Show: Wooden Arms and Many Poets

Alex from Wooden Arms by Matt Widgery

This show features recordings from the recent Shindig/Allographic gig at the Unitarian Church featuring Wooden Arms accompanying the best poets from Cambridge and around. Wooden Arms play the next Shindig event on February 14th. Details here.

You can hear all recordings from the night at shallowrecords.co.uk.

Shindig/Allographic Special with Wooden Arms and many poets by Headstand on Mixcloud

Show: 12.1.14

Join me from my private Cambridge studio for another hour of music and spoken word including Wooden Arms and Hollie Mcnish who are both performing at a special music and spoken word event with many more poets including me. Get full details from: https://www.facebook.com/events/237739173052572/?fref=ts.

12.1.14 by Headstand on Mixcloud

Show: 16.6.13 with Fake Maria

My guests on this show Fake Maria are playing 2 shows next weekend. On Saturday 22nd they are playing Shindig on Mill Road with Clorinde and Gaze Is Ghost and in Sunday they are at Allographic: Other Voices with Hollie McNish. You can hear pieces from all those other acts along with their live session in this special 2-hour show.

Playlist

Magazine - Shot From Both Sides
Darren Hayman - Seven Months Married
Hollie McNish - Mathematics
Fake Maria - in Session
Gaze is Ghost - Cloud Hidden
Stephen Morrison-Burke - Strings and Stars
Half Man Half Biscuit - Running Order Squabble Fest
Fake Maria in Session
Marnie Stern - The Chronicles of Marnia
Nick Mulvey - River Lea
Hyelim Kim - Pochagi
Fake Maria in Session
Clorinde - Pollen
Orbit over Luna - Asahi
Jet Jaguar - Poster Child
Raymond Antobus - The Town in This Dream
Teho Teardo & Blixa Bargeld - A quiet life
The Breaches - So Tell Me What Is Left
Six By Seven - Fall Into Your Arms
The Love Language - Calm Down
Tim Clare - Pub Stuntman
The Rolling Stones - Doom and Gloom
The Handsome Family - Woodpecker
I am a Man With a St Tropez Tan - There is No Death
Zombi - Shrunken Heads
Halo Halo - Is It Shiny
Memoryloop - Saturate
Lubomyr Melnyk - The Six Day Moment


16.6.13 with Fake Maria - 2 Hour Edition by Headstand on Mixcloud

Spoken Word At Strawberry Fair

Strawberry Fair returned to Midsummer Common for a day of free music entertainment and rogue aliens. Things got off to a great start on The Mad Hatters Stage with Cambridge's top spoken word acts. Members of Flack got things started with music and spoken word including a performance by Glen Hutchinson and Toby Peters perfectly blending music and poetry.

At 1pm Allographic's Fay Roberts took to the stage to introduce a terrific lineup of poets. J.S. Watts started with a set including poems from her pamphlet Steel Yard Sue. She was followed by two brilliant young performance poets Riaz Moola who you can hear on the latest show, and Nikki Marrone. Fenland poet laureates past and present followed: Leanne Moden with an entertaining set as always including a poem about a lover of biscuits and then her predecessor Elaine Ewart had some wonderful nature poems.

Rychard Carrington made a welcome appearance following a memorable set at Hammer and Tongue a couple of months ago. An unpredictable five minutes included silence, poppadoms and Mad Axe Magruder! Hayley Foster, one half of musical-spoken-word duo Fake Maria followed before I had the pleasure of reading a few poems to the sizable audience that had grown over the last hour.

Making the link from music to spoken word were duo the Antipoet. I've seen them many times and their jazzy double bass grooves and sharp-witted poems never fail to entertain.

Nearly two hours of quality entertainment and I'd only been to one stage. I went off to explore the other attractions of the day. In doing so I forgot all about the other big spoken word event, the Strawberry Fair Youth Slam. I missed out by all accounts. You can read Leanne Moden's report here.

It was great to see so many people enjoying spoken word at the fair. Hopefully there will be even more on the programme next year.

