Auricular festivities

A note from Tony Torn reminds me that tomorrow night's the next Auricular Hour:

The Marshall Auricular Hour music and literary series returns to Downtown Marshall NC, with a reading by Local Poets Laura Hope Gill, Rose McLarney, and Local Novelist Ed Krause on Tuesday November 17th at 7pm, at The FBI, 68 North Main Street in Marshall. The performance will be followed by a reception and book signing down the street at Lapland Bookshop & Arts, 147 North Main St, Marshall. Refreshments provided by Zuma Coffee.

THE MARSHALL AURICULAR HOUR marks the partnership of three cultural destinations in Marshall, North Carolina, thirty minutes from Downtown Asheville. The FBI (The French Broad Institute of Time and The River) is an arts venue and residency program founded by poet Lee Ann Brown and actor/director Tony Torn. Lapland Bookshop & Arts offers new and gently used books and select handcrafts in a storybook cottage setting. Zuma Coffee is Marshall’s meeting place for Coffee, Tea and Fresh Baked Goods.

Laura Hope-Gill is the Executive Director of the Asheville Wordfest Media Outreach Project, a poetry project which includes an annual festival as well as public access television, public radio, and internet presentation of poetry. Her book The Soul Tree: Poems and Photographs of the Southern Appalachians, which is a collaboration with photographer John Fletcher, is currently available from Grateful Steps Press. She offers classes and one-on-one support in creativity and poetry [at] the The Healing Seed (www.thehealingseed.com).

Rose McLarney works for the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, and is completing her MFA in Poetry from Warren Wilson College, as well as a collection about changing landscapes. She is WNC Native living in Madison County, NC.

Ed Krause is the author of two novels published by Parkway Publishers, Our Kinfolks and Our Next of Kin, both set in the mountains of Western North Carolina. He has been practicing law in Western North Carolina since 1973. Ed will be reading selections from his upcoming third novel.

Missed all of the summer Hours, so I'm glad this one's not in conflict with anything else I have to do. And I'm in town. Don't know Ed's books, but I do enjoy Laura's and Rose's work; they've both been Wordplay guests, of course, Rose as recently as November 1st, and Laura was a co-host in the '06-'07 season. Should be well worth the drive down the river.

New old shows

Now up on the Wordplay Archive at ibiblio, shows from the fall of 2007 (all links in the show dates are to the .mp3 audio files):

September 2, 2007 featured Thomas Rain Crowe, and includes recordings of Crowe with his band, The Boatrockers.

September 9, 2007 featured poet Joanna Cooper.

September 16, 2007 featured a reading by Glenis Redmond at the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center.

September 23, 2007 brought Steve Godwin into the studio, and Steve, Sebastian and I talked over poems we enjoyed, from recent work by Van Jordan (Sebastian) to an HD piece from 1921 (me). Music included tracks from Neil Young and Steve Kimock.

September 30, 2007 highlighted the work of poet Audrey Hope Rinehart.

October 21, 2007 found then-Marshall poet Rose McLarney in the studio for her annual* near-birthday reading of new work.

Enjoy, and thanks for listening.


*which means she'll soon be back.

Coming up this week ...

Rose McLarney joins us again this week on Wordplay, another year older (happy birthday, Rose), and wiser. She’s now in the MFA program at Warren Wilson, and seems to like it so far, despite earlier reservations about such programs for poets. She’s got lots of new work, so we’ll listen to some of it and talk with her about her developing views on poetry and poetics.

That's 4:00 this Sunday on WPVM, 103.5 FM, or streaming from the station website.

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The photo of Rose dates from a reading at the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center in May of last year.

Reading Tonight

Just a reminder that the Center is hosting another in its great series of poetry readings tonight at 8:00. Some of these poets I've only heard once (and I've only heard Emoke read in Hungarian), so I'm excited at the prospect the event offers. Should be fun, with perhaps a revelation or two thrown in for good measure.

Our poets are Glenis Redmond, Laura Hope-Gill, Rose McLarney, Will Hubbard, Emoke B'Racz, Thomas Rain Crowe, Ingrid Carson, and Chall Gray. Multi-instrumentalist Steve Davidowski, who's played with the Dixie Dregs, among other groups, will be providing music.

There or square, I'd say.

56 Broadway in exciting (at least sometimes) downtown Asheville.


Photos: Poets Chall Gray and Rose McLarney

Witnessing ...

There's a new post up at Eden Hall about a reading scheduled at the Center. The folks who produce WordPlay on WPVM (disclaimer: I'm one of them) have organized this one, and it'll bring together a great roster to witness about the political & social world - or whatever aspects of their conditions they wish to speak to. The poets who will join together for the occasion include Emoke B'Racz, Laura Hope-Gill, Glenis Redmond, Chall Gray, Rose McLarney, Ingrid Carson, Will Hubbard, and Thomas Rain Crowe.

The reading is coming up on May 19th. Doors open at 7:00 PM. There's an admission fee of $7, or $5 for members and students with ID.