The Salt Room at Gorman House - Friday 18 November

‘If I have to have a poem, then I prefer it to be multiple choice.’

BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT!, in partnership with Ainslie + Gorman, brings you the Salt Room, the national capital showcase of the finest territory, interstate and international writers and performers.

MCed by Joel Barcham.

For this event we have One Thousand Promises, Nigel Featherstone, Bela Farkas and J C Inman.
Tickets at the door: $10 waged and $5 unwaged.

Read below for more information about each of our performers.

One Thousand Promises

One Thousand Promises is a duo art project between Francesca Willow and Madison Mae Parker. Francesca, a choreographer and performer, uses Madison’s poetry as a starting point for making movement.The duo aims to create a full, experiential atmosphere for the audience, not allowing them to be passive observers, but active participants in the conversation unfolding before them. Their work touches on the darkness that lies within us all, particularly focusing on eating disorders and mental illness, and the strength to overcome through the power that exists within womanhood.

Nigel Featherstone

Nigel Featherstone is the author of three thematically linked but standalone novellas: (Blemish Books, 2014), which has been described ‘Elegant and original’ (Sydney Morning Herald), ‘Accomplished – an intense fiction range’ (Canberra Times), and ‘Utterly enthralling’ (Newtown Review of Books), and was recognised with a 2014 Canberra Critics Circle Award; I’m Ready Now (Blemish Books, 2012), which was short-listed for both the 2013 ACT Book of the Year; and Fall on Me (Blemish Books, 2011), which won the 2012 ACT Writing and Publishing Award for Fiction. Nigel’s novel Remnants (Pandanus Books, 2005) was published to acclaim, as was his story collection Joy (2000). He is also the author of 50 stories published in Australian literary journals including the Review of Australian Fiction, Meanjin, Island, and Overland. Between 2007 and 2015 he was a frequent freelance writer for Fairfax Media. Nigel has been awarded residencies at Varuna and Bundanon and in 2013 he was a Creative Fellow at UNSW Canberra/Australian Defence Force Academy. In 2015 Nigel was commissioned by the Goulburn Regional Conservatorium to write the libretti for an original 12-song cycle, which is being composed by James Humberstone from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Bela Farkas

Serial celebrity name dropper Bela Farkas is a Canberra-based poet. A lot of his work has been heavily influenced by popular culture and current events. He has featured at Canberra’s BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT!, Traverse Poetry Slam, West Word Poetry and as part of the ACT Australian Poetry Slam. He has been interviewed and performed poetry as part of the documentary series Behind the Words and on 2xx radio. He has also performed at the Corinbank, Canberra Fringe, National Folk and You Are Here festivals as part of the Tragic Troubadours. He has been published in the Delinquent and has given speeches on poetry and performance at schools.

J C Inman

J C Inman is a contemporary Australian poet. His poetry blends humour and horror. Follow him on Twitter @JC_Who_Art.

BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! PODCAST

There are two new BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! Podcasts.

Podcast twenty features Bela Farkas with his poem Toilets.

Podcast twenty-one features Alex Scetrine with her poem To the boy I've been stalking for over a year, I'm sorry but I thought you would have noticed by now.

Sacrificial Poems CD Launch

Bela Farkas launches his poetry collection, Sacrificial Poems, on Wednesday 4 December at the Phoenix Pub. 

The album cover

He recorded the album with Aaron Kirby at Playing Field Studio during The Tragic Troubadours' residency in September and October 2013. This is the same time the BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! Podcast project was started. The project included the poem Darwin by Bela.

During the residency I also recorded a bunch of poems with Aaron, and started preparing the launch of my book at the Phoenix Pub. The book, That place of infested roads, was launched at the Phoenix on 23 October. You can listen to a recording of the night on Bandcamp. 

For the launch Bela performed O brother: a one act play. He'd requested that one from the book and did a great job performing the piece.

