Before I start proper: I forgot some of the performer's names from last night. When you see a _______, it's not a mistake.
What an insane night. The beatniks of lore would be proud. Approaching the gallery, you could smell the warm tang of buttery popcorn. A comfy set up of chairs and bean bags, and bring - your - own - beer. It had all the makings of an interesting event, as indeed for many reasons it was.
Michael Hesp was in full effect, doing what he does best - loud social pariahdom, with a streak of fear thrown in. Infact, he surpassed his usual antics, screaming down his megaphone in people's faces; falling over; abusing people and eventually being thrown out of the gallery only to come in and disrupt another performance (which was beautifully read by ________). I was surprised by how quickly the dude reacted, leaving his laptop and bottle behind to bring the appalingly drunk Hesp down, taking out a portion of the audience and spilling beer. 'He got me, he got me' blabbed Mike. It was almost funny.
Sliding back to the start of the performances: Ana Benloch was superb, intimating the cool (as in temp, not kudos) and plummy tones of her select automated voice recording. Fritz gave an amazingly concise and crisply dry anecdote about catfish and cyanide (a true story! - and talk about German efficiency); _________ strummed his ukelele and told a hilarious tale about learning said instrument, somehow incorporating Audrey Hepburn, cleavers and black eggs speckled with stars; Caitlin's short stories were bolstered by the addition of a very loveable dog whose barks complimented the applause at the end of each performance. Special mention to Stuart Tait, who never fails to surprise me. This time he told a wonderfully brief and hilarious faux naive story about a summer holiday. And Matt Westbrook, yeah man, very good indeed. Not forgetting Ben Neal's Bye / Buy performance which hypnotized me like Terry Riley's 'In C'.
As for David and I, let's just say I was well pleased with the reading. It's always a good sign when someone can suck on a lozenge and still speak with a tongue wrested in silver. My sincere thanks to Mr David for collaborating with me again.
But a super big up to Steve, Liz, Naomi and Jamie for yet another successful Crowd 6 event. As for Mike...yep, you guessed it: GROW UP!
Tara a bit.
