Happy New Year! Highlight of the 7 days surrounding the 25th & the 1st, apart from food friends and general madness, was making my household watch the hour long Doctor Who special on Christmas Day, the Ice cream party on New Years Eve and the party on New Year's Day where, I was at some point, in a room full of musicians, pretty much singing backing vocals for a trio singing 'I'm every woman'. Surreal!
New Year Resolution include maintaining my mailing list, sending out something once a month and regularly updating this blog/news section of my website, I really didn't let you guys know enough of what I was up to, that will change starting now.
Five News Items:
TWOFIVE/ Stratford Residency/ DayDream/ Indiefeed / Hitchcock
A&S TWO FIVE One of the stages I graced in December was Cargo's in East London at an event hosted by Apples & Snakes (the reputable promoters / producers / possey / people). They've been going strong, pushing boundaries and opening doors to bigger platforms for 25 solid years. The event was a celebration and launch of a poetry album produced to commemorate the years, featuring poets they had worked with. I was commissioned to collaborate on a poem-song with Yemisi Blake, Jay Bernard and Joe Coehlo. The event was a sold out massive success and the album will be out in March on Vinyl, CD and will be downloadable from itunes.
STRATFORD THEATRE I was recently appointed a writer / performer in residence at Stratford Theater, in a project called 'Spoke Lab'. Spoke Lab is an exciting coming together of artists, who, along with Roger Robinson (Writing Coach) and Dawn Reid (Associate Director at Theatre Royal Stratford East), want to explore the art forms of Live Literature & Theatre and see how the two might collide and inspire. It is a year long residency and there is a possibility of a Collaborative Showcase at the end of the residency. Other writers include: Nick Makoha, Jasmine Cooray, Ebele and Sifundo. spokelab
DAYDREAM They say power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is my first taste of it. Daydream is a graphic art magazine published quarterly. I was published in the first two issues, featured as a Graphic and Word artist - the first time I was featured in both lights - (this year I strive to do more of that). But I was recently appointed Poetry Editor for the Mag - insert manic laghter - and the first issue out under my editorship features the work of Zean Edwards, Jasmin Cooray, Jay Bernard and BrotherMan. The magazines are visually stunning and the poems stand their ground against their thousand-worded counterparts. Daydream also hold regular graffiti battles where street artists live-paint to a given brief, the audience screaming and a sound meter determine who wins, its is fascinating watching these sometimes 7 by 7 foot canvases unfold... Daydream
INDIEFEED If you log into Itunes and search for poetry, Indiefeed should crop up. In February, it will get it's one millionth download, which is pretty good going for a poetry show don't you think? On the 24th of Dec, amongst all the madness of that period, I was featured on the show, the poem 'The Truth' was put out there for the world. If interested in poetry from around the world, I strongly suggest you subscribe to them: link to my show: Myshow link to the indefeed website: indiefeed
YOUTUBE: HITCHCOCK Alfred Hitchcock was a genius. This is a fact as undeniable as sunlight. The fact that movies such as The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds are still dropped in conversation as some the greatest movies ever, are testaments to his talent. In this incredible ten minute clip, Martin Scorsese (another genius dude) makes a movie of Alfred's - that was never made. Confused? Click, sit back and watch: Hitchcock/Scorsese
That's all folks!
Again, Happy New Year. I wish 2008 to as productive a year for you, as I intend to make it for me. Please stop by the website for much more regular news and events. ---