“The last time I had a reading in New Jersey was back in September of 2017. I shared the bill with a poet from the Kansas City area as well as two poets from Pittsburgh. The reading was at a public library that included an open mic. A common conundrum of any public reading is if there is an open mic, where in the lineup do you put the featured readers? If you start the night with the open mic session, most open mic readers will simply leave after their reading, leaving an almost empty room for the featured readers. If you put the open mic session at the end, you run the risk of open mic readers coming into the venue while the featured readers are reciting their work. Another conundrum with public readings is the issue of publicity. With which modalities are the venue as well as the featured readers going to utilize to promote the event? Radio, local TV, social media, podcasts, fliers? All of them?
One benefit of doing a house show, especially a house show tour, is that the performers don’t have to be concerned about an open mic or publicity for the event. The host of the house show handles the invitations on who gets in and there is rarely an open mic.“
These were my initial unsolicited ramblings to Dan Altimus and Dana Cheung before the house show in Atlantic City on May 13th. This is their first poetry tour; I’ve lost track of how many poetry tours I’ve done. A few, going on 6 years now.
One of the requirements/limitations/decrees of this particular tour is that the hosts have requested/required all of the performers at each event to not shoot photos or take videos during the set or while on the premises. While this request/requirement may irritate the younger generation who have grown up with a constant diet of Tik Tok/Instagram/Twitter stimulation/need for validation, it really focuses on the beauty of the present moment. Your performance only matters to those who are on site during the event. There also the issue of the privacy of those hosting the event. Most people really don’t want their details of their loft/gazebo/backyard studio broadcasted on Facebook/Instagram live. Some people don’t care, but those hosting us during this tour have raised those concerns.
Since we are being compensated for travel, food, lodging etc. during the tour at each event, there really isn’t room to gripe.
Not that any of us on the bill are.
Some poets are worried about the batting order of the lineup. If you go last, you are perceived as the headliner. If you go first, you are the opener (less experienced poet?). I’ve never bought into that crap. Other than being aware of the performers vocal tone or delivery, it doesn’t really matter to me where I am at in the lineup. As diverse as the lineup is of the current poets on this tour, we can be interchanged anywhere in the line up in my opinion.
I opened the reading, followed by Dan Altimus, then Dana Cheung closed the set. In between there were selections performed by The Soulfly Tangerines.
There was a good showing at this event. I’m guessing 150 people.
“Don’t get used to this kind of turn out after this tour.“
Another one of my unsolicited ramblings to Dan and Dana.
At the reading at the public library in New Jersey in September of 2017, there were probably 10 -12 people in the audience. The organizer of the event didn’t even attend.
A lot has changed since 2017.
Not that I am griping.
Transgressions in Transubstantiation: The Mantras of Jameson Bayles 