"The Verb"

[Lateralthinking1]

frenchfrank - Thank you for your comments. I like Ian and support the programme. As you say, each person will have a view of each edition but hopefully some of my summaries will encourage people to give it a go. In fairness, many would probably have enjoyed this week's one but it wasn't my kind of thing. If I say what I feel, it is better than just giving rave reviews. Of course, I wish Peter, Naomi, etc the very best in what they do.

Calum - I have just taken the time to read the essay you posted. It really is excellent and it deserves a thread of its own. So much of it could apply to today although a few possible differences stand out. Power residing in the old? Gentleness? A fundamental morality in leaders? I think that there is now a case for and a case against the first two. As for the third, I feel that it has gone the other way - Lat.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

the substance of it may date as a portrait, but the portrait he writes is of the quality of Vermeer, Holbein or Rembrandt, the crystal clarity with which he depicts the upper classes as i can still remember them ...... the light he sheds upon hypocrisy, not a harsh light but a revealing flux .... he created this without the 'method' of the intelligentsia he spikes so lethally .... rather from a unique sensibility ... how very English of him!

[Lateralthinking1]

Friday 18 February 2011

"Theatre is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place.” - Martha Graham

Here are the details of this week's programme:

(Not all the links and extracts will be discussed in the programme. They are included to provide an introduction to, or reminder of, those featured.)

Ian McMillan takes to the air:

The writer Catherine O'Flynn reads a brand new Verb commission. 'The Navigator' is a non-fiction meditation on sat nav and the sneaking feeling that the commanding voice issuing from the device may not always have our best interests at heart.



Biography - http://www.tindalstreet.co.uk/authors/catherine-oflynn

Steve Spence performs extraordinary cut-up prose poems about fishing, recipes and meteorology from his new collection Limits of Control.

Limits of Control - http://peonymoon.wordpress.com/2011/...ts-of-control/

English Chanteur Philip Jeays performs a new song in the style of Georges Brassens.

Georges - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Q7urIVYAE

"Geoff" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE8MM...eature=related

Poet Richard Price is our guide to the life and work of Scottish poet Iain Crichton Smith, whose collected poems have just been published.



Lucky Day - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2005...ardianreview17

All Our Ancestors

All our ancestors have gone abroad.
Their boots have other suns on them. They
died
in Canada and Africa with God,
their mouths tasting of exile and of spray.
But you remained. Your grave is in Argyll
among the daffodils beside a tree
feathery and green. A stream runs by,
varying and oral, and your will
becomes a part of it, as the azure sky
trembles within it, not Canadian but
the brilliant sparklings of pure Highland light.

By Iain Crichton Smith

Man of Letters - http://www.enotes.com/w/images/thumb...cagobhainn.jpg

Iain in the Poets Pub - http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/img/arts/poets_pub.jpg

The Verb - This Friday, 9.15pm-10pm, Radio 3

Also available for 7 days on BBC I-Player

[Globaltruth]

Philip Jeays was frankly awful, and the World Music gang could change his musical world view by playing some of our works on Spotify - that would take 10 mins.
Does he REALLY think he is the only chanteur in England? Ye Gods and little fishes not only is he wrong, his lyrics stumbled like a 3 legged frog and his voice croaked like a heron.
At this point I switched off....

[Lateralthinking1]

Hi GT, Your comments are always welcome on this thread. The thread is the only real ale pub on the FoR3 site. Smoking is permitted and when it is chilly we even light a fire here. While the pub thrives on discussion and occasional disagreement, we don't like punters getting involved in a fight. Actually, we kick them out so that it doesn't ruin the atmosphere for everyone else. Most are here for the poetry, the music and a bit of a cavort. In this sad old world, who can blame them?

Catherine O'Flynn

I thought that this week's edition of The Verb was very much better than the last one. Catherine O'Flynn is definitely my kind of writer. I don't know if she has ever met one Terence Hall but she certainly has a mirror on the Midlands. Her descriptions of ordinary people there are warm, engaging, entertaining and well-observed. Perhaps shopping arcades and homes for the elderly are the modern forms of ghost towns. Anyway, "The Navigator", her documentary piece on her strange experiences with satnav, brought a humour and a humanity to technology that the pieces last week seemed to lack. Her "relationships" with the satnav voices - Spanish Antonio - she liked the idea of improving her "grasp of the Castillion imperative" but found him wayward and emotional - and confident but laid back Irish Sean who would dally and give her confusing directions. They were enjoyable yarns and what a terrific voice she has for story-telling, very natural and, yes, compassionate.

