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AREA OPEN MICS BENEFIT THE ARTIST AND THE AUDIENCE
Chatty On The Mic
Area open mics continue to benefit the artist and the audience
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By Ray Zimmerman Pulse contributor
On the importance of open mics, Chattanooga poet Marcus Patrick Ellsworth said, “Any creative work cannot be fully realized until it is presented to an audience. Open mics are one way to meet that need. A performer can discover their own strengths and weaknesses, get feedback on how a piece may be improved, make connections with other artists, and build their first audience. At the very least, an open mic can be therapeutic for the soul which simply wants to create and have their creations presented to others.” Ellsworth continued, “For me at least, there is a joy that comes from watching a performer become better at their craft with each return to an open mic. Sometimes, they go on to become incredible artists. Sometimes they merely reveal that they are incredible people. Either way, being on the periphery of their journey is wonderful. I used to attend every open mic I could including The Speakeasy, Rhyme N Chatt events, and Tremont TavP OETRY IS MEANT TO BE READ ALOUD, AND CHATTANOOga poets and writers have rediscovered the importance of performing their work before an audience. Over the past two decades, opportunities to do so have multiplied dramatically, to the surprise and delight of our writing community.
Erika Dionne Roberts and Marcus Patrick Ellsworth
ern’s open mic. I would even seek out open mics while visiting other cities. I miss the camaraderie that comes with being a regular at an open mic.”
The Tremont Tavern open mic which Marcus mentioned takes place on Tuesday nights and is a music event. Marcus got creative and performed his poetry there, backed up by two musicians. Visitors to a few of the open mic venues soon learn that no two opportunities are alike.
The open mic at Barnes and Noble is one opportunity for writers to craft their work. KB Ballentine was already a participant when she took the helm as producer and MC in 2002. This group meets on the final Friday of every month, except November and Decem
ber, from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. During the first hour, each writer is allowed five minutes to present their work. For the final half-hour, participants read poems written from a word list prompt.
KB Ballentine is an established poet with six published books. When asked about the event, she said, “The primary objective for open mic is to get people writing (the listpoems) and to get them more comfortable with sharing their work. Too many people have great poems but are hesitant to share them because they don’t like talking in front of people. This is a no-frill opportunity with an easy-going audience. Participants learn, practice and hone those public speaking skills.”
John C. Mannone, program chair and former President of the Chattanooga Writers’ Guild, regularly participates in the Barnes and Noble event and also coordinates open mic events through the Guild. He said open mics, in a supportive environment, can be an important part of a poet’s and writer’s process and craft. “They help develop one’s voice as well as instill confidence while overcoming a natural fear that many have of getting in front of a microphone. They often ferret out weaknesses (in phrasing, rhythm, and even line breaks) since the eye will lie to the brain but the ear cannot.” The Chattanooga Writers’ Guild (CWG) usually features an open mic for its members – typically at the June program (Main Library downtown). Mannone described opportunities available through the Guild, which has been meeting since 2001. “An open mic is usually part of the annual meeting (September) and Christmas party (December), which are held at another location. All programs are on the second Tuesday of the month from 6 to 8 p.m. Outside this literary space, there has been an open mic at the Readers and Writers Fair in recent years.”
Vincent Phipps founded Rhyme N Chatt in 1999. He stepped down from his leadership role in 2004 and Marsha Mills has led the organization since then. In 2009, the Rhyme N Chatt group collaborated with the Chattanooga Writers’ Guild and the Chattanooga Public Library by presenting the open mic program at the Chattanooga Readers and Writers Fair.
Rhyme N Chatt has a strong focus on performances but offers open mics as part of their many events. According to their publicity, one such event is “Love Groove: What’s LOVE got to do with it?” a poetic prelude to the Valentine’s Day season, Friday, February 7. This show has an interactive format for which Rhyme N Chatt is known and, at a Love Groove show, LOVE has EVERYTHING to do with it!
