I was excited about this one. I’m always excited about all of them. But this one I was excited about because of the musicians, I’d heard Bunty was more than unique and Geoff Berner was playing as part of his UK tour.

Bunty was first on, she was a ninja with a loop pedal and a vocal gymnast. I loved her beat-boxing, a real lesson in how your voice can be every instrument in your band. The short film couldn’t be shown at this Sundown, not because it had tits in or was racist, or because it had racist tits in, but someone forgot the projector so Deferred Sucess stepped in.

They are thee most enjoyable band, they’re like the equivalent of how good a John Candy film makes you feel. John Candy and Steve Martin circa the 80’s, whilst making your own ice lollies. That’s how happy DS leave you. I cannot imagine Nick Cave ever covering one of their songs.

The Poetry Link begins with support act Jamal Msebele who is charming, a Poem Inbetween People are next aka Musa and Josh – lovely chaps, entertaining and know how to win over an audience, lastly comes Scroobius Pip, an old friend of Sundown, his performance even stronger then before due to the many gigs under his belt now.

My highlight of the evening has to be Geoff Berner – the Canadian accordionist/singer – superbly funny, massively strong vocals and possibly the best patter I’ve ever heard. Open mic was short, sharp and slick. This was a brilliant Sundown, classy performers and such a diverse night out. To look at Southend from a distance, you wouldn’t have a clue this kinda event was lurking beneath the neon lit alleys, but thank fuck it is.

Reviewed by Annie Hall

Sunday 18th May saw the second instalment of New Writing Live's The Poetry Link, hosted by none other than our Sundown. The night began with the lilting sounds of folk songster Clare Blackman, whose inspired cover of Dolly Parton's Jolene held the audience captivated.

Then, hosts Jo Overfield and Cherryl Scott introduced the evening, bringing on the droll, entertaining and offbeat poet Fassbinder, whose cover versions on the Melodica ranged from Joy Division to the Casualty theme tune. The headline poets for this month's Poetry Link were next up; Dockers MC, the young Brixton wordstrel stepped up, impressing the audience with her well-observed poems, perfect delivery, and beautifully endearing ode to Rolf Harris.

Then came MC Angel, a charming and funny hip-hop poet hailing from London, who kept the crowd grinning with her impressions of men chatting her up in the street and her thoroughly entertaining single 'Shake Your Cellulite'. After the break, the short film came courtesy of Tim Worsley in the form of a captivating silent movie called Kill your TV. Local boys Man I Hate Your Band were next, playing a Spongebob Squarepants ukelele and cheese grater.

The Open Mic poetry proved another success, with a range of brave poets from local regulars to newcomers from further afield. It was a buzzing night, with a fun and responsive crowd, and hugely enjoyable acts bringing a diverse range of entertainment. All for £3, it felt like value for money and the perfect antidote to the cold wind coming off the estuary. Can't wait for the next one!

Reviewed by Raymond

It’s with a great deal of excitement that I enter the Royal Hotel’s rather lush ballroom for Sundown’s first event in conjunction with the Arts Council England that seeks to investigate the relationship between poetry and music.

Firstly, we are treated to the sounds of Dollboy, who at first glance may appear a conventional acoustic act, but prove themselves to be much more thanks to some rather off the wall instrumentation including what look like hoover pipes swung high above their heads to create an atmospheric, swirly whooshing sound, but it’s their final number – a ‘sea shanty’ that rumbles around the room, which has me hooked.

The charismatic Liz Bentley performs her piece inspired by Ralph Reader - what follows is part comedy, part poetry largely concerning Ralph’s preoccupation with young boys as detailed in his biography, plus a touch of keyboard here and there. Rhian Edwards pays tribute to Kim Deal topped off with a gorgeous rendition of ‘Gigantic’ – as her beautiful voice floats above our heads we are reminded of just how lucky we are to have such a diverse and talented group of performers here tonight.

Sundown regular Simon Blackman takes to the stage in front of a giant picture of John Shuttleworth – a man whose delight in the mundane mirrors his own, and performs his poetry in his own imitable style, before we return to Sundown proper with a brilliant animated short and a live set by Sophie Burrows. A great night - long may Sundown receive the recognition it deserves for bringing the arts to Southend, where it’s sure to have a strong following for a long time to come.

Reviewed by Sophia of Noisy fanzine

http://www.noisyzine.co.uk

Four years. Four, count 'em, years. This was a special Sundown, this was the Big Birthday Bash Sundown. There was cake and jelly but not everyone ate the jelly, which was the huge shocker of the evening. Poor Raymond spent all day baking and, um, moulding. Still, some got eaten but even the Lucky Dip got a bit neglected. Boo. What happened to the spirit of the school fete everyone?

