For all of our cyberfriends who missed it, Mark and his wife, Carole Jean, are currently showing their work at a small gallery in Baltimore. The gallery itself is quaint and comfortable. It has a warm personality, like the gracious owners who introduced themselves and welcomed us. The poetry show was held upstairs where Mark and CJs work is hung. I was very impressed with how the work was displayed, each piece spaced attractively and labeled with title, year and price. Seeing both Mark's and CJ's work up close in person is a special experience. Both are so talented. CJ's colorful and whimsical pieces brightened the room and Mark's detailed wire sculptures were too cool! I spent some time before the show examining the artwork closely. I wished I could have spent longer enjoying the work, but before I knew it, we were all set up and ready to go!
Mark is a gracious host and did a terrific job introducing the show. He described how he met LR and I initially online and how he used to go to another spot in Baltimore to take poems of online friends and perform them. Then, he read some selections from panta rhei, judih, mtmynd, mark kuhar. Each time, he'd introduce the poet by describing where they lived and how he met them online and telling a little bit about the poet's style. It was very cool to see the audience's reaction to hearing the work of poets from all over the world being recited by Wireman! They loved it! And I loved it, too!
Mark introduced the other performers with kind accolades, saying something about each of us before we took the stage. I went first and read a couple of pieces I had never performed before, plus my Deathrap piece (accompanied by Wireman on percussion and Tommy Di Venti on guitar). I picked them almost arbitrarily last night and I loved how this experiment worked because reading pieces which I had never performed in public made it feel fresh and alive to me. I played a piano piece, then LR joined me for our collaborative pieces, "You Make" and an exerpt from "Bonnie & Clyde".
LR took the stage by himself and mesmerized the audience with his always successful "Words Rise from the Page" and "Verbose Encounters of the Blurred Mind" (both pieces on our CD). Verbose includes audience participation and he was terrific!.... calling out "calling, calling, calling"! Mid-piece, he played his "Funky Alien" tune on the keyboard and sang. They loved it! (as they should!)
There were about 15 (?) people in the audience and when Linda Joy Burke took the stage, she got them all participating in the show. Linda had percussion instruments of all kinds (as did Wireman) and she began distributing them to the audience. Small rattly balls, tiny zylophone keys with hammers, and other instruments (which I wish I knew the name of) to shake and make rhythms with. Mark had his drum and tamborine and we took off! Linda directed the percussion, then let us roll as she performed her poetry. Talk about bringing the audience into the feeling of the show! Her work was professional in every way, interesting and engaging, and we all had a blast. She also did a couple of pieces which I would call ballads or poetry storylines which were very effective.
After Linda's performance, we were delighted with Tommy Di Venti's guitar playing, joking, personal accounts and songs. Tommy cracked us all up! That guy is FUNNY! We enjoyed his stories about how he'd ride his motorcycle down onto the beach and perform his work in years and his mudiv style was reminiscent of many to me, yet entirely unique .... he did one talking-dylan type piece, a couple of humorous pieces and some bluesy folk-type rock'n' stuff. Wireman and Linda and LR and I sat in the audience and gave him some percussive beats on the fun instruments while he performed. Tommy captured the audience with his wit and smooth style.... lemme tell ya, that Tommy, he's FREE and he let's you know it!
Mark closed the show by thanking us all for coming and we all thanked him and Minas Gallery with applause for inviting us to be there.
Audience members greeted the performers as leaving with smiles on their faces! I can honestly say that this was one of the only poetry shows I have ever seen where every person stayed the entire time and nobody fell asleep, not even for a minute. LOL!
It was a truly a great time! Thank you so much, Wireman! And many thanks to Minas Gallery, Tommy Di Venti and Linda Joy Burke for a wonderful experience I will not soon forget!
(I'd say pictures coming soon but I didn't bring my camera since I forgot to charge the battery but I do believe Wireman has a few shots he'll put up later)
oh... forgot to say... during cleanup, I played the theme song to Cabaradio on the piano keyboard which has the Cabaret tune stuck in the middle of it, accompanied by LR on the flute and we just loved that.... great fun!... we had a few singing along!
