Have No Name.

Have No Name, Say They.

By Uncle Monty.

TCWNN Photos

By Alex Albion.

:-:

Although the choir stage seemed rather too small

at Feet East, their jolly singing and polished per-

formace was certainly quite nice and swanky

 to mark their third anniversary as

 "The Choir With No Name" or TCWNN.

...

While third birthdays usually don't count as very

important for most folkz, for TCWNN's third
birthday it was really quite a milestone for the
well known and respected homeless choir

that has continued to outshine most other

choirs of the same age and disposition
whether they have a name or not.

:-:

TCWNN Founder Marie Benton With
Her Beloved Homeless Choir Members.

:-:

All one needs to do is to watch "live"

TCWNN's founder and choir director -  the

quite talented and unbigheaded Marie Benton,

shown above - to see how far the choir has come

 under her magnetic direction. Such is not only

a personal credit to her, but a credit to the

 homeless community in the UK.

:-:

Standing room only at their third anniversary show

 was proof enough of how "The Choir With No

Name" has emerged so well and professionally

in three short years. Those giddy and paying

 TCWNN patrons were thrilled to no end, much

like me, as they watched the whole two or so
 hour show that seemed to get better and better
at each performance and higher levels

of the show.

:-:

The Big Issue fundraising shows that I have

also attended in the past, looked pretty stale,

cold, and mechanical against the talented,
 warmth, and excuberance of TCWNN that
 I saw this time off East London's Brick Lane.

It was the fifth performance of the homeless

choir that I have seen with the last one for me

at last November's Annual Commemoration

 Service for the Homeless Dead that is held
always at wonderful Anglican
St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

:-:

Another Matt Cardle, Then?

:-:

So with their more than two full hours of almost

non-stop group and solo singing and dancing, it

was hard not to be more and more impressed

with such a happy group of  homeless folkz

that delighted in performing at their very best

to their supporters and admirers and friends

at their third anniversary show. They had

gathered for a full evening of pure entertain-

ment that would have otherwise cost an arm
and leg to see the same with those expensive

tickets for most West End theatre shows.

:-:

A Lovely Singer Was She At TCWNN.

:-:

I bumped into a couple or so folkz at

TCWNN show who knew me well from

 my dayz at The Big Issue! Some were still

 unaware of how vile Peter and Anthony John

Bird had thrown away my Covent Garden pitch

 in their godless fit and spite to coldly take

 away my five year pitch due, so they allege,

for "bringing the Big Issue into disrepute." It

was a callous excuse of their own making!

:-:

A small number of choir members are either past

 or present Big Issue vendors, but most haven't

 the time of day or interest whatsoever in becoming

Big Issue vendors. One choir member described

the Big Issue as a "fat corporate front" that is only

interested in "sucking the blood of those who are

down and out." When I told her I had been with

The Big Issue for five years as a badged vendor,
 she then said she remembered me from St. Martin's

night shelter and recalled, like I did, how she knew
Denise and Ronnie and Minnie, who sold

The Big Issue back in the mid-2000. She said

 she'd not seen or heard of Denise or Ronnie

 or Minnie for the past couple of years now.

Nor have I, I told her ...

:-:

"You know, Monty, I don't want to earn money

so that I can give The Big Issue even more money

it is making from people like me, you know,

homeless." So I asked her: So how do you earn

 money for yourself, if you don't sell something

like the Big Issue? She said she wasn't earning

any money per se.  Rather she was doing job

training that was "by far alot safer than being
on the street as a Big Issue sellor." Her outright
rejection of The Big Issue was palpable as a
homeless person for the past seven or eight years
 at perhaps her age of mid-30's or so. A single

 white mum and a divoree, is she. And, she's

 also a terrific singer in her own right. If she
became rich and famous, would she ever do-
nate to The Big Issue? "NEEEEVEEERRR!!!

They have enough money, don't they?"
But to TCWNN she almost happily yelled:

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeees! Yeesssssssssssssssssss!!"

:-:

The evening spent with TCWNN was like a
tonic for me. I felt the positive vibes from the
choir and to see them joyous on the stage and
to witness their overwhelming dignity and
worth was uplifting for all to see and share.
Such is due in no small part to Marie
Benton's consuming care and attention to
those who are proud members of a choir
that cleverly trades by declaring to "have no
 name, say they." But we know them by their
 true and good name, don't  we? Yes, we
 do - It's "The Choir With No Name."
:-:
Have a g'day, Uncle Monty.
+Passiontide, 2011.
:-:
International Day For Street Children.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/lifestyle/international-street-children/?utm_source=tmg&utm_medium=TD_8443426&utm_campaign=aviva1304
:-:
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Feedback & Comments
allaboutthebigissue@britain.com
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Big Issue Owner Pigface Anthony John Bird.

:-:
Anglo-Saxon Coins.
By Uncle Monty.
http://thebiggerissueorg.blogspot.com/2011/04/anglo-saxon-coins.html
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