Thank YOU, thank YOU, thank YOU. Hello Again! Welcome to another wonderful collaboration between East Side Story and The Post. Let me be the first to officially, whole-heartedly welcome you to the recap and recording of the 125th epic edition of East Side Storytellin’! Like the 124, I repeat … 124, previous shows East Side Story has put together, we all decided to take a break from our busy schedules all over town in order to sit back and relax and get everyone cultured up just right in the form of a Nashville writer reading from original prose, followed by an amazing local musician performing and talking about their original music, and then a round-up creative conversation with all featured guests of this event to talk about their individual journeys and personal ties to Nashville. Without further ado, fulfilling the entertainment portion of your day, this is the recap and recording of East Side Storytellin’ 125. Let us begin, again.
The first featured artist of the night is a mutual friend and collaborator with two of my favorite writers and top-five married couples who are also artists in Nashville in Robyn Leigh Lear and Lance Umenhofer- co-founders of April Gloaming Publishing. This young lady featured tonight is a creative nonfiction editor for said April Gloaming Publishing, on top of being an adjunct instructor at Austin Peay State University (APSU). She received her MA in English at said APSU, where she won Dogwood Awards for creative and scholarly writing. She has also published work with The Regenerates artist and writers collective here in Music City, Clarksville Living (formerly known as Clarksville Family Magazine), and APSU’s Red Mud Review. In fact, her essay “Dialects of Yoga” will be published in BreathYourOMBalance in Fall 2018. Like me, she enjoys spending time with her son and her dog (meaning I enjoy spending time with my son and my dog, if you were confused), and, unlike me, she currently lives in Clarksville, TN. I was definitely not alone in providing a big round of applause for the one and only Ericka Suhl!
Ericka started off her time on stage by sharing the likes of The Adventures of Astronaut Otto. She broke the collective ice by reading the kid’s story about feeling far out and alone beside Neptune, passing by Pluto, and addressing the universal and never-ending question of how to pronounce Uranus. It was lighthearted and a perfect precursor to what she had in store next.
Ericka, best known for her work in non-fiction, to this point, brought a story that was/is as real as it gets. In case you didn’t know this, after the fact, this event took place on the same day that Nashville experienced sunshine as well as a funky cloud of political upheaval all around. We didn’t exactly lose a Mayor that we couldn’t find, we as a city temporarily replaced a Mayor to try and save face all around. Point being, the setting, albeit sunny outside during the day, was kinda funky. I was excited that Ericka wasn’t going to hold back with her reading while bearing the highest of highs and the lowest of lows and everything in between. Don’t believe me when I say that Ericka gave us the highest of highs with the lowest of lows, then you must have never heard of someone potty training a puppy while coping with the stress of a family military deployment turned divorce at the same time as you are raising a young son by yourself and moving to another city and downsizing your life in every imaginable way. Yeah. Ericka brought the goods.
I thought it was a beautiful tribute to a family I’ve never been a part of but could instantly relate with and empathize. Ericka set up the story by giving the details and drawing a brilliant picture for the complete backdrop for every bit of adversity she and her son faced together in real life. At first, I was almost overwhelmed by the sadness of the situation and felt the stress that only a single parent can know. The way Ericka weaves words and emotions and true story tales together makes every reader jump right into the shoes of the characters she shares. You have no choice but to feel the experience, like an IMAX film right in front of your senses. Thankfully, by the end of the story, throwing in some unique quirks like the sounds of her son’s stomach growling against the fear of a dark and scary night in a new, strange home, I felt better about the overall future of this family. By going through the lows together and facing their fears head on, Ericka and her son were battle tested and proved to me that they can survive and thrive more than they thought imaginable at first. They found new friends and a home that was smaller but cleaner and brighter than they were living in before the chaos flooded in. You can hear the reading below in the recording, but you won’t be able to hear the smiles and good vibes that filled the entire room before Ericka’s reading came to a close. I personally can’t wait to read her book, when that comes out sooner than later. Like I said before, Ericka is the real deal. And I am better for having listened to her story and relate it back to my own.
Our featured music of the night is also a mutual friend of several of our favorites. I’m not sure if she knows Lance and Robyn, yet, but she has appeared two times already on the East Side Storytellin’ stage, once alongside Reyvon Pettis and another time with India Ramey. In fact, she sang one of her original songs in the spotlight when playing with India, shout out India. She has quoted herself as being 15% quasi-historian, 25% amateur astronomer, 5% skeptic, 5% romantic, and 50% music maker. I’m not one for stats, but I kinda feel like everyone should have a bio with breaking down themselves like this lady did and does. Minus her trusty fiddle, but making an addition to her solo show by bringing her talented friend Griffin Winton, it was an honor to finally give proper respect to and shine on Anna Joy Harris!
