The Blowpipes offered an augmented trombone poetry experience at Scaledown, with terse verse plus improvised eruptions from Alan Tomlinson and Matthew Benson. Outstanding that evening was the duo of Jeff Cloke and Dave Draper.
The Blowpipes participated at the screening of Fritz Lang’s classic, Metropolis, with a new soundtrack by Paul Hines performed by Serum Electronique at The Montague Arms in Peckham. An electronica soundtrack for this science fiction classic? Not really: humdrum dance tracks throughout, not just for the factory scenes, but even during reflective or melodramatic scenes. Oh dear. Loud though.
Up in Camden, trombone poetry trod the theatrical boards for Arthur’s St George’s Day Jolly at the Etcetera Theatre. Jon Hicks did something acrobatic with elephants.
Club Ponderosa hosted an art-crammed festival called antiDOTE, that also unfortunately featured ponderous laptoppery amidst the pleasures. Harumph! A heartening event, nonetheless.
The Blowpipes returned to the The Klinker, after a very long absence, to unleash more improvisations, this time in the cellar of a social club serving pints of mild: Tottenham Chances. A gurning ultra-kitsch singer waggled his fingers over a programmed, jangly keyboard to drive us out into the Tottenham night.
The Spoonful of Poison open-mic has moved from Whitechapel to slicker premises in Shoreditch, viz. The Legion, where The Blowpipes finished their April tour in the company of John Bennett instead of Alan Tomlinson. Dangerous T amused and baffled, and a doomed comic read notes from a scrap of paper. A City banker read poems. You never know.