Thursday 30 August 2012

Tempting tempestuousness

The Old Vic hosted a scintillating night of poetry headlined by Kate Tempest.

Two energetic comperes opened and directed the show.

Azir Ahmed opened the poetry with humour and sound word-smithery.

Raising dry smiles with close to the bone truths.

Not bad for a man who described himself after the performance as a 'tag along'.

Feminist rhyme

Hollie McNish, who has already made herself known to me on the radio with the poem Wow, kicked things into a more feminine head space.

A more loving, powerful and inspiring poem about a daughter I cannot bring to mind.

The rest of her set also marked her out as more than a one trick pony.

Say it with rhythm

David J truly earned the right to his name, The Vocal Pugilist, with a performance not only heart warming and beautifully woven, but skillfully and inventively spun with beat box effects.

The night offered politics, poignancy, life and laughs woven in poems and stories in a heady mix to soothe the soul and lift the heart.

I would love to mention all the warm up acts by name as they all have a great deal of talent, but I need to get onto the main event.

The lady in question

Kate Tempest, a lady of promisingly expanding renown who still seems to be chuffed to bits to be here as she launched her new book Everything Speaks.

She presented a collection of the mythical and the personal with a warmth, humour and enthusiasm to charm any cynic.

This exuberance unfortunately meant that she lost her flow a little, but she gained it back in style and kept everyone smiling.

Surprises and emotion

Smiling so much in fact that she even won an unsought marriage proposal.

I don't think I've ever seen her bow her head or blush before.

A wonderful evening, a standing ovation and an emotional roller coaster.

Tuesday 21 August 2012

We care about disability, no really, we do...

So the paralympics is about to kick off.

Billboards are thanking the able for the warm-up.

It is at this point that I find this update on the Together2012 website, saying:

Please note that the activities planned for London Pleasure Gardens during the Paralympics have been CANCELLED due to the closure of the venue.

WHAT?!





I thought we were meant to be celebrating all that disabled people had to offer.

So do we do this by closing venues and messing up that celebration?

Cheers.

Saturday 4 August 2012

Olympics euphoria

Obviously a big up to all the Olympic athletes.

But spare a thought for:


You will love her, I do.

Friday 3 August 2012

Snuffing out the competition

I was unexpectedly invited out to watch a punk band in Camden.

All there really is to say is: they were blinding.

However, I will elaborate.

Going in blind

Due to the unexpected nature of this journey I will have to admit I had no idea what I was about to see.

Turns out it was to see a band called Snuff.

It seems they have been going for something like forever.

And with good reason.

They are tight, inventive, fun and just down right impressive.

Good feeling

All this time listening to slightly pained wank on the radio and I could have been seeking solice in bands like this, oh well.

It brightened up my day, week, month, possibly even year.

And Snuffites, if you think that's being full of shit: fuck you.