Mes Courants Electriques

It’s so cold out there. I have to say that I am going through the most uncreative period, I don’t believe in writer’s block, I think there are times when one needs to soak in life for new material to come up. But seriously, I have no artistic motivation at all at the minute. Just want to sleep all the time, and the amount of stupid television I’m consuming is incredible. I think it’s a backlash from having the book come out recently, I think I’ve been pushing so hard and so long I’ve collapsed. Fortunately prolific bugger that I am, there is another book’s worth of poetry already written in the time its taken for ‘The Prize’ to come out, so I’ll be looking for a home for that when its been sequenced. And there’s a kid’s book coming in the spring.

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I’m locking myself away all of January whilst I write my play for the BBC, a verse drama of all things. Lots of research to do.

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The great joy of my life at the moment is a wonderful French pop album by the very beautiful Alizee; her record is called ‘Mes Courants Electriques.’ If Madonna could actually sing, and she had Abba’s musical sensibility instead of having to sample it, and was 21 and lovely you’d have an idea of Alizee….

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My friend Rosie rang up the other night at 10 pm, I told her I was gardening, and to her incredulity, there I was in the cellar creating a winter window box. This has been my only creative act all month, Hellebores, Iris, narcissus, and hyacinth, with a few sempervivum for soil coverage. I have always planted up my spring and summer boxes with herbs and lettuces, but have always had shabby displays in winter, old lettuce flowers and rocket beyond seeding. I had the brainwave to create boxes to rest and rotate on a bi-seasonal basis. I had to work in the cellar as its freezing out, and well I agree 10pm is a funny time to be digging in the dirt in December.

astral weeks

Just back from Belfast, from visiting my dear friend Sherry Robinson, who is the most wonderful musician and artist. She and her family are amazing. her mum and dad and almost eighty, infact her dad is. and they are so cool. her dad, a Yeats scholar, Bihar yoga teacher and gent, is interested in everything. Sherry's mum is such a card, such a wicked sense of humour. For me who has no sense of a home life really, I'm quite unbalanced i think, all work..., its amazing to meet families who get on. I grew up in ahouse where no one got on, explains a lot I guess. trying to find new balances now, but no idea how as a man in today's society I am suppossed to build this part of my life...any clues????? Yes its the christmas blues

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astral weeks by van morrison is on constant rotation, I even found myself on Cyrpress Avenue...ohhhhh sweeeet thing!!!!

John's been listening to too much 'Van the Man'

Samson & Goliath - The cranes at Harlan & Wolfe Belfast

end of tour

Thanks to everyone who turned out for the brothatalk end of tour show last night in Manchester, surely the warmth from the audience and the new material we put together made it one of our best shows ever. As always I'm amazed that people love poetry so much, yet I constantly hear there is no market for it, man promoters and publishers you need to open your eyes.

Welcome back to John McGrath, most wonderful director at CONTACT theatre, where would we be with out your support.

I can't believe I made the gig, I have been so out of it with flu, and only a few hours before rang to cancel the gig, but was asked to see how i felt later, i drove there feeling sick, and horrible, and then the healing power of being on stage lifetd me up, I'm still weak this morning, but boy has it helped.

hello to the best heckler we have ever met, you had us all in stitches.

around the world

hey
check out my podcast you can subscribe to it by using iTunes and just searching for my name in the podcast directory, or its subscribable with any podcatcher by pasting in this link http://jowonio.podOmatic.com/rss2.xml

OR
you can just go to where it lives and download it as an mp3
http://jowonio.podOmatic.com

this issue of it features excerpts from a live show to launch my new book 'The prize,' there's a lovely piece by storyteller Xanthe Gresham, and there a bizarre soundclash mix of coil with Allen Ginsberg getting poetic all over it.

if you enjoy it please share it, as my friend UZI says, WHORE ME!
man i just want the work out there and the books selling WHORE ME!

:)

I am amazed by how many people are signing up for it, 50 this week alone... its spreads the work far around the world, Ain't life wonderful sometimes

peace

John