The Budapest Bardroom

Bardroom founder David Hill wrote to inform us he had spotted UK stand-up comedian Nick Doody on YouTube performing his disturbing yet hilarious Clown Song on Paramount’s World Stands Up. Nick appeared at The Bardroom in October 2004.

Bardroom founder, David Hill (not to be confused with recent writing competition winner, David A. Hill) wrote to inform us that Olen Steinhauer’s latest novel, The Tourist, has just been optioned by Warner Brothers. Olen read for the Bardroom in March 2006.

Olen posted this news to Contemporary Nomad, a blog he shares with three other writers:

“[A]s of late last week, my life and career changed in a way that I never could have predicted. First, came some great news from my industrious agent, Stephanie Cabot, that Heyne, the German publisher, was making a very handsome pre-empt on the manuscript I finished in July, The Tourist.

“Two days later, though, I was no longer beside myself, but above myself. Again, Stephanie was the bringer of news: Warner Bros would be optioning The Tourist, with the plan for it to involve…George Clooney.

On top of that, Olen and his girlfriend are expecting a baby this Winter. All we can say to all this is … congratulations!

David Hill wrote to inform us that UK poet, Bill Griffiths passed on last week. Bill read at Bardroom in April 2006. Here’s what the Independent Online had to say:

The poet Bill Griffiths was an extraordinary writer: radical, experimental and scholarly, but also fun. His was the poetry of a biker, a cook, a boat owner and a social historian. He was also a scholar of Old English and dialect who knew how to make his work accessible. Griffiths exemplified the task of poetry without ever wishing to be treated as a poet. Private and uncompetitive, he was at least these things: poet, archivist, scholar, translator, prison-rights campaigner, pianist, historian, curator, performer, editor, short-story writer, essayist, teacher, book-maker and folk loricist.

Bardroom founder, David Hill, wrote to us this week suggesting we offer you these two video clips. K-man agreed: “I bet you could find loads of other clips on YouTube of various Bardroom survivors.”

David Hill: “The first one is Nathan Resika, who sang soul and jazz songs in the Bardroom on two occasions, but is now starring in operas in America.”

David Hill: “The second is Jane Hill, who did an open mic in 2003 reading prose, and now is a published novelist, but in this clip she is doing stand-up comedy.”

If you can point us to any clips of former Bardroom presenters, please send us an email: events AT bardroom DOT com

When we wrote Budapest Bardroom founder David Hill to tell him we created this blog he encouraged us to dig into the archives and present a bit of the Bardroom’s history:

“There are tons of photos on bardroom.com that can be transferred to this new site.

“I have a file somewhere listing all the shows and all the people who performed at them. I will dig it out and send it to you, but it might take a few weeks. Then if you google all the past performers, I’m sure a lot of them have blogs that could link to yours.

I think it is worth boasting a bit about the track record of the Bardroom as a long-running, regularly occurring entertainment event ever since 2001, offering music, comedy, poems and storytelling for the audience’s delectation. It’s worth noting that performers have included Benjamin Zephaniah, Dave “Tinky Winky” Thompson, Robert Creeley, Tibor Fischer and Bea Palya - those are probably the most famous names.”

Well, to make a long story not too much longer, we couldn’t find photographs of those famous people but thanks to Google, at least we can offer you Dave Thompson, AKA Tinky Winky. Enjoy!

PS - We’re planning the next event for August 15 and I understand that Jeff Taylor has those details. Jeff?