CRUMB #9

MONDAY 31 OCTOBER 2022

A COUPLE OF WORDS

THE DOWN SIDE OF DIGITAL

“Our technological world, our digital life, is largely devoid of touch or taste or smell or emotion”.

So said the speaker on a clip a friend of mine sent through to me.

Our technological world, our digital life generates anxiety and fear and isolation and powerlessness. The communication channels created by this technological and digital environment, ensure we do not actually communicate.
This isolation of people into a private world of their own, serves only to create a mindless crowd who are mere observers of life rather than participators in that life.

How often, in this technological /digital do we get with ourselves, with each other?

Not often enough. That is why the communities we build around our open mic nights, our festivals and our gatherings are so important. They are the real channels of communication, they are the sledgehammers to the walls of isolation, they are the bricks that build the road of resistance.

Join the movement. Let’s get with one another. Get behind the microphone. Don’t stay home. See you at one or all of our events this month.

Peace
Mark

GETTING TOGETHER

GETTING TOGETHER

They came holding flowers in their hands,
from the locked rooms of their homes
they gathered around the microphone,
their voices rose as one and their song
echoed across the pavement
and down the main street of town.

Deep was the refrain their choir sung,
an anthem of defiance, a fierce furnace
of freedom and the flowers in their hands
shone with the light of peace and courage
and the closer they stood by each other,
more fearless did the song become.

LIVE MICROPHONE

Moon is shining in Collingwood

The moon lays itself, a sheet of gold, on the Ruataniwha estuary lapping at the feet of Collingwood. It peeps through the window of the MAD Cafe and bounces off the solitary microphone.

Yep, summer is rolling around and in the evening the moon is rising bright and round over the sea that laps the shore at Collingwood. Moonshine on the Microphone, it glistens and sparkles with just a hint of subversion, a tipping of the hat to defiance and to the strength of community.

Sometimes it is quiet, sometimes it oozes energy, but always it is about the voices who dare to speak into the microphone. So come down from the valleys and make your way to the MAD Cafe in Collingwood. You will get to support those who take the stand with a poem or song and you will strengthen your own heart in the process.

MOONSHINE ON THE MICROPHONE
Thursday 3 November, 2022.
Kick off around 7.30 pm. Koha entry.

GOLDEN BAY LIVE POETS

ACID – Haewai Collective

The Haewai Collective
featured guest at this month’s
ACID ON THE MICROPHONE

A little break with tradition this month as we feature some fine musicians in our guest spot. The Haewai Collective from Wellington will perform originals and selected covers at ACID ON THE MICROPHONE, Thursday 17 November at the Mussel Inn.

The programme will kick off with our open microphone sessions for all comers with poems, songs and stories. These sessions are the heart and soul of who we are; they provide opportunity for performers to present their craft and opportunity for the audience to be part of the community building process. A strong community is like a mighty fortress and we like to think our open mic nights place another brick in the wall!

Following the open microphone sessions The Haewai Collective – featuring Janine, Kevin and Jack – will take to the stage for a half hour set.

It’s going to be a good one so get yourself to the Mussel Inn – refreshing beer, tasty food, great company. Get together, build community, strengthen your heart. See you there!

ACID ON THE MICROPHONE
Thursday 17 November 2022
Mussel Inn, 7.30 pm. $5
Featuring The Haewai Collective

THE DANGEROUS MICROPHONE

THE MICROPHONE AS HAMMER

Building community, song by song, poem by poem, prayer by prayer

This is the time to get busy and build strong community networks to stand firm in the path of the creeping State; this is the time to write your heart, to sing your soul, to build community through the joy and the power of THE DANGEROUS MICROPHONE.

Look forward to seeing you each Wednesday at the Dangerous Kitchen. Here you will find great food and refreshing drinks from the kitchen and bar and simply wonderful hospitality from the friendly Dangerous Kitchen staff.

Performers, you can book one of the seven minute slots from 5.00 pm at the Dangerous Kitchen

THE DANGEROUS MICROPHONE
Every Wednesday, 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30 November 2022
5.30 pm kick off.

COMMUNITY HELPING COMMUNITY

ACTIONS SPEAK

Community helping Community
This Sunday 6 November

Do you want to lend a hand trimming a hedge, mowing a lawn or digging a garden?There are plenty of people who would love you for it!

This is how ACTIONS SPEAK works.
Big hearted volunteers meet at the iSite centre in Takaka on the first Sunday of each month at 10.30 am armed with tools of the trade.

The co-ordinator, Barrett Newton, – whose great idea this is – will have a number of people who would like help with jobs that are proving too difficult on their own.

Volunteers will be assigned a location and a task and will set off to carry out the work.

At day’s end – 6.00 pm – everyone is invited to a BBQ on the Village Green for a catch up and a chat to see how the work went.

So, if you have a job that is proving too much for you by yourself and you would like a hand, please email Barrett with the job you would like done and your location.
Email: newton.b@protonmail.com

GROWING COMMUNITY

ABUNDANCE

Here it is. ABUNDANCE – our Co-Created Mini-Fest! Saturday, 12 November, from 1.00 pm at Onekaka Hall.

We are amazing and better together! ABUNDANCE has been designed to hold space for the talents abounding in our community and to create connections for our brighter future.

From 1.00 to 6.00 pm its like a big open mic – come on down and put you name on the board to perform, talk, demonstrate. Performance slots range from 15 to 60 minutes.

All details on flyer opposite or from the website: http://ourabundance.net/

Be community! Bring you heart and soul!
Let’s build together!

POETRY SLAM WINNER

emma callaghan – regional poetry slam champion

What a great night it was, a couple of Thursdays back when we ran the Golden Bay/Nelson Regional Poetry Slam and were treated to a performance by current NZ Slam Champion Dan Goodwin.

We had five entrants in the Slam, an enthusiastic audience who thoroughly enjoyed all the performances and created a bit of mayhem with the judging calls. It was close folks, very close, but in the end, after three rounds of engaging and thoughtful performances, our winner was Emma Callaghan (left) from Takaka.

Congratulations to Emma. Her range of topics over her three poems and her variety of performance styles won over the judges and she can be justly proud of her win.

Emma will travel to Auckland to represent our region in the NZ Poetry Slam Final which takes place on Saturday 23 November. Go well Emma, slam hard!!

emma callaghan – regional poetry slam champion

NEW ALBUM FROM NORINA

NEW ALBUM from NORINA MERKABAH

We have had the joy of listening to Norina sing at The Dangerous Microphone. Well, now you can listen to her as often as you like because she has recently recorded and released an album of new songs.

The album is titled “Fullmoon & Fire“. It’s a record with five freedom songs. She released it during the great protest at parliament in February and it continues to resonate for these times. It’s an important collection of songs; and freedom is an important treasure, one we should never take for granted.

It would be great if more people discovered Norina’s music. You can listen on SPOTIFY, iTUNES, YOUTUBE and all other platforms. Enjoy and share.

Make Use of CRUMB

subscribe to CRUMB

In CRUMB you will find all the events sponsored by Golden Bay Live Poets Society plus a few other gigs and community happenings.

If you would like to be kept up to date with open microphone events happening around the Bay, then subscribe to CRUMB here

And you can even submit a gig or event that you want us to know about.

GOT A GIG, EVENT, NEW BOOK or RECORDING COMING UP ??

Got events or gigs coming up that you’d like to let CRUMB readers know about, please email the details, jpeg pics and jpeg posters to: mark@drycrust.com or use the link below:

submit a gig or event

And if you have a new book of poems, stories coming out, or a new recording of songs, let us know and we can let our small but dedicated readership in on the action.