The Jazz Poets Social Club

Last night after a full day of shooting a video
I was exhausted feeling low
as if nothing could help me.
I rushed to the venue at Elderberries.
Thank God I did because last night by the time I got
Home it planted new seeds within me.
Not only did I feel better but I was so inspired by the evening.
It restored my soul
it was alive and inspiring. A needed time.
an amazing array of voices and characters poems and prose.
It had a casual but vital energy about it.

Michael Camacho opened & closed with a wonderful lively set, and one of my friends said
he never saw anyone put so much feeling into “If I Only had a Brain” from
The Wizard of Oz, and all of his jazz standards with so much passion.

Lisa K. Thayer and her tireless effort…
She has devoted herself to this for love of sharing thoughts, poems
and language. I feel blessed to know her.
She kicked the night off with her poetry. She delivers her poems
with sensuality and feeling.
She speaks with her body and she brings me in…
Each time I find other layers falling into me.
I love this poet who I have grown to call a friend.
You have to see her. Not only is she a poet but she brings an intensity
to The Juice Bar like none I have seen.
She does a great service to the world
and the language
bringing these treasure these tiny jewels to others
on a daily basis.
If someone thinks this is sentimental
that is tough… because she gives the street an urgency
the disenfranchised and she can kick ass.

Michael C Ford was next.
A seasoned and interesting poet with a voice that sends chills through me
and goes very deep with great wit and humor and sometimes a cynicism
that is so right on in today’s world.
Last night before writing and reading two incredible poems he read an excerpt from his novel that was so exceptional it reads like a poem.
His voice is so astonishing. I tell him he could read a menu
and you would thing it is Shakespeare.
He is smart funny witty and takes no prisoner and no bull shit
comes out of these lips.
I love this guy. He gets to my core and I cannot turn away or deny
what he conjures up within me.
He is a choir within one soul
that really resonates with me
and calls me forth
to be extraordinary in the chaos.
He loves words and language and he is also producing with

Eve Brandstein, Rex Weiner
and John Densmore “Waiting For Jack” (Kerouac) another must see poetry event for everyone.

Next a new friend of mine who I have grown quite fond of Susan Hayden. I never heard her read her own work before.
This was a real treat for me.
To see this lovely being with great humility and presence
deliver her work
Her last two poems about the long Kiss and the one about boys without fathers
touched me very deeply.
powerful feelings
expressed in such a tender way
it broke down my resistance and it even reversed some of my
hostility and negativity last night and for a few moments I forgot that
I was not feeling well.
She have a tender touching sweetness
about her
her verses and sent shivers through me.
I was so very moved.
I want to hear more of her work.
All these people penetrated into my defense mechanisms
I felt some of the tension leaving my bruised body.
I was calming down and no longer wanted to jump of a bridge.
I was released of my mesmerism of limitation.

Then came my dear friend Bill Duke
by the time he delivered “Men Like Me”
and finished the last cadenza as I recall it
You could hear a pin drop.
This is a fucking poem that will knock your shorts down
and rivet your very essence
it is not pretty and neat
it is rough on the edges all more powerful because
he started it again because he could not find a page
and it rocked it gushed out like a stream
like a steam roller hit you
and Bill got into a rhythm that left me breathless
and speechless.
I was torn kissed and his crescendo was so exhilarating.
I felt as if I had lived through birth and death tragedy and renewal.
That one poem says it all.
I walked away from this evening with renewed strength
and gratitude to be alive and even felt better.
These evenings are so great so inspiring so wonderful whether
two people come or 2 thousand
it does not matter .
Last night was a good show but the poems live on there own
and these poets even if they leave there poems
on the music stand.
The poems will jump off the stand
take on shape and burry themselves in your heart.
What a pleasure and honor to work with all these people
at the sweet little Elderberries.
I have performed around the world worked
with many famous acts and I have to tell you
I have never had this much fun,
Everyone should go to Elderberries and experience these poets
They are my Rolling Stones my Pink Floyd and they all play
lead guitar and sing lead vocals.
Love
Stevie Kalinich
sjk

L. K. Thayer adds:

Theida Salazar got up impromtu and hypnotized the room with a personal

poem by memory that snake charmed us all. He is a magical wordsmith & performer

delivering electric beats with his exciting rythms and exquisite delivery.

Stevie Kalinich, who you’d never know wasn’t feeling well

captured the room in his butterfly net of poetry, with me holding his

book for him at one point (such a joy for me to be next to this powerhouse)

he is a master of heart, soul & compassion that literally

lifts you out of yourself and into his effervescent stream of consciousness.

He is a genius poet and a stunning performer you must see to believe.

Thank you to the full house that came to hear us at Elderberries

and to owner Dottie Zold, for her amazing food & hospitality & spirit.

