- [Narrator] Support for Kalamazoo Lively Arts
is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation,
helping to build and enrich the cultural life
of greater Kalamazoo.
- Welcome to Kalamazoo Lively Arts, the show that takes you
inside Kalamazoo's vibrant, creative community
and explores the people who breathe life into the arts.
(energetic rock music)
I'm John Koch, here at Miller Auditorium.
On today's show, we stop by For the Good Open Mic,
an event bringing art, passion, and advocacy
to the open mic scene.
We'll visit Park Place Living Center and see how Bob Rowe
and Renaissance Enterprises bring joy to residents.
And we'll explore artists' routines
and how that creates the art we love.
- Well I know artists kind of have different techniques.
Some of them paint at a designated time each day.
Some of them have a particular kind of music
playing in the background.
What's yours?
- I like to get into my studio as soon as I can.
Like, that was Ken's advice, go to your studio,
even if you just straighten up today.
- I think you have to be in the room,
I don't know how else to put it,
if you aren't there, you really aren't going to do anything.
- How do you write your poetry?
- They just come whenever.
So I have my phone or whatever device and I may speak it
into the phone.
Or I always carry a notebook, a pen or a pencil,
and I like to write it down,
but it may come from anywhere.
It may come from your dress, like wow.
Or just me talking to you, I may write a story,
I may have this story in my head about what life is
being an independent woman in TV or you know,
just to say, and it may be the empowered woman.
So you might be my muse for a poem
about being an empowered woman.
- Send me a copy.
(laughter)
- A lot of the time, the things that inspire me
is watching other art, like going to a play,
going to certain films, or watching clips.
- There's a certain level of pride
in this particular project where I was not willing
to walk away and say that time in my life is over
and it's done and I don't care.
This project was self-funded by me, so I had to have
a certain degree of passion or commitment
to want to put my own funds toward the restoration.
- [Shelley] Give me a day in your life.
- Oh boy (laughing) it's probably why I've stayed
in show business so long because they're never the same,
everything is different.
But our programs tend to be late morning, early afternoon,
so you know, I'll get up and I'll do a little bit
if we have a morning program and then kind of save my energy
for that and then for the afternoon.
Mondays and Tuesdays during the week, I tend to do
office work and I tend to take care of you know,
the actual running of Renaissance Enterprises.
- Yup, because you've got a businessman hat.
- We do, even though my bigger one is the artist hat.
And I spend time calling different facilities,
or trying to help schedule the artists
or talking to nice people like yourself.
So Mondays and Tuesdays are kind of my office days,
and we're really pretty much out in the field
the rest of the week doing programs.
- Sometimes if you're a writer,
and you're trying to create something,
you have to get into the right emotional mindset
but getting in that right emotional mindset,
especially about something that's a really intense thing
that you're creating, isn't the healthiest for you
as a human being because you still have to live in the world
and it really causes heightened emotions.
I'm a very emotional writer.
I sort of feel what I'm writing as I create it.
So accessing a lot of those thoughts isn't necessarily
the most healthy thing for you emotionally,
but yeah I think it's something that the writer has to do
because you have to challenge yourself
when you're trying to write to make it real.
- Do you ever learn something when you're painting
and maybe say ah, I'm going to take that into my next work?
- Mmhmm, yeah that's one of the reasons why people
do art.
It's kind of a way of seeking the truth.
When you look at, well let's say a chambered nautilus
or you know, a sunflower, and you start to draw it
or paint it, you see, oh, that's how it is,
that's how it looks.
And you learn, that you learn about the world that way
but you also learn about yourself.
I've done a lot of portraits for people, pencil portraits,
and by the time I'm done, I feel like this is my family,
I know these people.
You know, you see a little wrinkle or a blemish,
and you're working to get it right in all that,
so to me, it's painting and drawing,
it's all a learning experience.
- Bob Rowe, a man of many talents.
(laughter)
Oh my gosh, where do we begin?
We sing, we maybe dance.
- Oh I don't know Shelley (laughing).
- Business owner.
- With an introduction like that, I don't know how
I can follow that, that's pretty cool.
