Hip mixture of reading and rocking

WHEN rock stars give literary readings you can expect something unorthodox, and the crowd who packed Whelan's of Wexford Street last night for In The City's first Vox & Roll event weren't disappointed. They might, however, have felt somewhat short changed by the brief appearance of the main attraction, Australian singer Nick Cave, and they might also have felt antagonised by the uproarious antics of Gavin Friday. Most of all, though, the audience might have become bored with the delays and interludes which dissipated the impact of much of the readings.

The venue was packed for what promised to be a hip mixture of writing and rock `n' roll and the proceedings began when the compere, a Scots poet named, uh, Jock Scott, recited some hilarious rhymes about two of music's most sacred cows, Van Morrison and Bob Dylan.

Gavin Friday eschewed the poetry for the personal, detailing his love of opera music, then doing a raucous a capella version of his own song, Caruso, hamming it up to the hilt with the aid of a megaphone. His second recital was more like a belligerent stream of contrariness, a heckler turned loose on the audience.

Patrick McCabe read from his acclaimed novel, Tile Butcher Boy, bringing the characters and situations to life with his earthy Monaghan brogue and nearly bringing the house down with laughter.

Nick Cave received the applause due to a rock cult figure, and he read from his own essay, entitled The Word Made Flesh, in which he describes how the Old and New Testaments have influenced his own lyric writing.