At Bela’s launch twelve Canberra performers will be interpreting poems from his CD. I am excited to be one of those taking part. Bela's poems are interesting in their combination of social critique, comedy, seriousness and character.

The launch poster

Hayley Shone and Kooky Fandango will be providing music.

You should come along, Bela Farkas’ poetry is truly unique.

BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! Podcast Six – Bela Farkas

Bela Farkas
Photo by Adam Thomas

The sixth podcast from Canberra’s poetry slam BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT!

Machete Kills: The Trailer Review

Senior Reviewer Bela Farkas of Move Review Show reviews the cinema trailer for Machete Kills.

Gravity: The Trailer Review

The latest release from Movie Review Show is Movie Review Show Trailer Review Show s01e02 — Gravity.

Listen to Movie Review Show’s Senior Movie Review Show Editor, Bela Farkas, as the true depths of Gravity are explored.

Thor: The Dark World Trailer Review

The newest review series from Movie Review Show is Movie Review Show Movie Trailer Review Show.

And to kick things off for episode one of series one we traveled to the Upstairs Food Court of The Canberra Centre to explore the intricacies of the Thor: The Dark World cinema trailer.

Word Co-op, 21 September

The September Word Co-op is the first of a bimonthly poetry night at the ANU Food Co-op.

This month we bring together feature sets from Candy Royalle, Paul Magee, Aaron Kirby & Bela Farkas.

Entry is by donation.

Photo by Amelia Filmer-Sankey

Here is some background on our poets for the night:

Candy Royalle

Candy Royalle is a performance artist and poet who fuses cinematic storytelling, poetry and unique vocal rhythms with confronting, political and heart thumping content. In the 10 years since her debut, Royalleʼs career has taken her across both the frontiers of poetry, and the world. Sheʼs captivated audiences both nationally and internationally, including Spain, the UK and America. Candy Royalle has been nominated for numerous awards and in 2012 won the “World Poetry Cup” beating 46 other poets for the coveted title and trophy. Her work has been published in numerous anthologies in Australia and internationally. Royalleʼs work has been covered in many major media outlets including ABC, Fairfax, News Limited, CNN and a host of local and street press.

Aaron Kirby

Aaron Kirby makes poetry to understand and explain the world he experiences. Believing the poet requires no particular credentials he presents none.

Aaron Kirby at BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT!

Paul Magee

Paul Magee’s first book was the surrealist ethnography From Here to Tierra del Fuego (University of Illinois Press: 2000). He is author of the eleven-chapter Cube Root of Book (John Leonard Press: 2006), and is currently working on Chapter Twelve (forthcoming 2013), both in verse. In addition, he is on a late draft of a scholarly monograph concerning the meeting point between aesthetics and epistemology, entitled Poetry and Knowledge (forthcoming 2014). Paul teaches poetry at the University of Canberra, and is a chief investigator on the Australian Research Council-funded project Understanding Creative Excellence: a Case Study in Poetry. He studied in Moscow, Melbourne, San Salvador and Sydney. Alongside his verse and his scholarly contributions on poetics, he has published on Marxian thought, psychoanalysis, stagnation, boredom and revolution.

Paul Magee as part of the 

You Are Here 2013 Page vs Stage

Bela Farkas

Serial celebrity name dropper Bela Farkas is a Canberra-based poet. Much of his work has been influenced by popular culture and current events. He has featured at Canberra’s BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! and the Traverse Poetry Slam at the Font; at West Word in Melbourne; and as part of the ACT Australian Poetry Slam. As part of the Tragic Troubadours Bela has performed at the Corinbank, Canberra Fringe, National Folk, and You Are Here festivals. Recently published in United Kingdom’s The Delinquent Magazine, Bela also has a degree in Public Relations from the University of Canberra.

Bela Farkas at BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT!

All images unless otherwise specified are courtesy of Adam Thomas.

The Poetry Slam on 21 August

BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! vs. Australian Poetry Slam

AND WE WANT YOUR WORDS ON STAGE!

August BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! brings you a stage, two minutes, cheering, two microphones, yelling, five judges, heckling, the audience, arm waving, The Score Adder, pointing, a first feature act, two MCs, a sacrificial poet, a second feature act, prizes, The Master of Conflict, and the Hadley Memorial Slots, all for poetry, all for glory, all because BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! is the Poetry Slam in the Phoenix Pub!

And this month we plan to send poetry to the ACT Australian Poetry Slam Final.

Or not, we won’t make poetry go, that's up to you, but poetry can go if the ACT Australian Poetry Slam Final Spots are claimed.

And these spots are not to be confused with The Hadley Memorial Slots, this month, in loving memory may he rest in peace, the Slots are filled by Ryan Schipper.

And because poetry, slots, spots, in memoriam, and arm waving are somehow not enough we bring you feature acts:

Ell Bella

Ell Bella is a Melbourne based MC, street performer, juggler and acrobat. Her solo street shows have taken her around the world and around her home country of Australia. She regularly MC's at Melbourne's 'Variety Collective', and in her own show Ell Bella's Late Night Variety Assortment, as well as in a number of one-off events. As a corporate juggler she is one of Australia's finest, performing solo or with other circus artists.

And to clearly demonstrate that Bella and Bela are not pronounced the same we bring you a second feature act.

Bela Farkas

Serial celebrity name dropper
Bela Farkas is a Canberra-based poet. Much of his work has been influenced by popular culture and current events. He has featured at Canberra’s BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! and the Traverse Poetry Slam at the Font; at West Word in Melbourne; and as part of the ACT Australian Poetry Slam. As part of The Tragic Troubadours, Bela has performed at the Corinbank, Canberra Fringe, National Folk, and You Are Here festivals. Recently published in United Kingdom’s The Delinquent Magazine, Bela also has a degree in Public Relations from the University of Canberra.

So join BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! on 730pm at The Phoenix Pub with your words for poetry, yes poetry, POETRY.

And remember no props, no music, and your original words.

Also, there are some special rules for this heat as it is part of the Australian Poetry Slam. They are here: australianpoetryslam.com/rules.

(All photos courtesy of Adam Thomas)

This was going to be a short post about my experience of YouAreHere 14-24 March 2013.

YouAreHere versus the Australian Public Service

YouAreHere 2013 has ended, and for me closes with leaving the Australian Public Service. This presents simultaneous emotions, tensions, and options.

Me at Woodford Folk Festival in 2008/09 by Asher Floyd

The Public Service has been at once liberator, providing steady income; and safety net, providing a reason to not push in certain directions. It has also given some unbelievable highs, interesting situations, invaluable experiences and personal interactions, but the law of diminishing returns has kicked in.

Joel Barcham and me
at Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit! on 20 March 2013
by Adam Thomas for YouAreHere

And while I have left the office and will not be back it is still providing a limited lifeline allowing me to traverse tracts of the United States via train, explore parts of the United Kingdom, and hike across the north of Spain, perform poetry, and then finally resign.

Me, Joel and Bela Farkas
at Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit! on 20 March 2013
by Adam Thomas for YouAreHere

Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit! versus YouAreHere

Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit! feels like it has ended for me, and ended on the most massive high; one that I could not have planned or imagined.

Things started strong in the Phoenix with Kabo performing The Night They Set Canberra on Fire to an audience that was intensely honest and vocal in appreciation of a poem first performed at Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit! in 2011.

Raphael Kabo
at Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit! on 20 March 2013
by Adam Thomas for YouAreHere

Hadley returned to take us through a beautifully comforting set of poems. 

Hadley returns to Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit!
on 20 March 2013 #1
by Adam Thomas for YouAreHere

That had all three of my favourite Hadley poems, including rickety planes and flying-goggles, cabbage wings, orbiting love, and free range. And Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit! yawped in approval.