Innocent Civilian was a soothing open, kinda like soft blues, it's seeing and knowing musicians like Eddie Rome that make me feel frustrated towards the music industry. This is a dude that is up there with the greats yet we may never see him on a South Bank Show special. Well, whatever, he's an icon to us. But icons need a band to elevate them eh so highest respect to Bella on sax and our lovely soundman Doozer on accordian. Accordian in a porkpie hat no less.

Rachel Pantechnicon and Liz Bentley performed a double-act show for the first time, exclusively at this Sundown. I very much enjoyed the banter between Liz and Rachel at the beginning and I always love watching their acts indivdually so getting a taster of those was fun. But I think the therapy session had a few flaws, which of course real therapy sessions do so perhaps that is apt! It was quite a busy act in my head. However, elves and ukeleles are always bloody welcome. Josh Weller follows, releasing his trusty mac into the wild as he takes to the stage in drainpipe jeans and classy threads. Weller is a fun piece of jigsaw - twisting a soft, gentle voice with bitter, sarky lyrics. Discovered Josh at an Arctic Circle gig so proof that Ben Eshmade is on the ball when it comes to booking fresh, exciting talent.

Open-mic, open-mic, open-mic! Open wide and look right in, the words are all in there, tattooed on the larynx. Gawd bless our open-mic regulars, they write hard and create with big hearts and Sundown wouldn't do without them. Jamal Msebele and mum Sifundo, came all the way from East London to read in our open-mic, that was a personal highlight for me! Also, the Chris Davison vs Stuart Bowditch showdown was hilarious. Both had written poems on Facebook and it was indeed a poetry face-off.

Mindblowing animation from Josh Raskin that was quite simply, inspiring and so brilliantly done. There's something so eerie about John Lennon at times, perhaps it's because much of what he preached and believed in the 70's and 80's still resonates today. Our DJ for the night was Saint Huck and he played some absolute treats, really enjoyed his set plus he happened to be a lovely, friendly, easy-going bloke so he's welcome back anytime! This was a happy, birthday bash affair. Although, I'm pretty sure at one point that Cherryl called us all 'knobs'.

Reviewed by Geum-ja Lee

It was truly comforting to know I was returning to playing a night like Sundown. Brilliantly it seems a place free of ridicule and any sort of pretence, which are my 2 main fears in life. For some reason I decided to dress like a pillock, I guess I like that sort of style but suddenly I’m wracked with self-consciousness. Quickly I speed over to my nemesis and also my favorite part of the evening, the RAFFLE. God, I bloody love the things, but do you know, I never win bugger all on the bloody things. I decide to limit myself on the tickets.

So, first up was DJ Hybernation playing some exceedingly lovely tracks, followed by our Compares as always Miss Jo Overfield and Cherryl Scott who proceed to tell a couple of Poems, and thoroughly good they are to. They are followed by the frankly hilarious Melinda Deathgoth.She offered up a fabulous Parody of an angst ridden Texas teen and perfectly summed up many people teenage years. Not mine of course, I used to lock myself away and listen to Mike Oldfield and eat sugar lumps.

I then carry out my pre stage rituals of eating lots of food till I feel sick and then bound up to my booth. I think I kinda suck but no one heckles me which is always helpful. As I was playing such a great night I gave a live debut to my Stylophone. Job done I leave the venue to the sounds of DJ Pootles “Banana Splits”, the song, not literally of course, otherwise I would have stayed. I go and grab myself a burger and see Mrs. Penguin off home. Throughout this I unfortunately miss the often-brilliant open mic section, I’m sure it was very entertaining. I find myself re-entering the venue with a bin in my hands.

Said bin reappears being twatted very hard by a man at the start of Johnny & The Mullets set. The depleted three piece appear on stage with Frontwoman and two percussionists using bins and barrels. I cant help thinking this is what West End Musical “Stomp” would be like if they hadn’t have made it shit, because this is very entertaining stuff. Mel is an instantly likeable performer and takes us through a great set, with a selection of stories ending on a frankly amazing version of Hallelujah. I’ve heard it played and sung better (her voice has unfortunately given way) but bugger me I’ve never seen it performed with such genuine emotion, superb.

Next the final part of my evening, THE RAFFLE. I ended up buying roughly 100 tickets. I wanted to win this. My heart sinks as we reach the final 2 prizes, a mug and a fridge magnet set, a hard choice in anyones book. And then, the moment, my number was called, I dash up to collect my prize, a Superman mug, joy... So that was it as far as my night was concerned, a great variety, truly welcoming atmosphere and an inclusive feel, thanks to the very, very lovely Jo, Ches, B, Raymond, Chris and everyone else. I retire to my ice hole and drink my tea, it tastes all the sweeter thanks to my novelty vessle.

Reviewed by Graham from Little Penguin

http://www.myspace.com/littlepenguingoespop

Inflatable penguins, plates of sweets, visuals of ladies in swimming hats - was this night made for me or what? Ben Eshmade and puffin volunteers help run this event and it's such a night worth visiting if you've never been before, you can really see the effort that goes into it and the fact that it's run by someone who genuinely cares about music and havingFUN.

