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Xmas Open Mic At CRISIS.
By Uncle Monty.
Photos By Alex Albion.
Part 2 of 2.
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For me, it was hard to engender the Spirit of Christmas
at the so-called Xmas Open Mic at where not a single
Christmas decoration was in sight save for some small
mince pies for sale inside the CRISIS Skylight Cafe
at where the Open Mic was held just days before
Christmas Day. Nobody even wore anything Xmasy,
except one performer with his blue and white Santa
hat and myself with my colourfal and noticeable
shiny green Xmas Tree hat.
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Chorally, I also found poor Christmas pickings at the Xmas
Open Mic at CRISIS that saw more performers than
visiting patrons at its venue that was held at its East
London Commercial Road HQ. I was among just an
handful of those patrons who witnessed what was
more a corny and common Tin Pan Alley* Show
than anything to do with Christmastide.
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* Meaning of Tin Pan Alley: The New York Herald referred
to it as "the sound made by many pianos all playing different
tunes being exactly like the banging of many tin pans in an
alleyway." The term is used in a somewhat derogatory fashion.
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Worse still, from the word go, I realized I'd made a bad
mistake even going to such an Open Mic whether it
was Christmas or not at CRISIS. So I was there and
since I was there I decided to stay there and see
the whole Xmas Open Mic from beginning to end that
lasted close to three very long hours for me. It was
my first visit and will now probably be my last!
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There Was An All-Around Shabbiness and
Slothfulness - Much Like An Inertia - With The
Performances of The Streetwise Opera Just Like
It Was With Much of The Whole Xmas
Open Mic At CRISIS.
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Of course, there were exceptions that I found with
Ken Roberts (shown below) with his classic peform-
ance from "The Phantom of the Opera." Lord Andrew
Lloyd Webber would have been very proud of Ken and
rightly so! Ken does all of his own makeup, too, along
with his own special white mask that sets him apart from
the other less than grand performers at the Xmas Open
Mic at the CRISIS Skyline Cafe.
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Two other performers impressed me. They were Anne
Mary (shown with me at the above caption picture) and
her partner Peter Pereira, who brought the house down
and they most certainly deserved that with their skillful
and delightful guitar playing.
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Ken Roberts.
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Guitars Galore At The Xmas Open Mic.
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Goregous CRISIS Staff Member!!
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This Guy Was All Guitar Playing And Good At It.
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He was the only one with something Xmasy. He is also
a member of The Choir With No Name - TCWNN -
along with The Streetwise Opera. Both, of course,
are populated almost exclusively by homeless people.
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Obviously, many of the performers were non-Christian
and foreign ethnics as they bellowed out their various
vocal offerings or their common musical gigs that showed
no sign of Christmas from beginning to end. Compared to
the sheer delight of the very Xmasy performance two
nights earlier at The Choir With No Name (TCWWN),
it was almost depressing at times for me to watch the
CRISIS so-called Xmas Open Mic Night at where even
with such loud applause I was at a loss to appreciate
the poor, mechanical, and at times, purely low level
of talent I saw. It appeared, too, that the performers
were mostly performing for the other performers and
not per se for the public patrons present like me.
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If I had to pick the best, it would have to be Ken
Roberts and Mary Anne and Peter Pereira at
the Xmas Open Mic, although they neither did
anything very Xmasy at the CRISIS Skylight Cafe.
Nevertheless, Ken, Mary Anne and Peter were
the best of the more than 25 other homeless
performers. Being homeless is no excuse for
not trying to be the best in whatever one can do.
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Here's The Good Exception: Anne Mary Pereira.
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Of course, I had expected a very Xmasy night out
at CRISIS that did not transpire for me and so that
maybe why I was so chafed and peeved as I watched
various guyz and galz doing their rather non-Christmas
gigs. CRISIS is located in the heart of the Muslim-
dominated Tower Hamlets of London and that may
also be one of the reasons why I saw no Christmas
decorations. What a pity, if such is true!!
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And Sadly, This Is Home For Many Homeless This Christmas.
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I have now thus attended two homeless Xmas events in
the past week. Both are a far cry from what The Big Issue
fails to do for the homeless at Christmastide. It begs
Christmas donations from the gullible public to "help
the Big Issue vendors," but provides little or nothing for
them except a rather poor Vendors' Party that isn't worth
the time or energy for most vendors to attend. If they do,
they're lucky to get a small bottle of spring water and an
even smaller bar of Divine Chocolate to which old Gordon
Roddick, co-founder of The Big Issue, has a vested and
business interest in. The vendors might also get a plate
of food cooked at Union Chapel when Paul Joseph
and Bad Ass John Duffy did the cooking there. Both of
them have since quit The Big Issue like so many other
staffers have over the past few years under the gruff and
tyrannical and greedy management of the vile Bird Brothers.
