MC Mixy's Blog
A Teacher Eh? Well..... No, not really
So since getting back from Edinburgh in 2011 me an Mark have been doing a lot of work in schools, we did ten days in south London primary schools over November an December 2010. It Was fun, all the classes we worked with seemed to get a lot out of it and all the teachers we met had nothing but positive feedback! Of course mark has a lot more experience working with kids so he’s used to the job. Me on the other hand have worked in schools and youth centre’s but never been trained to do it or worked it full time. I was worried a bit not having the university education or even decent GCSE’s but I felt I settled in very nicely.
Teaching is something part of me had always wanted to do, when I was in school it was never my aim but I always believed I could do some of my teacher’s jobs better than they could. Don’t get me wrong some of my teachers were great but some were terrible. They had the grades to back them up on paper but they lacked so much in social skill, respect and general manners. The sad truth is if I’d liked my teachers more or they had engaged me I may have done better, but hey, I’m not passing blame I can’t have always been easy to deal with myself. Still, I don’t think I’m the only kid that felt that way about school.
I’ve really enjoyed doing this work, now instead of going to the same office and sitting there for 8 hours a day getting shouted at by people over the phone and mugged off by management in the office, I make my living threw performances and workshops, entertaining and inspiring! There’s nothing else I’d rather do, it’s much more rewarding and fun, plus it gives me more time to write. I really can’t complain about much right now. But don’t worry, I’ll find something soon.
The other day I was told I was a natural teacher... Not gonna lie, my head swelled a bit, it was nice to hear, like validation, I felt like I was doing well but wouldn’t believe it till someone else said it. Today I actually got a job offer teaching creative writing and performance to young people, very early days but it looks great at a glance... See how we do I guess
Read More...Edinburgh Fringe 2010
So yeah, me and Mark hit our first month long run at Edinburgh fringe festival August 2010. There were a lot of pro’s and con’s but overall the whole month was a success! We got the train from Peterborough on August 5th, I had a big backpack and a box of our CD’s that we planned to sell, Mark had a big backpack.. a small backpack.. a handbag.. a laptop bag.. and 3 boxes of flyers and posters which made our getting on and off the train quite a task in itself!
We were sharing a flat with Tim Clare and Ross Sutherland who were both doing their own shows, two amazingly good poets I was happy to learn from while in Edinburgh. When we got to the flat Tim was there and getting ready to leave for his show so me and Mark walked with him into town to find our venue ‘The Banshee Labyrinth’
We got to the venue and checked out our performance space, it was a dingy little cave like room, with seats you could probably fit 35 maybe 40 people in. To be honest that was a bit of a relief, they say when you go to Edinburgh fringe you should expect an average audience of 4 so the smaller the venue the less noticeable an empty room would be. We met a few of the staff from the venue that day and luckily they were all more than safe, by the time we left we had made more than a few good friends.
We had the best part of two days in Edinburgh before our first performance and we spent the time watching other shows, drinking, giving out flyers, and running material when we could, just trying to get the feel for the area, you know. We were performing the 12.30 - 13.30 slot every day and while handing out flyers and putting up posters it was pointed out to us by a targeted audience member that the time was not printed on our promotional papers, over the next few weeks I spent a lot of time with a pen writing on stacks of them!! On the night before our first gig we planned to get an early night but Mark had some friends in town so we ended up at a Kayley (Scottish barn dance) till 6am. Not a good look.
The day of our first gig, we started the half hour walk from the flat to the venue not knowing what to expect, the best term to describe us both would have to be… hanging right out. We got to the venue for about 11.15 only to find out we couldn’t get in any earlier than 12 any day, and the venue would only let public in at 12.30. Still, we got in, set up the seating, checked the sound, and got a few pear ciders 2 maintain our level of intoxication. To both our surprise we had about a 30 strong string of people pile right into the venue and take seats for our show as soon as the doors were opened. Relief.
Our first show went really well which was a big confidence boost to know that we were not out of our depth at this world renound festival, knowing that we could smash a show was exactly what we needed to start our run on the right foot. The room of smiling faces left while showing a lot of praise and positive feedback, they even left us about £70 in donations and CD sales, I didn’t have to touch my bank account the whole time I was in Edinburgh, the taking after every show went from £35 up to £153 which was more than enough to get by on.
The shows seemed to blend into each other a bit, sometimes the crowd was not very responsive but we always got them by the end, we had a few minor technical issues but worked through all to the best standard possible. The vast majority of our shows were to packed rooms and the smallest audience we had for the dead poets show was about 16, still 4 times the expected average. Very happy with that.
On top of the 20 dead poets shows me and mark both involved ourselves with numerous other slots, we both took part in the poetry takeaway which was basically a stall on the royal mile set up by Tim Clare to write free poetry for the public on any requested subject. I had a lot of fun doing that and covered shifts whenever I could, though I am slightly upset I kept no copies of the work I wrote for people!! If I wrote you a poem and you’re reading this, please, get in touch, I’d love a copy!
