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Most Recently Modified: 05/13/2011 at 11:25 pm
A Private Affair featuring Marc Kelly Smith
 Marc Smith is best known for bringing to the worldwide poetry community a new style of poetic presentation that has spawned one the most important social/literary arts movements of our time. As stated in the PBS television series, The United States of Poetry, a "strand of new poetry began at Chicago's Green Mill Tavern in1987 when Marc Smith found a home for the Poetry Slam." Since then,performance poetry has spread throughout the country and across the globe to hundreds of cities, universities, high schools, festivals, and cultural centers. Each year, teams from American and European cities compete in National Poetry Slams, extravagant homespun festivals blending thousands of poetic voices. The Slam has taken root and is flourishing in Australia, Germany, UK, Switzerland, France, Sweden,Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Madagascar, Singapore, and even at the South Pole.
Born on the southeast side of Chicago, Smith's innate sense of rhythm and unflinching realism has made him one of the country's most compelling performers. Full of grit, his performances break poetic boundaries, giving audiences an acute vision of what poetry is and what it can be. Smith has performed at The Smithsonian Institute, The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Chicago Museum of Contemporary, the Asheville Poetry Festival (North Carolina), 1st Night Annapolis (Maryland), The Innovator's Festival (Washington, DC), the Kennedy Center, Galway's Cruit Festival, Denmark's Roskilde Festival, Ausburg's ABC Brecht Festival, and the Queensland Poetry Fest in Australia. He has been featured on CNN, 60 Minutes,National Public Radio's Whadda Ya Know, ART beat Chicago, Ophra, Wild Chicago, WGN Chicago's Very Own, Chicago Slices and has been a many time member of New City's Lit 50, a listing of the top fifty movers and shakers in Chicago literature.
Smith's book, Crowdpleaser, celebrates the Green Mill, particularly its audiences who remain at the core of the Slam's success. Illustrated by Michael Acerra, Crowdpleaser, is a remarkable document, sensitively chronicled by original poems and anecdotes. As with the Slam, the book defies labels and explores new forms. It has been credited by the Chicago Book Review, The Chicago Sun Times, The Chicago Tribune, Illinois Entertainer, New City and The Reader.
Also performing will be Red Hen Poets, Monica Lee Copeland, and Lineage Dance, along with a live Jazz ensemble.
Tickets $50
RSVP at 626.578.7267 by Monday, March 21.
You can order tickets by credit card, over the phone, or mail checks made payable to:
Pasadena Arts Council FBO Indelible Ink,
3579 E. Foothill Blvd, No. 781, Pasadena, California 91107.
Limited space available. Confirmations with address and directions will be sent by email.
Most Recently Modified: 05/13/2011 at 11:24 pm
November 30th Lineup
JAMEY HECHT Deyo on Parchment
This literary whirlwind is an accomplished Shakespearean actor and playwright of Back; And to the Left; a One-Man Show in Memory of JFK. His poetry, criticism and journalism have appeared in over 30 publications. These works include Plato's Symposium: Eros and the Human Predicament; a translation, Sophocles Three Theban Plays; and a collection of poems, Midnight Blue: Fifty Frames from the Zapruder Film (Red Hen Press, 2009).
BRENDAN CONSTANTINE California Pigment
The Poet in Residence of West LA's Winward School has appeared in numerous journals, most notably The Los Angeles Review, The Cortland Review, and LA Times Bestseller The Underground Guide to Los Angeles. His collection, Letters To Guns, was released in February 2009 (Red Hen Press.)
JAHA ZAINABU Ink Spot
Zainabu is a painter, muralist and outstanding performance poet. The author of two collections, His Ribs and The Corner of My Shaping. She has also been anthologized in The Bandana Republic: A Literary Anthology by Gang Members and Their Affiliates.
WANDERING MARIONETTES Fine Resin
As seen at LA Decom and Labyrinyth of Jareth this performance art troupe blends circus-freak and goth-punk aesthetics with hip-hop moves and attitude.
 
RIGHT THE STARS featuring RENEE STAHL Composed Calligraphy
After meeting in LA 7 years ago, Rich Jacques (Right the Stars) and Renee Stahl have written, recorded, played, and sung on each others projects so much it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. They marry a seamless muse that sounds like the love child of Travis and Tracey Thorn.
