Tongue & Groove

Tongue & Groove – Tues, August 26, 2014

Posted on by conradromo88

SPREADING THE WORD for 10 YEARS!

A literary variety show tonight of short fiction, personal essays, poetry, spoken word + music produced by Conrad Romo. This month features Taylor Negron, Tonya Ingram ” Growl and Snare”, David Darmstaedter “‘Costa Rican Schadenfreude”, Ann Buxie and  music by Logan Heftel.

Tues, August 26th
6:30-7:45 pm
Annenberg Community Beach House
415 Pacific Coast Hwy
Santa Monica, CA 90402

FREE ADMISSION

Taylor Negron is a comedian, novelist, playwright and an overall a bon vivant. As an actor he can be seen in the upcoming films Pledge This, Retirement and Surf School which he also co-produced. He just got back from an off Broadway show The Unbearable Lightness of Being Taylor Negron, and was met with standing ovations.

David Darmstaedter was born in Manhattan and lives in Topanaga. He has been a performing poet, a playwright and a penned a few screenplays before settling into writing novels. His first novel, My Monster, is in development with Mark Ruffalo producing. He has also written, ‘Jesus Feet’ – ‘One Last Prayer’ and ‘Snake For The Day’ which is also in development as a movie. He will be rereading from his latest book ‘Costa Rican Schadenfreude’.

Ann Buxie is a poet/storyteller raised in Yuma, Arizona and now lives in Malibu where she produces the wonderful home concert series, Tales By The Sea.

Tonya Ingram is the 2011 New York Knicks Poetry Slam champion, a member and co-founder of NYU’s poetry slam team, a member of the 2011 Urban Word-NYC team and the 2013 Nuyorican Grand Slam team. She is the author of “Growl and Snare”. Her work has traveled to Ghana, California, Michigan, Texas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Washington D.C., New York, The Literary Bohemian, Cultural Weekly, Upworthy, Youtube and season four of Lexus Verses and Flow. She is a New York University alumna, a Cincinnati native, a Bronx-bred introvert, and a hopeful Los Angeles flower-child, where she will be pursuing her MFA in Public Practice at Otis College of Art & Design.

Logan Heftel is a producer and singer/songwriter based in Los Angeles.

Conrad Romo grew up in L.A. short, stocky and swarthy. He is the producer and host of one of the very best literary reading events in L.A. called Tongue & Groove at the Hotel Cafe, now into year 11. He is also a co-founder of the NoHo Litcrawl and has earns his daily bread as a salesman. His writing has appeared in Los Angeles Review, Wednesday Magazine, Noveltown, Tu Ciudad, Brooklyn & Boyle, Palehouse, Huizache and Latinos in Lotusland. He can be reached at ww.conradromo.com

Come early! Seating is limited and we start on time!

For more info, visit: http://www.annenbergfoundation.org/trustee-signature-projects/annenberg-community-beach-house

 

Tongue & Groove – Sun, August 24, 2014

Posted on by conradromo88

SPREADING THE WORD for 10 YEARS!

A monthly literary variety show with music produced by Conrad Romo. This  month features: Jim Ruland ” Forest of Fortune”, J. Ryan Stradal “Kitchens of the Great Midwest”, Dinah Lenney ” The Object Parade”, Rolland Vasin,  Cathy Schenkelberg and our  musical guest TBD.

Sunday, August 24th
6-7:30 pm
The Hotel Cafe
1623 1/2 N Cahuenga Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90028

$7.00 at the door

RSVP here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/671927786232758/

Jim Ruland is the author of the short story collection Big Lonesome and co-author with Scott Campbell, Jr. of Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch of Giving the Finger. His debut novel is Forest of Fortune, by Tyrus Press.

J. Ryan Stradal volunteers at 826LA and co-produces the literary/culinary event “Hot Dish,” and works in TV, most recently as the Supervising Producer on the A&E series “Storage Wars: Texas.” He likes wine, books, root beer, and peas. Some places where he as been published include Hobart, The Rattling Wall, Midwestern Gothic, The Rumpus, and McSweeney’s. His first novel “Kitchens of the Great Midwest” will be published in 2015 by Viking.

