Thursday, January 24, 2013

The Canberra Zine Emporium


My Writer in Residence with YouAreHere 2013 is under way. Follow this link to the YouAreHere website where you will find some words courtesy of speaking with Chiara Grassia and Nat Clark of the Canberra Zine Emporium. They are currently seeking zine-makers for their fair on 23 March, the deadline for booking a table is 8 Feb, email them: 

I'll be there with Paul Summerfield.



Sunday, January 13, 2013

The Poetry Slam

@ The Phoenix Pub

BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! is inside The Phoenix Pub for 2013, which means you get two microphones, a stage, plenty of sound, prizes and more prizes, audience, clapping, prizes, judges, cheering, heckling, and the chance of glory! With MCs too, and scoring along with adding, prizes, conflicting, and poetry, especially poetry, at the Phoenix Pub, this is a poetry slam.

Yes, we want what words you've got on stage at the Phoenix!

For 2 minutes!

For Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit!

And this month we will be featuring the Captain of the Rant with his poetry.



This is Captain of the Rant's bio:
“London-based Captain of the Rant has been performing his uniquely witty, fiery spoken word since May 2008. He has performed all over the UK, Thailand and Malaysia, and has now come to Australia to inform the uniformally chilled out populace that there is still very much to be angry about.”

And The Sinbirds with their music.


This is The Sinbirds' bio:
“Having discovered the records of their grandfather and his backing band (Johnny Paul Blood and The Sacrificers), Davey and Frankie have spent a considerable amount of time re-recording the tracks; to suit modern tastes, to bring jukebox heartbreak back to the masses, and to pull their grandfather out of the dark corners of Australian music obscurity and into the light of fame which his hard work and groundbreaking music deserves. This is the Sinbirds.”

And filling the Hadley Memorial Poetry Slots in the Phoenix Pub for a mini-feature will be Raphael Kabo — Senior Kabo to you, you crusty old poets.

So be at Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit! on 16 January with your words, your hands, your judges, your poetry, for poetry, for prizes, for all kinds of stuff like stuff.

And remember, 2 minutes, no music, no props, and your original material at the Phoenix Pub.

Friday, January 11, 2013

GnR, Elvis, and Sinatra play Glebe Park

In the depths of Canberra's 2014 winter the 1988 Guns and Roses opened this triple headed concert on the Glebe Park stage with Welcome to the Jungle, an unusual way to start, but their set didn't let up for 40 minutes of tight and simultaneously rambling heavily sweated numbers from their albums Appetite for Destruction and G N' R Lies.

GnR was followed by 1970 Elvis Presley crooning both to the distant Bega Flats and the overlooking Crown Casino. In response the crowd spilled onto crotchet rugs from set beginning to another strange song choice, his finale and farewell song, In the Ghetto.

Then the 1959 Frank Sinatra took the stage. And through favourites that had the crowd kicking on their rugs, and among cameos from 1960's proto-Rat Packers (as well as William Shatner), Sinatra held the Canberra crowd to the conclusion of his final song, Al Hoffman's I'm Gonna Live Until I Die.

All-in-all this was a solid night of music; with enough variation to cater to Canberra's diverse crowds but with a through-line of humanity and mortality that held the three acts together for the evening.

And in other arts related news, issue nineteen of The Delinquent is now out in its thermals.

Featuring:

Rodney Nelson, Duygu Senocak, Lucy Winrow, Daniel Lehan, Nicholas Francis, Spencer Golub &David Hancock, Tim Keane, Caitlin Hoffman, Clive Birnie, Andrew Galan, Eleanor Perry, Christopher Barnes, Bela Farkas, Claudine Toutoungi, Melissa Mann, Robert McCorquodale, Vincent JS Wood, Phil Callaghan, Dan Melling, Michelle Matthees, Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhrán, Jim Meirose, Edwin Sellors, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Bethany Pope, Tanaka Mhishi, Charles Pitter, Matt Dennison, Ray Diamond, Charlie Geoghegan-Clements, Jim Alderson, Dan Stathers, B. E. Smith, Matthew Griffiths, Susana H. Case, Ian Goodale, Jeremy Quinn, Duncan Jones, Martin Jones, Graham Fulton, Rosemary Norman, Meredith Collins, Nicole Kuwik, David Cudar, Rupert M Loydell, Harry Downey, Mark Blayney, Peter Ebsworth, John Aaron Rosen, Jason King, and artwork by Daniel Lehan.

The cover and interior photographs are by Eleanor Leonne Bennett.

The Delinquent issue 19 is available from Amazon as an ebook - Delinquent issue 19 on Amazon - and Lulu in both print & pdf versions.