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Fusion DVD menu screen

My association with the local literary and spoken word community goes back to 2002, when I received my first exposure to the scene by way of a "Tantric Valentines Day" reading at Paperbacks Plus. This introduction was followed by a few visits to the open mics at Deep Ellum's Insomnia café, which, upon their demise, led directly to the series at Bill's Records from 2002-2004. A sporadic series of readings back at Paperbacks Plus (some sponsored by WordSpace or The Writer's Garret) came next, and ultimately came Johnny O's Mad Swirl gatherings and my creation of the Open Mic Project. From inauspicious beginnings, my relationship with the poetry/literary community has morphed from little more than that of performer/spectator into a series of much more involved collaborations with purveyors of the spoken word.

The first of these collaborations took place in April 2008, when I produced a DVD of an event at Paperbacks Plus entitled "Fusion." This event featured local poetry luminaries M.H. Clay and Chris Zimmerly with live instrumentation provided by fusion jazz group Swirve. Involving the recording of sound and video, as well as post-production work, this was one of my first ever attempts at creating an entire multimedia project from the ground up. Fusion was followed shortly thereafter by a second, similar event in May of the same year known as "ROAR!!!" Featuring Desmene Statum, Opalina Salas, and Jolee Davis, this collaboration also resulted in a DVD (see the PAO Productions Video Page for clips from these first two projects). Associations with WordSpace, Mad Swirl, Knife Six Productions, and the recent open mics at Bill's Records, Mighty Fine Arts, and the Mochalux Coffee House have since followed.

This area of the site chronicles my involvement with these various other entities in support of the literary and spoken word scenes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Unless otherwise noted, all material presented here in the way of video, sound, and photography was done by me. In some cases help was enlisted from others to cover photographic duties so I could focus on recording. All post-production work is by PAO Productions. All material performed is owned by the respective performers.

Past Events:
Lost Art Open Mic, 8/08/2010
Lost Art Open Mic, 8/01/2010
Lost Art Open Mic, 7/25/2010
Lost Art Open Mic, 7/18/2010
Lost Art Open Mic, 7/11/2010
Bill's Records, 6/20/2010
Bill's Records, 6/13/2010
Mochalux Coffee House, 6/12/10
Bill's Records, 6/06/2010
Bill's Records, 5/30/2010
Bill's Records, 5/09/2010
WordSpace Presents . . . Mad Swirl Night, 5/13/2010 (see "A Taste of Mad Swirl")

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