WANTED: WRITERS!, A Literary Reading Series at RUMOURS

  Wednesday, 1/11/2012, 7:00-9:30 PM 

ABBY LORENZ is a writer and artist living in Los Angeles. Her short plays, Tiny Little Clouds, May June July, and Ever have been produced in Los Angeles in the past year. She is currently working on a production of two longer one acts to be staged in late May. Abby is also a screenwriter and poet. Her short film, ‘Flyer,’ was produced in 2011 and she is collaborating anew this year on a longer project, whose working title is ‘The Accident.’ A selection of her poems was recently published in an anthology called The Poetry of Yoga. In addition to writing, Abby enjoys performing her “usually quirky” character portraits and painting mandalas. If we’re lucky, her reading tonight may include her account of first-sex in a teen religious retreat. She began her mostly self-guided writing career at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur. 

JASON ROHRER writes a weekly column for Bitter Lemons (losangeles.bitter-lemons.com) and reviews theater for Stage Happenings (stagehappenings.com). Do not be intimidated; although he writes for the Internet, he is approachable and may even sleep on your floor. He saw two of his plays produced at the Atlantic Theater in New York, and five at other NYC theaters. He wrote over 100 incarnations of the topical comedy revue Live! Live! News! News!, which ran for three years at Southern California venues including the Comedy Store and a college tour. His screenplays are sometimes purchased by production companies that steadfastly refuse to produce them. He has also acted for the Russian and American stage, on Japanese and American television, and in movies disowned by all nations. On Wednesday, he’ll read from his novel, Sleeping Beast, a noir fairy tale of Hollywood crime.

LAURA LENTZ is the owner of a communications company based in Los Angeles – Latino Family Media, and a production company based in Kauai, L & L Island Productions. She has published numerous parenting stories and has performed in Wendy Hammer’s Tasty Words in Los Angeles and Ann Randolph’s Solo Kama Sutra with her work titled Kissing and Condiments and Broken Zippers. Laura’s poetry has appeared in Solo, War Papers, and Poetry 2. Laura began a writer’s group in Kauai, which progressed to public readings from local writers –titled Speak Kauai. Laura is currently editing her memoir….Life in a Body, and splits her time between Kauai and Los Angeles with her seventeen-year-old daughter, Kele.

Plus, on an already great program, a third writer awaiting confirmation! 

WANTED: WRITERS! is a forum dedicated to both authors reading from published works and original works-in-progress. Authors interested in giving voice to their writing— short stories, novels, essays, plays or poetry—should contact:  Joe Staats,  joe_staats@hotmail.com

Presented by JOE STAATS at:

RUMOURS, a coffeehouse/gallery/performance space.

11739 West Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066 

JOE STAATS presents

RUMOURS VARIETY SHOWCASE

Thursday, 12/08/2011, 8:00-11:00 pm

Our new RUMOURS Variety SHOWCASE, now at The Lodge (1600 Ocean Park Blvd.) in Santa Monica, spotlights five invited, featured performers in shorter sets on one Thursday night each month. Our aim is to inspire, amuse, delight, and entertain you. Performers are carefully selected for their creativity, dedication, passion and excellence at what they do, and each program will variously include singers, musicians, spoken word/literary performers, comics, dancers, and actors/actresses with original theatre pieces. We want you to come and make an evening of it in a supper club/dinner theatre/concert atmosphere. Each performer on these programs is there for a reason and is very much worth seeing. Tickets are to the show are $10. Table reservations are available. There is a full bar. There is a stage with professional lighting and all of the sightlines are excellent. Free parking is available behind the Lodge, or in the parking lot across the street.

Please enter from the front of the building.

