At Last: Subscribe to Kate's Miscellany! AND: Poetry and the Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet FREE~TONIGHT

Friends,

At last, you can subscribe to this blog to be sure you're getting the latest bit about this or that going on in the Sacramento and Davis writing communities and beyond. The Subscribe box is above my bio, on the right.

Now, for some FREE poetry and LIVE jazz...TONIGHT...check it out!

Jazz & Poetry Live
with
Eve West Bessier, Mario Ellis Hill, Anna Sprowl, Bob Stanley, Mary Zeppa
accompanied by the award-winning
Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet

Monday, February 7th at 7:30 PM
California Stage
2509 R Street in Sacramento

Eve West Bessier holds a B.A. in English from San Francisco State University and a Master of Education from The University of California, Davis, where she has worked as a researcher since 1990. She is an Area Coordinator and teacher with California Poets in the Schools, a jazz vocalist, vocal coach and certified life coach. She received the 2000 Kathryn Hohlwein Award and took First Place for Poetry in the 2000 California Focus on Writers Contest. Her publications include: The North American Review, Kalliope, Lyric, Manzanita, Seeker, The Sacramento Anthology: One Hundred Poems, and Heart Flip. She has two chapbooks, Roots Music and Splash published by dPress. Her poem “Zoo You, Boogaloo” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2003.


Mario Ellis Hill is a poet, songwriter, musician, spoken word and poetry slam artist. He is currently a co-host of the award winning "Poetry Unplugged" open-mic series at Luna's Cafe in Sacramento. He performs with Foshang and the Jalapeno Chocolates, a poetry and music ensemble, and is featured in their anthology, The Jive, and on the groups CD, The Jive's In The Jug. He is a vocalist with the "ethno-pop" dance band, The Free Association, and adds his touch to their latest CD, Fitty History. Mario is the artistic director of the Mario Ellis Hill Poetry Machine, which has performed spoken word, music, and dance throughout California and beyond. Mario's work has been featured in the poetry anthologies La Luna, The Sacramento Anthology: One Hundred Poems, Paleontology, Crossroads and the Nevada County Poetry Series of 2001 anthology. He also appears on the musical works of jazz musician John Tchicai (Love Is Touching) and Mark Oi (Please Use Headphones).


The current poet laureate of Sacramento, Bob Stanley has published poetry and volunteered in California literary organizations since 1975. From 1975 to 2003, Bob ran a regional automotive parts business, but changed careers in 2003 when he went to Sac State to get his MA in English and Creative Writing. Now a full-time lecturer at Sac State, Stanley is also president of the Sacramento Poetry Center, and he gives readings and has led writers’ workshops all over Northern California. In 2009 he edited Sometimes in the Open, an anthology of poems by sixty-five poets laureate from around the state. His poetry has won numerous awards, including the California Focus on Writers prize in 2006. A fifth generation Californian and UCLA grad, Bob and his wife Joyce have raised their four children in Sacramento. His chapbook, Walt Whitman Orders a Cheeseburger, was released by Rattlesnake Press in 2009, and his poem Ode to the Rotation, in honor of the San Francisco Giants, was recently published in The Sacramento Bee.


Mary Zeppa, a singer and lyricist as well as a poet and literary journalist, has been active in the Sacramento Poetry Center since 1981 and currently serves as the Center’s Principal Archivist. Zeppa is Executive Editor of Keepers of the Flame: The First 30 Years of the Sacramento Poetry Center (Rattlesnake Press, 2009). Her poems have appeared in a variety of print and on-line journals, including Perihelion, Switched-on Gutenberg, Zone 3, The New York Quarterly and Permafrost, and in several anthologies; the 2009 Kent State University Press anthology Beyond Forgetting: Poetry and Prose about Alzheimer’s Disease includes two of her poems. She is the author of two chapbooks, Little Ship of Blessing (Poets Corner Press) and The Battered Bride Overture (Rattlesnake Press). Zeppa is also one-fifth of Cherry Fizz, a quintet specializing in loose and unlabeled a cappella music. She can be seen and heard (via YouTube) singing her song "Too Many Jars, God Knows Baby, Blues" and reading her poems "Luminaria" and "Brussels Sprout Oglers at the Farmers Market". These performances occurred within the context of a Sacramento Poetry Center 30th Anniversary celebration.

The members of the 2010-2011 Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet are: Alec Watson, piano, from Geneva, IL; Sam Crowe, tenor sax, from Denver, CO; Colin McDaniel, drums, from Davis, CA; Nick Frenay, trumpet, from Syracuse, NY; Bill Vonderhaar, bass, from Houston, TX