By the way, this bar up in Belleville do all kinds of French slam nights & music jams and stuff. Even a haiku open mic. Let's go and do our stuff! They were warm and welcoming when I read there before. And look who's on the second photo in their photo gallery...
http://www.culturerapide.com/photosok
30th January...
Liam, Erica, Conrad & Stefanos
Sergio
Alixandra & StefanieI'll do a full report when I get back from London. But next Spoken Word is 13th Feb at the Bistrot des Artistes and the theme will be masks.
Exploring other worlds
Spoken Word open mic
21h00 this Wednesday 30th Jan.
at l'Ogre à Plumes , 49/50 rue Jean Pierre Timbaud. Métro Parmentier.
opening at 21h00 with songs by Liam, Erica Stefanos and Conrad previewing their concert at the Maroquinerie.
Theme: Exploring other worlds
Martian poetry? Science-fiction stories? Exploring external or internal worlds? ''No greater miracle could occur than to see the world through the eyes of another.'' - truly another world. Utopias. Dystopias. Possible worlds. Imaginary worlds. Worlds that are past, gone, or lost. Interpret the theme as loosely as you like.
Bring your own stuff or other people's - and make it come alive.
And here's a space oddity - the poem that spawned the genre of Martian poetry. Craig Raine's A Martian Sends A Postcard Home
Caxtons are mechanical birds with many wings
and some are treasured for their markings -
they cause the eyes to melt
or the body to shriek without pain.
I have never seen one fly, but
sometimes they perch on the hand.
Mist is when the sky is tired of flight
and rests its soft machine on ground:
then the world is dim and bookish
like engravings under tissue paper.
Rain is when the earth is television.
It has the property of making colours darker.
Model T is a room with the lock inside -
a key is turned to free the world
for movement, so quick there is a film
to watch for anything missed.
But time is tied to the wrist
or kept in a box, ticking with impatience.
In homes, a haunted apparatus sleeps,
that snores when you pick it up.
If the ghost cries, they carry it
to their lips and soothe it to sleep
with sounds. And yet they wake it up
deliberately, by tickling with a finger.
Only the young are allowed to suffer
openly. Adults go to a punishment room
with water but nothing to eat.
They lock the door and suffer the noises
alone. No one is exempt
and everyone's pain has a different smell.
At night when all the colours die,
they hide in pairs
and read about themselves -
in colour, with their eyelids shut.
21h00 this Wednesday 30th Jan.
at l'Ogre à Plumes , 49/50 rue Jean Pierre Timbaud. Métro Parmentier.
opening at 21h00 with songs by Liam, Erica Stefanos and Conrad previewing their concert at the Maroquinerie.
Theme: Exploring other worlds
Martian poetry? Science-fiction stories? Exploring external or internal worlds? ''No greater miracle could occur than to see the world through the eyes of another.'' - truly another world. Utopias. Dystopias. Possible worlds. Imaginary worlds. Worlds that are past, gone, or lost. Interpret the theme as loosely as you like.
Bring your own stuff or other people's - and make it come alive.
And here's a space oddity - the poem that spawned the genre of Martian poetry. Craig Raine's A Martian Sends A Postcard Home
Caxtons are mechanical birds with many wings
and some are treasured for their markings -
they cause the eyes to melt
or the body to shriek without pain.
I have never seen one fly, but
sometimes they perch on the hand.
Mist is when the sky is tired of flight
and rests its soft machine on ground:
then the world is dim and bookish
like engravings under tissue paper.
Rain is when the earth is television.
It has the property of making colours darker.
Model T is a room with the lock inside -
a key is turned to free the world
for movement, so quick there is a film
to watch for anything missed.
But time is tied to the wrist
or kept in a box, ticking with impatience.
In homes, a haunted apparatus sleeps,
that snores when you pick it up.
If the ghost cries, they carry it
to their lips and soothe it to sleep
with sounds. And yet they wake it up
deliberately, by tickling with a finger.
Only the young are allowed to suffer
openly. Adults go to a punishment room
with water but nothing to eat.
They lock the door and suffer the noises
alone. No one is exempt
and everyone's pain has a different smell.
At night when all the colours die,
they hide in pairs
and read about themselves -
in colour, with their eyelids shut.
