I have to admit I’m feeling a little frazzled at the moment. I’ve got a backlog of work, and admin seems to be taking over my life. One of my websites is hopelessly out of date (as is my Myspace), the other is waiting to be developed; I hardly touch Facebook any more. I’m faced with a dilemma. I either pay attention to my marketing (no-one really knows who I am) or I just focus on making my work better, which means all this extraneous stuff just withers away, unloved. At least I’ll have a life. I’m working day and night at the moment, and I never make time in my week to relax, or even to do any exercise – let alone spend time writing, which is what I love doing most of all! And if I think it’s bad now, imagine what it’s like when I have kids…
Enough moaning; I’ve been busy doing good things.
My favourite event of the last couple of weeks has been the Big Lunch. My neighbour Lisa and I had a party for our neighbours. We set up a barbeque on some communal land, cooked food and supplied drinks. One by one, my neighbours came to hang out, to eat, and to talk. We cooked the usual bbq stuff, but included a salad made from leaves from our garden, and Neil’s tofu. The estate is just less than forty years old; some residents have been living here all this time. Many of them complain that community relations are not what they used to be; I’ve heard so many people say things like “no-one knows each other any more”… hence the Big Lunch; to get us all talking to each other, to introduce old, new, rich, poor, English, non-English… we’re so penned in by our walls in this country; in hotter climates, people mingle and chat so much more; which is what we did today. Out of all the things I’ve done this year, this was possibly my favourite; getting neighbours to break bread with each other… everyone chipped in, bringing food and drink; supplying barbeques, tables, gazebos; painting faces; cooking; helping to clear up. Introductions were made which hopefully will be the start of conversations which will last for many years. Or am I being an idealist again? We floated the idea of a communal allotment. This has been a dream of mine for many years; I imagine allotments in every school, hospital, prison… but perhaps I should start with my own back yard!!
I’ve seen a few amazing shows at the South Bank in the last week;
Lemn Sissay’s “Why I Don’t Hate White People”, a piece of spoken word theatre, a tragic-comic reflection on race and identity featuring mixed media (more than a few similarities to my work!);
London Liming was genius. Melanie Abrahams is a promoter I’ve got so much respect for. Every event she does is top notch. This one was hosted and co-curated by Charlie Dark. Every artist on the bill rocked it; Caroline Bird, Rinse, John Agard, Ayanna Witter-Jonson, Daljit Nagra, Nii Parkes, Micheal Horovitz, Spaceape and Deborah Stevenson. Beforehand, Daljit Nagra gave a short talk which summed up why he is excited by the evolution of British poetry at the moment, discussing older movements like futurism, Dadaism and surrealism, and also contemporary movements and modes, which are perhaps reflective of the changing way we think, and see, the world around us.
Beardyman’s Complete and Utter Shambles at Udderbelly, the big upside-down purple cow on the South Bank, wins the prize for ‘most entertaining show’ hands down though. The sheer chutzpah of the man, married to his improvisational genius, is a joy to watch. Watch him reach continual new heights over the next ten years.
I gigged at Salena Godden’s Book Club Boutique, where my good mate Patrick Neate was doing a launch for his new book, ‘Jerusalem’. He got Sway to write a track called ‘Jerusalem’ for the book; mine’s better, though!
We’ve also been working hard on our new mini comic opera, ‘The Girl Who Learnt To Beatbox From Her Ass’, which we’re premiering at the Big Chill in a couple of weeks. I’m really proud of how quickly this one’s come together. It’s everything ‘Broken English’ is not; it’s totally silly and rude, and gives us all a chance to have great fun. I’ve got a huge amount of lines to learn in the next fortnight!
I’ve also scheduled big events I’m involved with all the way to the end of the year, which currently feels exhausting, so I’ll tell you about them later, mum
I’m off to see Baba Brinkman tonight at the Airport; a legend whose name is whispered in hallowed appreciation throughout the spoken word scene.
boooyaaaa
