WoMoNsToCk!!

So ... Tomorrow at Ellison Park (Creekside Lodge) ... We will be celebrating Womonstock!

We've got a great line-up of local female artists, a beautiful setting, and (cross yer fingers) a beautiful day! We hope you will come share in an afternoon of art, poetry, music and dance!

Womonstock will be held Come Rain or Come Shine! (: I'm voting for Come Shine and will be doing my anti-rain dance tonight in preparation - wish me luck :)

The suggested donation is $8 per person (but No One will be turned away!) The $8, however, gets you a ticket to win Door Prizes (and goes toward future performances by Sista's Sayin' Somethin' and the multi-media anthology to be titled HER).

At the end of each hour we will be givin away a prize - some of the prizes include: A $25 Mobile Gas card, 2 Movie passes, a $45 Equal Grounds Gift Basket, and a $60 Gift certificate from Inspiritual!

So bring your family & friends, a lawn chair or blanket, and maybe an umbrella (: if you bring it then perhaps the rain will pass us by :)

Please Note: We were unable to get a food vendor so be sure to bring some eats and drinks with you to keep ya hydrated and satiated - We'll supply the entertainment of 28 performances, plus a visual art gallery, live canvas, craft & information vendors!

WOMONSTOCK is family friendly, wheelchair accessible and ASL Interpreted.

Come embrace Art in the Park at WOMONSTOCK!
Thank you for supporting Female ART expression!


A CSWA & EvolutionaryGirls Club production
Culture starts with ART!

Here's The Line-Up

1st Hr: 3-4pm

Jackie Micieli
Cayla
Laura McSpadden
Shekinah Praise & Dance Ministry
Sanja Royale
Taryn Highsmith
Lori Nolasco
Desert Rhythms


2nd Hr: 4-5 pm

AmandaGrace
Paulette Swartzfager
Lori Hirtelen
Noah Callahan
Sophie Lamont
Naima Atkins
Jazz the Poet


3rd Hr: 5-6 pm

Laurie McFarlane
Ariana Highsmith
Latasha Langley
Marie Starr
Shana King
Grace Flores
Sword & Scarab


4th Hr: 6-7 pm

Ai
Nissi
Jenna Rossi
Kupid
Chan McKenzie
Amanda Ashley
Lauren Faggiano

WOMONSTOCK

WOMONSTOCK, the HER summer, all female outdoor ART show, put on by CSWA’s (Culture starts with ART!) newest female artist support group, Sista’s Sayin’ Somethin’ (SSS) takes place Aug 22nd, 2010 from 3-7pm.


Join us in this community-wide celebration as we showcase and embrace HER!
WOMONSTOCK is a multi-artist event consisting of poetry, music, visual arts, and movement expression showcasing the Female Artistic Expression of each individual artist’s unique personal interpretation of HER.

Where:
It’s ART in the Park: on the lovely grounds of Ellison Park.
WOMONSTOCK, will take place at the Creekside Lodge.


Cost:
$12 per person (or $8 per person for groups of 3 or more) so be sure to bring as many friends as possible! There will be plenty of room, so come one, come all!!!

This event will also offer various food and craft vendors!

A sneak peak at the line up:
Spoken artists: Lu Highsmith, Marie Starr, Chan McKenzie, young Cayla Dancers: The coulorful Belly dancers of Sword & Scarab Photo & visual art gallery ft: Keli Cahill, and EvolutionaryGirls Club artists Musicians: Amanda Ashley, Lauren Faggiano, AmandaGrace and more to be announced!

Proceeds will go towards SSS's upcoming publication, an anthology of multi-medium performances and projects. Called, you guessed it: HER !

Thank you for your support!
Diane Conway, founder Culture starts with ART!


For more information call Diane Conway at 442-5432 or e-mail CSWA at c_s_w_a@yahoogroups.com.