We were kindly invited to take part again and present the poetry section for the evening. Myself, dressed all in white and looking like a droog from A Clockwork Orange (unintentional) or Marcel Marceau (also unintentional) depending on who you talk to, and Cherryl Scott - uncaged and dangerous - read a few poems as a warm-up. T'was a modest, intimate crowd but hey, anyone other than the bar staff listening is always a good gig for me!! Simple pleasures.

First guest poet for the evening was Simon Blackman, a witty and fairly shouty performer whose poetry always conjures up some amusing images. Loved that he finished with his classic - Girl From The Chip Shop, the very first poem I ever saw him perform. In the second part of our slot, the crowd had picked up considerably, we gave the Spitz the brilliant Liz Bentley. Fresh from the Edinburgh Festival, Liz performed 20 minutes worth of her material including a brand new song about gout - prompting Josh Weller to ask exactly what gout is. Liz ensured: "it's better than herpes".

Liz aced it as usual, I love seeing how a crowd reacts to her performance, it's part of the fun I think. Definitely a Sundown favourite! We had time to stick around for the next act before the haul back to Essex. Josh Weller - dressed like an early Tim Burton character, Josh gave a truly enigmatic performance. His lyrics actually made me sit up and listen, they were very witty and clever songs. Really, really enjoyed Mr Weller!

Also really enjoyed the Phelan Shepherd set, reminded me of Johnny Trunk compilations. Plus the visuals of 60's families and synchronised swimmers fitted perfectly! Nice one to Mokital and Bad Hand for those. All in all, an ace evening, Ben Eshmade and the Arctic Circle completely know how to give us what we want in a weekday evening. Brilliant. Sundown loves being part of it all and we urge you to go and check out an A.C night soon!

Reviewed by J.Overfield

Last Sunday (29th July) saw what may have been Sundown’s most diverse and eclectic gig, something that the night seems to pull off effortlessly. Firstly we had music from DJ MissB, who set up the evening’s assorted sounds with some Cuban beats and the sort of music that makes you go “ooh what was that?” Then after some warm-up poetry from Sundown poets Jo Overfield and Cherryl Scott, Billericay songstrel Clare Blackman took to the stage, warming the hearts of the crowd including two inspired covers of Nina Simone and Dolly Parton.

Next up was character act La Pute Poete, a saucy French tart who told tales of life in ze brothel amid observations of our own Southend on Sea. Teenage band High Level Acumen performed their video gaming tribute songs alongside songs of their own, but not before checking the audience were familiar with the games they were referencing.

Open mic poetry came from again the Sundown poets (complete with giant plastic ear, yeah, you heard that right), Simon Blackman, Disco Dave, Lennie and Traci-Ann, the latter two doing a grand job of first-time performing.

Mesmerising treats for the eye came courtesy of littlenobody, with the cute animation of an Amplifico music video and the makes-your-eyes-go-like-saucers stop-motion short film What Cassandra Saw, which left the audience amazed.

Rounding off the night was Sundown favourite Sophie Burrows, who with her guitar, uke and kazoo (no not all at once, that would be impossible) finished her set by performing in the audience and heading for the bar, working a drinks order into her last song. A genius night, again proving that Sundown is really giving you the very best in local, different talent.

Reviewed by Dip Mitford

This year heralded only the second Latitude festival in existence, and quite rightly did Sundown make the mid-July pilgrimage to the Poetry Tent to wax lyrical as they do best. After lapping up the relaxing, eco-friendly atmosphere, Jo and Cherryl took to the stage armed with tales of tortoises, Southend life, mentally unstable tennis umpires, obscene phone calls (brilliantly censored by Cherryl for the underage audience) and fussy eaters, which received a lovely, warm reception from the chilled crowd lounging on cushions.

As a last-minute replacement for Stuart, the always-reliable Doozer charmed the audience with a great catchy tale accompanied by his guitar. The poets (and surprise stand in) went down extremely well in the tent where poetry was listened to, appreciated, taken in.

This was a great, great festival with such an intelligent ethos, and who better to slot into the smooth organisation than the ever-growing, and ever-entertaining Sundown Poets.

Reviewed by Mundo Patches

Another summer, another local festival, hurrah! Brilliant day weather wise so nature was our biggest fan with this one. We were over in the ‘preserve’ area but the only protection we had was that of our friends and supporters. I’d like to see someone try and mess with a loyal Sundown crowd, far too jolly and cultured and interesting. It’d be like attacking Stephen Fry.

This was a very humble gig due to the problems, however it was made special by those that showed up and cheered us on. Especially the ones who parted with a fair bit of dosh to spend the day locally and hang out. If anything, it was nice to sit in the sun and enjoy a bit of bi-polar poetry and Squat Betty quips.

