Last night I went to the Tudor after a lengthy period of self restraint (all six months of it)
I would love to write a review but to be honest i cannot recall all the poets and I hate leaving people out and I didn't make any written notes and not only that. I was drinking. Naughty girl Janet I hear you say!
I do remember smiling a lot and hugging a few people and fortunately I didn't need to hang on to anyone to stay upright. It was fun.
Highlight of the night was Darren as a funny, witty and entertaining compere. Well I think he was compering. Was that you Darren with your trousers still above your hips at the end of the night?
and was that you I heard laughing out loud in strategic places?
All the right ones as I recall.
You can pay me later. ;-)

Twas an odd night but I did enjoy it. It was odd cos a large chunk of the audience disappeared at half time. Nothing to do with Darren's compering skills - I found him funny at any rate...

My favourite acts were Jonboy who appears to be Wigan's number one Peeping Tom and his sister Chris Yates, who read her wonderful take a break poem (the line about growing hairy nipples on mice was a killer). We do so like to keep it in the family in Wigan!

I also enjoyed that poem about the Mission Statement - hilarious and very dry. Sorry I don't know the poets name.

We also learned from Julien that Paul Blackburn uses WOL to send coded messages to some floosey. Next time you bollock me on line Paul, I'll know there's a hidden agenda and won't be the least bit offended! LOL

How dare you call me a floozy! :-)

I'm always impressed by those of you who can recite long works without reading. Allan for example (I enjoyed the ghost dusters) and Pete. Very professional. Something to aspire to. Also - lucky that you were passing Darren.

THe night reminded me of the old days, some of the old gigs back in Manchester. The band would play then dissapear, you would be billed last or second half, by the time you read, the place would be empty apart from the odd drunk tramp and a few glass collectors.

Classic.
A dark and drunken soup.
Good mic practice for when you did the gigs where people stay to watch all the show.

Bus and train times apart, its down to the compere OR host to arrange the setlist in order that it accomadates the best of the travel arrangements.

The train currently standing at platform 7 is the last train to :'I'm that dissapointed im not staying the entire show central':

Jonboy read a corker
Like Isobel I enjoyed the drunken Darren though I feel the original ethos of WOL Wigan is a touch drifted, we could do with a coal shovel just to move some of the snow that has piled up. Wont take much, some fine tuning, a little service, oil change and plugs maybe.

Just to keep it on track, just to keep the posse together.

You could say we are a team.

Hmmmm ***strokes chin*** (one of them)

Darren
I should add that I enjoyed, its just I was aware it may have drifted, the place it drifted too is equally fun, in some ways appeals to the anarchic appetite which I love, the ethos may drown in all our liquor me being the worst for it, just wondered if we should re-jig a touch, I cant throw stones becuase of my encapsulation in single pain glass.......
loving loving your slam ideas and loving your input, its up to all of us to focus where we want the night to go and evolve to, turning up and reading, turning up and compering count as the most important thing, incapacitated or not at least we attend, so in the words of Fish from Marillion on his 'clutching at straws album' " Where do we go from here?"

I don't think you should get too worked up about it Pete. You haven't been to the Tudor for several months - February was in my opinion the best month ever. Like anywhere, the Tudor has its ups and downs. Impossible to have perfect evenings every month. What makes a perfect evening will be different from one man to the next - often depending on how much alcohol he's consumed. For me it's an intangible thing depending on the mix of poets, poetry and on how just how those poets mix. A bit like chemistry, I suppose - which I've never really understood. Of all the venues I've been to the Tudor is still the best.
I like the fact that there is a different compere every month because they each bring their own spin and humour to it. I like the darkness and the fact that the Tudor is a happening place. Enough waffling - someone's just turned up at the door....

Hi Pete - I'm well aware that my comperéing 'style' is not to everyone's taste. However, I am not a Comperé and would never kid myself otherwise. The qualities required of a good compewotsidoodle involve a lot of sucking and very little blowing. I find it very difficult to fake sincerity but that's something for both me and my stubborn demons to endure.


I did ask if any of the other Write Out Loud members who were present (and foolish enough) would like to comperé but was met with a combination of curled lips and faces that resembled a litter of smacked Cats.


Apparently, I don't 'encourage' the poets enough and some find it difficult to determine if I'm A) Being serious B) Being insultive or C) Being a combination of A and B.

