July 19th: Michael Mack Features



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On July 19th, we feature poet and playwright Michael Mack, fresh from a performance in Washington, DC.

Poet, playwright, and performer Michael Mack served in the US Air Force before graduating from the Writing Program at MIT.

His poems have appeared in America, the Beloit Poetry Journal, Cumberland Poetry Review, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Southern Poetry Review. They have aired on National Public Radio and were anthologized in Best Catholic Writing.

Awards include an Artist's Grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, First Prize in the National Writers Circle Poetry Competition, and an Eloranta Fellowship, which funded a residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre for the Arts in Ireland.

Mack has performed in venues as diverse as the US Library of Congress, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, the Columbia Festival of the Arts, Philadelphia Fringe Festival, the Austin International Poetry Festival, and Off-Off-Broadway at the Times Square Arts Center.

His solo play Hearing Voices (Speaking in Tongues) explores his mother's life with schizophrenia, and he has performed it nationwide both in theatrical settings and for consumers and providers of mental health services. These have included McLean Hospital, the national conference of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and for faculty and students of the Harvard Medical School.

Visit Michael Mack's website.

July 12th: Joanie DiMartino Features



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On July 12th, Joanie DiMartino will debut her first poetry book Strange Girls, for the Boston area.

Joanie DiMartino has work published in literary journals including Alimentum, Calyx, Wicked Alice Poetry Journal, and Modern Haiku, and also in anthologies, such as Motif: Writing by Ear, Letters to the World: Poems from the Wom-Po Listserv, and New Growth: Recent Kentucky Writings. She is a past winner of the Betty Gabehart Award for poetry from the Women Writers Conference, Kentucky, and was a finalist in the Cultural Center of Cape Cod poetry competition. She is a founding member of the women’s poetry group Mosaic, in Lexington, Kentucky, and is currently also a member of Poets & Writers Consortium East in Groton, Connecticut. Her first chapbook, Licking the Spoon, was published in 2007 by Finishing Line Press, and her first full-length collection, Strange Girls, about women in sideshows, circuses, and carnivals, was released in June, 2010 from Little Red Tree Publishing.

Her poems have been featured in several art exhibits in Lexington, Kentucky, including Sideshow, a collaborative project with the Women Artists Group; Collaborations + Catalysts, an exhibit highlighting combined mediums; and Connections, an interfaith exhibit, where her poem, “The Monks,” an experimental piece incorporating Gregorian Chant throughout the poem, was performed. She was most recently featured in the exhibit Women in the Arts, a show by local artist Deborah Curtis, where her portrait and poem, “Self-Portrait,” were on display at ArtWorks in Norwich, Connecticut.

DiMartino holds an MA in public history from Rutgers University. She has worked in the history museum field for fifteen years, and her poetry often pairs history with a feminist perspective. She hosts ‘Soup & Sonnets,’ a monthly literary salon for women, and, along with performing poetry, leads workshops and discussion groups. Raised in southern New Jersey, DiMartino has lived in Lexington, Kentucky, and now resides with her son, Dante, in Mystic, Connecticut.

Click here to Purchase Strange Girls.

July 5th: Aaron Goldstein Features



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On July 5th,ollowing the Fourth of July festivities, Aaron Goldstein brings his conservative viewpoint that has launched a thousand response poems at The Cantab to Stone Soup.

Aaron Goldstein has been writing poetry for nearly twenty years. Originally from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, Aaron came to Boston ten years ago in the pursuit of happiness. A conservative in a field dominated by liberals, socialists and communists, Aaron can be seen antagonizing the patrons and poets of the Cantab Lounge on most Wednesday nights with his verse from the right. Aaron is also an accomplished essayist on politics and other passions and is a regular online contributor to The American Spectator as well as other conservative blogs.

Aaron's poems were featured in the anthology Out of the Blue Writers Unite (2003). He has also put out two chapbooks Oysters & The Newborn Child: Melancholy & Dead Musicians (2003) and Woman in the Sky: Poems Inspired by Amelia Earhart & The Journey of Flight (2009).

Aaron, however, does not live by politics alone. His other passions include, but are not limited to, baseball, music and ketchup flavored potato chips. Aaron currently lives in Jamaica Plain where he shares space with the beloved Boston poet Christopher Kain.

Reminder

Anne Brudevold features tonight.

June 28th: Don Hammontree Features

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On June 28, poet, author and musician Don Hammontree will close off the month of June for Stone Soup with a mix of spoken word and acoustic music.

Don Hammontree is a writer, singer, and photographer who resides in Fall River, Mass. A native Midwesterner, he has gigged all along the East Coast and the American heartland, and has also performed in Poland and Ukraine. He has released three solo CDs, "Mount Hope Days" in 2003, "The Mumbai EP" in 2005, and "Brutalist School" in 2010.He has also self-published a novel, "Baptized in Formaldehyde," described as a "sex, drugs and rock and roll tome for the whole family." His music can be sampled at iTunes and www.cdbaby.com/artist/DonHammontree.

Listen to Don hammontree's music.

June 21: Jade Sylvan Presents Book of Hope



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On June 21, local author Jade Sylvan presents the local youth group Books of Hope as they tour throughout New England this summer.

Books of Hope seeks to give the next generation of young authors the tools they need to bring their talents into the world and help shatter the negative stereotypes that often surround urban youth. Based in the Mystic Housing Project in Somerville Massachusetts, its mission is to empower young people to find their voices and give back to their community through creative writing, book production, performance, and social entrepreneurship.