HER A Multi-media Women's Art Show

So, those of you I actually have the chance to speak to outside the internet might know I've recently joined a new group called Sistas Sayin' Somethin' and our debut show will be next Saturday (March 20th) at The Flying Squirrel community center.

We hope to promote women artists, both by organizing performances to showcasing women artists and to raise money toward publishing multi-media anthologies with visual, written, and media-based content.

I've included all the information below. Hope to see you there!


What:

HER, an all female ART show debut, is put on by CSWA’s (Culture Starts with ART!) newest female artist support group, Sista’s Sayin’ Somethin’ (SSS).

HER is a multi-medium art show consisting of poetry, music, visual arts, and movement expression. The program showcases the Female Artistic Expression of each individual artist’s unique personal interpretation of HER.

Artists range in age from 10 yrs. and up.

CSWA is an artist’s advocacy group that strives toward world peace and happiness for all humankind through promoting and utilizing the universal language of art.


Why:

Sista’s Sayin’ Somethin’ Mission Statement

“To foster the expression of HER, we are defining HER by being HER, without limiting HER.”

Sista’s Sayin’ Somethin’ was formed for the purpose of assisting female artists: 1) to connect through their creativity, and 2) to provide a safe, supportive space in which women and girls can remain true to their unique interpretation of Female Artistic Expression and Craft. By design, SSS also seeks to pave the way for young female artists to explore creativity without judgment.

Please note: SSS is not anti men. Rather, as women artists, we simply desire to be true to our unique individual female expressions.


When:

The seasons mark the earth’s energy cycles. The powerful energy of the SSS's creative endeavors has aligned with the earth's mid-point between the coming of the light on 12/21 and the Summer Solstice in June. As we now approach spring, we awaken and experience renewal, gradually moving from dormancy and introspection to new beginnings and growth.

As such, SSS's culminating project and phenomenal female debut falls on the eve of the Spring Equinox, March 20, 2010 from 8-11pm.

Join us in this community wide celebration as we showcase and embrace HER!


Where:

Cornhill hosts this multi-medium ART show, HER, at its new community center, the Flying Squirrel, 285 Clarissa St., and it will be signed interpreted.

(This site does not currently provide wheelchair accessibility)

Cost: suggested donation – a sliding fee of $10-$15 (no one will be turned away due to lack of funds).

Proceeds will go towards SSS's upcoming publication, an anthology of multi-medium performances and projects. Called, you guessed it: HER

Culture Starts with ART!
HER is a CSWA production

Co-produced by The EvolutionaryGirls Club

For more information call Diane Conway at 442-5432 or e-mail CSWA at c_s_w_a@yahoogroups.com.

Pure Kona is back Above-ground!

When: Thursday, February 4, 2010
Time: 7:30pm - 10:30pm
Where: The Flying Squirrel Community Space
285 Clarissa Street, Rochester, NY

It's our premiere night for Pure Kona at the Flying Squirrel!

We are happy and proud to bring Pure Kona to here; come on out and help us commence what we hope will be a long and fruitful partnership with the Community Space!

For our inaugural premiere show we are presenting Phil A. Herford, an uncommonly Eclectic Electric Violinist, as our first feature... afterwards there will be the standard Open Mic portion of the evening's festivities.

Genesee Reading Series

When: Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 7:30 PM
Where: Writers and Books
Who: Featuring Steven Huff and Ralph Black

Hosted by Wanda Schubmehl

From Wanda:

February - well, it's winter in Rochester, so you can be pretty sure of interesting weather. You can be completely confident that the Genesee Reading Series this month features two of the area's hottest writers - Steven Huff and Ralph Black. Please join us for a memorable evening!


Steven Huff is the author of two books of poems, most recently More Daring Escapes, and a collection of stories, A Pig in Paris. A Pushcart Prize winner in fiction, and an O. Henry finalist, his poetry has been read on Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac, and been chosen by Ted Kooser for American Life in Poetry. The former host of WXXI’s Fiction in Shorts, he is Director of Adult Education and Programs at Writers & Books, and teaches writing at RIT and the Solstice MFA Program at Pine Manor College.