ANDREW KELSEY is a compelling singer/songwriter with roots in folk, rock, and funk music, who has often drawn comparison to singers like James Taylor, Dave Matthews, and Jason Mraz. Well-versed as a solo acoustic artist (as he will be performing here), Andrew writes transcendent original songs from his own life that his audiences find easy to relate to their own lives and experience. The songs you will hear tonight will be on Andrew’s upcoming (second) solo CD and display the range of his style and versatility, with sounds ranging from mellow to funky and a variety of moods and musical flavors from romantic sentiment to sexy grooving. A mainstay on the Los Angeles music scene, he is well-known as the lead singer/guitarist for the rock band Uncle Charlie. He will open his set with a dramatic spoken-word recitation from George Burns’ Gracie: A Love Story. DEANA BARONE writes poetry, short stories, essays, stage plays, and screenplays. Her co-authored play “A Match Made in Manhattan,” ran for a year in New York City, and her play “Kiss” will be produced in Los Angeles next year. She is currently co-writing a screenplay and has another one in pre-production. She coaches acting, directs, edits, tutors and has produced plays in both NYC and Los Angeles. Deana has also acted in off-Broadway plays, LA theatre, independent films, television, and in commercials. She is a member of two theatre companies, The Road Theatre and The Elephant Theatre, has won “Best Featured Actress in a Play, 2009-2010 Season” (Stage Scene LA) as well as “Best Ensemble 2008″ (LA Weekly). Deana is currently working on an original solo show called, “the little girl and lalu.” She most recently appeared, triumphantly, in the play Lady Liberty, which recently closed its world premiere run at the Actors Art Theatre here in Los Angeles. BRENDAN CONSTANTINE is a poet based in Hollywood. His work has appeared in numerous journals, most notably Ploughshares, Ninth Letter, The Los Angeles Review, The Courtland Review, RUNES, and in the LA Times Bestseller, The Underground Guide to Los Angeles. His collection, Letters To Guns, was released in 2009 from Red Hen Press. New work is forthcoming in Ducts, Chaparral, Black Crow, Luvina, and the anthology Bright Wings. A nominee for poet laureate of California in 2002, he holds an MFA from Vermont College and is currently poet in residence at Loyola Marymount University Extension and the Windward School. Mr. Constantine also regularly leads classes in hospitals, elder care centers, and shelters for the homeless. A two-time alumni of WANTED: WRITERS! (and just returned from book tour), Brendan will be reading from and signing copies of his new book, Birthday Girl with Possum. He is one of the best poets–and the very best performance poet–that we know. If you haven’t seen him, you are in for a revelation and his performance should be anticipated as one of the highlights of tonight’s show. MANISHA SHAHANE is an independent artist, singer/songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist who plays piano, guitar, and frame drum. Her voice is a thing of beauty, her singing honest and soulful, and her concerts are a balm to the spirit. Her performances are a musical collage of folk, jazz, and Indian traditions, featuring original songs and compositions, as well as covers and special arrangements, as perhaps befits one who combines a coming-of-age in southern Virginia with her Maharashtrian heritage. Manisha is a luminous musical presence and storyteller who is passionate, entertaining and thought-provoking all at once. She is a recipient of the ASCAPlus Award in the Jazz and Popular Division for each of the past four years. “Fresh, uncluttered and right from the heart with a true universal vibe.”-MastRadio.com/ “A vocalist with lots of perspective and a strong sense of adventure”-O’s Place Jazz/ “A lilting, gentle, eastern sound that is kind to western ears”-Lokvani/ “Intricate multilingual folk”-Americana-UK/ “Her pristine vocals only prove that this sublime blending of sounds and tones is no accident…a global voyage with no limits”-I Hear Sparks/BlogCritics Her first CD, Peace in Progress, and her latest, When Parallel Lines Meet, will be available for purchase this evening. Do yourself, and others on your holiday gift list a favor and buy a CD or two directly from Manisha. She will be singing and playing for you tonight from 9:30-10:00 pm.

General Admission tickets to the show are $10 only.

*18-and-above.

DINNER UPDATE: The Lodge’s resident chef, Tony, got a full-time job elsewhere (and congrats to him). However, he is consequently no longer available to cook for events at the Lodge, including for SHOWCASE. Several close dinner options are available, however, for those who want to eat during or before the show. (As we are now not cooking for this event, it’s okay if you want to step out and bring something back into the venue to eat at your table.) Just a few doors down from the Lodge on the same side of the street is a lovely restaurant called Thyme. Those in the know in the neighborhood also patronize Bob’s Market at the opposite end of the block, which has an excellent, inexpensive takeout deli. You can also grab pizza by the slice from Grigorio, closer yet to the Lodge. For those of you who feel like walking, there is Café Bolivar at 1741 Ocean Park Blvd., which is two blocks down on the opposite side of the street. (Give our greetings to Alejandro.) We ask that you do not bring alcohol onto the premises, as the Lodge has a full bar. Please tip Ashley and Pam, your bartenders.

YOU are invited. Music, Food, Theatre, Comedy. A Little Magic in the Night!

Presented by JOE STAATS at: THE LODGE, 1600 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica (Southeast Corner of 16^th & Ocean Park)  FREE PARKING behind building or in lot directly across the street.

WANTED: WRITERS!

A Literary Reading Series at RUMOURS

Wednesday, 12/07/2011, 7:00-9:30 PM 

KIMBERLY MACK is a music journalist who has published features, concert reviews, and CD reviews for national and international publications, including Music Connection, Village Voice, Relix, PopMatters, Hot Press, and the 2010 GRAMMY Awards Program Book. Kim writes memoir and short fiction and holds a B.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from New York University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles. She has attended various writers’ colonies and conferences including the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and Vermont Studio Center. Kim is currently working towards a Ph.D. in Literature at the University of California at Los Angeles, and she lives with her husband in Los Angeles, California. Kim will be reading from her memoir, First: A Black Girl’s Journey across America’s Great Racial and Class Divide. First is her story about growing up in two different worlds: black and white, poor and rich.

DANIEL WILLIAM CAROTHERS comes from the Rust Belt town of Sharon, PA. With little formal training or schooling (he is a high school drop-out who later earned a G.E.D., and whose love for the arts and literature is largely self-taught), he nonetheless shows a remarkable real talent as a self-trained natural poet. Daniel’s is a most unusual story of how a life turned disastrously upside down found “gold” in the basement of the Los Angeles County jail. When fellow inmates literally took the mattress he slept on out from under him, exclaiming “You gotta give up your mattress for La Raza!,” Daniel’s response was to find a pencil lead and a lunch bag on which to try and write himself out of the county jail system. Instead, he shortly found himself enrolled in the “California Writer’s School,” a.k.a. Delano Prison. His autodidactic study of literature there gave him an Elizabethan/Victorian style of writing poetry. He counts as influences Ben Johnson, Rudyard Kipling, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Butler Yeats. Carothers is often quoted as saying “You don’t have to suffer to be a poet, but it helps!” He also took instruction and sustenance from this quote of Ernest Hemingway: “To learn to write, put one word in front of the next.” Critics might be doubtful of him, but with works like “The Rhyme of the Pale Horse” and “Charon’s Wharf,” he reveals himself as a pressurized chunk of carbon become a literary diamond in the rough. He also developed some thespian abilities along the way and has an entertaining and personable declamatory style. He recites all his poetry from memory.

Dr. MELISSA F. ALVARADO is a narrative poet from Nebraska, now living in Los Angeles, who recently performed with the legendary Wanda Coleman and Laurel Ann Bogen. She is a Nebraska Center for Writers author with work published in journals including The Midwest Quarterly, Chum, The Toronto Quarterly, Plains Song Review, as well as in Looking Past (Goldfish Press), and Times of Sorrow, Times of Grace (Backwaters Press). Melissa says her first break occurred when she received the honor for best work from the late Poet Laureate of Nebraska, William Kloefkorn. Melissa holds baccalaureate degrees from the University of Nebraska in both English and Biology, and a Ph.D. in pharmacy from Creighton University, a private, Jesuit college in Nebraska. Tonight, Melissa will be reading and performing poetry from her forthcoming chapbook, It Wasn’t Like In the Movies, a work dedicated to her late niece, Dakota Cierra Christina Moler, who lost her life at the young age of 14 to drowning while heroically trying to save the life of another child.

WANTED: WRITERS! is a forum dedicated to both authors reading from published works and original works-in-progress. Authors interested in giving voice to their writing— short stories, novels, essays, plays or poetry—should contact: Joe Staats, joe_staats@hotmail.com

Presented by JOE STAATS at:

RUMOURS, a coffeehouse/gallery/performance space.

