Thank YOU, thank YOU, thank YOU, and hello again! Welcome to another wonderful artistic Nashville collaboration from East Side Story. Let me be the first to officially and whole-heartedly welcome you to the recap and recording of the 86th edition of East Side Storytellin’. Like the 85, I repeat … 85, previous shows East Side Story has put together, we all decided to take a break from our busy schedules and the current storms 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. This is East Side Storytellin’ 86. Let us begin, again.
Our first featured artist of the evening is not your ordinary teenager. In fact, she epitomizes the definition of what an extraordinary young adult should be. She is a recent graduate at Nashville’s historic Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet High School. She became Nashville’s First Youth Poet Laureate, and she has read her poetry at Nashville’s City Council, Mayor Karl Dean’s State of Metro address, Nashville Public Library Studio NPL’s opening, MyCity Academy Graduation, TEDxNashville and Mayor Barry’s inauguration, and a honorary night of original poetry dedicated to the legend Bill Brown here at The Post a few months ago at another East Side Story event … to name a few. In addition to publishing her book, this is our war, of which you can purchase at East Side Story, this young lady has also published in Nashville Arts Magazine, The Tennessean, and on the Poetry Society of America website. It was a huge honor to once again introduce this literary star in the same venue as I did before. Her parents and everyone else in the crowd joined me in a big round of applause to introduce the one and only Lagnajita Mukhopadhyay.
Lagnajita (pronounced Log-na-jeeta), stepped up to the microphone and was the consummate professional. Obviously, from her bio with her extensive event experience, she had done this sort of thing before. That said, she was an old soul beyond her 18 years. To me, she was dynamite. And when I say she is like dynamite, she is compact and still in stature, but she is an explosion of everything awesome life has to offer when she opens up and shares her original poetry. Her voice is calm and smooth, but her content and depth of perception will rip your soul and forever change it for the better. I’m serious. She is this amazing.
Lagnajita has a tremendous gift of articulating her life experiences and journey into fantastical worlds where anyone who is listening to her share her stories can instantly relate and dive head and heart first into what she’s giving you. It is quite the experience that, once again, is beyond my words so I’ll let you listen to the recording below to get all the feels.
Like Lagnajita, our musical guest of the night is one of the most positive people I know in Nashville. Our featured musician for this show is a man who not only wishes people Happy Birthday in writing on your Facebook homepage, he also takes the time to write and record extra special shout-outs despite being an amazing father and hard-working American. The two biggest super-country stars in Nashville history, Dutch Whisky and Atticus Jackson, both say that this man is the only musician in the entire world who they’d actually pay to hear live. If you know either one of those guys then you’d know just how serious that comment is because neither one of those guys pay for anything … ever! That said, since the admission of this show was free, I made a special note for everyone to pay extra close attention to the words, positivity, and talents of our musical guest and his mission. He is always ready to share his music in ways for everyone to enjoy incredible entertainment experiences at the drop of a hat and this night was no different. He, in fact, dropped his hat once or twice. Nothing was gonna stop him from being awesome and nothing was going to happen that stopped me from being excited to finally introduce this guy. So, alongside two very talented friends, Thomas Grant on the bass and Hilary Romaine on backing vocals, I was super-country proud to introduce the leader of Matt Walberg and The Living Situation in that of the one and only Matt Walberg!
Never one to be shy on a mic or in front of an endearing crowd, Matt grabbed his guitar and spoke of how excited he was to try his music at the storytellin’ aspect of shows. He started with a song about a man on the run from the woman he loves. Then, he told us about the background of his most recent hair cut and his everyday mantra of accepting life as it comes your way with his title track It is what it is (take a moment to check out his cool video here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHOOVaCfdjk).
Matt did his fair share of talking to the crowd about how he approaches life, his art form, fatherhood, and basically everything that was on his mind that related to his songs and the crowd on hand. It was yet again one of those performances where I felt like I was at church on a Tuesday but also at a church that was more about delivering about how can we learn from each other and our failures to do and be better versions of ourselves and find the truth behind why each of us our here … you know, instead of a church where you simply hear quotes from centuries past or get preached at. My point being, you can listen to the songs and the discussions we all heard at this show from Matt and interpret your own impressions and go forth however you feel is best afterwards.
