Count Up To Edinburgh #7 It's getting closer...

Yea, not long now. So this last two weeks I've had some sort of headcold / flu / hay fever / avian influenza which has limited my output a bit. Really annoying, can't seem to shake it either, but I'm treating it like an Edinburgh lurgy preview as it's likely I'll get run down up there, they say most people do. The early performances have been improving, my knowledge of paracetamol based products is now a lot better than it was.

Speaking of previews, was in Guilford this Monday just gone for Keystone Poetry. It's a regular Poetry night run by Donnal Depmsey and the now Janice Dempsey. (They've very recently got married are now officially the Jay-Z and Beyonce of the poetry game.) Back in January they offered me the chance to do a preview of C/D Borderline. They rreally are lovly people and have always been supportive of me All in all, it went really well and was a good test of the material. I couldn't get any of the audio to work so all I had was the stories themselves, so I had to riff a bit between them but it was all ok. There's a nice review of it here

 

 As I've wrote in previous Edinburgh blogs, one of the aims of going up this year was seeing If I can actually pull it off, meaning organise what I need to do. This can be anything from sorting out a tech operator, to getting flyers designed and printed. So in these last few weeks I've managed to get a flyer designed (I used www.styloclay.com highly recommended!) and I've written a press release. Yea, a press release. Imagine that. Felt like a right nob writing it, it's worse than writing bio's, it's like I had to channel the inner-bellend within and become the worlds worst used car salesman, estate agent and investment banker all rolled into one, some proper mega-prick, all in the hope some journous might, just might come and review the show. Need  to check my soul into rehab after writing that. The alternative of course is to hire a PR firm but that's about £2000. You get the picture. As soon as I work out how to convert a PDF to JPEG then I'll stick the flyer up, maybe not the press release though yea.Hold tight Gary From Leeds (again) and Rosie Knight for helping me out though.

I've managed to sort my travel this weekend. Knew it was going to be expensive so I took the hit, weren't quite as bad as I was expecting tough but still a lot of dough. I'm gonna fly up there on the 5th (it was cheaper than the train, silly isn't it? Hold tight Jeremy Corbyn), which is nice as it's from Gatwick so I'll probably go back to the manor and see my parents before I go. Coming back on the 28th on the train with Gary From Leeds, who knows what state we'll be in. Either way, it's coming up fast now but I'm just about moving in the right direction. Lots more to do but I'm getting there...

A Tale From The Bedsit / 3 Mile Radius @ Richmix

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.. 

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!

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!

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!!!

The Bedsit Is HERE!

...Technically it never went away, but I did, I moved away, into a flat and then about 8 years later I've made a show about living in that Bedsit and you can come and see that show, next month, at the Roundhouse, look, here's is a LINK where you can purchase a ticket! (can you tell I'm excited??!..and nervous!)

Approximately 2 years ago I'd written the first segment of the show, which I sent via some muggy audio clip to my mate and don of dons Talia Randal, later that summer I attended a workshop session at the Roundhouse where you could pitch an idea for a show, after speaking with Roundhouse legend Sylvia Harrison, she then put the wheels in motion and set up a meeting for me with another Roundhouse legend Lucy Aitkinson, who's been producing the show ever since. This time last year I was finishing the second part of the show and starting the third. (It was originally a trilogy of stories) I then joined forces with the mighty Stef O' Driscol  in January and almost a year later, several scratches, feedback sessions, meetings and god knows how many versions and script amendments later, here we are with one big hour long show, A Tale From The Bedsit. Completing what has now become a wicked little team, there is a banging sound design by Phil Davies, an amazing set design by India Banks and Lucy Mcgowan, and another Roundhouse legend Liz Counsell!

It's a site specific thing, all the shows (bar the final one on the Sunday which will be in the studio theater for a bigger audiance) will take place in the Camden Lock Hotel over the road. It will be small groups in with me, nice and intimate, just like it was back in the real bedsit!

Yep, that's me

The show forms part of a 2 week long festival the Roundhouse have curated called The Last Word and as far as I know, is the first spoken word festival, of sorts, in London and features work form the likes of Kate Tempest, John Berkavitch, Poejazzi, Talia Randal, Sean Mahoney, Katie Bonna, Lemm Sissay, Roundhouse Poetry Collective and MORE!
This is what it states on the website:

THE LAST WORD

"A Festival of Spoken Word, Storytelling and Live Performance

16 Nov - 1 Dec

London’s first ever spoken word festival, The Last Word is two weeks of words, live performances and storytelling.

The UK’s leading spoken word performers alongside an new generation of artists bring an unmissable line up of shows, installations, take-away poetry, opportunities to get involved with master classes and panel discussions."

Here's the You Tube trailer which I got my mug on outside a record shop in Soho (I wanted Blackmarket Records but the noise coming of it was too loud..) All of us in the video were asked to read a poem written especially by Jess Green...

