Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Happy birthday to me! (Part One!)

Hi folks! I turned 12 years old this week!  I've got my "other" birthday on 10/27/2011 when I'll turn 45.  For those of you who might be confused by this allow me to explain. I did my very first featured reading  for a poet/host named R. G. Cantalupo at a venue called LA the bookstore on 9/19/1999 and as you might guess I have not stopped since. I can hardly believe it really has been 12 years!  Here's what's going on in this post:

1. Tebot Bach Reading Series with Daniel McGinn ; Tamara Madison
Friday, September 30 · 8:00pm - 10:00pm Golden West College Huntington Beach, CAReading
Friday, September 30th, 2011 - 8:00 p.m. Sign up for the open reading begins at 7:30 p.m. Community Room 102 at Golden West College
Featured Readers:Daniel McGinn; Tamara Madison Go to www.tebotbach.org for more information.


2. Beside the City of Angels: A Long Beach Poetry Festival
 435 Alamitos Ave.2nd City Council Art Gallery Long Beach,CA Join us Saturday, October 15th from 10am-9pm for an all day celebration of words at the first annual Beside the City of Angels Long Beach poetry festival featuring: Erika Ayon,Amanda J. Bradley,John Brantingham,David Caddy,Jeff Epley,Dorothea Grossman (with trombonist Michael Vlatkovich),Raymond Hammond,David Hernandez,Steve Kowit,Cassandra Love,Rick Lupert,Bill Mohr,Patty Seyburn,Joan Jobe Smith,Clifton Snider,Barry Spacks,G. Murray Thomas,Mehnaz Turner,Fred Voss,Charles Harper Webb,Grace Zabriskie
Rafael Zepeda. Hosted by:Anna Badua, Donna Hilbert, Kevin Lee, Tamara Madison, Clint Margrave, Paul Kareem Tayyar
For a complete event schedule visit: http://lbpoetryfestival.blogspot.com/
This event is supported by Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from The James Irvine Foundation.

3. Free Speech Zone Series

Monday, September 26 · 8:00pm - 11:00pm Tango Cafe 389 Gregory Street, Rochester,NY Join us next Monday, September 26, 8 pm, when our featured reader will be poet JANET COLLINGE, followed by our popular open mic.
Janet Collinge comes from a writing and newspaper family, with her uncle and maternal aunt owning the "Grinnell Herald Register," her grandmother being an English teacher, and her paternal great aunt attending Breadloaf with Robert Frost.

Janet has over 20 years of experience in public relations and was a promotional intern at Syracuse Stage for the inaugural season of the John D. Archbold Theatre. Other clients include Judith Hook Dance, the American Lung Association, Penfield Symphony Orchestra, and, most recently, more than 300 businesses for Downtown Special Services. She's also done by-lined freelance assignments for the "Democrat and Chronicle" and "Rochester Business Journal."

A pop-up book bought from a vendor at New York World’s Fair prompted an interest in poetry. She has been named Incognito Café’s “Poet of the Month." Albany Poetry Workshop’s “Spotlight Poet,” and lead judge for America Online’s poetry slams. Her poems have been published in "Rochester Shorts" and "Smudge." They have also been used as a teaching tool in Maunee Valley Country Day School creative writing classes. “Searching for a Manger” was the basis for Pastor Ann Spurgeon's Christmas Eve sermon, "Come as a Child," at Channahon Methodist Church in Chicago.

All are welcome to perform at our open mic: singers, poets, musicians, comics. See you Monday.

~Frank 260-9005 

4. Get Connected! First Tuesdays October
October 4 is the time to get out and Get Connected! with some great not-for-profit groups from Rochester and the upstate NY region! This annual event is one of DR’s biggest gatherings of the year, and we welcome a remarkable mix of Rochester ’s best. There will be tech groups, professional associations and service organizations –a great way to find opportunities for you to plug into good things happening in the greater Rochester region.
The list of participants is still growing!
When: Tuesday, October 4th,Time: 5:30 – 7:30 pm ,Where: Village Gate Square
274 North Goodman Street (mapSecond floor atrium Admission: Free for DR Supporting Members, $5 for Non Members


Save The Date
10/04 First Tuesdays October - Get Connected! at Village Gate
11/01 First Tuesdays November at the RIT Center for Student Innovation
12/06 First Tuesdays December - Festivus at the Rochester Museum; Science Center
 Stay up-to-date on all upcoming events at DigitalRochester.com! 




5.  The Soup (Urp!) Man, Don"Kingfisher"  Campbell is currently accepting submitions for the SGV Quarterly between now and December 3rd 2011 contact him at:

 http://sgvpq.blogspot.com  for more info.
6. The John Wiesenthal Art exhibit: Now through October 3rd 2011 . The Williams Gallery First Unitarian church 220 Winton Rd. Rochester NY go check it out! 


Whew! Lots of stuff this week! Here's a poem that I was honored to have accepted by The Beyond Baroque Foundation as my contribution to the memorial for Scott Wannaberg. Enjoy! 

My Turn 
By "Laughing" Larry Berger
You know you are a poet 
When your words touch hearts
and the wind blows through your veins
and you just gotta write it down

You know you are a poet 
when you spit lightning and
The audience doesn't leave for intermission
because there too transfixed by what you say 
so you do another , smooth as slik and glass wave clear 

You know your a poet when your name is compared 
to the likes of Walt Whitman, Salvador Dali, Tupac Shikur 
and Robert Bly 

And you really know your a poet when none of this matters as long as your writing poetry. 

How'd I do? 

and Here' s the link for the books:

http://www.iuniverse.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000187234



See you next week! 


1 comment:

Mani said...

Happy Belated Birthday, Larry! Impressive blog site, my friend. I wish you well!