Archive for August, 2018
Oak Cliff Bike Crawl @ Dallas Lit Hop
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WHAT: OAK CLIFF BIKE CRAWL
WHEN: April 20 from 1pm to 7pm
1:00 – 2:00 MERCADO 369, 369 W. Jefferson Blvd
Hilda Mendoza
Megan Martinez
Tammy Melody Gomez
2:00 – 4:00 OAK CLIFF CULTURAL CENTER, 223 W. Jefferson Blvd
Dallas Poetry Slam
Verse and Rhythm
4:00 – 5:00 LUCKY DOG BOOKS, 911 W. Jefferson Blvd
Griselda Castillo
Tim Cloward
5:00 – 6:00 CHUCK AND GEORGE, 516 S. Marlborough Ave.
Lily Taylor
Chris Merlick
6:00 – 7:00 MIGHTY FINE ARTS, 409A N. Tyler St.
Karen X Minzer
Chuck Taylor
Admission: All events are free because it’s Wordspace!
Non-cyclists also welcome, though some distances may require short drives.
Next, head over to the Oak Cliff Cultural Center for the Dallas Poetry Slam. The Dallas Poetry Slam has earned respect and distinction for over 25 years. Their poets have enjoyed national awards and they have hosted and promoted myriad slam events in venues across Dallas. Wordspace is honored to have their presence on the tour.
Afterwards, stick around for a special edition of Verse and Rhythm, a venerable spoken word series hosted by Brenda Randall. For the Lit Hop tour they will be featuring readings by Barbara Audacity, Brandan L.Jackson, Alex Gurley and Sin.
Then head west on Jefferson to Lucky Dog Books for readings by Griselda Castillo and Tim Cloward. Accalimed Austin poet Griselda will be reading from her book Blood and Piloncillo winner of the Premio for Best Poetry Book from the NACCS Tejas Foco. Tim Cloward is a mainstay of the Dallas Literary Scene. He is founder of performance group Dancing Tongue and has also collaborated with poetry ensembles Poetry Circus and Question Authority.
Next, head over to the infamous Art house of Brian Scott and Brian Jones for performances by Chris Merlick and Lily Taylor. Chris Merlick will be perfoming with his Duchampaphones, his unique inventions based on Duchamps found object bicycle wheel sculpture. Avant chantueuse Lily Taylor will work her elegant magic with angelic vocal enchantment mixed with techno embellishments. Her music is ethereal and captivating and simply beautiful.
Finally, wind up the afternoon at Mighty Fine Arts for Poets on X+ with Karen X Minzer and Chuck Taylor. Karen X Minzer is one of the great influencers and shapers of the Dallas Literary scene and her immense contributions in promoting and producing events and opportunities for the community are legendary. She was a confidant of Allen Ginsberg, Robert Trammel, Roxy and Judy Gordon. She is also a gifted poet and writer and is currently finishing up her studies at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa Institute in Boulder. Chuck Taylor is one of the pillars of Texas Poetry who has received numerous awards and critical acclaim for his career achievements. He is also a publisher and teacher and has nurtured the free spirited independence of Texas Bohemia. This will be a once in a blue moon chance to catch readings by these legendary figures.
Dallas Young Makers Club WordSpace edition and the Dallas Lit Hop 2019 Performance Showcase!
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Dallas Young Makers Club Art Track WORDSPACE edition
WHERE: 5th floor! J Erik Jonsson Central Library 1515 Young St. Dallas 75201
WHEN: April 13, 2019, 10:30am to 2:30pm
WHO: ages 8-18
ADMISSION: FREE
Join WordSpace for a FREE Dallas Lit Hop Event at DALLAS YOUNG MAKERS CLUB! This special edition will feature a youth poetry, story-writing and calligraphy workshop in the Art track of the club, especially for Lit Hop! DYMC is a youth workshop founded and facilitated by WordSpace President Monika Bell, WordSpace calligraphy queen, Andrea Tosten, computer brainiac Max Bell, Lego robotic gurus, Buddy Whittenburg and Greg Biggs and is held on the 5th floor of the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library twice a month!
More about DYMC: The Dallas Young Makers Club is a nonprofit community educational organization based in Dallas, Texas. The Club is committed to helping students age 8-18 in the Dallas area to expand their minds and skills by creating things instead of just buying things.
The club’s immediate goals are to provide a workspace, mentors and equipment along with free and regular access to these resources in a central shared workspace. The long-term goal is to help new generations of all income levels create things of their choosing with community support rather than spending their time consuming media/things created by for profit organizations or preparing for standardized tests. Two citywide Maker’s Faires will be held twice annually in December and June. Workdays will be held on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library.
Also happening: Writers Garret walk through Deep Ellum, with Kendra Green. Click here for more information to register!
Dallas Lit Hop 2019 Performance Showcase!
WHERE: Deep Ellum Art Company, 3200 Commerce St. Dallas TX 75226
WHEN: APRIL 13, 2019 from 4-8 p.m.