Songs and music from Blake-Lawson and Davison was just the ticket, perfect sunshine tonic. The only way to deal with negative roofing is to raise your foundations with the strongest support. Luckily, Sundown has.

Reviewed by M. Atkins

It’s 1am post Sundown and my head and heart still feel full. Before Sundown began, a chip run was decided but the ‘runners’ were folkin’ late and by the time the fries arrived, there was just no time to eat them. There is an indication of just how full this years Sundown @ Leigh Folk Festival was. No time to eat late chips. Lots of open-mic performers this year which was lovely, buggery hard without Cherryl though. Wish I’d had time for more open-mic but they, like the chips, had to go cold I’m afraid.

Highlights had to be Sophie Burrows and Pot Pourri, they really seemed to gage the mood of the crowd – albeit a pissed-up, rowdy mood but they entertained with pure charisma. Pleasure to have Tim the Hat and Art Group play. The works of Paul Granjon was fantastically obscure and witty, will screen more of him again for sure. A welcome return from Jamie Spracklen but dude, what makes you think we don’t know the definitions of big words?

My personal coo of the evening was discovering that ‘Dream a Little Dream of Me’ by Mama Cass married perfectly with the zombies from ‘Night of the Living Dead’. Who knew? I could have passed for an extra in one of Romero’s films this weekend due to no sleep, famous last words – “We can sleep 3 in a bed, yeah, no problems!” You can’t. For anyone that’s thinking of doing the same. Take the sofabed when it’s offered.

Reviewed by Fash Ist Librarian

Troop Dogg dropped it like it was hot with some funky, feel-good numbers before Cherryl and Jo came on psyching the mike, getting Sundown to rumble. Sorry, had a touch of PJ/DUNCAN tourettes then. The Canadian based rapper Baba was one of the featured poets and his account of The Canterbury Tales via the medium of rap, was astounding. He calls it 'Lit-Hop', I call it CLEVER.

Graham Bendel next, he runs the Fortune Teller Press and his slightly obscure ramblings made me laugh while I pictured Harold Pinter saying "fuck off". Nick Silvey was apt music for a hazy Sunday evening, regardless of the penis art on his arms. Liz Bentley, back by popular demand, just makes me guffaw, yes guffaw. Her cheeky grin and dark wit is just what I ordered. Nick Knight's music video reflected his impressive photography and the lyrics to Pagan Poetry was a nice touch for a Spoken Word night, as the written word can often go a-miss.

'Golden Mile' by Sophie Burrows was an intelligent piece of film and well directed. The Open-Mic poetry section can be both a difficult but rewarding experience, Joe Hakim had travelled down from Hull and had rapped poetry made up on the spot in honour of Southend which you've got to applaud really. Regulars included our Bi-Polar Superhero - Theo, Steve 'The Storyteller' Pilley, Disco 'Velvet Fox' Dave. Simon Blackman's poem about a Round Faced Lady particularly stuck out for me. DJ Pootle and her vinyl technical hitches can be forgiven for playing Violenty Happy. Which brings me to the end of reviewing the Southend Festival 5's Sundown of 2007, and to quote Bjork again, it did indeed make me violenty happy to be here. Sort of like wanting to hit myself with a plastic ruler repeatedly.

Reviewed by Jover 'Completely Biased' Field

When I finally turned up, Itchy Circus Odour, a comic maverick, weirded us out with his poetic imagery before he played with our minds by having a cuddly toy read the most surreal football results you will ever hear. Chris Davison came on with his guitar and strummed along to some sweetly ironic lyrics.

Nathan Penlington held the floor with magic, comedy and poems, dazzling the audience with the odd trick utilising poetry books all framed with witty asides before his coup of UV light illuminating his veins, all the while pulling off a neat card trick involving his chest making us all go "wow."

Pootle the dj played some tunes whilst I nipped out for a pint o Guinness but I believe they played Tricky's version of Black Steel so thumbs up. Onedotzero Films soon provided us sick Chris Cunningham-type visuals involving eels (not the band) yet one couldn't help but stay focused on the screen with a seriously morbid curiosity. Deferred Sucess then gave loud and proud emo with an Essex twang.To finish were the brave Open-Mic Poets- a special mention to James Frost, who spoke filthily and ethereally, painting pictures in the sky and the gutter.

