Jodie Hannis reviews herself at Oxjam Leicester Takeover festival

This is not a review of Oxjam Leicester Takeover 2015. This is a review of me having a really nice time there. Part of this includes telling you about the Haunted House of Comedy and Shock! Tales tent in Orton Square.

It was a lovely tent, big enough for the sound system, artists, comperes, and at some point when vigorously encouraged, enough space for us, the audience, to sit down in it. I had been standing for quite a while at this point so I enjoyed when that happened. It was also a lovely tent because it had been decorated with big pieces of fabric, some classy bunting (not the tacky stuff that looks thin and flimsy) and even some Halloween themed fairy lights. Oh I should mention, it was on 31th October and was Halloween themed because Halloween was that day.

The Halloweening was done extra hard by the comperes for the day whose names were Jenny Hibberd and Dave McGuckin. I wasn’t sure whether to say ‘were’ or ‘are’ just then because ‘were’ makes it sound as if they’re dead now but don’t worry they’re not they’re still alive. Dave did look kind of dead because he’d put lots of white make up on. Jenny had put lots of make up on too but she didn’t look dead she looked like an evil fairy because that’s what she’d dressed up as. I really like them and they’re my friends so you can’t really trust anything I say about them but if you can, you should believe me when I say they’re lovely and very talented.

Jenny is funny and smart and runs an event called House of Verse which happens every month in Leicester. All sorts of artists make art for it and some of my favourite ones did some more art on Saturday. The first thing I saw was a band called Wiseass which made me want to start dancing straight away and I wasn’t even drunk. For only two musicians (Raj and Jamie playing one guitar and one drums) they made quite a bit of noise that was bluesy and funky and rocky. I really hope they put some of their songs on a CD or a record so I can listen to them at home. Or they could just come and play for me in my house, whichever is easiest, I don’t mind. Have a listen here:

I missed another bit of music called Velvet Exit that I wanted to hear because a restaurant that-shall-remain-nameless took an unreasonable amount of time to cook a quesadilla for me. I heard the very last 30 seconds of it and it was so good that it made me even sadder that I’d missed it. But the show must go on and the next person to show themselves was word-man Andrew Lee who I didn’t recognise for quite a while even though he’d been stood right next to me for a few minutes. His costume must’ve been good but then maybe it was supposed to be more of a disguise, either way it worked really well. It also made the words that he was saying extra creepy and some of them were pretty creepy to begin with. His performances sometimes look painfully embodied so the skeleton onesie suited him quite well. He might want to consider wearing it all the time.

Then there was more music from DJ Ninja Bob which was so good, it was one of my favourite bits of the whole day. I think I danced for half an hour without stopping. When the dancing stopped, this was the point when we all sat down for the first time. It was good to sit down after all the dancing because I was tired but I was also quite sweaty. When I stood up a bit later I noticed that I’d left a sweaty bum print which could clearly be seen on the concrete. About 5 or 6 years ago when I was younger and more self-conscious I think I would have been embarrassed about that but I liked it because it was nice to see a visual reminder of how much fun I’d been having about 20 minutes before. It was getting colder though and when I finally stopped sweating and cooled down I got a bit chilly and actually ended up colder than I was before I did the dancing. It’s funny how that happens sometimes. I don’t regret it though, I had a better time with DJ Ninja Bob than I would’ve done if I’d stayed warm at home.

It was Jack Britton who encouraged all the sitting, though I’m sure he didn’t fully appreciate my sticky situation at the time. This guy is really funny and I value his wit very highly. He managed to do a song about holding a woman hostage and it wasn’t inappropriate or offensive. I wouldn’t be able to pull that off and I’m a woman who is blonde and innocent looking. But Jack is also blonde and innocent looking so maybe he’s just better at it than me.

The next poet Stephen Thomas did a poem about being like Jesus and I guess he was quite innocent looking too. But he seemed to only want to look like Jesus for sexual gratification so maybe he’s not that like Jesus. I hope he realised his girlfriend was in the audience too otherwise that would’ve been super awkward. Ishi Khan-Jackson’s boyfriend was also in the audience. She didn’t really talk about him in her set though so maybe she’s a bit more independent and not as needy. She did talk about stealing money from charity though which I enjoyed because the whole thing going on that day was actually a big charity event which I guess she hadn’t realised.

I can’t tell you about all of the acts that happened that day because I’ve run out of space and I’m getting a bit bored of this now. But I’ll tell you about Dan Nicholas and Lewys Holt (he has more names than this but I already said I was running out of space) who did some improvised comedy. I think they were getting onto some good stuff especially when they were doing handstands. Well, Lewys was doing handstands, Dan looked like he was kind of putting all of his body-weight onto his face and neck which is probably a bad way to do it. My suggestion would be that next time they do an interactive handstand class because I would join in with that and I think Dan would learn a lot.

