Photo by: N.L. Belardes
One Bakersfield Woman's Blog to Mankind
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
When prose, poetry and music fuse… thoughts on Stories from Dust
There are moments in our lives that touch us, inspire us and change who we are. Noveltown’s Stories from Dust literary event a couple weeks ago was one such moment for me.
I had meant to write something about the Stories from Dust literary event sooner, but I got caught up in the Pirates of the Caribbean countdown and premiere excitement and didn’t get anything written. And then I thought perhaps too much time had passed, it might be too late to write about the event. I was going to let it go. Content with posting a comment on N.L.’s write up on the Stories from Dust event. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the magic of that evening, the music, the words, the energy and the passion for expression. It touched me, affected me, so I thought maybe its not too late to share a few thoughts on Stories from Dust.
Stories from Dust was such an amazing night where people came together to tell stories through music, through story telling, through prose literature, through poetry and performance poetry. Everyone who spoke, spoke with such passion and energy. Everyone who attended came with open minds and hearts. It was inspiring…
The music was just right for every poem spoken or performed. Matt Munoz told great music stories. Greg Goodsell gave an energetic poetry performance. There was poetry and music in Spanish that sounded so beautiful, even though I didn’t understand the language. And Russo’s poetry group shared some great Central Valley inspired poetry.
One of my favorite moments of the evening was N.L.’s emotional reading of a passage from his novel Thick White Crust. Thick White Crust is my favorite of N.L.’s novels. I love the mythical magic, the legends and the Central Valley stories in the novel. And I love the way the story is presented and told. (I will admit I love his writing style, to me... its brilliant). But hearing his prose read aloud to music brought it to life in a way I hadn’t experienced it before.
And then there was Tim Hernandez. A tremendous voice and poet. His poems in his book Skin Tax spoke to me in a way that poetry hasn’t in quite a while. In his performance he brought those words to life, echoing passionately.
If you missed Noveltown’s Stories from Dust literary event, you really missed something unique... Bakersfield needs more events like Stories from Dust.
There are moments in our lives that touch us, inspire us and change who we are. Noveltown’s Stories from Dust literary event a couple weeks ago was one such moment for me.
I had meant to write something about the Stories from Dust literary event sooner, but I got caught up in the Pirates of the Caribbean countdown and premiere excitement and didn’t get anything written. And then I thought perhaps too much time had passed, it might be too late to write about the event. I was going to let it go. Content with posting a comment on N.L.’s write up on the Stories from Dust event. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the magic of that evening, the music, the words, the energy and the passion for expression. It touched me, affected me, so I thought maybe its not too late to share a few thoughts on Stories from Dust.
Stories from Dust was such an amazing night where people came together to tell stories through music, through story telling, through prose literature, through poetry and performance poetry. Everyone who spoke, spoke with such passion and energy. Everyone who attended came with open minds and hearts. It was inspiring…
The music was just right for every poem spoken or performed. Matt Munoz told great music stories. Greg Goodsell gave an energetic poetry performance. There was poetry and music in Spanish that sounded so beautiful, even though I didn’t understand the language. And Russo’s poetry group shared some great Central Valley inspired poetry.
One of my favorite moments of the evening was N.L.’s emotional reading of a passage from his novel Thick White Crust. Thick White Crust is my favorite of N.L.’s novels. I love the mythical magic, the legends and the Central Valley stories in the novel. And I love the way the story is presented and told. (I will admit I love his writing style, to me... its brilliant). But hearing his prose read aloud to music brought it to life in a way I hadn’t experienced it before.
And then there was Tim Hernandez. A tremendous voice and poet. His poems in his book Skin Tax spoke to me in a way that poetry hasn’t in quite a while. In his performance he brought those words to life, echoing passionately.
If you missed Noveltown’s Stories from Dust literary event, you really missed something unique... Bakersfield needs more events like Stories from Dust.
that was an awesome event! hope we have more of those in bakersfield.
I did miss this amazing event. I heard through a friend who heard through a friend how amazing the event was that evening. They talked about how everyone was really connected that night. Those moments are rare. Thank you for capturing it!
I forgot to attend... no wait... I was there...
Mr. Belardes, you can't deny you were there, since there are pictures. You funny guy. matildakay, I always love your perspective on things and this was no exception. You need to help convince Mr. NL Belardes that an event like this needs to happen again. And soon!
We're part of another event coming next month where we're showing our new promotional video for Cinema of the Lords made exclusively by Meatydish productions... details coming soon.