New material @ Scratch That Hackney

Evening. This Thursday I'm gonna be trying out some new material at Scratch That Hackney in yes, you guessed it, Morden. No, not really, it's in Hackney, in the picturehouse up in the attic. It's pretty  banging in there, I did a spot back in May just before I dropped The 90 Sick E.P it's a really good way to try out stuff on a audience.

Either way, here's the Faceache link for the event details, I'm gonna be doing some stuff form this show I'm working on, which is an extension of the Sick E.P I mentioned abaove. It's a really good line-up, including Gary From Leeds who's also working ona new show. Should be a laugh!

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!

Words From The Archives: #1 Dial SOS For Mum

Today I was looking though my files trying to find an old piece I used to perform and came across a lot of old stuff I'd written that I thought would be nice to post up. Reading through this one, I can't help thinking how much has changed, my circumstances, the way I write etc.


This peice was written in the first term I did under Polabear at The Roundhouse, somewhere between September and December 2009. I've mentioned before when posting old stuff, that I used to always write in capitols back then. I think it was just a habit I somehow got into and was scared to break, for that reason though, I've left it as it is. 

DIAL SOS FOR MUM

SAT ON THE KITCHEN TABLE

PHONE IN MY HAND READY TO DIAL

EAGER TO TELL ANOTHER TALE

A SIMILAR STORY DIFFERENT PREDICAMENT

SAME THEME OF STRUGGLE AND STRESS

KEEPING UP WITH THE REST AND STAYING AFLOAT

I'D LOVE TO PHONE MUM MORE OFTEN

AND TELL OF HER SUCCESS

THAT I'M NOT SKINT, I'M HAPPY IN MY JOB

 AND I'M ABOUT TO SETTLE WITH A LOVLEY GIRL

BUT AT PRESENT

I DON'T

SO I DIAL AND MUM ANSWERS

CARM AND REASSURING AS EVER

HER WORDS GENTLY ENTER MY HEAD,

THOUGH MY EARS AND INTO MY OVERACTIE MIND

SHE'S LIKE A VERBEL RADOX, 

WARM 

AND NICE

I TELL HER WHAT I'M UP TOO AND WHAT I'BE BEEN DOING

I'M FINDING IT HARD AND THAT I'M PRETTY FED UP

MUM SAYS "YOUR DOING REALLY WELL, IT'S LOVLEY TO HEAR FROM YOU AGAIN,

PLEASE PHONE MORE OFTEN"

26 GOING ON 6

LIKE I'VE DROPPED MY LOLLY STICK SO I GO SCREMING TO MY MUM

MY HOLYWOOD TEARS POSE THE QUESTION

OF BEGGING MY MUM TO PRODUCE ANOTHER ONE

SO I'M TELLING MUM OF ANOTHER PENING ADDRESS CHANGE

BOTH ELBOWS ON THE TABLE TORSO BENT FOREWARD

I THINK OF THE ADDRESS BOOK MUM KEEPS BY THE PHONE

AND ALL THOESE ADDRESSESS UNDER MY NAME

EACH ONE WITH AN ARROW STRIKING THOUGH THEM

LIKE THE GRIM REAPER CAME TO VISIT EACH TIME

JUST AFTER I LEFT TOO MOVE TO YET ANOTHER ADDRESS

I WONDER IF MUM EVER THINKS WITH EACH NEW ADDRESS

"WILL HE EVER GET SETTLED"

GOD KNOWS I'M TRYING

MUM KNOWS I'M TRYING

BUT MUM ALSO KNOWS THAT THE ADDRESS BOOK,

IS RAPIDLY RUNNING OUT OF SPACE

AND I'M RAPIDLY RUNNING OUT OF FAITH

AND I'M RAPIDLY RUNNING OUT OF PATEIENCE

AND I'M RAPIDLY RUNNING OUT OF TIME

THE GRIM REPERS WAITING

26 GOING ON 6

LIKE I'VE DROPPED MY LOLLY STICK SO I GO SCREMING TO MY MUM

MY HOLYWOOD TEARS POSE THE QUESTION

OF BEGGING MY MUM TO PRODUCE ANOTHER ONE

I HAVE TO QUESTION MYSELF AS TO WHY I'M EVEN PHONING MUM

'COS I KNOW MUM AND DAD CAN'T PRODUCE ANOTHER LOLLYSTICK

IN THE FORM OF THOUSANDS OF QUIDS

AS MUM TELLS ME WHAT SHE'S UP

ENJOYING HER WELL EARHNED RETIREMENT

I CAN'T HELP THINKING THE REASON I'M PHONING

IS JUST A DEALY TACTIC TO SUPRESS THE REALITY

THE REASURANCE, WISDOM AND COMFORT THAT MY MUMS VOICE BRINGS

SHOULD BE MORE THAN ENOUGH

BUT IT'S LIKE I'M EXPECTING MY MUM'S VOICE,

TO HAVE SOME SORT OF POWER LIKE A SONIC MAJIC WAND

AND MAKE EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE ALLRIGHT

LIKE A NEVER ENDING LOLLYSTICK THAT EACH TIME I LICK

IT DOESNT REDUCE IN SISE IT JUST GETS MORE SWEET

SO I FINISH THE CALL

TELL MUM I'LL PHONE HER MORE OFTEN

AND THEN WONDER HOW MANY MORE KITCHENS I'VE GOTTA SIT IN

BEFORE I CAN PHONE HOME WITHOUT AN AGENDA AND JUST SAY

"HELLO ARE YOU"?

PAGE MATCH 2: BIGGER AND BOLDER!!!

Ah yes, the Pagematch 2!!

The wonderful people over at BANG SAID THE GUN, who run, what is in my opinion, one of the best spoken word nights in London (and there are a lot these days!) have put together, in a way that only they can, the second instalment of the almighty battle that is  PAGE MATCH.

Essentially, this is about fun (The idea was conceived at a very late and drunken hour at a field, in a tent, at the Meadowlands festival last summer) . It's the coming together of some of London's best  spoken word collectives in one event, with all the exaggeration of a classic WWF Royal Rumble. 

The line up speaks for itself. Make no mistake, these are heavyweights! Last year's (suspicious) winners Bang Said The Gun, will be competing alongside my camp, The Rubix, as well as solid contenders Ditry Hands, The Roundhouse Poetry Collective and new but by no means unknown teams Chil Pill, Wordamouth and Apples and Snakes. The judges are as they were, Salena Godden, Charlie Dark and Nial O' Sullivan. It's going to be epic! Only problem is, a renegade collective has sprung up and stolen the Page Match Belt, calling themselvs the PAP see below! ... (for the record this has nothing, nothing, nothing whatsever to do with me, or Sean Mahoney or Peter Hayhoe....nothing at all)