SHOWCASE 

Thursday, 11/17/2011, 8:00-11:00 pm 

Our new RUMOURS Variety SHOWCASE, now at The Lodge (1600 Ocean Park Blvd.) in Santa Monica, spotlights five invited, featured performers in shorter sets on one Thursday night each month. Our aim is to inspire, amuse, delight, and entertain you. Performers are carefully selected for their creativity, dedication, passion and excellence at what they do, and each program will variously include singers, musicians, spoken word/literary performers, comics, dancers, and actors/actresses with original theatre pieces. We want you to come and make an evening of it in a supper club/dinner theatre/concert atmosphere. Each performer on these programs is there for a reason and is very much worth seeing. Tickets are $20 for dinner/show (see full dinner details below). Reservations are available. Admission to the show (only) is $10. There is a full bar. There is a stage with professional lighting and all of the sightlines are excellent. Free parking is available behind the Lodge, or in the parking lot across the street.

Enter from the front of the building. 

DAVID FRANCO has been working professionally as an actor, writer, and director in film, television, and theater for over eighteen years. He’s also been seen doing stand-up and sketch comedy throughout Los Angeles. His television credits include 24, Alias, ER, Action, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer to name a few. David is also a member of the award-winning Elephant Theatre Company. Some of his training includes The American Academy Of Dramatic Arts, The Royal Academy Of Dramatic Arts, South Coast Repertory Theater, Second City, and The Actors Gang, as well as work with exceptional actor/teachers such as Fiona Shaw, Peter Hall, Alan Rickman, Larry Moss, and Ann Randolph, with whom he has recently been working to create parts of his one-person show. Tonight he will be exploring a piece from this work-in-progress. David opens our show from 8:00-8:30 pm. Arrive early for a great seat; you do not want to miss him!

ADELE BEEMAN has been singing professionally since the age of 14. Critics have described her voice as ‘liquid gold.’ Adele embraces all genres and loves all styles of music, but has a keen sensibility and particular affinity for jazz and blues. Early in her career (in those antidiluvian days before the advent of the Internet) she opened for such greats as Sarah Vaughan, jazz cornetist Nat Adderly, James Brown and comedians Jay Leno, Robin Williams and David Letterman. Her career as a singer includes television variety shows and concert performances throughout the United States and abroad. She has appeared at some of the most historic venues in Los Angeles, including the Hollywood Palladium, the Troubadour, the Whisky a Go Go and the Cinegrill at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. After taking a long hiatus from the limelight, she has returned to the stage, live performance, and recording. You can find a video of Adele singing Horace Silver’s ‘Peace’ on YouTube and you can become a fan on Reverbnation. Her new CD of original songs is titled ‘Jazz, God & Other Stuff’ and it will be available at the beginning of 2012. It is Adele’s desire to share her gift and her original songs in order to brighten and enlighten. Adele and her group perform from 8:30-9:00 pm.

RICH FERGUSON has performed live across the U.S. and has been heard on many radio stations, including WBAI in New York City, KCRW and KPFK in Southern California, and on World Radio. He has shared the stage with Patti Smith, Exene Cervenka, Loudon Wainwright, T.C. Boyle, Bob Holman, and many other esteemed writers and musicians. He has performed on The Tonight Show, at the Redcat Theater, the NYC International Fringe Festival, the DocMiami International Film Festival, The Knitting Factory (NYC & LA), the Bowery Poetry Club, the SXSW Music Festival, Stephen Elliott’s “Rumpus,” the Henry Miller Library, and with UK-based poetry collective One Taste, as well as giving performances and lectures at various California universities. Rich is also a featured performer in the film, What About Me? with Michael Stipe, Michael Stipe, k.d. lang, Krishna das, and others. He has studied poetry with Allen Ginsberg, and fiction with Aimee Bender and Sid Stebel. He is a regular contributor and poetry editor to the online literary journal, The Nervous Breakdown. His spoken word/music videos “Human Condition” and “We Voice Sing” will be featured at the Vancouver Visible Verse Video Poetry Festival in November, 2011, and his “All The Times” video (all of these are available on YouTube) was featured at the Valley Film Festival in October, 2009. In Fall 2011 and early 2012, Ferguson will be published in various collections released by Uphook Press, TNB Press and Smith Magazine. Tonight he will be appearing with guitarist/bassist Bo Blount, his bandmate from We Voice Sing, from 9:00-9:30 pm.

