Me, at Jazz Verse Jukebox at Ronnie Scott's, Tomorrow!

TONIGHT, TONIGHT, TONGIHT!!!

No Frills live @ Cabaret Lounge

Performed this live back last year for a live spoken word and music set I did with Conrad Murray

Lyrix Organix @ Freeway Poets Bournemouth

Roll up roll up: Fresh from doing the Bedsit show again I'm off down to sunny Bournemouth with the Lyrix Organix crew, should be fun...

https://www.facebook.com/events/271490836380335/

A Tale From The Bedsit / 3 Mile Radius @ Richmix

Bang Said The Gun 18th Sep

Been a wee while since I've stepped on the Bang stage, legendary it is! Liz Bentley, me and all the usal Bang crew tomorrow night,. should be a blast

Fri 26th Sept: A Tale from the Bedsit + 3 Mile Radius @ Richmix

Hello and happy friday! So, I alluded to this a bit previously, but I'm now very pleased and excited to announce that on Friday 26th September at Richmix I'll be performing a newly staged version of A Tale From The Bedsit in a double bill alongside good friend and fellow word artist Talia Randall in her newly re-developed show 3 Mile Radius. This is all in preparation for us hopefully embarking on a national tour in 2015, you can get tickets for the whole evening for £10  HERE which includes an after party in the bar with good tunes, booze and maybe me and Talia jumping on the mic, have a butchers at all the info below, there's some links and that and hopefully we'll see you there, yea? sweet!

A Tale from the Bedsit + 3 Mile Radius + After Party! A double bill of two spoken word theatre shows featuring teenage MC lyrics, awkward kisses and old skool Drum and Bass raves. Plus an after party, and all for £10! Both shows have been re-developed to prepare for a national tour next year - 'A Tale from the Bedsit' has been restructured to suit bigger audiences and '3 Mile Radius' has added live visuals from international VJ collective Eyes on the Wall, direction from Rachel Blackman and set design from India Banks. Talia and I would love it if you could join us on September 26th at the Rich Mix. Book you tickets in advance here: http://www.richmix.org.uk/whats-on/event/double-bill-paul-crees-a-tale-from-the-bedsit-copy/

'A Tale from the Bedsit' Written and Performed by Paul Cree, directed by Stef O’Driscoll. Come in, kick back, take your shoes off, or keep them on, have a cuppa and make yourself comfy. Let’s go back to an era of eight carrot jewellery, high fades, Nike tn’s and drum & bass where it is important to remember, that when the chips are down, it’s the little things that count. This is an intimate and autobiographical coming of age tale by spoken word artist and writer Paul Cree, set in his bedsit amongst the books, tape packs and comics of his youth. Leaving the mundane monotony of his hometown for the bright lights of Brighton, a new job and his first love the world seems bigger somehow. A witty and honest tale that reminds us of our own journeys, mistakes and joys. A Roundhouse production, ‘A Tale from the Bedsit’ was first presented at the Roundhouse as part of ‘The Last Word Festival’ followed by a run at The Battersea Arts Centre "The kind of art you get lost in time in" – Poejazzi www.paulcreewrites.com @PaulCree  '3 Mile Radius' Written and performed by Talia Randall with Elian Gray, Jamie Payne featuring Eyes on the Wall. Directed by Rachel Blackman “My people learnt to fear what we don’t know, so we never left the postcode” '3 Mile Radius' is a journey through chicken shops, nightclubs and schoolrooms. Fusing spoken word, music and live visuals this is one girl’s realisation that her adolescent blunders lasted longer than she imagined. Launched at the Roundhouse in 2012, Talia Randall’s debut show from comes to the Rich Mix for a second time after a sell out performance last year. '3 Mile Radius' is also available as an EP via independent record label Emerging Species. "Talia walks the tightrope between nostalgia and what matters now like someone with an equal respect for craft and a need to play. And someone who is f***ing brilliant at walking tightropes" – Polarbear “Talia’s voice is strong and distinctive and her verses have many moments of wit, humour and humanity” – Poejazzi www.taliarandall.com @taliarandall

New Vid: Lost Days Lost

Greetings, Friday and all that.

Been a nice little week for me, not quite as hectic as the last few. Did Shambala fest last week which I really enjoyed, I was in the Storytelling tent as part of the Natural Born Storytellers, which is an event that runs in Camden. Loads of decent stories and slightly different to the sort of spoken word events I usually do.

This week I hooked up Conrad Murray, who I collaborate with regularly and we made a little video for Lost Days Lost, which I've been doing at gigs quite a lot recently, have a butchers!

