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Patti Smith - Piccadilly Circus Takeover

/ By Andie Jeenius
Patti Smith - Piccadilly Circus Takeover

To celebrate 50 years since Patti Smith's first poetry performance at St Mark’s Church, New York in 1971, January 2021 sees Smith taking over all the light screens at London’s Piccadilly Circus. Being brought to the venue by Circa, curated by the digital artist Josef O’Connor and designed specifically to adhere to social distancing and lockdown restrictions, the installation and Piccadilly Circus takeover, will combine art, music, poetry and prose, and include two recorded performances – one scheduled for midnight on New Year’s Eve and another on the day of the US presidential inauguration on 20 January.

Patti Smith in Piccadilly Circus - Photograph Circa

Talking to Fiona Sturges from The Guardian, Smith explains, “Some of the work I did in my bedroom, some in a recording studio and some at my desk,” says Smith, 74 this week. “I had to teach myself how to use Photo Booth on my computer and film myself reading a poem. I’m sure there are 14-year-olds who can do this in five minutes but it took me quite a while. But I got there and I’m so proud of myself.”

Her favourite piece is a reworked version of Peaceable Kingdom. Written in the aftermath of 9/11, it is a song of solace and hope in the face of catastrophe and, in performing it, Smith will be commemorating 100 NHS workers who have died from Covid. “It’s just so sad when we lose people who work so hard to rebuild our world,” she reflects. She will also read a new poem dedicated to the environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg, who will be 18 in January and who, Smith says, “pretty much sacrificed her childhood for all of us”.

Four years under Trump has also taken its toll. “It’s been a terrible atmosphere to live in,” she says. “You try to do your work and not let [politics] permeate your consciousness daily but it does. It’s very insidious.” She notes that she and the outgoing president are about the same age. “I have encountered him in New York through the years and found him a horrible, narcissistic person and just a bad businessman. I’ve seen the debris of his deals. I think the damage he has done is going to be felt for a long time. It’s not going to be so easily healed because globally he has empowered people of a like mind.”

Nonetheless she will take “huge psychological relief in the new administration. I’m a natural optimist so I’m not without hope or inspiration. What matters is trying to clean up some of his mess and get some order. I’m doing that in my house. I’m a messy person, and I know that before I can do something creative or exciting I’ve first got to clear everything away.”

Words - Fiona Sturges at The Guardian

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Ready for Victorious 2022! by Holly Tarrant

25
Aug

Ready for Victorious 2022! by Holly Tarrant

  This Bank Holiday weekend is the hotly anticipated Victorious Festival, a staple of the summer festival season that has only grown in size since it’s humble beginnings. And here at Jeeni, we're all ready, willing and able. Starting out in 2011, Victorious has grown to great heights, and has made Portsmouth a beacon for music-lovers during the summer. During the 3 days of the festival, ticket holders get exclusive access to Southsea Castle, Southsea Skatepark, the D-Day Museum to name just a few. With huge headline artists like Stereophonics, Paolo Nutini and Sam Fender, Victorious caters for all, and for those who prefer  undiscovered musical talents such as those found at Jeeni.com, head down to the Jeeni sponsored People’s Lounge stage where acts such as local talent Portsmouth Radar, Nayana, Martha Eve, Beatroot, Creature. and Zed, The Dreamer will be performing the gig of their lives. Prefer something a little more child-friendly? CBeebies’ very own YolanDa’s Band Jam will be joining the festival in the Victorious Kids Arena, alongside the Go Jetters, Fireman Sam, Octonaughts, and Baby Shark. There are many fun activities to occupy little ones with bouncy castles, the colouring tent, the Southsea Skatepark Mini Wheelers and Pop Kids, as well as a full size circus to name a few. Victorious is proud to donate a percentage of ticket sales to many charities including Jeeni ambassador Ellie Milner’s foundation Arms Around The Children, a wonderful charity dedicated to providing children who have been diagnosed with HIV and aids with the love, care and support they so desperately need. Victorious festival will run on 26/27/28 August 2022. Buy tickets for Victorious at www.victoriousfestival.co.uk/.  

