The full line up

 

Deanna.xx.

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Festival Tactics

With just over a week to go, before we are donning our wellies and layers (of glitter!) and trying our best to let go of any city convenience – reception, flushing loos, wine glasses and walls – I decided that we should seek tried and tested tips from our poets… (biogs and pics at the bottom).Deanna.xx.

 Sara- Jane Arbury

Three Festival survival tips: 1) Don’t keep saying “When I came here 15 years ago…” 2) Don’t wear pants – there’s less fumbling to do in the toilets. 3) Wear a different hat every day, physically and metaphorically. Watch her live, hats and all, at the Poetry and Words tent: Friday 17.30 &  Sunday hosting the Poetry SLAM 17.00

Attila The Stockbroker

This year is Attila’s 25th Glastonbury, celebrate with him at the Poetry&Words tent and take these tried and tested tips seriously: 1) DON’T drink too much scrumpy and fall asleep naked on your back in the sun as I did in 1983 (when the festival was very different and being naked wasn’t unusual) 2) Make sure you go for a poo in the backstage area rather than in the general facilities elsewhere. Far more chance of finding a concave toilet (convex toilets aren’t nice) 3) Stay away from the main stages unless there is something you really want to see. Wandering around Glasto is brilliant.  It really is the only festival where you can have a wonderful time even if there is not a single band or act you actually care about playing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrD2RHrNMYU Catch Attila The Stockbroker at the main stage of Poetry on Sunday 12.15, he is definitely someone you should want to see

The Antipoet

Glastonbury survival tips from Paul Eccentric of The Antipoet: 1) If you don’t eat then you won’t need to use the toilets. 2) There are pushers and dealers everywhere. Make sure to take your own toilet paper with you as the black market stuff is more expensive than drugs. 3) If you have to use the field hospital, make sure to tell the triage nurse that you’re a poet as it’s the only hospital on the planet with an ‘artists go first’ policy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF2FOTKarpc With tips like these you have to see the person behind them. Watch and listen live on Saturday 14.40

Scott Tyrrell

The artist who has drawn all the artists* top tips: 1) Embrace filth! It is a festival. You are in a tent. There may be mud. There will be hippies. In the words of Idina Menzel, you must Let it Go. 2) A festival-goer’s tent is their castle. Respect the castles. And try not to trip over the guy ropes holding them up. 3) Glastonbury does not believe in an early night. You’d be unwise to fight this ancient belief. Stay up till morning. Sleep till midday. You are, after all,  on holiday…except for those booked to perform, who are consummate professionals who will be there to entertain, on cue, bang on time 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd1vjxrXzd0 *Owl artwork is courtesy of Scott Tyrrell, T-shirts and posters will be available from the Poetry and Words Tent  See this talented man on Saturday 16.25 and Sunday 12.25

Kevin P Gilday

Survival tips: 1) Be kind. A festival is the closest we get to a complete breakdown of society. This means a lot of social norms go out the window. This is an opportunity to revel in the freedom not an excuse to be a dick. Which leads us on to my next tip… 2) Don’t be a dick. Just don’t do it. And finally… 3) Know your limits. Not that I care about your physical health but because no-one wants to deal with the lightweight chucking up their craft cider at 5 in the morning. To see this kind peaceful festival performer, come along to the Poetry and Words tent on Friday 16.40 and Saturday 12.00