Reviewed by Theo Rowswell

www.myspace.com/muck_rakers

Following on from Troop Dogg’s opening DJ set, Niall Spooner Harvey informs us that 400 A-levels and 37 degrees aren’t enough to get him a job in a library if the job involves lifting heavy objects, brilliantly delivered with the sort of anger and desperation you normally see on the face of a losing Krypton Factor contestant. Next up was the sublime Liz Bentley. Using a retro Casio keyboard and Ukulele she told stories of her life, and made us all feel slightly uncomfortable with the reality and honesty of her words, especially on the subject of excess wind. So if nobody wants to go near her she’s only got herself to blame. Local lad Ross Palmer then treated us to some of his beautiful Nick Drake-esque acoustic music. Utilising unusual guitar tunings and thoughtful lyrics he captivated the audience with his tales of living by the sea. A fine DJ set from Pootle followed, with Rabbit Rabbit by Chas & Dave being the icing on the cake, before Rachel Pantechnicon took to the stage to put the world to rights. Quite why her children’s books about a Lion with cheese graters attached to its feet haven’t matched the success of JK Rowling and Roald Dahl’s paltry efforts is beyond me, but nevertheless her performance was hilarious, and in a strange way she reminded me of Murdoch from the A-Team had he been a woman. The evening finished off with 3 superb short films by Darryl Waller and a spoken word open mic session, giving audience members an opportunity to have their say, before we all headed home realising there is more to Southend than boy racers and a crap football team….

Reviewed by Chris Davison a.k.a Troop Dogg

www.myspace.com/chrisdavison1

I've been asked to write 200 words about last Sunday's Sundown birthday bash, which isn't many when you consider that I've used up twenty-seven words so far. How does one sum up a Sundown in 200 words? I was originally offered only 150, so I grizzled a bit and was given a paultry 50 more. Anyway, here goes.

Once again Jo, Stuart and Cherryl presented a swirling mix of a multimedia extravaganza with lots of cake on the go. First guest poet, Luke Wright, did his thing with words and action, electrifying the stage. Very nice.

Next up was Scroobious Pip, being every inch Scroobian and defiantly Pipesque: more witty wordery and a huge beardery.

What can I say about John Hegley that won’t take up too many more words? His was an effortless performance, poetry, music, Keith on double bass, adlib rhyming and audience interface. First class. Lastly, but by no means leastly, Quirkish Delight. One word, brilliant. Especially the handsome tall chap who hosts, although his surreal ramblings and acserbic wit are probably just a mask for inner turmoil and existential despair.

So, in all, a top night and all for a fiver. 200 words, thank you.

Simon Blackman

www.myspace.com/samplequirkish

Ah, the festival season. You think Glastonbury, you think of the Carling weekend perhaps, but Southend? Surely not, I hear you cry, that's just for overpriced ice-creams on an over-neon seafront, isn't it? Well think again. In its third year, the Sutton with Shopland festival has grown to impressive proportions, now held over two days with four stages of all kinds of lovely music, media and culture for the Essex festival-goer's consumption.

Starting from 11am, the stages were set for some fine young bands, many adolescent males with long hair in alarmingly good condition and a penchant for wearing black. One of these stages was the Acoustic Stage that at 2pm on Saturday was the platform for Sundown's multimedia event. The affair was kicked off with some poetry from the Sundown Poets, namely Jo Overfield, Cherryl Scott and Stuart Bowditch, who delighted the crowd with their words of tennis players, asbos and the internet phenomenon that seems to be taking over the world, MySpace.

This paved the way for Mike Webster, bassist of local rock band Engerica, who performed a solo acoustic set which nicely complimented the festival atmosphere. After this, poetry took the lead again as Richard Sandling took to the stage to set the record straight about comic-book movie adaptations, drawing knowing chuckles from the crowd. Theo Rowswell followed this with diverse poems covering topics from the sugar trade to the theme of Southend. As the sun grew hotter, the shoes grew dustier, the beer flowed quicker, the stage was ready for the sounds of Deferred Success, an acoustic set from Doozer and Carl Logan, who with the use of a peachy borrowed guitar, set the crowds feet tapping with their set.

And there it was, another Sundown complete, closed to the sounds of Essex four-piece Shinri, as the festival continued with its laid-back ambience. There was juggling, there was a queue for the ever-dwindling lager supplies, there was the savoury-sweet smell of chips and doughnuts in the air: who says Southend can't do festivals?

Rae Morgan

It was a Sunday. The air was humid, the sky like dirty chalk. Crew workers uniformed for the Leigh Folk Festival, pigeon stepping with exhaustion, patting the brow sweat away. Meanwhile in a venue overlooking the Morris dancers, the Sundown family arrives.

A rather curiously named DJ Flaps plays an interesting set of folk music, rare Polish combined with Hawaiian and Scottish all set to the visuals of 'The Ancient Art of Monkey Kung-Fu'. Bruce Lee would have been proud cocking a roundhouse kick to a fiddle de-de. The poets attack with their youngest performers, who could be reading the words off knees.

A young lady from Leeds called Penny Broadhurst, who braved the train from North to South, impressed one and all with her musketeer delivery. Seeing the PG Penny performance was unintentionally hilarious, due to little people in the room, she replaced her original lyrics to "a very, very rude word". I was sitting pleased, grinning, so grateful that talent gets a train in my direction.

