It’s one of the biggest and best folk festivals in the country and guess what?  I performed LIVE, not once, but TWICE!

Okay so it was only at the poetry open mic and again as part of a cast of thousands at the Kittiewake’s concert, but from little acorns mighty oaks do grow so it’s a start!

Shrewsbury ran a poetry open mic event last year for the first time and according to the MC, was a bit surprised at its popularity.  This year there were even more people wanting to take part so most of us only got one bite of the cherry, (except for the MC who had four, but hey … it was his party so what the heck!)

What I found the most interesting thing about this event was what came out of the mouths of the most seemingly innocuous people.  BF1 could never be labelled innocent of anything so her Flushed With Pride poem, heavily laced with risqué innuendo was no surprise, but the verse about naughty body parts emanating from the lips of an aging cherub who would not have been out of place amongst the dusty tombs of a university research library came as a complete shock and completely stole the show!  I wish I could share it with you as I’m still laughing!

Then there are those who in spite of the brief to keep it short, cling to the stage with the nail ripping desperation of a suicide with a last minute change of heart!  This one launched into an agonising description of the Hadron collider which I’m sure was extremely clever, but the fact that he didn’t seem to know it that well and the drawn out theatricals that accompanied it, made me grit my teeth and look for a handle to wind him up a bit!

As with all things, you have to take the rough with the smooth and all in all this was a superb hour celebrating not only some great wit, but some very perceptive and thought provoking sentiments which contrasted nicely with the wall to wall music which was going on all around us!

Which brings me to my second live performance!  Workshops play a huge part in folk festivals and Shrewsbury is no exception.  Some of you will know that a couple of years ago I decided it was time I learned to sing, if only to avoid being pelted with rotten fruit and eggs by people who would rather I didn’t!

Imagine my delight when I saw that harmony singers, The Kittiwakes were running a workshop for all us aspiring singings of the traditional voice.  The great thing about these sessions is that there are always a few other folk dodging over ripe fruit as well so it is quite easy to take comfort from the fact that you are not alone in your musical abyss!

In this case, well over a hundred of us strutted our stuff which turned out to be quite pleasing even if I do say so myself!  Anyway, the Kittiwakes obviously thought so as they kindly invited us to sing the chorus of the last song at their concert performance which was great fun and got a nice cheer from our supporters and best of all, no-one through any eggs, rotten or otherwise!

However, me thinks I’ve a long way to go before I top the bill on the main stage, but if you’d like to know who did, I braved Shrewsbury’s mosh pit to get some video of Bellowhead who were in cracking form!

Bellowhead at Shrewsbury Folk Fesitval 2010