Ah, delights… Hallo nochmals, liebe Berlin.

I am back in Berlin after a couple of splendid weeks of Italing.  And the night after returning, it was onto the BeatStreet stage at Joe’s Bar for the 3rd and final launch of SAND journal, which is truly splendid and should be on all your bookshelves, coffee tables and/or bedsides, if not in your hands.  And I protest that this is an honest opinion, not swayed at all by my being in it.  A simple glance at MC Jabber‘s contribution, for one, should be ample to seal the deal.  Here ends the sales pitch.

The gig was great fun, even if I did feel a little rusty, and I was chuffed with both Eric Eckhart‘s guitar accompaniment and the great vibe from the large audience.  The other performers, Alistair Noon, Ryan T. Jacobs, Linden Horvath and host, Rob Grant, were all in top form.  Seek them out if you’ve not heard them yet.  (The easiest way to do this, of course, is to pick yourself up a copy of SAND, which you can get from St George’s bookshop, or soon, also from Dialogue.)

To celebrate last night’s public premiere of my newish words and music piece, The Happy Plant, I’ve posted a version of it on my electric MySpace page.  It was recorded by the multitalented and marvellous Ms Sam Wareing at what I would argue is Berlin’s 2nd-finest accoustic space (Sam will understand what it’s trailing, and that this is no insult).  It also so happens that this piece will be performed in selfsame space at the first of the Moabit Kulturtage Sofa Sessions gigs on 18 June.  Check my events page here or on The Sofa Sessions Blog for details.  The series also features the delicious talents of host, Wasp Summer, Eric Eckhart and the globe-spanning Mesalina Trio.

Gig ahoy! (reprise)

I’ll be performing on 27 May at the 3rd launch gig for SAND journal – this one at Beat Street, which will be at Joe’s Bar on Schönhauser Allee.  That fine manipulator of stringed instrument, Mr Eckhart, will be joining me, so that’s already double the incentive right there.  And you might as well quadruple that (at least), for the splendid journal itself will also be available there, and there be more poetics and musics to fill your head exquisitely.

And while I’m at the recommendings…

Here’s another little collection of pages you might like to try: Phil Lucas’ Poetry Cupboard.  I particularly love his comments about his debut book, Poems from the Seashore.  It’s so easy to get trapped into trying to jam way too much into life that I find it a rich delight to happen upon those places where time slows and space unfolds, releasing the compression from our shoulders and passing a cool breeze across our eyes; from my first impressions, these poems can take you to such places.  I look forward to visiting some more.