This weekend I get to hang with old friends and comrades in the arts — Luis Rodriguez and Maria Trinidad Rodriquez — in San Fernando, CA. You can join or bask in the poetic radiance of the Tia Chucha Open Mic at 8pm this Friday, June 22, organized by poet and artist Jenuine Poetess. I follow the Open Mic at 8:45pm. The Armageddon of Funk (AoF), published by Tia Chucha Press, will be available.
I will kick off the reading with the poem “Torturing My Wife,” in which I name names. Specifically Luis. No we were never married (although we were roommates), and no I did not harm my actual wife, Patricia Zamora. Want to know the story behind the title? Come to the reading. Or buy the book. Some of you have the opportunity to do both at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural, 13203 Gladstone Ave, Sylmar, CA 91342-3116. The event is free and open to everyone. Tell your friends and your enemies.
I will also be in the Los Angeles area to pick up an award for the AoF at the American Library Association Annual Conference & Exhibition. I will appear twice at the ALA conference. Along with other poets and writers I will be honored at the Black Caucus of the American Library Association Literary Awards. That reading is open to the public and takes place Sunday, June 24, 8:30pm-10pm at EMB-Landmark Ballroom Salon B, Embassy Suites Anaheim – South, 11767 Harbor Boulevard, Garden Grove, California (Tel: 1-714-539-3300). My reading/performance the next day is closed to the public. If you are among the throngs of ALA attendees at this Librarian’s equivalent of a Star Wars convention, you can find me on Monday, June 25, 11:30am (book signing 12-12:30pm), at the LIVE!@your Library Reading Stage, Anaheim Convention Center, Aisle 2200 in the Exhibition Hall. Don’t return home to your library without having experienced The Armageddon of Funk.
