At 73, Dick McBride has lived long enough to realise he is no longer young but young enough to know he will never be truly old. Rather than the Last Beat Poet, he prefers to be known as the only maverick poet.

Matthew Devenish, E-za Jenkins (Celluloid) and Usama Dafaalla have a long way to go before McBride catches up with them. Join us in the experience of a lifetime.

Wild and sometimes happy or sweetly surreal - words and music - the happening creates a sound seldom heard, if ever. Not jazz, not rock and roll, not punk or whatever - more like the explosion of the sun sinking into a big black hole, glowing like the birth of a rose. Then when you think you've heard everything you realise it hasn't even started. Hold on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen, here we come. And if there's time we can talk about the good times gone, reminisce about what is yet to come. Words and sound sometimes joined, sometimes separated by adlib, solo stories and dreams, tall tales and outright lies.

Happy days are here again - they never really left. It's showtime, folks!

The Beat goes on