Attila the Stockbroker at What's Cookin'

Birkbeck Tavern, Leyton, E10

With Michael Gove threatening to bring back O levels and then seeing that poet/musician Attila the Stockbroker (who’s 1^st album I bought many years ago) was due to play just down the road from me it felt like back to the 1980’s. I was hoping to hear ‘Russian’s in the DHSS’, Attila’s ode to cold war paranoia in order to take me back to my days in the ‘department’. A long time ago, since when the Russian’s who were our enemies, have become our friends and are now back to, I’m not sure, wariness on both sides I think – an Orwellian shifting of alliances. It turns out however that worringly it’s me and the odious Gove who have nostalgia in common, Attila on the other hand is always moving on, tackling the latest outrage such as 'Bye Bye Banker' about the recent financial scandals . His poems are still angry, political and above all humorous, the subjects are often personal, for example moving poems about his mother’s dementia and subsequent death and then moving onto his aunt coming to visit his mother, ‘Poison Pensioner ‘ which magnificently deals with the difficulty of dealing with a relative whose views he finds abhorrent and then a poem about his relationship with his stepfather who he came to like and respect after many years during his mother’s illness. I also particularly liked Comandante Joe, his ode to Joe Strummer, someone Attila never met but a lovely tribute to someone many of us still revere. Attila’s out on a nationwide tour soon, I recommend you catch him if you can.

http://www.attilathestockbroker.com/