Where Vivid Narratives Live

This Roulette was a celebration of Mother’s Day aka The Divas.

Opening the show, Magic Jack ATX, dispelled myths and revered the mystical nature of motherhood in his two poems, “Cracks in the Sidewalk” and “Women Must Be Pleased.”

Making his Roulette debut, Michael Kennon, shared the age-old battle with vegetables his mother insisted that he eat in “I’m a T-Rex or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Plants.” As a special treat, his mom was in the audience!

Another Roulette newbie, Josh Matimore, chronicled his journey with his mother one summer that was her version of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in “Beep Beep Hum Beep Beep.”

Zaka spun a humorous Pollock (her word, which she claimed wasn’t racist!) tale, proving that some diva mothers are braver than Rambo.

Gracing the Roulette stage for the first time, Maddy Stephens, reminded us that when kids don’t get the mothering they need from their biological mother, they’ll seek the mothers in us all in a piece called “Children.”

Teresa Y. Roberson first read “Gone Fishin’” a poem she wrote when her maternal grandmother had passed. Then she read “Thirty Sixty Ninety,” which were the ages she, her mother and maternal grandmother turned in 2000 and drew parallels among the three generations of women.

As a special treat, the Rouletters had a 20-minute open mike session where Zaka and Michael showed off their singing talent. Special audience guests, Erin and  Irrational Zack also performed.

Self-described “closet poet,” Sangye O’Mara spoke briefly about her sensuous painting that showed the divine mother in everyone with Eastern aspects of the snake in the garden.

Fashionably late, but still cosmically on-time, Thom the World Poet, breezed in, passing out poetry gifts, including the upcoming feminist poetry festival before free-styling funny Mother’s Day stories.

For this month’s theme, hostess, Teresa Y. Roberson pulled out all the stops, and rented a Supergirl costume to celebrate Fathers’ Day–a week early!

Speaking of celebrations, our wonderful venue also celebrated their 4th anniversary with cake, BBQ and beer.

During soundcheck, an audience member and hopefully future Rouletter helped Magic Jack and Teresa.

Newcomer to the Roulette, Elizabeth Schami, claimed that she couldn’t find her costume, but she made a lovely “Clarkette Kent.”

And dressed up as Who-Knows-What, Zaka brought her creative energy.

 Magic Jack artfully told us the brief history of Superman, both real and fictionalized.

Elizabeth reminded us of the heroic men who step up to raise us.

Sarah Kennon shared a poem about how children never outgrow the need for their first hero, their father.

Teresa drew parallels between the famous Superman and the real Superman, her father, both born in 1938.

Our event closed on a sentimental note. Elizabeth and Magic Jack sang a Dana McBride/Magic Jack ATX original composition, “This Is Your Heartbeat, This Is Your Breath.” Dana was scheduled to perform, but due to unforeseen circumstances, she was not able to make it. They dedicated the song to her. 

Even audience members helped sing.

For extra fun, there was an impossible 10-question Superman trivia quiz–except one audience member actually knew two answers! Dave, who has been sporting a Superman pendant for awhile and wore an X-men T-shirt, won the prizes.

Join the Austin Writers Roulette July 14th for its “Personal Triump” roulette.

For the 1st anniversary show, The Austin Writers Roulette shared their war stories.

Sarah Kennon opened the show with a poem that gave strategies of surviving the battlefield of love.

Maddy Stephens painted a haunting picture of a life torn apart and rebuilt.

Joyce Collins made her roulette debut, reading poems from her The Way of Reckoning book, which dealt with her recovered childhood memories of incest. She also led the audience in a “Princess Bride” moment when she asked them if they could recite the famous line, “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” 

Also making her roulette debut, Stephanie Webb, descended from her conquered mountains to detail her enlightenments for the audience’s listening pleasure.

Teresa Y. Roberson shared her belief that regardless of whether Amazons existed or not, Amazons are among us in the form of fiercely independent heterosexual women who refuse to be wives and mothers.

Thom the World Poet spun an adventurous tale about hitchhiking on the hippie trail in Australia.

