Last Friday, April 29th, Taylor Swift released her new album, The Tortured Poets’ Department. In celebration, Newton micropress Tandeta Books organized two community events hosted by Newton Centre businesses. The first was a tasting of two drinks mentioned in Swift’s music — champagne and screwtop rosé — at The Cork and Board at 1207 Centre Street. Proprietor Ryan Gott led a Taylor trivia contest complete with prizes, as well as a blind taste test to rank four different varieties of rosé. Their spirits thus elevated, some of the attendees then proceeded to an open mic at Bill’s Pizzeria on Beacon Street.
While many current open mics are semi-professional, this one was refreshingly informal, reminiscent of coffeehouse readings in the 1960s and 70s and poetry slams in the 80s and 90s. There was a mix of genres, including poetry and music of different kinds, and the attendees spontaneously decided to do rounds, taking turns reading or singing. This contributed to a supportive and active environment which propelled almost everyone out of their seats and to the mic to share a song or a poem — even people who hadn’t initially planned to perform. Highlights included a poem inspired by Janis Joplin that read, in part: “I’ll walk through the waves/ maybe on the waves, how about that/ and I’ll call up a storm of blues”; a singer/songwriter with guitar who reprised John Lennon’s “A Working Class Hero”; and a mother/daughter duo singing an old song about women’s work, “The Housewife’s Lament.”
The audience was small, but the audience turned into performers and performers into audience. It would be great if this type of event would continue, maybe one Friday a month? Bring a poem, a song, a flash fiction or memoir piece and we’ll all work on becoming even more communal, welcoming, retro and radical.