More Poetry & Music pics

Derek

Flickr pics for Friday's Poetry Night.

Flickr pics for Saturday night's gig with Derek.

One of Derek's buds...I'm sorry but I don't know his name, but I like this picture of him holding his little boy (who seems very focused on Derek's performance at the moment).

I'm a poet, I know it...hope I don't blow it...

Brian Muenzenmeyer

Last night (Friday) we did our second poetry night and our first "open mic" (sans actual mic though). Our friend Brian Muenzenmeyer was the featured poet, the main man of the evening, with nine or ten poems that he read before a very appreciative group of maybe 15 folks. It was very cool to not only listen to Brian recite his work but also watch him become more comfortable and find his groove as the session went on. It takes guts to get up in front of a group of people and speak things that you've written that are often very personally relevant.

Bobbi

I told everyone that we want to do poetry night at least once a month, and also that anyone who felt the urge to read or recite or perform to please jump into the fray. I read a couple of my own, along with Big Poppa E's "Wussy Boy Manifesto" to hopefully get the ball rolling. And so it was very cool when our friend Bobbi Schuetze did, in fact, step up and read one of her own poems (she had to print it off my laptop). And Brian's friend Lauren also stepped up to the plate, plugged in her laptop and read three of her writings. Brian finished everything up with a final triad of poems.

It was fun, and I feel like we've taken the first step to working this into a bigger, louder and more vibrant happening as we continue. The hope is to eventually have true slams every month. Check the blog for the next calendar of events.

Saturday follow-up: Poetry & Nine Days

I'm off to Green Bay in a couple minutes (driving Kim up to the airport), but when I get back home I'll post an update on yesterday's funnitudiness (and yes, funnitudiness is spelled with two n's...look it up!), with Kathryn's poetry and the cats from Nine Days at MetroJam. Have a grand morning y'all!

OK, we're back from GB...lunch at Noodles & Co., an hour at Barnes & Noble (got a few items, including "The Brew Master's Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food;" a book about Cat Woman, full of images from comic books, TV and the movies); and a stop at Kavarna coffee shop on Broadway.

Well, yesterday's poetry reading with Kathryn was great...had 15 or 16 people, young and older, in attendance and who really enjoyed Kathryn's poems and her style of recitation. A very nice turn-out for our first poetry reading, and we got several comments on what a cool thing this was and that we have to hold poetry readings regularly from now on (which we plan to do).

Earlier in the day John Hampson and Jeremy Dean from Nine Days stopped in before their headlining gig at MetroJam last night. These two guys were real genuine, down-to-earth and were a real pleasure to chat with. Jeremy told me that besides his band duties he's also into graphic design (he dug our mugs, so they left with a couple) and John said that his wife has been wanting to open a coffee shop near their home in Long Island. They gave me a copy of their latest CD, Slow Motion Life (above) and a cool looking T-shirt (thanks guys!), and said to make sure to say hi if we made it to the show after closing (Kim, Cheyenne, Jesse and I closed a little early and sped over to Washington Park to catch the performance). Man, what a great show! Watching Nine Days live it is obvious that these guys love what they do...lots of energy, great tunes, solid musicianship (love the sax, Jeremy...outstanding), and a fun and sincere rapport with the crowd...if you missed them, well, you need to turn to the person nearest you and politely ask them to kick you in the arse right now.

Another cool thing was when John spied me in the crowd and gave a shout out to Stumpjack..."Is that my friend, David!? We have to thank some people...including Stumpjack Coffee in Two Rivers, where I had a great espresso today..." Thanks, John, that was much appreciated.

After the set ended we hung around for a few minutes and chatted with John and Jeremy again, bought a couple of CD's, and got our coffee egos stroked a little more. And I don't want to get too far ahead of myself but we chatted briefly about booking the guys for a gig at Stumpjack sometime (maybe an acoustic set). We promised to follow up on that, and I'll give John a holler this week to see what needs to be done to make it happen. Thanks John, thanks Jeremy...you guys made my week.

Check out Nine Days' website and MySpace site, and check out Kathryn's site as well, the girl has some serious writing chops...man, it's been a great weekend for the art of music and poetry. Peace!

Ode to an Espresso Puck

Oh what shall I make of thee,
Puck of coffee spent?
Dry and void
Of oils and flavors,
Lacking aroma.
Yet you look too cool to casually discard
With the straw wrappers and dirty napkins.
What good are you now,
Impotent coffee puck,
Soon to become compost
In my small herb garden.

The End