- Well let's start with Bob Rowe
and I guess when did you knew you were talented
in the singer songwriter musician world?
- Well I kind of fell in love with singing, and writing,
and music back in high school.
I would listen to the wonderful folk singers
like Peter, Paul, and Mary, Joan Baez and Kat Stevens,
and people that kind of married wonderful lyrics
and meaningful words, stories, to great songs,
and that's what first attracted me into music,
is that it could be entertaining but also say something
significant about the world.
And so that's how it all got started,
and from the time I was in high school,
one of the sisters of St. Joseph took me around
to visit the shut-ins and the people she was giving
communion to and I automatically felt a chemistry
with that group of people.
It took so little on my part to bring a smile to their face.
I could sing off-key or I could sing the wrong words,
or whatever, and just the fact that I was there
and I was paying attention to them and I was giving them
my heart and soul made all the difference in their existence
and I thought man, this is a powerful thing.
This is big.
- Alright put your hands together.
(audience clapping)
♪ There's a dark and a troubled side of life ♪
♪ There's a bright and a sunny side too ♪
♪ Though the darkness be ever around ♪
♪ The sunny side we also may view ♪
Here we go.
♪ Oh keep on the sunny side ♪
♪ Always on the sunny side ♪
♪ On the sunny side of life ♪
♪ Feel the bright and lovely day ♪
♪ It'll help you walk away ♪
♪ If you keep on the sunny side of life ♪
♪ Oh the storms and the trials ♪
- [Shelley] What are you sharing with your audiences?
- I'm sharing their dignity.
I'm trying to let them know they matter
and that they're important and that they don't have to be
young again, they don't have to be making a big splash
out there in the community, that everybody matters,
and everybody has worth and everybody has dignity
simply because they exist.
And if you think about it, if you've ever visited
a care facility, so many of the elderly have absolutely
nothing to look forward to.
Their friends have passed on, and their relatives,
if they're still alive, maybe live off in California
or somewhere far away, and so they just sit there
day in and day out, and the fact that we're able to
go in there and sing them a happy song
and you know, spend time visiting with them
makes all the difference in their wellbeing.
They're doing a lot of studies now showing the correlation
between mental, spiritual stimulation and emotional health
with our physical health.
I hope there's people that might see this
and maybe decide to visit the elderly,
and you know, I tell everybody, even if you can't sing
and you can't perform, then you can go in
and visit with the elderly.
You can read a book to somebody that's lonely.
You can just sit down and let them talk to you,
let them tell you their life story because they will.
Everybody's interested in talking about their journey
if you open them up.
There's so much we can give and it's not that hard.
♪ Oh remember me when the candlelight's gleaming ♪
- So we've got Willie Nelson, remember.
♪ At the close of a long long day ♪
♪ It would be so sweet when all alone I'm dreaming ♪
♪ Just to know that you remember me ♪
♪ The sweetest song of all the lovers ♪
♪ In the golden ♪
♪ The sweetest words belong to you and me ♪
♪ The saddest words ♪
- [Shelley] Let's talk about those accolades.
Mother Teresa's entered your life somehow.
- (laughing) Back when I started the organization,
Mother Teresa's documentary had just come out,
called The Gift of Love, and I was so moved by it
and by what she was doing for the poorest of the poor
and people that are really marginalized by society,
and I could see the parallel between that
and what we were doing for the elderly.
Because the elderly in care facilities are pretty much
kind of off in the distance and forgotten,
and not really in the mainstream of society.
So I wrote down one day, sat down and wrote down
a whole letter to Mother Teresa and I put it in the mail
and I totally forgot about it,
and I thought well I'll never hear back,
she had already won the Nobel Peace Prize
and was a worldwide celebrity at that point.
And about two months later, lo and behold,
this little yellowed envelope came from Calcutta, India,
and I thought could it be?
And I opened it up and I thought oh my goodness,
it was a letter from Mother Teresa.
And it was extraordinarily personal, just telling me
that what I was doing really mattered to God
and was really important and that I didn't need
to change a thing, that what we were doing,
giving love to the less fortunate,
and those that were largely forgotten in society, was big.
