beepfest

the October 'there's no point in not being friends with someone if you want to be friends with them' night is part of the one-day Beepfest festival thing.

we are putting on some people in the basement bar. there will also be acoustic sets, and bands playing in the upstairs music hall, too.

the line up is looking like this:

MAIN STAGE
3.30pm - 4pm Sea Devils
4.30pm - 5pm The Junipers
5.30pm - 6pm The Maladies Of Belafontaine
6.30pm - 7pm The Soundcarriers
7.30pm - 8pm Ten Bears
8.30pm - 9pm Magic Arm
9.30pm - 10pm The Beep Seals
10.30pm - 11pm The Answering Machine
11.30pm - Jim Noir

BASEMENT BAR, No Point Not Being Friends - Open 4pm
Thomas Western
Ivan Campo
Ian Hinton-Smith
Richard Barrett (Poetry)
Si Connor
Luke Yates (Poetry)
Jack Cooper
Chris Killen (Poetry)
Denis Jones
Joey Dudderidge
Jenn Ashworth (Fiction)
John Stammers
Socrates Adams-Flou (Fiction)
Liam Frost

it costs £10 for a ticket, and advance ones are selling pretty well, apparently. (http://www.ticketline.co.uk/artist/details/beepfest) or there should be some left on the door if you get there early.

normal free reading night format will resume in November.

Beepfest

The reading night is a bit different for October...

We're going to be curating a stage at a mini day-long music festival called 'Beepfest' at The Deaf Institute on the 18th October, which is a Saturday. We'll be returning to the basement for poetry and stories interspersed with acoustic music. Socrates Adams-Florou, Luke Yates, Richard Barrett, Jenn Ashworth and Chris Killen will all be reading, plus more to be confirmed.

There are some ace bands playing upstairs, and it's £10 to get in.

As the 18th is close to the literature festival and blog awards etc, we're going to leave it at this for October, and normal (free) 'no point...' service will be resumed in November.

we'll post more details on here so keep checking.

photos of the third night

here's a few photos taken on the night:


(the tiny man on stage reading from a laptop is Socrates Adams-Florou.)

tao lin's reading for september's reading night

poetry reading for manchester from tao lin on Vimeo.

the third reading night happened and it was good

Tuesday's reading night was the first upstairs in the big live music hall.

We were nervous. I was especially nervous because I was reading, and because the new room has a great big stage. It’s very grand. There’s a gigantic mirrorball in the ceiling. I think every reading night should have a mirrorball. We set up tables and cables and computers and candles and OHPs and things. People started to come in.

People kept coming in. The seats on the floor, the tiered seating at the back, and the mezzanine all filled up, incredibly. There was a good atmosphere. I felt better because everyone looked about a hundred times more comfortable than they did in the little basement bar.

The readers were fantastic. Sadly, Jenn Ashworth couldn’t make it because she was poorly (hope you’re feeling better, Jenn) but everyone else was present and correct. Thank you Thomas Fletcher, Sam Garrett, Nicholas Murgatroyd, Socrates Adams-Florou, Luke Yates, John McAuliffe, Joe Stretch, David Gaffney, Matthew Davis and Tao Lin, who read via special video from New York. There were stories and poems about work, shower curtains, sex, powerpoint, existence… and all manner of things in between.

What was great was that we had lots of interest in the open mic, too, despite the big scary stage, because the point in no point is that everyone can get involved, if they want to.

the third night is booked:

exciting things are happening

there is a lot of behind-the-scenes reading night activity going on at the moment. The last night on the 26th was generally considered a 'resounding success' by everyone involved. Thank you to all the readers, and of course, anyone who came down.

You can read a really nice review of the night by one of our readers Emma J. Lannie here.

Because of the amount of people that have shown up so far, we're getting a bit cramped in our little basement. It was very hot down there last time, and it was looking like people might start fainting. Because of this, the kind people at Trof have offered to let us use the glitzy upstairs music hall. It's got a giant mirrorball and a mezzanine floor, and its own balcony. It's pretty cool. We're really excited about there being more space for everyone to sit down and, well, just generally breathe comfortably.

We'll post a date for the next night as soon as it's confirmed. In the meantime, we're going to be updating things on here a bit more. If there's anything you'd like to see featured or you have any good links you think we should put up or you want your own reading thing plugging or you've got a book coming out and want to promote it or anything like that, let us know.