Talking of travel, another who had never seen the light of Leigh-on-sea before, is Nathalie Nathai. She, a musician in London, writing for guitar, piano and vocals, gives an acoustic séance in raising our spirits. Can I get away with such a blatant ghost joke? Er, I think I just did. Captivated her audience did she.

Ah, what is this evening missing? More laughs, we need belly aching and loud guffawing. Aha! Bring me the head of Simon Blackman and let them eat Quirkish Delight. The cult and addictive comedy improvisational group reigned again, they were right funny they were. Professional and brilliant at what they do, this is better than any trite on tele.

DJ Squat Betty, yeah, he squatted like a...Betty and pressed play and with doing so, produced the sound of folk. This folk, that folk, folk from up here and some folk from over there, yes he had it all. Had it all.

Hybernation - the electronic child of Stuart Bowditch gets paternal with his laptop, music to watch robots by and stunning visuals too. We should have turned the lights off for him but we all forgot. Unique and thought provoking, something we all forget that music should be at times. Dead clever too. Poetry comes back in the way of Theo, Jamie, John H, Pete the Poet, Derek Adams, Rich, Kim, Scroobius Pip (and not Pup as I just typed) and the Sundown Poets. Open-mic poetry is a hard ship to sail, each delivery is different and not everyone believes the microphone is a weapon. But nevertheless, it's a brave thing to do and anyone that badmouths it has clearly never done it - and succeeded.

Lest we forget that tonight has been courtesy of a 'folk festival' and so we hand over to more folk music in the borrowed feet of Four Absent Shoes. 'Andromeda' being the highlight of their set, the identical acoustic guitars amused me and made me want to ask why they weren't dressed the same? Excellent guitar playing and an ideal soundtrack for the winding down of antics.

We leave the now hot and flailing crowd but internally wet, with a short film entitled 'Folking Hell' - what you get when chasing elderly folk with a digital camcorder in Southend-on-sea and then sticking snippets of folk music over the top of it.

I feel we stayed true to the Leigh Folk Festival and did them proud. We had a loyal audience and happy pub staff downstairs. The competition of Jools Holland in the park, the England football team, a Jazz band rehearsing next door, a broken electrical fan, global warming and an inactive bar DIDN'T MATTER AT ALL. No way. We soldiered on and still standing, like Elton John, myself; barefoot and blistered, I thank you for walking into our world on Sunday.

Marge Gunderson

Let's get it out of the way now - we were one man down, one man down I say. Stuart Bowditch, poet/artist/musician/technician extraordinaire had made a bit of a boo-boo and got our date wrong, he was elsewhere for the evening. But superheroes Doozer and Richard Benfield saved our asses and did all the sound, gadget, technology wizardry for us. Without them it wouldn't have been half as impressive.

Cornelius Bigwood with her retro, lift music, 60's cartoon imagery style records provided the perfect soundtrack to start Sundown. Cornelius also doubles as our graphic artist and web designer so it was grand to see her outside of the computer.

ShortFuse were the first of our featured poets, Nathan Penlington being the first of the trio. He was most engaging to watch, his visual aids being fun and his dry humour totally tied in with his poetry. Rhian Edwards, who has performed solo at Sundown before, was next and performed some of her poetry with song. Her voice was stunning, reminded me of Billie Holiday. The final ShortFuse poet, Suzanne Andrade, combined her poetry with performance art and visuals. I found this completely original, the idea of using her voice as a tool in the delivery was brilliant, very witty also. Anyone who mentions "Natwest Pigs" is a friend of mine. Bags of talent, awesome.

Myself, DJ Flaps, spun the wheels for the break. I played a usual mix-up and hoped the people enjoyed.

Clare Blackman, an old Sundown friend of last year, finally got the chance to play, which I'd especially been waiting for. Her folk based ballads and range in voice reminded me of Joni Mitchell so ten whole points to her.

Second featured poet, Luke Wright, jumped onstage and rocked his poetry right up our crowd's bottoms. A successful stand-up poet he is, genius how he remembers all that verse too. Lots of energy and we were so glad to have him perform.

The Public Information Films got a welcome reception but I may get beaten with sticks later for not choosing to show "Charley Says". Whoops. Plus Willy the Weasel had the same top on as me. Lovely.

Local Wildlife provided more live music for us, interesting Billy Bragg type vocals from the lead singer.

The open-mic poetry section was a treat, Simon Blackman stealing the show immediately with his "Suzie Dent" rants and "Gorilla Haircut" surrealisms. Good to see Steve Pilley back, his theatrical delivery would go down great at Glastonbury I bet.

Finally the very patient and lovely Samson played us out with his Latin/Afro Cuban grooves and suddenly the room wanted to salsa. We went way over our time schedule for we were having too much fun again!

