the rapidly expanding cutting edge magazine Citizen 32. Yes, it was the long awaited City Lights, a night of performance poetry brought to us by John G Hall and Lucia Cox and anybody who was anybody in the word circle was there, (and the word army stormed – I mean - sneaked in through the back door).
But the night was a series of hits with only one real let down. Manchester’s own vampire queen Rosie Lugosi was the compere for the event and carried us through the night with her commanding stage presence and blood stained whip. She warmed us up with a couple of poems and corny songs before giving us the first main act, the Word Armies very own Tony Walsh. He launched the act on high octane fuel filled slam poetry which had us rolling in the aisles he followed it with his serious street poetry and concluded with the fantastic “Rock and Roll” leaving us all clapping and stamping for more, but Rosie appeared once more with her whip to calm us down.
Then it was time for the second main act, a comedian poet who got rave reviews from the Edinburgh fringe, Jem Rolls. Yes, he had all rave reviews from the fringe festival but was he fantastic, well, frankly no. This reviewer felt deeply let down by his attempt at humour and his apparent belief that shouting makes you a powerful performer, the word army was not pleased and we fixed bayonets, but Rosie got her whip out again, and we were forced to make a tactical retreat.
Then it was the open mic spots and the word army masses were unleashed on the unsuspecting public. Our usual mix of veterans: Dave Morgan, Julian Jordan, Gordon Zola, Scott Devon and Abi Idowu soon went into action with verse at the ready. There was flack, there was crossfire, there was a couple talking in the crowd but we over powered them all and came out exhausted but smiling.
Good night, great poems posh place. Our performance poets have come a long way from the tiny back room at the Sweet Green where only a handful of people actually performed. Now we have the Poets, the poems, the performance and the impetus to take the war forward battle by bloody battle – bring it on!
But the night was a series of hits with only one real let down. Manchester’s own vampire queen Rosie Lugosi was the compere for the event and carried us through the night with her commanding stage presence and blood stained whip. She warmed us up with a couple of poems and corny songs before giving us the first main act, the Word Armies very own Tony Walsh. He launched the act on high octane fuel filled slam poetry which had us rolling in the aisles he followed it with his serious street poetry and concluded with the fantastic “Rock and Roll” leaving us all clapping and stamping for more, but Rosie appeared once more with her whip to calm us down.
Then it was time for the second main act, a comedian poet who got rave reviews from the Edinburgh fringe, Jem Rolls. Yes, he had all rave reviews from the fringe festival but was he fantastic, well, frankly no. This reviewer felt deeply let down by his attempt at humour and his apparent belief that shouting makes you a powerful performer, the word army was not pleased and we fixed bayonets, but Rosie got her whip out again, and we were forced to make a tactical retreat.
Then it was the open mic spots and the word army masses were unleashed on the unsuspecting public. Our usual mix of veterans: Dave Morgan, Julian Jordan, Gordon Zola, Scott Devon and Abi Idowu soon went into action with verse at the ready. There was flack, there was crossfire, there was a couple talking in the crowd but we over powered them all and came out exhausted but smiling.
Good night, great poems posh place. Our performance poets have come a long way from the tiny back room at the Sweet Green where only a handful of people actually performed. Now we have the Poets, the poems, the performance and the impetus to take the war forward battle by bloody battle – bring it on!
Wed, 10 May 2006 02:07 pm
<Deleted User>
Firstly may I make it clear that any views that are expressed here are totally independent of WoL per se. Secondly though my name appears as the person who submitted the piece I did not write it but submitted it on behalf of Scott. Finally, though I have to admit that Jem rolls was a bit of a disappointment as a headliner, and certainly paled in comparison to Tony Walsh I feel that Scotts criticism is a little over the top.
Yes Jem was a little one dimensional in terms of his delivery which at times made his words unintelligible and OK his humour did fall a little flat (hey that happens to the best of us!). But I felt that some of the topics he picked were interesting & relevent and that some of his poetry (i.e. words and imagery) was pretty good.
Yes Jem was a little one dimensional in terms of his delivery which at times made his words unintelligible and OK his humour did fall a little flat (hey that happens to the best of us!). But I felt that some of the topics he picked were interesting & relevent and that some of his poetry (i.e. words and imagery) was pretty good.
Wed, 10 May 2006 03:48 pm
