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We paint, we write, we read, we create things, we talk, we listen. Sometimes we make things out of concrete that are too big for us to move and so the things stay where they are. One time we filled up our swimming pool with fishes and water lilies and cattails. Another time Eddie was building a little house out at the back of the property and the water was turned off back there and so he used water from the pond to mix the cement and so now that is the PondWater Estate. Our goal is to bring like-minded people together for mutual benefit, support and to entertain each other in general. In October, 2009 we began hosting events on the Second Saturday of each month from 4 to 7 pm. These are intimate gatherings, very casual, in our home. The artists will be pleased to talk to you and sign books. It is quite possible that spontaneous extraneous entertainment will break out. If you play an instrument, bring it. If you have artwork that you would like to share, bring it. If you have poetry or prose that you would like feedback on, let me know so that I can arrange it; we don't really have an open-mic. We will
be offering horrible wine and tasty happy hour snacks as well as coffee
and cookies and there will be a door prize raffle. If you would like to contribute to this event, or the house in general, bring a bottle of less horrible wine. A chunk of cheese, a stick of butter, a lightbulb. You know, things like that. Flashlight batteries are good. Ed & Joanne
Baines |
(does that sound pretentious? Well, he said it and I'm keeping it and he also wrote this) |
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"Few performers anywhere
can match his creativity, range and energy." ((( www.rockpoet.com <http://www.rockpoet.com/> ))) © 2010
Since the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, took place on November 22, 1963, we thought that November should be Jamey's, luckily he agreed. No matter what he chooses to read from or perform, it is always dynamic, informative, and spellbinding.
Saturday's Past... October
10, 2009 -
Jamey Hecht &
Jenny Noa Jamey is an established
poet and an accomplished Shakespearean actor, the combination promises
a dramatic and illuminating performance. You can see video trailers
from the book at http://www.jameyhecht.com
and also on YouTube. His blog is at http://poetrypoliticscollapse.blogspot.com/
Read how it went here!
November
14th -
Brendan Constantine
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The Guerilla Fighter of Poets His work has appeared in numerous journals, most notably Ploughshares, The Los Angeles Review, The Cortland Review, RUNES, and LA Times Bestseller The Underground Guide to Los Angeles. New work can be found in the Spring editions of Ninth Letter and The Boxcar Poetry Review, as well as the anthology Bright Wings, forthcoming from Columbia University Press and edited by Billy Collins. His collection, "Letters To Guns", was released in February 2009 from Red Hen Press. If you would like to purchase a copy before the reading, it is here. Mr. Constantine is currently Poet in Residence at the Windward School in West Los Angeles and the Idyllwild Arts Summer Youth Writing Program in Idyllwild, California. He holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and lives in Hollywood at Bela Lugosi’s last address. Read how it went here!
For two years Green remained in Rochester, working at a group home counselor for adults with schizophrenia. Timothy Green now lives in Los Angeles and edits the poetry journal RATTLE. His first book-length collection, "American Fractal", is available from Red Hen Press. If you would like to purchase a copy before the reading, it is here. Read how it went here! January
9th -
Douglas Kearney Read how it went here! February
13th -
Jenny Noa - Peggy Dobreer
Read how it went here! March 13th
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Brendan Constantine
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The Guerilla Fighter of Poets Brendan Constantine was born in 1967 and raised in Los Angeles. The second child of two working actors, his parents named him for Irish playwright Brendan Behan. He is an ardent supporter of Southern California’s poetry communities and one of its most recognized poets. He has served these communities as a teacher of poetry in local schools and colleges for the last fifteen years. In addition to this, he has lead similar classes in hospitals and shelters for the homeless. In 2002 Mr. Constantine was nominated for Poet Laureate of the state. His work has appeared
in numerous journals, most notably Ploughshares, The Los Angeles Review,
The Cortland Review, RUNES, and LA Times Bestseller The Underground
Guide to Los Angeles. New work can be found in the Spring editions of
Ninth Letter and The Boxcar Poetry Review, as well as the anthology
Bright Wings, forthcoming from Columbia University Press and edited
by Billy Collins. His collection, "Letters To Guns", was released
in February 2009 from Red Hen Press. If you would like to purchase a
copy before the reading, it is here. Read how it went here! April 10th
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Barry Holiday Barry Holiday is the world's greatest entertainer. He's also the founder of The Grand Re-Awakening, a self-realization process whereby one learns to "Unleash the Dragon." After leaving a Barry Holiday Experience, you may find yourself asking "What the hell just happened, and why do I feel so damn good?" That's The Barry Holiday Promise.®
Read how it went here! May 8th
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Rick Lupert He has run the Cobalt Cafe Reading since 1994. It's one of the longest running reading series in Los Angeles and pretty much THE IT place to go for poetry in The Valley. His work has appeared in numerous print and web literary journals and publications including The Los Angeles Times, Zuzus Petals, Caffeine, Blue Satellite, Fuck This Shit, Stirring, SubtleTea, and many more. He has published 11 books of poetry, the latest book is "A Man With No Teeth Serves Us Breakfast". This is a collection of poems written in Boston and London in July of 2006. It's a backwards walk through the American Revolution with a fabulous introduction by Brendan Constantine. Read how it went here!