Ralph Black’s poems have appeared in the West Branch, The Gettysburg Review and 32 Poems, among other journals. He is the recipient of the Anne Halley Poetry Prize from The Massachusetts Review. His first book, Turning Over the Earth, was published by Milkweed Editions. He teaches at SUNY Brockport, where he is Co-Director of the Brockport Writers Forum.

Voices from the NY Auburn Correctional Facility

From Pat Schwartz:

Dear Friends--

Please plan to join us at The Flying Squirrel Community Center at 285 Clarissa St, Rochester, next Sun, Jan 31st, 5 pm through 8 pm, for a special event. Free and open to the public.

We will be honoring the voices of the poets inside Auburn Correctional Facility with whom I have been working as a volunteer for almost nine years in a weekly poetry workshop.

We have had published 2 works: an anthology entitled, Doing Time to Cleanse My Mind: an Anthology from the Inmates' Poetry Workshop of Auburn Correctional Facility, 2001-2009, edited by Schwartz and Roche, foreward by Janine Pommy Vega, from FootHills Publishing and a chapbook, Guerillas in the Mist, and Other Poems, by Michael Rhynes (of Rochester, currently in ACF), Olive Trees Publishing.

Two more chapbooks are in the works, one by Jalil Muntaquim, and one a supplement to the anthology of this year's workshop poems, including some poets not in the anthology, both from Olive Trees, out by June.

Paulette is the emcee and organizer of this event on the 31st; reading from the poems will be myself, John Roche, Lori Nolasco, Paulette Swartzfager, Charlie Cote, Grace Flores, Reenah Goldeen, Jamal Golden, Vincent Golphin, Colleen Powderly, John Mourning, Will Wall, Betty Wynn, and Jerry Dillon.

There will be some soup and other refreshments afterward, then an open mic.

The books will be available for sale for the benefit of the inmates. If you buy a book, an inmate currently in the poetry workshop will receive a free book.. (The group has a lot of new guys now, and several are patiently waiting for their books, which we need to raise funds for, having given out all the books previously paid for by our sales).

Please pass this info on to other friends, and we sincerely hope to see you there!!

If you cannot attend, but would like to purchase books, contact me at fireflypoet@sage-thyme.com

Peace and Poetry, Pat

Itinerant Artist seeking Rochester-area hosts for 2010

Dear Friends,

My Itinerant Artist Project (IAP) – “exchanging art for hospitality across the USA” – turns 10 this year, and I’m celebrating with the first local version of the project, the Greater Rochester Community IAP.

I’m looking for volunteer hosts from diverse backgrounds. And I’m looking for hosts living in a representative range of places, from the rural outskirts of Monroe County to inner city neighborhoods.

This is how the project works: My host or host family puts me up for 2-3 days. During that time I make several small paintings based on the local surroundings. And I give one painting to my host in thanks for the food, lodging, and sociability. At the end I’ll exhibit the resulting artwork. To learn more about my project, check out the links*** at the end of this message, or e-mail me: jim@jimmott.com.

Hosting can occur anytime from March-November of 2010. All that is required is space (preferably a spare bedroom) and interest. I may have offers from more places than I can get to, but I would like to hear from anyone who is considering being a host.

If you have received this e-mail, please consider being a host AND please forward this message to anyone you know who might like to be a host. Reaching people I've never heard of is one of the more fun parts of this project.

Thank you! Jim Mott

***ITINERANT ARTIST PROJECT LINKS:

This interactive blog introduces the 2010 Rochester IAP and will be frequently updated as the project progresses:
www.jimmott.blogspot.com

My main website with plenty of background info:
www.jimmott.com

The Itinerant Artist Project on the NBC Today Show:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22472628/

City Newspaper Rebecca Rafferty review of my recent IAP exhibit:
http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/entertainment/art/2009/12/ART-REVIE
W-Jim-Mott-Road-Art-2000-2009/

D&C Mark Hare column about my project
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20091213/NEWS0201/912130325/%
5C-Itinerant-artist%5C--to-travel-at-home-in-2010

This Sunday - Me! At John's Bookstore - Yippee!