Judging by Julian's facial expressions - I was all the above, and then some.

But let's not lose sight of The Tudor's overall success. It is often the victim of its own past glories, an average night at Wigan can often be a country mile above and beyond a 'great night' elsewhere but I'm bias toward Wigan. It's a night I prefer over any other night in the NW poetry Calendar - not just because of its locality and subsequent conveniance - but because of the regular overall standard of poets and their performances.

We're coming into the 'Slam season'. Next month The Tudor plays host to Wigan's 'Words Festival Poetry Slam', an event in which some members of Write Out Loud's higher echelon are involved and no doubt the poetry whores will be out in force looking to bounce on a sizable mattress stuffed with prize money.

As a result, there is NO OPEN MIC AT THE TUDOR IN APRIL. Instead, we can all still attend and support those barmpots who are foolish enough to participate in a Tudor Slam. It promises to be a great night. A SINCERE 'great night'. After which, memories of this months's Tudor will fade into the mist of mediocrity and I can read Dale Carniege's 'How to Win Friends and Influence People'. Again.

We seem to have this similar conversation going at about the same time every year.
The Tudor is renowned for being great in the Summer months. Perhaps that's something to do with some of us hibernating in the cold winter months.
Maybe it's because the Tudor garden is bloody freezing and draughty and the smokers would appreciate a heater or three somewhere on the patio.. which might explain the reason people don't stay as long for the conversational exchanges to take place on and of the night..
and maybe we shouldn't be outside in the garden while the poetry's in full flow inside the pub.
Whatever the reason for poets coming, staying or leaving early, it does come back into its own usually in May.
Maybe that's the reason the slam being held on the 8th April which is a regular open mic night (second Thursday in the month) is being held on a well..
a regular open mic night. Maybe it will help to bring back some of the poets who have been away for the winter or attract some new poets who will join in the summer fun after enjoying a wonderful evening of poetry competition and a fantastic atmosphere because of everyone involved and the people who turn up just to listen. How's that for a plug?

and Darren, don't you dare go reading such crap.
Your real friends will adore you anywhere and any way. They might argue the toss now and then but what the heck, that's what friends are for, right?

The role of compere is a shit one - that's why I have always refused to do it (plus a very painful memory of trying to do it when I was 12 and far less gobby). For some reason a compere always feels responsible for any negative feedback on a night. There is absolutely no reason for you to Darren. You were higly entertaining - in a very disrespectful way.
There was some excellent poetry on the night but I think the night could have benefited from a few more poets and a greater poet retention. Then there are those who turn up to just read their own poems and then bugger off to the bar...

I am looking forward to the Wigan slam - it should be a great night!

Isobel, but comapred to the early days of the Tudor!!!! I'm on about the first 6 months.

hmmmm, I missed the last few, but then you missed the first few!

You have me there Pete. I can't possibly comment on what the Tudor was like back in the time of the Tudors. I have only been going for one year. If it was better back then, it must have been very good indeed. I hope its perceived decline didn't coincide with my arrival on the scene - LOL!
I think Janet may be right in what she said about the seasons. Spring and summer bring a better atmosphere and more 'stay at homes' venture out. I also think that everyone's perception of things is dependent on where they are personally. If you go out feeling dispirited you are unlikely to enjoy any venue. Tell me a venue that is several coats of paint better than the Tudor and I will go there.
I do like the Bards - but I would call that a different experience - like apples and pears. Late for work now!

I think each one of us can only speak based on our own experiences of any event.
I don't go to every single one of the Tudor events or any other venue on a regular basis any more. I go where and when it fits in with my working and spiritual working schedules.
I have been told several times, i missed a good one. So what? I did whatever i wanted to do on that particular night. If i based my life around other peoples opinions about anything, then my life wouldn't be my own. The next one might turn out to be the wettest night for weather and poetry and people too for all i know. I go when i can and when it feels good or right for me and my sanity and rarely to order.

How long has the Tudor event been running?
Times change. People change. The Tudor event must adapt and evolve according to and with those times and people. Like many other things in life, if it can't evolve then it will become extinct and to evolve, it needs people who are willing and able to assist in its new growth.

Hey! I just had a brainstorm!
Maybe Mr. John 'Elvis' Togher could hire the Daleks to come and exterminate the little pesky buggers who keep wanting to spoil the camaraderie and friendly banter. Back to the future?