THE ‘MORE ABOUT’ BIT MORE ABOUT Sara-Jane Arbury was born in Exeter and lives in Ledbury. She began her performance poetry career in Bristol. Since then, she has been involved in the production and promotion of creative writing and live literature for over twenty years, collaborating with organizations including the Arts Council, BBC, Oxford University Press and Bloodaxe Books. She was the Voices Off Director at Cheltenham Literature Festival, the first Writer-in-Residence for Herefordshire and is the co-founder of Spiel Unlimited with Marcus Moore, a creative combo aiming “to take the spoken and written word anywhere, to reach hearts and hearing parts everywhere”. Sara-Jane has performed her poetry on television, radio and racecourses; at arts centres, clubs and festivals; in restaurants, schools and shopping malls. She has held writing residencies in unexpected locations, including posts at The Galleries shopping mall in Bristol, Leopardstown Horse Races in Dublin, the Bristol and Bath Railway Path and four Oxfordshire village shops. She has performed in many spoken word shows such as Staying Alive with Pauline Black and Matthew Sharp, Flash with Glenn Carmichael, Lucy English and Anna Freeman, and is currently touring Count Me In, an immersive theatrical show where poetry meets Bingo. Sara-Jane casts a wry eye over everyday minutiae with a pithy sense of poignancy and pun. Her poems are published in a variety of pamphlets and anthologies, her style described as “often punning and poignant, reminiscent of Roger McGough or Dorothy Parker”. MORE ABOUT Attila’s new book of poems ‘UK Gin Dependence Party & Other Peculiarities’ was published in December 2013. Just in time to make an ideal Xmas present for your favourite bigoted aunt. Sharp-tongued, high energy, social surrealist rebel poet and songwriter. His themes are topical, his words hard-hitting, his politics unashamedly radical, but Attila will make you roar with laughter as well as seethe with anger… Inspired by the great Sussex poet Hilaire Belloc and punk, especially The Clash, he did his first gig on 8 Sept 1980, shouting poems in between punk bands.  He quickly got 2 John Peel sessions and was on the front cover of Melody Maker – and he hasn’t looked back since…. He’s done about 3,000 more in 24 countries – at venues ranging from the Glastonbury Festival (every year since 1983) and countless other music and literature festivals in the UK, Europe, America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to freezing punk squats in Germany to the Law Society and the Oxford Union and a hotel basement in Stalinist Albania.   He’s released 7 books of poems and over 20 CDs/LPs, formerly  with people like Unwins, Bloodaxe and Cherry Red Records, latterly via his own global cottage industry, Roundhead. (No cavalier attitudes!) Utterly self-motivated. He’s sometimes on the radio and TV. And all over the internet. He’s loud, radical, lyrical, reflective,will make you roar with laughter as well as seethe with anger and 2010 saw his 30th anniversary tour. As you get older you mellow out, allegedly. Attila hasn’t. This from his 2012 album ‘Bankers & Looters…..”‘There’s no such thing as society/So steal and cheat and loot/Just one thing to remember/Make sure you wear a suit!’ He’s just written a song called Prince Harry’s Knob (it isn’t actually about the royal appendage, it’s about people who read the Sun and believe it.) And, on the day she died, he wrote a poem called ‘A Hellish Encounter’, about the epic battle between Thatcher and the Devil for control of Hell…. He writes a regular column in the Morning Star. Now there’s a surprise. ‘Whether he’s ranting a poem or bashing out a song, there is something magnificent about Attila in full flight’  Ian McMillan, BBC Radio 4) http://www.attilathestockbroker.com http://www.reverbnation.com/attilathestockbroker   MORE ABOUT THE ANTIPOET Paul Eccentric and Ian Newman are a wry blend of anarchocynisism and comic observation. They have appeared at countless festivals and haven’t gone down too badly, including, Glastonbury, Edinburgh, Brighton, Ledbury, Camden, Wenlock, Larmer Tree, Nostock, Blyth Power Ashes and Buxton. ‘Enigmatic poetry, comedy and music sometimes all at the same time’ (Fringe review, 2010).   MORE ABOUT Scott: This Newcastle-based festival and slam-winning favourite has been poeting since the turn of the century. A former member of the Poetry Vandals, he has performed his work at venues around the country, Europe, on a bus, a plane and Stratford east tube Station in rush hour (he was bullied into it). His recent critically-acclaimed collection, ‘Grown Up’ provides a snapshot of a family man juggling the absurd demands of full-time employment, poetry and parenthood under the pressure of being normal under such circumstances. Reviews: “Scott’s poetry is as funny as the finest stand up comedy with razor sharp punch lines that hit in just the right places. But it also has heart. Scott is one of the best live stand up poets in the country” – Kate Fox “Scott is instantly likeable. His poetry is so easy to relate to that when he makes me laugh – which he does a lot – I sometimes feel I’m laughing at myself. It’s real, human and hilarious.”- Anna Freeman “From BBC Radio 4 to Glastonbury via the Larmer Tree festival and numerous other stages, Scott weaves a tapestry of spoken word leaving audiences entranced. As a performer I am always honoured to share a stage with him.” – Richard ‘Dreadlockalien’ Grant “I have been fortunate to perform alongside Scott on a few occasions at both Glastonbury and Larmer Tree festivals, and each time he has astounded the audience and left them simultaneously creased with laughter and wiping their eyes. Poignant, powerful and undoubtedly poetic” – Joelle Taylor   MORE ABOUT Kevin P. Gilday is a Glasgow-based spoken word artist known for his intricate word play, confessional tone and raw Glaswegian delivery. Kevin started his spoken word career by stopping his band in the middle of gigs to read poetry, much to the annoyance of the audience, before discovering Glasgow’s vibrant spoken word scene. Since then Kevin has become one of the pillars of an emerging spoken word community, performing all over the city (and beyond) in his own inimitable style. His first full length show Notes From A Quarter-Life Crisis had runs at the Edinburgh festival, the Southside Fringe, a national tour and was recorded live for a radio special.  Kevin is also a slam veteran having competed in slams (and even won some!) up and down the country.  Kevin presents Rhyming Optionalon Subcity Radio, a monthly radio show focusing on spoken word and poetry, and promotes showcases and slams all over the city under the Rhyming Optional banner. In praise of Kevin P. Gilday: “I heard the voice of a new Scotland. It demonstrates a young man who is at ease with himself and all his contradictions.”  – Tartan Tights Blog “Knowing and erudite”  – Southside Fringe “I’ve seen this show and it’s the f**king tits – so go see it” – Sam Small Poet “Do you need to keep talking about touching yourself?”  – My Maw