Through the process of writing, designing, and promoting their own books of poetry, creative nonfiction, and short stories, young authors become aware of the power they hold within themselves to open doors and create positive change. The program provides a safe space for at-risk teens, primarily from families of Haitian immigrants, to use their creativity constructively and spread inspiration and motivation to others. Now in its tenth year, Books of Hope is extending its reach from Somerville and the surrounding areas to the rest of New England and beyond.

Visit the Books of Hope web site.

Reminder

Joanna Nealon and Carol Weston feature tonight.

June 14th: Alan Feldman Features




Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On June 14, we have poet and teacher Alan Feldman making his first Stone Soup appearance.

Alan Feldman is the author of The Happy Genius (SUN, 1978), A Sail to Great Island (University of Wisconsin Press, 2004), and a number of chapbooks, including The Personals (Choomia, 1982), Anniversary (1992), Round Trip (2003) and On the Zocalo (2007)––these last three with color drawings by Nan Hass Feldman. His poetry has appeared in The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Poetry, The Nation, The Southern Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, Threepenny Review and several anthologies such as Best American Poetry 2001 and Best American Erotic Poems From 1800 to the Present. He has received the Elliston Book Award, the Pollak Prize for Poetry, as well as fellowships from the Massachusetts Artists Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. He teaches a free drop-in poetry workshop during the year at the Framingham Public Library, and during the summer at the Wellfleet Public Library.

June 7th: Anne Brudevold Features




Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On May June 7, we welcome back past feature and local author and publisher Anne Brudevold.

Anne is a recalcitrant poet since there's no money in it and she needs to make money, so she has caved in to the dirty world of commerce and is writing a not too sappy romance novel with redeeming qualities such as jabs at the logging industry in Maine and kudos to the art of knife making. She hopes to get into the mosh pit of being publishing and getting a substantia advance. She has published in Wilderness House Literary Review, OntheBus, Plieiades, University of Missouri Press. Windhorse, Black Bough, Ibbetson St., Bagelbards, Peregrine, Appleseeds, and on Spoonful. Also, Wilderness House Literary Review published her novel Hunter Moon online. She has one Pushcart nomination, and won honorable mention at the Cyclaments and Swords recent contest, and second place in the Best of the Valley Optimist Contest. She publishes Eden Waters Press. Issues are availabe on June 7th at deep discount. She likes to cook, eat, and hike. She has featured at Borders, Stone Soup, and the Moultenburough Public Library in New Hampshire. She's a little insecure, but who isn't in these waning days of the recap of the Roman Empire.

Visit the Eden Waters Press web site.

Spoonful Issue #4 Is Up

We are pleased to release issue # 4 of Spoonful, an online journal that serves as an ongoing tribute to the Stone Soup Poetry scene.

Issue # 4 can now be read here.

Featuring:

A TRIBUTE TO MIKE AMADO.

A VIDEO/TEXT POETRY SEGMENT WITH JOANNA NEALON.

"PATH OF A POSSUM" BY GORDON MARSHALL

POEMS BY:

Greg Ford, Tim Gager, Lo Galluccio, Melissa Guillet, Coleen T. Houlihan, John Landry, Shannon Mcginnis, Chad Parenteau, Erin Reardon, Su Red, Thea K. Scott, Luis Lazaro Tijerina, James Van Looy, Derek JG Williams, and Rafael Woolf.

ARTWORK BY:
Jane Chakravarthy, James Conant, Edward S. Gault, Laurel Lambert, Bill Perrault, Michael E. Quigg, Su Red, Samantha Scott-Heron, Luis L. Tijerina, and Cindy Williams.

Thank you,

Chad Parenteau
Lynne Sticklor

May 31st: Da Butcha 'shoppe



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On May 31, we end the 39th anniversary month-long celebration with music and poetry from Da Butcha 'shoppe.

Da Butcha ‘shoppe rose phoenix like from the ashes of Poetry Performance Troupe, the Collective in 2006, and features guitarist, Ethan “Black Wednesday” Mackler, and Poet, D. A. “Da Butcha” Boucher, vocals.

Da Butcha ‘shoppe mixes all forms of entertainment to bring Poetry to life, from burlesque to comedy to dance to everything in between.

Da Butcha ‘shoppe has appeared on stages in New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts, amazing and astounding all.

Some of their performances have included Butcha’s birth of a rubber chicken, the Alien, and interpretive dance.

Due to the fact that they blow minds every time they appear, they have been called the most interesting group on stage today and reviews of their sets have ranged from “I’ve never seen anything like that before.” to “I don’t know what I just saw, but I liked it!” to “WOW, that was incredible!”

Generally, as a rule, Da Butcha ‘shoppe challenges what the public thinks of as Poetry, their tag line, “this is not your father’s Poetry.”

Da Butcha ‘shoppe, the best thing since sliced bread.

May 24: Joanna Nealon and Carol Weston Feature

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On May 24, Stone Soup Poetry's month long anniversary celebration continues with Stone Soup alum Joanna Nealon and Carol Weston.




Joanna Nealon is a Fullbright Scholar who has published five books. In addition to Stone Soup, she has read for various venues such as Tapestry of Voices, Ibbetson Street Press, Walden Pond Poetry and the Newton and Brockton Library series. She has been published in The Aurorean, Ibbetson Street Review, the Stone Soup anthologies, Cosmic Trend, Bitteroot, Northeast Corridor, and Poesis. Her newest release is Poems of The Zodiac.




Carol Weston has featured many times with Stone Soup. She read alongside Jack Powers and Allen Ginsberg in 1973 in the former Charles Street Universalist Church. In the Winter of 1983, she was asked by Powers to feature in Boston's City Hall along with John Wieners. Her poetry has been published in The Farleigh Literary Review, Bomb, Stone Soup Anthology 2003, Spoonful and The Blind See Only This World.