From John:

On Sunday, November 15, at 4:00 PM, Marie Star will read a selection of her poems. Marie is a vibrant poetry whose poems reflect the joys and ironies of a well lived life. The poems extol nature and love and provoke the listener/reader to examine life in a personal way. This event is free and open to the public. We will meet at Books, ETC., 78 W Main St., Macedon. If you have any questions, please respond by email to books_etc@yahoo.com or phone John at 585-474-4116.

This Friday, July 10th

Come to a Comedy Explosion
at the Cafe Undergraound Railraod
480 W. Main Street, Rochester

Featuring:
Dr. Will a.k.a The Storyteller

With Special Guests:
Comedian - James Johnson
Singing Sensation - Ms. Erica

Doors open at 7:30pm
Show starts at 8pm - Ends at 10pm

Admission: $10.00 at the door
18 and over - I.D. required

www.myspace.com/drspillsnickwill

Hope to see you there!

Events: Tonight & Tomorrow

Tonight – Wednesday, June 10

Rochester Poets Meeting

Panera Bread, 12 Corners Plaza
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Bring 6-8 copies of 1-2 poems you want to workshop.
rochesterpoets@gmail.com

Comedy Open Mic

The Mez, 369 Gregory Street
8:00 – 11:00 pm

Dr. Will & Jim Norris won’t be there – they’re in NYC at Apollo – but James has got something lined up so come on out!

Tomorrow – Thursday, June 11

Pure Kona Open Mic
Hosted by: Rick Petrie & Norm Davis
Featuring: Beth Nevah

The Mez, 369 Gregory Street
7:30 -11:00 pm

Every 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month!


Flowetics Open Mic
Hosted By: Lucreations and Gallery One Fine Arts

Gallery One Fine Arts, 36 W. Main Street
7:30 PM

Experience an evening of "Flowetic Rhythms" where live music, poetry and art simultaneously flow in rhythm!

Every 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month!
$3 Admission

Poetry Reading April 19th

Just so you know I don't write about myself like this - this is from John ... but I'm flattered!

The Vibrant Word of Marie Starr

On Sunday, April 19th, at 4:00 PM, Marie Starr will give a reading of her dynamic poetry. She is a writer and photographer who uses her fractal focus and obsession with observation to discover new ways to illuminate the edges of invisibility. She is intrigued by the inter-play between art forms: words, images, movement, sound, color, beat ...and finds herself drawn as much to the simplicity of individual components, as she is to discovering ways in which various forms can work in fusion with each other. Marie lives in Victor and can often be found around town snapping pictures, drawing abstractions with long & gangly sticks, writing whatever spills from her pen, or chasing her kids. She often uses percussion instruments to accompany her words. This event is free and open to the public. Come and enjoy this special magic. We will meet at Books, ETC., 78 W Main St., Macedon. If you have any questions, please respond by email john.more@live.com or phone John at 585-464-9103.

Erotic Nights

Don't miss the newest installment of the Erotic Nights series 9pm this Saturday, April 18 at Equal Grounds Coffeehouse (750 South Ave) - I sure won't!

Thursday - Writer's & Books

Writers & Books hosts
National Poetry Month Readings
George Drew & M.J. Iuppa

Thurs., April 9 7:00 pm
In the Verb Café at W&B
Free and open to the public


GEORGE DREW was born in Mississippi and grew up there and in New York
State , where he currently lives. Toads in a Poisoned Tank , his first
book, was published in 1986. The chapbook, So Many Bones (Poems of
Russia ) , was published in a bilingual edition by a Russian press in 1997.