And speaking of discussions, this was one of the nights and shows where I could have stayed and listened to and spoken with these two artists for at least another hour without trying to get more time out of them. They both have gifts of looking at the world around them and solving the quintessential problem of what is our individual purposes for being alive here and now. So, in a city that is filled with brilliant poets and some of the finest musicians in the world, these two souls stand out for everything good they represent … AND with their work ethics, they only aim to get better by the day. In the end, I’d say that’s all we all can ask of ourselves. So, for that alone, I am forever thankful that these two people agreed to share their talents for me and the rest of the crowd and East Side Storytellin’ family, especially on the day with my explanations below the recording.
Here is the edited recording of East Side Storytellin’ 86, that featured Lagnajita and Matt Walberg (with Hilary Romaine and Thomas Grant) on Tuesday, July 5th, 2016 at The Post:
Before I leave you with this recap and recording to share with others, I would like to share the post I wrote on Facebook the day after this show took place. I will just quote it in its entirety below this paragraph before we get started with this show. And let me also add that the day following the day that followed this show, I felt the need to post something else do to another unjust crime in broad daylight that is tearing our society and world apart. Point being, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile could have been any one of our family members or friends when push came to shove and shoot. It’s time we come together and start loving one another and trying to understand what’s really going on and has been going on. #blacklivesmatter!
Here are my two Facebook posts:
1-So thankful I was able to experience the insightful and overwhelmingly positive creative messages of Lagnajita and Matt Walberg last night at East Side Storytellin’ 86 because up until 7pm I was in quite a daze, a funk, and speechless. The dreary, cloudy weather didn’t help my afternoon but it perfectly reflected my mood and attitude for the current state of affairs in our country. I have always been well aware that I live a life of privilege being a white male in the USA. Luckily, I was always taught by my parents that I am no better than anyone else, regardless of race, money in the bank, title on paper, or any other factor. Yesterday, I was reminded again that real change needs to happen in our society NOW. I am not a politician or a police man or someone who has much pull at all outside posting here and talking about it with friends and people in my bookstore, but I’m willing to hear opinions and thoughts of different ways I and you and WE can help make things better and fair. I’m sick to my soul seeing non-whites abused daily for not being white and/or “christian.” I’m also deeply sick of seeing the rich and powerful not being judged by the same rules as regular citizens (I’m not a lawyer either, and can’t say if someone should or shouldn’t be indicted, but all I know is if I was in that position with the FBI that I would be in jail already).
I’ll stop ranting, but, like I said above, I’m open to and really yearning to listen to my friends here to see if y’all have any good ideas of what I and you and WE can do going forward. We must move forward and we gotta do it together.
Much love to #altonsterling and his family and friends today and for everyone else being abused unfairly and unjustly today and tomorrow.
PS- I vote in every election, but still not sure if it ever counts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14yff0qC8vs
2-I read this tweet this morning and couldn’t agree more =
Dear @NRA (National Rifle Association) ,
Since ‘All Lives Matter,’ I await your statement supporting legal gun owner and police shooting victim #PhilandoCastile.
Today.
-@MsPackyetti
PS- With so much chaos and hatred keeping us up right now, I am thankful for the platform that GoFundMe has provided by supplying an outlet for friends and strangers to give money and support and hope to families who are left in the cold and too often times confused and alone to deal with these horrendous and criminal repercussions = in less than 9 hours, the #altonsterling page received over $200,000 … now it’s closing in on $300,000 and counting. In the darkness of today, I consider this a light from a candle that won’t burn out anytime soon.
PSS- I love you.
Before I say goodbye for this round of fun, I’d like to give a big round of thanks for Lagnajita and Matt for sharing their stories, talents, and time with us.
You can read more about Lagnajita’s writing here- www.facebook.com/lagnajitam
You can listen to more of Matt’s music here – thelivingsituation.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 WordsTab – 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.
I’d also like to show much love to Clay Brunton for the beautiful artwork online to promote the show.
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’ 87
Tuesday, July 19th
at The Post (1701 Fatherland Street) at 7pm
reading- Matt Johnstone (hemouthsmewrong.blogspot.com)
singing- Drew Kohl (drewkohl.com)
That said- that’s all for East Side Storytellin’ 86 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