May 17th: Charley Shively and Jim Dunn Feature

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On May 17, we are visited by past Stone Soup figureheads Charley Shively and Jimm Dunn.



Charley Shively is the author of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, San Francisco Experience. He has written two volumes regarding Walt Whitman's correspondence, Calamus Lovers and Drum Beats, and The History of the Conception of Death in America 1650-1860 (1988). He was the founding editor of Fag Rag (one of the first gay-liberation publications in the country) and Good Gay Poets Press, publisher of John Wieners' seminal text Behind the State Capitol or Cincinnati Pike. He is Professor Emeritus of the UMass Boston History Department.



Jim Dunn is the author of Soft Launch (Bootstrap 2008), Convenient Hole (Pressed Wafer 2004), and Insects In Sex (Fallen Angel Press, 1995). He has served as the Poet-In-Residence at Endicott College and has also participated in the Prison Poetry reading Program at BU. His work appears in eoagh, Gerry Mulligan, tthe cafe review, Meanie, and the anthology celebrating John Wieners , The Blind See Only In This World. He recently edited the John WIeners Journal, "A New Book From Rome" with Derek Fenner and Ryan Gallagher of Bootstrap Press.

Reminder

Brian S. Ellis closes out National Poetry Month.

May 10: Doug Holder and Zvi A. Sesling Feature



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On May 10, Stone Soup's celebration of its 39th anniversary continues with the return of poet/publishers Doug Holder and Zvi A. Sesling.

Doug Holder is the founder of the Ibbetson Street Press. He is the co-founder of The Somerville News Writers Festival, arts editor of The Somerville news, Director of the Newton Free Library Poetry Series, and Book review editor of The Wilderness House Literary Review. His work has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Toronto Quarterly, Poetry Motel, the new renaissance, The Endicott Review, and many others. He currently teaches writing at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, Mass and Endicott College in Beverly, Mass. He holds an M.A. in Literature from Harvard University.




Zvi A. Sesling has published poetry in over 100 magazines among them: Midstream, Poetica, Voices Israel, Saranac Review, New Delta Review, Plainsong, Asphodel, Ibbetson St., Haz Mat Review, Istanbul Literary Review, The Chaffin Journal, Ship of Fools and Chiron Review. He has more poems forthcoming in 2009 in Main Street Rag, Endicott Review and others. He was awarded Third Place (2004) and First Prize (2007) in the Reuben Rose International Poetry Competition and was a finalist in the 2009 Cervena Barva Press Chapbook Contest. In 2008 he was selected to read his poetry at New England/Pen “Discovery” by Boston Poet Laureate Sam Cornish. He recently participated in a Jewish Poetry Festival at Temple Sinai, Brookline, MA. He edits the Muddy River Poetry Review. His book King of the Jungle (Ibbetson St.) was published in March and his chapbook Across Stones of Bad Dream (Cervana Barva) is due out this year.

May 3: C.C. Arshagra Features at Stone Soup



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On May 3, to celebrate Stone Soup's 39th anniversary month, we welcome back C.C. Arshagra, a figure from Stone Soup's past that makes a long-awaited return, promising new work and musical accompaniment.

C.C. Arshagra is a Boston based poet and songwriter. He was active in Stone Soup as the videographer for the Stone Soup Poetry TV show. He also toured with the Barnum and Buddah Poetry Circus. He is the author of The Open Mike Poems, a series of chapbooks. He has been called "The hardest working man in poetry" by Jeff Robinson.

Visit the poet's web site.

Reminder

April Rangers Continues Stone Soup's National Poetry Month Celebration.

Tonight

Thanks to Janaka Stucky for kicking off our celebration of National Poetry Month.

Reminder

David Leo Sirois say sgood bye to Boston.

April 26: Brian S. Ellis Features



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On April 26th, we finish National Poetry Month with performance poet Brian S. Ellis, who will be returning to Boston after an extended tour across the nation.

Brian S. Ellis is a writer and performer based out of Jamaica Plain. He’s represented the Boston Poetry Slam at the National Poetry Slam and the Individual World Poetry Slam; co-founded the Whitehaus Family Record, a venue and arts collective in Jamaica Plain; and published Uncontrolled Experiments in Freedom, a collection of his poems with Write Bloody Books, in 2008. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize twice.

Purchase Brian S. Ellis' book from Write Bloody Press.

April 19th: Lee Litif and Chris Robbins Return

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On April 19th, Stone Soup will feature the return of Lee Litif and Chris Robbins, the Fifth and Sixth Horsemen of The Apocalypse. Due to the extreme subject matter of both poets, this show will not be aired on Cambridge or Lowell public access, and large portions of the show will not be able to be uploaded on YouTube. Therefore, the show is best viewed live.



Photo by Bill Perrault

The most infamous open miker at the venue. Lee Litif has been a regular contribution to the Stone Soup open mike since 1991. He's the author of several chapbooks, including Unpatriotic Flags and Abominating White Houses, Reckless Paella and Defecating Republicans, and Ultrasonic Amplifiers and Marshall Amps/Genital Wart Puking Rednecks. He's been described as "The love child of Gallagher and Larry Fischer with G.G. Allin as midwife" by Chad Parenteau and "the orgasm that never quite made it," by Walter Howard.


Photo by Bill Perrault

If you can imagine Alice Walker dating Jim Morrison and their kid having George Carlin and John Valby for teachers, you’d have a fair picture of Chris Robbins. His darker side is a cross between “Animal Farm” and “Animal House”. Ever since he discovered that he has Asperger’s Syndrome, he quit writing feminist poems in favor of writing autistic ones because he believes that he’ll become more relevant that way. In other words, just like former Boston Red Sox player Manny Ramirez joining the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chris is playing on a different team now, but he’s still playing the same game.

