Shindig at Jam Cafe. Photo James Walker.
As it happened it was another member of the forum, Andrew Graves (MulletProofPoet), who got us thinking about our next Scribal Gathering event (Oct 23rd at the Hockley Hustle). He performed a superb poem about superheroes living in Nottingham which would make the perfect introduction to an Alt Fiction panel we’re putting on at Scribal Gathering. We then decided that it would be great if he did a themed poem for each of the panels/readings we’re putting on that day. This was exactly the reason we put on Shindig!, knowing it would be a great networking opportunity that could lead to poets getting more work. I just didn’t think that it would be us signing up ‘our’ own acts for future events! It was Wilde who said ‘the obvious is stated by the intellectual’ and the bleeding obvious had been staring us in the face for months, we just didn’t realise it.
It’s really important, particularly in the current economic environment, that small presses support each other which is why we are so delighted with this collaboration, but it wasn’t just Nine Arches that we have befriended. One of the other open mic readers was George Ttoouli, the editor of the recently formed Polarity magazine. He has helped produce an absolutely stunning publication that includes a hilarious poetic criticism of Geoff Dyer, taking literary criticism to a much needed surreal level – something that Dyer would no doubt appreciate himself given his own unclassifiable brand of writing. We’ll be doing an interview with George and a review of the mag in a future LeftLion which just goes to show that if you leave the garret every now and again, many beautiful things will flourish.
Talking of remarkably beautiful things, Jon McGregor and Matthew Welton were in the crowd, which was a real honour. Giving up-and-coming poets a platform is one thing, but the presence of such esteemed punters is more than enough motivation to take the plunge from page to stage. Jon has kindly agreed to come and read at the next Scribal Gathering so if nobody else made contacts or collaborations by the end of the night, we certainly did.
We chose Jam Cafe because it has snug sofa’s, big fat creamy cakes, lovely staff and the closest Notts has got to a backstreet Parisian cafe. The only downside is that the performers are placed in the corner by the front window which means they perform with their back to some of the crowd. Although not ideal I don’t think it’s a problem as the audio is good quality and we wanted a generally relaxed feeling to the event.
We selected two local poets and went for Eireann Lorsung and Wayne Burrows. Wayne always gives a different reading each time, largely because he’s involved in so many projects that he’s never short of content. He’s our very own cultural Steven Fry with a remarkable breadth of knowledge that included a poetic historical timeline of Sneinton for a recent council commission. Eireann performed a kind of biographical poem of America that she’s currently working on. It’s an absolute lyrical behemoth and once more reminded me of how wide and varied poetry is. She’s a highly ambitious and driven young lady and someone who is artistically infectious and inspirational in equal measures.
Nine Arches had planned to have Roz Goddard read from her Sopranos Sonnets (yes, a poetry collection about HBO’s seminal gangster drama) but unfortunately she had to pull out and so publisher Matt Nun stepped in and filled the cafe with a broad, loud Brummie accent in a sexy set with some really comical and adult rated renditions. He was followed by Simon Turner who was absolutely brilliant with his ‘rejection letter’ poems and someone I’d like to see again, preferably back at one of our other events given that he has a tenuous Notts link that means he can be assimilated into the LeftLion PR machine.
The event culminated with music from the aptly named Simon Haiku of Hhymn who did an acoustic set with a cello thrown in for good measures, bringing proceedings to a lovely, warm end. The perfect full stop to a Sunday night. Then just when you think things can’t get any better I was given a couple of books to review for Staple, meaning my slightly heavier bag was the kind of weight I welcome on my shoulders.
More info on performers at the Shindig event