Poetry This Weekend

Cambridge's maverick poet and electronic musician Pete Um is performing a free gig tonight at The Gatehouse, 23-25 Gwydir Street at 8pm. It's right next to Cambridge 105. Pete has been described as:

'Lo-fi electronic songs, neurotic and quixotic charity-shop funk, highly personal stereo.'


and 

'like a one-man boombox version of The Residents ... like a quiet idea-storm: a procession of thoughts, camera-angles, memories, rambles, rumbles, micro-anthems, marching songs, drinking games, broken raps, Pop-monologues, miniatures, chamberwerks, salon songs, an orchestra of shed.' kidshirt.blogspot.com

http://www.umbusiness.co.uk/

 The event is supported by Bad Timing DJs. Bring a battery powered FM radio to participate. Details here.

Allographic: Other Voices returns to the Fountain on Sunday with Martin Figura and Justina Kehinde plus open mic. In the afternoon there's a poetry workshop with Andrea Porter.

Finally looking ahead to next week Ross Sutherland is reading at the last CB1 Poetry of the season on Tuesday 28th. Excellent!

Music and Spoken Word in Cambridge This Week

A busy week for events kicks off on Monday with the launch of new Cambridge Tour Walking with Women. The tour gives a history of Cambridge focusing on achievements of women and has been put together by Hollie McNish with the help of other women writers from Cambridge. The launch at Michaelhouse spoken word, illustration, architecture and storytelling in celebration of Cambridge's female past. Tickets are selling fast so book now here.
CB1 poetry at the Punter returns for its first session of the new year on Tuesday with
Michael Schmidt. For more information about Michael and the event see the CB1 website.
On Saturday there is music and spoken word aplenty at Shindig at St Philips on Mill Road. Read my interview with headliners Rue Royale here and get all the info on other acts and how to get tickets here. Finally Fay Roberts is running a poetry writing workshop at the Fountain on Sunday afternoon (27th January) followed by Other Voices with Malcolm Guite and Nick Stibbs in the evening. See the Allographic website for full details.
That's about it then. If I've left anything out let me know and have a good week!

Events this week

John Hegley

This week I'm looking forward to joining Show and Tell at The Portland. This eclectic cabaret features music, poetry, comedy theatre and more and is in aid of Arts and Minds, a Cambridge based charity that aims to include people of all ages, with all forms of mental illness and learning disabilities, in therapeutic arts-related activities. Their website can be found here: http://www.artsandminds.org.uk/index.html

I will be performing with musician Tom Adams. You can hear our last performance here:


 
On Wednesday I'll miss for the second time in as many weeks poet Richard Tyronne Jones. This time he brings his show Richard Tyronne Jones's big heart to Allographic at the Fountain along with
Hollie McNish, Hisham Ziauddeen, and host Fay Roberts. I'll be sorry to miss to it. If you're in Cambridge make sure you get along. Details here.

Next weekend it's Winter Wordfest with writers including Kate Moss, Tony and Melissa Benn and Jack Straw. I'm looking forward to catching John Hegley who I interviewed for Local Secrets. That's on Saturday when there's too much happening frankly. Shindig is at the Round Church and bands including the Scissors are at the Portland launching 'Rocket to Romsey,' a compilation album of local bands released by Repeat Records in aid of Love Music, Hate Racism. Staying in would be a waste of a good night.

Events this Week

spiritualized

Get down to The Fountain on Sunday 28th October for a diverse night of spoken word from rapper Inja and American writer and poet Zakia Carpenter-Hall. Inja's performances are mind-blowing whether you're into rap or not and I look forward to hearing Zakia who I'm told is completely different but equally brilliant. Round this off with apen mic, which knowing the Allographic regulars, will be of a very high standard and you've got a great night for £3.50 full price / £2 concessions and performers.

More details on Facebook

On Tuesday there's a Strawberry fair benefit gig with The Spaghetti Faction and the Binewski Murder. Have a listen below and catch them live in the brand new gig room at the Portland Arms.

Details



On Friday there's a chance to see a monumental band in an intimate venue when Spiritualized return to the Junction. Frontman J Spaceman has survived double pneumonia and a couple of decades in the music industry and is still producing music that is delicate and sublime. Tickets from the Junction website.

The following Sunday I'll be back on air with, among other things, poetry from Malcolm Guite and Leanne Modern.