Maybe Dave’s next Comedy and Cocktails would be a good chance to see that. Maybe it wouldn’t but it was a good way of tying the start of this paragraph together with the end of the last one. This will happen Tuesday 1 December 2015 in Manhattan 34 at 8pm. The next House of Verse is a bit before that on Saturday 21 November 2015 at the Music Café from 7pm. I realise that it just looks like I’m trying to persuade you to come to my friend’s things and give them money because I already told you that we’re friends. That is sort of what I’m doing but I do also think you’ll have a really good time and just want as many people as possible to have a good time and feel nice about themselves.

Next House of Verse: https://www.facebook.com/events/1517285475255475/
Next Comedy and Cocktails: https://www.facebook.com/events/705619712873346/

About the reviewer
Jodie Hannis chases after words at every opportunity. If you have some, chances are, she’d like to hear them. She also occasionally runs away from ones she puts out into the world herself: http://notsoftly.tumblr.com/

Interview with Dan Wallbank

Artist Dan Wallbank interviewed by Alexandros Plasatis

Dan Wallbank

AP. Many thanks for creating the doodle that we use for our logo, Dan. I’ve seen you, I’m afraid, creating your doodles while at work. Why then did it take you so long to make this one for the blog, was it busy in the library? How did you end up being a doodle-maniac? Tell me about it, and, anyway, I hope you have joined the Union.

DW. I’ve always been a bit of a “doodle-maniac”! I’ve always loved to draw, and as a kid I found it a great extension of my brain, although I could never get things to look quite the way I wanted them to. I’ve always been very into comics and used to create my own – largely based around Sonic the Hedgehog, for my sins.

Punk Clown by Dan Wallbank

I could ask you, Alex, why it took so long to come up with these interview questions! Was I not second choice of artist? The Library is a great job and I enjoy it very much, but around the start of term it does tend to get just a little busy. I’ve curtailed my work drawing habits in the interests of being a good employee – I might need to change my blog title…

AP. I was a bit slow with the questions because I had to visit my auntie in Papua New Guinea. I like this project of yours, taking photos of and archiving graffiti around Leicester. Why do you do it? If those people came around your house with the purpose of covering it in graffiti, what would you do? Would you punch them and spit on them, go on, say it, what would you do?

DW. I think it’s important to say that I don’t take photographs of all graffiti, just that which I find unusual, artistically pleasing or funny. It’s a very subjective collection of work, I must admit – there are other blogs I’ve found since starting my own (such as the great http://stuffonwallsinleicester.tumblr.com) which archive less selectively. It has to be said that I don’t condone unauthorised graffiti – that just often tends to be the most interesting stuff… About graffiti in my place – well, I suppose it would depend on how funny I found the graffiti, but I don’t think I’d be a fan. I do abhor violence in all forms unless it’s part of a computer game, though, so I might challenge them to a round of Halo – and probably lose.

Graffiti in Leicester

AP. You wrote music for a wrestling league. Do you find violence inspirational? Do you get into fights? 

DW. This was one of those examples of it not being what you know, but who you know – a friend of mine used to be a semi-professional wrestler, and when one of his cohorts announced that he was setting up a wrestling league and needed walk-on music for 15+ wrestlers, he got straight in touch with me! It was interesting to me as I’m not a fan of wrestling, so I really had to study the sort of music that gets used at events in order to create the right sort of stuff. It was a real workout in terms of my creativity and I really enjoyed it.

AP. Tell me about your band, when was it formed, how often and where do you play live, do you all take drugs before and/or after gigs, but also tell me about you and how you feel being a member of this band, about things that you like and things that piss you off, about any dreams that you might have about the band’s future.

DW. In terms of bands, at the moment I only play live as part of some cover bands – Pin Up for the full band experience and Two Feathers for the acoustic side. I’m looking to form a new band, though, so if anyone’s interested…

Two Feathers

I’m literally the least rock and roll person ever, as I’m teetotal and really quite boring. My dreams for the future of any band I form would be to play in a dingy club to ten people, as I like to keep things realistic.
 
AP. We are doing very well, Dan. This is the only interview where the questions are longer than the answers. Can we listen to one of your songs now?

DW. There you are: https://soundcloud.com/peopleneedgoals/heads-up-wall-crawler

AP. Ah, lovely… You are very much into photography, and many of the photos you take are of musicians. Does being a musician yourself help you to identify the right moment to take a photo or, I don’t know, does it help in any way?

DW. It really does, but not necessarily in the ways you might expect – it’s not about feeling or mood a lot of the time so much as counting the beats and thinking about how a person is likely to move when you’re at each beat. If a song has a 1, 2, 3, 4 beat, then people are most likely to pull the best moves on the 1!

Charlie Tidmas - photo by Dan Wallbank

AP. How did the Commentary at Phoenix go? I read a very positive review about it in The New Fork Times. Was it really that good?

DW. Commentary was a real experience, and one I’m proud to have been part of. It’s an event in which comedians, musicians, dancers and poets all perform in front of a constantly-playing collection of silent footage – so there are some sections where the comedians will do new voiceovers to the films, or the musicians new soundtracks; some of the footage has been created especially for the event. It’s a really excellent show and one that the audience have loved twice now. It’s all new material every time, and the next one is February 18th – tickets are actually on sale already!