Dinah Lenney is the author of Bigger Than Life: A Murder, a Memoir, and co-authored Acting for Young Actors. Her essays and reviews have been published in a wide range of publications and anthologies including LARB, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, AGNI, Creative Nonfiction, the Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, TriQuarterly, and Brevity. com. Dinah serves as core faculty for the Bennington Writing Seminars, the Rainier Writing Workshop, and in the Master of Professional Writing program at the University of Southern California. Her new book, The Object Parade, was recently published by Counterpoint Press. http://www.dinahlenney.com

Cathy Schenkelberg is an actress, singer, mom and all around bon vivant. She will tell you how she feels about spending nearly one million dollars on scientology services for her bridge to freedom and then some.

Rolland Vasin, third-generation American writer (pen name Vachine) is published in the journals Open Minds Quarterly, Gnome, and Found and Lost and is an active open-mic-reader at venues from Cambridge, Massachusetts to Big Sur, California. He has featured at Los Angeles’ World Stage, The Rapp Saloon, and Cobalt Cafe, among others, and dabbles in improvisational theater and stand-up comedy for which we was recognized as the Laugh Factory’s 1992 3rd Funniest CPA in Los Angeles. As a day job, Rolland’s CPA corporation audits youth and family charities.

Come early! Seating is limited and we start on time! tongueandgroovela.com

The club is a two story black brick building 1/3 rd of a block below Hollywood Bl. There are parking lots on Selma as well as Cahuenga. Meters need to be fed till 8pm.

Avoid Cahuenga street parking. The signs are deceptive.

Tongue & Groove – March 30

Posted on by Julia Drake

SPREADING THE WORD for 10 YEARS!

“Tongue & Groove”

A monthly offering of short fiction, personal essays, poetry, spoken word + music produced by Conrad Romo. This  month features: Kenny Weissberg ” Off My Rocker”, Marley Klaus, Michele Matheson “Saving Angelfish”, David Kendrick, Lauren Eggert-Crowe  and  music by  Amilia Spicer.

Sunday, March 30
6-7:30 pm
The Hotel Cafe
1623 1/2 No. Cahuenga Blvd.
Hollywood, Ca 90028
$6.00

RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1459302514286727/

Featured Performers:

J. Dylan Yates was raised on a tiny New England peninsula. She pursued her BA from the University of Colorado at Boulder. The Belief in Angels, Yates’s debut novel, was written over the course of many years while she attempted a number of BA-related jobs, including: teaching, corporate training, real estate, nursing, interior design, parenting, and reluctant housewifery. Prior to publication, The Belief in Angels won the Alexis Masters Scholarship Award at the February 2012 San Francisco Writers Conference. Yates lives in San Diego with her partner and a talking cat. Her son, Jaime, is a professional musician. Stay in touch: http://www.jdylanyates.com.

Michele Matheson lives in L.A. with her husband, son and daughter. She has been an accomplished actress from an early age, both in film and television, and has also found success as a singer and keyboard player for bands such as Action Daddy and The Black Tales. Currently, she is working on her second novel as well as doing illustrations for a children’s book, and she is thoroughly enjoying her new life as a mom.

David Kendrick came to Los Angeles by way of a phone call from the legendary Kim Fowley. He has played with 90 bands more or less. Some of note have been Gleaming Spires, Sparks, DEVO and Andy Prieboy. He is an avid collector of odd art and some of his finds have appeared in Clown Paintings by Diane Keaton. David’s ongoing music project – “The Empire Of Fun” to date has released a box set plus six other collections, including the fiction story CD set “I’m sorry Mr. Kendrick, there’s a skull inside your head.” Recently he has had essays on cycads and fear published by the Laboratory Arts collective Hymn magazine.

Marley Klaus is a former Emmy-nominated 60 Minutes producer who also created the award-winning California public television newsmagazine, California Connected. After leaving journalism, she co-wrote a pilot for a television series with Tom Fontana, her short story “Cleaning Up” was a finalist in the 2008 Faulkner-Wisdom short story competition, she’s working on a novel, and is going through whatever training newcomers get in the seven major religious traditions and writing about it in her blog: The Heathen Learns. http://www.marleytheheathen@blogspot.com

Lauren Eggert-Crowe is a well rounded writer of poetry, essays, book reviews, interviews, and cultural reportage. She was raised in rural Pennsylvania and earned an MFA in Creative Writing from The University of Arizona. She was voted Best Poet of Santa Cruz in in 2010 and 2011. Her poetry has also been set to music, in “Diary of a Black Widow,” a multisectional song setting by contemporary composer Christopher Pratorius, which premiered with the Santa Cruz Chamber Players in 2010. She has written 2 chapbooks and has published the highly regarded feminist ‘zine, Galatea’s Pants.

