Just a quick blog about a performer I watched on Thursday.
Prior to the pandemic I used to go to the Music and Words Club in Windsor where (as per the name) there were performers who wrote and performed their own music, songs, poetry etc.
Thankfully it has returned and have been a couple of of times.
I have been fortunate to be invited to have been featured a few times on the bill and also as a guest performer.
This time the featured artist was Bity Booker and like every featured artist it is usually a great experience.
I hadn’t heard of her before but saw that she had a presence on YouTube Twitter and Sound cloud.
When she started to sing I was amazed as she had a completely different sound to what I was expecting.
This was a good experience. The sound was ethereal and I tried to categorise what she reminded me of.
There was a Kate Bush element but also a folk feeling. But it just wasn’t just her voice, it was her stage presence that entranced and drew you in. She was singing for you!!!
I bought a cd but also checked out Spotify and listened multiple times on my journey to and from work.
I then listened/ watched YouTube just to complete the experience.
As a writer it has made me think and that is part of the work of a performer
Not only does Bity Booker orate her words, she also illustrates them.
Joseph Campling lives in Buckinghamshire, and is married with adult children.
He trained as a both a General and Mental Health Nurse in the South East of the United Kingdom in the mid 1980’s and has worked in various roles over the past 30 years.
His first authored article in 2007 was jointly written about the need to share positive research based practice amongst care teams locally which was then published in a professional journal.
He published “Mild Musings May Mitigate My Mentality” which was his first collection of poems in 2018.
He has subsequently published MERRING or is it MRS GREN?
Having written sporadically over the years (usually for friends and family) he has been writing more consistently over the past two years and has begun to recite his poetry at various Open Mic nights and Spoken Word events. He is often found ‘scribbling’ and then performing what he has just written.
He recently has also been collaborating with a jazz composer by writing lyrics which have been put to music.
His interests include watching live music, trying to play the guitar (still project in progress) and quizzing. He also likes to watch TV; mostly factual documentaries, comedy and quiz shows
He also needs to read more and swears that he will do so very soon as he has a pile of books to read.
He also ‘hangs out’ with members of the local drama club although he has no plans to act but is partial to the odd pint of orange juice and lemonade!!
He follows rugby and can sometimes be found cheering his team on (London Irish) whether they win or lose.
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Joe the poet 