FINE poetry and intelligent songs - we need them more than ever in this era of soul-rotting light entertainment pap.
(If I hear one more person cite Hollyoaks, Big Brother, or the oxygen-stealing Superlambanana as examples of "culture", popular or otherwise, I swear I'll gnaw off my own foot in frustration.)
The above-mentioned are not culture - they are crap.
So try something different ...try attending the Bards of New Brighton poetry and singing group. There is a session on Monday 11 August, starting at 8pm, in the Magazine pub, New Brighton. Admission is free and all are welcome.
At the Bards you will regularly hear eloquent invocations of things as important as love, lust, history, God, families, landscapes, townscapes, betrayals, football, ambitions (large, small and thwarted), truth, falsehood, peace, war, politics, humour, sarcasm and justice.
And that's before we get down to the controversial stuff such as: what it means to be a Scouser; why nothing works within Wirral Council's Death Star boundaries; what it means to be human; what it means to be mortal; what it means to be a Wiganer; and what it feels like to be Dalek in modern society.
Actually the Dalek entertainment will come from me and Posh Boots, together performing what might be called a philsophical comedy sketch .... about a Dalek in love with a human woman.
It will be Posh Boots' first public reading ... so a big warm hand on her entrance please.
Honestly though, you never know what to expect when a poet takes to the floor at the Bards. The content might be exotic, it might be subversive, it might be dangerous, or it might melt your heart and even inspire you to write a poem, or a song, yourself.
But we can be sure of one thing at these sessions ... poetry and singing from the heart, real feelings for the real world, as the headline on this posting indicates, and not the make-believe world of fake celebrity and mass infotainment.
Incidentally, there is a free drink from me for anyone who can tell me which song, by which singer, contains the line "it feels like the real world, and it feels like our world".
Of one thing we can be sure, creative people gathering in cultural solidarity in a fine riverside pub like the Magazine on a summer evening for a Bards sessions,well, it sure beats sitting at home watching the dross that passes for TV these days (Coronation Street and Scrubs excepted, for they are art, written by talented writers).
Anyway, come and get some real culture ... culture that hasn't been killed by the dead hand of public funding. Come to the Bards of New Brighton!
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New Brighton Newbie wrote...
Hi Steve,
Agreed whole-heartedly!
I'm trying to write an entry in my blog every day with a poem to go with it. At the moment they are simple rhymes, but I hope I'll improve over time!
Here is one I wrote on Friday about the Bards:
Come on down to the Bards of New Brighton
There’s really no need to be scared or frightened
Once you’ve been, you’ll soon discover
It beats a night at home, watching Big Brother
You can read poems, short stories or even Rap
My work is pretty amateurish
And still people clap.
Bring a guitar
Sing us a song
Or just sit and listen
You can’t go far wrong.
So don’t forget
Make it a date
Every 2nd Monday of the Month
Down the Mags starting at eight
I should point out to anyone reading this that the general standard at the bards is much higher than this!
See you tonight,
JK
REGAN REPLIED: Oh good, I'm glad you are coming Newbie. We must catch up.
Posted by: New Brighton Newbie | August 11, 2008 11:19 AM