February 2006
Before the main event local poet and songster Neville Clay held a songwriting workshop upstairs in The Bridge Hotel.This proved to be of great interest, not only to the songwriters who were there, but also to the poets and prose writers, providing a real insight into how other creative processes work.
Later in the evening February's Blue Room saw a packed house enjoy great readings and music from:
Valerie Laws World famous for spray-painting poetry on sheep, nation-wide performance poet, sometimes rude, sometimes pretending to be respectable. New collection Quantum Sheep (Peterloo) due 06, also Moonbathing (‘03, Peterloo Poets), For Crying Out Loud (Iron, with Kitty Fitzgerald), Star Trek – the Poems (ed/compiled, Iron), & Hadaway (Iron), one of six commissioned/performed plays. Disabled writer, swimmer, mathematician, rookie crime novelist, currently being mentored by BBC Radio 4 drama producer. Of the night's event Valerie said: 'I was very pleased to see such a large turn-out, and I thought it was a great night altogether. The Blue Room seems to go from strength to strength'
Joanna Piesse lives in North Tyneside and writes fiction and plays. Her short stories have been published in Sand and Mslexia magazines. In 2006 her play The Steal will be performed at the Customs House in South Shields and at the Theatre Royal in York in a joint venture between the Tyneside based Cloud 9 theatre company and the Theatre Royal. Afterwards Joanna said 'I thought the evening had a really buzzy feel to it and was good fun.'
Glynis Reed has been published by Sand Press and has a story in the forthcoming collection of Newcastle Stories . Glynis burst onto the North East writing scene with her stories as if from nowhere, but was in fact born and bred in North East. Her short prose is full of human insight and can be tender, angry, funny and sad, all at the same time. Joanna says 'She has a magical touch, a spooling individual voice.'
Marlynn Rosario is a poet. Her poems feature in the latest anthologies from both Biscuit and Blinking Eye. She also has work in The Poetry Cure, which was produced by Julia Darling and Cynthia Fuller in 2005. Marlynn's Diamond Twig collection is Glass Tales . A classy reading from Marlynn.
Marlynn kindly agreed to bring her reading forward from March as Rima Handley is indisposed and has had to postpone the reading she planned to give. We wish Rima a speedy recovery.
Die Clatterschenkenfietermaus
Karl Gunter and Karl Karl met after Karl Gunter witnessed Karl Karl's previous band, Das Neue Pain, on stage in Bremen. He was particularly impressed with the way that Karl Karl punched a nun live on stage.
After the almost immediate demise of Das Neue Pain, due to ‘hair issues', Die Clatterschenkenfietermaus were formed. Exploring topics such as chasing grannies until they fall over, dead clowns, and relaxation techniques, Die Clatterschenkenfietermaus feel that there is no topic they cannot cover in their inimitable style.
They are also consummate artists and have recently had a piece ejected from a gallery in Milton Keynes, mainly because it did not exist in the first place.
In 2005 Die Clatterschenkenfietermaus wowed Edinburgh with their debut show. Audiences were subjected to humiliation, trauma and future depression. The press went wild and said nice things such as 'their post-post-industrial despair rock makes Kraftwerk sound like Girls Aloud' (The Scotsman) and accusing them of 'moments of dark brilliance' (Metro). Invitations to appear on Dutch TV and a nomination for North West Comedy Awards Breakthough Act 2005 followed and both Karls are now unbearable.
Karl and Karl Karl certainly lived up to their reputation as the worst pop band in Europe. And what a refreshingly mad entertainment it was.