The Impossible Girl lands in Kansas City.

Sometimes you see a band in a big stadium and the impact of the light show and the surround sound and the power of thousands of fans all swaying to the same beat proves overwhelmingly beautiful. And occasionally you sit on the floor of a small lingerie boutique and watch a girl and her guitar perform in the dressing room and you well up a little bit. Because that's pretty beautiful too.

Thanks to Peregrine Honig for hosting Kim Boekbinder at Birdies this week and introducing me to a great new artist. Kim Boekbinder is from NY and just spent several months in Australia and I discovered her in the Crossroads District of Kansas City, Missouri.

And thanks to Kim for penning a diddy about Facebook stalking. We all do it. No one should be ashamed...

'On The Nail' Reading Tues. 7th June 2011 9.00pm

'On The Nail' Reading @ The Locke Bar, Limerick

Tuesday 7th June 2011 8.00pm

(please note our new day, Tuesday, for the Summer months)



Organised by The Limerick Writers' Centre this popular monthly reading and open-mic continues to attract audiences with a mix of poetry, prose and music.



This month our guests are Gabriel FitzMaurice and Dave Rock.



Gabriel Fitzmaurice, whose roots lie deep in the strong literary tradition of North Kerry is poet, teacher, broadcaster, writer, translator, singer and raconteur. He was born in 1952, in the village of Moyvane, Co Kerry where he still lives. For more than three decades he taught and later served as principal at his local national school but is now happily retired. He is the author of more than forty books, including collections of poetry in English and Irish as well as several collections of verse for children. He has translated extensively from Irish and had also edited a number of anthologies of poetry in both English and Irish. In addition, he has published volumes of essays and collections of songs and ballads. He is a familiar voice on Kerry Radio where he hosts his own show. Gabriel has also been frequently heard on national television and radio speaking on education and the arts. A cassette of his poems, The Space Between: New and Selected Poems 1984-1992 is available.

He is a former chair and literary advisor of Listowel Writers' Week and is currently a committee member of Eigse Michael Hartnett. He is an award winner of the Gerard Manley Hopkins Centenary Poetry Competition and has twice represented Ireland at the European Festival of Poetry in Louvain, Belgium.

He has been called "poetry's answer to John B Keane" (Books Ireland) and his poems have been described as "comparable to Burns for their insight and lyricism" (The Irish Times ).



Dave Rock has been a featured performer at practically every main venue for poetry in Ireland. He was placed third in the Cuirt Literature Festival Grand slam and fourth in the All Ireland. His performing style is highly physical and expressive, and often very joyous. He combines slam pieces with traditional poetry. He has also been a storyteller for a number of years, working with traditional and his own invented folktales. He is the co-creator of the InkStorm workshops in creative writing and performing, which have had a ream of very successful events across Ireland and England. He has taught and facilitated both writing, storytelling and performing with children, teens and adults. He's currently designing a new breed of workshops. He's been published in a number of journals, and will be published in the rest! His chapbook, A Single Unstruck Match, was published in 2008. He's also an art photographer, with a number of successful exhibitions.

Everyone is invited to take part in the open-mic after the main event, poets, storytellers, musicians and writers . Even if you don't write you are welcome to bring something along to read. The night begins at 8.00pm and admission is free. So join us on the night and make this event something special.

NOTE: Our special authors book table will again be in operation, so if you want your book, CD's etc publicised make sure you are represented on the table. Contact Dominic Taylor at 087 2996409 to make arrangements.

The Limerick Writers' Centre acknowledges the support of The Arts Council of Ireland.



Further information contact: Dominic Taylor 087 2996409 email limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com web http://onthenailreadings.blogspot.com To view videos of the May reading go to: http://www.youtube.com/onthenailreadings

The Limerick Writers' Centre acknowledges the support of The Arts Council of Ireland.

How to make it in America.

When you're working on a show about America, it is easy to get patriotic. You see enough American flags and energetic fervor around them and you start to believe the hype. Which is a good thing. But America: Now and Here isn't just about hype and it's not about patriotism. It's about a dialogue and a conversation.

And it is probably not a coincidence that this song has been on repeat on each of my Apple music devices over the last several weeks.

Charles Bradley, I couldn't have started a more universally engaging conversation had I tried. Which I might have. But didn't have to. Cause this song does it so superbly.

Why is it so hard to make it in America?

Please enjoy Bradley's dance moves around 2:30 and 4:30 responsibly.

Days Off, Kansas City Style.

For some people, the weekend is defined by Friday night through Sunday evening. From this general assumption of what a weekend means comes the phrase 'Thank God It's Friday.' From that phrase comes the ABC Friday night television sitcom series from many of our childhoods, 'TGIF' (do we not all remember 'Family Matters' and 'Step by Step' sandwiched between or around 'Full House'? Oh gosh, we sure do). But for those of us who are in production, the weekend comes not very often or not at all and certainly not on the days others might expect it to.

Well, this past Monday and Tuesday, I got my first chance to enjoy a 'weekend' in Kansas City. And enjoy it, I did.

Some highlights.

Loose Park. Oh, how I love a park. I love, love, love a park. I'd heard some great things about Loose Park. It almost completely lived up to its expectations.

Near the Kansas City Art Institute...sponsored by H&R Block (um, oh wow, really?!)...this amazing public art piece. The irony is debatable. The art, super cool.

I swung by my friend, Beniah Leuschke's studio. He is a genius. He is a wordsmith. He is an artist. He is awesome and though this moldy seat does his work no justice, his work is rad and you must check it out.

I love Kansas City. I love my KC weekends whether they're on Saturdays or Mondays or once a month or only from 11 p - 5 a in the mornings. I will take advantage of every moment of free time I have here. I will weekend it up every hour I have off.

I put the I--twice--in Missouri.

When I signed on to manage production for an art tour I didn't really know much about, I figured I'd make the best of seven paid months exploring America. I'd take a couple of road trips on my days off, get to know the landscape of the Midwest, and write long entries into my yet untitled book during long nights to myself.

Three weeks ago I moved to Kansas City, still unsure of the city's placement on a map, let alone which state it belonged to.

Kansas City has turned out to be the kind of place that surprises you. It's not near the ocean and the street signs are poorly distributed. People are slow and they seem to want to talk rather than rush you through the line. Favors are asked in person and new friends drop by with gifts of strange fruits and common candies.

There are, amongst the barbecue establishments, a number of great restaurants in Kansas City. There are more independent coffee shops than Starbucks per the average block. People introduce themselves and then they run into you again and again and they probably remember your name.

I am currently living in Kansas City, Missouri. I am here for America: Now and Here.

The journey starts here. It starts on Friday.