Glad we pulled it off, wouldn't have been able to without everyone's support and help, thanks for coming along on a wet and windy day in Southend.

See you in June...

Jo Overfield

...and so another almost painfully dexterous SUNDOWN has come to a close!

Yet again, organisers Stuart, Jo, Cherryl and Sarah have seemingly broken the barriers of cultural limitations with their awesome mash-up of art, poetry, music, film and general cordiality towards anyone who crosses the boundary into their talent infested gloaming.

The evening started with accomplished electronic refrains of HYBERNATION, resident organizer Stuart's DJ project accompanied by an insight into the usually reticent world of textual communication as he and Cherryl mount a storming revolution in text poetry and splash it across the Sundown screen for all to see.

After a brief welcoming of the well fed mothers day masses by the jo this was swiftly followed by some poetic gems by the talented SUNDOWN POETS themselves and a mini OPEN MIC slot featuring SOCIAL SCHISM impresario THEO and resident barman poet JOHN!

Following this, we were eased into the evening's musical entertainment with KATIE AND THE AIRS. Dauntingly talented local musician and former front woman of FICTION, Katie sung a selection of awe inspiring self-penned songs accompanied by her formidable musical peddlers the 'AIRS' ROB on Cello and MOLE on Drums.

Next up on the impressive schedule was a short film by proficient short filmmaker KEV WATERS. 'BONED' received an excellent reception for its second screening in as many months having previously debuted at the LFS E2PROM event. Flanked by his executive producer and director of photography, the estimable JAMES GARDNER, expect to see great things from this up and coming local talent.

The crowd were then seen expertly into the break with the eclectic tunes of the proficient DJ FLAPS who spun some of her favourite vinyl as they clamored to the bar for more Sunday nectar.

Out of the break and into the second half SUNDOWN welcomed back their feature poet RHIAN EDWARDS. London based RHIAN treated the audience to a delectable thirty minutes of observational verbosity. Skipping between the soulful and opprobrious, sharp-tongued RHIAN treated us to her views on all things from bank accounts to Clapham women and public urination.

Half eight saw a mutinous set by DEFERRED SUCCESS aka musical demon DOOZER as he continues his campaign to get something we might actually want to hear to No 1 for the World Cup season. As well as his performance of 'Oh England' DEFERRED SUCCESS stormed through a set of prodigious guitar wielding, genre hopping, sheer musical joy.

The second OPEN MIC slot of the evening included some fantastic readings by the usual SUNDOWN suspects as well as some new faces including KIM, ADRIAN, ELYZA, KES, RICH and PETE who all offered their own poetical insights into everything that life throws at us.

The third musical slot of the night was filled by CALEB's hauntingly satisfying strains. Constantly challenging their audience with something a little different in their harmonies, CALEB have gathered quite a following with their live gigs and I'm certain this slot at SUNDOWN will be no exception.

The crowd were finally let loose to spread the word on the streets of Southend whilst twitching their neat little behinds to the gloriously squelchy accord of DJ WES CLIFF's closing set as he harnessed raw musical filth to leave the thoroughly satisfied crew salivating into their empty pint glasses.

...ALL THIS FOR £3?

And you thought the 99p store was a bargain? Is it nearly May 21st yet?

VIVA SUNDOWN!

Reviewed by Miss B

Phew. Did those Sundown-ers need a rest after the Big Fat Birthday Bash in November?! Christmas came and much eating was done, New Years came and much drinking was done. Thus it brings us round to the first SUNDOWN of 2006! Hurrah! Back into our new home of upstairs in the ballroom of The Royal Hotel and we kicked off with DJ Lighting aka Malone. His pick of Tom Jones starting the evening was a wise choice as our crowd piled in.

The Sundown Poets all read some words first with Rhian Edwards debuting at Sundown with her open-mic poems. Rhian is an experienced London based laureate whose unique, rapped delivery had our audience in awe. Fantastic!

Sam Beer is also based in London, a talented acoustic singer/songwriter whose voice and depth of song is close to such greats as Nick Drake, Bob Dylan or Tom Waits. Sam had to cancel on us unexpectedly at our Birthday Bash gig but he promised to make it up to us by playing the first Sundown of the year, thank cheese he stuck to his promise because he went down a storm. Sundown are officially Sam Beer's faithful groupies. But with less sex probably.

Richard Sandling - 'digital professional' which makes him sound like a hired assassin, showcased a handful of his previous filmmaking efforts. A music video for a band who have amongst other things, supported The White Stripes recently. Two comedic films followed, my personal favourite being the kung-fu mockery complete with BBC archive quality sound effects; kitchen knives through cucumbers.

DJ Flaps aka 'Jo', spun the wheels for the break, which is usually time for a headcount at the bar.

