(Copied from my Kickstarter page)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1449794038/sara-crawford-acoustic-tour-june-2011

Hey everyone. I just wanted to say thanks so much for all of the support just in the first few days of the fundraising project! I'm so incredibly grateful for all of the support you all have shown me so far, and I'm very hopeful about reaching my goal in time. I've already started making lists of possible venues and open mic nights to play in each of the various cities.

Here's my possible tour schedule so far:

June 9, 2011 - Charleston, SC
June 12, 2011 - Philadelphia, PA
June 13, 2011 - New York, NY
June 15, 2011 - Cincinnati, OH
June 17, 2011 - Chicago, IL
June 19, 2011 - Madison, WI
June 21, 2011 - Kansas City, MO
June 23, 2011 - Nashville, TN

Again, this is subject to change depending on how much money I am able to raise/save. I would also love to go out and play in New Orleans, Utah, Colorado, and Los Angeles (all of which are places where I also have friends!). It may be do-able to include those places, but this is my realistic plan as of now.

Just want to remind all of my generous backers that you won't be receiving your rewards until after December 31st (assuming I reach my goal) when the project is completed. At that point, I will contact you to either get your mailing address so I can send you your CDs, photos, poetry books, etc. or I will be contacting you to get more information on the types of poems and songs you'd like me to write for/about you. (Although, if you have selected those rewards, you can always e-mail me at sara@saracrawford.net to give me a head start on what kinds of songs/poems I should be working on!)

If you haven't donated yet, you can donate just one dollar (that's less than a latte at Starbucks, people!) Or you can help out by sharing the link to the project. :-)

And for those of you in Atlanta, don't forget to check out me and my band, The Cult Following! Here are our upcoming shows:

Wednesday, November 3 - Drunken Unicorn (opening for Callers from New York)
Friday, November 19 - The Five Spot (opening for Bodega Roja and Wade in the Rhythm)
Saturday, December 4 - Smith's Olde Bar - The Atlanta Room

Thanks so much, everyone! Let's keep it rollin'!

Well, I did it. I made a kickstarter page to raise money for my solo/acoustic tour that I'm planning for June 2010.

Sara Crawford on Kickstarter

I am going on an acoustic/solo tour in June 2011. I'm going to go to as many cities as I possibly can and play acoustic gigs at music venues, coffee shops, open mic nights, etc. I'm also planning on bringing my CDs and my poetry books to sell, and possibly getting some other merch (T-shirts, stickers, keychains, etc.) to help spread the music!

At this point, my tour will consist of nine cities and be two weeks long. I will need 1,100 dollars (in addition to the money I am saving) to go on my tour. If I raise more money, though, I will be able to extend the tour and visit more cities.

I will be raising money on here until December 31, 2010. Any donations you make will not be charged to you until that time, and if I don't reach my goal by that point, you won't be charged anything.

Even if you just donate one dollar or pass this link along to your friends, I would greatly appreciate it!!


Check out these rewards:


Pledge $1 or more - You will receive a special thanks on my website.

Pledge $4 or more - I will make you a mix CD!

Pledge $5 or more - I will write you a poem.

Pledge $6 or more - Receive a copy of my book of poems, Coiled and Swallowed.

Pledge $7 or more - Receive a copy of my CD, Unsent Letters.

Pledge $10 or more - Receive both my CD, Unsent Letters, and my book of poems, Coiled and Swallowed.

Pledge $12 or more - Receive a signed copy of Unsent Letters along with a signed photo

Pledge $15 or more - Give me a list of three songs you'd like to see me cover, and I will pick at least one and either record a video of me playing the song and put it on YouTube or I will play the song at a show for you.

Pledge $25 or more - I will write a song about/for you and either put it up on YouTube or play the song at a show for you. (It can be about you or anything you want me to write a song about.)

Pledge $50 or more - I will play one set (45 minutes) of music for your party/wedding/event, including covers of your choice. (I will also use my own PA system and I would need at least two weeks' notice prior to the event.)

Pledge $75 or more - I will play two sets (1 hour, 15 minutes) of music for your party/wedding/event, including covers of your choice. (I will also use my own PA system and I would need at least two weeks' notice prior to the event.)

