Posting a post about a previous post that has found its way onto another post is sort of meta isn’t it? I think I’ve got that right. Anyhow, I’m not quite sure how yesterday’s post entry here was relevant content to The Linux User & Developer Daily, but apparently it is. According to the algorithms of paper.li, which scrapes your twitter timeline for a daily online newspaper it was crucial that the 2,000+ twitter followers of The Linux User and Developer, knew about what I wrote. I expect those 2,000 uniques to show up on my analytics data at any second…

PoeJazzi

So, if you missed it last night, PoeJazzi had its fifth anniversary show, featuring Mista Gee, Rosie Sleightholme, Sabrina Mahfouz, Scroobius Pip, Cornelia, and spur of the moment performances by creators (and, I’m lucky enough to call them good friends) Joshua Idehen and Musa Okwonga. Just a recap: The reason I go on about PoeJazzi is (that I’m biased, and) this is the night that featured Ed Sheeran before all but a few of his fans knew who he was. This is the night that featured Scroobius Pip before he was on the radio (and before he was widely regarded as a musician, rather than a poet). This is a night of cultural clout, genuine talent and genuine love. Boiled down, it’s very, very good, and it’s people and players are superb.

In the crowd last night were the wonderful photographer and musician Kim Leng-Hills; a stand-out poetic talent in Alex Gwyther; the intelligently curious minded, tweet-guru and top writer, Will Conway; the poet, playwright and graphic designer Inua Ellams; the supreme singer/songwriter, Louise Golbey and many others.

But the kind of people that this night attracts to play and watch was summed up by one person in one act. Not the generous applause given and richly deserved. Not the attention and respect given throughout the night. But the arrival of the true gentleman artist, Scroobius Pip.

I met Scroobius in 2006 before the first Poejazzi – I believe he was touring the country’s open mic nights in a camper van. We met again on the first PoeJazzi night. I saw him about the poetry scene for a few months and then caught up with him twice at Glastonbury 2007, just after he’d teamed up with Dan Le Sac, and where he performed once as a ‘rapper’ and once as a poet/a capella artist. Since then his career has really taken off. He’s released two albums with Dan Le Sac, made multiple appearances on TV and radio, launched a poetry book and, now, has his own solo album out.

And the thing is, apart from the unsteady and deep communication sea that is Twitter (and only there once or twice), I’ve not spoken to him for over four years. Yet, as I saw him approach the City Arts & Music Project on City Road near Old St, he walked straight up and greeted me like an old friend.

That’s class. After all, I’m not a national figure, am I. I haven’t released albums or books. The most that the world knows of me is probably wrongly identifying an advert’s theme tune. And yet, Scroobius remembers me from before his fame, as someone he met before he found international success. That’s telling of his character of course, but also of the sort of people PoeJazzi attracts to watch, perform and then come back to watch or perform.

So if you missed it, you missed out. But I’m sure there’ll be another time.