March 22, 2007

Third Thursday Open Mic at the Social Justice Center, March 15

It was the end of a tough day in a tough week, but it's all about how you feel when you come out the other side & as usual I felt great. Even got listed in the Times-Union Preview Section. For the last 6 months or more the T-U hasn't been listing this open mic (& no others) in either the Sunday arts listing or the Thursday Preview. I had called them to "verify" that they've received my emailed press releases & casually mentioned the lack of postings (they post events in Glens Falls, so "space", their usual excuse, shouldn't be an issue). In any event, I'm revising my future press releases to downplay the open mic & foreground the featured poet to see if that has any effect. Historically, the T-U doesn't like to print notices about open mics because then the music people want all their open mics listed. So, my idiot pea-brain reasons, why not create a special, once-a-week listing of all open mics? Too simple. We will continue whether the media knows we're here or not (sort of like the peace movement).

Anyway, the evening was fun. Eight open mic poets & the feature, Jamey Stevenson. It was his first featured reading, something I didn't know when I booked him. His initial shyness seemed to dissipate as he got into his poems with a tangent on readings in moral philosophy (a hot topic these days in Washington). I guess that's where his poem about having a thing for nuns came from. We're all glad he was there.

And the open mic poets were their usual great selfs: Sylvia, Alan, Tim, Carol, Marty, Chris & Sebastian (a bit of an anomoly to see him twice in one month, let alone twice in one season).

I predict that next month the list will be filled -- feature is Mimi Moriarty. How does "Third Thursday Poetry Night" sound?

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