 

If you're interested, I've put a link up where you can see a few other blogs I've put up over the last few months about the show, just click on the right where it says A Tale From The Bedsit. 

Then, COME AND SEE IT! It runs from Nov 26th to Dec 1st.

Hope to see you there!

Paul

My Activites: New vid and National Poetry Day

Been a busy old week this week. A few firsts. First first, was a visit to a new poetry and hip hop night on Tuesday called Spit It Out, which is run by Of The Red Productions utilizing their skills with film, each performer gets a video as part of it. There were a whole heap of performers there so it was nice to kick back and take it in, I did an old piece, which you see below called London Calling, felt it was appropriate seeing as I have recently moved back to London, at last.

So second first, and onto last night, I performed as part of national poetry day celebration, down in Havant in Hampshire, at a venue called The Spring Arts & Heritage center.
It was a wicked night called Strictly Speaking, which was part of a local literature festival (I even saw my mug on a few posters in the shopping center!) and I was on a mighty fine bill, which was put together by Apples and Snakes  with Megan Beech, Indigo Williams and Simon Mole. There were a lot of young people in the audience, comprised from 2 local schools, it was a really nice vibe. Everyone stepped up and smashed it, the audience were great, venue was great, can't ask for much more really...

I'm off today to go and film a promo video for the Last Word festival, which is the festival my show A Tale From The Bedsit, will be featured in... 

Until next time

Paul

Come Rhyme With Me 2012

Happy New Year and all that. Have a wee look at the fresh E-Flyers for CMWM, which is a wicked event run by fellow Rubix members Deanna Rodger and Dean Atta. They theme the night around a menu and there is also the option of having a Caribbean meal. The night started back in July 2010 and I was lucky enough to be "The Starer" on the menu, it was also the day I left my old job, so fond memories. Since then, theve now expanded into Brighton, and this year I will be performing at both events in March, on the 15th (Brighton) and 29th (London). They line-ups are always top notch and the food is wicked too!

Rubix In The Booth

   

So now that the Rubix: The Red (Click for a listen) is out in the digital supermarket of cyber space, here's a few pictures from the day we went into the EMI Studio at Roundhouse to record...

A Visual Blast from the Past

 A few days ago, an old friend of mine from school sent me an email saying he'd come across some DTP pictures and did I want to have a look. As soon as I saw them a had a wee chuckle to myself, not just because I had a shaved eyebrow, how serious the pictures are and the fact that I still wear that blue Nike hoody (though most of the blue has by now faded) but it made me realise how much has changed since then (I think the pictures must have been from 2002), but also, how much hasn't!


DTP (Digital Transition Promotions) was a little crew set up myself and a guy I was at Crawley College with called Mike (Mickey T, though back then his DJ name was Delusion), we're still very good mates now and speak often.


He was a DJ, I was an MC and we both wanted to perform. They were quite a lot of people doing it back then in the Crawley, Horley, Redhill and Croydon areas but not many places to do it at. Looking back, we wanted to create a small local scene for underground music, but in hindsight, having London half an hour north and Brighton half an hour south, it was wishful thinking!


Anyway, we eventually got a monthly event at this little nightclub in Horley called the Liquid Lounge (which over the years had several name changes and often had it's licence revoked but it was always the same family owning it, just a different brother!). The venue had possibly the most 2 bob soundsystem I have ever come across and was certainly not in anyway equipped to handle sub heavy Garage and Drum and Bass. There weren't many nights that didn't have some kind of punch up either during or after (having lots of different rude boys, and not many girls, from a series of small towns in the same space was never a good idea) but I learnt a lot from doing those and we drove on. We eventually ran 2 nights down in Brighton and forged links in London and many other places. We set up a website, had a bank account, T shirts and business cards, banners and we owned a bit of equipment. Not bad a for a pair of 18/19 year olds, I'm quite proud (There was also a 3rd guy for a while, another old mate called Marc, who was also a DJ, the 3 of us are at the front of 2 of the pictures).


We wanted to run events where it wasn't just the same style of Music all night long. Myself and Mike both had a passion for most forms of underground dance music and wanted to push it all, as well   as give ourselves and others a platform to perform, as gigs were to hard to come by.


In the end, it didn't quite work and it all died down. I realised event running weren't really for me, and often at our events we found some people to be very closed minded about other genres of music, even between Garage and Drum and Bass. However, low and behold, with this new umbrella term of "UK Bass" or whatever it is, DJ's now seem to be drawing for tune across the board. It's not uncommon to hear Garage, Jungle,  House, Dubstep and Techno all blended in to sets now which I think is wicked.


What hasn't changed is my own drive. Back then, all I thought about (apart form girls of course) was how we could push DTP. What was the next thing we could do, lyrics I could MC with, should we set up a record label etc etc, it's never stopped and has continued, in my head, through every job, lunch break, bed time and holiday I've had since. I learnt a lot doing all that back then, one day, I hope, it might just pay off! 

