This week's Naked Lunch promises not one, but 2 feature acts. In fact it's gonna feel like 3, cos they're both so brilliant! We got barnstorming Dublin band Go Go Go (formerly Last Chance for a Slow Dance), and the poetry chicks, cream of the Northern Irish poetry circuit. And of course we'll have the full spontaneous nobody has to book a slot open mic night as usual. Regardez:

Go Go Go

'We sound sort of like the kind of band where it's difficult to place them as either punk or indie, like Sleater-Kinney, the Pixies, later Husker Du or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, without actually sounding especially like any of those four bands.'

They sound fucking legendary. Big things, kids, catch em at a small venue while you can and sicken all your mates by gloating for years to come! Check de myspace here.

Poetry Chicks

Three Voices - Too True - One Mission:
 
to stimulate, inform, educate, challenge and entertain through the creative medium of performance poetry with varying creative style, voice, skill and attitude

Described as the "Rock Follies of Verse" Pamela Brown, Jenni Doherty and Abby Oliveira (based in Derry) present a snapshot of their show AlphabeTitudeZ - an A to Z of what it's like to be a woman in modern times: one of truth, humour and reality with no apology, excuse or apathy

Pamela Brown

Pamela is a published poet and creative writing facilitator who has written comedy sketches for radio. She has had two plays produced; one was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 1993. Collaborating with photographer Jan Voster, her work has also been exhibited in Holland. Pamela helped establish The Poets' Corner, a wall in the Gasyard area of Derry displaying poems from local teenagers and primary school children. She received a commendation in Community Drama at the University of Ulster, Magee and has participated in workshops by Augusto Boal - Theatre of the Oppressed, and Barney Simon - The Market Theatre, Johannesburg. Pamela also practices Bio-energy, Reiki and Tai Chi.

Jenni Doherty
Donegal-born, Jenni has worked in bookshops, with local publishing houses and as an arts & book reviewer for the local press. In 2006 she directed a multi-creative discipline project called EVE... a Celebration of Creative Women, published with Guildhall Press, Derry and is about to publish another anthology, Wonderful World of Worders involving over 67 international writers. Co-author of local folklore book, That Land Beyond, she has also toured Australia with the Belfast Poets Tour Group in 2006 and was a finalist in the Queensland SLAM. She works in Waterside Library, Derry, co-facilitates youth creative writing workshops and runs the monthly BBC RaW Poetry Place in Derry's Central Library. She has had various work  published and broadcast, both locally and nationally.

Abby Oliveira
Abby has lived in the North of Ireland since 1994. She was the winner of the Belfast Poetry Performance Cup 2006 and Cúirt SLAM Finalist 2007. Literary Festival Facilitator for the Gasyard Féile 2005, Abby also has a strong background in the Performing Arts. She has facilitated poetry workshops in Toronto, Canada, and performs regularly with In Your Space theatre company. Abby has a BA (Hons) in Theatre Studies from the University of Ulster, Coleraine and she was awarded a First Class Honours Degree and the Dean's Prize, 2005. She also conducts art and craft workshops with groups of all ages and is a Bio-energy and Reiki practitioner.

present poetry in a fresh way that celebrates its adaptability, giving it a community driven edge, combining it with visual images and musical soundtrack

stimulate debate around every day issues

inform and give a better understanding on a diversity of subjects

provide a mouthpiece by which modern themes are communicated; in particular to encourage more teenagers from the Northwest (of Ireland) to take part in the workshops and performance evenings, helping them understand, through the medium of poetry, that they are not alone in their challenges
Comments:

"AlphabeTitudeZ is a beautiful show, slickly choreographed and with not a dull moment in sight. The verse is interesting, funny and extremely moving at times"

Eileen Walsh - Daily Ireland (Sept 2006)

"Mind-blowing!"

Sean Kelly - Director of the Cathedral Arts Out To Lunch Festival, Belfast (Nov 2006)

"The crowd is invited into a beautifully crafted linguistic world, one with a distinctly Northern Irish flavour. The Chicks examine the similarly difficult issues of racism, domestic abuse and prostitution in what the audience quickly realises is an unflinching manner, tinged with gallows humour… [and] for an hour, at least, they really did rule"

Maeve Davey – Culture Northern Ireland (Jan 2007)

"The Poetry Chicks are fast becoming the beat in the poetry heart of Northern Ireland. if you want to be moved by words and the gifted voices of three superb poets open your minds to Abby Oliveira, Jenni Doherty & Pamela Brown, your world will be different for the experience"

John G Hall Editor of Citizen 32 Literary Magazine (Feb 2007)

"The Derry based Poetry Chicks did what they do best informing with both great pathos and humour... I adore you ladies. They truly are the Rock Follies of verse"

 Chloe Poems  - Performance Poet, Manchester (May 2007)

"...really spirited and totally professional..."

Clem Cairns & Lorraine Bacchus - West Cork Literary Festival Directors (July 2007)

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Past performances include:

The West Cork Literary Festival (July 2007); Gasyard Feile '07, Derry; BBC Breathing Places Festival, Derry (June 2007); the launch of literary magazine Citizen32's latest issue Class, Manchester (May 2007); Cathedral Arts Out To Lunch Festival, Belfast (Jan 2007), Sliabh Beagh Arts, Fermanagh and the OMAC, Belfast plus many regular Spoken Word and Open Mic events throughout the North that include the BBC RaW Poetry Place in the Central Library, Derry; Bookfinder's Café, Belfast and with Guildhall Press Publishers, Derry

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Upcoming appearances include:

BK's Wine Bar and Galway City Museum, Galway (Aug 2007); The Flat Lake Festival, Clones, Monaghan (Aug 2007); the Charles Macklin School Festival, Culdaff (Oct 2007);  the Craic Arts Theatre, Coalisland (Oct 2007); Sandino's Bar, Derry (Oct 2007);  Tigh Fili Arts Centre, Cork (Nov 2007) and the White House Pub, Limerick (Nov 2007)

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As creative partners of ACE the Poetry Chicks have facilitated creative writing workshops throughout schools and youth centres in Derry, Donegal, Tyrone and Manchester with over 600 young people as part of ACE's WordFlight - Young People's Written and Verbal Arts Project and will be further involved in two Transnational European Arts in Health Projects in 2008

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Formed in 2006, the Poetry Chicks have already established a reputation as both performance poets and published writers, having performed and/or given workshops, either as individuals or as a collective group, throughout Ireland (North & South); England; Scotland; Canada, Holland and Australia.
They have also been widely published and broadcast

www.myspace.com/poetrychicks

email: poetrychicks3@yahoo.co.uk