Cabaret in Clerkenwell started the trombone poetry ball rolling. The Cosmobar Restaurant in Clerkenwell Road was the venue for thewhatworks, an evening of poetry, song, burlesque and disturbing doll routines, in which Hollie McNish brought fresh performance poetry, and Ze German Spy twisted the plots of Kurt Weill. Striking photo of trombone poetry on flickr. No animals, or dolls, were harmed in the making of this cabaret.
At the Fused Lounge Bar in Lee High Road, Lewisham, John Clarke hosted The Jazzman John Experience, a varied menu that boasted a brace of Grahams: poets Pollock and Buchan, the latter reciting an unexpectedly touching poem about his old cat. Heartssong laid on some guitar-sprung melancholy. To close the evening, CT rocked the bar with a vocals/guitar duo set.
In a welcome trip Up North, trombone poetry joined Adrian Mitchell at Manchester Literature Festival at an evening organized by Poets & Players in The Whitworth Art Gallery. After rattling the gallery with a strolling overture, and playing the first set, this trombonist was invited back by Mitchell to improvise during a couple of his poems, including a reminiscence of his final encounter with Ivor Cutler.
Freedom Of Expression yet again lured us to The Green Dragon in Croydon (is it the beer?), where trombone poetry again booted things into motion, launching a new poem, Nick Knack. Roshi Nasehi unleashed a new approach using loops: multiple Roshi! Laveer glowed gently, and the impressive Edd Garratt, though a guitarist, played almost too quietly.