And I wrote probably 15 or 20 letters to her after that
and she wrote very personal messages back,
and I would send pictures of myself and our other artists
performing for the elderly, and she'd write little notes
on it and then mail it back to me.
So it was really cool that in 2006 the organization
that worked with Mother Teresa's order awarded us
with the Mother Teresa Laureate.
And it was such a thrill that year because we were awarded
in the same group with former president Jimmy Carter,
whom I admire very much for his work
with Habitat for Humanity, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
and Billy Graham who has recently passed away,
so it was a cool thing.
- Bob Rowe, what will you do for us here?
- Well we have a little song that we love to sing
for just about every program because we have a rule
if there's sunshine outside, we celebrate it.
If there isn't any, we create some right in our heart.
- That's right.
- So that's what we're going to sing about right now,
and you ladies have got to help me out.
Ready?
♪ You are my sunshine, my only sunshine ♪
♪ You make me happy when skies are gray ♪
♪ You never know dear how much I love you ♪
♪ Please don't take my sunshine away ♪
♪ The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping ♪
♪ I dreamed I held you in my arms ♪
♪ When I awoke dear, I was mistaken ♪
♪ For I hung my head down and I cried ♪
- All together.
♪ You are my sunshine, my only sunshine ♪
♪ You make me happy when skies are gray ♪
♪ You never know dear, how much I love you ♪
♪ Please don't take my sunshine away ♪
♪ Oh please don't take my sunshine away ♪
- Yeah
(applauding)
Alright, we made some sunshine today.
- She's a poet, a spoken word artist, and a host,
Dana Great Dane Hudson is hosting an event
here in Kalamazoo.
It's called For the Good Open Mic Night,
and it has a mission.
- Cross over her ankle so you know that she's a Christian.
Unaware that she's challenging gods,
oppressed by a system that can turn a car ride
to the beach into Christmas.
I'm talking flashing lights, caroling sirens,
said the music was too loud.
The black was too proud.
(audience calls out in agreement)
Because you know black joy is illegal.
(audience yells out in agreement)
The exception to the American dream.
Black joy is America's sleepless nights when we exist
adjacent to meeting our own needs.
It's like Harriet reincarnated into the belief
that freedom is on the side.
Black joy is a revolution we will protect with our lives.
Thank you.
(audience murmuring in agreement and yelling out)
(audience applauds)
- So last time we were together, we did affirmations,
we kind of said things that we wanted to become,
things that we wanted to see.
So I was kind of curious, did any of those affirmations
actually materialize for you?
- That's a great question, that's a really great question.
The Open Mic that I began March of this year,
For the Good Open Mic, is definitely a start
of kind of realizing a vision.
It's a part of it.
And so at the end of last year, I really was just
feeling like I needed to do something,
create some type of space
that encouraged and supported other people,
and so here we are with For the Good Open Mic.
I reached out to Cameron Mitchell at Rudit,
and she was all for it.
- Well that's what I wanted to ask you.
How did, how is this different really from some of the other
open mics?
- Okay so most open mics, your feature is going to be a poet
for the most part, or some type of artist,
a singer or something like that.
Now while you may come to this open mic and see a feature
that has some art to share, but for the most part,
they're an individual or groups of individuals
doing something really good in the community.
So for instance, we had a feature of Cosecha Kalamazoo,
which, they are really pushing forward
for the rights of immigrants, and for human rights,
for every brown and black person to be treated like a human.
And they also have deep stories themselves,
and they were able to come and share those stories
and be heard and be vulnerable, shed some tears even,
and have some laughs.
It's almost like healing.
Because it's hard work, it's hard work being out there
and doing this grassroots work,
and so it can be really taxing on you in your capacity,
and so this open mic was started so that they can have
that moment to feel the support of the community,
and so the community can also find out what they're doing.
- I'm p-ed off.
- [Audience] Why DC?
- These pictures plastered purposely on my page
of your peculiar portraits perturbing me every day,
these selfies, these selfies,
pivotally planted your presence,
your constant presence, pauses my social network experience.