April 12: April Ranger Features



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On April 12, we welcome longtime local performer April Ranger for her first Stone Soup feature.

April Ranger is a Boston-based poet and playwright. She represented the Cantab Lounge at the 2009 Individual World Poetry Slam in Berkeley, California. As part of the Cantab's 2008 Team she performed on Final Stage in Madison, Wisconsin. April has featured her work on stages across New England, and holds a degree in theater from Emerson College. She currently resides in Jamaica Plain.

April 5: Janaka Stucky Features



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. April 5 marks the beginning of Stone Soup's celebration National Poetry Month. We start off by also celebrating Janaka Stucky's long-awaited return to Stone Soup.

Janaka Stucky is practicing the perfection of effort while working on silent relationships with knives, hairpins, & a history of tentacles. Other passions include whiskey and pugilism. He is also the Publisher of Black Ocean and its literary magazine, Handsome. His latest chapbook, Your Name Is The Only Freedom, is now available from Brave Men Press. Some of his other poems have appeared in Cannibal, Denver Quarterly, Fence, Free Verse, No Tell Motel, North American Review, Redivider and VOLT. He will also be teaching a 6-week workshop at Grub Street beginning April 18th.

Visit the Black Ocean web site.

Janaka Stucky as featured in The Boston Phoenix.

March 29: David Leo Sirois Features



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On March 29, poet David Leo Sirois has his farewell feature to Stone Soup and Boston as he returns to his home state of Maine.

David Sirois was born in Edmundston, New Brunswick, and grew up across the border in Madawaska, Maine, the northernmost town on the East Coast. He attended Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont, majoring in Literature and Languages. He has served as a staff writer for The Better Drink: A Sparkling Wine and Living Magazine, contributing poetry, essays, fiction and film reviews. His poems have also appeared in journals including Silo, Poesy, Ibbetson Street, I Left This Here For You To Read, and Echoes, and his work was anthologized in Becoming Fire: Spiritual W riting from Rising Generations. David sees writing as a spiritual practice, and has just finished his first full-length book of poems, Silver Shiver.

March 22: The Return of Dave Brinks to Stone Soup



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On March 22, we welcome back poet, author, editor and publisher Dave Brinks all the back from New Orleans.

Brinks is the editor of YAWP: A Journal of Poetry & Art, publisher of Trembling Pillow Press, director of the 17 Poets! Series and founder of The New Orleans School for the Imagination. His poems have been published in Exquisite Corpse, Fell Swoop, La Reata, Meena, New Laurel Review, Slavery and Xavier Review. His collections of poems include The Caveat Onus, The Light on Earth Street, The Secret Brain, How Birds Fly, The Snow Poems, Trail and Eros and A Pot of Lips.

March 15: Gale Batchelder Features at Stone Soup



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On March 15th, we continue our reputation of presenting new voices by featuring past Goba Salon feature, Gale Batchelder.

Gale Batchelder lives in Cambridge. She recently resumed writing poetry after a hiatus of many years. She has studied poetry in Provincetown, New York, and Cambridge, with Elizabeth Alexander, Gail Mazur, John Yau, and Tom Daley. Gale has read her poetry at a number of venues in and around Cambridge and is a member of the Concord Poetry Center and Grub Street Writers. Gale is a co-founder of the cooperative poetry press “Off the Park Press” (New York City). Her poems are included in the anthology New Smoke, a collection inspired by the paintings of Neo Rauch, a contemporary neo-realist German artist. Gale received her BA in philosophy from Beloit College, holds Master's degrees from Boston University and Harvard, and is the founder of New Leadership Group, a consulting firm serving non-profit organizations internationally.

Reminder

The MoJo poets close out Feburary and Black History Month.

Reminder

Eric Howes has his first feature with the venue. Don't miss it.

March 8th: Bill Perrault and Lynne Sticklor Feature

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On March 8th, Stone Soup welcomes back friend Bill Perrault, who will be celebrating his birthday featuring alongside friend and Stone Soup co-host Lynne Sticklor.

Lynne Sticklor has been a contributer in the local (and not so local) poetry scene since Stone Soup was at TT's, Middle East downstairs & the Zeitgeist, Out of the Blue was way down on Brookline ave and Joe Cook was thrilling upstairs at the Cantab with the electrifying third rail downstairs...

In 2003, with Doug Holder's guidance and encouragement, she went from the stage as The Prize Lady to the page editing & designing many local poets' chapbooks and is listed in the Harvard Archives for her efforts. Editing, designing & creating, helping host Stone Soup, reading her favorite poets' pieces while encouraging other creative voices to be heard during open mikes and as a feature has been a wonderful and prolific journey.

And yet~ it is a fantastic and exciting treat to have a first time feature as herself reading her own poetry.

Thank You & Happy Birthday Bill.


Photos by Chad Parenteau

Bill Perrault was born and lived in Biddeford ME until he finished college for which he had paid by working as a weaver in the textilemills. From 1958 to 1960, the U S Army sent him to Germany as a medic andEducational Counselor. He took the opportunity to tour Europe at that time. When his tour of duty was over, he came home and six weeks later,he married his wife, Lorraine. In 1964, the first of their four children was born and, to date, they are now the proud grandparents of seven. After he and Lorraine married, he began his career teaching high school French and Latin in Maine and upper New York State. He did graduate studies at University of Maine and wrote his masters thesis on Guillaume Apollinaire. In 1973, he moved to Massachusetts to work for Polaroid. Bill now lives in Lowell. Throughout his life, he has enjoyed poetry andphotography. Bill was always the one with a notebook with him to write and a camera to take a picture. He never knew when he might be inspired or find a picture that just needed to be taken. In his retirement, the free time allows him to take these passions to a new level. If it’s joining the Poets in Boston for the Stone Soup Poets or producing local TV programs in Cambridge and Lowell, he is enjoying his creative life. Bill Has been published in the Stone Soup Anthology 2003, Out of the Blue Writers Unite Anthology, and various web pages, and if you are lucky enoughto be on his e-mail list, the poetry is Hot Off The Presses! Bill has featured, performed and sometimes hosted at open mikes all over NewEngland--including: COOL COFFEE in Biddeford, ME, Bestseller’s Cafe inMedford, MA his Walden Pond Series and, of course, Out Of the BlueGallery. Bill is a staple figure at the Gallery in Cambridge, MA and has faithfully supported the events they hold there every day/night of the week-- Stone Soup Poets, WordBeat, Open Bark and all.

