Priorites; New old one up on the Soundcloud

A few months back I was going through the files and found this one. Must be from 3 /4 years ago. Tidied it up, took it down Merton Poets and then bosh! Stuck it up, enjoy

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

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....

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 #6: Dizzee from Change (2010)

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to be putting some of the pieces that I've been performing over the last 3-4 years up on my Soundcloud page. Starting with this one - Dizzee from Change. I wrote as part of a slam competition I finished runner up in at the end of the year, called Manorlogz. It was broadcast on some sort of cable channel which you can see HERE



I vividly remember that transition between garage and grime

Wobbly baselines and eerie synthesizers

Epitomizing the darker side of London life

Gone were the girly vocals

Replaced by raw instrumental space allowing an MC to demonstrate

The delicate balancing act between bravado and flow

As whole studio's previously only available to those with dough,

Were condensed and squeezed onto desktop pc's

Whatever side of the musical divide you chose

The relentless march of evolution wasn’t stopping

Time waits for no man

So the saying goes

And rightly so

Because

I've suffered many a splinter from sitting on fences

Worried that whatever side I decided to climb off Id be defenseless

For years I perched trying to search for the perfect way

To permeate the boundaries of success and away from the doldrums without being seen,

I saw attention as an enemy that could potentially halt my progress

Though thought and action were two factions that rarely agreed

In-bedded in the tred of my trainers is the memory of a thousand pounded pavements

Paces of procrastination.

Paving slabs greeted my feet anytime I sought retreat in my lunch hour

An escape from my place of work.

I took to these walks to create space for thought

My daily tours saw me over analyzing situations beyond contemplation

Until I realized immersing myself in grey clouds of thought

Was a just a subconscious delay tactic

A mental fence on which to sit

Blanketing the reality of mother nature’s very own weather report

Worried about getting caught in a shower when the forecast was heat

For the sun's rays to penetrate I needed to accept the fact that weather does change 

And the outcome is out of my hands

In order to jump off the fence and make an impact

I tried to revolutionize the way that I think

In the same way that garage dj's did when they dropped 138 Trek by Zinc

Whether or not it paid 

It triggered a chain reaction for change to happen

I'm not sure who claimed they were first to maim that skippy 2 step beat

And chop it in half

All I know is that it tore a line apart between old and new

I Love You was a long way from Bring Me Flowers

However it allowed a whole new species to blossom

The pollen of many genres responding to mistakes and lessons of the elders

Genetically encoded in the DNA of the music

And passed on like father to Son

I decided I had nothing to loose by taking risks

Other than loosing a few splinters,

And the sole's of my trainers could start connecting with a few more stages

And a few less pavements

Actions have consequences – positive and negative

So they say

No action knows no satisfaction

Sitting on the fence in isolation was frustrating

Only dipping my toe into the ebb and flow of everyday living

Would stunt the development required for essential decision making

The act of waiting becomes frustrating

And that impatience converts to bitterness

Who's only home lies in defeat

I didn’t wonna' be another could a been.

So I selected my spot.

Jumped off my fence and went to ground

I realized sometimes you have to do things on you're own.

Accept responsibility,

And just go

The same year Dizzee dropped Boy In Da Corner

I left home

Zia Ahmed @ Tounge Fu

In terms of blogs and the fast moving world of the internet, I guess this is old. It's from last year I believe. I don't really care though. I'm not a blogger in that respect, I just like putting stuff up here that means something too me, in the hope that someone else might like it too and it affects them in the same way. Anyway...

Zia Ahmed is a poet. As far as I know he does other things to, like theater, but I know him as a poet and he's someone that I really respect and enjoy listening too. In this little world of writers and what not, people speak a lot about authenticity, whatever the actual meaning in that context is, I think it's this. I've listened to it many times and it still moves me. I'm not even going to attempt to break down what he's saying, I'm not really into that. There are people who like doing that and are into that. I'm not really one of them. Have a listen and make up your own mind. For me, it propably ranks as one of my favorite peices of spoken word and I really like the whole live recording, it makes it even better for me.

The piece was recorded at the Roundhouse (which is where I know Zia from) as part of an excellent night called Tongue Fu, where the performers (normally poets, writers, comedians etc) go on stage and have a very good backing band improvise to them. It's a bit of an institution and is run by well known poet Chris Redmond.

Zia is part of a spoken word ensemble show happening at Roundhouse called Run by A Cloud of Foxes. The show is part of the The Last Word Festival which my show is also part of. I havant sen Run yet, but Zia and a whole host of decent poets and writers are involved so it should be sick.

Peace

The Little People Return

  Autumn is here. So is October. I guess those two together are like Millwall and the bottom half of the Championship (and possibly League 1 if they don't stop letting goals in!) I'm drinking a lot of tea, but then again, I always do. Alas, it is not all doom and gloom for me...

