This month we are in the back room of Ernie O’Malley’s on East 27th Street. Its Kelly-green walls are festooned with historical paraphernalia detailing Irish revolutionary action throughout the previous centuries. It’s a back room that could easily double as a speakeasy or meeting place for shenanigans. The door to the back is heavy and decorated with books as a kind of façade.
John Kearns is our amiable, capable host, having been IAW&A salon director in days gone by. John gives us a little information of the man Ernie O’Malley, and his bohemian and revolutionary past, before introducing writer Vincent Simpson to the stage. Vinnie reads the opening chapter of his novel in progress. It is a rattling exposition of a new 1950s Irish family settling into American life. Through the textures, smells and sounds of their existence, we hear changes take place and the feel the distance as the generations grow away from their original home.
Next up is journalist and filmmaker Kathleen Kiley, with reflections on a father’s burial. This short story touches on legacy and the importance, or not, of where you end up in life - and afterwards. Kathleen has a podcast, “If You Only Knew the Half.”
John Liam Shea is the author of “Cut and Run in the Bronx” and reads us a chapter from it. It’s a Runyonesque parable detailing the relationship between a cop and a one-armed panhandler on the streets. The origin story of One Juan (or is it Juan One?) goes deep and extreme into the treatment of poor humans as commodities, but it is also poetic and funny with a theatrical ear for dialogue.
Hip-hop poet and IAW&A member, Myss UneeK introduces her 13-year-old son, Mr. Hoyt (Vehni), to the stage for his first ever reading. Mr. Hoyt’s words are halting and heartfelt as his lyrics tell us of the recent loss of his great grandma, Mrs. Earthay Mae, and what she meant to him. Myss UneeK follows her son with a powerful poetic performance detailing her own thoughts on the influence of the same woman, her grandma - the matriarch. Her words show how loss can inspire writing. Myss UneeK is currently working these themes into a musical.
At the interval there is a push me/pull you episode at the speakeasy door as we seek refreshment from the bar. It seems one or two of the very real books have fallen off the façade and trapped the outside door handle. We realize that we are literally locked in by literature. Maybe latched on a copy in the rye? We have been booked and are now boxed in.
The intermission will be longer than usual. No drama!
Once released by the lovely staff of O’Malley’s and suitably watered, we return for the second half.
Vienna Carroll is a roots musician and performer of spirituals who sings an a cappella, “Don’t Mind People Grinning in Your Face.” Vienna gets the room clapping along, in rhythm, and we wish we could have heard more of her “old-world charm and new-world influences.” She will be performing, with the Folk, at The Bitter End, Bleecker St, NYC September 6th. viennacarrollmusic.com
Actors Siobhan Regan and Tara Steinberg gave us back-to-back monologues. Written by host John Kearns, they serve as an introduction to his novel in progress, “Abaton.” The actors detailed the differing inner thoughts of two nurses, or the yin and yang of one, as they watch relatives on visits to their comatose patients. The nurses’ comments are sometimes romantic, sometimes sharp as a scalpel.
James Rogers, author of “Flight of the Eternal Emperor,” read a published piece titled The Pass. The tale is of a local character named Mulligan, who might be away with the fairies. The air of the mystical sits easy with the tea and biscuits, GAA talk and the acceptance of passing on to another place.
Poet Bernadette Cullen likes a prelude and wants us to know that her benchmark is Derek Mahon. Bernadette’s poems are hauntingly sparse, images coming out with each slow breath like a gasp. The way our world is headed means that her abstract imagery becomes real, her fantasy makes more sense than reality, there are even deep thoughts on the meaning of inanimate objects. She gives us “a dream as simple as dirt.”
To close, we have music. Multi-instrumentalist Don Meade, just back from the Catskills Celtic Music Festival, gives us a history lesson through tunes. Playing airs and songs from the 1920s and ’30s on tenor guitar and harmonica. “If I can’t get sunshine without any work, I think I’ll stay out in the rain.” was an old refrain that the audience warmed to - it’s hot outside.
For more on Anthony C. Murphy go to anthonycmurphy.substack.com.