Hadley returns to Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit!
on 20 March 2013 #2
by Adam Thomas for YouAreHere

Amelia performed feature poems combining writing and performance that Catullus would have explained using salt but cannot be satisfactorily translated by me into English, particularly Parentheses.    

Amelia Filmer-Sankey
at Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit! on 20 March 2013
by Adam Thomas for YouAreHere

The crowd went everywhere they wanted to go. Including with mystery act Fuzzsucker who clearly split the audience for or against (and what is the point if a poetry slam if it isn’t forcing a decision from someone). The audience demonstrated this division in the most frankly loving way, with an unplugging of Fuzzsucker leading to a feature set dance party with the band.

Fuzzsucker at Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit! on 20 March 2013
by Adam Thomas for YouAreHere

And because nothing is perfect there was the absence of one of those people who made BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! what it is, Amanda Coghlan, but to me that BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! can continue first with Hadley absent, and with Amanda absent, well then I expect Joel and Adam will know next month what they need to do and everyone will remind them of what they forget – POETRY SLAM! – and it will continue without me.

The Australian Broadcasting Commission and Joel
at Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit! on 20 March 2013
by Adam Thomas for YouAreHere

YouAreHere versus The Tragic Troubadours

The Tragic Troubadours held a workshop for everyone in the middle food court of the Canberra Centre, a place that has produced many of our poems. Some people turned up.

The Tragic Troubadours at the middle food court
of the Canberra Centre on 14 March 2013
by Adam Thomas for YouAreHere

I am particularly stoked that Adam Thomas’ photo of this event ended up as the cover photo to YouAreHere’s facebook page during the festival

The Troubadours then went into the bus interchange for a full week to perform poems, with veterans Skip and Bela beside new recruits Florny and Arrin. And I think the variety and the passion of the performers meant we met the warmest of receptions and reactions that exceeded anything I could have hoped for from people waiting for buses, especially on the rainy days.

Interchange poetry - Tragic Troubadours

from YouAreHere On Vimeo. 

Page versus Stage versus YouAreHere

I ran Page vs Stage with Paul Magee and Tim Kent, and was invaluably helped by Joel Barcham. Page vs Stage was an experiment and became, despite my best efforts, a sincere exploration of the creativity of both the Sydney-based Tim Kent who was exceptional and honest, and Paul Magee whose enthusiasm and joy for poetry and performing and listening to it totally contradicts the cliché that someone in a university may try to own poetry in some white tower somewhere.

Page vs Stage: The You Are Here Combat Edition

from You Are Here On Vimeo.

YouAreHere versus the writer-in-residence

Thanks to David Finnigan I got to be the YouAreHere writer-in-residence and write about the creativity of people, including a script-writer, a punk rock cook in two parts – I and II, an experimental musician, two zine makers who are zine fair organisers, a CSIRO scientist, and a few musicians over breakfast — but with so many options missed I still feel chances went wasted.

Doubting Thomas
at Australia 2050 on 17 March 2013
by Adam Thomas for YouAreHere

And really, Festival Breakfast, you should have tried to make at least one of those. They were the best opportunities the festival offers for anyone to daily access all levels of YouAreHere, from the art it creates, to the artists making it, to the festival curators and producers putting it all together.

YouAreHere versus The End

Throughout all that I have made connections, missed others, was quite often confused, fell in and out of love, broke hearts, had mine broken, changed sex to rent submarines (green ones) and managed to yell and be a dinosaur gangster on the streets of the Canberra. I am pretty sure all that happened.

Toward finally; one thing I learned from listening to Tim Kent and Paul Magee was that the multiplicity of voice in art, the making of sense from voices in other peoples’ art, the presenting of art to others, in whatever form, and being ecstatic when someone else finds something there, whatever voice it is they find, is the driver for some other people and one I share.

And finally, whoever you are reading this; if you have got this far I would probably fall for you if we hung out. Or I already have.

