A Tribute to Christopher Logue, Tuesday 12th June, @ The Wreck, Camberwell

After news of the sad death of the great Christopher Logue, my friend Bobby Gandolf (Wormfood / Ethno-bling) and myself were determined to put on a tribute to celebrate the work of a poet who has long been my single biggest influence, and who will one day receive the respect he deserves as a truly great artist.

• “Poets like Mr Logue are luring jazz-conscious audiences to get the same kind of kick out of poetry as they get from music” – Times Literary Supplement, 1961
• “[In the late 1950s] Logue was challenging us to react to nuclear warfare, inviting us to fight against our rulers” – Adrian Mitchell
• “Logue never tried too hard but he had a talent that shone like the sun” – Peter Craven

Christopher Logue RIP

I wrote to Logue in 2007 expressing my admiration and trying to persuade him to perform at Hammer and Tongue. By then it was too late. His wife replied on his behalf and I hope she doesn’t mind me quoting a short part from that very kind letter, in which she congratulated me for finding him out “from the more obscure recesses of the lterary world.” She explained his lack of renown: “He has never been a great one for groups or networking and that has undoubtedly diminished his reputation – though it greatly enhanced his private life and saved him from a great deal of boredom”