THE OTHER ROOM
Experimental poetry in ManchesterArchive for June, 2010
ANGEL EXHAUST TWENTY-ONE
Via David Bircumshaw:
EACH AEON FREE AFTER THE FIRST ONE: THE WELSH UNDERGROUND
Despite the denials of official organs, Wales participated in the great blossoming of poetic culture of those decades between the end of the primary Cold War and the dawn of the New Right, and this unofficial English literary magazine is offering a large-scale celebration of the achievements of Welsh poets whose optimism captured them. The fall of monoliths spills daylight onto the missing half of the picture. The most interesting anglophone Welsh literature of the past century has been in the innovative vein.
A mixture of poetry, essays, memoirs, and interviews recreates a literary era in depth.
Poets featured are: John James, David Barnett, Paul Evans, Iain Sinclair, Zoë Skoulding, Ralph Hawkins, Peter Finch, David Greenslade, John Goodby, Nic Laight, Nick Macias, Niall Quinn, Philip Jenkins, Graham Hartill, Lynette Roberts, Chris Ozzard, Rhys Trimble, John Powell Ward. We touch on the history of innovative writing in Welsh and even turn up two avant garde texts in Welsh. An analytical essay (drawing on work only available in Welsh) uncovers the use of Welsh patterns of consonantal echoing in the English experimental tradition. An ample poetry anthology includes mainly unpublished poetry but also recovers texts from as far back as the seventies, defying forgetfulness.
Living witnesses told us strange tales. Recovery of original texts from archives and deposits has brought a disintegration of the intellectual legacy. Salvaged from among the debris of Christian, nationalist, and communalist ideologies, we shake clear a brilliant line of liberated and imaginative writing. Set up in order to fill a gap, the project has uncovered a whole gulf, a submerged realm of sophisticated intellectual exploration. Awed, we recover the traces of the classic Welsh magazine 2nd Aeon between 1966 and 1975. That is truly why each aeon is free after the first one.
£7. 1.70 pp. publication date 4 June 2010. available from: 21 Querneby Road, Nottingham, NG3 5JA. cheques payable to ‘Andrew Duncan’ please.
edited by Goodby and Duncan.
Susana Gardner
Susana Gardner reads atThe Other Room, June 2nd 2010.
Click here to open the film in a bigger screen.
Susana Gardner – interview
Susana Gardner interviewed for The Other Room, June 2nd 2010.
Click here to open the film in a bigger screen.
Tolling Elves at Poetry Magazines
One of my favourite things in the world, Tolling Elves edited by Thomas Evans, is now digitally archived at The Poetry Library’s www.poetrymagazines.org.uk
First six issues up are Rob Holloway, Bill Griffiths, Aaron Shuren, P. Inman, Barbara Wright & Leslie Scalapino
This is what it says:
Tolling Elves was a mail-only newsprint magazine that printed one writer and one artist every month from August 2002 to October 2006 (with very occasional gaps). There were 41 issues, plus various inserts and related spin-offs. Issues 1-25 were produced in New Cross, South East London, and the rest were done in Sunnyside, New York. For more information see: http://www.onedit.net/tollingelves
The Other Room 16 – Reviews
The last reading in the Other Room series, (Susana Gardner, Peter Manson and Nicole Mauro) was easily the best that I’ve been to. I absolutely loved it. All three poets had me pretty much mesmerized for their entire set. There’s not a lot of point in me describing their performances though as they were filmed and can be viewed here on this very site. I’ve just had another quick look at the first half of Peter’s reading myself actually and am now smiling stupidly at the thought of what a brill evening was had by myself and my mate Fran (and, judging by the look of sheer joy that was on their faces, most of the other people in the room.)
Susana brought with her a little table full of exquisitely packaged poetry from her Dusie Press, on sale for a pound per item. I bought a selection, the coolest of which came in a squashed loo roll tube matching, if not beating, my collection of Matchbox poems in the funky packaging category.
I loved the Scottish and American accents of the night. I loved Peter’s fanatical flailing and precise pronunciation of lines like ‘the least dismissive of the leaf police’. I loved Nicole’s military style stance and how she seemed to smoothly slip something about a head wedged up an ass into every poem. I loved how hypnotic Susana was, especially as she repeated the word shore shore shore, turning it (for me) into sure sure sure and then back again and reminding me of Sylvia Plath, only without the woe-is-me-ishness.
The whole night was great fun with lots of naughty swear words and beer.
Jaime Birch
Things have been a little odd lately because I’ve felt quite directionless while taking a lot on. All of which means I get a little frayed. So I’m learning to relax and just accept how I feel about things, rather than trying to please other people. Which is a way of saying I might not be as generous in this review as I normally might be. So try not to take offence.
Matt Dalby’s take; for more click HERE
Yesterday was the latest reading at The Other Room, with three very good performances from Susanna Gardner, Peter Manson and Nicole Mauro. After a previous week where I was performing three times, including once in a jazz band, it was a relief to sit back and watch for a change.
Steve Waling’s comments HERE
Notes on the Value of Recuperating Language Poetry
or
How to Save the Avant-Garde from Being Merely Therapeutic
In my last post, I discussed a way of viewing Language Poetry that would reclaim its textual practices as aspects of a plausible social critique. Such a project is generally referred to as “recuperation,” and basically consists of the effort to save the valuable portion of a set of ideas and practices. As I remarked, Language Poetry suffers from two major theoretical problems: 1) an implausible, or esoteric, relation to Marxism, and 2) the general implausibility of Marxism as a theory for maximizing the public good. Either of these problems could be sufficient to cause the neglect of Language Poetry. Therefore I offered an account of Language Poetry that avoids both problems, as well as providing a plausible account of the value of Language Poetry for its inheritors (i.e. Flarf Poetry and Conceptual Writing). See below for more about this.
