By Dan Thompson
The life of local poet and artist Emile Sercombe – aka Steve Lobb- is being celebrated by a group of performers this Friday 22nd September.
More than a dozen poets from London and Kent will perform at Radford House, Ramsgate, in an event raising funds for Arts In Ramsgate.
Sercombe, who died in May this year, was an important part of London’s alternative poetry scene in the early 1980s. His poetry performances were surreal, often using homemade props and elements of costume.
Secombe appeared with the fledgling Apples and Snakes from their second event in 1982. He has been described as a ‘cornerstone of the early Apples and Snakes events’, and he appeared more than thirty times with poets and comedians including Benjamin Zephaniah, Brian Patten, Porky The Poet (aka Phil Jupitus), and Henry Normal, later to write Mrs Merton and The Royle Family and produce all of Steve Coogan’s shows.
He moved to Ramsgate with his wife Berni in 2013.
He regularly appeared at local poetry events, including the Landing Place afternoons at Turner Contemporary. In 2017, he was one of four poets who performed the poems of the early-20th century Dada group at that gallery’s exhibition of Dada paintings.
He co-organised regular poetry nights at Eats ‘n’ Beats in Ramsgate.
Sercombe also performed in Canterbury, and regularly returned to London with Dodo Modern Poets.
Poets appearing at Radford House, Effingham Street include Pete Murry, Patric Cunnane, Mark Holihan and Sue Johns. The event starts at 7.30pm, and admission is £5 with all money raised going to Arts In Ramsgate.
