Jan Steckel's Blog: Horizontal Poet Sings Bidyke Blues - Posts Tagged "oakland"

Dear Friends,

Sorry to have to tell you that due to illness, my reading with Marc Hofstadter this Friday, June 10 at the Laurel Book Store in Oakland, CA, will be postponed until Thursday, August 18, at 7 PM. I have a kidney infection and Marc Hofstadter has a monster cold. He's watching baseball nine hours a day, and I'm lying down in the knee-high grass under the spunk tree in our back yard when I get dizzy. Getting to know the ladybugs, snails, little black spiders, butterflies, hummingbirds, mockingbirds, and the neighborhood cats really well. Still don't know what that little passerine bird with a triangular black head is called. Health to us and to all of you! Sorry for the inconvenience.

Warmly,
Jan

I'll be doing up to two poetry readings a month this year to promote my new poetry book The Horizontal Poet. Below is the schedule so far. As you can see, I'll be doing at least two readings this year in Santa Barbara as well as several in the San Francisco Bay Area.

If I can raise the money for travel, I'd like to do readings in any of the following towns where I have relatives and friends: Chicago IL, Seattle WA(especially Bellevue), Santa Cruz CA, Santa Monica CA, Sacramento CA, Ft. Bragg or Mendocino CA, Costa Mesa or Newport Beach CA, Sonoma CA. Secretly I dream of making it to NYC in June.

If you have poetry contacts in any of the above towns and could arrange a reading for me there, please message me on Goodreads or email me at Jmsteckel at AOL dot com.

February 4 Santa Barbara Poetry Series, Contemporary Arts Forum, Paseo Nuevo Mall, Santa Barbara, CA

February 11 Book Launch Party, Plymouth United Church of Christ, Fireside Room, Oakland, CA

March 16 Expressions Gallery, Berkeley, CA

April 2 Poetry Express, Priya Indian Restaurant, Berkeley, CA

April 14 The Poetry Zone, Karpeles Manuscript Museum, Santa Barbara, CA

July 14 All Women's Poetry Potluck and Salon Reading at Lakeview Library, Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA

September 8 Frank Bette Center for the Arts, Alameda, CA

October 27 Women's Poetry Potluck and Salon, featured reader, Frank Bette Center for the Arts, Alameda, CA

Want me to come to your town? (I'm looking at you, San Franciscans.) Email me at Jmsteckel at AOL dot com or message me here on Goodreads to discuss the possibility.

Oh boy! Going tonight to hear our poet-friends Dale Jensen and Judy Wells read in celebration of their 10th wedding anniversary at the Frank Bette Center for the Arts tonight in Alameda. Jeanne Lupton will host. Can't wait! My husband Hew Wolff and I will read at the open mic -- I wrote a special tribute poem for Dale and Judy. 7 PM.

Hew's out hanging paintings. Wanted to invite anyone in the SF Bay Area to his reading Monday, May 14 at Poetry Express at Priya Indian Restaurant on San Pablo Ave. in Berkeley, California. It's hosted by Jim Barnard, Nance Wogan, Jan Dederick and Odilia Galván Rodriguez. There's an open mic, and poetry fans get 20% off their delicious Indian Food. 7 PM - 9 PM. Hew's formal poetry is lilting, clever, conversational and lovely.

Right now Hew's hanging a painting in the Pro Arts Gallery at Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland, California. We'll attend the free reception there at 7 PM on Friday, May 4.

On Saturday and Sunday, June 9 & 10, from 10 AM to 5 PM each day, we'll be having an open studio in the back yard. We'll hang Hew's paintings all along the fence, serve snacks and drinks, and hang out with anyone who shows up. I'll get the details up on Facebook soon, or, if you aren't on Facebook but want to come, just message me on Goodreads or email me at jmsteckel at aol dot com for details.

Happy end of National Poetry Month!

"A literary showcase of inter-tribal music and spoken word," Bitchez Brew Review is a monthly music and poetry series in Oakland, CA curated and organized by Paul Corman-Roberts and publicized by Lynn Alexander. I'll be reading there with Doug Cordell, Julie Gengo, Yume Kim, Peg Alford Pursell, Jay Passer, and musical guest John Murry on Saturday night, October 20, at 7 PM at the Awaken Café at 1429 Broadway (at 15th St.). $5 donation, no one turned away.

What a nice way to wake up this morning! I checked into Goodreads to find that my poem "Are You Tough Enough to Haul Flowers?" is a finalist for this month's Goodreads Newsletter Poetry Contest. I really liked the other finalists' poems this time, too. I was delighted to find that my friend Joan Colby's poem "Anniversary Song" got an honorable mention.

Right now my poem just a vote or two behind the leader. If you're a member of the Poetry! group, or would like to become one, please go to
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...
and vote for your favorite poem! You will have to join the Poetry! group to vote if you are not already a member.

In other news, I'm going to be interviewed by San Francisco's Melinda Adams, otherwise known as Lilycat, on FCC Free Radio this Sunday, February 3, from noon to 2 PM Pacific time. The Program is "Lilycat on Stuff." You can tune in to listen live at http://www.fccfreeradio.com at studio 1A. Please call in with questions! It would be so great to hear your voices.

I'll also be featured at Works in Progress Women's Open Mic on Sunday, February 9, in Oakland. All women are welcome! The reading was postponed from last month because of the host's illness. Linda Zeiser is feeling better now and will offer the reading (with 8 fashion watches given away as door prizes) FREE! There's a potluck from 6:30 to 7:30, with the reading starting at 7:30 PM. Live music from singer/songwriter Melanie DeMore. Fireside Room, Plymouth United Church of Christ, 424 Monte Vista, Oakland. More details at http://www.goodreads.com/event/show/8...