Their songs, spun from beautiful melodies, harmonies and ambient, melancholy guitar, have appeared in movies, TV shows, and advertisements around the world.
Billboard Underground endorses this singer who is influenced by the freedom of jazz and harmony. Her albums include Hopeful Romantic, Melancholy Pop, and It's a Small World.
Most Recently Modified: 05/13/2011 at 11:22 pm
 Right off the Indelible Ink Stage
Last nite, I shared some of the prose from my book Return to Eden for the attendees of Indelible Ink; a Vanguard Performance Art Series. This is a cultural salon held monthly at POP Champagne and Dessert Bar in Pasadena and hosted by its founder, Monica Lee Copeland. The setting is elegant, the participants eclectic and the audience is attentive and multi-cultural. My work (reflective essays) is generated by the events of my life and each piece resonated with different audience groups but all were receptive and appreciative.
I enjoyed the work of other artists and especially POP's diverse menu and discovered a new favorite, La Trappe Quadruppel, a sumptuous Trappist beer from The Netherlands. This morning, I went shopping ;)
Those who appreciate the prose of Cormac McCarthy should consider attending THE SUNSET LIMITED, a play opening on November 6th at Rogue Machine Theater. It is resonant and timely, the most challenging and rewarding role of my 40 years as an actor.
www.roguemachinetheatre.com
I hope to see you at our theater.
Tucker Smallwood
Most Recently Modified: 05/13/2011 at 11:17 pm
What a night! What a night! What a night!
We just had our third Indelible Ink show and I left home with a full heart. Why? We finally achieved community, which is a part of our aim. We want every soul (artists, audience members and wait staff alike) to leave the room feeling like they've been personally and positively marked by the experience. Our first two shows were brilliant in their own right. Were you at either of them? Well, please accept my word when I declare that they blazed. Our Inaugural performance featured the genius, bravery and insanity of Jerry Quickley who took us to the streets of New York and the battlefields of Iraq with his words. June Buckley read cleverly devised, lovely poems while Slamster Nikki Blak unloaded cool lines. Opera-singing magician Patrick Bell and the duo of Angela Carole Brown and Ken Rosser were dynamic. So, what do I mean by "finally achieved"?
Last week, the audience was a STAR! Well you were. You arrived on time. You hooted and hollered and heckled a bit. Yes, you did clap loudly in August for Eloise Kline Healy, how could you not. She's a poetic institution who rocked our house. And there was some wonderful symmetry watching Eloise and performance poet Dasha Kelly during the on-stage interview. You see, Eloise was the Founding Chair of the Creative Writing MFA program at Antioch where Dasha is currently studying. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Jason Luckett sang and strummed his heart out. (We actually did a duo together that night.) But this month very many of you brought questions for that same segment so I had loads of material to work with. You were sincerely curious about Swil Kanim's beginnings as a violinist and how you could learn that instrument. And you questioned whether playwright and actress Taffy Wallace ever had to compromise herself since she's also a spiritual practitioner. And then something really inspiring occurred<85>from the sidelines the other features chimed in sharing how you could get started writing, performing, singing, dancing... Gil S.O.T.U. representing Elevated Train of Thought in San Diego, Polynesian dancer, Jennifer Tehani Surreal and the comedic song-writer Eric Schwartz talked about the importance of just getting your work out there. Our filmmaker Marcus Inglizian put together a great link of this segment. You also hung around for a good hour after the show, hobnobbing with the performers and board like old friends. THANKS SO MUCH!
Of course our Indelible Ink family has gotten a bit better at its work too. Did you notice that this show had theater lights? Well that took some doing on the part of board member Wuang Ee Blum. The photography has been upleveled, too. The photos below were taken by our new Marketing Coordinator Rhoel Paghunasan who just happens to be a professional photographer. If you haven't seen the show it operates like theater and is showcased seamlessly in the round thanks to our Stage Manager, Eric Morago. (Eric is also a poet and just released his new book What We Ache For, Moon Tide Press.) Larry Wilson, Editor of Pasadena Star News picked up on our staging prowess in his September 29 Public Eye blog, Finally, Live in Old Pasadena at POP and also in his October 1st Pasadena Star News Column Live Performances are bringing POP back into Old Pasadena. According to Larry - It was almost enough of an oasis to make up for the decades of performance desert in Old Pas. - But, don't just take Larry's word for it!
