John was a good friend of Morden Tower in its early days ( he rigged up the electricity often for us when the tower gas lit). When Lee Hall made his radio programme about poetry in the North he interviewed John who reminisced about clocking - in to Swan Hunters shipyard in the mornings and escaping over the wall to hang out in the tower through the day. He frequently accompanied Tom Pickard to gigs and referred to himself as a 'poet's mate'. He will be greatly missed.
Monday, 9 May 2011
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Girl With The Replaceable Head: Saturday 10 July
"A band literally stuffed with fabulous tunes, and they’re whacking ten of them on their new album 'Death In Gateshead', which is being released in July."
Free album for the first 20 audience members
The Crack.
more info
Start: 8.00pm
Entry: £4.
Haiku Workshop: Sunday 11 July at the Laing Gallery
A special haiku event on Sunday, 11 July, when members of the B.H.S. Yorks/Lancs Group (including haiku poets, editors and teachers Martin Lucas and Fred Schofield) will travel up to join the North East Group in order to visit the'Japanese Wave' exhibition at the Laing Gallery, Newcastle. The exhibition mainly comprises numerous woodblock prints of landscapes, actors from the kabuki theatre and courtesans of the Yoshawara district by major artists of the Edo period.
We will meet at the Laing at 2p.m. where a room has been allocated for our use. If you wish, you are also warmly invited to join us beforehand at 12.30 p.m. in the second floor cafe of the Tyneside Cinema.
For further information and to reserve a place, please contact chrisphil79@hotmail.com
Start: 2.00pm
Monday, 28 June 2010
Wor Poets at Theatre Royal NewcastleTuesday 29th June
7.30 – 9.00pm
Wor Poets came from Africa, Asia and The Caribbean and have joined UK counterparts to become an intercultural asset for North East England. Following their success at the legendary Morden Tower as part of the Newcastle “Late Shows” in May, Wor Poets return for a feast of poetry to be served at the Learning Suite at Theatre Royal Newcastle.
Wor Poets is about a shared experience of life in our region from multiple perspectives. Their poetry is insightful and funny, sometimes offering the lyrical lilts of different languages to create beautiful aural soundscapes. Above all, Wor Poets always offer an enjoyable evening out. We hope you'll take this opportunity to see some real local talent shine and help them to raise their profile in our region and beyond.
To reserve tickets contact office@interculturalarts.co.uk
£5/£3 (concessions) available at the door
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Monday, 20 July 2009
Cool Cat Blues at Morden Tower
Review copied from bepopspokenhere.blogspot.com
Morden Tower, secreted into the medieval West Walls of the old city of Newcastle upon Tyne, is a hidden gem. The intimate tower is approached via a cobbled back lane off China Town. On a dark winter's night one could well stumble upon a witches' coven but this was a mid-summer's evening and it was the spirit of poets past walking the walls as the cool cats listened, intently, then momentarily distracted, then focussing once more on the words and music of Frank Reeve and friends. Reeve, a tall, seemingly intense, yet genial American sat in front of the cats and read. 'The Blue Cat Walks the Earth' is Reeve's third volume of poems about a cat and things...the politics of being a cat, a knowing cat. Rhythm and meter, jazz rhythm and meter were to the fore. Our cat, at times, wasn't word perfect; it didn't matter, he was a jazz cat. 'The Apology' and 'May Day in Moscow' were but two of many 'jazz' poems - Brighton based John Lake and Phil Paton, multi-instrumentalists both, played cool cat blues - to be heard this night on West Walls. A diversion, a hoedown - 'The Blue Cat Calls a Country Dance' - was a delight; Reeve, Lake and Paton got it just right. An evening of jazz 'n' blues, of New Orleans, Steinbeck, the Dust Bowl, of the stevedore on New York's docks, of solidarity.
'The Blue Cat Walks the Earth' by FD Reeve is published by Smokestack Books www.smokestack-books.co.uk ISBN: 978-0-9560431-0-6. £8.95. (inc.CD). The CD features American musicians Don Davis (sax) & Joe Deleault (piano). Frank Reeve's website: www.fdreeve.org . Morden Tower's website: www.mordentower.org .
John Lake and Phil Paton should take a well-deserved bow. They met up with Reeve the day before the Morden Tower performance. Their contribution was as if they were long-time associates of Reeve. Cool, cats.
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