Until next time, Cheers! 🙂

Stephen John Kalinich

L. K. Thayer’s Foto Fetish

The Jazz Poets Social Club “Rap Up” by Stevie Kalinich

Posted on September 28, 2010 by lkthayer

Photo by L. K. Thayer

The evening started with Lisa Thayer.
L. K. Thayer as she is known.
She gets better every time. She is seductive, she sucks you in. She moves,
she is animated. Some of her images were sizzling and she spoke
with such passion and emotion.
I was definitely taken in.
She commands the stage and she is hot, sultry, sexy and comes
from her gut.
I would tell everyone to listen to Lisa.
She has a great voice as a poet,
a sweet caring soul and she wants to keep the poem
of life alive and squeeze its juice for all to sip and share.
Michael C Ford could recite a phone book
and it would feel like Othello.
His voice resonates and has a timbre
and a musicality
that borders on an instrument
that is a trumpet. He blows the words out at you with fun humor
passion great wit and he calls you into check.
He shows me the energy of the past in the now.He wakes me up and he makes us accountable for
the environment the air we breathe acts we do and he gives in his poems.He promotes other.
Tonight his poem on Silence of the lambs brought the house down.
It is also a great commentary on the times we are living
in
in this age where
people care more about being a star than being an authentic.
Michael is a unique voice but he rise through the tradition from
the Age of the Doors and the old days on Sunset when Sunset was the place to be and experience a great troubled time in history. He restores order in the chaos. At least for me but hear him yourself
experience his brilliance.
These God damn nights are fun between
liquor stores tattoo parlors and Elderberry Juice
which the Elderberry cafe so gracefully presents a forum for our time where the poets can come back to life.
The third poet
was
Joe Kennedy who I have never heard before. I liked him very much. He read from his hand written notebook
He speaks clearly and has a great voice.He has the gift he is alive with his words. I have never experienced him before. I liked it. He touched me made me laugh. He took everything from our daily life. The thoughts we have the feelings to hesitations and presented them in a way that I could relate to and understand. He leaves me wanting to hear more from his endless flow. I just touched the hem of his quilt of work but I want to experience more of it.

I love to Elderberries, I love Aurora and Dottie and thank them and all the talented musicians like Michael Camacho and the Jazz players Adam Alessi Trio, for making this little spot on Sunset shine again.

Stephen John Kalinich

L. K. Thayer writes: I feel so blessed to work with Stephen Kalinich’s poetic genius that lives in him as if it were life and death, and to him, I truly feel that’s what the words he writes mean to him and he makes you feel every syllable. Like a soft tornado his words fly through the room and hit you with full force, leaving no stone unturned. He is magic and must be seen and heard to be believed.

“The Jazz Poets Social Club” every Sunday Night

“The Jazz Poets Social Club” by Stevie Kalinich

Posted on September 14, 2010 by lkthayer

Photo by L. K. Thayer

I loved last night so much. All the poets were awesome and all unique. Different inspirational sensual moving artists.

One of the best evenings of music and poetry spoken word I have ever experienced.

Michael Camacho, plays his voice like a saxophone and bring a vitality and power to his performance, he is an amazing force and Gary Pratt and his students are the best most incredible players I have ever heard. I was really moved and tugged by the evening so much. I will write more… Everyone should come to “The Jazz Poets Social Club” at Elderberries. It is one of the hottest scenes going and alive vital. The room comes alive. It sizzles and the owner Dottie Zold and people were working there the woman are sweet. It is a friendly place with a vibe conducive to art and poetry.The food is healthy vegan and incredible.

Soon it will be so busy it will be hard to get into on these nights of sheer aliveness that Sunset Blvd. has not experienced in years. It reminds me of the day when The Doors played on Sunset in an improvisational kind of way.

I love this club.

Michael C Ford

was an absolutely brilliant performer recalling, evoking, inspiring, one to think about Jazz. His voice is like velvet, soothing and he has a powerful presence.

Definitely a man of words to hear and a real treat.

Alexis Rhone Fancher

I never heard her read before she is passionate alive vital. Her sense of intimacy and physical perceptions is truly amazing and she is uninhibited. Her words come alive.

I want to hear her again and again and an energy comes to my body which these days is hard to reach.

and

L. K. Thayer

I can not say enough good about Lisa. She does every thing with a passion. She is a great host.

A wonderful poet who makes her poems sizzle. She is emotionally relentless and once she grabs hold of you and once you sense her essence it is impossible to forget her.

Someone else has to write about me. I cannot write about myself…

I love this new weekly event… all the forces are coming together in this cataclysmic celebration.

Love,

Stevie

Stephen John Kalinich

L. K. Thayer writes…Stephen John Kalinich is a poet performer from head to toe who is mesmerizing, his words are hypnotic and like a snake charmer he takes you on a hypnotic sensory ride with heart, soul & passion like no other poet I have ever witnessed. Michael Camacho…is absolutely sensational, completely stunning jazz vocals, he brings his amazing acting chops to his music with no holds barred…he is riveting!

“The Jazz Poets Social Club” every Sunday evening at Elderberries in Hollywood.

Juice Bar Productions