Steve Spence

Steve Spence, from the avant garde movement in the South West - oh yes - read three short prose poems. These were essentially cut-up collages, splintered, fragmented, made up of various articles and manuals on clouds, politics, fish and assembly instructions. And, as Jimmy Cricket might have said, "there's more". Spence's aim is to "create continuity....where there isn't continuity". He also attempts to bridge the gap between poetry and the visual arts, drawing influence as much from Picasso as from Scalapino or David Bowie. Cod or plaice mate? While I think he is reasonably successful in these objectives, his poems are not exactly my cup of tea. I prefer the idea of them than what they actually say. "Cold, crisp, bright eyed day, Vernacular modernity on my way, a new four storey tower now expected, blue door says keep clear". That's the way he tells 'em and french frankly I'm not sure. Clegg-Fluffy!

Iain Crichton Smith - presented by Richard Price

A writer who was modern in his day was Iain Crichton Smith. Am I permitted in 2011 to say "very Scottish"? "Deer on the High Hills" is considered his masterpiece and I loved the extracts we heard him reading: "Yesterday, three deer stood at the roadside, It was icy January and there they were like debutantes on a smooth ballroom floor, They stared at us out of that French arrogant atmosphere like Louis XVI sustained in twilight...They wore the....look of aristocrats before a revolution comes". Marvellous. The poem is a meditation on the domination of a few landlords in the highlands, on the clearances, and on how landscape is layered with atrocity. We heard, though, in an effective summary by Richard Price how Crichton Smith accepted the gentle and the beautiful even in things he didn't want to like. I hear that in his description of those deer, in his view of those who don't work as having real use in providing nuance and colour, and in a line like "The crystals of unnumbered stars". I wish that I had written that. Like Spence, Crichton Smith worked with a controlled palette and made good use of repetition. His though was a worldview, one in which the world was not only as it is, and his, but always principally the Scottish highlands and islands.

Philip Jeays

Finally, GT, Mr Philip Jeays. Before the programme, I looked at a few clips of him on You Tube and had the same reaction as you. Then I found "Geoff", the clip which I included in the preview, and I really liked it. It was amusing and bewildering in equal measure and I could tell that the audience on the film really got into the performance. As you are aware, Jeays writes English songs in the European chanson tradition and, fair enough, he isn't Thackray, nor is he Brassens or Brel. His "world shut your mouth" anger has, though, some interesting things to say about the human condition. You listened to "My Own Way" - "Thank you for your directions, your guidance and corrections, your little interjections, your views and your reflections but I don't care what you say.....I'll go my own way". Later in a rant against right wing twits and bullies, he rather more acutely identified the hypocrisy that often involves. The song was "When Children are Children":

When children are children they play at war/ but children are childish, it's what childhood is for/But when children grow up, how some of the fools carry on with their wars.....to think we have evolved for a million years, is that all we have come to...It's not so much that you do it at all/it's more the fact that you want to.....when I see you so smug, I could kick you to hell, then I know it's the same race we belong to.

How true. I'll have another pint of Deuchars if not a wee dram. Hammer the pilchards. More riots? Then clamp down on the nuts and boil in a saucepan for three and a half minutes. Howzat! What are you having before they start arguing again? - Lat.

[Globaltruth]

so far, so...

Howzat! What are you having before they start arguing again? - Lat.

you make a good host for this thread Lat - clearly wasted over on the WM board.

To be fair, I will be returning to listen to the rest of the show..it was just the comparison between that feller's light-weight vocal caparisons and Mr. Wood's Hollow Point that rankled to the point of hitting the off button. It stank.
It's a lovely word, rankle... but I can also say that caparisons are odorous
(Ay thang yew ladeez & gennlemen)

Anyway, whilst I'm in critique mode, that there Catherine O'Flynn - you could slot her work into quite a few programmes on r4 (and that isn't to denigrate her work, merely highlight her easy style), but is this typical of the

cabaret of the word, featuring the best poetry, new writing and performances...

?
It was slight - the kind of writing you would have found in Punch magazine.

I've just been reading The Butterfly that stamped to the grand-daughter (her choice)...Ms O'Flynn didn't Kipple. I suppose I have to take her in context - she was in complete contrast to the self-congratulatory screaming poet from the week before. And maybe it's the contrast that's important as well as the content. Like a segue.

Thinking about it, I might suggest to IM that he gets Messrs Wood and Lupton in for a session. they write well, have something to say and, erm, I like them.

[Lateralthinking1]

Global - Thanks for these comments. Caparisons, rankle, kipple, self-congratulatory screaming poet - with a vocabulary like that, maybe you should publish something yourself and get on there quick to promote it!

You know my views on Mr Wood. He should be Prime Minister. He has been on The Essay of course. I would still like to know more about the pin-barrel harp.

One of the things I like about the programme is that I get to hear people I haven't heard before, or heard much of before, or heard much about before. A lot just flutter by but occasionally there's a zebra, a sooty copper, an Oberthür's grizzled skipper or a small blown shoemaker. You have to separate out the cleopatras from the spanish festoons.