Gigs, Festivals and that

Bonjour

Been a bust last month for me, working on summer youth projects with both Battersea Arts Centre and The Albany, which has been a lot of fun and a big learning curve. Worked with some great young people, who all put on performances from work they generated during devising sessions. I'd go as far as saying I actually prefer watching youth theatre shows as opposed to fully developed professional ones, but anyway, that's for another day..

Shambala Festival

On Sunday at 7pm, I'm going to be in the Story Telling Yurt doing an exert from The Bedsit show, there's gonna be 11 other story tellers in there, all speaking on the theme of My First Time. Should be a laugh!

In The Woods Festival

Sat 30th, I'm doing a super extended 40 minute set, don't get that long very often so I'm looking foreword to it! Did this festival last year  and it's in a very nice setting, also, in the bit I'll be performing in, it's all done on them silent disco headphones, which is nuts, but works very well!

Bang Said The Gun

Sept 18th, not only is Bang back for their summer break but I'm back! It's been a while since I've done a gig there, always love Bang, easily one of the best nights in London, if not the world!

A Tale From The Bedsit / 3 Mile Radius @ Richmix

Speaking of the Bedsit show, I'm mad excited about this, it's gonna be a little different from the shows I've done before and it's also double bill with Talia Randall and her 3 Mile Radius show but more about this very shortly...

New vid: Rhythm

Back in June, did this great event as part of the Late @ Tate series, put on by the A And the E, was a fun night!

    

Some People I've Seen Recently No.2

Following on from last weeks blog where I put Riki Livermore and Cate Ferris on, here's two others whom I performed with back in May at the Crawley event for Come Rhyme With Me.

First up is Sabrina Mafhouz. For me Sabrina is one of the best and someone that has accomplished a lot. A great performer and writer who's very entertaining to watch and also very poignant.

l

Hollie McNish flew in from Belfast that night, straight to Crawley for the gig. Smashed it. Then had to head off elsewhere straight away after. She's in demand and I think there's a good reason why. She's very very good. What I like about Hollie, also Sabrina too, is that they have the ability to talk about huge issues, but in a way that's authentic and not generic, which I think is something that's very difficult to do and certianly something that I don't think I'd be able to do. Here's a decent example

Some people I've seen recently no.1

Hello

This is the first of a few posts which I'm going to do featuring some performers who i've been lucky enough to perform with recently, who, for various reasons, I've been really impressed by and probably learnt a thing or two from.

First up, is Cate Ferris I saw her when we both performed at Hector Hears back in April, which is a night run by Lyrix Organix. The whole night was pretty special but I thought Cate was pretty sick. I've seen a lot of people use loops but she took it to another level for me. Multi instrumentalist, great voice and good lyrics. Have a butchers.

The first bank holiday in May I was at Streetfest in East London, this time courtesy of Ash and Music Is Remedy. I was on the un-signed stage and was one of only 2 spoken word acts, the other being Rik The Most. Outdoor gigs are never easy, particularly when you're an accapella act, you have to really hold the audiences attention as best you can, and it's especially hard when it's a festival and there's loads more things to go and go and experience, but Rik stepped up and did the business. To top it all he's a very nice dood and we wound up gigging again a few weeks later. He co-runs a monthly spoken word night over in Stoke Newington called Forget What You Heard.

New poems on the Soundcloud

Hello!

After that good stretch of gigs, I've loaded a few new bits up on the Soundcloud. Enjoy

P.S I thought England did alright to be honest. I was pleased to see them actually trying to pass the ball between them and attack, I'm pretty sure the last 6 years the only goals England ever seemed to score were from dead balls...

Lost Days Lost

Rhythm

 

Turbo Breeze

Appearance on Croydon Radio, Poets Anonymous show

Last few busy days have nice and busy, what with the gigs at Tate for the A And The E show, Lyrix Organix at Filthy's on Saturday, Hammer & Tongue Camden on Monday, but also this appearance on Croydon radio for the Poets Anonymous show.

HERE IS A LINK TO LISTEN BACK / DOWNLOAD 

Poets Anonymous are a collective of poets and writers based around the Croydon area that have been running since 1990, when I was a wee nipper obsessing over David Platt's goal against Belgium, during the world cup. I attend one of their monthly sessions at Matthew's Yard  and they kindly invited on their monthly radio show and I dually obliged. Had a wicked time. I was on the show with Nick Alldridge. These guys have been writing years and have tonnes of knowledge and experience which I don't have, so it was a pleasure!

After the Hammer & Tounge on Monday marked the end of the best run of gigs I've ever had, which has seen me share of stage with lots of new and old performers, I'm gonna, over the few weeks be featuring these on here, almost as a record for me, it's been a memorable few weeks. Enjoy the Football....