Arriving on a strong wind toward the end of the roulette, Anyah Dishon proudly showed off her Peruvian staff that she earned on a transformative hike. At the conclusion of which, she stated, “Help arrives when you no longer need it.”

After the seven features read, the mic was open for another round of “triumphant” poetry for some of the features and guests poets in the audience.

Joyce Collins

Birdman 313

Michael Kennon

Sarah Kennon

“Roulette Thom”

Brent Porter

Jaime

If you’d like to read for the upcoming August 11th “Chance Encounters” roulette, please send your submission by Wednesday, August 7th.

The Austin Writers Roulette presented shared their varied experiences with Chance Encounters.

Sarah Kennon, who looks like an angel until she speaks, went through the ABCs of her tangled web of relationships, followed by a fiery tango with her dream girl.

Corey Deiterman went off script and speculated what the mathematical probability of two people out of seven billion meeting was, then told us about finding into the woman of his infatuation in a crowd of 500 people and meeting one of his creative heroes, Leonard Cohen.

Continuing the theoretical physics of chance encounters, Michael Kennon speculated the meaning of it all, based on his first scientific true love, astronomy.

Magic Jack ATX first read about his chronicles with an assortment of interesting people from bishops to party girls.

Then he sang about his random adventures based on his travels on the Royal Gorge Railroad.

Adding to the fun, the audience sang along!

Jaime Torres captured an eerie Edgar Allan Poe-esque encounter in his acrostic poem.

Josh Matimore started off by quoting Bob Dylan then read the opening chapter of his short story, concerning a young man who wears a different mask, depending on who he meets.

Anyah Dishon entertained the crowd with her explanation that “alien” encounters should be more accurately called “cosmic cultures” encounters.

Sangye O’Mara read a poignant excerpt about learning who her father truly was after his funeral.

Teresa Y. Roberson shared her experiences with the calamity that ensues whenever she changes countries.

Wandering World Poet Thom, accompanied by Magic Jack ATX, sang a summary of the people he’s met along his journey through life, stating that he didn’t grow up…he was beat up.

 September 8th’s theme is “Dreams of Other Worlds.” Please send your sci-fi, fantasy and/or altered mind experiences by September 4th.

For September’s theme, The Austin Writers Roulette read science fiction, fantasy and altered-mind dreaming.

Sarah Kennon shared a lovely letter written to her from her cat.

Magic Jack ATX reported that “the future shock is old news.”

Sangye O’Mara painted an interesting picture of being in the desert and explained her brand of dreaming.

David Davila made his roulette debut by taking us back to that idyllic time in the Garden of Eden.

Teresa Y. Roberson read the opening of chapters 1 and 4 from her current WIP, The Adventures of Infinity & Negativa.

She also brought the storyboard canvases of those two chapters.

During the 5-minute break, the audience was treated to guest appearance by Dana McBride who sang and clapped her shoes along with Magic Jack. Afterwards, the open mic began.

Michael Kennon

Sarah Kennon

Magic Jack ATX

Birdman 313

After the open mic, Thom the World Poet breezed in to sing a menagerie of other worldliness, accompanied by Magic Jack ATX.

For October’s theme, please join us for “Spooky.” If you have something spookier than host Teresa’s medical boot, wear it!  Interested in being a feature? Please submit your work by Wednesday, October 9th.

Our beloved venue decorated beautifully, which enhanced October’s “Spooky” theme.

The Rouletters braved the after effects of torrential rains to share their Spooky tales.

Host Teresa Y. Roberson completed her Avenging Angel costume with much needed boot because nothing, not the weather or broken ankles will stop the Roulette!

Before the show, the audience looked at a mini poster and wrote down what they thought the image in the black spot appeared to be to them.

All the way from Houston, Birdman 313 spun a haunting tale about the one who is after us all in “The Hunt Is On.”

Corey Deiterman detailed the anxieties of being a horror writer, besides being Jewish, in “The Life of a Horror Writer.”

Sangye O’Mara started off with a short piece of what she’d do if she could and then continued the unofficial “death and nightmare” sub themes by examining the ramifications of The Four Noble Truths.