See the Spoonful website for samples of Bill's writing and photography.

March 1: Simone Beaubien Returns

Photo by Marshall Goff

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On March 1st, we welcome back the long-awaited return of renowned local poet and venue host Simone Beaubien.

Simone Beaubien, decade-plus-veteran of the New England poetry scene, makes her home in suburban Massachusetts, working as an EMT and hosting the Boston Poetry Slam at the Cantab Lounge. She has competed at a national level in pinball (1999), Ultimate Frisbee (2001, 2004 - 2005) and poetry slam (2001, 2004 - 2008).

Simone has performed her work in colleges, bookstores, theaters, and bars on both coasts and all over New England. A lifetime nerd and part-time athlete, Simone is a natural product of the sound of Boston performance poetry, bringing the arts of slam and storytelling simultaneously to the poetry stage.

As a promoter and producer, Simone produced the Boston Poetry Slam's World Qualifier at the Middle East Rock Club in 2006, and, with the Poetry Jam Collective, brought Marc Smith to the Cambridge Family YMCA in 2007. She founded and produced the NorthBEAST Regional Poetry Slam in 2007, then expanded it to a two-day festival and competition in 2008, showcasing competing slam teams from all over the northeastern U.S. In addition, she's been a return performer and booking agent for demo slams at high schools, colleges, and literary festivals statewide; she's performed in Boston's First Night since 1999 and coordinated the poetry event since 2004, produced the annual Attleboro Arts Museum Poetry Slam since 2006, and operated as MC for the annual Newburyport Literary Festival Youth Poetry Slam since 2006.

Visit Simone Beaubien's web site.

February 22: The MoJo! Poets Celebrate Black History Month

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On February 22, Mignon Ariel King returns to celebrate Black History Month, bringing with her a selection of poets that have been published in her online journal MoJo!



Black Women Writers with MoJo! are five writers from greater Boston (Bridgit Brown, Coleen T. Houlihan, Joyce Jellison, Mignon Ariel King, and Lolita Paiewonsky) who have published in the online journal MoJo! These five women work with individual styles and different messages in a variety of writing genres, but their work reflects a collective sisterhood
that the journal celebrates.

Mignon Ariel King was born in Boston City Hospital in1964, a third-generation New Englander. She has had a public library card since age 5 and has been writing poetry since the age of 11. Ms. King holds a Master of Arts in English degree from Simmons College and was adjunct professor of English in various Boston-area colleges for more than a decade. An active writer who has been reading poetry at open-mic venues since 1998, King is also a book reviewer and memoirist. Her first book of poems The Woods Have Words (2009) is available from Ibbetson Street Press.

Bridgit Brown has been writing since the age of 12. She became a serious poet at 17 when she entered college to study writing, literature, and publishing. Since then, Bridgit has acquired a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, and has participated in the Ploughshares Fiction Writers Conference in Well, Holland, received the Nadya Aisenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Writers Room of Boston, and has had her poetry published in Ibbetson Street journal. She is currently a contributing writer for the Bay State Banner, Color Magazine, Exhale Magazine, and WGBH’s Basic Black Perspectives.

Coleen T. Houlihan studied writing at Wellesley College. She has featured at several poetry venues in Massachusetts such as: Stone Soup, Best Sellers, Borders, the Sherman Cafe and Walden Poetry Series. Her poetry has been published in Poesy, The Alewife, The Wilderness House Literary Review, Ibbetson Street, Spoonful: A Gathering of Stone Soup Poets, and Spare Change, as well as abroad.

Joyce Angela Jellison is the author of two books, Where Everything Fits Beautifully and Black Apple. She describes her poetic style as “[sometimes] a bit provocative. I often use anatomy as metaphor in the tradition of Hattie Gossett.” She is also the director of "Write Out Loud: Transforming Our Lives Through Writing Our Truths."

Lolita Paiewonsky writes librettos, drama, fiction and, especially, poetry (since the second grade). She has presented her poetry with classical and jazz music and original choreography and exhibited it as “poetage” (visual poetry); she has been featured poet at many venues. Her poetry has appeared in a number of publications, including The Harvard Dudley Review, Harvard ALANA journals, Wilderness House Literary Review, Bagelbard anthologies, and Bradley University Journal.

Visit the MoJo! web site.

February 15: Sam Cha and Dawn Gabriel Feature



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On February 15, we welcome Sam Cha and Dawn Gabriel.

Sam Cha likes poems that fail spectacularly or interestingly. He may or may not fail at the writing of poems that fail spectacularly or interestingly, and may or may not fail spectacularly or interestingly at the writing or failing. This may or may not add an element of suspense to his poems, which may or may not be an added inducement for you to come.



Dawn Gabriel is a veteran slammer who has competed nationally for Boston, Providence, and Worcester, and is an occasional co-host for the Boston Poetry Slam. Dawn and Sam live together in Cambridge with 8 year-old Henry, and baby twins Alice and Ada.