NICOLE GORDON is one of those truly unique artists whose talents effortlessly embrace a variety of genres including pop, Americana, folk, rock, and soul. Originally hailing from Philadelphia, she has emerged on the Los Angeles musical scene as a highly-regarded singer, songwriter, and session vocalist. Her clear, soulful voice is at one moment a commanding powerhouse, and in the next hauntingly exquisite, while yet keeping her audience attuned to the sentiment of the song. Her songs have found their way into many independent films (Gaia, Jack and Bobby) and television shows (Brothers and Sisters, Charmed, Everwood, Felicity, Smallville, CSI–Miami & New York and others as instantly recognizable). Nicole has written and recorded with legendary songwriter Gerry Coffin (‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow,’ ‘Natural Woman’) and Mike Stoller of the legendary songwriting team Leiber & Stoller (’Hound Dog,’ ‘Stand By Me‘). She works regularly with Emmy Award-winning and nominated composers Ernest Troost and Blake Neely on film and television projects, as well as with numerous other composers and songwriters. She has shared the stage and performed with such notable singer/songwriter talents as Colin Hay, Kaki King, Lucinda Williams, Sophie B. Hawkins and Shaun Colvin, as well as having had the great fortune to work and play with some of the best musicians in the world. Tonight she will be performing songs from her latest CD release, the moving Songs of Shiloh, and others. Nicole will be playing and singing between 9:30-10:00 pm.

The B.O.L.T. was formed in late 2008 by charismatic front man and lead singer The Other Deepak, who also functions as songwriter/composer as well as violinist for the band; lead guitarist Brandon Fox, and drummer/percussionist Christo Pellani. With diverse influences and musical backgrounds, including Christo’s time spent touring the world with the Australian pop band Air Supply, the band spent months developing a sound that was unique and palatable for mainstream markets as well as for indie and underground sub-cultures. With several different formations of band members over the ensuing two years, they finally locked in the perfect combination in January, 2011 when they reunited with old friend and bass player Nico Barry. Currently based in Los Angeles, they have also have developed followings in San Diego, Miami, Baltimore, Washington D.C., New York, and other neighboring regions. With influences ranging from Radiohead, Talking Heads, Prince, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Buckley, Led Zeppelin, and Coldplay, their sound is defined by magnetic vocal melodies, thought-provoking lyrics, ecstatic rhythms, and the searing sounds of electric violin and guitar. They are also known to write new songs in the moment during a live stage performance, connecting directly with the audience and making each concert a unique and interactive experience. The B.O.L.T. is a band on the rise if not on the run, and they are a lot of fun to see and hear. They should not in any case be missed. The B.O.L.T. will close our show, rockin’ us into the night starting at 10 pm.

 General Admission tickets to the show are $10 only.

*18-and-above.

*****DINNER UPDATE: The Lodge’s resident chef, Tony, got a full-time job elsewhere (and congrats to him). However, he is consequently no longer available to cook for events at the Lodge, including for SHOWCASE. Several close dinner options are available, however, for those who want to eat during or before the show. (As we are now not cooking for this event, it’s okay if you want to step out and bring something back into the venue to eat at your table.) Just a few doors down from the Lodge on the same side of the street is a lovely restaurant called Thyme. Those in the know in the neighborhood also patronize Bob’s Market at the opposite end of the block, which has an excellent, inexpensive takeout deli. You can also grab pizza by the slice from Grigorio, closer yet to the Lodge. For those of you who feel like walking, there is Café Bolivar at 1741 Ocean Park Blvd., which is two blocks down on the opposite side of the street. (Give our greetings to Alejandro.) We do ask that you do not bring alcohol onto the premises, as The Lodge has a full bar. Please tip Ashley and Pam, your bartenders.

YOU are invited. Music, Food, Theatre, Comedy. A Little Magic in the Night!

Presented by JOE STAATS at:

THE LODGE, 1600 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica

(Southeast Corner of 16^th & Ocean Park) 

FREE PARKING behind building or in lot directly across the street.

The Rumor Mill is what a good coffee shop should be — a solid cup of coffee, a cooler-than-thou staff, some comfortable chairs and free wi-fi (although it's always nice to order something before you sit and surf for five hours). The sandwiches are quite good too… 

Young hip cafe centrally located off the 405 in Mar Vista with an adjacent Laundromat, sandwiches, salads, art exhibits and live events. We have free internet with any purchase and a super friendly staff always ready to help get you caffeinated.

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