Pledge $100 or more - Receive a copy of my CD, Unsent Letters, along with a custom painting from artist, Leah Hayes, inspired by my music.





Thank you so much for supporting independent artists!

Flyer made by Amanda McCormick

I have totally been slacking off on the blog lately. Sorry about that! I'm planning on returning to my events postings soon, which is a good thing because there is so much going on artistically!

Thank you so much for your support with the release of my poetry book, Coiled and Swallowed. I have sold quite a few copies, and I'm incredibly grateful for all of the support that I have received with it. If you haven't picked up a copy yet, they are available for purchase here.

The band and I have a lot of exciting things in the works. We are currently working on recording, and we hope to have a release out soon. I'll be sure to keep you updated as we finalize dates. Also, we recently did a photoshoot with Oberonia and KG photography. You can check out our new photos on the photos/videos page!

In other news, our next show is November 3rd at the Drunken Unicorn where we will be opening for Callers, from New York. They have a really interesting sound, and I'm so excited to be opening for them in their Atlanta performance on their international tour. Check out their music here! We'll also be playing with Lady Lazarus, from California.

Please come out and support us and these wonderful touring musicians! Tickets are only 5 dollars in advance, or 8 dollars at the door. Tickets are available at TicketAlternative.com, Criminal Records, Decatur CD, Fantasy Land Records, and the following CD Warehouse locations: Buford, Duluth, Kennesaw, Lawrenceville and Roswell. We hope to see you there!

Other ideas in the works include an acoustic tour in spring 2011 and acoustic covers on YouTube. Stay tuned for info on those things!

Once again, thank you so much for your continued support. I appreciate all of you so much!

Photo by A.D. Gaspard

September is here! And there are a lot of great things going on!

First of all, I have some upcoming events:

• Friday, September 3rd - Sara Crawford and the Cult Following at Smith's Olde Bar - The Atlanta Room - 9:00 PM - 21+ - $8 - My band and I will be playing a set at Smith's Olde Bar in the Atlanta Room. Also, our good friend Kayesha Belnap is moving back to Utah, so we're making this a send-off show! She's going to sing a song with us, too. :-)
• Saturday, September 4th 1:00 AM, Sunday September 5th midnight - The short film I wrote, Leapfrog, will air on Atlanta Shorts on PBA 30, Atlanta's PBS Station - Tune in and check it out!
• Tuesday, September 7th - My chapbook of poems, Coiled and Swallowed, will be released. It will be available here on my website or through Virgogray Press
• Friday, September 24th - Sara Crawford and the Cult Following at MINT Gallery - 10:00 PM - $4

There are a ton of really great events going on this month that I'm excited about! Here are a few:


MUSIC

• Tonight! September 2nd - The Apostles, Ogya, and 3052 Dub Collective at The Five Spot - 8:00 PM - 21+ - $5
  
  
  
• Wednesday, September 8th - Harvey Milk, Hawks at 529 - 9:00 PM - 21+ - $12
  
   
• Thursday, September 9th - El Ten Eleven, Baths, Nigredo at The Drunken Unicorn - 9:00 PM - 18+ - $12
  
   
• Tuesday, September 14th - Julie Gribble and Bob Schneider at Smith's Olde Bar - 8:00 PM - 21+ - $20
  
   
• Wednesday, September 15th - GIVERS, Adron, Little Tybee at The Earl - 8:30 PM -21+ - $10
  
   
• Monday, September 27th - Tera Melos, Vegan Coke at Wonderroot - 8:00 PM
  
   
• Thursday, September 30th - Nobody's Darlings CD Release show at The Star Bar - 9:00 PM - 21+ - FREE
  
   

THEATER

• A Confederacy of Dunces - Theatrical Outfit - Running until September 12th - A World Premiere Stage Adaptation by Tom Key based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning Novel by John Kennedy Toole - Directed by Richard Garner - Like Shakespeare’s Falstaff, Ignatius Reilly of A Confederacy of Dunces has the bombastic comic power to subvert reality and his madcap adventures in the 1960s French Quarter of New Orleans prove to be as laugh out loud hilarious as they are brilliantly revelatory of the human condition. It is a tumultuous story, filled with the truly rendered accents and dialects of New Orleans rebels. Two voices, however, dominate: a sharp-eyed omniscient narrator and the sometimes hapless and self-destructive Ignatius J. Reilly. Despite those tendencies, Reilly composes brilliant sketches of his adversaries and dramatizes a set of restrained values that contrasts dramatically with the world in which he moves, through various insignificant jobs and sometimes slapstick mishaps. These are dramatically played off against the equally untidy lives of a host of supporting characters, including his comically oppressed mother, a radicalized girlfriend who taunts him from New York, a strip-bar operator, a pants factory owner, and a Keystonian New Orleans policeman. Richard Garner, Producing Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Georgia Shakespeare Festival, directs.
  