Josie Long, a full-time gigging comedian, successful at the Edinburgh Festival, agreed to play Sundown for which we were very lucky. Her eccentric, obscure humour was funny to watch and endearing to listen to. There was a lot of positive feedback for Josie, I got a text off my friend saying "last comedy girl was mint!" So it must be true. If you like your Ross Noble, Eddie Izzard, fidgety, giddy, silly, clever style of comedy then please see Josie Long live soon.

Local musician Eddie Rome has played one of our previous Sundown's in the past under the guise of 'Innocent Civilian' but this time he played with his band The Big, who had just come back from a packed UK tour with The Beat. The Big gave us an acoustic set, sadly without their sax player but ultimately still impressive and hugely enjoyable. Eddie Rome was literally built to entertain. He's definitely tall enough for the ride.

Nine open-mic poets read keeping the evening spontaneous and proving how much local talent is out there, we feel proud that we're giving people the chance to off-load their thoughts. Including 'Dave the Cabbage', even vegetables have dreams it would seem. 'Dave' aspires to more than just a pawn in another roast dinner. Featured Poet Geraint D'Arcy was a treat to have at the Birthday Bash and a treat to have kick off our 2006 event. Recently published online, he provided the crowd with some of his 'semi-biographical' ramblings.

Deferred Success - the completely original drum and bass, dub, folk, trip-hop, rock outfit even took a turn on the stage (carpet).

Due to much success, the night ended up going half an hour over time so a very patient Reason or Romanza ended the night with their minimalist DJ set. The Electronica London based band had a difficult job wrapping up Sundown but all power to them as they did a fine, fine job. We'd have them back again in a heartbeat.

All in all, Sundown JAN.O6 was enormous fun and we owe so much to all our performers, the audience and our help. We couldn't do this without everyone involved and that means not just the punters but the staff at The Royal Hotel too. What a superb start to an exciting year for Sundown. Bring on the next one.....

Jo Overfield

SUNDOWN TWO YEAR BIG BIRTHDAY BASH 13/11/05

Many weeks and months of planning have gone into this event with regular meetings, copious amounts of 'plugging' at various different gigs as well as press junkets too. Sadly, Sam Beer and Sara Schiralli had to pull out due to other commitments and the flu but Sam has promised us he will headline our January event which more than makes up for it! Jo pulled her special rabbit out the hat and got us Tin Solider to play instead.

Cornelius Bigwood kicked off the afternoon with her lounge/lift music set, her record collection is astoundingly surreal. The Sundown Poets settled everyone in with some words, with brand new poems featuring. Then came Perambulator, the first of the musicians, with Buddha's Last T-Party on guitar and ChinaDoll Films presenting the visuals making for a relaxing ambience. Pascal Glanville wowed the crowd with his Chapman stick. There was a sea of faces genuinely mesmerised and entranced by this mans skills. Julie Collings, an acoustic singer/songwriter had traveled all the way down from Derby to give Sundown an exclusive set. Julie has a lush voice and sounded fantastic, lovely.

Our featured poet Rachel Pantechnicon went down a storm! Her unique style of humour and poetry fitted in perfectly with our Sundown audience, she really was an asset to have on the day. Deferred Success appealed to us all with Doozer's lyrics of being 'skint', I think we could all relate to that one. His string broke but like a true professional, he carried on! Greg McDonald braved the train all the way from Cambridge to come down and play an acoustic set from The Visions, he was brilliant and there were many comments about his music as there were for Tin Soldier too. DJ Flaps rocked the first break with a big bag of tunes, The Lazy DJ's from Newcastle spun a party mix for the next break while our resident DJ Malone wrapped up the evening.

The Sundown raffle was a complete success, Cherryl and Jo hosted this section, a representative from the DOVE was our 'Debbie McGee' and pulled the tickets from the bucket being delightfully shaken by the attractive Jade, more than just a bucket shaker my friends. Jade was also responsible for securing many of our raffle prizes.

Both our open-mic poetry sections were massively applauded and we thank everyone for taking part, was superb to see old and new faces. Richard Sandling's comedy was a hit and Pot Pourri was originally entertaining. The comedy sketch group Bum Cigar was a first and welcomed by the crowd also so expect more from Bum Cigar in the future. Essex Geezer got the best reception it's had so far, it's becoming a cult classic I tell thee! Visuals and art included were paintings by Faye Simpkins, greeting cards by Powder Monki, 'The Poet' comic strip by Liam Brazier and Jo Overfield as well as the Mongrel arts group and ChinaDoll Films.

All in all this day went down hugely well, the crowd appeared to thoroughly enjoy themselves and the Sundown organisers had a great time too. Let's not forget this day was for charity and we made £200 for the DOVE.

Sundown would like to officially thank everyone who took part, musicians, artists, open mic poets, comedians, sound technicians, helpers, Billy Bragg's manager, contributors to the raffle, the DOVE people, staff at The Royals, the organisers and most of all - the audience! Without you, we're nothing.

Jo the Hat