Reminder

The year has been off to a great start. We close off January with Sam Teitel.

February 8: Eric Howes Features



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On February 8, Stone Soup continues its tradition of

Eric Howes has a longstanding love affair with the written word. He has done poetry readings up and down the Mississippi river and more recently in greater Boston. His work focuses on not only the well-spring of inspiration associated with the artisitc life, but also what flanks it, influences it, struggles through it, and construes either clarity or confusion from it. His style has been described as simultaneously deft and weighty but never daft and light; a penchant for superceding metaphor and overt predictability in the secretive. Straddling the borderline of what slam is constructed for and what the literati pursue in the everyday, he can be seen regularly at the Cantab lounge and Out of the Blue gallery in Cambridge and Brew'd Awakening coffeehaus in Lowell.

February 1: Deborah Priestly Features


Photo by Bill Perrault

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On February 1, Out of The Blue co-founder Deborah Priestly returns to feature.

Deborah M. Priestly is co-founder of the Out of the Blue Art Gallery located in Cambridge, Mass at 106 Prospect Street with Tom Tipton, (founder, owner). She runs the Open Bark Poetry reading every Saturday night at the gallery. Her publication credits include Ibbetson Street, Spare Change, Poesy, Fresh!, Boston Poet, The Boston Herald, The Boston Girl Guide and Out of the Blue Writers Unite (which she also co-edited). She is the author of The Woman Has A Voice from Ibbetson Street Press, an eclectic combination of healing poetry and images of women in transition.

Visit the Spoonful web site for samples of Priesly and other Stone Soup Poets' work.

Reminder

Michael Monroe features tonight.

Reminder

Valerie Loveland has her first Stone Soup feature tonight.

January 25: Sam Teitel Features



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On January 25, we close out the first month of the new decade by welcoming back performance poet Sam Teitel.

Sam Teitel is a poet and spoken word artist out of New England. He’s been a member of two National Poetry Slam teams: Manchester, New Hampshire in 2008 and Portland, Maine in 2009. He was one half of the “Two Sensitive Guys” cross-country poetry tour along with Steve Subrizi. Most recently, he graduated from Hampshire College with a thesis entitled “Poetry. Performance. Punk Rock.” He likes coffee, New Orleans, cartoons, and old paperbacks.

January 18: Michael Monroe Features



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On January 18, we welcome local poet and open miker Michael Monroe to his first Stone Soup feature.

Profoundly silly, endearingly offbeat, unexpectedly moving (only occasionally broken) and ultimately entertaining, Michael Monroe is a fresh new voice in the spoken word performance/slam poetry scene. An ex preacher, nouveau heretic and regular open-mic performer at the Cantab Lounge in Central Square (Cambridge, MA) he has the ability to engage an audience and make people feel something serious, something funny, and just plain something human that you can take with you and think to yourself, "Oh Shit -- did I leave something in the oven?"

Reminder: January 4th:

Join us as we celebrate the life of Mike Amado.

January 11th: Valerie Loveland Features



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On January 11th, Stone Soup welcomes Valerie Loveland, a recent new arrival to Massachusetts who will be reading from her recently published book, Reanimated, Somehow.

Valerie Loveland was born in Southern New Jersey. She spent some time in California and Texas before settling in Massachusetts. She has a BA in professional writing from Rowan University and currently works as an optician apprentice. Her work is included in the Best of the Web Anthology, 2008, is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and was a featured reader at this year’s Massachusetts Poetry Festival. She enjoys running, kiln glass arts, and listening to audio poetry.

Visit Valerie Loveland's web site.

January 4: Jack Scully Celebrates The Life of Mike Amado



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On January 4th, we commemorate the passing of Mike Amado with a reading of his work by friend Jack Scully.

Jack Scully was the co-founder with Mike Amado of The Poetry Showcase and Poetry:The Art of Words, two poetry venues in Plymouth, MA. He will bring you the poetry of the 'Spokenwarrior' the late Mike Amado from all of his published poetry as well as his unpublished works and maybe one of his own poem. He is also been know to take a picture or two at poetry venues.

Purchase Rebuilding The Pyramids by Mike Amado.

Reminder

Lo Galluccio Tonight!

December 28: The Gaults Return to Stone Soup

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On December 28, we close off the holidays and 2009 perfectly with a reunion with The Gaults, longtime friends of Stone Soup who returned after having moved away from Boston this Stone Soup.



Edward S. Gault has been writing poetry since his teens, thankfully for American Letters, these early works have been lost or destroyed. He didn't give up however and has since published in Encore, Spare Change, and Spoonful. Through the years he has read his work at Stone Soup Poetry, Open Bark, Tapestry of Voices, Small Circle Of Friends, and The Boston Poetry Slam. Since January 24, 2008, He has managed to post one poem a day (usually, but not limited to, haiku) on his blog Forest River Journal. Gault is also a Fine Arts Photographer. His work has been displayed in the Out Of The Blue Art Gallery, Inman Square's 1369 Coffeehouse, and The Cambridge Center For Adult Education.



Karen Szklany Gault has been writing poetry since she attended Marist College (BA 1986). Her hometown is Hawthorne, New York, with family ties to the historic town of Sleepy Hollow. Her final year at Marist was spent studying at the University College, Galway in Ireland, with a three-week whirlwind tour of the European continent snuck in. From1986-1988 she called Orange, California home, where she took classes in both the Music and Psychology departments at Chapman University. While studying there, she spent a week of cultural exchange with Mexican Students from the Universidad de la Ciudad de Mexico, partying and speaking with them in their native tongue. In 1996 she graduated from UMass Boston with a M.Ed. in Elementary Education. She co-taught Kindergarten and taught second grade, as well as serving as an historical interpreter at the Paul Revere House (where she met her husband, Edward Gault) and The Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum. She has a passion for the sea and maritime history and looks forward to publishing poetry and prose for the entertainment of young readers. Since 2004, when she delivered her daughter Cosette, she has been inspired to write more poetry and has been reading at Stone Soup, Open Bark, and Tapestry of Voices.

