Jammin' At The Font - Magazine Work

Joanne Philpott pops down to a night combined of rap, freestyle and poetry

 

There is nothing quite like Beat It Poetry in Leicester.
 
Combine open mic, spokenword, poetry and live beat boxing, add some underground and old school hip-hop vibes and together you have something that is certainly a fresh and enjoyable experience to say the least. 

The event, which is highly successful and has brought an array of people to date has taken place at The Font for over a year, originally starting off at The Hub in November 2012. 

Richard Lloyd, who is the brainchild of Beat It Poetry decided to start the event as he felt that he needed to get people to perform to crowds, not just in their bedrooms. “I was somebody who used to practice by myself in my bedroom, then I got my breakthrough at Next Level Competition. It gave me the confidence to perform outside my own space and inspired me. I wanted to give people the chance to gain confidence themselves.”
 
“At first I was happy to keep it going at The Hub, but my friend Tony Cope encouraged me to make it bigger and better and take it to The Font.”, Richardtold me. “At first the event only had a few people, but it has moved fast and got a lot of support.”

As well as himself running the night, Richard has had help from his fellow friend and DJ, Splinter. ‘If I didn’t have Splinter helping me out I would not be here right not. He’s been brilliant.”
 
The event has had many highs and lows over the past year, as you could imagine. For Richard, no event is the same; different acts every week meaning a different atmosphere. Full bands have played, acoustics guitars and even a loop pedal.
 
And the lows? “Setting up and the technical issues are the biggest problem”, Richard said. “Luckily now we’re at The Font we don’t have to carry decks anymore like we had to at The
Hub.”
 
The first birthday at The Font saw an array of acts, who all bought the crowd to silence with their talents. The main act of the night was Motormouf. Real name Alex Young, Motormouf mixed in
beat-boxing, singing, and even bought a loop to help along with his act. Alongside him on the night were such acts as Tony Le Tigre, Ingoex, Jake, Kumerlie and Cama Carsie. They all bought a mix of poetry, beat boxing, spoken word and free style.
 
Adding in his happiness of the success of Beat It, Richard told me “I can’t believe that I have been doing this for a year. At first it was something I was doing in my free time, but now I am getting paid for it, which makes it even better.”
 
And upon asking Richard to describe Beat It Poetry in five words, he replied: ‘The poetry jam is dope!”

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Speech Is Not Needed For Laughs - Leicester Mercury Review

Most people would say that to be a comedian, you have to use your voice.

Lost Voice Guy walked into the room, and his iPad greeted us by simply stating ‘I have a slight disability’.

Right away it was apparent this was going to be a completely light-hearted show, hosted by a comedian who doesn’t take himself - or his disability - seriously at all.

Lee Ridley, the genius behind Lost Voice Guy, suffers from Cerebral Palsy. In Lee’s case, this means he cannot physically speak. 

However this doesn’t not hold any barriers for the 33-year-old. He uses his disability not to make us, the audience, feel sorry for him, but to join him in laughter.

Lee tells us tales of his experiences from everyday situations such as the problems occurred when ringing Babestation, to the more serious time of what happened when he was taken to hospital for pneumonia when he was meant to be performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

‘At least I now know how to spell pneumonia’ he quips, which made the room erupt with laughter.

Lost Voice Guy is a refreshing act to see. He provides the kind of comedy which is needed these days - nothing too serious, and holding back no barriers on disability, making Lee different from your typical stand-up comedian.

Take a bow, Lost Voice Guy. You may not be able to speak but your quick-wit and light-hearted routine certainly left me speechless.

Published in the Leicester Mercury, February 2014

Replacements Play Their Trump Cards - Leicester Mercury Review

As it hit the time for the show to start, a voice out of nowhere asked the audience to sit forward a few seats.

Everyone, it seemed, thought this was odd. However, what happened next was not expected.
Mr Methane, the renowned performing flautist, who was meant to be, ahem, playing tonight, had, for whatever reason decided to blow the gig out.

In his place and at the 11th hour, up stepped Bob Slayer, the event organiser who had decided the show must go on.

After explaining what had happened, Bob was joined by Tim Fitzhigham. Together they patched together an impressive impromptu show of tales, misfortunes and laughs.

It wasn’t what we had expected, but it was something which you could not have imagined would happen.

Bob even demonstrated what Mr Methane would do if he were there - so you could even say we even got a little taste, if that’s the right word, of his act.

The show, as you could imagine, was completely unpredictable, we heard a complete mixture of stories, with one person even telling us the tale of meeting his long last Dad.

All this made for a delightful evening, because instead of being a show based on a script it was actually a cosy little chat where the audience came together laughing from start to finish.
It felt like you actually got to know fellow members of the audience.

It might not have been Mr Methane, but Bob and Tim came up trumps and saved the show. Bravo.

Published in the Leicester Mercury, February 2014