4:00 p.m. Rafael Tamayo
4:45 p.m. Laney Yarber
5:15 p.m. Monika Bell
6:15 p.m. Insecto-Ray Orchestra
7:00 p.m. the Amazing Hancock Brothers
ADMISSION: FREE
The WordSpace Performance Showcase celebrates some noteworthy talents who exemplify the attribute of multi-talented. WordSpace has always sought to acknowledge performers who are adept at expressing themselves through a number of disciplines. This showcase will highlight some folks who are redefining and expanding the assumptions about “Word”.
Rafael Tamayo’s skill-sets are overwhelming. Actor, Artist, Musician seem to be on the shortlist of his abilities. And somehow he also gets around to being manager of the Oak Cliff Cultural Center. For the showcase he will be tapping into the musical side of his talents and will be laying down some beats to get the day going. WordSpace is down with getting the groove on!
Acclaimed veteran performance artist Laney Yarber has presented her theatrical vignettes in a multitude of art venues across Dallas-Fort Worth. She is thoroughly original and one of those founding spirits of the Dallas Avant Garde. She will perform a “Pedestrian Dance” for the showcase that will undoubtedly capture your intrigue.
Monika Bell is an Artist/Musician who makes those disciplines seem effortless. Her work emanates so guilelessly from her that it belies her ardent work and craft. For the showcase she will do a set of handmade songs filled with grace and melody and poetry and touched with the sublime.
Marco Villalobos is one of those unfairly gifted people who can play all the instruments and then some. Along with cohort Werner Heimlich they comprise the Insecto Ray Orchestra dedicated to Psychedelic, Electronic, Funk, Jazz music that sprouts songs like mushrooms in a verdant haze. Be prepared for some spatial sonic displacement!
The Amazing Hancock Brothers will headline the Showcase with a righteous blend of music and hair raising spoken word. The Brothers are infamous Art Printmakers whose notorious work has been the subject of legend across the State of Texas. They are also mad dog poetic holy men bent on disrupting everyone’s assumptions on everything. This will be a rare opportunity to experience the Brothers and one that will definitely amaze and confound!
So come out and enjoy the grand patio back yard of the Deep Ellum Art Co where adult beverages will be available and share some fellowship with the good folks of WordSpace! This is a free event!
One Page Salon @ Lit Hop
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What: Coming in from Austin TX, A monthly gathering of writers and creators sharing ONE PAGE of a work-in-progress. The rest of the time will be a chance to chat and enjoy! Quick readings, slow drinking – a hell of a good night!
Where: THE WILD DETECTIVES back patio, 314 W. 8th St., 75208
When: Saturday, April 6 at 7:00 P.M.
Who: Owen Egerton, Weina Dai Randel, Heather Harper Ellett, Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam
Owen Egerton is an author, performer, and filmmaker. He is the writer/director of the horror/comedy BLOOD FEST and the psychological horror FOLLOW. He’s the author of several books including The Book of Harold, the Illegitimate Son of God, Everyone Says That at the End of the World, the short story collection How Best to Avoid Dying, and Hollow which NPR listed as one of the best books of 2017. He also wrote and starred in the Zach Scott produced play The Other Side of Sleep. As a screenwriter he has written for Warner Brothers, Fox, Disney and many others. Egerton is also the host of public radio’s The Write Up and the reading series One Page Salon. Egerton and his wife, poet Jodi Egerton, wrote the writing craft book This Word Now. Egerton has been honored as one of Austin’s top comics performing with The Sinus Show and Master Pancake Theater.
Oral Fixation @ Moody Performance Hall
Nicole Schlesinger’s Oral Fixation (An Obsession with True Life Tales) is back with the Best of Season 6. Story Themes will include “Jump off a Cliff,” “Close to Home,” “Stick Together,” “Out from Under the Rug, True Life Tales of Abortion,” “Broken Record,” and “All Over the Map.” The Oral Fixation mission is to bring together the community through sharing true, personal stories. This collection of the best is not one to miss!
Oral Fixation @ Moody Performance Hall
Oral Fixation’s last show of 2018 is around the corner! That’s right. On Wednesday, October 24th, 2018 @ 8pm, seven of the audience’s favorite stories from Season 6 flesh out a simply sensational evening. Whether you’re a longtime fan of true stories told onstage or a total newbie, get ready to be taken on a wild emotional ride. Make a night of it in the Arts District while catching up on the best stories from Season 6. $35 tickets are on sale now!
Oral Fixation @ Moody Performance Hall
Insecto-Ray Orchestra @ ArtSpeak
What: ArtSpeak
When: Saturday, 9/29, 8:30 pm
Where: Mighty Fine Arts, 409A N. Tyler St., 75208
WordSpace presents performance art in conjunction with Andy Don Emmons’ art exhibition at Mighty Fine Arts.