A second collection, The Horse's Name Was Physics , appeared in 2006
from Word Tech Communications, under their Turning Point imprint. One of
George's poems received an Honorable Mention in the Robert Frost
Foundation's poetry competition, 2002, and another in the W.B. Yeats
Society of NY's competition, the same year. He was awarded a residency
at the Vermont Studio Center in 2004, and that summer he was a Guest
Poet at The Frost Place in Franconia , NH . He was the winner of the
2003 Paumanok Poetry Award. Most recently George won the 2008 South
Carolina Review's 40th Anniversary Poetry Contest, which will be
announced in the fall 2008 issue.

George has published in such literary journals as Antioch Review, Beloit
Poetry Journal, Connecticut Review, Hollins Critic, Mississippi Review,
Poetry East,Quarterly West, Salmagundi, Southern Poetry Review,
Sou'Wester, and The Texas Review.

M. J. Iuppa: Since 1986, local poet and writer, M. J. Iuppa has been
successfully teaching poetry and creative writing workshops to students
ages 8-89 throughout New York State. In 1996, she was the recipient of
the Writing In Rochester Award, honoring a teacher of writing for adult
students who has impacted the creation and appreciation of literature in
Rochester; and, at St. John Fisher College, she has received the
Part-Time Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence, May 2000; The Father
Dorsey Award, 2000-2001 and 2002-2003, and a Certification of
Recognition from The Monroe County Legislature, April 2003. Over 200 of
her poems have appeared in small press, university, and national
publications, including Poetry, Yankee, Press, and New Letters. Her
chapbooks, Sometimes Simply,(Foreseeable Future Press, 1996), and
Temptations (Foothill Publishing, 2001) and Greatest Hits 1986-2001,
(Pudding House, 2002); and her first full-length poetry collection Night
Traveler (Foothills Publishing)November, 2003. Her creative nonfiction
is included in the collection: In Brief, edited by Judith Kitchen and
Mary Paumier Jones, ( Norton) and in Chelsea 67. Presently, she is the
Writer-in-Residence at St. John Fisher College, and also teaches
creative writing and poetry workshops at Writers & Books, Young
Audiences, Project U.N.I.Q.U.E., Rochester City School District, Genesee
Valley BOCES ,Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES and BOCES 2. Since 1990, she has
been the curator of the Genesee Reading Series at Writers & Books Her
poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Award 1998, 2001, 2002; and
in June 1998, her play This Heat was selected as one of the seven plays
read in the American Voices Regional Playwrights' Festival sponsored by
GeVa Theatre and Writers & Books.

Monday, April 6th

Poetry Out Loud

Yeah, so I guess I'm in this ... should be fun ... always up for poetry out loud!

Thursday: Pure Kona & Flowetic Rhythms

This Thursday you got your pick of events (Why does everything have to fall on the same day you say? I just don't know) But here's how it is:

This Thursday:

Ed Downey is featuring at Pure Kona Open Mic

Pure Kona is now the 2nd & 4th Thursdays at The Mez, 389 Gregory Street, beginning at 7:30PM.

Norm Davis and Rick Petrie are the evening's hosts.

Upcoming features include:

Mar 12 - Baby D
Mar 26 - Rigel Klingman
Apr 9 - Amos The Human
Apr 23 - Colleen Powderly


Also

Every 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month!

(See what I mean about everything going down at the same time around here?)

Experience an evening of "Flowetic Rhythms" where live music, poetry and art simultaneously flow in rhythm!

Hosted By:
Lucreations and Gallery One Fine Arts

When:
7:00 PM

Where:
Gallery One Fine Arts
36 W. Main St

Hope to see you here ... or there ... or somewhere ...

Community Dialogue

WHAT: Historic community dialogue / panel discussion regarding the role and responsibility of mass media in helping to address individual and institutionalized racism


WHO: Activists Against Racism Movement (in conjunction with more than 25 local community agencies and organizations).