December 21: Lo Galluccio Returns to Stone Soup



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On December 21, local poet Lo Gallucio returns to the venue to feature her publication.

Lo Galluccio is a poet, prose writer and vocalist. She's had three books published, Hot Rain on Ibbetson St. Press, a prose/poem memoir, Sarasota VII on Cervena Barva Press and her latest (from which she will read): Terrible Baubles on Propaganda Press. Her poetry and prose has been published by Heat City Literary Review, Eden Waters Press, BestPoem.com, the Audience Review, Heide Hatry's anthology Heads and Tales, the Bagel Bard Anthology and Ibbetson St. magazine, among others. Lo lived on the Lower East Side of New York City for almost ten years. Her two CDs are "Being Visited" (1997) and "Spell on You" (2004.) Recently she's been collaborating with Eric Zinman, a jazz pianist. She's been nominated for three Pushcart prizes in poetry.

Visit Lo Galluccio's website.

Tonight, November 30th

Stone Soup Debuts The Baby Chronicles.

Reminder: Before Thanksgiving

Catch Tonight's Reading with Joanna Nealon and Philip Hasouris.

StoneSoup YouTube Videos Available Here

You can now scroll down to the bottom of this website to view all YouTube videos collected from Stone Soup features since 2008.

December 14th: Leo Raciot Returns to Stone Soup



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On December 14th, Stone Soup is fortunate to feature the return of Lowell-based poet and writer Leo Racicot.

Leo Racicot's work has appeared in Co-Evolution Quarterly, Utne Reader, Gay Sunshine Journal, First Hand, Spiritual Life, Poetry, Faith and Inspiration, Shakespeare's Monkey, Ibbetson Street Press, Boston Literary Magazine, and Yankee. He is the recipient of the Antonio Machado Poetry Forum Award (1998) and has featured his work at Out of the Blue Gallery, The Lily Pad, 119 Gallery, Parker House, Boston City Hall, The New England Poetry Conference and at City Lights Bookstore (San Francisco) and as a guest this past summer of the Obama Administration (Washington D.C.)

December 7th: Patricia Fillingham Tribute with Dave Fillingham


Photo by Debra Cash


Photo by Chad Parenteau

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On December 7th, Stone Soup gives another tribute to Patricia Fillingham, a past Stone Soup feature and regular who passed away in 2007. The works will be read by David Fillingham, Patricia's son, who has continued to earn her mother's work with a posthumous collection in the works.

Patricia Fillingham (May 4, 1924 to December 3, 2007) ran two poetry series in West Orange, New Jersey and New York City for 35 years. She also published poetry for 28 years with her Wart Hog Press imprint, first publishing the work of Cornelius Eady. Recieving degrees in electrical engineering and sociology, she and her husband were active members of the ACLU and early members of Amnesty International. A posthumous collection of her poetry is in the works.

Click here for a poem by Patricia published in Spoonful.

Reminder

Rachael McKibbens visits from New York tonight

November 30th: The Debut of The Baby Chronicles




Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On November 30th, you are urged to attend the release of The Baby Chronicles, a persona poem anthology unlike any other.

Steve Subrizi wrote "Seaweed Baby" in response to a request to write a persona poem. Whether out of divine inspiration or the desperate need for a writing prompt during the 365/365 poem-a-day challenge, Subrizi's poem spawned a fury of homages and imitations, some adhering close to the simple story of a baby and his seaweed, some going completely off to the deep end of the ocean. If any other collection of poems was brought together by stranger means, no one has admitted it, and we haven't bothered checking anyway.

Contributors to the anthology include Subrizi, performance poet Patrick S., local legend Ryk McIntyre, Stone Soup host Chad Parenteau, and Blogtalk radio host Michael E. Quigg, who gathered the poems and the donations necessary to print the book. Illustrated throughout by Spoonful artist James Conant, The Baby Chronicles will be sold the night of the feature, with proceeds from the book being donated to Partners in Health.

November 23: Joanna Nealon and Philip Hasouris Feature

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On November 23rd, Joanna Nealon and Philip Hasouris will be appearing to celebrate the release of their new books from Joanna Nealon and Ken Ingham's IN Publications.

Joanna Nealon is a Fullbright Scholar who has published five books. In addition to Stone Soup, she has read for various venues such as Tapestry of Voices, Ibbetson Street Press, Walden Pond Poetry and the Newton and Brockton Library series. She has been published in The Aurorean, Ibbetson Street Review, the Stone Soup anthologies, Cosmic Trend, Bitteroot, Northeast Corridor, and Poesis. Her newest release is Poems of The Zodiac.

Philip Hasouris has been writing for many years. Like many poets, he began unsure of his words, kept them hidden in notebooks, draws, closets, always in the back of his mind. He started reading publicly and eventually people started listening. Since then he has taken every opportunity to share his words. He is currently a co-host of the Brockton Library Poetry. is the author of Swimming Alone, and his recently released book, Blow Out the Moon.



Order both books from IN Publications.

Visit Philip Hasouris' web site.

November 16th: Rachel McKibbens Features



Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On November 16th, Rachel McKibbens visits from New York with her debut collection.