Amilia Spicer has performed across a good portion of the USA, appearing at many festivals and clubs. She has two CDs Like and Engine and Seamless. Her music has been described as intimate, dreamlike, lighthearted, and moody.

Come early! Seating is limited and we start on time! tongueandgroovela.com

Note: There is usually ample street parking, but meters need to be fed till 8pm. Read the signs carefully, but don’t park on Cahuenga. There is a parking lot right behind the club for 6 bucks or so or there are other lots on Selma between Cahuenga and Cole for 5-6 dollars.

Tongue & Groove – Sunday, February 16

Posted on by Julia Drake

SPREADING THE WORD for 10 YEARS!

“Tongue & Groove”

A monthly offering of short fiction, personal essays, poetry, spoken word + music produced by Conrad Romo. This  month features Eileen Cronin  “Mermaid”, Rob Roman, Carribean Fragoza, Bill Brochtrup, Tom Lisowski and  music by  Tony Shea.

Sunday, February 16th
6-7:30 pm
The Hotel Cafe
1623 1/2 No. Cahuenga Blvd.
Hollywood, Ca 90028
$6.00

Rsvp: https://www.facebook.com/events/651881381524976/?source=3&source_newsfeed_story_type=regular

Featured Performers:

Eileen Cronin grew up in the Midwest during the 60s and 70s. Her memoir, MERMAID, was selected for O Magazine’s “10 Titles to Pick Up Now” and was included in Page One of Poet’s & Writers. Her first publication was a cover story for the Washington Post Outlook section. Awarded the Washington Writing Prize in fiction and a notable essay in Best American Essays, she also practices clinical psychology. Eileen, her husband, and daughter have lived in the Washington, DC area and now live in Los Angeles.

Carribean Fragoza is a writer and artist from Los Angeles. She has published fiction and poetry in publications such as Palabra Literary Magazine and Emohippus and has a forthcoming short story in Bomb Magazine. Her arts/culture reviews and essays have been published in online national and international magazines such as Letras Libres, Culture Strike, and Tropics of Meta. She is a graduate of UCLA and CalArts’ MFA Writing Program. She is founder and co-director of the South El Monte Art Posse, a multi-disciplinary arts collective.

Robert Roman grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, where he sold newspapers to cars from a concrete island. He worked as a mail carrier, busboy, bartender, and laborer while earning a degree in English Literature from the University of Pittsburgh. He taught GED preparation at a juvenile detention facility, elementary school in the Baltimore City public schools, and English to high school seniors in Howard County, MD. He studied writing at Johns Hopkins and UCLA. He now lives in L.A., where he writes fiction and  hangman puzzles.

Bill Brochtrup is a stage, film, and television actor best known for playing “P.A.A. John Irvin,” on ABC’s long-running NYPD Blue.  This season he has recurring roles on Showtime’s Shameless and TNT’s Major Crimes.  He has told his original stories at numerous Spoken Word events and has written for OUT Magazine and the best-selling book of essays I Love You, Mom!  He is an SPCA “Friend for Life,” has hosted AIDS Walks across the country, and has traveled the world visiting our Troops with the USO and Armed Forces Entertainment.  He is the Co-Artistic director of The Antaeus Company, LA’s classical theatre ensemble, and is currently appearing onstage at the Odyssey Theatre in Sarah Ruhl’s Passion Play.  http://www.billbrochtrup.com.

Tom Lisowski is an artist whose life changed irreversibly after he found himself in one of David Sedaris’ creative writing courses at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Now residing in LA he is the author of the very short fiction blog http://www.veryshortfiction.com. By day he works as a production designer on feature films.

Tony Shea is the lead singer for Candygram For Mongo (C4M) who has been a featured artist on Clear Channel Radio’s Discover New Music Program and whose songs have been heard on  Battlestar Gallactica (Syfy Channel) and Unhitched (Fox) among other shows and films.

Come early!  Seating is limited and we start on time! tongueandgroovela.com