A brief trombone poetry set sneaked its way into the middle of a Mick Collins Big Band gig at the H G Wells Centre, a.k.a. Bromley Labour Club, with no mention of science fiction, the PM, or any overlap thereof.
The trombone poetry broadcast from Radio Peckham caused slightly fewer ripples than Wells’ War of the Worlds, as orchestrated by Orson Welles, but it was not the first time a trombone was brandished in that studio. One of the shows in Southwark TV’s discussion series, back in 2005, was filmed there, and a spontaneous poem from that show, Walking On Air, about Ebenezer Boone, the first Peckham broadcaster, was dug out for this internet broadcast. We hope to be back later this year.
Yasmin Van Wilt kicked off an evening of Gazing Into The Past, organized by Tim MacAvoy and his Playfellows, who directed and performed in some of the short plays staged at The Miller in Snowsfields Road, near London Bridge. Till Glenn Hodge took to the stage right at the end, Yasmin’s was the only guitar to be seen for the whole evening: a rare thing on these adventures.
Lucky 13 Lounge at the Istanbul Meze in Cleveland Street, was not all that lucky. On wide-screen TVs elsewhere, A Big Match decimated the turnout. Despite that, Tim Eveleigh delivered the goods, and trombone poetry expounded early jazz to a small gathering of shish kebabs.
Pot Luck, at the Leather Exchange pub in Leathermarket Street, was also a bit short-changed in the good fortune department. Today’s excuse was that most of the regulars were sweating and swotting for their college finals. A poet with a worryingly thick folder was given free rein, and Dangerous T ran riot.
The stint at Freedom Of Expression coincided with Duke Ellington’s birthday, so that accounted for the trombone in trombone poetry, with versions of Solitude, Black & Tan Fantasy and so on. There were poems about defunct pubs, including 100 Lines For The Centurion. Joe Hood floated songs over his guitar and keyboard, and Jenny Lockyer focussed on her navel, promoting her CD, Fluff.