I've been made to feel very welcome although I don't know any of you very well. I'm sure that the compering job is very difficult, even when you know the acts. I've been to other venues in the area and this is (in my opinion) by far the best.

No, no, no the Tudor is not significantly unique, there is no special romance.
For God’ sake this is Wigan not Paris or Berlin at the turn of the last century, albeit there are some regulars who well might fit into that age group.

If running a ‘by a country mile better’ poetry evening means that the principles of the ‘Open Mike’ spend the greater part of the evening wandering about the bar and furthest most extremities of the pub becoming pissed, then so be it. If the greater part of the participating audience believe that this event is a unique experience, a meeting of poetic minds, a dalliance with the dark romantics and creative arts then all I can say is, you are sadly deluded and you really should make more of an effort to get further afield.

If the attraction of the Tudor is the gay party atmosphere of the quirky character tavern, or as it’s locally known in Wigan a ‘Boozer’ with its crazy, hazy, heady delights of alcohol spiced with ever present cutting edge wit and repartee, then once again I urge you to take a closer look.

I’m sorry to keep returning to the subject of poetry, but it is after all what poets are about, and I really can’t get away from this nagging doubt that most attending poets don’t want to listen or discover or invest in knowledge derived from others. There still exists a culture of, get on, get off and please make it a quick one…

…when’s the beer break.

We can, I am absolutely sure, arrange evenings…
…weekends…

Where we just, meet …

…and drink… eat…and make love ‘neath the stars and behave like the Bohemian romantics we all are. In the unlikely event anyone within this satiric gathering wishes to read poetry they can fuck off outside thus assuring that the main body of poets are not annoyed by their precocious behaviour.

And just why Wigan can't be allowed the same mystique as Paris or Berlin, I've no idea...

I love the odd ball nature of the venue. The fact that it isn't a totally serious poetry night. I also think that the poets who don't listen to others or indeed bugger off, are in a minority - for the most part the audience being very respectful.
I'd go to Sale or some other art gallery if I wanted to hear an evening of pure poetry in a quiet, respectful environment. Clearly one man's meat is another man's poison. We are all entitled to our opinion and each of those is valid. I suppose the future of the Tudor will be voted by our feet. Let's watch this space...

Seems that people care about the Tudor event.

I have run it for a while now, well, in effect, it runs itself. Perhaps it does need fresh ideas, but then what? Guest poets? Prizes? Fancy dress? Nipple tassels? Perhaps someone should come in and take over from me and have a go at re-booting it after the slam.

I don't know any other night that is discussed as much as the Tudor and it seems people are quick to criticise it if it doesn't live up to past nights.
I've seen quite a few events over the past few years around the North West and admire that dedication to poetry a lot of them aspire to. The Tudor event has its own vibe and it works for some, not for others.

A good night of poetry needs, first and foremost, good poetry. Venues can play a part, but it's the people in there that make the night.

doesnt need much reworking, just a little tune up maybe, spring clean, just to keep it fresh.
I appreciate John Toghers efforts, I appreciate anyone who wants to compere drunk or not, I definately compered this event absolute and rat arsed once, few years back, so who am I, its always gonna be good but we need to work as a team on this

this of course leads to the question of suggestions

I don't think anyone is complacent or averse to suggestions for improvement. So what would your fine tuning involve, Pete?

how about doing an evening which has a musical backing - that is the readers do their stuff to a tune of their choice -

'karaoke poetry'

Re John Toghers contribution -
I for one wouldn't want to see anyone wanting to take over his position as co-ordinator of this event and i am sorry if that's how my own contribution came across.

I think the reason the Tudor is discussed so much is in part because a lot of the people who attend Wigan also use the site frequently. We can be a gobby lot and yes we can be opinionated too. I suppose that in itself can be perceived as threatening or indeed frightening to some of the less outspoken.

I stand by my comment that the Tudor tends to thrive in the Summer months and dwindles come October/November. Maybe the glut of events has taken its toll on some of the poets who venture out and about all over the North West by then, i really don't know. Last year in particular there was absolutely loads of slams around and about. Maybe people need the Winter months to actually sit down to do some serious writing?
It would be interesting to know whether other venues suffer the same way in Winter?
Can anyone enlighten us here?

Err, just run the 'nipple tassel' idea by me again, John...