Insecto-Ray Orchestra, features the immensely talented Marco Villalobos and his awesome musical partner Werner Heimlich, The Insecto-Ray Orchestra could be described as a neo-psychedelic mutant jazz spoken word disco dance band if you’re impressed with labels but they really pretty much define themselves as they go along, constantly overstepping musical boundaries and endlessly improvising and experimenting. This is only possible and intriguing due to the virtuosity of the players and their immense talents. Be sure to come out and check out the Insecto-Rays in a rare intimate setting.
Anne Waldman and Ambrose Bye : Expo Park Crawl @ Dallas Lit Hop
WHAT: Exposition Park Crawl with headliner Anne Waldman!
WHEN: April 27 from 5:00 – 8:45 PM
5:00 – 5:45 EIGHT BELLS ALEHOUSE, 831 Exposition Ave
Mad Swirl Poets
6:00 – 6:45 CRAFT AND GROWLER, 3601 Parry Ave
Clancy Manuel
Annie Benjamin
6:45 – 7:20 LAS ALMAS ROTAS, 3615 Parry Ave
Tejana Cosmica
7:30 – 8:45 SANDAGA 813, 813 Exposition Ave
ANNE WALDMAN AND AMBROSE BYE
CLICK HERE FOR FULL DALLAS LIT HOP SCHEDULE!
Anne Waldman & Ambrose Bye
Anne Waldman has been a presence in the American literary scene since the 1960’s. As well as being the author of over forty books, she was has been a Guggenheim Fellow and is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. In 1968 she established the St. Marks Poetry Project in New York City, which continues to be important venue for American poets. Along with Allen Ginsberg she founded, in 1974, the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. The Jack Kerouac School continues to be one of the most important creative writing programs in the country today. Throughout her career she has collaborated with artists and musicians including Bob Dylan, Thurston Moore, John Cage, and Meredith Monk. She annually curates dozens of diverse voices from around the globe to present their work and teach in the JK Summer Writing Program. Her latest book, Trickster Feminism, was released in 2018 and has garnered wide praise. https://hyperallergic.com/453801/anne-waldman-trickster-feminism-penguin-poets-books-2018/ . Her connections to Texas writers began in the 80s with Dallas based Paris Records and her Texas students and peers continue to provide a cross-pollinating network of influence on emerging writers in Dallas. Allen Ginsburg perhaps best captures the spirit of Anne Waldman. “I like Anne Waldman best of all the women poets because she swings most and orates most and sings most…She also gets up like a dancing skeleton and makes wind through her bones!…She has affairs with books. She writes, publishes, copulates and gives birth to books. She teaches her apprentices to listen like Plato…She has affairs with sapphires, emeralds, amber, and rubies. She knocks me out. She thrills my bones. She is Anne Waldman.”
Ambrose Bye is a jazz musician and producer, owner of Fast Speaking Music. He teaches studio recording at Naropa University’s Summer Writing Program and has produced nearly fifty spoken word and jazz recordings. He has toured the world extensively as musical accompaniment to Waldman and numerous others.
The Expo Park Crawl starts at 8 Bells with the Mad Swirl! The legendary open mic series started in 2004 has meta sized into one of the most prominent in Dallas. The Swirl has fostered a deep community of exceptional talents in its First Wednesday progarms and is a touchstone of the Dallas open mic scene. For the Expo Park Crawl they will be presenting MH Clay, Johnny Olson, Vic Victory, Carlos Salas, Tamitha Curiel, Chris Zimmerly, Brett BA Ardoin and Chris Curiel.
Next, head over to Craft and Growler for performances by Clancy Manuel and Annie Benjamin. Fort Worth based musician Clancy Manuel creates soundscape songs that mirror her guitar explorations. Known for her art house performances, her music is both intimate and experimental and innovative. Annie Benjamin is a celebrated Dallas singer songwriter who is a past winner of the B.W.Stevenson songwriting contest. She has performed at Poor David’s Pub, Uncle Calvins Coffee House and Opening Bell. Her songs are winsome and engaging and mirror her charm and charisma.
After, walk over to Las Almas Rotas for Tejana Cosmica with Opalina Salas, Tamitha Curiel, Amy Zapien and Priscilla Rice. Poet Laureate of Oak Cliff, Opalina Salas is a tireless advocate of spoken word. She is founder of the Poets on X+ Series and an accomplished writer and performer. Tamitha Curiel is a writer, actor, and educator. She is host of the Pleasant Groove Poetry Series and a member of the experimental sound band Swirve. Amy Zapien experiments with visual and performing arts and rituals. She has exhibited at Lawndale Art Center, the Oak Cliff Cultural Center and Casa de Locos. Priscilla Rice is a poet, actor and storyteller. She has appeared in several noteworthy theatrical productions and she is co-founder with B.Randall of the Verse and Rhythm Poetry Series.
Finally, make it over to Sandaga for the Lit Hop headliners Anne Waldman and Ambrose Bye!