Me, Arrin Chapman, Bela Farkas
and a person waiting for a bus
with The Tragic Troubadours
at Civic Bus Interchange on 21 March 2013
by Sarah Walker for YouAreHere

Andrew Galan — YouAreHere 2013 writer-in-residence

All photos by the YouAreHere 2013 Festival Photographers Sarah Walker or Adam Thomas; check out all the photos at YouAreHere Canberra’s Photostream. All videos by YouAreHere 2013 Festival Film-maker’s Erica Hull and Shane Parsons; check out all the videos at the YouAreHere Canberra Vimeo page.

Day Two - YouAreHere writer-in-residence

It is only the end of day two, but already I have heard Matty Ellis and Waterford sing from a Mixtape, and witnessed lots of quite good questions get finished by a man in a bathtub who was wearing undies. Who wears undies in the bath? “I do.” would likely have been the answer, maybe with some pointing and an eyebrow. It was good, I wish my friend Bela Farkas had seen it.

Photo from YouAreHere, I felt I could steal this 'cause I'm the writer-in-residence and I hope they don't mind. Imagine that guy is Bela Farkas watching a man in his undies in a bathtub.

I heard more from Chiara Grassia and Nat Clark about their upcoming Canberra Zine Emporium (CZE) when I went to the YouAreHere Festival Breakfast. You can read something about CZE by following this link. You should go to the Emporium, you will not only find zines you may hear music like this.

Giz Medium will be teaming up with Bridget to become VÉLOCIRAPTOR (the accent is important) at the Canberra Zine Emporium.*

As a result of the YouAreHere Festival Breakfast I have been investigating Zine Bands. The breakfasts are almost every day of the festival, you may go to one then decide to investigate something.

I also heard from Lindsay Lohan in her space prison ship, I have never seen a Lindsay Lohan movie, not even the Herbie Remake, and I love Herbie movies, and I liked the poster. But not this YouTube clip, which may explain why I did not see the movie.

I don’t know why Lindsay Lohan is in prison. But I am glad I saw this with Doubting Thomas.

Finnigan had the words “Destroy A Child” painted on his chest, I’m not going to explain any of it, wait for the video. I am glad I saw this with Doubting Thomas, I wish Bela had seen it.

There was more, and there are things coming up. Tomorrow morning you can crush opponents in poker while eating their pancakes, or just pile their pancakes up around you as you win hand after hand after hand after hand of poker. You can also roll about in the piles of pancakes you win. The event is called Pancakes and Poker. You play for pancakes in the Pancake Parlour.

And Mall Stories 2013 will be released, download that when you can.

And Sunday is Australia 2050; you should go to the event and tell the CSIRO what you think about the now and the future, read a bit about that here.

* This may be to do with Secret Gig II. I may have out investigative journalised the people running that gig.

GnR, Elvis, and Sinatra play Glebe Park

In the depths of Canberra's 2014 winter the 1988 Guns and Roses opened this triple headed concert on the Glebe Park stage with Welcome to the Jungle, an unusual way to start, but their set didn't let up for 40 minutes of tight and simultaneously rambling heavily sweated numbers from their albums Appetite for Destruction and G N' R Lies.

GnR was followed by 1970 Elvis Presley crooning both to the distant Bega Flats and the overlooking Crown Casino. In response the crowd spilled onto crotchet rugs from set beginning to another strange song choice, his finale and farewell song, In the Ghetto.

Then the 1959 Frank Sinatra took the stage. And through favourites that had the crowd kicking on their rugs, and among cameos from 1960's proto-Rat Packers (as well as William Shatner), Sinatra held the Canberra crowd to the conclusion of his final song, Al Hoffman's I'm Gonna Live Until I Die.

All-in-all this was a solid night of music; with enough variation to cater to Canberra's diverse crowds but with a through-line of humanity and mortality that held the three acts together for the evening.

And in other arts related news, issue nineteen of The Delinquent is now out in its thermals.

