Yes, Luke Wright, that's it. I didn't know about Aisle 16 though, a Boy Band
of performance poets, ha! As for idiocy, it does have a long history in
poets.
I spent part of yesterday listening to the beautiful recordings of Sorley
MacLean +performing+ his poems in Gaelic and English and being interviewed
by Iain Crichton Smith at:
http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3786
<http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3786>
2009/6/20 Tim Allen <[log in to unmask]>
> It depends alright Dave. It's Luke Wright by the way. A talented lad who
> has made it big straight into media land from the performance scene - baby
> faced, the girls loved him - Aisle 16 were the boy Band of performance
> poetry and they actually had one very good poet, a Liverpool kid, can't
> remember his name. anyway, Luke Wright - Great performer, lousy poet,
> really lousy. Now this lousy poet is being asked questions alongside
> Armitage etc - why doesn't Armitage blink? Why doesn't anybody blink? The
> poetry establishment in this country as so weird, so afraid of not appearing
> cool. They're all idiots.
>
> Tim A.
>
>
> On 20 Jun 2009, at 08:13, David Bircumshaw wrote:
>
> I like the idea of Keston as a Slam poet. Perhaps he'll bring Jeremy
>> Prynne
>> along to have a go next time.
>> I do think it's difficult to extrapolate much from performance poetry
>> events. In Britain, the one's I see do, do tend to reflect the influence
>> of
>> TV stand-up comedy a lot, as well as suggesting that the effectiveness of
>> poetry as an aid to regaining mental health, as used in the NHS, is
>> doubtful. For all the radical rhetoric the scene seems to be very much
>> about
>> making it, becoming someone, as if identity were conferred by others'
>> eyes.
>> I heard a poem by Luke Knight, a star of the circuit in England, on the
>> radio yesterday. It was called 'Loughborough' and it sucked (technical
>> litcrit term that)
>> But having rambled on there, extrapolating, I can recall going to gigs in
>> Birmingham in the 90s, or in Melbourne a few years back, that were really
>> bright. So it depends, dunnit?
>>
>> 2009/6/19 Barry Alpert <[log in to unmask]>
>>
>> Can't say I've ever extrapolated from or designated for later critical
>>> study any slam
>>> performances I've witnessed other than the work of DJ Spooky. Perhaps he
>>> could have
>>> been seen in competitive slams when he began, but I've caught his
>>> collaborations with the
>>> architect Bernard Tschumi, re-editing of D.W. Griffith's film
>>> Intolerance,
>>> and VJ mash-
>>> ups. Here's information about a multi-performative event I'm going out
>>> of
>>> my way to
>>> attend, largely to sample for the first time the presentational style of
>>> 3
>>> younger British
>>> poets whom I've never had a chance to witness. Justin Katko intrigues me
>>> as well and I
>>> have hopes that others whose names I'm encountering for the first time
>>> may
>>> stimulate.
>>>
>>> "PRAXIS DUDES FEST
>>> an international gathering of contemporary
>>> performance art, poetry, and music
>>>
>>> Saturday 06.20.09,$8, doors at 7pm, sets start at 8pm, 18+
>>>
>>> THE VELVET LOUNGE 915 U Street NW, Washington, DC
>>>
>>> Haley Dolan (Providence/DC)
>>> Justin Katko (Providence)
>>> Jow Lindsay (England)
>>> Nour Mobarak (Portland)
>>> Andrew Bucket (DC)
>>> Ryan Dobran (NYC)
>>> Joshua Strauss (Buffalo)
>>> Keston Sutherland (England)
>>> Mike Wallace-Hadrill (England)
>>> Adrian Parsons (DC)
>>> Chris Grier (DC)
>>>
>>> Advantageous guardians of historical data-shreds."
>>>
>>>
>>> Barry Alpert
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:55:58 -0600, Douglas Barbour <
>>> [log in to unmask]>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Ah, you are cross, Tim.
>>>>
>>>> It's interesting that, that slams work thus (a bit like our CBC poetry
>>>> contests, in which people also write to a theme).
>>>>
>>>> On the other hand, this brilliant PhD student wrote a thesis on Spoken
>>>> Word performance, in which she made a strong argument for the way many
>>>> in that field do challenge stereotypes, play a lot of queer cabarets,
>>>> &, for their intended audiences, really do important cultural work
>>>> (even if I still find a lot of the work she told us about boring in
>>>> terms of what I seek in poetry).
>>>>
>>>> But this, yeah, I'm with you....
>>>>
>>>> Doug
>>>> On 17-Jun-09, at 4:55 AM, Tim Allen wrote:
>>>>
>>>> "A poetry SLAM competition in two rounds.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> First Round: 4 Competing Categories:
>>>>>
>>>>> DARK poem - a sad poem wearing all black
>>>>> GLAD poem - a happy poem in colourful clothes
>>>>> SHAG poem - sexy words in lingerie, fetish, flesh
>>>>> DRAG poem - gender-bending words in drag"< etc
>>>>>
>>>>> Probably a bit of fun but sooooo cliched it makes you cry. Why is it
>>>>> that all this performance stuff is so predictable and conventional
>>>>> and does everything to reinforce stereotypes (aesthetic and
>>>>> otherwise)? The whole thing goes against the grain of challenge and
>>>>> questioning, weather of genre, language or identity, that innovative
>>>>> and experimental poetry are known for. This is why the performance
>>>>> scene, despite all its rhetoric about being about youth and energy
>>>>> etc, is ultimately so conservative and harmless and safe, and hence
>>>>> why it is so acceptable to the literary establishment.
>>>>>
>>>>> Tim A.
>>>>> excuse cross posting - by which I mean cross posting, not cross
>>>>> posting
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> David Bircumshaw
>> "Nothing can be done in the face
>> of ordinary unhappiness" - PP
>> Website and A Chide's Alphabet
>> http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
>> The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
>> Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
>>
>
--
David Bircumshaw
"Nothing can be done in the face
of ordinary unhappiness" - PP
Website and A Chide's Alphabet
http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
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