We both performed on the royal mile, took part in the hammer and tongue poetry slams, we both made it to the final and mark managed to come joint 1st. We both performed at other regular running nights such as Utter, The Two Gents, and both assisted with a guest appearance for Helen Mort in ‘A Pint For The Ghost’ I was also hitting the weekly open mic night at the Banshee and dragging random musicians up to jam with me, even won my second battle for the UK rap battle league ‘Don’t Flop’ as you can tell it was a busy month.
We somehow managed to get 6 different reviewers in to watch us, how this happened I don’t know as many of the acts were really wanting reviews and not getting much luck. All 6 of them gave us a positive review with 4 out of 5 stars which to be fair I am very happy with, we said before we went to Edinburgh we were aiming for 3 stars. The reviews were from The Scotsman, Three Weeks, Music OMH, Edinburghfestival.co.uk … and another 2 I can’t remember… Sure Mark will know, I’ll ask him.
I’ve been back in Peterborough about a week now and am still missing the way of life I had in Edinburgh for a short while. I miss performing everyday, I miss the other acts, I miss the staff at the venue and the temporary flat mates, I miss being able to party every night of the week till 6 in the morning, I miss running threw the days with Jagerbombs, Tequila, Koperberg, Newcastle Brown Ale, cans of Carlsberg and cheap Brandy! I could spend a day naming names here but I wont, you know who you are!!
I could rabbit on for days about everything that happened in Edinburgh last month and that would still not scratch the surface so I’ll leave it here for now. Many thanks to everyone that has supported us and those who continue to do so, everyone we met along the way and those we are yet to meet, all is appreciated!
Now, next year……………
Read More...edinburgh, link
just a short 1, the fringe is going really well so far but we've got alot left to do. i realised i forgot my password to get into my dead poetry address so if people have tried to contact and i have not responded dont think im being a dick!! get at me on mixy@locality1.com
will update with more info when i have more time!!
bless
x
Read More...Poet Laureate Business
Right… I meant to write something about winning the Peterborough Poet Laureate title back in December, it was a great experience anyone that spent time with me around the time it happened could see it meant a lot to me. To go from being seen as some sort of thug or criminal to getting respect from people high up in the community was a bit of a shock, plus I don’t think the poetry heads were ready for a 23 year old rapper to take the title! Ha, I love how some elderly people scowl at me then smile and congratulate when they hear me read a moving piece of poetry, not to mention I’m not too bad mannered and don’t go around acting like a twat! Talk about stereotypical opinions.
Previous Laureates had told me how busy I would be, how much time I would have to give to it, how everyone would be contacting me… I would have been more than happy to take every opportunity but… Na! To be fair the first month or two I was getting a bit of contact and asked to do a few bits but it’s been very quiet now for a long time. I’m slightly ashamed of myself as I had so many plans on what I could do with the title, I actually thought it may have held a bit of weight which to a extent it does, but come on.. Honestly no one is all that bothered.
I always planned to put a night on, like a acoustic spoken word night, have poets colabing with all sorts of musicians but after taking a step back I didn’t see any real benefit to the city from doing that. Peterborough has two regular poetry nights that attract a decent crowd and I’ve been majorly involved with ‘Locality’ since day one, a group of local artists including myself started from scratch with nothing and built up a capital and reputation big enough to bring names to the city and put on big nights, until recently it was the only night in the city to do what we did for the hip hop community in a long time, and to be fair, now we are not as active there is nothing currently running in the city that did what we do as well as we do it! I know some wont like that statement but… No arrogance, it is the simple truth.
Anyway. The conclusion I came to was that Peterborough has things to entertain the poetry fans, drum an bass fans, rock fans, dubstep fans, etc etc and we HAD things to entertain the hip hop fans but they did not support. I’m torn on my theories, I like to think that when locality started getting less support it was due to the change of venue, or the fact that hip hop heads just want to stay in and smoke weed. However part of me feels that many of the other local artists did not want us to succeed, I feel Peterborough has too many artists and not enough fans; everybody wants to be a MC or a DJ! Plus with the divides in different areas and crews it’s like people wont support something if they don’t run it, I’ve always found hip hop to be very competitive still I show respect when due.
Every MC has to have a part of them that feels they are the best, but the good ones know they are not. Again arrogance seems to be a favorite mentality. Is it by coincidence that people whose work I respected and classed as friends were not so friendly when I appeared to be doing half decent for my self? The older I’ve got threw this local music scene the more enemies I’ve made, and for the record, I am not a guy that’s makes enemies easily! If you know me you know, if you don’t, trust me.
Basically, I feel if I had put a local acoustic spoken word night I would not have received the support from any new people, I think the same local crowd would come along and have a great time which I don’t have a problem with of course, but the experience I’ve had putting on nights in my home town have killed my love of promotion and those people are already being looked after. Honestly, Il do what I can to help when it comes to putting on events, but I wanna concentrate on being an artist.
When it comes to being a artist I am completely self taught, I’ve taken tips along the way that have helped me advance slightly quicker but have received no coaching for what I do, I like to think I’m a smart guy though I did not have a amazing experience of education, I feel I have something to offer the younger generation that they may not get from their teachers so I would definitely like to take that route with the hope I really have something to offer worth taking! I like to think if I had a teacher, ta, or even youth worker like me I would done better with my school work. Guess Il never know! I’ve done a bit of youth work and been into a few schools, I’ve done writing workshops with people as young as 6 and as old as 50 and it always seems to go well, I’ve get people of all ages telling me how they love my work yet I’m still not happy with it! I never will be.
I found myself with mixed feeling the other day, that’s what triggered this rant. I went to the local poetry open mic night and watched a amazing poet, possibly one of the best I’ve ever seen, this being a perfect example of why you should never believe your own hype inspired me to try using some different styles and angles in my writing. Not long after another guy read, a local artist and friend of mine who I’ve got to know since I’ve been involved with the poetry. Before he read his piece he said how he had been to the Youth Laureate of Peterborough Presentation. It threw me off. The people running that are the same people that are supposed to be contacting me about things, months back they sent me the application forms and asked me if I knew anyone that could enter, I passed it on to a few people I thought had it in them but unfortunately none of them finished their piece. I don’t expect a lot but it would have been nice to keep me in the loop. Don’t want this to come off as a dig, they are good people but come on, I should have been involved in that surely?? It was maybe a mistake that I was not asked to come but it makes me feel my help isn’t wanted. If that is the case what am I to do? Also, I still don’t know who the new youth laureate is so if anyone knows id love to!
Every week I get a copy of the Mayor of Peterborough’s diary sent to me by email, and I’m told the reason for this is so I can write a piece if anything inspires me. Unfortunately charity lunches and meetings in the parlor don’t fill me with amazing creativity. Again, not a dig, I think I just had a very different idea of what the title meant. Every now and again someone will introduce me as the poet laureate of Peterborough and people seem impressed, oh yeah it’s nice but I cant understand why, they haven’t heard my material and they may not like it, if everything I wrote was shit would people still rate me just cos I was the poet laureate of Peterborough?? Na, I’m basically a bit of entertainment for the people that run the city. However like I said, I honestly am proud and happy I got it but I think that’s maybe because I didn’t think it was possible for a young hip hop MC to take the title and get a positive response on the local poetry scene, god I’ve learnt a lot! I still have a good four months or so left so guess Il see what I can do with my remaining time.
I’m out for now, catch me an mark at Edinburgh Fringe festival in August and anyone that disagrees with what I said on the local hip hop scene, show your support an buy my new mixtape at www.locality1.com !
Read More...MMIX, MMX, MMXI Mixtape
So, my MMIX Mixture Mixtape is just over a year old now and I figured id slap another one together for MMX. All recording is done I’m just waiting for it to be mixed down then it will be up for download for the simple fee of £3 from the locality website www.locality1.com it should be up by early May 2010. If you haven’t heard the old mixtape (MMIX) that is up for free download now so get involved! But remember it is over a year old now!
There’s also a few other bit’s from a couple of other local artists on my side of the art form, ‘Nu Design Volume 1’ is a collaborative collection of tracks from myself, Compton Sparks, Big G, High Score, Fire Boy and Spoze. Spoze’s debut mixtape ‘Wasted talent’ is also available for free download now and very soon Big G aka Bobby Bits aka Eddie Redbeard will have his debut album up for free download alongside the debut mixtape from Fire Boy. So please, feel free to have a listen a let us know what you think.
The new mixtape (MMX) was not really planned, as I’ve been keeping quite busy with numerous projects over the last year or so it is really jus a collection of some tracks I’ve put together in the meanwhile. Hope you like
Read More... 1 | 2 Next »
MC Mixy
Mc Mixy has been writing and performing from the age of 13 in and around the Peterborough area, and for the last three years has become increasingly present within hip hop and poetry circles across the UK.
Along with being half of the double act 'Dead Poets' with mark grist Mixy is founder, host, resident and promoter of Peterborough’s 'Locality' along with a team of other artists local to the Peterborough area.
Locality aims to give local artists the chance to perform and develop their skills, whilst bringing some of the best names in UK hiphop to the city. Mixy has performed across clubs, pubs, schools, bus stops and festival tents across the country and spends a lot of spare time being involved with various local youth projects.
On his 2009 Mixtape (the MMIX Mixture Mixtape by Mixy) he has collaborated with 13 other artists including singers, guitarists, beatboxers, poets, producers and a wide range of MCs.
He is currently working on another solo project to follow up the MMIX Mixture Mixtape. Mixy likes to stray from the stereotypes of hip hop and a lot of his material is rooted in issues and events he has experienced in his time.
Always keen on experimenting with the art form, Mixy employs a range of styles and storytelling techniques in his performances and the pieces vary in their content, from fact to fiction, from serious to humorous.