This half term, 30th October till the 3rd November, I'll be once again, for the 4th time, be donning the white lab coat and comedy glasses in my role as Executive for The Great Escape (A Borrowers Tale). It's almost 2 years since we did the first run at Battersea Arts Center, it's since been to Chat's Palace, The Southbank Center (Imagaine Children's Festival), and now returns to Battersea Arts again. As ever, I'm looking forward to it, it's a lot of fun and really engages children's imaginations as we lead them on on interactive adventure around the building. It's a really good team to work with, I've learned a lot from these doing shows and I'm looking forward to seeing them all again!

 In other news I confirmed a gig this week for The Wordhouse which be will next month on the 16th November at the Blueberry Bar  near Old street.The main acts that night are none other than Polabear and Indigo Willmas I've never done this gig before, but it's celebrating it's 2nd birthday and has a really good reputation. Amy Stratton, who runs it, I met a few years ago and she's really passionate about the whole spoken word thing and seems to be putting on some really good nights. 

I took this quote form the facebook event page but you get my point .. "It has become an East End institution” God is in the TV magazine

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

Football is absurd

Weekend before last, I was at the launch night for issue number 3 of a new (ish) magazine called The Alarmist which is co-edited by fellow poet, Leeds fan and all round top bloke Gary From Leeds. The magazine is a quality publication which features short stories and poems with some pretty slick design. Anyway, much to my ignorance, I'd not really been aware of these goings on until I happened to be speaking to Gary via text, and he told me about the event which took place at The Social, just behind Oxford Street, Richard Purnell was hosting, and he's a top bloke as well (and forms a double act with Gary), so off I went.

As part of the door tax, which was £6 I believe, I got a copy of the latest issue thrown in which was a touch. Gary had told me there was a story about Millwall in there, called Millwall Territory by a writer called Nial Foley, so naturally I went straight to it. Without delving too much into the story itself, which I really enjoyed (which talked about the gentrification of Bermondsey, amongst other things, which I'm sure at some point I'll mention) I saw this quote, which really struck a chord with me, talking about being a football fan:

"Are you kidding? Being a football fan is being a muppet. Football is absurd and irrational, and if wasn't, there wouldn't be a game. You don't have to look too closely to see it is exploitative irrational tribal nonsense. It is what makes it great."

I thought he hit the nail on the head with that!

Check out The Alarmist online at http://www.alarmistmagazine.co.uk/ and check Facebook for future events

Rubix: Red Album Live (video)

Hey

Almost 2 weeks ago now, (time flies) we had the Rubix album red show at the Chelsea Theater on the 27th June. The show went really well, and we were lucky enough to have the whole event filmed by On TheRed
Which you can see below.

We were also lucky enough to have a nice review written for us by David Kwaw Mensah which you can read HERE 

You can purchase the full album HERE

Rubix Red Album Show At Chelsea Theater

 

RUBIX RED SHOW 

@

 Chelsea Theater 

Thursday 27th

 Tickets click HERE 

 

Lates@Flat Planet Thursday 2nd May

Hello!

I did this gig last year for Lates@FlatPlanet (the picture on the right hand side of the web was from there) and it was a special night, in fact the only place I've ever been asked to do an encore. It's a very intimate spot in the basement of Flatplanet just off Oxford Street and luckily enough they have asked me again for a slot.

It was a lot of fun last time and the spelt flatbreads are banging!

Hope to see you there!!

 Paul

The line up is as follows:

On Storytelling- Mr Steve Keyworth

On Performance-  Patrizia Paolini

On Songs- All The Queens Ravens with Laura Hillman

Poems - Paul Cree

Hosted by Lewis Barfoot
Light up magically by Nao Nao

Doors open 7.45pm
Show Starts 8pm
5 quid on the door

 

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...

Rubix Red

Yes, it's here at last!
  
This the album I have featured on as part of Rubix. It's our very first album together, which has come courtesy of Roundhouse Records

As you may have guessed, we all wrote tracks on the theme of Red, and will be slowly working through the colours of the aptly named cube.

Have a look at the trailer, there are links and stuff to buy it if you're interested, hope you enjoy...

CrossRoads

Have a wee listen.

If you like here's a link to the VIDEO

A Pale Shade of White

On Wednesday this week, whilst at the launch for the Ryming Thunder   book, my friend and fellow Rubix member Bridget Minamore performed a poem called Melanie. It's a very good piece of writing and inspired me to dig this one out, which isn't actually that old, I'd just forgotten about it 

You can read and see more of Bridget right HERE 

Stretch The Weekend: Rubix In The Pub

No, not Hub, but Pub!


This Sunday, 4th Match, 7:30 till 10:30 at The Alex pub in Wimbledon..


The almighty Deanna Rodger has put togethor a night of Spoken Word at The Alex in Wimbledon. there will be DJ's, open mike plus Rubix Dons Bridget Minamore, Dean Atta and Sean Mahoney who will also be hosting!

Facbook link HERE

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)