Transgressions in Transubstantiation: The Mantras of Jameson Bayles

Vincent Becquet had discussed the concept of doing a multi genre event for some time that tackled the realm of mental illness and all of its synapses. I had been in talks with poets Linke De Vries and Berhane Mebratu to collaborate on a project off and on so a couple of months back we all had a Zoom meeting and worked out the details. Linke knew of the group the liskonum symposium and pitched the idea to them to join up.

The younger members of this touring group wanted to do an extended tour. Initially, I had my reservations about being out for longer than a week because simply put, I’ve already done extended tours in the past. However, after constant nagging, I caved and agreed to it.

I’m fortunate enough to be in a place in my life where if there is a location where I want to read/perform, I have the right contacts to set some things up. Vincent was already in PA (escaping the heat of AZ) so we figured that we would start in the Commonwealth. I had already read multiple times in Allentown, Philly, Erie, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh recently so we literally looked at a map to find a location.

Berhane likes chocolate.

So, Hershey PA was a good place to start.

It was really that simple.

The remaining locations fell in line rather quickly.

We decided to utilize the house show circuit (I’ll go into more detail about the house show circuit at a later time) instead of using public venues (bars, bookstores, theaters, etc.) because it would cut down on the logistics of moving a show like this on the road.

Also, both Vincent, Berhane and the members of the liskonum symposium were concerned about security at the events. We live in very trying and turbulent times and frankly, there are certain areas of the country where anything resembling a rainbow is a massive trigger to a certain demographic in our population. Unfortunately, a clothing store owner in Cedar Glen, CA was shot and killed after an argument over a pride flag while we are on tour. One of the benefits of utilizing the house show circuit is that each individual host monitors the invites and attendance to the event. While nothing is 100% secure, it’s the most secure environment I can think of during these times.

Another thing about house shows; some people are against reading at a house show because of the “status” of the venue. For me personally, I have already read in bookstores, bars of all kinds, theaters, coffeeshops, wineries, breweries, art galleries, hell I read for a series on a chartered cruise in the Atlantic for a while. I’ve been reading poetry since 1997 and have seen a lot. When I joined up with the Rusted Straitjacket Unicycle Troop in 2017, I was able to leave all that bookstore et cetera behind me. And I can say, that I don’t miss it at all.

Not one damn bit.

One last thing.

While on tour, I was asked to do an interview with a blogging group called “tea at the poetry mirror” (which I kept calling “tea at the poetry window” for some reason.) They had interviewed two other authors whom I respect so I relented. Time was short so we did a brief interview which can be viewed here . The second part will be conducted at a later date.

Until next time.