Wednesday, September 1, 2010

September 1: Word of Mouth meets in Athens, and Decatur (GA) Book Festival, Sept 3-5



Athens GA: Word of Mouth monthly reading

Athens (GA) spoken-word group,
Word of Mouth, meets tonight upstairs at The Globe (corner of Lumpkin and Clayton Streets). It's a good reason to get out on what is traditionally a slow night for bars, even in a college town. Think of your alternatives: tonight you could be playing bingo or carrying a covered dish. Take the opportunity to come out and hear some local word-slingers. Tonight's featured poet is Andrew Mandelbaum and there's bound to be lots more mouthing off. Did I mention The Globe is a bar? No? Well, there is that, too, if you need any convincing. As NRBQ would sing, "C'mon if your comin'."

Here's a poem by Aralee Strange posted on the Word of Mouth site, "All boils."

The long-awaited gobble up
swift & successful
needs to know less of what
anything else and be cool
take over the world
quarry for icon
decode peace cry foul and
get fat
The worst of it
naked truth (an uphill battle)
shuffles thwart all over the world

Edgy mourns the loss
name-dropping human imperfections
goddamn sick of the way we do zeitgeist

Digital era oozes with satisfied
wanted to spend answers to bad habits
straight dope is cool
boring guests will be zapped

Original succumbed cha-cha-cha
local focus hits the skids
priority handling duo flog erratum at it again
priority handling oh-so richly deserved
priority handling those who want hands-on
probably cheaply

It can happen to you
just one year in the life of a terrible fix
what and how is about get busy
take on bumpy road hard to do basic
no biting
whatever you shoot
you nee
d

This weekend: Jonathan Franzen at the AJC Decatur Book Festival

Timing, you know, is the soul of art. Or the wit of time is in its brevity. Whatever you can say about coincidence, Jonathan Franzen's recent appearance on the cover of
Time -- the magazine's first cover to feature a living author since just before the death of print was announced -- just seems like excellent press for Franzen's appearance this weekend at the AJC Decatur (GA) Book Festival.

It probably helps that his new fiction,
Freedom, is getting some ecstatic press. It certainly will be a boost to the Festival, just five years old this year and accustomed to names like humorist and Decatur native Roy Blount. To be fair, the DBF has been increasing in stature yearly, thanks to a dedicated staff that works tirelessly year-round to make the festival a destination for book-lovers of all kinds.

This year's festival will showcase three-hundred authors, more than enough to keep readers hopping between venues. Franzen is scheduled to appear Friday at 8 pm for the big show, and it guarantees an encouraging first-night draw for DBF organizers who can hope the weekend weather won't be dampened by Hurricane Earl or any of his siblings in the Atlantic. For more info on the Franzen appearance and other festival activities visit the Decatur Book Festival site.

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