Sometimes your
past comes back in an unexpected form. When I was a lad at school there
was a band I was associated with, though what I did with this band would
never have been described as singing. The other members were far more
proficient at their respective
chores (guitars, drums, etc.) than I was though this is where I first
started writing for an audience. This band went through a variety of
line-ups and through the late-Eighties/early-Nineties we were known as
the Sonic Energy Authority. It happened that
this coincided with me getting to know a small number of authors to whom
I gave CDs of our work and some of them (including Jon Courtenay
Grimwood, Peter F. Hamilton and Robert Rankin) were kind enough to slip
mentions of the band into a novel or two. Well
we’ve just got one of the tracks we recorded about twenty-five years ago
onto the latest This is Peterborough CD from Rowdy Farrago Records
(Peterborough Goes Forth). I doubt if it is available from HMV (due to
their current situation) but can be downloaded
via Amazon and other websites. As well as us (and you’ll quickly realise
why we avoided fame) there are twenty more bands, many of whom are much
better than us, including a track from the current Poet Laureate of
Peterborough, Simon Stabler.
In one of my first contributions to the Book a Poet blog I
mentioned that the really rather spiffing magazine Earth Love had
folded. This was a shame as it had published a good variety of writers,
from beginners through to editors of other publications,
and raised money for a number of ecologically-related good causes.
Fortunately Tracy Patrick, the editor of the lamented magazine, has been
able to put together an anthology of the best poetry from the magazine.
Yes, I’ve managed to get a poem in, but don’t let
that put you off. A very nice book that deserves to be on the shelves of
poetry fans. For details about ordering go to www.earthlovepoetrymagazine.
Enough of this reminiscing, I’ve just been enlisted into the poetry
team for an arts event in Peterborough called “Find me, Keep me” and if
any of our plans come together, it looks like it will be pretty
bonkers. With several teams ranging from sculpture
through to theatre, this could make the Easter weekend one to remember.
The poetry team is co-ordinated by Keely Mills (a fellow former Poet
Laureate of Peterborough) and includes the current Laureate Simon (who I
mentioned above) and MC Mixy (yes, another
former Poet Laureate of Peterborough, and someone you can find out more
about elsewhere on the Book a Poet website).”
© Pete Cox 2013
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