Christina Ceballos read a tale that resonated with the entire audience about how she got her guardian angel.

Daniel Davila, affected by Christina’s short story, shared a moving remembrance about his daughter before telling us the complete, erotic story of La Llorona.

Teresa asked an audience member to read out the guesses of what people thought was in the black spot. People saw the Milky Way, a swirl of storm, the Eye of God, an ear, a galaxy, an egg, and a bullet hole.

Teresa then shared her essay, “The Eye of God,” with the audience and stated that it was amazing that no one had guessed “vagina.”

Louise Richardson commenced the open mic portion of the night with a chilling poem from the perspective an abused child.

Birdman 313 read two more poems, dedicating one to his mother who would have been 100 this year.

David Young aka “Ben Franklin” made his roulette debut.

Izzy made her roulette debut with a spooktacular short story.

Corey riffed about his worst Halloween ever in 2008.

Special guest appearance by DJ Cabrini Green who closed the show with an improved Halloween riff.

Host Teresa invited the audience to be a part of the November 10th “Contemplation and Activism” roulette.

The Rouletters gathered together once again to contemplate, but mostly to protest.

Magic Jack ATX kicked off the event, fresh from protesting, to call out for the power of Mother Nature, women, immigrants and the horrors of traffic.

For his protest poem about the plight of immigrants, he turned his back to the audience so they could better visualize an immigrant.

Sarah Kennon, inspired by a “douchy song” (her description) where a man thinks he doesn’t have to ask for consent before having sex with a woman, wrote about the motivations and machinations of the American dream.

Sangye O’Mara came complete with a visual aid pink designer purse that she carried during an interview that turned into her protest against how Americans institutionalize the elderly.

Joyce Feilke (not pictured) made her Roulette debut with a powerful educational protest essay equating the system of standardized testing in public school with slavery. A student in the audience screamed, “Preach!”

Another Rouletter, Carol Ramsey, made her roulette debut, sharing her teaching experiences in Lithuania, where students did not feel comfortable answering certain questions about authority.

Teresa Y. Roberson first chanted, “Education is a right; not just for the rich and white!” before reading about a current racist practice of holding predominantly low-income Latino students to lower standards than their white, rich counterparts.

Rouletter Daniel Davila started protesting at age 7 with his great grandmother who was only 4’8″, but people chose to look up to her because of the power of her words and the strength of her character

Thom the World Poet handed out free poetry after rapping them to the syncopated rhythm of Magic Jack ATX. “America the free–for a limited visa only!” was a favorite line in his protest medley.

Special guest appearance made by long-time Rouletter, Donna Dechen Birdwell, who stopped in to give the audience a taste of her artwork, which everyone can see as part of EAST.

Join us for the last Roulette of 2013 on December 8th where the theme is “Celebrations.” Submission deadline is Wednesday, December 4th.

The celebrant Rouletters gathered together once again, this time around a Christmas tree, in order to perform their wares based on “Celebrations.”

Birdman 313 kicked off the show, reading three poems about the joys and different aspects of celebrating.

Daniel Davila paid tribute to the swirling myriad of celebrations throughout one’s lifetime, including his favorite character–himself being alive! Then he played a musical interlude on his clarinet, which was given to him by his great grandmother who bartered it from a musician who had played it with Louis Armstrong.

Teresa Y. Roberson shared her journey from injury and invisibleness, to wellness and re-visibleness and celebrated the things the experience made her thankful for.

Thom the Wassail Poet read a delicious smorgasbord of celebratory poems with clarinet accompaniment by Davila.

The ever stylish Sangye O’Mara began the evening’s open mic.

                                                        Louise Richards

David aka Ben Franklin

Birdman 313

Peter

Jaime

Daniel

Thom & Daniel

Sometimes the things that are holding you back

Are the things you wanna attack

For the happiness to flow

You gotta let go

And forgive people for being whack

When I chose “Forgiveness” as the January theme, I had no idea how much it would resonate with so many artists. Yet, we all gathered together and explored different facets of forgiving.

The theme drink was the lemon drop since when life gives you lemons, you can turn it around and make lemon drops! (It was also a handy cedar fever allergy reliever.)