You can see videos of Kate's past readings here. Read how it went here!
I am so excited that Ellyn and her band are going to be here to inaugurate the new Outdoor Stage! You can see videos of Ellyn's past readings here.
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"PondWater"
by Ed Baines
Poets
in Distress, one of Southern California’s longest poetry performance
troupes, was started in 1982 by Cal Poly Pomona students Craig Rick
and John Bender. They got the idea after attending the Kerouac Conference
in Boulder Colorado, where they met the Beats, including Allen Ginsberg,
Gregory Corso, William S. Burroughs, Herbert Huncke, John Clellon Holmes
and Anne Waldman. 
Matthew
Mars is an artist who has mastered so many forms of media that it can
make you dizzy. Poet, Musician, Video Artist, Fine Art Photography...
the list goes on, you should click on his name up there and check out
his website. I don't know what he's going to do here, it's a surprise,
but the one thing that I do know is that it will be phenomenal and not
to be missed!
Jim
Bolt fuses performance-poetry, sensual chemistry and spiritual physics
to create a powerful, lyrical and dramatic communication with his audience.
As one of the pioneers of true performance-poetry, Jim has been featured
on MTV, electrified the Lollapalooza rock festival, slammed at the National
Poetry Slam and set off his poetic fireworks at stages as far around
the globe as Vancouver, Portugal and Tokyo.
Jamey's
book "Limousine, Midnight Blue" is based on the 26 second
Zapruder film capturing the murder of President Kennedy. Using individual
frames from the film the poems document American society and the political
climate of the time using a wide brush filled with pop culture, science,
religion and epic tradition. Brilliantly and succinctly turned out,
each poem is a magnified glance. When you pull the glass out and look
at the book as a whole, you see the entire tragic story. You can find
a review of the book 
Rick
Lupert, as you probably know, is The Poetry Machine. He read here in
May and we've had numerous requests for him to return. December is a
busy month and it's the perfect time for the calm wit that Rick brings.
He's written about 8 million books and so there should be no shortage
of fantastic and funny poetry. The last time he was here, I was laughing
for months after and every once in a while I still get flashbacks and
laugh out loud at the lines that come back to me unexpectedly. 
Mindy
Nettifee discovered poetry and its various "scenes" just two
weeks shy of being old enough to be arrested in the state of California.
She was featured on the cover of NEXT magazine when she was 15, and
went on to become a Grand Slam Champion of the Long Beach/Orange County
Poetry Slam, competing on and coaching teams at 5 National Poetry Slam
Competitions. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences
from Chapman University and served for five years on the Five Penny
Poets advisory board of literary nonprofit Tebot Bach. She currently
directs the poetry nonprofit Write Now Poetry Society (
Daniel
McGinn has been a part of the OC/LA/909er poetry scene since 1995. He
has co-hosted a weekly reading series, was a member of the 1996 Los
Angeles National Poetry Slam Team and has been a regular contributor
to the OC Weekly and Next Magazine. His poems have appeared in numerous
publications and he has been asked to feature at many venues across
Southern California. 
