PREVIOUS BLUEBIRDS

On March 8 of 2015 Avenue 50 Studio’s Bluebird Reading Series presented BLESS THE ASHES, in the spirit of the Inspiration House PoetryChoir. This voice music presentation featured poets Peter J. Harris, Cecilia Woloch, Hiram Sims, and S. Pearl Sharp with musicians Curtis Robertson Jr., Tracy Wannomae, Maia, and Clint Patterson. The presentation was un-rehearsed and completely improvised, to revolve around the themes of Peter J. Harris’s Bless the Ashes.

Bless the Ashes is an urban hymn to elemental influences: Peter Harris’s mother and the reverberations of the ethical gifts she gave him during her fifty-seven years on earth; the integrity at the core of cultures crafted under duress by people of African descent; the nourishment of waters, actual and symbolic; powerful music (from the One and 4/4 to symphonic and atonal); as well as the exhilaration of tapping the flow of creativity. These poems are about an adult search for deep humanity and the best of community.

This book crystallizes Harris’s most expansive quest for a creative voice of individuality and inspiration. With Bless the Ashes, he uses words to blend the imaginative, emotional, and intellectual to get beyond words and into a visceral field that should move anyone participating fully into their human journey.

We’re grateful to be able to share this moment in our history, with you our friends through the video link when you click at the above image, with the hope that you might find this as inspirational and moving as we did.

Please enjoy. Thank you.

Past authors that have participated in the Bluebird Reading experience have included: 

Janice Lee, Marytza K.Rubio, Melora Walters, Natashia Deón, Zoë Ruiz, Lilly Flor Del Valle, Beverly M. Collins, Marsha de la O, Phil Taggart, Phoebe MacAdams, Ashaki M Jackson, Carribean Fragoza, Ronald Baca, Thelma T Reyna, Maestro Gamin, Art Currim, Alexandra Hohmann, Marco A Vasquez, John Martinez, Kym Ghee, Jim Marquez, Tomas Benitez, Felicia Gomez Verdin, Karen Anzoategui, Roberto Leni, CE Jordan, Terri MartinLujan, Jen Hofer, F Douglas Brown, James Cushing, Cecilia Woloch, Hiram Sims, S Pearl Sharp, Suzanne Lummis, Henry J. Morro, David Shook, Jervey Tervalon, Jen Marshall Lagedrost,  Kenji Lui, Vickie Vertiz, Alicia Partnoy, Sesshu Foster, Luis Javier Rodriguez, Dick Bakken, Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, Neelanjana Banerjee, Andrea Gutierrez, John Martinez, Richard Vargas, Désirée Zamorano, Peter J Harris, Ángel García, Ariel Maccarone, Donny Jackson, Kelly Grace Thomas, Iris De Anda, Conrad Romo, Rachel McKibbens, Detrick Hughes, Charles Hood, Peggy Shumaker, Melina Draper, Susanna Mishler, Erin Hollowell, Nicole O’Donnell, Michael Jaime-Becerra, Jesse Bliss, Brandon Brown, Rick Lupert, Verónica Reyes, Wendy C Ortiz, Daniel Chacón, Scott Schultz, Rich Ferguson, Rachelle Cruz, Brynn Saito, Butoh by Khadija Anderson, Abel Salas, Amanda Yates Garcia, Hector Tobar, Joseph Lapin, Mariano Zaro, Melinda Palacio, Audrey Kuo, Cara Van Le, Wyatt Underwood, Michael C Ford, V-Kali, Rolland “Vachine” Vasin, Anthony Miller, Neil McCarthy, D.M. Collins, Jack Cooper, Gloria Enedina Alvarez, Karineh Mahdessian, Tara Trudell, Kim Young, Mike “the Poet” Sonsken, Neil Aitken, Chiwan Choi, Brendan Constantine, Mandy Kahn, Ryan Nance, Billy Burgos, Bojan Luis, Yago Cura, Annette Cruz, Bonnie S. Kaplan, Peggy Dobreer, Corrie Greathouse, Melissa Alvarado, Sean Hill, Khadija Anderson, Tresha Haefner, Seth Michelson, Carolyn Ziel, Jeffrey A. Rochlin, Steve Abee, Marcellus Poet, Rebecca Gonzales, Crystal Salas, Dennis Cruz, Christian Alvarez, Cassandra Love, Gail Wronsky, Danny Baker, Margaret Elysia Garcia, Jericho Brown, Luivette Resto, Conney Williams, Alicia Young, Jimmy Cvetic, Douglas Kearney, Doug Knott, and Rolando Ortiz.

Avenue 50 Studio is supported in part by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; the California Community Foundation; the Department of Cultural Affairs