The Beat Goes On

I did Catweazle again on Thursday evening. I performed for quite a long time but it seemed to go down really well. However, I think I will give it a break for a bit now. I like the place but just to dip into now and again. I appreciate them giving me a stage and they were a good audience though. Tuesday night (last night) I did ‘Anything Goes at Mangos’ again with Sparky. There were a few people in this week; I hope it is starting to build up. There was a problem with the PA so all the musicians had to do acoustic sets and the poets had to ‘project’. I did a poetry slot and played harmonica with Tony on beautiful blues guitar. For a small bodied acoustic, his Martin really punches out a sound! Special came along to the gig and some of her friends turned up too. That is probably why it seemed like a few people were in. Its early days for the Outcasts down in Mango’s basement bar. We are trying to build it up, get some more people in there, it really is a great venue with lots of potential. Try and make it sometime. It is every other Tuesday with the next one being on 3rd October 2006, and the next one two weeks after that on the 17th of October, and so on. It kicks off at about 8:45 and there is a bar in the basement too. The Mango bar is on the right hand side of the Cowley Road, Oxford, as you walk up from The Plain. It needs supporting and could be a fantastic place to see and hear very talented, creative musicians and poets. They even have piranhas in the tank now.

Over the next few days I am moving my boat down onto the river. It looks like it is going to be a mild winter so I may stay down there for the duration. The only problem with the river is if it floods you can wake up and find your boat high and dry in the middle of a field somewhere! Other than that it is the most magnificent place to be: wide, clean, and cool. Unlike the canal which is narrow, silty, and lately it has become not-so-cool. I am working a shift at the Moon on Thursday from 5 till 8 then I am off to perform at another club in Witney, “One Night Stand” at the Red Lion. The fight to preserve poetry as one of the nation’s creative forces never sleeps!

The Wave is coming down from Bristol on Saturday and I am spending the evening with him. An evening with the Doc. Special and me are cooking a meal for some friends, including the Doc, and then going to see a band at the Well. Somehow I have to fit in working two shifts at the moon over the weekend, one Saturday and one Sunday. Also, got a London trip penned in for Sunday to have birthday meal with Special’s daughter. Busy but the beat goes on my friends.