I’ll just go ahead and say what I told Anna after she finished singing her last song of the set, the same song she sang on India’s night titled Rapture Town, Anna is a perfect mix of the sensibility and honesty of Patty Griffin with the confidence and rawness of Steve Earle. That said, my money is on Anna and her songs to totally kick Steve Earle’s music’s ass. I say that with the least amount of burn on Steve Earle and all of the praise to Anna. If you’ve seen her perform, you already know that you can feel the authenticity and talent Anna gives her music and audiences like few others. She is a total pro, because she makes it look so damn easy. And when she adds humble pie to the mix while constantly giving praise to her friend Griffin (who shreds the acoustic guitar like every moment is a solo but yet somehow constantly gives the bigger spotlight to Anna at the same time) and other collaborators off stage and in attendance, it’s impossible not to love this artist. Go ahead and try not to, especially after listening to the recording below.
Within the context of Anna’s set list, you will find some grand fiction stories about a lady who is turning 45, doing well but bored as hell. You will hear a song that compliments Patty Griffin’s Top of the World, asking the question most often forgotten to be address when our patriarchy over tells the story about a sad man being sorry that he’s made this world harder for the woman … What about the woman’s side of the story? Anna tells it. She also sang about how she envisions the Spaces for people in recovery from harsh religious backgrounds and experiences. Then she ended with Rapture Town. The recording for Rapture Town had to be scrapped because it was so awesome that it wrecked Tom’s equipment. True story. I’m guessing his device, and our devices, can only handle so much truth in one sitting. Any way you look at it, it’s easy to see that Anna takes the highest of the highs and lowest of the lows of life experiences and makes them plain for all to feel and relate with their own lives. Do you hear the similarities between Anna’s music and Ericka’s stories? Me too.
Before I said goodbye for the night, and after Tom was able to fix his recording equipment, I was gifted a few more moments with Anna and Ericka to ask them about why they do what they do. Ericka spoke about how she’s been a note-taker with everything in her life while it was happening (names, places, situations, etc.) since she can remember. She doesn’t think she’ll ever stop taking notes and turning them into stories that help others find and see their own truths and strengths (all the while, finding a laugh or cry in the mix too). Anna grew up surrounded by quality music and a family supportive in that creative field, but it took her years to fully appreciate the uniqueness of her relationships with music and the music business (and sprinkle in meeting Reyvon Pettis to connect even more in Nashville as icing on the cake). Now, Anna knows there’s nothing really holding her back from doing the things she wants to do, solo and with other friends on the rise too. In both cases, Anna and Ericka are as personable and humble as you’ll meet when speaking to talented artists building their craft and platform on the fly. On such a dreary Nashville day, these two ladies brought hope and sunrays of truth to remind us all that we’re doing the best we can, that nobody is alone, and everything is going to be okay.
To these two artist (and Griffin too), I want to say one more ‘gan, I appreciate you and am thankful to know each of you. You are making this world a better place. Thanks for finding your own gifts and strength to share those gifts with us all. Much continued success and connectedness going forward.
So, here it is, the edited recording of East Side Storytellin’ 125, the show when Ericka and Anna (& Griffin) made Nashville smile and feel hopeful for the present and the future. We recorded it at The Post East on Tuesday, March 6, 2018. Now, you can listen to and share it over and over and over again. Thanks for taking time to join our continued story.
Before I say goodbye for this round of fun, I’d like to give a big round of thanks for Ericka & Anna (and Griffin) for sharing their stories, talents, and time with us.
You can read more about Ericka’s work here- www.aprilgloaming.com
You can listen to more of Anna’s writing here – annachronous.wordpress.com
You can listen to this show, edited, soon, alongside the previous shows too, on our website, www.eastsidestorytn.com, at our In Our Own Words Tab – see here – www.eastsidestorytn.com/in-our-own-words
I’ll keep the gratitude going for Tom Eizonas, my lovely wife and most talented artist in Emily Harper Beard (efharper), and everyone that came out live to support the show … and to everyone who has helped continue to spread the word and support the show online afterwards.
Last, but certainly not least, I’d like to give one last shout out to Tonya and Chris for making The Post so welcoming and positively life-changing for the East Nashville community at large.
Our next show will be
East Side Storytellin’ 126
Tuesday, March 20th
at The Post (1701 Fatherland Street) at 7pm
reading- Jeff Hardin
singing- Kiely Connell
That said, that’s all for East Side Storytellin’ 125 and another fabulous event at The Post with East Side Story at the helm. Thanks for coming out and sharing the good word and giving some love to all of these great Nashville artists and our creative ideas. Please remember to be nice to one another out there.
Much love,
mE