Before I could get to the microphone, Dave Eastman, the man with the greatest radio voice in Music City and the first connection for East Side Storytellin’ on the radio at WAMB, made his annual trek to the podium to tell a little story about the beginnings of East Side Storytellin’. It is always great to see him, especially now and after a big year of great personal strides with his health overall, but it’s also a really nice thing for me to hear him tell the story about the early stages of this show and idea. It reminds me of when my mom tells my birth story after a few drinks or my wife telling our son’s birth story whenever someone asks the question of where in the world did Avett Otis come from. Anyways, it was an honor for me to hear Dave Eastman tell the audience about our anniversary and get a solid introduction in person instead of the recording.
And then I hit the stage. When I first posted about the show online, I was grateful to receive several sweet messages from friends of congratulation. The truth is, and my reply to them all after saying thanks, that 6 years has absolutely flown by. I always say that time goes fast when you are doing what you are supposed to be doing and are happy doing it. Every day would feel like 6 years, if I wasn’t supposed to be hosting this show, growing this idea, getting to know and showcase talented artists, and have a good time doing it all. So, to everyone who has been a part of this idea so far and still want to be involved moving forward, I say thank you!
Now, back to the recap and recording as previously scheduled and expected. 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 141st epic edition of East Side Storytellin’! Like the 140, I repeat … 140, 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’ 141. Let us begin, again.
The first featured artist of the night is someone who has helped Nashville reach its true potential for all of the best reasons. A brilliant PR master who has left every job at BMI, Nashville Public Television, Nashville Film Festival, and NowPlayingNashville.com better than before he arrived, he recently helped successfully open the Tennessee State Museum. This guy wears many hats and helmets but the same smile that greets you before you get to shake his hand or give him a hug. A solid cyclist to work way before it was the cool thing to do, my dear friend is here tonight because he went and wrote a book. Not just any book though, this debut called Guinea Bastard is well worth your time to explore and to get to know this friend better than ever. It was an honor to introduce my good friend making his first ever reading post his first time publishing a book, the always amazing Joe Pagetta!
I can’t say it enough. Joe is one of the most approachable and nice and genuine and honest people I have met in Music City and beyond. All of those traits I know him as on the regular were easily transferrable to his overall presence felt by the crowd of folks sitting in the seats and ready to digest his stories for the special occasion. Joe, like he does, deflected the opening spotlight from himself back onto me and told everyone about a few nice moments we’ve shared with our mutual love for Nashville and appreciating parenthood. And then he prefaced his story set list and jumped right into character, new reading glasses and all.
Joe didn’t necessarily do a different voice for every character that he introduced, but he did throw in a few major accents while doing a roll call of his childhood friends who shaped his stories and his youth. Normally I would have Tom edit all of the curse words, but I thought this round was too special not to keep it 99% unbothered. The language, the passion, the full-on context of the painting that Joe threw together about a major incident and chapter of his life involving homemade memorabilia and his all-time favorite band in the world (Queen), is everything to this story and a big glimpse into the world that Joe has created and come from. If you take out any element of the book, you would lose the payoff.
I’m not going to spoil any of the stories in ways that you won’t want to go buy a copy of his book today or listen to the recording of the show below, but this reading went beyond blood on a t-shirt or honey and a ham sandwich time with a loving grandmother. What Joe did for me and others and himself, was just what we needed to hear and feel while the election totals were being tallied outside the walls of The Post East. In a time where we all search for media release like that of Joe’s immigrant father watching the Italian news after the US news so he could somehow stomach reality and not go insane, Joe Pagetta is a master of language and sharing his filters of the world he and his family live in. When I say that it is good writing, you should slap me in the face for that fact being such an understatement. Great writing, derived from personal experiences directly or fictitiously with name-changes, makes you feel connected with others and the oneness that we are. It allows you to think and live outside of yourself so you appreciate the people and places around you and yourself more than you did before you read it. Joe’s stories do just that and more. It does all that, and it allows you to know more about the Joe Pagetta you know and love. I said it during the interview portion, but his book is exactly what the majority of people who came into my bookstore and told me they wanted to write their story for their friends, family, and themselves to have. He set the bar where it needs to be for personal memoirs. I’m grateful for having read it, and I hope many others read it in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. You can get your copy of it right now, right here- CLICK HERE.
Our featured music of the night is best known for his work as a member of Guster, k.d. lang, and the Siss Boom Bang, but I know him as Joe, Joe Pagetta’s brother-in-law. He has written songs and played on albums that cracked Billboard’s Top 25 and have been the best selling albums online several times, but I only really know him as the uncle of the most beautiful set of twins in Nashville. Born and raised in New Jersey, the twins and Nashville are better off because he has called Nashville home since the mid-90’s. He is a brilliant producer and mixer of music and spirits in general, having worked with the likes of Ben Folds, Drew Holcomb, Chuck Mead, Matt Wertz, William Tyler and many others you are familiar with, but we were gathered around on this special night to celebrate this guy’s original music. Sometimes known as Joe Pagetta’s brother-in-law, other times known as Keri or Marc’s brother, it was a real treat for me to officially meet and greet and introduce the one and only Joe Pisapia.
Joe Pisapia, like Pagetta, is a bright light of awesome everywhere he goes. He doesn’t command your attention by trying to be bigger than life, he let’s his smile and good manners lead the way for his brilliant art and openness to the moment fill up the room with warm and fuzzies and a sense of purpose. He’ll be laughing at the last few sentences, I’m sure, but it’s true. In a day and age where people put their super egos and brightest eye-catching fashions on full display, Joe Pisapia simply grabs one of his trusty guitars, takes a seat, and makes magic look easy. It also doesn’t hurt that he doesn’t waste time with social norms and filters that most people hide behind or play with all of the day. I’m just saying, unfiltered honesty matched with good-hearted intentions are pretty rare in the world today, especially in politics and entertainment (wait, are those the same now?). Basically, what I’m trying to say is that Joe Pisapia, like Pagetta, was an instant breath of fresh air.
Pisapia started his set with a song telling us that all things could go wrong or they could go alright. He lifted himself up as a mirror, metaphorically speaking, and reminded us to show our boldness and our grace. Then he dove into deeper, fun psychological exercises and concepts of searching for the perfect words to say while searching in your left and the right brains. And in between these soulful soul explorations and guided musical meditations of sorts, Pisapia did a little bit of talking from his own heart. What newcomers may have thought was rambling, others knew there were logical points to sit and ponder, like the rest of his lyrics already laid out in his mind. But everything is about progress, like the definition of being progressive states. Instead of slamming Trump, he wished that that man would get hit with a wave of enlightenment … a reminder that we are all one and not divided in this universe. Okay. He may not have said it exactly exactly like that, but it was on point.
And before he put down his guitar for the night, Pisapia took us on a journey he had to a place few of us are granted permission to experience = the next level grandmother zone. He sang a story inspired from a conversation and moment he had with his grandmother where she spoke gently and openly about the love that she lost and fondly remembered. Like Pagetta’s story about honey and ham sandwich, this song hit close to home for me and a similar moment I recently shared with my own grandmother. It had all of my feels on high alert, and it was such a great show. Pisapia finished his set with a song he opened with the equivalent of a Bohemian Rhapsody time length introduction, like a 70’s radio dj on a trip of his own, and then he dove into his familiar and self-proclaimed traditional closure with a twist. The twist, which was also a pleasant and brilliant surprise, was the extra musical equipment addition of a sound shifter (I don’t know the technical name, sorry) that made his music sound like a full-on Beatles “The End”-like choir of awesomeness. And then the music ended.
Being around Joe Pagetta and Joe Pisapia is what I imagine a good drug is for others who don’t abuse them or get addicted. Their presence and ideas and actions instantly open your mind to the knowledge that being this honest and creative and nice is possible in this world. They have endless amounts of stories and characters to pull out of their bag of tricks and share with you, often with fables and lessons that would put Aesop to shame, but they also aren’t scared to stop and listen, really listen, to whatever you are wanting to say or share in the mix. Plus, humor and smiles and laugher are always one word away, even in the sad moments. I tell most of the artists on the show to continue to work together and take their pairing on the road. This show was no different, other than I think it should just be two Joe’s sitting at a table, in a house or on stage, breaking bread, sharing stories, singing songs, telling jokes, and teaching all of us willing to slow down long enough to be reminded why we are here together in the first place, to help each other and to enjoy each other’s company. Basically, it would be a 2-man show of what holiday hangs with Joe P. and Joe P. already are when we aren’t invited. And I want to be invited to the next one. Until then, enjoy this recording below.
Here it is, the nearly unedited version of East Side Storytellin’ 141, the 6th anniversary show, that promoted love and creativity and togetherness over the hate and fear and divisiveness that surrounded the election night in the USA on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. This time, this show, the good ones won and intelligence prevailed. I’m talking about your not-so-average Joe’s in Joe Pagetta and Joe Pisapia, two of the best you’ll meet and know. Enjoy this recording and share with everyone you know, 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 Joe and Joe for sharing their stories, talents, and time with us.
You can read more of Pagetta’s words here- joepagetta.com
You can listen to more of Pisapia’s music here – www.joepisapia.net
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.
Also, I wanna give a big shout out to Clay Brunton who once again graced us with his artistic abilities to make the anniversary print you saw online and here tonight.
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’ 142
Tuesday, November 20
at The Post (1701 Fatherland Street) at 7pm
reading- Simon Tam
singing- Nathan Belt
That said, that’s all for East Side Storytellin’ 141 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 out there. Thank you and goodnight.
Much love,
mE
PS- Here is the 6th ESS Annivesary Compilation for you to enjoy a highlight from shows 118-140 from 2017-2018 shows:
6th Anniversary East Side Storytellin’ compilation (118-140)
Tom Eizonas put together this very special compilation of one song from each show from the 6th year of East Side Storytellin’. Now I give this compilation (cd’s 1 & 2 combined) to you to enjoy and share and spread the word about every show in the past and future.
East Side Storytellin’ is a bi-monthly live event that we record and edit into an hour long podcast/radio show. Recorded live every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month since November 2012, Chuck Beard brings together and hosts local writers and musicians in a spectacular show that lets the talent do all of the shining. The writers read their original works, beginning promptly at 7pm, and then are followed by original storyteller sets of music by the featured musicians. After the last note is played, Chuck gathers up all of the featured artists of the night and moderates a casual conversation about the guests’ creative processes, artistic journeys, and special ties to the Nashville area. It is generally over by 8:30pm, FREE to attend, and a great time had by all present (there is also artist merch, food, and spirits to purchase each round while you enjoy the show). Beginning in November of 2012, East Side Storytellin’ has consistently showcased the best of what Nashville is about to everyone taking a break from their busy lives to join in the fun.
See www.eastsidestorytn.com for more information or email chuck@eastsidestorytn.com