Pigface John Bird retired this year and his scum brother
Peter Bird is probably next, if he's not already been
booted out for good from The Big Issue HQ at
London's Vauxhall. Perhaps they'll send him off to
Scotland again to help the new editor Paul McNamee?
Peter Bird was almost useless when he was last at
Glasgow, so I'm told.
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At one time, vendors would get a nice wind-
breaker jacket and a new pair of Camper sneakers or
trainers at Christmas, but The Big issue seems to have
cutback even on such corporate handouts to vendors
to save their own big profits and fat bank accounts
for their own fat catz. "To hell with the vendors,"
they could easily say amd do.
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Thingz have changed alot at Bird's once
flourishing pigsty that functioned for years at the
expense of the homeless as always. With Christmas
here again, the vendors will be for the most part in
the usual situation of trying to make heads or tails on
the streets. While, of course, the vile Bird Brothers
and their rich gang like Trudie Styler, James Cann
and Nigal Kershaw, always come out best!!
God damn the godless sods!!
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Upon leaving the Xmas Open Mic Night at CRISIS
Skylight Cafe, I saw a chilly, cold and wet late night as
I got No. 40 bus back to homebase. While on the bus
a black bitch and a hostile middle-aged white guy got
into a verbal row that saw all the blacks on the bus
gang up on the white guy who stuck out his tongue
at them and the nasty black bitch then made obscene
gesticulations and comments about white folkz. It
could have turned even more ugly had the white guy not
gotten off two stops later. The black bitch demanded
the bus driver to stop and call the police so that she
could report him!! The driver just ignored her as she
then got off at the next stop with her screaming baby
carried on her back like she was still living in far
away Zimbabwe or Zululand instead of at England's
capital city of London. The incident just closed a
rather all around depressing evening for me with no
Christmas cheer at all as I arrived back at homebase
to start to scribble my blog notes on my Dell laptop
for this my last story of the year 2011 called
"Xmas Open Mic At CRISIS."
Fraternally with the homeless, Uncle Monty
+It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, 2011.
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'So many homeless are working' - "we're paying tax
and sleeping on the street'". By Rosamund Urwin.
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Feedback & Comments
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No "Dear Leader" Anymore.
By Uncle Monty.
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Friend Jillian w/Uncle Monty At Royal Corporation Xmas Lunch.
Above Xmas Photo By Gary Day.
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Tonight, Thursday, I have been invited to the Brompton
Oratory Carol Service that I am looking forward to very
much as a confirmed Anglican attending what is the
most outstanding traditional Catholic and high ecumenical
Christmas Service in London. I feel so delighted to have been
invited. And, the latest secular news media rubbish about
Benedict XVI's "iffy" health is refuted by the Catholic World
News Service (CWNS): "Pope plans full liturgical schedule
for Christmas season. That's not something a sick man can
do," stated CWNS. Also see: Calendario delle
Celebrazioni del Tempo di Natale at The Holy See
website.
Oratory Carol Service that I am looking forward to very
much as a confirmed Anglican attending what is the
most outstanding traditional Catholic and high ecumenical
Christmas Service in London. I feel so delighted to have been
invited. And, the latest secular news media rubbish about
Benedict XVI's "iffy" health is refuted by the Catholic World
News Service (CWNS): "Pope plans full liturgical schedule
for Christmas season. That's not something a sick man can
do," stated CWNS. Also see: Calendario delle
Celebrazioni del Tempo di Natale at The Holy See
website.
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Now for a couple of images from last night's Traditional
Carol Service Held At London's Famed Brompton Oratory.
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The Vile Bird Brothers of The Big Issue. They're The
Same This Xmas As They Were The Last ... And
Will No Doubt Be The Same Next Xmas, Too.
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{ To Enlarge any image, just click on it }
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Now for a couple of images from last night's Traditional
Carol Service Held At London's Famed Brompton Oratory.
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The Brompton Oratory Christmas Choirs, 2011.
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London's Famed Brompton Oratory At Early Nightfall.
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The Vile Bird Brothers of The Big Issue. They're The
Same This Xmas As They Were The Last ... And
Will No Doubt Be The Same Next Xmas, Too.
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{ To Enlarge any image, just click on it }
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