  
• Becky Shaw - Actor's Express - Running through September 25th - Playwright: Gina Gionfriddo - Director: Freddie Ashley - ATLANTA PREMIERE - "Gina Gionfriddo is some kind of genius! Devastatingly funny. Sends little shockwaves of delight through the house." - Newlywed Suzanna fixes her best friend Max up with her husband's beautiful but odd co-worker Becky Shaw. The blind date ignites a fuse that will soon set Becky off in the midst of Suzanna's family. The resulting blast of dysfunctional hilarity has everyone scrambling for cover, but finding none.
  
  
                                                                                                                                 
• The Nerd - Kudzu Playhouse - Running through September 19th - By Larry Shue - Directed by Wally Hinds - This extraordinarily inventive, side-splitting comedy is one of the funniest plays ever written. The action centers on the hilarious dilemma of a young architect who is visited by a man he's never met but who saved his life in Vietnam—the visitor turning out to be an incredibly inept, hopelessly stupid "nerd" who outstays his welcome with a vengeance. "Shue delivers a neatly crafted package that uses some classic comic forms to bring the audience to its knees, laughing."

VISUAL ARTS/OTHER

• D. Lammie Hanson - art and music - Friday, September 3rd - 6:00 PM - Avisca Fine Art Gallery - Multi-disciplinary artist D. Lammie Hanson debuts new artwork from her 4 Elements series and perform music she created in conjunction with the art project . Free
  
   
• LUCKY STAR: An Evening of Art & Burlesque inspired by Madonna - dooGallery - September 25 - 8:00 PM - $10 donation - Madonna’s unfettered spirit of individuality will be used to benefit The Rainbow Center, an Atlanta-based organization who serves the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered (GLBTQ), those questioning their sexual orientation and gender, their families and friends. The Rainbow Center is a community resource and support center for social, therapeutic, spiritual, educational or volunteer pursuits.
   

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

• QuickSylver Productions seeking short films for SylverReel: A Night of Shorts - The event will be held at the Midtown Arts Cinema. Built in 1987, operated by Landmark since 2003, and located in the Midtown Promenade Center (at 8th & Monroe), the Midtown Art Cinema is quickly becoming the premier home for independent, foreign language and documentary films in the heart of in-town Atlanta. Click here for submission info.

Thanks for reading, everyone! Hope you all have a wonderful fall, and I hope you all get out there and support local and independent artists!

Origin by Manami

I have a lot going on recently, so I thought I'd post a blog about it :-)

Recently, I got the opportunity to play an acoustic set with Be Atlanta. First of all, these guys are freaking awesome. They're doing all of the things I love(d) about groups like Have You Heard, Atlanta Guardian, and 4th Ward Heroes, promoting local music. They host local music shows, they promote local bands, they're constantly posting videos, songs, show listings, etc. Even at their shows, in between sets, they play a playlist of local music. Definitely check out their website - http://beatlanta.com - And check out their shows, too. They have another show tomorrow - Friday, August 27th - with Before the Solstice and Capibara.

They posted a blog about the acoustic show I played the other night, and they even included a couple of videos of some new songs I've been working on:




This one is called "Don't Try So Hard." (Ironically, I was trying way too hard to remember the whole song. It's that new, people!)



And here's "Rooftops." It's about my experience in Mexico.

In other news, my band and I have been trucking along, working on a new EP that we're hoping to release in October. The EP will feature the songs, "You Told Me," "Irresponsible," "Tangled," and the crowd favorite, "Hipster Haircut." Have I also mentioned that my band is ridiculously awesome? These guys amaze me every day with their versitility and talent. I have so much fun practicing with them, and I can't wait for our next show!!

