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 136th epic edition of East Side Storytellin’! Like the 135, I repeat … 135, 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’ 136. Let us begin, again.
The first featured artist of the night is an actual Nashville native who believes that art is about displaying extraordinary emotion. Love, beauty, tragedy, pain, life, death, heaven, hell, and everything in between. He is an artist who uses many different media. He’s a painter, writer, poet, drummer, hop hop, visual, graphic, and landscape artist. Basically, he creates constantly and shares what he sees through his own eyes and heart to find something new in the world for all of us to appreciate. You may have heard him read as recently as the June feature for Poetry in the Brew or seen him do his things at The Connoisseur (Eat. Drink. Paint. Party), but you’ll listen and hear him in this show regardless. It was an honor to introduce and not hard at all to get the crowd excited to give love for the extremely talented Corey White.
Corey walked up to the mic like a consummate pro. He had mentioned before the show and later in it that he had had quite a saddening and maddening morning with various personal things, but you wouldn’t have known anything was troubling him from the way he carried his truth and smile. The very first poem, titled Lightning Strikes but was originally titled You don’t have to tell the sky to go boom, went off like an M80 of creativity that was lit and exploded in a closed garage that totally blew the minds of everyone present and perfectly set the mood for the rest of the show.
Corey read most of his poems from memory. It wasn’t hard for him to do so because he channeled the feelings in the poems into his delivery of them. One very powerful poem about an unnamed homeless lady who was found murdered was called Anguish. Corey took that person’s life and tragedy and brought it back to life in a way for all of us to examine the senselessness of what happens in our worlds far too often. Corey took that story and transitioned into another poignant tale about intervention and police brutality. I appreciated the idea that he threw out to the crowd that many times police brutality can keep going on longer than when the video catches the physical violence. A true artist can put you in their shoes and those of his creations and make you feel the life, the joy and the pain, of everything they are feeling. To me, Corey does this brilliantly.
Corey read a few self-described sad poems, mixed with some spiritual ones to relay his faith, but the majority of them were about love and his definitions of love. And speaking of love, he ended up surprising all of us by bringing his friend Isis Christopher to play some instrumental and sing melodies to his poems. To simply say Isis played some instrumentals and sang melodies would do her injustice. Her talent was obvious and her melodies were so beautiful that I felt her music added a texture, depth, and presence to Corey’s words that were as visible to our souls as if Corey had put pictures on the wall behind him for us to see. The combo of Isis’ music and Corey’s messages were soul-numbing in the best of ways. It had me and everyone in the room totally buzzing with positive energy. If you were there, you know what I mean. If you weren’t, take my word for it. The lasting message of Corey’s performance and overall set, to me, was be grateful and joyful, even in your circumstance.
Our featured music of the night is someone I first met just before we closed the retail portion of East Side Story. He arrived on the 5 Points scene and performed a solo set in front of the Idea Hatchery last year for the Grand Opening of our mutual friend’s business called Riveter. I knew from even before he played his first note that I wanted to showcase his music on this show. And then he played his songs and amazed everyone. This guy has a knack for having this effect everywhere he goes. The combination of extreme talent with always being positive and in the moment with everyone he encounters, the world has no choice but to open more doors for this guy. For said proof, he has shared the stage with the likes of Robert Randolph and John Legend, been featured in People, and has spent a lot of time with The Salvation Army and Boys & Girls Club. I could literally give accolades for days, but I’ll stick to his performance on this specific show. It was time for someone to take the baton from Corey and finish this race strong. That man, the only person in the room who had the ability and drive to do that, was none other than the one and only Damien Horne.
I made a comment before introducing Damien to the crowd that I was intent on looking out of the windows at The Post and seeing if I could find Nia Long because the show was feeling like a reunion or magical sequel to the movie Love Jones. I mentioned that we were blessed to have Damien because he could provide a sufficient soundtrack to said occasion. I knew he would never disappoint too.
Like Corey with his masterful poem about the sky going boom, Damien started his set with the absolute perfect gem of a song inspired by The Incredible Hulk and Damien battling with his temper during childhood. I said it later in the interview portion, but I too had a temper growing up and feel like The Incredible Hulk was somehow an inspiration for me giving myself the opportunity to eventually learn how best to use and express that temper in a productive way to help others and myself. But enough about myself, Damien’s song should be an anthem for Marvel and for psychologists. Basically, anyone walking around today with any anger or angst should give it a listen and you’ll have no choice but to become more self-aware and see the world and yourself in a better light.
Also like Corey, each track that Damien followed up with in his set took the crowd on a deeper and clearer ride on the journey of Damien’s complete story up to this point. He speckled in stories of travels to far off lands, playing beside bright stars in the music world that helped him find his own shine and powers, and he did all of it in a way that weaved his songs and personal stories within those songs into a beautiful mix that was in perfect order for us to get what he was giving. The kids won’t understand my analogy, but his set was one of the best mixed tapes I’ve ever heard.
Damien mixed in songs of love, pain, heartbreak, and faith in humanity and in God. At times, he sang as smooth as D’Angelo, as emotionally powerful as Eddie Vedder, and as confident and a true relfection of his words like Prince. Per usual, this artist was spot on with his message, his timing, and his performance. When you meet and witness someone who can pull it all together and make you appreciate the beauty of the art and feel enlightened by the life messages, you know you’re exactly where you need to be.
And after Damien finished his set, I asked Corey to join us both on stage and continue our laughs and conversations to finish the show strong. We talked a little bit about Kijiji Coffee House that used to host epic nights of jazz and spoken word on Jefferson Street. Both Corey and Damien realized that that is where they knew each other from, on top of sharing several mutual friends. But beyond friend and important location connections, it was refreshing to see Damien give such respect and another light on Corey’s words (specifically in his poem called Bigot), and then Corey do the same with his respect for Damien’s obvious gifts with singing and storytelling. It is one thing to get talent together to share a stage, but it’s another to have the talent equally respect and honestly fall in love with the art and creative spirit of the other. I was so happy to see all of this happen on this night with these fine humans. I really want to see these two share the stage again, sooner than later, and I look forward to seeing them both do their thing in public again too. It was an honor to spend time around these guys. I can’t say that enough.
So here it is, the edited recording of East Side Storytellin’ 136, the night (Tuesday, August 21, 2018) when Corey White (featuring Isis Christopher) and Damien Horne brought the love and the next level of Love Jones to life for us all to witness greatness and truth at its best. This happened at The Post East, but now you can take this recording below anywhere. Feel free to listen to it and share it over and over again. You’re welcome.
Before I say goodbye for this round of fun, I’d like to give a big round of thanks for Corey & Damien and Isis for sharing their stories, talents, and time with us.
You can keep up with Corey’s writing and art here – www.facebook.com/yerocart &
https://squareup.com/market/yeroc-art/
You can listen to more of Damien’s music here – www.damienhorne.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’ 137
Tuesday, September 4th
at The Post (1701 Fatherland Street) at 7pm
reading- Massey Armistead
singing- Nick Nace
That said, that’s all for the recap and recording of East Side Storytellin’ 136 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. I repeat, please remember to be nice to one another. Thank you and goodnight.
Much love,
mE