In the car: Chantel McGregor Like No Other
On the page: Rivers of London. Ben Aaronovitch
Where I'm at: Poetry Alight, Lichfield Spark Cafe
Onscreen: Heavy Water- a film for Chernobyl
In the ether: YouTube Chantelle McGregor plays Red House at Rock and Blues 2012
Poetry Alight, 14 May.
Poetry Alight has established itself as one of the Region's unmissable poetry events, regularly pulling in the best talent from both East and West Midlands as the supporting cast for a stellar selection of guest performers.
The guests often set the tone for the night, and on this occasion it seemed that Gary Longden had opted to run with a less 'performance' oriented event, with even Derbyshire laureate Matt Black opting to go "on book". That's not to say that there was a lack of variety, or even entertainment. Dwane Reads gave a high energy, high volume performance from his forthcoming book "The Annoying Megaphone Pigeon", Tony Keeton was off the wall with "Abducted by Aliens"; Bohdan Piesecki, of Apples and Snakes, and Harriet Warner also both gave tour-de-force performances of a single long piece from memory.
The invited performers, Elisabeth Charis, Liz Lefroy, Matt Black and River Wolton were, as ever, a real treat. Standout on the night for me was Liz, who stood in brilliantly for the injured Helen Mort at very short notice.
The evening was rounded off by Staffordshire Laureate Mal Dewhurst, who read a piece prepared for this weekend's community performance, in Tamworth, based around Quadrophenia, which is almost sold out.