Oh, I looked up “New Fork Times” and I found a food blog – I feel you may be misleading me…

AP. There are rumours you’re about to perform your own poetry at some event with Brand Kit and Tom Bruise. Is that true?

DW. I am indeed, yeah – this is the first time I’ve ever performed poetry in earnest, and I’ve written a seven-minute long piece about two of history’s greatest inventors and their ridiculous fight. It’s really better than it sounds… It’ll be at Heard of Mouth on November 12th, which is a night run by the excellent and disgustingly talented Andrew Lee, who is also part of Commentary!

AP. Thanks for this, Dan. Can we listen to one last song now?  

DW. If you insist… https://soundcloud.com/peopleneedgoals/radio-apollo

About the artist
Dan Wallbank is a man who refuses to be put in a box, mostly because he is quite tall and won’t fit. Equal parts Clark Kent, Sylar and Jemaine Clement, Dan has turned his hand to illustration, photography, comedy, poetry and writing, but he’d probably say he was a musician, if pushed. He is 29 and lives in Leicester with his partner and they spend their time together watching endless episodes of Pointless.


LINKS
Dan’s Doodles: http://dansworkdoodles.tumblr.com
Music stuff he makes for fun: http://www.soundcloud.com/peopleneedgoals
Music he wrote for a wrestling league: http://legacywrestling.bandcamp.com
A collection of interesting graffiti around Leicester (NSFW): http://graffitiofleicester.tumblr.com and twits at @GraffitiOfLE
Photography Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Dan-Wallbank-Photography-159229184425143/
Example of his photography is the header image: http://the-grade.com/qa--spoken-word-artist-andrew-lee
Commentary - a mixture of film, comedy, spoken word, music and dance (part of a larger group) http://www.phoenix.org.uk/film/commentary/
Twitter and Instagram: @natchdan

About the interviewer
Alexandros Plasatis lives in Leicester and had short stories published in Overheard: Stories to Read Aloud (2012), Unthology 6 (2015), and Crystal Voices: Ten Years of Crystal Clear Creators (2015).

Review by Jodie Hannis of Commonword’s “Superheroes of Slam - Leicester Heat”

                                             Photos provided by Katy Pitcher


Commonword’s Superheroes of Slam 2015 - Leicester Heat was held on 17th September at Attenborough Arts Centre in collaboration with Dare to Diva, and due to a crippling inability to withstand tension for any significant amount of time, I’m going to tell you now that the winner was Jenny Hibberd. It’s difficult to describe her with words that mere mortals use as she is a poet best experienced in motion. You find yourself skip-hop-tripping over your own feet as you follow her into a dizzying world of cosmic chaos and calm. She writes like a master word slinger and speaks like a mad rhyme flinger... it must be loud inside Jenny’s head. And it’s plain to see that she’s anxious to share, even if it’s just a glimpse, the exuberance with which she moves through this bright world. It’s impossible not to be infected by it.

And so Jenny represents the best of Leicester’s poetry scene. In all, 19 competitors shared their words and the experience was happily embraced by all as one of exceptionally high standard. There’s always something jarring about being snapped out of a literary reverie to blink blindly at the scorecards rudely pushing themselves into the occasion.  As compere Rob Gee tells us, “the point isn’t the point, the point is the poetry.” But a winner there must be and Jenny is she, who goes on to compete in the final held in Manchester on 23rd October. £250 can afford the luxury of many pencils to many poets.

And there are so many poets that deserve those pencils. Honourable mentions go to many, including the five others that went through to the second round and performed for us again. Tony LeTigre is all smooth rhythm, charm and extended metaphors as he tells us about his love of shoes and toast, but he’s anything but pedestrian. Andrew Lee’s words seem to vibrate throughout his whole body and it’s difficult to look away from him as he constantly looks like he’s teetering on the edge of something significant. Shruti Chauhan scores incredibly highly and I’m captured by her startlingly self-deprecating deconstruction of herself. Toby Campion represents Leicester strongly with two regionally-patriotic pieces and we’re all roused to agree with him fiercely in the typically British way of clapping and nodding our heads vigorously. I suspect people would follow him into battle if the occasion called for it. Leanne Moden catches me a little off guard with a barrage of descriptive euphemisms for her “hairy meat pocket” and I curse myself retrospectively for not scribbling them all down. I particularly love her second poem which describes an incredibly important moment for her without stating the obvious. It reminds me that we’re privileged to have poets share secret parts of themselves with us so freely and that every now and again, they should keep something back for themselves.

Details of future Superheroes of Slam 2015 events can be found here: http://www.cultureword.org.uk/sos15/
Jenny’s winning poem can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG0bp9wtZGc

About the reviewer
Jodie Hannis chases after words at every opportunity. If you have some, chances are, she’d like to hear them. She also occasionally runs away from ones she puts out into the world herself: http://notsoftly.tumblr.com/