Rachel McKibbens juggles five children and a keyboard in upstate New York. She is a 2007 New York Foundation for the Arts poetry fellow and Pushcart Nominee. Her poems and short stories have appeared in numerous publications, including Frigg Magazine, The New York Quarterly, World Literature Today, The London Magazine, Wicked Alice and The Acentos Review. She teaches poetry and creative writing all over the country and her debut book of poetry, Pink Elephant, (Cypher Press) is available now.

Visit Rachel McKibbens' website.

Reminder

James McCoy Reads at Stone Soup This Monday, November 9th.


Anyone who wishes to pay tribute to Brother Blue, who passed away last week, will be welcome to during the open mike.

More Words on Brother Blue

I am very sad to hear about Brother Blue's passing. I had the great fortune to meet him at my first reading at the Out of the Blue Gallery this year. Besides being a great performer, he was a very kind person with a charming personality. My condolences to his family. Brother Blue will always be legend. And he will be greatly missed. Rest in peace, Brother Blue!!

--Randy Barish

Dr. Hugh Morgan Hill, "Brother Blue," 1921-2009

The Last Quixote - In Memory of Brother Blue - An Appreciation

By Seth J. Itzkan, November 5, 2009

"Be a butterfly break dancing on the sky."

"How many want to climb the mountain?...The mountain is inside of you. Climb to that place where the higher self is!"

"May I call you God?"


An appreciation of Brother Blue, by definition, can not be written. It is simply, in his own words, "ahhhh" - the sound of the inner smile, the sound of the butterfly discovering flight, the sound of tears forming in a new mother's eye. How can anyone express in words the gratitude for a man who's sole purpose in life was to help transport us to the place where words dissolve? And, of course, he took us there through story. Being, in his own self mocking terms, a "fool" and "jester", his Pied Piper sermon was intended for your own discovery of the inexplicable, and delivered, as he his motto clearly stated, "from the middle of the middle of me, to the middle of the middle of you."

For decades beyond which few can remember, the street performer extraordinaire, Brother Blue, graced the Boston scene with his colorful storytelling antics, unflappable optimism, and kaleidoscopic charisma. How are those for words? He's inspired them. Bother Blue was both a holdout from a by-gone era, and, we hope, a gateway for a future one. In his years as a performer, mentor, host, and mascot, he won every honor, award, and citation a man of his ilk could garner, and many that were no doubt created just for him. I won't even bother try to sort them all out, and you can look them up yourself, but the list seems endless. Both Boston and Cambridge claimed him as their official storyteller, and countless other communities around the world counted him as an honorary member. He was the original First Night parade mascot, leading the pageantry with his magic wand and flowing wardrobe. He continued to be the mascot for the next 33 years, ushering in New Years Eve for generations of Bostonians. Legions of mayors and other dignitaries walked behind him. No one walked in front. The parade began with Brother Blue.

Everyone who ever met Brother Blue, or, as he was affectionately called, simply, Blue, remembers him as their friend and mentor. Everyone has a story about how they met Blue, or what they did with him. You could never just have a conversation with Blue. That was impossible. If you simply said, "Blue, I'd like to introduce you to my friend so and so", you would be embarking a journey in which you both became noble lords and laddies, enshrined with the duty of discovering your inner sun for lighting the world. This adventure would continue without end until Blue's lovely wife Ruth, who, with the patience of Job, would wait for the right moment, and then gently intervene so that others could get their chance to be the sorcerer's apprentice.

Once while walking down the street with Blue and Ruth, Blue stopped to talk to a neighbor - a small elderly woman. Blue showered her with compliments about how charming and beautiful she was, and I'll be darned if she didn't become more so with each word Blue uttered, soaking it in like water to a thirsty plant. Ruth would attempt to politely get Blue to continue on their course, but the more force she put into the effort, the more emphatic Blue got in his adulation of this lady. Eventually Ruth yanked him by the arm, at which point Blue turned to the lady and, while being pulled away, and in the vein of Don Quixote, shouted, "Your spirit is so high, you lift the street!"

Often, at his weekly seminars, Blue implores the crowd, "How many people does it take to form a critical mass?" He urgently asks as if it is the most important question you will ever hear. "How many?!", he demands. "Umm", you think to yourself, a bit nervous, and wondering if this is a math question you should have learned in high school. "One!", Blue exclaims like a tremor from Vesuvius. "One!...You!"

***

I first met Brother Blue almost thirty years ago and am honored to have known him, and, like so many others, considered him a friend. About nine years ago I setup his website in cooperation with his wife and it's been practically untouched since, http://www.brotherblue.com. The most important thing I did was secure the domain name. Only weeks after I secured it, some cult in California lamented that they hadn't gotten it for their own "Brother Blue". I read about it on their message board, now long gone.

On July 12, 1995, Brother Blue and his wife joined me and a few others in honoring the 100th birthday of Buckminister Fuller, by visiting Bucky's grave site in Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. Standing around the grave, we each took turns telling stories about Buckminister Fuller. Of course, when it was Blue's turn, he went into song and dance, and eventually tears, as he wept on the flat stone that simple reads, "Call me Trim Tab". Blue and Bucky were both great admirers of each other.

In 2000, or there about, Brother Blue and I performed a duet for mutual friends who were being married. Blue did the "Ooohh Aaahh" story, and I provided accompaniment on a wooden flute.

And for hundreds of evenings at Blue and Ruth's storytelling sessions, I listened to innumerable stories and video taped hours of Blue, always thinking that someday I would tell a story. I never did, perhaps, until just now.

Goodbye Blue. God's in good company.

- Seth

Germane links below:

http://www.brotherblue.com/

http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/obituaries/x1972891436/Brother-Blue-dead-at-88-Was-storyteller-to-generations

http://www.cctvcambridge.org/node/29774