Panelists include News Directors from Channels 8, 9, 10, & 13; representatives from T.V. One, Rochester Association of Black Journalists, About Time Magazine, Minority Reporter and Challenger newspapers, WXXI radio and Rochester Indymedia


WHEN: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 (6:00 PM - 9:00 PM)...............Wednesday, February 25, 2009 (6:00 PM - 9:00 PM)


WHERE: James Monroe High School (164 Alexander Street, Rochester, NY)


WHY: For Activists Against Racism Movement and the general Rochester Community to begin developing a concrete, ongoing, working-relationship with representatives of mass-media in order to help:

1) produce solutions for outstanding socioeconomic, political, cultural issues and problems within our local, regional, and national communities;

2) create an atmosphere that de-emphasizes perpetuation of negative stereotypes concerning communities of color, especially as it relates to the African American Community;

3) bring more recognition and attention to positive efforts and achievements within communities of color;

4) critique, analyze, and educate regarding the functioning of racism in general, and the role of mass-media in perpetuating racism.

Contact: Mr. Dana Bratcher: dbratcher33@yahoo.com

Mr. Bratcher (Activists Against Racism Movement, Recruitment Committee Chairperson) was quoted as having said: "The recent, blatantly classic example (among many) of the NY Post being comfortable enough to mock the President of the United States of America, and liken him to a violent chimpanzee, and then have the audacity to initially attempt to defend their so-called journalistic practices as justified --- is a crystal clear indicator as to why initiation of dialogue regarding mainstream, mass-media's role in perpetuating individual an institutionalized racism, is in essence, only a baby step, a starting point relative to the hard, but necessary work ahead of us. With regard to the critical need to address the serious, deep-seated issue and problem of individual and institutionalized racism, AARM, along with its community partners, will demonstrate to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and others --- that not all of us in the nation are cowards. On February 25th, we will set a clear and important example for the nation, and will once again showcase Rochester, NY as a city of firsts."

Tonight - Poetry & Comedy

Just a quick note while I'm on my lunch break. I know I've been remiss lately. I'm trying to keep up. Hope all is well with all y'all!

Tonight:

Last Comic Sitting Competition

7:30 - 10pm?
The Comedy Club at Daisy Dukes
2235 Empire Blvd (Webster)
www.thecomedyclub.us

Rochester Poet’s Reading

7- 9pm
featuring David White
At Hughes Rotunda Room
Wilson Educational Building
St. John Fisher
followed by: Open Mic and refreshments


Tomorrow - Thursday, February 5

Free Speech Zone Open Mic

7:30- 11pm
The Mez
Featuring: guitarist/singer/songwriter Daniel James,
accompanied by Harlo Taddy
Followed by Open Mic

Next Thursday, February 12

Poets Against the War & Occupation
7-10:30 pm
Basil Hall, St. John Fisher College

“A Banquet of Words and…”

An interwoven, multi-disciplinary showcase of
spoken word/poetry (Reenah Golden, Justice Peace),
storytelling (Djed Snead),
dance (Fresh and Flii Crew, Melinda Phillips, Douglas McIntyre),
dramatic performance (David Jason Kyle and Marcy Savastan),
and gospel (Walla of Zambia)

Why: Fundraiser for the Empowered Girl Alliance
and the Maafa Celebration Committee (two organizations
working to improve the quality of life in our community)

When: Saturday, December 13, 2008 from 7:30pm-10:00pm

Where: 1441 East Avenue, Rochester, New York (The Rochester Medical Academy)

Cost: $18.00 in advance/$25.00 at the door
Group and family discounts available

Tickets and more information can be obtained at
Mood Makers Books, Village Gate (585-271-7010)
or by calling (585) 256-3221

Monday, December 1st: BADEA

BADEA

APPEARING AT:

The Lovin' Cup

R.I.T.'s Park Point

ROCHESTER, NY 14623

Monday, December 1, 2008, 7:00pm

(followed by Open Mic hosted by Frank Judge/260-9005)

CALL: Lovin' Cup/292-9940--BADEA/234-1641 for more info

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/BADEA1