Come check out Indelible Ink for yourself. We're always the last Tuesday of each month except December at POP Champagne and Dessert Bar, 33 E Union. Next month's line-up is stellar featuring: renown actor Tucker Smallwood who will read from his Vietnam memoir; Dan Kwong who'll do a mélange of storytelling, martial arts, and dancing; ceramic sculptor Marc Sampson Hoar plans to carve a mask from 25lbs of clay on his head; Ms Maura's going to sing her heart out jazzy blues style; and Poets on Site will inspire us with the works of Justin Kibbe and Rick and Kathabella WiIson. Tickets are $15 and are available on www.indelibleink.net.
Most Recently Modified: 05/13/2011 at 11:12 pm
October 26th Lineup
DEYO ON PARCHEMENT - Tucker Smallwood
For the past 40 years, he has worked on and off Broadway in more than 40 theatrical productions. In LA, he's performed at the Met, Taper, Fresno State, Cast, Odyssey and Rogue Machine Theaters. Tucker has appeared in more than 30 feature films, including Contact and The Cotton Club, and guest starred in hundreds of hours of episodic television. He is the author and narrator of the book, Return to Eden, an anthology of essays recounting his experiences as an Army Advisor, his life as an artist contending with PTSD and his return to Vietnam in 2004. He is also an accomplished blues guitarist/singer, devoted to veteran's advocacy and a member of Rogue Machine Theatre Group.
CALIFORNIA PIGMENT - Dan Kwong
Dan Kwong is an American performance artist, writer, teacher and visual artist. He has been presenting his solo performances since 1989, often drawing upon his own life experiences to explore personal, historical and social issues. He is of mixed Asian American heritage (Chinese American/Japanese American). His works intertwine storytelling, multimedia, dynamic physical movement, poetry, martial arts and music. Kwong is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is an Artist with the performing arts organization, Great Leap, and a Resident Artist at the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, California.
COMPOSED CALLIGRAPHY - Ms. Maura
A sultry voiced singer/songwriter, inspired by jazz and blues. She is working on her first solo project EP scheduled for release this Fall. INK SPOT ARTISTS - Justin Kibbe with Rick and Kathabela Wilson
Justin Kibbe has been published in MARGIE, Matter, California Quarterly, Poetry Motel and New Verse News, among others. He is the Associate Publisher and Managing Editor of THE Magazine in Pasadena, California, as well as the founding editor of Pirate Pig Press, which promotes the integration of arts and creative thinking through a semi-sporadic journal of creativity through various alternative publication and performances known as the "3-Ring Artist Circus."
Rick Wilson is a longtime collector and player of historical and world flutes, performed w/many local groups - Hollywood Early Music Players, Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra, as well as Poets of Site. Kathy is the creator and leader of award-winning "Poets on Site". She is an astro-poet and the creator of Figures of Humor and Strange Beauty painter singer dancer.
FINE RESIN - Marc Samson Hoar
This award-winning ceramic sculptor will create a mask on his head from 25lbs of clay live on stage. Marc was the art director, designer and sculpting foreman on Jurassic Park. He has received National Ceramic Awards for his sculptures Baby Block and Baby Lope and was selected as a participating artist in the Sixth Taiwan Golden Ceramic Award Competition for his Electric Baby Teapot.
Most Recently Modified: 05/13/2011 at 11:11 pm
 Starting off Well
The first night of Indelible Ink's Vangaurd performances is behind us and we have a number of things to be thankful for. The first is that it was a sold out performance! What a rush! Everyone was expecting a great show and that's exactly what they got.
The show featured performances from some of the most amazing performers:
- Jerry Quickley was our Deyo on Parchment performer
- Kate Buckley came to give the California Pigment Performance
- Angela Carole Brown and Ken Rosser crowed their hearts out that night
- Patrick Bell showed his fine resin
- and Nikki Blak was our ink spot artist.
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