Incidentally, this, this, this week's one is a repeat. More Mature Times than Well, Hello Magazine but no behemoths. - Lat.

[Lateralthinking1]

.....Details of this week's programme will be posted tomorrow. As I previously reported, it is a repeat. I would therefore welcome reviews from everyone who heard it, preferably before tomorrow night before the broadcast. This will enable me to listen to it as if it were a review of the reviews ahead of it and view the reviews as if it were the programme recorded last year.

[Lateralthinking1]

Friday 25 February 2011

“If there were a verb meaning "to believe falsely," it would not have any significant first person, present indicative.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

The details of this week's programme:

(Not all the links and extracts will be discussed in the programme. They are included to provide an introduction to, or reminder of, those featured.)

Ian McMillan - far away this week but still there - with:

The legendary punk poet Attila the Stockbroker who reflects on his thirty-year career, and performs two new poems.

This is Free Europe - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv4FF...eature=related

The novelist and poet Sophie Hannah reads a brand new short story, written specially for the programme.

A Room Swept White - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFLt0kjUZWs

Performance poetry from Ross Sutherland a young writer recently named by The Times as one of the top literary talents of 2009.

Things To Do Before You Leave Town - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzENJEXJMlM (Parental guidance - contains swearing)

Benin City provide spoken word and music .

All Work and No Play - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOQYJpk4l1U

The Verb - This Friday, 9.15pm-10pm, Radio 3

Also available for 7 days on BBC I-Player

This programme was first broadcast on 12 March 2010

[Globaltruth]

Friday 25 February 2011

“If there were a verb meaning "to believe falsely," it would not have any significant first person, present indicative.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

The details of this week's programme:

(Not all the links and extracts will be discussed in the programme. They are included to provide an introduction to, or reminder of, those featured.)

Ian McMillan - far away this week but still there - with:

The legendary punk poet Attila the Stockbroker who reflects on his thirty-year career, and performs two new poems.

This is Free Europe - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv4FF...eature=related

The novelist and poet Sophie Hannah reads a brand new short story, written specially for the programme.

A Room Swept White - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFLt0kjUZWs

Performance poetry from Ross Sutherland a young writer recently named by The Times as one of the top literary talents of 2009.

Things To Do Before You Leave Town - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzENJEXJMlM (Parental guidance - contains swearing)

Benin City provide spoken word and music .

All Work and No Play - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOQYJpk4l1U

The Verb - This Friday, 9.15pm-10pm, Radio 3

Also available for 7 days on BBC I-Player

This programme was first broadcast on 12 March 2010

Attila The Stockbroker - simple but powerful couple of poems on powerful topics (y'know, that love/death/life thing)

Sophie Hannah - actually only half a story; which nonetheless was well structured and, like Attila, better for being delivered.

Ross Sutherland - also described as being part of a poetry boy band. His Yeti poem worked well, with a traditional kick in the last time. 'There is a reason...'

Benin City: very committed and passionate; in a small enough dose to be just fine.

So, listened to the whole programme...and enjoyable enough. Maybe the reason this one was repeated was because it was 'enjoyable enough'....anyway thanks again for the preview, without which I would not have bothered.

[Lateralthinking1]

GT - Thanks for your review. I appreciate it. It means that mine will be a lot shorter - not a bad thing! I see that Ian McMillan is on Radio 4 this week presenting "Pick of the Week".

Speaking of 4, I have an imaginary thread in my mind about radio programmes that could only be placed where they have been by overpaid nutters in this most bizarre of decades. This one is good for starters - "just right" for the pensioners and housewives of Middle England as they think about their lunches this coming Thursday and what might be happening later in The Archers:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00yz3h8

Lat

[Lateralthinking1]

No in-depth analysis this week, partly because it was a repeat, partly because GT is spot on in his comments, and partly because this really was a live performance. So much better than the chit-chat of a couple of weeks ago. All of the contributors entertained.

Ross Sutherland cleaned up "Things To Do Before You Leave Town" for the BBC and didn't lose anything by doing so. His other poem featured a couple who might have been Terry and Julie away from their sunset. He captures the ordinary well, perhaps particularly ordinary youth, and he lives inside his characters convincingly in his everyman delivery. There is more on You Tube.

On the surface, Benin City do not sound like they feature an ex-lawyer but a closer listen to their lyrics reveals that there is a lot going on in those words. They have an alternative take on diversity in which the main regret is about the uniformity of working roles. As for the music, it is is a jazz, hip-hop, slightly ska thing. Brassy. In various ways, it brought to mind Gil Scott-Heron, Soweto Kinch, the Beatnigs and the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. Punchy, effective and fun.

Sophie Hannah gave us half the story of “The Visitors’ Book”. A very strong performance, this, too and very funny. I laughed out loud in places which takes some doing as things are now. Her characters were very believable, maybe mildly neurotic in an “Annie Hall” way, but likeable. Going into detail here would probably spoil it. Suffice to say, she left me wanting more.