Late@Tate's Friday 6th June

Hello

This Friday I'll saying a few words and that as part of the The A & The E curated segment of Late At Tate at the Tate Britain. Pretty excited about this one. Tate and all that. There's some other performances on that night too so should be fun.

Line up:

Greta Bellamacina
Rena Meownegishi
Leti Mortimer
Hadiru Mahdi
Belinda Zhawi
Bridget Minamore
Paul Cree
Andrea Phillips
Giulia Loi

and 

Rivah Feseha (Work It)

Here's a little video I did at a The A & The E event back in December.. 

New old bits on the soundcloud

Hello

Over the last few few months, I've been slowly loading all the old bits that I've been performing out, plus a few extras, over the last few years onto the soundcloud. Stuck a few more up this week.

The Plight of St George

I wrote this story prior to the last 2010 World Cup. Football fascinates me for a lot reasons. Some good, some bad. I've met a lot of people over the years who talk with a genuine intelligence on the game but would never be considered intelligent in some circles. Shame that

The Irony of it All

This was written for the final of a slam competition I was in called Manorlogz back in 2010. It was boracdcast on a SKY channel way up in the high numbers. I never perfomred it again afater that.

Misc Stuff, like the Poejazzi app and some gigs and that

Hello

It's a Monday and I'm reflecting. Last week was a good week, so I'm going to do a little roundup.

Poejazzi App

Those nice people over at Poejazzi have produced this sweet little poetry app, which has recorded audio, text, illustration and a whole host of banging poets. They are featuring one in each week and it was my turn last, (well actually it was the week before..). The piece I did is called Highland Blues, which I wrote probably about 2 years ago and is about growing up and seeing my father in myself, and that kind of thing. So far to feature has been Gareth Lewis, Molly Naylor, James Massiah, Rachel Rose Reid, Hollie McNish, Alex Gwyther, Catherine Martindale, Sean Mahoney, Anna Lee with more to come. You can download it for free from Itunes Google Play Samsung Apps

Gigs

I'm pretty fortunate to be on a really good run of gigs at the moment, the best one I've had in a long time, possibly ever. Over the last month I've featured at BoxedIn, Hector Hears, Streetfest, Come Rhyme With Me Crawley, but this Thursday I'm going to be heading up to Birmingham for the first time to feature at Hit The Ode  a night which is run by a great poet called Bohdan Piasecki  and Apples &Snakes. Then the friday after is the Brighton leg of Come Rhyme With Me.

Other Stuff

Last Thursday I was invited down to Christ's Hospital school in West Sussex to run a workshop. This came off the back of a Poetry From The Heart completion, where I met 2 of their students, Kobby Adi (who won the competition that night) and Leeza Awojobi. They told me about a Spoken Word club they run at their School and after a few emails from Leeza, I eventually went down there and met the group, who are all aged between 13 and 18 and have around 25 people that turn up each week to thier sessions. It's hard not be impressed by the school itself, which is a collection of huge old buildings set in the Sussex countryside, where they still preserve the old traditions of the school, like the tudor uniforms, however, what impressed me most was the group themselves. They run it all off their own backs and host their own events within the school.  There was a lot of talented people within the group, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of them start appearing on the spoken word radar in the near future.  I had a very nice time!

Come Rhyme With Me

Happy Friday and all that!

Tonight, I start a nice little 3-legged gig run with Come Rhyme With Me starting in Crawley today, then Brighton on May 16th (feat Sabrina Mahfouz and Kendel Hippolyte) and finishing May 30th in London (feat Moona Moon and Jay Bernard). 

Crawley is a town where I did a lot of my growing up and still have a lot of fond memories so I'm pretty excited, my parents are coming! It's part of the annual Crawley Wordfest which is a jam packed schedule of decent events happening around the town. The line up for Crawley features heavyweights Hollie McNish, Sabrina Mahfouz, and of course Dean Atta and Deanna Rodger who run the event. Come and reach!

Talia Randall: Common Room video

Whilst in the middle of the run for her excellent Roundhouse Circus Fest show, Expectation (which is a collaboration with aerialist Maddie Mcgowan, which I saw last Friday and is banging, and the last night is TONIGHT!!!) Talia has gone and dropped this amazing video for Common Room, which is a piece off her début EP from last year Six Mile Radius. 

The whole project used 13 animators who all picked different parts of the piece. Have a butchers!

Common Room from Common Room Animation Project on Vimeo.