Speaking of shows, I have a few coming up:

• Acoustic set at the Grant Park Summer Shade Festival - Saturday, August 28th - 12:30 - Historic Bandstand Stage - FREE - All ages - I will be playing an acoustic set this Saturday at 12:30. I am so, so, SO excited to be playing the same event as so many incredible Atlanta musicians! (Like Wade in the Rhythm, The Goldest, and Lindsay Apple to name a few!) I will be hanging out all day after my set checking out the music, so come out to this FREE festival and enjoy some great bands!
• Sara Crawford and the Cult Following at Smith's Olde Bar - Atlanta Room - Friday, September 3rd - 9:00 PM - $8 - 21+ - My band and I will be returning to one of my favorite venues, Smith's Olde Bar, to rock your face off. Come check it out!
• Sara Crawford and the Cult Following at MINT Gallery - Friday, September 24th - 10:00 PM - $4 - All ages - This is part of the Rock Science Revival music series! A lot of great bands have been playing these shows recently, and I'm really excited to be joining them!

In other non-music happenings, I recently got some very exciting news about Leapfrog, the short film that I wrote, directed by Michael Tillman. On September 4th at 1:00 AM and September 5th at midnight, Leapfrog will air with some other short films created by Atlanta filmmakers on the show, Atlanta Shorts. The show airs on PBA 30, Atlanta's PBS station. So make sure you tune in for that!

Also, my chapbook of poems, Coiled and Swallowed, will be released through Virgogray Press on September 7th. I will be having a poetry book release night at Cool Beans in the Marietta Square. The date is TBA, but it will be in mid-September! The first half of the evening will be a poetry open mic night, and then I will read a few poems from the book and have copies available for people to purchase. So all of you poets out there, definitely come and join us for this! Read a few poems, bring copies of your books, and we'll have a night celebrating poetry!

Once again, I just want to say thank you all so much for your continued support of my artistic projects! I hope you will all also continue to support other local and independent artists in Atlanta and all around the world. Trust me, we all need your support! (And I will be posting a blog soon with my September artistic event recommendations, so send me those if you have any you'd like me to include!)

And now I'm off to the Star Bar for an awesome FREE night of music brought to you by 4th Ward Heroes and Mixtape Atlanta featuring Tyler Lyle, Little Horn, and Richard Sherfey!

Music is not a competition. Art is not a competition. All musicians have something to offer. Whatever music, theatre, film, literature, art that you're putting out there, someone, somewhere likes it. All art has value. Even if you don’t want it to. The second you write a song, create a piece of art, it has life outside of you. You don’t have any control over it. It’s like giving birth. You created it, but now it’s something else. It’s organic. It grows and changes, and you just get to watch and see what happens.

I’m so incredibly lucky to be in this town, to be around these people, to be here, now. No, I’m not famous. No, I’m not making enough money from music/writing to support myself. Yes, I still have a day job. (But even my day job is awesome, and I’m so grateful to have it! It’s the kind of job that allows me the flexibility to play music, to write plays, to be in a graduate school program for writing, to travel to Mexico for a month, to hang out at The Star Bar or The Earl on week nights and see amazing musicians...you get the picture.) But none of that matters. As long as I can write songs and sing them (along the side of extremely talented musicians, even!), as long as I can write plays and poems and stories, as long as I can go see other plays and other musicians and go to art museums and poetry readings, as long as I can share, experience, support, and create ART, I’m happy. And that’s what I do. So I’m happy.

Hey, artists. Let’s celebrate and support each other. We all have different songs to sing. (Sometimes, we can even harmonize with each other.) We all have different stories to tell. And let’s all just take a second and realize how good we have it, how fortunate we are.

:- )

Photo by me from Guanajuato, Mexico

Hey everyone. I'm still in Mexico! Coming into the last week here. I can't believe it! I will be happy to come home to Atlanta, but sad to leave San Miguel. It's really beautiful here. And I'm definitely changing and growing. As a writer, as a person. I'm finding myself. Finding myself on the rooftops and the terraces with the mountains on the horizon, among the mariachi bands in the Jardin of San Miguel, in the silence of the Catholic churches, in the cleansing waters of the hot springs, climbing the pyramids, in the dancers on the streets of Guanajuato, in my Form and Idea class where our final project involves plaster elbows, listening to the other students read their work, in late night chats at the hostel - drinking wine on the terrace, in the workshops of my playwriting class, in the margaritas at La Cucaracha, on the buses to excursions riding through the rural parts of Mexico, in the markets where a language I don't know buzzes all around me...This has truly been an amazing experience. I've met so many incredible people, so many talented poets, playwrights, screenwriters, non-fiction, and fiction writers. I've learned so much about writing, about art, about another culture, about myself. And I'm incredibly grateful for that.

