This years version of the Elephant Engine High Dive Revival: The Night Kite Revival. Buddy Wakefield, Derrick Brown and Anis Mojgani are the "core members" of The Poetry Revival, which changes its name every year. This year, at Western State College, there was a little starker cast: only three poets; but they did have a musician: Timmy Straw. Timmy didn't have as many performances as the three poets, but added background music to nearly every poem that was always spot-on appropriate. Timmy seems to prefer the piano to all the instruments s/he can play, and is so impressively gender-neutral I am unsure of what descriptor to use. Her singing has a soft, unarticulated quality which makes more of the music than the lyrics. However, from what little I could catch of the lyrics in one listen, they aren't empty songs.
The show was a very well spent two hours, but I still missed Robbie Q. Telfer and Shira Erlichman. They were some of my favorite performers. They mix humor with wisdom very skillfully and effectively. I take my humor very seriously, and The Poetry Revival does as well, but only Buddy Wakefield is as humorful as young Robbie. This night, less humor came out than on previous shows I have seen, and less power came as well. At least for me. It wasn't my favorite reading. Partly because of how much actual reading was done during performances. It limits what the performer can do; the best works are ones unencumbered by a page.
The show's still a tear-jerker; not because it's sad, but because it is so uplifting. That is what their poetry is about.
Buddy Wakefiled has a style which is oft copied. It is no wonder he gets so mad at people posting "you-tubes" of his performances. There was a slew of them from this night (which I'm grateful for because they helped me get Timmy's name! I had forgotten and it was surprisingly difficult to find) and they have already vanished. He is an accessible performer, usually telling a story with vibrant imagery. But it's easy to tell where he is and what he's talking about.
Which isn't always true for either Derrick or Anis. Derrick's first poem, about being a weather man (he was an awesome one, by the way), was very accessible, and one of my favorites, but he read from a page more than any other performer. Aw well. He can obviously have fun wherever and whatever he was doing and was a thusly fun on the stage.
Anis has a unique delivery that is far from all his own. It is the sound of every mystical, feel-good delivery ever. I kinda like it. With Timmy backing him up, he sounds a little like that Baz Luhrmann advice thing that's so ever popular. But he has my favorite delivery. For his style of poetry.
If you've never seen a Poetry Revival, they are better than most stand-up comedy shows, funnier than most concerts, sexier than most trombones, and smarter than any lecture. Definitely a "Must See", if there is any such thing.
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