Aural Pleasure in SD

I've had a week of aural pleasure starting with poetry at the Whistle Stop in a show organized by a local writer named Ryan Griffith. (His writing "Oblivion" was recently published in CityBeat's short story competition.) 'Poetry at a bar?' you may be wondering. Well, I was a little skeptical at first too, but Ryan made it work. He chose two great poets who kept the audience moved and entertained. The first poet was Erene Rallis. Erene read from her book called "Inner Ecos", and this modest woman probably in her late 60's, rocked the house! Her writing was incredibly powerful, and left me awestruck! Then Rob Williams changed the pace a bit and read a short prose piece accompanied by a slide show. Rob was hilarious. The bar was completely quiet except for the murmuring sounds of smokers on the patio. I was impressed with the whole event which was probably a little under an hour long. Short and sweet. There are more readings coming-up, so if you are interested in chilling with thinking-literate-poetic people you know where to go.

Then, last night I went to see Carl Hancock Rux at SUSHI. Carl has the most amazing voice. He read several poems, often singing the lines acappella, and then read from his book. I have not had an experience like that in my six years in San Diego. I left the performance space feeling somehow psychically renewed. Then I was lucky enough to accompany Carl and his friend, Lynn Schuette the director of Sushi, and Adrian Arancibia of The Taco Shop poets, to a late dinner. We chatted and laughed for hours after the reading. As we were leaving, two women stopped Carl and told him he had a great voice and that he should be on the radio. I don't know if he told them that he had in fact been on the radio earlier that day or not. If only they knew! Here is a link to Carl on the radio if you want to hear his mystical voice. NPR podcast.