Well, I'm definitely going to be jumping right back into my crazy busy life when I get home, and I'm really excited about that! I have a lot of exciting upcoming events:

• Wednesday, August 4th - solo/acoustic show at Actor's Express - A night of theatre and music! - Working Title Playwrights presents Essential Shorts - new short plays written by WTP affiliates presented in concert readings - as part of Essential Theatre's Festival of Plays! I will be playing an acoustic set after the show. See both for just a five dollar donation! The show starts at 7:30 pm - 887 W Marietta St NW # J107, Atlanta, GA 30318
   
• Sunday, August 22nd - solo/acoustic show - Be Atlanta's Acoustic Sundays - 10:00 pm - FREE - all ages - 197 Howell Dr. SE, Atlanta, GA
   
• Saturday, August 28th - solo/acoustic show - Grant Park Summer Shade Festival - Historic Bandstand stage - 12:30 pm
   
• Friday, September 3rd - Sara Crawford and the Cult Following - Smith's Olde Bar - The Atlanta Room - 9:00 pm - $8 - 21+
   
• Tuesday, September 7th - Release of my chapbook of poems, Coiled and Swallowed, through Virgogray Press

So that's what's going on with me. I hope all of you back in Atlanta are having a great summer full of good times and wonderful art of all kinds! :-)

And I thought I'd pass this onto you, from Kyle McCord (who was featured in my Poem of the Week back in September). For those of you in Atlanta, you should definitely check it out!

Sunday, July 25th come hear Dream Horse Press authors Kyle McCord and Keith Montesano read from their recently released books. They will be joined by special guest Kara Candito. The event will be at 6:00 p.m. at Beep Beep Gallery at 696 Charles Allen Drive, Atlanta. The event is part of the DHP First Book Tour, with readings in seventeen different locations across fourteen states. For any questions about times or directions, contact: kfmccord@gmail.com, or find us on Facebook.

Kyle McCord's book, Galley of the Beloved in Torment, was the winner of the 2008 Orphic Prize. He’s received awards or grants from the Academy of American Poets, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Iowa Poetry Society. He has work forthcoming or published from Boston Review, Cimarron Review, Columbia: a Journal of Art and Literature, Cream City Review, Gulf Coast, Volt and elsewhere. He currently lives and teaches in Des Moines, Iowa.

Keith Montesano’s, Ghost Lights, was published this year by Dream Horse Press. Other poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Hayden’s Ferry Review, American Literary Review, Third Coast, River Styx, Crab Orchard Review, Sonora Review, Ninth Letter, and elsewhere. He currently lives with his wife in New York, where he is a PhD Candidate in English and Creative Writing at Binghamton University.

Kara Candito is the author of Taste of Cherry (University of Nebraska Press), winner of the 2008 Prairie Schooner Book Prize. Her poems and reviews have appeared or will appear in such journals as Blackbird, AGNI, Prairie Schooner, The Kenyon Review, Gulf Coast, Sycamore Review, Nimrod, Contrary Magazine, The Rumpus, Best New Poets 2007, Diode, New South, and The Florida Review. She has received awards for her poetry, including an Academy of American Poets Prize and scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference.

So there you go. Make sure you check that out! It should be a great event.

I hope all is well back in the USA.

Hola!

I'm writing from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico! (I thought I'd take a break from school work to update my blog!) I'm here for my first semester of my MFA Low Residency Program in Playwriting. I am completely loving this town. Everything is so beautiful here! This is my first time traveling out of the country (aside from Canada), and it's been an incredible experience so far. San Miguel is such an interesting town. It was founded in 1542, and there are so many old buildings and churches everywhere. The streets are all cobblestone, and the town is so vibrant, colorful, and alive. It's such an inspirational place to be for me as an artist. My head is exploding with ideas for songs and poems and plays.