Real Talks@ April 24th @Hoxton Hall

Thought I'd give a mention to this event coming up next week at Hoxton Hall, called Real Talks. It's curated by friend and Bedsit show director Stef O'Driscol and Kam Sandhu who runs the excellent REALFARE blog). The event aims to highlight important issues, affecting us all,  through talks and performance.

The first event is called A Jobs's Worth and includes a decent list of panellists (have a butchers at the flyer below), all talking about employment, Unfortunately I won't be there as I'm doing another gig, but you can peep my pasty mug alongside a bunch of other superstars in the trailer below..

Up-Coming Gigs

Hey

So I'm back out of the theatre and into doing spoken word gigs again, and a few people have been kind enough to book me! I have been working on new pieces so I'm looking forward to getting gigging again, here's what's coming up...

Hector Hears, April 24th

It's a new night, mixed line up, just how I like it, it's in South London too! It's a pretty tasty line up, have a butchers

CATE FERRIS
Captivating songstress on guitar, keys, drums & loopstation (Dizraeli & Small Gods)
http://www.cateferris.com/

K ANDERSON
Enchanting soul/folk singer-songwriter #Soulkulele
http://www.iam-kanderson.com/

PAUL CREE
Outstanding spoken word artist/writer; critically-acclaimed solo show Tales From The Bedsit (Roundhouse, BAC)
http://www.paulcreewrites.com/

PIERRE DA SILVA
Future acoustic soul star rising quickly through Lyrix Organix's ranks
http://youtu.be/aFUG_ms1Mco

Streetfest, May 4th 

Again, I've performed at this before, it's a whole day, which some big acts so should be fun, I'm on the un-signed stage, I think...

Come Rhyme With Me (Crawley WordFest)

oi oi back in the manor!!!!! Crawley is where I did a lot of my growing up, I lived next door in Horley but always went to school in Crawley, lots of my mates lived there, so I'm excited for this. Come Rhyme With Me is one of the best nights in london, and also Brighton, and their bringing it to Crawley! Sick line up too, Dean Atta, Deanna Rodger and guests, Hollie McNish, Sabrina Mafouz and me! There's a whole bunch of events going on for Crawley Wordfest too so worth checking out...I'm also performing at the Come Rhyme With Me events in Brighton on May 16th, and London on May 30th

Come Into The Garden, May 10th

Curated by the wonderful Lettie McKie, I think this one is an alfresco afair in the lovley surroundings of Duclich Village, yes I'm going in the word, good line up

Free
To celebrate Dulwich Artists Open House Lettie Mckie hosts a poetry open mic night with a difference. Surrounded by art of all shapes, sizes and genres (including Street Art), sip on our pink vodka cocktails, soothed by ambient jazz piano before settling in for an inspiring evening of spoken word and open mic. 
Our line up
// Sh’Maya
Sh’maya is a spoken word artist who will carry you away with his lyricism and unique performance style. His slick verbal riffs and incredible imagery will have you spellbound. http://www.shmaya.co.uk/
// Paul Cree
Hot off the press from performing his one man show a Tale from the Bedsit at Roundhouse and Battersea Arts Centre Paul is a calmly confident poet, his words understated and compelling.
http://www.paulcreewrites.com/
// Talia Randall
A founding member of Roundhouse’s first poetry collective Rubix Talia weaves insightful storytelling with thought provoking imagery drawn from her teenage years. http://www.taliarandall.com/

If you want a slot on the open mic just click 'attending' and write a request on the event page. Turn up early on the night to confirm your slot!

March 2014 (nuts!)

Greetings...

So, March was a pretty busy Month. I've been enjoying spending some time at home of late, working on some new bits and having a bit of a rest after all the activities of the last month...

A Tale From The Bedsit

It all worked out well. I really enjoyed the run at BAC, had some great audiences in and lots of new faces which was really nice, managed to pick up a couple more reviews as well, got another one from EVERYTHING THEATRE and POEJAZZI which I was chuffed about. The British Library came and filmed it for their archives, which is nuts! The show they came for, was probably the best one as well, it never works that way!.. I'm waiting to see what happens next with the show, hopefully more..err shows! In the meantime, here's some pictures Stef took from the rehearsals..

No Milk For The Foxes

So straight after I finished the Bedsit show, I went straight into rehearsals the next day, with Conrad Murray, for the Foxes show. We were performing a work-in-progress, kind of like a first draft really, at the Camden people's Theatre. We had no idea what to expect, I think what Conrad and I are doing is quite different, in the way we perform and how we've developed it but it went really well. So much so, were hopefully going into full development..fingers crossed

This was pretty much our set for the show

Play Festival

The Young Producer program at Battersea Arts Centre I have been working with as artist, since the beginning of the year had their 3 day festival in March and it all went off pretty damn well! they had programmed several artists and installations and fun rooms, all around the theme of childhood and play. It went off a treat, really proud of the team!