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One of the world’s top record executives has joined Team Jeeni

11
Jun

One of the world’s top record executives has joined Team Jeeni

Heard of Roger Watson? You’ve certainly heard his work. Grammy Award record producer with 500 million record sales to his name (and the velvet voice of the Viagra ads!) Now Roger is lending his experience and knowledge to help a new generation of undiscovered music talent in the Jeeni project. Jeeni is a streamed music service based in Portsmouth, and the company is endorsed by Richard Branson’s Virgin Crowdboost programme. Listeners get to vote on who joins the next generation of stadium stars, and the young hopefuls are guided by experienced professionals. And they don’t come more experienced than Roger Watson. He was stage manager to The Beatles, and he went on to produce best-selling albums for superstars like Blondie and Tina Turner, as A&R Director of Chrysalis Records and Managing Director of Arista Records. Welcome aboard! Roger Watson (right) with Jeeni founder Mel Croucher

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Love in the Time of COVID-19: Working Apart but Creating Together.

06
Jun

Love in the Time of COVID-19: Working Apart but Creating Together.

By Sammie Venn Jeeni's Official Writer, Columnist and Blogger. Here at Jeeni.com we celebrate and support all musicians and performers, and poetry has its own dedicated channel for artists and performers to showcase their work and earn 100% of their sales, ticketing, merchandise and donations. Today, Jeeni has returned to Crowdcube to raise more funds for helping new talent. If you want to see our pitch click HERE. Today we showcase Sammie Venn as a very talented and creative writer. “No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it” – H.E Luccock Sammie says, "Creativity brings people together. Artists, poets, writers and musicians have been forced apart, to distance, to isolate due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet collaboration has flourished. Adversity has brought us together to create in new and innovative ways. I have learnt over the years that it is not possible to be great at everything. Different skills that blend and morph with each other are key to an effective alliance. That’s where the magic happens. I have forged a new partnership with a UK-based award winning sound designer to launch a series of poetry short films – I call them “Poetry Porn” – on YouTube as a prelude to publishing an anthology of work in the autumn. Joe Churchman and I have worked on various projects together over the years. She wrote and co-directed the multi-award winning short film “Gloop” and collaborated with Sir David Attenborough. Joe has worked with MC Saatchi and the BBC, her talents and eye for creativity know no bounds . Where once we joined forces over the kitchen table, enjoying a glass of wine, we have been forced by the pandemic to find new ways of working together, including our latest venture. We both have a thirst for learning and a need to enthusiastically share and impart the wisdom we have gained. Creating during COVID-19 has been an exhilarating and challenging experience for us both, but one we have overcome and enjoyed with fervour and passion. Never before have Zoom, WhatsApp and the desire to teleport been at the forefront of our combined creativity. Despite the 50 plus miles between our respective homes the soul sister bond that we have nurtured over the years has never been lost.   The verve for all things lyrical has surfaced again whilst working on the Poetry films. Having created a series of 100 poems, I am now in the editorial process: altering verses, changing words and making sure rhythm, beat and iambic pentameter all synchronise. The work embodies the emotive journey of womanhood: traversing sorrow, despair, anger and liberation. The natural environment heals all woes and this journey is told through the changes in season. Death, loss, renewal and growth are all subjects covered within the poems and the films. Winter teaches us how to be patient, to rest, hibernate and prepare for growth. Autumn helps us to embrace the process of letting go. Spring is a period of regrowth and birth. Whilst Summer is our time to blossom and burst into the most vibrant versions of ourselves. In the depths of winter combined with a broken heart, “Kiss the Tinder” was born. Poetry was and still is my solace, it helped me to rediscover compassion, serenity and hope. I was lucky enough to meet a fellow poet and songwriter via the writing community on Instagram a couple of years ago, Renée is from Texas, so we have only ever virtually met but he kindly agreed to record this poem. A true gift. I woke one morning to his dulcet tones in my inbox, and with a voice of liquid silk, he is the soundscape to this film. This Poetry Short is therefore a true collaboration. Global restraints from continental distance to COVID-19 have not curbed our resourcefulness. The project has only just begun. This poem  was published in June in American Journal “The Starlight Emporium” along with a collection of my other work. “Kiss the Tinder” by Sammie Venn Kiss the tinder, fall in love with the ashesThe storm destroys the pain with lashesIndigo shards, incandescent stainsLife blood flowing, ripped like veins.Lightening shreds the Arial skyIt punches, spits and angrily criesGlorifying the night with celestial screamsMother Nature voices her savage dreams.Dancing with Hope, thunder follows alongside,For now, there is nowhere in the world to hide.Like a love-lorn couple, they rampantly combustTears of anguish wash away rage and lust. Click HERE to visit or return to jeeni.com

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