Opening the show, Christina Ceballos reported on the three forgiveness processes taught to her by local healers who helped put her life back on a positive track: Radical Forgiveness, Integrated Energetic Therapy and Akashic Records readings.

Birdman 313 shared an insightful poem about forgiving his ex-wife who ended their marriage of 25 years for something that occurred 15 years previously.

Stephanie Webb detailed the attributes of the Black Superwoman (highly educated, well-traveled, well-loved, well-read…) and forgiving herself for feeling defeated for not being the embodiment of the impossible role.

Donna Dechen Birdwell recounted all her significant moments of forgiving from great loves to small creatures.

Daniel Davila described a beautiful forgiveness process where one takes a walk alone and for each step, chants who is forgiven for a particular action and the next step is to forgive yourself. The process continues until the person walks past his/her anger.

Teresa Y. Roberson gave shout outs to a list of the groups of people who she forgave, starting with the assholes. Finally, she forgave herself for her own shortcomings.

Thom the World Poet closed the featured artist portion of the show, calling out the political and religious forgiveness needed and drew a huge laugh for his forgiveness of the state of Texas for “killing people for killing people.”

Magic Jack ATX provided musical accompaniment.

OPEN MIC ARTISTS

Ben Doppleganger

Jonathan Lowell

Daniel Davila

Birdman 313

Louise Richardson

Zaka

Donna Dechen Birdwell read a quote from Elizabeth Gilbert:

Stephanie Webb

Magic Jack ATX

Whether it’s love or lust

Scratch beyond the crust

Follow the hormonal flow

Let yourself go

Boring choices leave you in the dust

For the “Love & Passion” Roulette, the host was Cupid’s younger sister, Valentina.

The Rouletters were delighted to share a stage with Valentina.

Making his Roulette debut, Jim Tenny, who only writes about love, passion and sex, kicked off the show with four passion-filled love snippets to get the audience in the mood.

Birdman 313 read an ode to the one-sided passion, which had the soulful refrain, “I really do love you.”

For contrast, Magic Jack ATX explained in his poem, “Your love life is boring.” He made it clear that he wasn’t referring to anyone in the room.

Upstart, Sarah Kennon, wrote a love poem for herself and for everyone else who has gone through the agonies of passion.

Another Rouletter debut, Allyson Whipple, recited a story of forbidden love in the form of  five poetry zingers.

Donna Dechen Birdwell told a provocative story about the search for “duende.”

Artist, Daniel Davila, began his performance by circulating throughout the audience, greeting them in Brazilian Portuguese. He later translated, stating that what he’d said was “I miss you even though you’re in my presence.”

Daniel then entertained the audience with his poem about the seasons of lust that matures into the beauty of love.

Valentina read an excerpt from Teresa Y. Roberson’s Tribe of One about a 35-year old professional woman’s online research for the perfect vibrator.

Spreading love and passion wherever he goes, Thom the World Poet chanted a medley of Valentine-inspired poetry to the improvisational sounds of Magic Jack ATX on acoustic guitar and Daniel Davila on clarinet.

In between the features and the open mic sections of the Roulette, Valentina requested a singing contest based on the three songs summarized her love life: “Got My Mojo Working,” “100 Days/100 Nights,” and “At Last.” Three contestants took up the challenge, starting with Magic Jack ATX.

Michael Kennon accepted the challenge and was later joined by his younger sister, Sarah.

Thom the World Poet did his improvisational best, changing key phrases of the three song choruses.

Valentina then called all the contestants on stage for the audience to vote by applause.

The contest was a close call, but Thom the World Poet won by a yodel. The prize was Teresa Y. Roberson’s Tribe of One  book and T-shirt.

Afterwards, the open mic ensued.

Daniel Davila

Birdman 313

David Young

Jim Tenny

Allyson Whipple

Sangye O’Mara

Michael Kennon

Robert Bayless

Thanks to all the artists and audience members.  Valentina’s attire was courtesy of Elizabeth Rodriguez.

The next Roulette will be March 9th, 2014 and the theme will be “Travel Stories.”