It's great to be around so many other writers, too. I've met so many incredible people and artists here, and all of the work that I've read or heard so far from the other students has been unique and thought-provoking. Our faculty all has pretty impressive resumes as well. They all have books published or films that were produced based on their work. I'm really grateful to be in a program with so many talented students and teachers. I have already learned so much, and I've only been here for a week!

I've had many incredible spiritual experiences since I've been here as well. The other day, I wandered around town by myself and ended  up in the big Catholic church (the one in the photo above). I just sat in the church and meditated, absorbing the spiritual energy. I'm not Catholic by any means, but I appreciate all religions, and it was a very moving experience. Also, I got to see the pyramids at Teotihuacan last Friday, and I even got to climb some of them. That was undescribable. They say they were built sometime around 200 BC. I don't think I've ever seen a structure that old in my life. It was a little overwhelming.

I'm having a blast here! Artistically and personally. And I can't wait to see how my art grows and changes from this whole experience!

I hope everything is well back in the USA! :-)

Summer - Oil on canvas - by Bisat from DeviantArt

It's summertime! Oh, how I love Georgia summers. :-)

So, if you are a new reader to my blog/website, here's the story. A few years ago, I started a Facebook group called Atlanta Bohemians, a group for any and all kinds of artists in the Atlanta metro area to promote their events, post about auditions/calls for entries, or where art supporters can find information about independent and local musicians, actors, playwrights, screenwriters, film makers, painters, sculptors, poets, authors, and any other kind of artist you can think of. I started sending out monthly lists of different artistic events around the city, and I got a great response.

When I started this website, I thought I would move those lists over to my blog. Because I wanted the website to not only be about me promoting my own artistic projects, but I also wanted to promote and support other local and/or independent artists. I try to do that in other ways too, sharing poetry that I like in my "Poem of the Week," posting photography and art pieces from independent artists on my blog entries, posting music sharing podcasts where I share independent music, etc. I just love art so much. And I think there is nothing more powerful than going to that show where the band plays a song that reaches out to you or going to a play that just completely speaks to you or hearing a poem that just sucks you in or staring at a painting and being incredibly overwhelmed by the complex beauty in life. Art is a reflection of life, art helps us appreciate life, the good, the bad, everything becomes beautiful. I know nothing has helped me more in my own life to really be in the moment, to have real spiritual experiences, to really feel a universal love for everyone and everything than a perfect piece of art at the perfect time. And actually, you don't have to sit in the audience of a hugely popular Broadway musical or go see paintings by artists who have been dead for centuries or turn on the radio to find this art. It's everywhere. It's all around you. And there are tons of living, breathing artists who are writing songs, painting paintings, taking photographs, writing screenplays, making films, performing spoken word, etc. in spite of their 9 to 5 day jobs or their waitressing jobs or their bartending jobs or their low-paying non-profit jobs. And these artists truly inspire me. Working at places like The Georgia Ballet or Horizon Theatre and seeing these people work 60 hours a week for very little pay just because they love art. And if I can inspire one person to go out there and see an original, new play or see a local, unknown band or see an art exhibit from a living Atlanta artist or see an independent film made by a local filmmaker, then it's completely worth it to me.

SO! With that in mind, here are a bunch of awesome things you can do in June and July to support the local artists! And of course, if I have forgotten anything, please leave a comment.

Visual Arts




June 5th - 27th - Young Blood Gallery - "Interior/Posterior" with 6 women artists Megan Kimber, Merrilee Challis, Daisy Winfrey, Chrystal Chan, Jennifer Davis & Lesley Reppeteaux



June 12th - July 4th - Beep Beep Gallery - "The Big Bang" a solo exhibit of new work by Matt Relkin



Friday, June 18th - ASI Gallery - works by Laura Rubio - Opening reception June 18 , 2010 - 7 - 9:30pm - Free admission - Exhibition will run from June 18 - July 18, 2010



July 9th - September 19th - Atlanta Contemporary Art Center - Amy Myers: Feminine Space

Friday, July 16th - Art Party. 30+ artists showing. No theme. Its an art show that morphs into a party with Bands & DJs. Free drinks, $10 donation. 21+. More artists are always welcome. Visit www.dooGallery.com for more information.



