Picasso’s BANG period…. probably his best!

It’s no good having sharp images if your ideas are fuzzy.
Dan and Martin may be out of focus but their ideas are pin sharp.
See you in Edinburgh Gunslingers.

So this is what happened at the Camden Crawl…

We stuffed everything in the back of Martin’s car… including his son Victor.

Then off to the venue… and like a well oiled machine we set up.

We kept an eye on our beers…

Martin kicked it all off… Rude Bastards

Then Rob… Laaaaadies and Geeeentlemen…

and then Wallop …

Fiona Bevan, Pete The Temp, Karen Hayley, Sean Taylor, PolarBear, AntiPoet…

Now bring on the Camden Crawl 2011 Slam

Clair Whitefield was in there too but I forgot to snap a picture because i was blinded by her beauty…
AND THE WINNER IS….

ANNA LE – GAYMERS CAMDEN CRAWL 2011 POETRY SLAM CHAMPION

That was 3 hours of top entertainment… THE END

when London’s Premiere Poetry Club do lunch. We have done to business lunch what we did for poetry… made it interesting. Business meetings will never be the same again.

Wow.. who is the hot redhead? Oh, it’s Sarah (Head of Merchandise), must of had my beer goggles on.

Apparently, Sarah has a good side. Rob doesn’t have a good side. Martin is all good. And Dan just is…
The MUNSTERS

BANG SAID THE GUN

and it turned out to be an absolute corker.

MURRAY LACHLAN YOUNG

KAREN HAYLEY

RHIAN EDWARDS

FATIMA AL MATAR
Plus ROB AUTON, MARTIN GALTON, MEL JONES, RAW MEAT STEW GOLDEN GUN… oh yes!

… at BANG HQ, the boys get creative on their very own tablecloths. All photos by Victor Galton (future Chief Executive of BANG).
Rob doing it!Martin is quick on the draw. Dan ponders the letter B.
Not sure who she is? Let’s face it… they look brilliant!

Apart from having exceptional taste in wallpaper and ear rings big enough for a clown to jump through, Hollie has also been UK Slam Champion and has a superb poem about HATE. Which is lucky, because bar BANGing Martin Galton won’t be here this week encouraging us to choose between Love and Hate… this week you do not get a choice… just HATE. (Martin is off solving world peace again – it was a tough choice… poetry or world peace?… world peace just scraped it). And if you are thinking that BANG will be missing a short, middle aged poet, then do not worry, we have six of the best young talents from the Roundhouse Poetry Collective to take his place. Bring on Thursday.

So Gunslingers, let’s look at what is going down so far on the BANG stage at MEADOWLANDS.
We have a mind blowingly good line up with plenty more top acts still to be announced… so watch this space!
Top of our all-star bill is the Godfather of Comic Poetry and the People’s Laureate, JOHN HEGLEY. John Hegley is to potatoes what Wordsworth has been to daffodils… except John is relevant to the world and Wordsworth just wanders aimlessly.

John Hegley – Relevant Potato lover!

Also from the world of Stand-Up Poetry we have the darkly comic satires and romping ballads of LUKE WRIGHT “the best young performance poet around” (The Observer)
We have one of the brightest new stars on the block BYRON VINCENT “The most precocious talent on show” (The Times), whose oratory fuses comedy, poetry and doe eyed bewilderment to create a unique and entertaining spoken word experience. (Which includes a rather fine haiku about Elton John’s preferred choice of salad.)

Elton’s favourite salad.

There is also the brilliant ukulele wielding, channel 4 presenting, award winning author TIM CLARE, the glorious KAREN HAYLEY who is the funniest female comic out there (this is my opinion and according to my wife, I’m usually right).
If it’s rocking Slam Poetry you want, then we have the 2005 World Slam Champion KAT FRANCOIS popping by to show us her word acrobatics. And just to put a tad more icing on the cake, you can also enjoy the extremely funny and bizarre world of ROB AUTON, the grizzly reality of MARTIN GALTON, the dizzying climate change rants of PETE THE TEMP and an alternative look at the fine art of poetry with the delicious ANTI POET.

And if all that doesn’t tickle your fancy and it’s pure comedy you are looking for, then look no further than STUART HUDSON, whose dark, warped humour will drench you in laughter and most probably bring you out in a cold sweat!

“But what about the kids!” I hear you cry. “And what about the kid inside me!” I hear you scream. Don’t worry, we have all that sorted. The fantastically funny and slapstick comic clown MR PINEAPPLE HEAD (even his name is funny) will be along to entertain the young guns.

This is Mr Pineapple Head – Does he have a Pineapple for a head?

There is also the possibility of a few life-drawing classes, where you can learn to draw life instead of just drawing a blank! Or draw on the fact that you are now uncomfortably middle class when you preferred being working class. Pencils at the ready.

Oh, and don’t forget you can sign up to become the 2011 MEADOWLANDS FESTIVAL SLAM CHAMPION! A excellent way to get your name in poetic lights!

Phew… and this is just to get your taste buds going!
Cheers good people, There is plenty more where that came from… so keep your poetic ears and eyes open!

We started to shake…
The new mic stand stood UP…
Martin gives us lessons in Love… The Hatalyst (catalyst in a hat) likes what she sees…
Curious makes us ponder on a few important points…
I’m loving it!!!
Deanna Rodger…. Wow, she rocks!

The spot light did a stunning job… as always… we love you spotlight.

All Photography by the brilliant WASI DANIJU