Spoken Word:Unspoken words
Some mornings I wake up after Spoken Word and wonder what last night was all about. Not this morning - that was exactly what it's all about! A (smoke-free!) cellar crammed to bursting with enthusiastic people, the distance between readers, performers and audience non-existent, and all that combining to inspire the best out of people when they read. Connor gave his best ever performance of The Unhappy Lover of Snails before announcing that he was gonna read a poem by Yeats. Which he did. Silently. (Someone requested he read a longer one next time.) The theme for the evening being Unspoken Words.
Bruce slammed in with the Supadupa Supermarket, wondered if anyone would make it back alive from aisle 45. Dominic rewrote The Raven (ous) and told the tall tale of Senator Craig, a man made of solid dollar bills and definitely not gay. Xander brought us news that Whatever we are, we are what is missing. http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/alexander_maksik/2008/01/wherever-you-ar.html
Antonia brought her pirouetting word sculptures, Alixandra sang unspoken words for the first time, as did Erica accompanied by Stefanos on clarinet and Conrad on cello. Denis and Norma gave us a taste of their Sounds in Bloom poetry project, Denis' sax sometimes recalling Stockhausen. And getting back to the words alone there was a whole host of other poets practicing their poetics. Yeah, that was exactly what these nights are for and if you missed this one, you missed out. A cellar jammed with people who show what can be done with The Power of Words, especially unspoken ones, shaping something out of life of it's beauty, humour, or harrowing power. And all with the medium of sound. Except Connor's version of Yeats.
Liked the venue so much we'll continue there once a month. Good acoustics, cracking atmosphere, cheap beer.
Next Spoken Word 30 jan at l'ogre à plumes.
Theme - Exploring Other Worlds.
Make of that what you will.
Cheers,
David
Thanks to all who took part. Next time I'll try and get a set list up of what people've read.
Bruce slammed in with the Supadupa Supermarket, wondered if anyone would make it back alive from aisle 45. Dominic rewrote The Raven (ous) and told the tall tale of Senator Craig, a man made of solid dollar bills and definitely not gay. Xander brought us news that Whatever we are, we are what is missing. http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/alexander_maksik/2008/01/wherever-you-ar.html
Antonia brought her pirouetting word sculptures, Alixandra sang unspoken words for the first time, as did Erica accompanied by Stefanos on clarinet and Conrad on cello. Denis and Norma gave us a taste of their Sounds in Bloom poetry project, Denis' sax sometimes recalling Stockhausen. And getting back to the words alone there was a whole host of other poets practicing their poetics. Yeah, that was exactly what these nights are for and if you missed this one, you missed out. A cellar jammed with people who show what can be done with The Power of Words, especially unspoken ones, shaping something out of life of it's beauty, humour, or harrowing power. And all with the medium of sound. Except Connor's version of Yeats.
Liked the venue so much we'll continue there once a month. Good acoustics, cracking atmosphere, cheap beer.
Next Spoken Word 30 jan at l'ogre à plumes.
Theme - Exploring Other Worlds.
Make of that what you will.
Cheers,
David
Thanks to all who took part. Next time I'll try and get a set list up of what people've read.
Next Spoken Word: Unspoken Words - at the Bistrot des Artistes
Back in the day this was where we used to do Anglophonics, a music-plus-some-spoken-word open mic night. It was run by Nancy Magarill when I arrived and featured people like David Bowie's band! That scene was one of the main reasons I stayed in Paris. Now we're returning to there for a night of Spoken Word. The theme, if you've got time to write or dig up some story, poem or song... is Unspoken Words.
Date? Wednesday/mercredi le 16 janvier
When? 9pm. (Get there before 9 for Happy Hour! It ends at 9!)
Where? In the cellar at Bistrot des Artistes, 6, rue des Anglais, 5ème
Mètro? St Michel ou Maubert-Mutualité
Musicians welcome also.
Theme: Unspoken words
Date? Wednesday/mercredi le 16 janvier
When? 9pm. (Get there before 9 for Happy Hour! It ends at 9!)
Where? In the cellar at Bistrot des Artistes, 6, rue des Anglais, 5ème
Mètro? St Michel ou Maubert-Mutualité
Musicians welcome also.
Theme: Unspoken words
Photos from les pères populaires
Theme was Laughter vs Sadness. "All good humour comes from real pain" - Deborah Moggach.
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