Trombonicle 59 / furlough – Trombone Poetry

Every few weeks, the degenerating home town is revisited, for family reasons. Oldham (see also Trombonicle 27) is a barren territory for live music, especially jazz, and there are surprisingly few regular platforms for experimental poetry.

On last month’s visit, an old town-centre landmark, defunct since 2020 and now only operating as a half-hearted shrubbery, was photographed without knowing that it will soon be demolished. It was the The Grand Theatre when it opened in 1908, and subsequently became a cinema, a tenpin bowling centre, a nightclub, a snooker club and a roller derby centre. It seems that the Wurlitzer organ, from when it was the Gaumont Oldham, is now installed in the Victoria Hall in Saltaire. The Oldham Chronicle (no longer a daily paper) has photos taken by an urban explorer.

No doubt it will be replaced by a bustling cultural palace with live bands, artists’ studios and galleries, a bookshop and intercontinental soup kitchen.

Love Supreme with Snowboy was another head-rattling winner, and there’s more thunder to come this month.

At Rotherhithe Voices, in the lovely Deli Felice, we enjoyed another excerpt from Paul Beaumont’s Hercules Peartree and The Case of the Missing Bicycle. The brief trombone poetry set included Pest and Stepping Out from the Wedding, plus an audience-propelled playing of Sunny Intervals. The next event in the series will be on October 20th, giving us all plenty of time to think hard about how we write.

After last month’s drought at Bishop’s Waltham Palace, Harry Strutters Hot Rhythm Orchestra was treated to a downpour at Hever Castle, where the show had to be cancelled. Better luck next year.

Mick Collins Legacy Jazz Orchestra gave one of its best ever performances last month, and there’s more to come next Monday, including a piece by Mike Gibbs, of all people.

See you there.

AUGUST GIGS