Cheap Thrills: Poetry, Party and Pop

First I had to drive through that raging thunderstorm to get to the Visual Arts Center and then make my way through ankle-deep rushing streams of water overtaking the curb to get from the car to the safety of the building.

I did both for the sake of a poetry reading which couldn't start until after the rain ceased beating noisily on the roof. There was a surprisingly good crowd in the room for the latest installment of the Fresh Ink literary series; poetry lovers are not afraid of a little cataclysmic weather it would seem.

Tara Bray led off with her lyrical poetry focused on nature and bird life (chickadees, starling, pelicans), transitioning from that to her next subject by saying, "I like birds and I like avocados."

Poet Bill Notter, standing against a side wall, missed his cue to go to the podium, asking, "Have I been introduced already?" as he approached it (he had, along with a story about how he'd spent a summer digging post holes on John Grisham's estate. "Is that awful for a poet or what?").

A reference to public phones in "Breakfast at the Roadrunner Cafe" resulted in him acknowledging, "This was back in the days of pay phones." Wow, this was ancient poetry.

His work evoked many locations because of the assortment of places he'd lived ("Parchman Farm," also known as the Mississippi State Penitentiary) or traveled to ("California Pasture").

Rounding out the reading was Jehanne Dubrow, whose poetry focused on female voices and experiences and domestic life. References to food (beets, potatoes, onions) and being a wife ran throughout.

One of the loveliest poems was about the elegant embassy parties her parents attended as members of the Foreign Service, with descriptions of clothing and the aura of excitement that surrounded their leaving. "His hand rested on the small secret of her back..."

I followed poetry with a girls' night in party at the home of a local restaurateur. It was fun because I knew only her and one other person, so I got to meet some interesting new women, including a neighbor who lives barely two blocks from me. How have we missed each other?

The food was an eclectic feast with quite a sampler from Kobe, two kinds of hummus and pistachio baklava (and I thought I didn't like baklava; this was sublime) from Mediterranean Bakery, cheeses from Urban Farmhouse and a host of other homemade taste delights (stuffed mushrooms, roasted asparagus, guacamole, crab dip) to ensure that we had something to mitigate the effects of so much much excellent wine.

We repaired to the man cave in the basement and the girl talk flowed right along with the wine. The only problem with a roomful of women is that I can't join in on a lot of the discussions. Tonight that included Short Pump mall, the pleasures of jewelry, shopping for clothes and TV favorites.

I did fine on discussions of city living, biking (and the need for a helmet) and dog walking, though. I'm always the first to acknowledge that I'm a poor representation of my sex and actually, I'm fine with that.

After the party, I wandered down the street to Gallery 5 for music, specifically to hear Chapel Hill's Embarrassing Fruit. Great name aside, I had checked them out online and really liked what I'd heard. They billed themselves as indie Italian pop, whatever the hell that meant (and I meant to find out).

Occupying audience space was the usual assorted musician crowd (more smilers than usual), in addition to mere fans like me. One talented musician spotted me and said, "You're at every show...or at least the ones I'm at. We must like the same music." You mean new and good?

It's always fun to watch drummers study the drummer and guitarists study the guitarists. Those guys got a special treat tonight because one of the Fruit's guitarists had a double neck (6 and 12-string), not an instrument you see out often and apparently of interest to everyone.

Standing with both a guitarist and a drummer, the three of us came up with comparisons to Guided By Voices and a Southern Weezer because of the great guitar sound and melodic vocals. I particularly liked the bass lines, but that's a personal preference. All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable set and I hope these guys come back through town again.

They don't have to bring another epic thunderstorm back with them, but they do have to bring that doubleneck. I love watching guitar geeks gawk.

It's practically poetry to a mere music-lover like me.