First Friday with poetry by J. Stephen Rhodes, Katerina Stoykova-Klemer and music by Little Maggie
$10
$5 with student ID
Stephen Rhodes writes about living on the edges between security and fear, guilt and grace, as well as between country and city, and prosperity and scarcity.
Regarding his poems and essays, he comments, “I want to write in a way that offers hope for people like myself who are more than a little overwhelmed by modern life. I want to be honest about the brokenness that besets us, but I am also looking for beauty in the midst of that brokenness.”
Poems by J. Stephen Rhodes have appeared in Shenandoah, Tar River Poetry, and The International Poetry Review, among others. His poetry collection, The Time I Didn’t Know What to Do Next, was recently published by Wind Publications. He is currently pursuing a MFA at the University of Southern Maine—Stonecoast.
He and his wife, Ann, live in Berea.
Katerina Stoykova-Klemer writes poetry and prose in both Bulgarian and English. She enjoys translating between the two languages, as well. Her poems and stories have appeared in numerous literary publications in the United States and in Europe, and her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net Award and AWP Intro Award.
Katerina's first book of poetry, The Air around the Butterfly, published by Fakel Express, was released in August, 2009. Her first chapbook, The Most, is now in pre-order from Finishing Line Press.
Katerina is the founder and organizer of poetry and prose workshop groups, which meet regularly in Lexington, Kentucky, and recently celebrated their two-year anniversary. She serves as Deputy Editor-in-Chief for the international multimedia journal Public Republic and a student-editor for The Louisville Review.
Little Maggie is a pair of Lexington songwriters whose songs have been covered by some respected musicians. Karah's original "Mourning Cloak" appears on Laurie Lewis' (with The Right Hands) CD "The Golden West" (Hightone Records 2006). "Mourning Cloak" saw airplay on XM Radio's Bluegrass Junction and the country playlist of Lufthansa Airlines. Sing Out Magazine's review of the CD singled out the cut for praise as "a real gem." Bob has three cuts on guitar god Jim Hurst's most recent CD, "Box of Chocolates" (2007). Jim has been nominated for IBMA Guitar Player of the Year every year since 2001, and won in 2001 and 2002.
We play a wildly divergent but always acoustic mixture of originals and carefully chosen covers in an O Brother Where Art Thou?-type setting. Our originals would be classified as bluegrass, country, swing, and jazz; our covers include songs by the Stanley Brothers, Bill Monroe, Patsy Cline, and Hank Williams.
For this gig we will be joined by our collaborator Jesse Pena, formerly of Nashville, who has played the Grand Ole Opry. Jesse will be adding mondo mando and acoustic and electric guitar and harmony vocals to our set.