The event includes poetry presentations, an open mic, a live band, a large dance floor and food and drink will be available for purchase. Reservations are recommended for this event and further information is available on the Rhyme N Chatt Facebook page. Yet another open mic opportunity is The Open Mic at The Well. This group meets every Monday from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. at 1800 Rossville Avenue. Presenters may take up to 15 minutes to deliver poetry, music, performance art, an occasional rant or stand-up comedy routine.
Shawnessey Keith Cargile will celebrate five years of facilitating this group which he says is devoted to providing a safe space for performing artists to present work before a sympathetic audience. He also emphasizes forming a community of supportive artists and encourages collaborations beyond the format of the weekly event. Outgrowths of the event include a band, a book launch by one performer, and a booklet of writings by the participants. Many participants have joined the ranks of performance poets.
Thursday nights bring an opportunity to perform in Poetry and More at the Stone Cup Café. Poets and musicians perform their work in front of a mural, an artistic rendering of the night sky constellations. Carl Pemberton has hosted this open mic for three years and usually opens the evening with his keyboard work.
He welcomes poets and musicians alike. Carl emphasized the consistency of his event, every Thursday night, and the talented performers that show up. He also stated people feel comfortable stepping up to the microphone at this event.
KB Ballentine
Christian Collier
8 • THE PULSE • JANUARY 30, 2020 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM Erika Dionne Roberts (Velvet Poetry) has hosted open mics at The Edney Innovation Center in the past but will offer them at the Palace Theater this year. Watch for forthcoming information about Sunday Scribez.
Fifth Tuesday events take place at Star Line Books at 6:00 p.m. on the fifth Tuesday of any month, four months each year have a fifth Tuesday. Full Disclosure: the author of this article is the host and MC of Fifth Tuesdays. The focus of these events is on the participants. It’s not about the organizer though they grow through the process as well.
Christian Collier who ran The Speakeasy open mic for years spoke about his current involvement, “I’m not currently organizing any open mics. Largely, I moved away from them in 2013 and for the past few years, I have shifted my focus into doing more workshops and other projects. I started The Plug Poetry Project last year, and that’s an arts initiative that strives to help honor and cultivate the city’s poetry community by providing resources, classes, etc. The primary components of it right now are the reading series. I bring a poet to town to lead a free workshop for the community and do a featured reading. We’re bringing our third writer, Jose Olivarez, to town on February 22nd. I also have a docuseries.”
Collier stated open mics are a great way to meet similar-minded people and to see what is possible, not just in terms of poetry but in general. “I remember seeing Noah Collins perform at an open mic once and being astounded with how he used volume and played with time to subtly force the people in the room to lean in a little bit closer and pay attention to what he was doing. That was something that I immediately wanted to be able to do in some of my work, both on the stage and on the page.”
He continues, “I’ll go to an open-mic to tune things up or to see how well I know the material I’ve been rehearsing in a live setting. You can practice something a million times at home or alone but as soon as you step out of the house and in front of strangers, the dynamics are a bit different so I like using open mics as a gauge to see where I stand in the process. I wouldn’t say open mics are essential for a poet’s development, but they can be. I think it’s a matter of what kind of poet one is or strives to be and what open mic environment they’re comfortable in.” Collier’s words emphasize the learning aspect of open mics. Open mics are vibrant, dynamic experiences. The process continues for poets as they venture into performance, formal readings and publication.
So if you've got a story to tell, write it down, practice in front of a mirror or close friends, then venture out and share your thoughts and visions with the world right here in town.
Finding The Old West In Cartersville
Our itinerant traveler lives out his cowboy ways on the road
Jason Tinney Pulse columnist
Jason Tinney co-authored the play Girl With Diamonds In Her Eyes: A Cowgirl Western with Holly Morse-Ellington and has been known to play cowboy harmonica with singer/songwriter Eric Shelton. He is typically attired in jeans, Western snap-shirts, and cowboys boots.