Music


Saturday, June 19th - Five Spot - Wade in the Rhythm, Cloudeater, Dan Marshall Project with special guests including Dre-Money - 21+ - 9PM - Advanced Tickets: 7$

Saturday, June 26th - Star Bar - Howlies - Coathangers - Balkans - Mermaids - 21+ - 8$ - 9 PM

Thursday, July 1st - Star Bar - FREE THURSDAY SHOW! - Abby GoGo - Carnivores - Grenadines - 21+ - FREE - 9PM

Wednesday, July 7th - Smith's Olde Bar - James David Carter- Glen Pridgen Band - Brandon Perry - 21+ - 8PM

Saturday, July 10th - Wonderroot - Littlefoot, Cloudmouth, Revo - 9PM

Saturday, July 17th - Star Bar - The Selmanaires - with special guest, Adron - 21+ - 8$ - 9PM



Theatre


Tuesday, June 15th - WORKING TITLE PLAYWRIGHTS Presents Theroun D'arcy Patterson's SEMBLANCES - Staged Reading - Academy Theatre 119 Center St., Avondale Estates, Ga. - 7:30 PM - FREE to WTP members / $5 suggested donation all others at door.

June 12th and 13th - Harvest 2010 The Backyard Plays - Onion Man Productions - A new collection of nine 10-Minute plays by local playwrights!

June 11th - June 27th - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - Atlanta Lyric Theatre

June 9th - June 27th - Reasons to be pretty by Neil LaBute - Pinch n' Ouch Theatre 

July 7th - August 7th - 12th Annual Essential Play Festival - Featuring three plays, Qualities of Starlight by Gabriel Jason Dean, directed by Peter Hardy, Darker Face of the Earth by Rita Dove, directed by Betty Hart, Sally and Glen at the Palace by Peter Hardy, directed by Ellen McQueen



Call for Entries/Submissions

Seeking bands and artists! Children's Restoration Network is trying to break the Guinness World Record for the longest concert by multiple artists at the Red Rabbit in Johns Creek. They are still looking for bands and artists who want to participate, people who want to volunteer to be witnesses, and just people who want to come out and enjoy it all. It will take place from July 10th - July 24th. Learn more at www.worldslongestconcert.com or email Richie Tyre at richie@childrn.org.



Other

Java Monkey Speaks - Open Mic Poetry - Every Sunday at 8:00 pm - Java Monkey coffee shop - Decatur

Friday, July 2nd - DODEKAPUS PRESENTS: CARNIVAL FUNDRAISER FOR LIVING WALLS - A carnival themed event with games, prizes, food, booze, bands, kiddi pools, a kissing booth, tarot booth, giant twister, screenprinting on site, and much much more - 5:00 PM



There you go, guys. Lots of awesome events to make your summer fun :-)

And I'll leave you with a poem. It's sort of my ode to summers in Georgia.


Georgia June Outside of a Coffee Shop

by Sara Crawford


Thursday night in Georgia June,
outside sitting,
sipping on hot coffee,
with a splash of hazelnut.
Everyone around me sweats bullets, slurping
on smoothies and iced lattes.
To me, the night air is a warm
blanket covered
in stars and fireflies that twinkle
through the sheets.

My bones are growing as we all rotate
through space, but I don’t feel
any older
than the teenager sitting next to me,
her bare feet propped on the chair
in front of her,
toenails painted neon green, her flip-flops (practically made
of straw) are scattered
lazily on the ground beside her.
She laughs, and I laugh with her as if
I am a part of the conversation,
peering at her feet from behind
my magazine.

A couple exits the coffee shop,
opening the door
behind me.
The air conditioning escapes
from inside, whispers to my skin.
Goosebumps rising, I shiver.
The door closes.
I sigh with relief and wrap myself
up in the night, sinking into
Georgia June.

I'd like to share these awesome songs with you.

(My events blog is coming soon!)


"Lately" by The Helio Sequence (this song kind of makes me cry)





"Bright Bright Bright" by Dark Dark Dark (I'm in love with her voice)






"Postcards from Italy" by Beirut





"Midnight Radio" from Hedwig and the Angry Inch (written by Stephen Trask) (this is my favorite song in the whole show)