Hilary Walker won the Wigan Litfest Xmas slam.
Well done and a deserved win. I enjoyed your poem. I knew 20 seconds in it was all over. It flowed so well and caught the mood just right. She performed it well.

We all know it's not easy going up there, and I thought everyone did fantastic. I liked in particular the guy with the baseball cap he was very quirky.

Darren T was the business too, he drew that short straw first on poet.
That means he should win next time!

Scoring system created a lack of atmosphere. Its really good bitter/sweet to hear the 1s 2s and 9s 10s !

it creates that tension and that 'soap opera' element as you can boo people , I mean 'Panto' element

Julien, can we have a fancy dress slam? Im dying to wear a skirt.

Oh!

and where wa the VICTORY poem! or did I miss it?

I got a 5/10 booooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!! hissssssssssssss to you!

:-)


x

Pete

and oy dam! your sex cells poem stole my yelp! that's copyright ya know laddie!!! (see you at Wigan sat)

Well, my slam virginity was lost last night. My pole position in the running order selected by fate and nimble fingers was met with sympathetic smiles and even commiserations! Has anybody ever won a slam performing first? The reaction to my position in the running order suggested not. Still, there is always a first time.
Just not last night.
I enjoyed every minute. To be more precise I enjoyed every one of my three minutes (although it felt like two minutes) before I was soundly hooted by the official timekeeper. I was aware of several groans when the hooter was sounded but I’m not too sure under what context these groans were aimed!
I enjoyed everybody’s contribution. Some poets I have heard and seen before but there were several performing who I hadn’t and it was one of these performances that stood out for me. I particular enjoyed ‘Mia’ and her poem about the size of a man’s penis and his ‘coming face’ - fantastic.
As for the mood and the tension in the room I have nothing with which to compare the event. All I know is that it was enjoyable. Even if 3 minutes wasn’t or isn’t long enough.
Ooh, and the fact that I didn’t finish in the top 3 was an absolute kick in the ‘nads. Will I be back for more? Ooh Yes.
By the way, Well Done Hilary!

Huge congratulations, Hilary! And Darren (fab, urbanely-surreal poem, too) and Pete (I'm sure it was as rousing and passionate as always) -- very well done indeed to all who took part! It takes a lot of bottle to do a slam and maybe it takes a bit more pluck for women if they are the recipients of untoward comments. Oddly enough, I was on a radio/media course yesterday and this subject came under discussion. It does seem to be rife anywhere there is a perceived male stronghold (most arts and media) and it also seems that the few men making those comments are not always aware of the effect they're having.

well Mox i'm always lookin for good reasons to wear a skirt so if I can somehow add to the female element...................

What sort of skirt were you thinking of? Pencil line would suit your height.

If you click on "Edit" you can edit your message - edit only appears on your screen when you are logged in, no one else sees it

Hey Hilary, yea I have that!

Mox the pencil good but too restrictive!

:-)

Well we had both complaints and plaudits because of the change of scoring system. One entrant thought it was a fix, the fact that we did not announce the scores.

So, yes, it's a fair cop: it was a fix. I fixed it so that those who had complained about the previous system's transparency causing depression amongst entrants awarded niggardly scores by miserly judges, could tread the boards anew, confident in the fairness and discretion of the new system. Ah, hubris. You can't please all the people...

Jason waxed lyrical about the night, declaring it as good as when he supported John Cooper Clarke (artistically). I thought it were a' reet meself. We had a great play-off with a worthy winner.

Darren, you are dead right. I know of no-one going on to win if they are on early. Your work is fabulous; but you were cannon fodder on the night by going on early.

On Thursday I competed in London at the Farrago slam, where they have a panel sitting at the side of the "stage" showing the scores at the end. But it was very confusing. They had score cards from one to ten, but some of them used two cards to give, say, 7.9; but some didn’t. The worst aspect was that the compere allowed one performer to overrun by two minutes then asked the panel not to award a penalty; she was good-looking, it’s true. The whole atmosphere then changed: Are there rules or not?

Shame, because it was otherwise a good slam venue: RADA, no less.

I like slams. Not as our prime purpose, but as a fun thing to do (honest!), on an occasional basis.

Any thoughts?

Thank you to all for competing. I love you all.

Julian

Photos from Wigan, the last Rochdale gig and the Bolton Xmas party can now be found in Galleries
Sorry for delay