Hashtag Monday's outfit, hashtag Tuesday's swag,
hashtag Wednesday's vintage, hashtag Thursday's rags,
hashtags Friday's dress, hashtag Saturday's look,
hashtag Sunday's best boo.
This is not a scrapbook, like why am I being punished
by your plethora of pics, predictable postures,
same face just a different outfit.
Boldly portraying your passion for popularity
you primadonna theme posting plenty for some likes.
Just to boost your self esteem.
I said I'm p-ed of.
- [Audience] Why DC?
- At the (clears throat) pity placed on possessive
baby mamas to prevent the painted possession
of the poor because they are scarred.
So now your polemic poison precedes the pawn
to the prototype that papas participation
is precisely what makes you complacent
when really it's your pitiful pedestal
they can't hold the concept of platonic relations so,
he can't see his kids because he doesn't want you
borderline arguing,
understand what has one got to do with two.
(audience yelling)
Said I'm p-ed off.
- [Audience] Why DC?
- At these paternal poses perpetrating as fathers
preventing his prince or princess from his or her potential.
A pattern portraying programs that we promote.
Perpetuating the problem previously produced by presidents
of past periods.
Do you not know the power of your purpose, presence,
or position are paralleled to the progress of my people,
I'm telling this to my black male students.
Do you not know the power of your purpose, presence,
and position are parallel to the progress of our people?
No they're more concerned with popping molly,
puffing bally, pistols packing, got the nerve
to wear it proudly.
I said I'm p-ed off.
- [Audience] Why DC?
- At these political pirates posing as politicians
promising promises broken like homes plagued by the system,
these penny pinching peddlers promoting passive peace
and protection on paper all the while evidence proves
planned propaganda for that paper.
(audience hums in agreement)
These pesky pieces of porcelain deposits
hide behind a management of wars on drugs and sitcom pilots.
Superbowl performances, illuminatis, and kamikazes,
fabled they planted pirates empower in our population
and rode out like Kawasaki.
Question, if the percentage from the pepper pigmented
persuasion is piled so high in prisons,
surpassing the elevation, how do we predict the probability?
Poets and peace promoters are pronounced most wanted,
too much preaching to the popular survivors,
prejudiced, pre-possessed, plantation-producing,
policy-violating, 9/11 premeditating, stand your ground
and promoting, I said I'm p-ed off.
- [Audience] Why DC?
- Not because I have to or because I haven't tried.
I'm p-ed off because y'all keep asking me why.
(Audience yelling, cheering, and clapping)
- So when you look at For the Good, what do you think
it's benefit is for the community?
How does this affect the community here in Kalamazoo?
- Well I think, you know, activism is a tough, tough thing
because while you're fighting to change something,
you're also being impacted by whatever it is
you're trying to change.
So you're experiencing some form of oppression,
while you're trying to fight that same form of oppression.
It can be very exhausting.
- Yeah.
- And so for me, my hope is that it allows people
to get a little boost so that they can continue
to do that work because if they stop doing the work,
then who does it?
So the community needs these people.
The community needs to get behind these people
and these organizations and so that's how the community
can be benefited.
- My name is Nora Buckingham Getz.
My pronouns are she or hers.
If you look at that piece of paper from that fateful morning
March 27, 1995, Springfield, Illinois,
shows an R missing from her name,
one letter that should be an X,
and another that should be an F.
Much like the lines of code that won't compile,
it's amazing what one letter can hinder.
But I don't need the government or society to fit me
into a box.
I know exactly who I am.
This is a broad whose shoulders are broad,
whose hands are big as are her feet,
whose breasts and hips could be bigger,
but at least her hair flows long and free.
If her arms and legs are hairy, it's more about being
lazy for a feminist statement.
Her throat has a lump that most girls don't,
and another that makes other lucky bisexuals swoon.
These parts do not give such dismay to her,
as a deep voice and scratchy face,
like a clock from day to day and leave her pillow wet
for once a week.
These things won't just go away, not with three years
since her awakening,
or a year and a half of pills and patches,
meant to sew up the holes in my chemistry,
but do give me a new fulfillment in the joy
of growing up once again.
