[Sarah-Jane Crowson]

Oh! And what a gorgeous thread this is. I have just had a massive fail trying to make an image, as clearly tonight is not the night for me for making.

I love all of this, but best,

John’s mention of Joni Mitchell and (later) of psychedelic drugs. Oooh. Maybe that's the image later. Mushrooms with glasses.

Chris’s mention of Gil Scott-Heron (I love Gill Scott-Heron’s The Revolution, it’s amazing)

John’s mention of John Cooper Clarke. He’s amazing, and I’ve heard him live. He came to Hereford (no-one ever comes to Hereford, so that’s a feat in itself)


Cam, you introduced me to Aesop rock through the unlikely form of the Napo playlist (on another site). I’ve not stopped listening to them since, they’re amazing. That playlist also introduced me to Loma (but it also was populated by a host of lovely people who love, love, love early eighties soft rock, so it’s a blessing and a curse, because there’s me listening to psychedelic Jazz when suddenly Jon bon Jovi, whether I like it or not, comes belting anthemically into my playlist).

Fliss, I think I was going after a kind of overwhelm of sensory experience. Like a cocktail, but without drinking. As if we could create a menu of poetry/music cocktails. The thread takes this idea into far more exciting and interesting spaces. But my cocktail of choice was Karma police and Love in the Asylum.

I write ekphrastic sometimes, I - this sounds weird- think art is often about context. So, when as a child I walked into the Rothko room somewhere in London, it inspired me in all sorts of ways. But when I see art on screen it doesn’t give me the same experience. So, no, I don’t combine the three things. I think I try to write from life mostly, or use the lens of surrealism to try to see the everyday in a different way. It’s a very good question, and thank you for asking it.

Mark - I play things on loop too when making. Remind me to introduce you to the Penguin Cafe Orchestra if you don’t know it already.

Ann- I sneaked a listen today and it’s amazing. Oh, for the weekend and some proper time!

Jesse - I wonder what you reckon to Tom Waits, as probably that’s the musician I associate most (with JCC) about early music/word combinations. I am excited to listen to your links later.

Jason! So good to see you here again. I love Grateful Dead’s ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’ & listen to it on loop very occasionally. I’m trying to remember a band my older cousin (in a van) took me to at the Hammersmith Odeon in London way back when. Osric Tentacles? It felt very cool, and a bit GD anyway.

Martin - your links make me yearn to offer to start a playlist here, too. Thank you.

Quincy - Motorhead and Eliot? That has to be the equivalent of beer and vodka? If it were cider and vodka it’d be snakebite in the UK, but Eliot would probably balk at being cider, so apparently it’s a Vodkabeer (Eliot might be closer to dry sherry, but I can’t find a drink equivalent).

You’re all amazing. Ann/Annie gets a drink on the house because I can’t even go to imagine what her link would be as a poetic cocktail beyond a very, very dry G&T with loads of ice on a very, very hot day.

(Please don’t stop posting)

Sarah-Jane