Sean Mahoney - TV lights

Good afternoon


Happy Monday. Happy valentines day, whether or not you choose to celebrate, or you just don't have anyone to celebrate with, or your significant other has had to cancel all plans because of circumstances beyond his / her control (such as Brighton vs Millwall tonight, come on you Lions!!!).


Regardless of all of that, this is a exceptional piece of spoken word from my good friend Sean Mahoney, whom I've learnt loads from having been lucky enough to spend a lot of time with him through the Roundhouse Poetry Collective, Rubix and the adventures we've had running round Edinburgh 2 years in a row plus the now countless other  gigs we've done together. 


The video has been released today by Upshot TV for Valentines day and was filmed on home turf at The Roundhouse. Looks like theve got some other good video's coming up with the likes of Greeds, Indigo Willams and Deanna Rodger to name but a few. Sean is also a stand up comedian and is well worth following on twitter, he keeps me amused! Follow him HERE.

James Massiah Presents The THE (Winter 11/12)

Hello!


This Monday at the The Riflemaker Gallery in Soho I'm lucky enough to be performing at this event put on by very good poet and very nice guy James Massiah. The line up features is what I would call 'Levels' ie: it's big!!

Musa Okwonga
Deanna Rodger
Martyna Baker
Sean Mahoney 
Wilfred Trinder
Vanessa Ferdinand
James Massiah 
Conrad The Scoundral
Chimene Suleyman
The Freewheelin' Troubadour 
GREEdS
Bridget Minamore
Paul Cree
& 
Special Guests

Have a look, and come down, it's not very often I get to perform in spaces like this!

FACEBOOK EVENT LINK

She Says

Sat on a cold, hard, shapeless plastic chair

In a sterile hotel corridor,

which smells of damp towels,

disinfected of life.

Sipping on tasteless tea,

brought from an overpriced machine,

whilst the love of your life,

is in the wedding suite,

sipping on champagne,

making love to a man with bigger muscles,

but not much to say.

You tell yourself he's allright

and you're happy for her,

whilst pretending,

you can't hear her high pitched moans,

which fracture,

the fine wine glass rim of your feelings,

and his,

low frequency mumbles,

like earthquake tremors,

to the very structure of your manhood,

because when she's done,

you're giving her a lift home,

like you always do,

because you're friends,

she told you so,

and you agreed.

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)

Family Business! Gatekeeper & Grilza: Cuts From the Green Room. Free E.P

Bonjour!


Over a decade ago now, when I started on this journey, it pretty much began in my bedroom at home, after an idea was planted in my head by one of my brothers, who I shared not only a bedroom with (full of rave flyers, records and a set of 1210's) but also a common interest in Drum and Bass and most other forms of underground music. He suggested to me I could be an MC.


It's a story I've told many times since then, in various different forms, so whether it's tired or not, it means a lot to me. The part of the story which I havant spoke of, well, not publicly anyway, is of course my brother (I'm not going to tell it now though, I'd have to speak to him first, it's family business). The long and short of it this, he ended ended up in Bristol producing experimental Bass music (Dubstep and it's various mutations) under the name of Gatekeeper.


On the rare occasions we get to meet up, there's normally lots to talk about in terms of our mutual interests and the separate paths we've both taken. About 5 years ago, I think, he told me he'd began to work with a young rapper from Bath by the name of Grilza. Well, he still is, and the family has grown! Theve gone on to be a duo for a few years now and have some pretty sick releases like Ignite which featured Dread MC as well as being championed by Mary Anne Hobbs on the Bristol Rise Up Documentary and various other tracks played on her Radio 1 show.


They've just released a free EP, "Cuts From The Green Room" which you can download HERE. It's a collection of some of the tracks theve produced over the years now, and I know they were carefully selected (there were 1 or 2 I hadn't even heard!) 


At present, they are working on a project which I can't say too much about but believe me, I've been excited about this for a long time, I've had a little listen and there's bigness to come...watch this space!


As one is my brother by blood and the other by a notepad, a pen, football and pure jokes, I'm going to give them all the support I can. It's what you do with family, and like I said, it means a lot to me.

Dean Atta: I am Nobody's N****r

And he's right! But he's my mate and a fellow performer and I'm not ashamed to say that!
I think he has broached a difficult cause with dignity and understanding. To me, it's always been a powerful word steeped in hatred and I've never felt comfortable round anyone saying it, regardless of colour. So big up Dean, check the video below for an all star cast!

Click HERE for Dean Atta's website and more of his work.