ACID ON THE MICROPHONE
ash, poem & song 2
It’s going to be on Wednesday this month. Acid on the Microphone is stoked to feature the soulful voice and late-night piano of Leigh Strange and the star-spangled poems of Mark Raffills as our guests for July.
Their one-hour show features new poems and songs that create moments of sadness and joy; moments of despair and redemption in a performance at the Mussel Inn, titled ‘ash, poem and song 2’
It was first crafted for this year’s Nelson Fringe Festival back in March 2026 and continues the collaboration of local musician Leigh Strange and local poet Mark Raffills.
Their collaboration came about after an open mic session at the Mussel Inn a couple of years back where Leigh was singing Janis Joplin and Mark was telling his poems and thinking these voices might work well together.
“It took some time to get organised,” says Leigh, “but this is now our second edition of the show and having the courage to commit to definite performance dates has helped us turn our music and words into dance partners.”
The resultant show of mostly new, original songs and poems has a relaxed and intimate feel about it. Nothing rushed or too urgent. It’s bar-room setting has its own vibe that lets the music and words linger for as long as they need to.
‘Their voices fill the space where the lonely wander, where the moon filters through the dark shadows in thin rays of light; where a small coin is sufficient to buy back a soul grown cold.’
The regular open microphone session for poets and musicians will run from 7.30 to 8.30. It’s a limited session so participants should be in quick to put their name on the performance list which will be open from 7.00pm on the night. Musician alanjahjah will kick the evening off from around 7.15 pm with some cruisey tunes. Here’s another opportunity to catch our own community in action, so let’s make it a date!
ACID ON THE MICROPHONE
Open Mic from 7.30pm – 8.30 pm
Guests: Leigh Strange & Mark Raffills after 8.30 pm
Wednesday 22 JulyI 2026
$5 on the door. Mussel Inn