If she looks pretty now, that's because she worked
real hard for it.
Pretty hard's enough for most girls.
You can't just buy the cheap makeup, they say,
but the clothing sizes lie to them already.
Lipstick, mascara, and a lot of foundation
go a long way for me.
It's often a scary life that I live,
but I know exactly who I am, and I wouldn't want to be
anybody else.
Thank you.
(audience cheers and applauds)
- For the Good Open Mic, who is it for?
Who do you hope to reach with that?
- Anyone who is looking for an outlet to speak their mind,
to express themselves, anyone who is looking for community
to connect with to improve their community.
I know there are people out there who think,
well people don't care about this,
or they don't care about that,
they don't care about the north side,
or they don't care about the east side,
but there people that are working and doing work
and creating programs and organizations to do that good work
in those areas, so I'm hoping that the people from the
north side and the east side, the west side, the south side,
I hope they all come, check it out, and figure out
what they can do for the good for the community.
- Thank you for joining us on this week's episode of
Kalamazoo Lively Arts.
Check out today's show and other content at www.wgbu.org.
We leave you tonight with a summer of 2018 performance
at Kalamazoo's For the Good Open Mic.
I'm John Koch.
Have a great night.
- [Performers] In Grand Rapids, we go to church on Mondays.
- We meet as a congregation, pour libations,
pass the hat is always participation.
- [Performers] Always resemble deities
so we give them praises.
- I guess you can call poetry that new religion.
See, these spaces are sacred, because here we get to be us,
- [Performers] We free, we black, we white,
we gay.
- We straight.
- [Performers] We not binary, and we not apologizing.
- You will stay our names while we are still standing
and we will continue to stand.
- Especially since they are still on the hunt
- [Performers] For black and brown bodies,
torches in hand,
ready to deliver us our death sentences,
as if we ain't already used to dying
then being reborn, like we ain't got the Bible in our DNA.
- You see these spaces be our sanctuaries.
- [Performers] Where we sometimes stand in circles,
ciphering sentences, curating culture, saying things like
- Don't be nice.
- Remember why you wrote it.
- [Performers] Go in for it.
- And you think these are just phrases that we pass
to the poet on the stage for encouragement.
You do realize whose speaking in tongues,
let me decipher it for you.
Like when we say
- [Performers] Don't be nice.
- Don't be nice, because they ain't never been nice to us.
They want poetry to be pretty and soft and sweet
but I write about my experiences,
and some of them have been ugly and grimy
and too rough around the edges to ever be soft.
---- being sweet.
(audience hoots)
I'd much rather be bitter.
See that taste is much more familiar on my taste buds.
When we say
- [Performers] Remember why you wrote it.
- Remember when you didn't have anything else but poetry.
- [Performers] Remember the ink circles from your tears
that still stain your pages.
- [Main Performer] Remember when you penned your first poem
or performed your first piece.
- [Performers] Remember that even though
there's a thousand other poets out there,
you still felt your voice necessary.
- See these faces, being an even exchange amongst creators
with souls left on mics.
- [Performers] Us slam poets typically get three minutes
maybe an extra ten seconds to leave our souls on the mic,
hoping you see the world the way we see.
- And I know this is supposed to be a slam.
Sometimes I just want to walk up to the judges and yell
- [Performers] How dare you judge our worship,
like you ain't no prophecy projected from these rights,
(audience yelling)
like your ears ain't been baptized and made new,
(audience yelling)
like there's no resemble scripture for these sages
say holy land, you can't tell me that prophet
and poet don't sound like synonyms.
(audience applauding and cheering)
- This is our temple.
Recognize the divinity that surrounds you.
Appreciate the fact that every time we step to the mic,
you are witnessing
- [Performers] Living, breathing miracles.
- Now let the church say amen.
- [Audience] Amen.
(audience screams and applauds)
- [Narrator] Support for Kalamazoo Lively Arts
is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation,
helping to build and enrich the cultural life
of Greater Kalamazoo.
(upbeat rock music)
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