Since I'm doing this from a semianonymous persona, I'll generally
only include first names. In some cases (especially bands) it will
not be difficult for you to do a little webcrawling and figure out last
names. Goody for you. At any rate, here is a little crash course
in What The Heck I'm Talking About.
Caffeinds Late, lamented coffeehouse where I got into this whole poetry mess in the first place.
Dave Poet, eccentric, bald guy. Hosts the reading at Cafe Diem. Used to host a performance art show at Caffeinds that I did some dance bits for, Way Back When.
The Guilty Party A bold new idea in politics--a political party that comes right out and says: "Yes! We did it! We admit it!" We came up with this one late night at the Majestic and keep threatening to make it into something frighteningly real.
Jolie Poet, acquaintance. Briefly dated Steve. They get along much better since they broke up.
Karen Poet, playwright, pal. One of the best poets on the Atlanta scene. I first saw her read at Caffeinds and thought "Hey, there are some actual poets in this reading biz!" She ran readings and slams and got pretty burnt out on it. Retreated to take classes at a local college. Has also written some excellent plays which have seen the light of stage recently.
Kyle Poet, deconstructionist, sound god, pal. Met at Caffiends. We compared notes on the gaijin's life in Japan. Loves Alice Cooper and Jethro Tull with neither shame nor irony. Thinks Franz Kafka is one of the funniest writers ever. You may draw your own conclusions.
Lake Artist, sculptor, photographer, art event planner, alien aficianado, ultra-hip grandma, great friend, the happening thing. Met through That Steve Guy. She built a bar for him back when he ran a club. She drives a multicolored hearse which was painted by an entire galleryful of people at a Halloween party. (I was one of the people.) She's a magnet for weirdness, and has many, many, many stories to tell.
The Lizardmen The best '60s British band to come out of '90s Atlanta.
The Majestic 24 hour diner. Food that pleases since 1929. Not exactly gourmet fare, but it's cheap and it's always open. The very location (Ponce de Leon Avenue) invites a certain kind of surrealism. First time I went there, I was still in my prom dress. Long story.
Malinda Roommate, internet goddess, artist, poet, close friend. Met on a mailing list. We moved in together when our respective roommates were driving us insane. Now we drive each other insane instead, but it's a much better quality of insanity. Accompanies me on many of these Adventures.
The Star Bar Music venue. Used to be a bank. They converted the vault into an Elvis shrine. Used to have an open mic event called HOWL once a month, but that got ditched quite a while ago. Great place to see bands--they're usually country, rockabilly or 60's style acts, but I've also seen shameless pop music, acid jazz and guitar god Reeves Gabrels there.
That Steve Guy Ex-boyfriend, VR artist, recovering poet, gadfly of the scene. Met at Caffeinds, dated for about seven months, had a weird and protracted breakup that lasted something on the order of a year before we finally got each other out of our systems. We're now close friends and he's also likely to accompany me on the art-and-poetry portions of these Adventures.
The Tabernacle Music venue. Used to be the House of Blues, and was an abandoned church before that. Back in 1996 when the Olympic Games rolled into town, the people who ran the House of Blues did a quick refurbishing job on an old church downtown--gave the insides an elaborate folk-arty paint job, converted it into a music stage and had big name acts every night. However, once the Olympics rolled out of town, so did the House of Blues. The owners went back and forth on whether they'd finish the place up and open it permanently as a House of Blues, to add to Atlanta's fine collection of Places They Have In Major Cities (Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood, etc.) Instead, after they bailed on it the second or third time, somebody else bought it, finished it up, kept the paint job and reopened it as The Tabernacle. It's a gorgeous venue, with lots of nooks and crannies that I have yet to explore. I've seen Bauhaus there, and a few months later, Love and Rockets.
The Tender Idols One of my "drop everything" bands. Britpop meets Altrock and everybody wins. Ian, the lead singer, hails from Devon, England, so the songs have that certain Anglo sensibility but the rest of the band's American, so the guitar textures are a little more crunchy than jangly. On top of that, they're all really cute. I love this band to absolute bitses.
Thomas Photographer, painter, man on the art scene. Seemingly modest fellow with a resume a mile long. (Just ask Malinda; she had to type it.)
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Rock 'n' Roll Adventures
House of Sarashay