Attila the Stockbroker was fantastic. Now celebrating his thirtieth anniversary as a poet, he really is capable of being very moving when venturing away from the overtly political. On this programme he gave us poetry about his mother who has Alzheimers and his stepfather who had recently died. There is something in the apparent simplicity of what he does that can convey more meaning than many "difficult" poets. The listener identifies and in the telling there is more than could be got from the page. His delivery has an unsentimental warmth. Overall, then, a good broadcast that was worth repeating. More of the same would be welcome.

[Lateralthinking1]

Friday 4 March 2011

"When people use your brand name as a verb, that is remarkable" - Meg Whitman

The details of this week's programme:

(Not all the links and extracts will be discussed in the programme. They are included to provide an introduction to, or reminder of, those featured.)

Ian McMillan presents:

The Man Booker nominated novelist Emma Donoghue who reads a brand new commission, a breathless adventure called Fall and featuring Annie Edson Taylor, the first person to survive a trip over the Niagara Falls in a barrel.

Room - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIts2nT0HY4

Spoken word artist Hannah Silva who premieres a new piece entitled 'Opposition' using David Cameron's Big Society speech.

Talking to Silence - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeifO...eature=related

Russian-born novelist and humorist Gary Shteyngart who explains the grip of his native language on his imagination and why he counts money and dreams in Russian.

On Stuyvesant High School - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ_phGkC-Tk

And, Roz Goddard who reads poems inspired by HBO's The Sopranos while literary critic Alex Clark looks for writing dreamed up while slumped on the sofa watching the box.

RozGoddard.com - http://www.rozgoddard.com/

The Verb - This Friday, 9.15pm-10pm, Radio 3

Also available for 7 days on BBC I-Player

[Globaltruth]

Haven't listened to all of it yet....Hannah Silva AGAIN??? In a world full of creative literary types we're subjected to her faux Berberian yowls with the content of an empty packet of low-fat crisps.

And I dream of an episode where IM is anything other than relentlessly upbeat.
I actually don't want any of whatever he's on...

I confess though to enjoying hugely the first piece about the barrel & Niagara Falls.
Recommended - spoken r3 at it's best.

As usual thanks for
your succinct trailer..

[Lateralthinking1]

Hi GT, I also enjoyed Emma Donoghue's description of the remarkable Annie Edson Taylor, the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel which remarkably she achieved on her 63rd birthday. What people will do to escape the poor house! I have an interest in the story of Peruvian Carlos Fermin Fitzcarrald and Herzog's reinterpretation of his character as Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald. He attempted to reach the point where two rivers nearly met and pull a 320-ton steamer over a hillside from one river to the next. I think that there are similarities between Taylor and Fitzcarrald/Fitzgerald and the kinds of symbolism they bring to mind.

While neither Taylor nor Fitzcarrald were Irish, the semi-fictitious Fitzgerald is, as is Glen Hansard who in part based that wonderful song "Fitzcarraldo" on Fitzgerald, and so too Emma Donoghue. Perhaps there is something about the Irish character that identifies with a difficult crossing of water. One thinks of emigration following famine. Taylor's moment as revealed to us by Emma brought to mind horse racing - "and we're off...." - as the cord of the barrel is untied. It is very much a tale of spectacle. We are though also given a vivid impression of Annie's feelings on this rollercoaster ride, the constraints and the sense of freedom, the birth like drop and the daring with death. David Blaine? Forget him. It has all been done before. Incidentally, she lived until 82.



Hannah Silva might best be described as an acquired taste and you are right. She is spending a lot of time at "The Verb". This time, her piece was on Cameron's "Big Society" using snippets not only from his speeches but the words of Churchill. Add in a bit of Twitter, a loop fiddle and tin whistle and you get......well what do you, get you, get do you, what, what, glug glug glug glug, innovation is, do you get, get, get, it, is what you get, innovation? You know, I'm never sure about her! I think the subject was right for her. Cut-ups for a cutter. The song poem conveyed the banality of these people. Sometimes though I feel when I listen to her that she is a child and I am on psychedelic drugs. And wasn't the splicing thing done on Radio 4 years ago?

We then had William Sieghart explaining that the "Winning Words" search had chosen "To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield" for the 2012 Olympics. I hope to be out of the country. Gary Shteyngart is a pleasant guy but I didn't feel that I learnt much from him about the differences between the English and Russian languages. His novels may be better. I didn't think that I was going to like Roz Goddard. Poet Laureate for Birmingham? Sounds daft. I was also closed minded when it came to television series "The Sopranos". However, the content of her sonnets based on the characters turned out to be terrific and what an intelligent, interesting woman. She has, I think, more poetic substance than most of the writers we have heard this year - Lat.