When Chad Clark (Beauty Pill, Silver Sonya) was mixing The Caribbean’s last record Populations, a recurring idea fixed in his mind: a group as literate as The Caribbean would likely appeal to an audience not plugged into experimental pop music, an audience not obsessed with hooks and melody, but who loved the sound of words. Likely, he reasoned, there was also a music crowd that didn’t find itself at poetry readings but liked, in general, to read and understood the romance in literary things. Having friends in both DC’s music and literary worlds, Chad had a thought, which he describes as follows:
“Okay, let’s say you had two brilliant, eccentric friends. One an innovative songwriter in an unusual, forward-thinking band. The other a masterful poet and founder of a respected literary journal. Each creative in their own ways, but with parallels. Cult figures in their respective worlds. Let’s say they didn’t know each other. Let’s say you introduced them. Let’s say they they hit it off and became fans of each other’s work. Let’s say they decided to collaborate as curators and performers of a shared evening of poetry and music. I’m telling you, it could happen.”
To that end, an event at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda was imagined among Chad, Michael Kentoff of The Caribbean and DC poet Deborah Ager, who also publishes the poetry magazine 32 Poems. Here are the details of the reality:
THE SOUND OF WORDS: A SCHEME TO ROCK THE WRITER’S CENTER
Featuring The Caribbean and 32 Poems Magazine
DATE: Friday, May 9
TIME: 8 PM
COSTS: Nothing
LOCATION: The Writer’s Center, 4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD
