Down At The Flamingo – Modernist Beat.

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of performing at the Torbay March Of The Mods where I performed five poems all accompanied by music. March Of The Mods is a wonderful charity event that takes place all around the country throughout March. It raises money for The Teenage Cancer Trust. So naturally it is an honour to be involved.

Billed as “The Beat Poet” I read five original poems:

The Weekend

Firecracker On My Mind

Hobo’s and Tramps

Speakeasy

And lastly

Down At The Flamingo.

This last poem is a firm favourite of mine.

It’s about those who used to venture to the famous Flamingo Jazz Club

In the 1960s. Which was situated on Wardour Street in Soho, London. One of the resident performers at this time was the incredibly cool and popular Georgie Fame

who like the Mods and American GI’s that used to frequently go there – was a huge fan of jazz, r& b and ska. Consequently it was a melting pot of all that was exciting in a post war Britain. Multiracial, happy and free to enjoy all that was great. This was the “Modernist” time. And that is what my poem conveys.

Here is my poem Down At The Flamingo

This poem is in my book Jazz Poetry – Improvisations in Language.

Available here :

Jazz Poetry – Improvisations in Language