Featuring:

Rodney Nelson, Duygu Senocak, Lucy Winrow, Daniel Lehan, Nicholas Francis, Spencer Golub &David Hancock, Tim Keane, Caitlin Hoffman, Clive Birnie, Andrew Galan, Eleanor Perry, Christopher Barnes, Bela Farkas, Claudine Toutoungi, Melissa Mann, Robert McCorquodale, Vincent JS Wood, Phil Callaghan, Dan Melling, Michelle Matthees, Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhrán, Jim Meirose, Edwin Sellors, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Bethany Pope, Tanaka Mhishi, Charles Pitter, Matt Dennison, Ray Diamond, Charlie Geoghegan-Clements, Jim Alderson, Dan Stathers, B. E. Smith, Matthew Griffiths, Susana H. Case, Ian Goodale, Jeremy Quinn, Duncan Jones, Martin Jones, Graham Fulton, Rosemary Norman, Meredith Collins, Nicole Kuwik, David Cudar, Rupert M Loydell, Harry Downey, Mark Blayney, Peter Ebsworth, John Aaron Rosen, Jason King, and artwork by Daniel Lehan.

The cover and interior photographs are by Eleanor Leonne Bennett.

The Delinquent issue 19 is available from Amazon as an ebook - Delinquent issue 19 on Amazon - and Lulu in both print & pdf versions.

The ACT Australian Poetry Slam Heat Number Two - The Hadley Memorial Slam

THE PRESENT CRISIS CALLS FOR HEAT NUMBER TWO OF THE ACT AUSTRALIAN POETRY SLAM HEATS!

This time at Smiths Alternative Bookstore/shop/frontage/wine bar/cafe...

With words, bring your words, and your renga, and your haiku, or your tanka, and your hokku, or even your renku, ‘cause it’s a crisis time I tellsya, crisis, and only poetry can save us if we wave our arms to the sky and say WORD! or

Yes, word.

And no you don’t have to restrict yourself to the above list of poetry forms, really, we will take anything.

But there are special rules for this poetry slam heat, find those rules by following the next link on this page, because preparation is your Uncle, as they say, and your Uncle is Mad: Australian Poetry Slam!

Now no poetry night would be complete without a feature act.

And our feature act for this evening is the all kinds of wonderfully special Drew Walky!

Drew Walky’s music has been described as “original and lyrically rich, with a folk-psychedelic edge” and “personal puzzles…delivered in an alternative folk style with a very ‘hippy hippy shake’ flavour.”

Read more about Drew Walky here: BMA Magazine on Drew Walky and then listen to him live at Smiths Alternative Bookshop on Saturday night.

CRISIS ALMOST RESOLVED!

In the invite for Heat One we mentioned the MASTER OF CONFLICT. The Master of Conflict was unfortunately turned into a vampire that night so who KNOWS IF HE WILL MAKE IT TO THIS SLAM, but clap and hope he is going to be there for us is all we can say and do, CLAP IS ALL THAT CAN SAVE HIM, CLAP! You may just bring him back from the dead, or as the undead. And you do want him there, 'cause he brings prizes, YES PRIZES!

CLAP, CRISIS!

And then, as written earlier, bring yourself and your POETRY SPRUIKING GUNDAM to Smiths Alternative Bookshop for poetry, and prizes, and glory.

CRISIS NOT RESOLVED!

CLAP!

Thanks to our sponsors IMPACT COMICS, THE GAMES CAPITAL, THE PHOENIX PUB, THE RIOTACT and NEWACTON.

And remember, there is one more heat after this, it is on 17 October at The Phoenix Pub and it shall be known as Heat Number Three, and then there is the final at NewActon on 3 November, it shall be known as…

The Final

Remember, crisis… clap...

The ACT Australian Poetry Slam events are brought to you by:

BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! which can normally be found in The Phoenix Pub on the third Wednesday of every month!