A poetry reading in a cemetery... WHAT?????? Now why in the hell would anyone want to attend a poetry reading in a cemetery? Better yet, who in the hell would even have that idea?
Well, actually, I did.
Two years ago, I went to this workshop back in 2003 about utilizing under used and under appreciated community resources. One of the most under appreciated and little used community resource is the cemetery. It�s a wide open space that can be used to organize a neighborhood walking club, they have a space that can be used to hold a community meeting, things of that nature. Well, I began to think�
What if I had a poetry reading in a cemetery? It would be something that nobody has ever done, at least that I know of. It would be inexpensive to get and I know there would be enough room. I had it all planned out except for one thing. I said to myself, �There is no way anybody would come to a poetry reading in a cemetery.� So I put my idea to ret and let it die.
Well, fast forward about 2 years and I get an email from Cherryl Floyd Miller for an event called The Language of Bones, to be held in Oakland Cemetery. It was to be a part of a week long event called Art in the Park. I damn near screamed. I was floored. I couldn�t believe it. There was going to be a poetry reading in a cemetery. And, judging from the list of participants, there was going to be a damn good one too. And let me be the first one to tell you, it was the shilznit!!!!!
I went to the open mic, hosted by Collin Kelley, then I went to the show hosted by Cherryl. It was amazing, but as I sat there, I couldn�t help but to wonder, �What would have happened if I had followed through with my idea two years ago?�
So, I say this to you, if you are reading this blog: If you have an idea, no matter how absurd, SEE IT THROUGH TO COMPLETION!!! Let the world tell you it�s a stupid idea, don�t let doubt keep you from realizing your potential.

 

Collin Kelley has been bugging me to put something up here, but the problem is , I don�t necessarily know what to put up here. I guess I�ll talk about what�s been going on in my life up till this point.
A friend of mine who works over at GA. Public TV (GPTV) called me last week with an opportunity to perform on a nationally televised broadcast with the illustrious Nikki Giovanni and Pearle Cleage. Obviously I was stoked at the opportunity, and I was asked to tell 5 of my friends about it. That provided another problem, WHICH 5 to tell?
Well, obviously, Lady was the first one I told. Then I owed Philippe a favor from back in 2002, so I had to tell him. Also, Plain Brown has given me several opportunities to perform my art, so I had to tell him as well. That left two other people to tell. First, I told Nyne Elements, but he wouldn�t be able to do it. I told Collin and Theresa next, but Theresa couldn�t do it because she was out of town and Collin had his plate so full, he couldn�t do it. So that left Bryan Petillo and this young sista named Arianna Santiago, who I met at the poetry event at Oakland Cemetery (I�ll talk about that a little later). The girl is bad. At 16, she could put a lot of grown spoken word artists to shame. The one person I didn�t tell was my man Ajari.
Don�t get me wrong, I love Ajari like a brother, but that Negro can work my nerves like nobody�s business. Personally, I don�t think he would appreciate the opportunity, and this is my reputation on the line here. It�s not totally unprecedented. When Lady came to me about doing a show back in April, Ajari was the first person she wanted to put on the show. When I asked him if he was interested, he said �Sure.� Then about two weeks later, he says that he won�t be able to do the show. When I told Lady, she said �If he changes his mind, his spot is still open but we will go on without him. � In the words of Goodie Mob: One monkey don�t stop no show.
Well, about a week before the show, he says that he changed his mind, and that he will do the show. As close as two days before the show, he came and said that he had already taken the day off of work and would be there, no doubt. Showtime came and that negro was NOWHERE to be found. He didn�t show up. That wasn�t as bad as the fact that he didn�t call. We spoke a couple of days after that and he said that he had to go to work because he needed money and that he was getting evicted and what not. That�s totally understandable, but what prevented a courtesy call? I�m sure he wasn�t on his way to the show then decided to go to work at the last minute. But at that point, it really didn�t matter. From this point on, a no call/no show is known as �Pulling an Ajari.� Taken alone as an isolated incident, that wouldn�t have been so bad, but that was just another in a LONG line of similar behavior. All I could envision was Ajari saying that he would show up at the audition, and then just wigging out. Or worse, coming to the audition, getting selected for the show then waiting till the day before they tape and moving back to Phoenix, or Houston, or wherever the hell he decides to move. I couldn�t risk it.
My friend Alana said that I was wrong for not telling him. She said that I shouldn�t have made that decision for him and I should have told him and if he doesn�t show, that�s his problem. I couldn�t disagree more. As I said before, this is my reputation on the line here, and as I mentioned in a previous blog, Reputation is EVERYTHING.