The team, minus Charlie

A Tale From The Bedsit - Photos

These were some pictures that were taken prior to the first run at Roundhouse, in the Camden Lock Hotel, hopefully you get the gist...

All Pictures by Stuart Leech

Deep in thought, or just pretending for the cameras? 

Is this what I look like when I talk?..I look like I'm gurning.. I was probably talking about Raves again.

Me and Phil, Davies, the All star looking trainers, they're Stef's, the AirMax are mine, course they are!

No caption

Look at the Rave flyers!!!

A Tale From The Bedsit @ Battersea Arts Centre

Greetings, on this fine glorious today.

On Monday the 21st Match I'm going into to Battersea Arts Centre to begin the second run of A Tale From The Bedsit. I've been spending the last few weeks re-familiarising myself with the text again, though December wasn't that long ago, it's surprising how much I had forgotten! I'm on course though and looking forward to getting into a new space with Stef O' Driscol (director) and Phil Davies (Sound designer) and India Banks (set designer) we're doing it for a good sized crowd this time, should be a lot fun!

You can book tickets HERE

..also here's an extract from the show I recorded for Soundcloud

A TALE FROM THE BEDSIT

Paul Cree 17 - 21 Mar 9pm Running Time: 45min Price: £12, £9 concs Recommended for ages 14+ Come in, kick back, take your shoes off, or keep them on, have a cuppa and make yourselves comfy. This intimate and autobiographical coming-of-age tale by spoken word artist and writer Paul Cree set in his bedsit amongst the books, tapes and comics of his youth. Leaving the mundane monotony of his hometown for the bright lights of Brighton, a new job and his first love the world seems bigger somehow. A witty & honest tale that reminds us of our own journeys, mistakes and joys. A Roundhouse Production Written and Performed by Paul Cree Directed by Stef O’Driscoll DOUBLE BILL See A Tale from the Bedsit with John Berkavitch's Shame at 7:30pm (17-19 Mar only) for £20 (£15 concs). This offer will be applied automatically to your baske

Words from the archives #8 Giftwrapped (2012, audio)

Greetings!

Here's another poem I've performed a few times in the last 18 months or so. It was taken form The Red album that I did with Rubix and was released on Roundhouse Records. We had launch that summer at Roundhouse and did another version of the same show at Chelsea Theatre which I've put the video link in for. You can purchase the whole album, all 20 tracks for a mere £7 HERE Enjoy!

No Frills live at the A & E in Decmber

Afternoon

I was just doing a youtube search on myself, sorry about that, I do it from time to time, and came across this. It was filmed at Speaking, which is run the The A and the E  who are a collective of artists, writers and thinkers, headed up by James Massiah.  It was the day after I'd finished the bedsit show, so I was pretty tired, but came out after this event feeling inspired again. All the people they had sharing were pretty sick.  Check out the website, they have video's of loads of cool artists. Enjoy.

Words from the archives #7 Kingpin (2009, audio)

In that one small moment

I became king

The feeling as the ball rolled from my hand,

Arrowing straight down the centre of the lane,

Maintaining a position of perfection,

As it travelled at the speed of delight,

Equal distance between the two gully’s,

Was like, walking out of my house to the bustop,

And without breaking step,

The bus pull's up,

And I casually jump on,

All in front of the prettist girl in the school.

My own projectile missile,

Target locked on.

And Upon Impact,

Producing the harmonic sound of that organised crescendo of chaos,

As the ball struck the centre pin.

The catalyst for the chain reaction,

Collapsing all 10 pins.

Obliterated

Nothing left,

Only the vegas like synthetic strip lighting highlighting my glory,

As if all the balls on the other lanes,

Were bowled at once and syncronised like a 21 gun salute.

X marked the screen.

I'd long ago accepted my position in all this,

My rank being verbal punch-bag,

In the great mis-order of things.

I'm the one you wonna' play pool against,

after you've just taken a whipping.

I'm the one you wonna push around after you've just taken a kicking.

I'm the one you wonna take the piss out of when you're trying to chat up women.

I'm the one you wonna talk too, when you're confidence has gone missing.

My social scene is like a fruit machine

My mates are like the cherries,

Always in pairs.

I'm the lemon,

Solitary and sour.

I turned back round,

And saw my 3 friends,

And their girlfreinds,

With their mouths open wide,

As if they were about to engage in speech,

But nothing was coming out,

Just particles of stake breath.

I never knew silence could make a sound so beautiful