As much as we enjoy our time with students it is nice to get out read some of our adult work. We've had the opportunity to do so in Beijing with some Polish performance poets at the Bookworm Cafe, in Korea with the teachers from KIS in conjunction with a wine tasting (the audience at that one became increasingly amenable as that evening progressed) Shanghai we did a Friday set at the local watering hole. Here in Abuja, Rita provided us the chance to sing for our suppers at a funky but chic joint called the Salamander Cafe.
Sara and Rita plotting before the show.
We teamed up with a couple local musicians, guitarists who accompanied as we performed some of our poems. Working with a musician can be a hit or miss endeavor but, if I do say so myself, I think this gig came off really well. The guitarists and we clicked from the first piece no matter what we threw at them.
"Play bear music", I would say - or "How about a little flamenco?" And our guys made it sound like we had been rehearsing for a week. The audience of a dozen or so filled up the seats of the small room we were playing and were generous in their response. To top it off all book sales loot went to a local school for the blind.
Not too shabby for a couple of crackpot poets from Cleveland Ohio.
The musicians who made us look good.
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