The Situation Room
Sean Bonney, Frances Kruk. Saturday 12th June 2010. Unit 12, 7 Fountayne Rd., London, N15 4QL. More here.
Nicole Mauro
Nicole Mauro reads at The Other Room, June 2nd 2010.
Click here to open the film in a bigger screen.
Nicole Mauro – interview
Nicole Mauro interviewed by The Other Room, June 2nd 2010.
Click here to open the film in a bigger screen.
Peter Manson – interview
Peter Manson interviewed by The Other Room, June 2nd 2010.
Click here to open the film in a bigger screen.
Peter Manson
Peter Manson reads at The Other Room, June 2nd 2010.
Click here to open the film in a bigger screen.
Perception
An exhibition of work by second year photography students from The Manchester College. Each student will display their final major project at 52 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 6JX. A diverse range of photographic styles that embraces portaiture, landscape, documentary and fashion. 8th June, 6.00 – 8.oo pm; 9th – 11th June, 12 – 5 pm. Free drinks on entry.
if p then q book launches in just over two weeks
if p then q readings & book launches
@ Odder Bar
14 Oxford Road (opposite The BBC), Manchester, UK
23rd June 2010
6.30 pm [1:30 pm Eastern Time in the US]
Free admission
Performers:
Joy as Tiresome Vandalism
Geof Huth
Tom Jenks
Lucy Harvest Clarke
Programme:
6.30: Joy as Tiresome Vandalism present Nøjagtig Pamplemousse
7.00: Geof Huth (live stream – watch at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/geof-huth)
7.45: Lucy Harvest Clarke (watch live at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tom-jenks-lucy-harvest-clarke)
8.15: Tom Jenks: (watch live at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tom-jenks-lucy-harvest-clarke)
If you can’t be there in person use the above URLs to watch on the internet. Please be aware that all times are approximate.
Karen MacCormack and Steve McCaffery
TALKSTALKSTALKS
Karen Mac Cormack: Taking Reality By Surprise’
Steve McCafferty: ‘Zarathustran Pataphysics’
Thursday 10 June
6.45-8.45
The Royal Holloway Central London base: 11 Bedford Square.
Admission FREE
ALL WELCOME
Via Robert Hampson
Sony: ebooks to overtake print within five years
Sony believes that the ebook market has now passed the point of no return. Haber said: “I have multiple meetings with publishers and tell them paradigm shifts happen. You can say fortunately or unfortunately you haven’t had a paradigm shift in, what, hundreds of years.”
He added: “We in the consumer electronics area have a paradigm shift every year or two.”
More HERE
Bookstall annex
The tremendous amount of titles by last night’s three readers Peter Manson, Nicole Mauro and Susana Gardner + if p then q titles, Knives Forkes and Spoons, Object Permenance, The British Journal of Innovative Poetry, ZimZalla, The Other Room Anthology, Maggie O’Sullivan & Scott Thurston books and then…a whole different bookstall for the humungous Dusie Press. Whopping!
The Other Room Bookstall
The Dusie Bookstall
If Only..! Robert Sheppard and others at The Bluecoat
IF ONLY..!
Wed 9 June 8pm Free!
Bluecoat Arts Centre, School Lane, Liverpool
The LAUNCH of Liverpool’s monthly melting pot of music, performance, dance, spoken word and the otherwise unclassifiable. If Only..!’s eclectic bills are brought to you by a group of Liverpool-based artists, curators and promoters in the spirit of celebration, exploration, provocation and revelation..!
Trinity Girls Brass Band [music]
The nation’s only all female brass band in virtuoso concert
Steve Lewis [music]
Original songs created from Lewis’s signature combination of voice, unexpected texts, bric-a-brac percussion and live sampling
Robert Sheppard [spoken word]
Sheppard performs new work exploring the poetics of space and launches Looking Thru’ a Hole in the Wall, a collaborative pamphlet created with Patricia Farrell
Maria Malone and Chris Murray Cover [dance/physical theatre] A duet between a girl and her bedclothes exploring the lands where addiction and dependence can lead.
Original concept by Marcus Drummond
Choreography and performance, Maria Malone and Christopher Murray with directorial input from Yorgos Karamalegos
LIC Studio and associate artists [dance/performance/music] Some of Liverpool’s finest improvisers and performers create a multi-disciplinary performance score
MC: Mandy Romero
Openned Zine #2
■Peter Philpott explaining reasons and motivations behind the Great Works website
■Save Middlesex Philosophy
■Emily Critchley and Carol Watts provide a schedule for the Women’s Innovative Poetry & Cross-Genre Festival in Greenwich
■Jeff Hilson, Edmund Hardy, Richard Owens and Peter Riley on Mendoza, or, Linus Slug
■Sejal Chad, Becky Cremin, Ryan Ormonde and Karen Sandhu on press free press
■Harry Gilonis Edmund Hardy, Tessa Whitehouse and Michael Zand on Klatch 3: Dérive
■Luke Roberts looks back on the Sussex Poetry Festival
■Stephen Mooney on the launch of the new Voiceworks website
■Matt Dalby on a new sound-text-performance series in Manchester, Counting Backwards
■Timothy Thornton close reads Ryan Ormonde’s firstdraftofhypertextrespondingtoalicefallingdownrabbithole
■Johanna Linsley on I’m With You, a series of live art events in Clapton, London
■Alex Davies on the Openned Table
Plus a set of regular new features:
■Bookface
■Birk Puke
■Photography: in this issue, Sharon Borthwick, Marianne Morris, Nat Raha and Malcolm Phillips
Available in full-colour PDF or an easy-to-print black and white version.
More here.