Jamey's
book "Limousine, Midnight Blue" is based on the 26 second
Zapruder film capturing the murder of President Kennedy. Using individual
frames from the film the poems document American society and the political
climate of the time using a wide brush filled with pop culture, science,
religion and epic tradition. Brilliantly and succinctly turned out,
each poem is a magnified glance. When you pull the glass out and look
at the book as a whole, you see the entire tragic story. You can find
a review of the book 
Jenny
is a Los Angeles-based writer and performer. Skilled at improv, improvised
monologues, personal essays, and original monologues and sketches. Did
I mention that she's really smart and witty? She will read at least
one of her essays and more if I have my way with her. Her blog and audio
files of some of her essays are 
Brendan
Constantine was born in 1967 and raised in Los Angeles. The second child
of two working actors, his parents named him for Irish playwright Brendan
Behan. He is an ardent supporter of Southern California’s poetry
communities and one of its most recognized poets. He has served these
communities as a teacher of poetry in local schools and colleges for
the last fifteen years. In addition to this, he has lead similar classes
in hospitals and shelters for the homeless. In 2002 Mr. Constantine
was nominated for Poet Laureate of the state.
Timothy
Green was born in Upstate New York in 1980. A Rush Rhees and Take Five
Scholar at the University of Rochester, Green studied English, biochemistry,
psychology, and eastern philosophy, and worked as a technician in the
Turner Lab, supporting research on mRNA binding structures. He graduated
magna cum laude in 2003, earning awards from Phi Beta Kappa, the Golden
Key National Honors Society, and the Academy of American Poets.
Douglas
Kearney’s work as a poet, performer and librettist has been featured
in many fine publications and venues in print, in-the-flesh and in digital
code. His first full-length collection of poems, "Fear, Some",
was published in 2006 (Red Hen Press). His second manuscript, "The
Black Automaton", was chosen by Catherine Wagner for the National
Poetry Series and will be published by Fence Books in November 2009.
In 2008, he was honored with a Whiting Writers’ Award. He lives
in the Valley with his family and teaches courses in African American
poetry, opera and myth at California Institute of the Arts. You can
purchase "Fear, Some" 
Peggy
Dobreer founded A Horse of Another Color Poetry in 2002 at the promptings
of Mariano Zaro. She continues to curate and host a monthly series at
Loyola Marymount University where she is Community Relations Coordinator
for LMU Extension. She's a brat. Born at March Air Force Base in Riverside,
California, her father flew into the Lion's Mouth.
Celebrate
the month of fools (why be foolish on just one day when you can spread
it across the entire month?) with comedian, writer and director Barry
Holiday!
Rick
was a co-director for two years of the Valley Contemporary Poets, a
non-profit organization which has promoted and published poetry in the
San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles since 1980.
Kate
Durbin (b. 1981) is the author of the poetry collection The Ravenous
Audience (Black Goat Press/Akashic 2009), as well as the chapbook Fragments
Found in a 1937 Aviator’s Boot (Dancing Girl Press 2009). Her
poems have appeared or are forthcoming in various journals and anthologies,
including Drunken Boat, Action Yes, diode, elimae, Boxcar Poetry Review,
and The Ledge Poetry and Fiction Magazine, among others. Her poetry
has been translated into Polish, and she holds an MFA in fiction from
the University of California in Riverside. She lives in Whittier, California.
Kate was recently on the "Blood-Jet Writing Hour" on blogtalk
radio. You can hear the interview 
Ellyn
Maybe has performed her poetry all over the country, including Bumbershoot,the
Poetry Project, the New School, Taos Poetry Circus, South by Southwest,
Lollapalooza, Albuquerque Poetry Festival and Seattle Poetry Festival.
She has also read in Europe at the Bristol Poetry Festival, on the BBC,
and in poetry slams and readings in Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Stuttgart.
She opened the MTV Spoken Wurd Tour in Los Angeles. In addition, she
has also read at USC, UCLA, CSUN and Cal State Fullerton, among other
colleges. 
As one of the founding members of the PondWater Society, Dr. Jamey Hecht
is a regular reader here. His translation of Sophocles "