Liverpool Poet June 2007

Went to The Albert pub in Widnes to see 'Kozmic' last night, a Janis Joplin tribute band. One of the members of the band (the keyboard player) teaches Ian to play the guitar and used to teach me to play the piano until recently. Sadly, I've had to put my lessons on hold while I'm on SSP.

The band were really good, loved their rendition of 'Down on Me', very dynamic!

They have regular acoustic nights at the pub so might very well be going again. Nice friendly place with good beer (according to Ian) and (free) live music, what more could you want? Well, okay, in a perfect world the beer would be free too!

Went to The Dead Good Poets at The Everyman on Wednesday, not the open mic night but the monthly guest poet night. Guest poets were Gladys Mary Coles and Aileen La Tourette. Some of the students from the creative writing courses that Gladys and Aileen run at JMU, were also performing some of their own poetry. I left a few of my little booklets around the room and Sarah, the organiser, spotted them. She's asked me to send her 150 to send out with the DGPS newsletter! That's going to keep me very busy for a bit. She suggested I should look into arts council funding...

Friday we went to see The Bentley Operatic Society perform a bit of G&S at the local church in aid of a local charity. G&S isn't really my thing but it was nice.

Saturday, went to the library and got a couple of Carol Ann Duffys, a Wendy Cope, a Roger McGough and Janet Street-Porter's autobiog. You can actually electronically check-out your own books now. You wave the bar code on the inside cover under a scanner and then it prints out a receipt telling you when you have to bring it back. I had a go but I think in future I'll get a librarian to do it. They have computers to tell you what's on the shelves, computers to check the books out, they'll have machines putting the books back on the shelves soon! No, I don't like it, I don't want a librarian-less library!

Not feeling great today, feel like I've inhaled acid, can bile get into your lungs? ...Oh yes, apropos of bile...I really have no heart to update my diary at the moment to be honest, especially when some people seem to want to use it as a stick to beat me with...Someone I work with sent me an e-mail out of the blue recently, stating how heinous it was for me to take time off sick to start my own business!? God, if only!!!

Anyway, will be taking a rest from reminiscing for a while, so I have more time to concentrate on my business, whatever that might be!? :0)

Well, there should be little poetry books lying here and there in London, Birmingham, Gloucester, Birkenhead, Chelmsford, Preston, Knutsford and even Nigeria, Canada and USA by now! And, before you start thinking "she gets around!" they've been posted out to various poets and friends to scatter!

Ian said I should print some photo poetry onto stickers but then, where would I stick them!? (no rude answers!). I can't go up to random people and just stick one on them, so to speak! Great idea in theory but in practice, not so sure...

I know Ivor Cutler used to type random comments onto stickers and stick them on people he knew and/or inanimate objects. For example, he had the habit of going into supermarkets with a stack of stickers to place on all the food which simply said...'MADE OF DUST'

Or another example of classic Cutler would be...