SILENCE SAVED FOR A GENTLE boot tap in time with the humming whisper of Mary Sharon Vaughn’s words made popular by highwaymen named Waylon and Willie. Strung upon tall Georgia pines are memories of my six cousins settled in for The Wizard Of Oz in a living room after Thanksgiving while I, cap guns holstered by my hips, sneak upstairs alone to watch Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid on a small black and white TV. Maybe it’s my imagination scattered across tranquil farmland shouldering Route 411, but at the age of eight I felt like an outlaw.
The Booth Western Art Museum resides next to railroad tracks that cut through the center of Cartersville, a small town 70 miles south of the Tennessee line. At 120,000 square feet, constructed of Bulgarian limestone and resembling a modern-day pueblo, the Booth is the largest permanent exhibition space for Western art in the world.
Over 2,000 pieces—paintings, sculptures, vintage movie posters, manuscripts and artifacts blending historical works with contemporary—are housed within the museum’s fifteen galleries. A Smithsonian Institution affiliate, the Booth, which opened in 2003, is listed among “The South’s Best Museums” by Southern Living and was named the 2016 Reader’s Choice “Best Western Museum” in America by True West magazine. “The number one question we get is: why would you build a Western art museum in the Southeastern part of the United States?” says Jim Dunham, Booth’s historian and Director of Special Projects.
“It has less to do with where we are— everything to do with how old you are. If you were raised like me, in the 1950s, the motion picture and television industry was dominated by Westerns. It didn’t matter where you lived. The founders that collected this art fell in love with the American frontier because of the TV and
CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JANUARY 30. 2020 • THE PULSE • 9 movies. Even though they lived in Cartersville, their house was filled with paintings of cowboys and Indians.”
James Friedewald, 76, is a retired Atlanta trial lawyer-turneddocent. Decked in crisp jeans, bolo-tie and handsome chocolate cowboy boots, he guides our group highlighting artists such as Charles M. Russell, Harry Jackson, and Frederic Remington.
Before moving into the Millar Presidential Gallery, where letters from every American president are on display, Friedewald pauses at “A Day’s Work Done” by Duane Bryers. “Doesn’t that just bring your blood pressure down?” he says. An old cowboy and horse sip water from a trough as the dust settles. “When I got through trying cases—and trying cases is open warfare—and all of a sudden the day’s over and that just feels really good,” Friedewald tells me. “Yeah, it’s a really relaxing piece of art.”
The Booth’s myriad galleries include: Modern West, a wing dedicated to contemporary art; War is Hell which chronicles the Civil War; Sagebrush Ranch, an interactive children’s gallery; and Native Hands, a collection of American Indian artifacts.
“If there is a single overriding comment that you can make about Western art—it’s storytelling art,” Dunham says. “We divided the galleries on how the stories are told. We have one gallery called Colliding Cultures that deals with the treatment of African Americans, American Indians, Hispanics, Chinese. It’s an interesting gallery because it has so many paintings and sculptures that deal with this subject of Western movement to Western expansion which could be very violent and produce conflict.”
Last year, the Booth debuted WARHOL and the WEST, the first exhibition to fully explore Andy Warhol’s love of the wild frontier. Before his death, Warhol completed Cowboys and Indians which included fourteen iconic Western subjects, among them, Custer, Geronimo and John Wayne. The exhibition marked the first time the collection had been presented in full context and featured more than one hundred works of art and objects—including Warhol’s cowboy boots.
“Andy was a mirror to America,” says Seth Hopkins, Executive Director of the Booth. “If you were truly going to reflect America, the West was going to have to be in there. It’s not unnatural that he should have investigated the West. He kept a scrapbook of movie stars. The largest photograph in that portfolio was of Roy Rogers.”
Through February, the Picturing America Gallery showcases the photographs of Bill Wittliff who chronicled (and wrote the screenplay for) the Lonesome Dove miniseries based on the novel by Larry McMurtry. I’m staring at a photo of Robert Duvall in weathered boots, wry smile. In my memories and imagination, I can hear Augustus McCrae say, “If I’d have wanted civilization I’d have stayed in Tennessee and wrote poetry for a living.”
