Our next "Literary Jam Thang" spoken word event is this coming Friday, Feb. 24th, between 7:00 and 9:00 pm at Butler's Coffee in Palmdale.

The tentative lineup this time, in no particular order yet, is as follows: Gary Helm, Cesar Vega, Steve Ordway, Viviane Carson, Frank Robinson, Charles Hood, Amber Hood, Nicelle Davis, John McGee, Kristin Tjosassas, Kevin Burton Smith, Pat Alexander, and me.

If any of you are not planning to read, please let me know at your earliest convenience. If I missed somebody, talk to me about that as well.

This is NOT an Open Mic, so in order to perform you MUST be on the schedule. If you want to perform, contact me.

Similar ground rules as last time:Some of you receiving this email have said that you're not interested in reading, but may be in the audience from time to time, so this is just an FYI.

• Allow for about six minutes max to read/perform your piece-- if you need more time, let me know beforehand and I'll try to accommodate you.
• If you have a preferred approximate time slot, give me a yell and again, I'll try to accommodate.
• Some folks have asked to read works by other authors -- that's OK with me, but I would encourage you to also offer brief comments about why you chose a particular piece. For instance, Kevin's piece on Raymond Chandler last month was pretty cool, I thought, mixing commentary with samples of Chandler's writing.
• Be kind to our fine hosts -- that means spend a little dough on their coffees, pizzas, sandwiches, wraps, salads, etc. so that they can do a little business. Also, invite friends, family, and acquaintances-- we all want to reach an audience besides ourselves, right? Pam and Dave Logan of Butler's Coffee has been very supportive of the local arts scene -- let's repay the favor by supporting them.
• And please remember Butler's is a "family friendly" venue, so please include works that have adult themes, but monitor your language. We can have a whole discussion about "creative license" and "1st Amendment rights," but it is what it is. Respect the house.