Boobs Work And Me

Back in August, I performed for a week alongside fellow Poets Gary From Leeds and Sean Mahoney, at the Hen and Chickens Theatre Islington, as the warm up acts for this touching and funny show by Richard Purnell called "Boobs Work And Me". It was a lot of fun, from the show to re3cording the promo video (see below) and we had some really good audiences. I even indirectly gaines my first review from Londonist.com http://londonist.com/2011/08/review-richard-purnell-and-friends-hen-and-chickens.php

The Infamous Pencil Case

.....and here it is in all it's glory. Picture taken by Chimene Sullymen at a writing session for Secret Gardern Party

Hello!

A few months ago I performed at a wicked event put on Sonneni And The Soul, in Kentish Town. A few days after the gig I was contacted by a dood called Savvy Caranicola, completely out the blue, who was at the gig. He asked me If I would be willing to write something about any barriers I've had to overcome being an artist, as Savvy had to create a piece of art based on research as part of his degree. I felt honoured to have been contacted let alone asked to write something. 

Anyway, after thinking about it, a lot, I went away and wrote a pretty long article, which Sav went away, sifted though and came up with this wicked piece below.

Big up Sav!

More Pictures

This picture was taken at a launch event I performed at for http://www.somewhereto.com/ alongside felow Rubix members Sean Mahoney and Bridget Minamore. It was at Shunt and that is me at the very top of the almight Money machine. Yes, it was quite high up there

Upcoming Gigs

Greetings

Some gigs I'm doing that are up and coming:

WEDNESDAY EXPRESS EXCESS AT THE THE ENTERPRISE IN CAMDEN

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=170685886315289

SATURDAY THE 26TH JAPAN FUND AT THE QUEENS HEAD ISLINGTON

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=203353586360728

MONDAY 28TH HEADSTAND AT THE EMPEROR CAMBRIDGE

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116425038435977

THURSDAY 31ST SONENI & THE SOUL AT ANIE'S BAR KENTISH TOWN

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=195401450499587

SUNDAY 10TH APRIL JAZZ CODE AT THE HALF MOON PUTNEY

House Party

At the moment all roads point to The Roundhouse on March 9th for The Rubix  work in progress show of "House Party." Were now deep into rehearsals and gearing up for lift off so come join us

http://www.ayoungertheatre.com/feature-roundhouse-rubix-poetry-collective/

Plastering My Pasty Face On People Is Paving The Way Towards...?

Greetings again

After attending The Tongue In-Chic Poetry Forum  recently in Oxford, I left thinking that I'm never going to get anyway if no one knows who I am. I always believed that regardless how much talent a person had if they weren't willing to put the work in they wouldn't succeed.

In the world of Spoken Word, this hard work I speak of refers to performing (as well as all the work that goes into performing such as writing and practising). I am in the fortunate position of being in London where one can attend a spoken word event pretty much every night of the week. To date, I think I've been to maybe half of those nights on a handful of occasions - in short - not good enough!

With the exception of those rare occasions where a person / band / actor etc is plucked out of obscurity by a major record label or company with the money and power to build a PR machine the sise of Russia, slogging your guts out is par for the course, well, that's the way I see it anyway. So I will be trying my best to attend as many of these events as possible.


Speaking of which, I recently attended 3 events which I hadn't been to before, 2 of which I got to perform at. Starting with a night in Catford, run by Mark Mr T Thompson called Mixed Messages. A great night which was packed, wall to wall, I'm guessing maybe there were a 150 people there perhaps?!

This was taken of me performing at Mixed Messages 

On Thursday 3rd February, last week I performed for the first time at Rum Punch in central London. This night is run by Partners In Rhyme (Comfort and Saran) which again was jam packed with a really good crowd.

Both Pictures taken at Rum Punch by SLOETRY   http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Ftinyurl.com%2F63xaq2p&h=4235d

Then On Sunday 6th Febuary I went RRRants at the Canden Eye. I've been aware of the RRRants collective for a while now http://www.rrrants.com/ who run events in and out of London as well as doing a lot of work within Schools. I didn't perform at this event but fellow Rubix member Talia Randal did as well as a host of other really good performers including some wicked music.

I've also been back in the studio this week doing some more music which I hope will begin to see the light of day very soon, to run alongside my pastey face (hopefully) lighting up as many gigs as possible. Here's too it

Paul

Some Photo's

Here are some flyers and "action shots" from various events I've performed at

Taken From The show "The greatest poet that ever lived" at The Banshee in Endinburgh as part of the festival. With his back to the camera is Eusibo Mir form part of Rubix

This was the whole cast of "Better Humans" in July 2009 at BAC. It was my first ever foray into theatre and very memorable

This was the first slam I ever won at Farrago, October 2009

Taken form the Richmond Play festival, at the back is Talia Randal and Sean Mahoney both from Rubix

Taken outside the Carnivale Bar in east Lonodn shortley before gig, Janury 2010