Salon Diary / by Jeanne D’Brant and John Kearns
Donie Carroll. PHOTO: KEVIN MCPARTLAND
The IAWA July Salon at Bar Thalia had a solid turnout who sent their support in words and song to founder Malachy McCourt, who had broken his knee. The night featured the return of some familiar faces along with a few first-time presenters and an innovative mother/son poetry performance.
Sarah Fearon read a short piece called "Hurry Up and Relax." While approaching the July 4th Weekend, a conscious effort is made to go against the city's grain of “hurry up and relax” by enjoying a weekend of activities and feeling nostalgia for the days when life was more relaxing.
Tom Mahon read a story called "LUCK" from his collection: “Tomorrow Never Came.” A new lieutenant arrives in Vietnam and is sent to replace a platoon leader. The instant he gets off the helicopter, he’s shot. He’s evacuated, and we learn the man he was supposed to replace was killed as well.
Jonathan Goldman read a poem, "Aunt Rose," from his in-progress suite of poems about his dead relatives, imaginatively titled “Dead Relatives.” The poem alludes to the unknowability of previous generations.
In John Kearns's excerpt from his novel in progress, “Worlds,” Paul Logan reminisces about a gluttonous day spent in New Orleans, eating beignets and muffulettas and drinking beer while listening to live music from the bars.
In a piece from his one-man play “Cabtivist,” John McDonagh commented that the Upper East Side never changes: no one dies, and the only places they go are to Bloomingdales, psychiatrists and doctor’s appointments.
Bernadette Cullen read two pieces from a series of long poems in development which explore the themes of loss and remembrance.
Suave crooner, Jack DiMonte, sang “On Second Thought,” a poetic ode to the regrets one can experience after a romantic break-up written by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh.
The mother and son poetry team of Maureen Daniels and her son, Asher, was a first-ever for the Salon.
Donie Carroll sang the Wexford song, “The Bantry Girl’s Lament for Johnny” and “Are Ye Right There, Michael?” by Percy French, which appears on Donie’s album, “Divil of a Noise.”
Donie concluded the evening with “Wild Mountain Thyme,” usually sung by Malachy McCourt. The crowd joined in to wish Malachy well and expects to see him soon dancing with the Rockettes!
The next IAW&A Salon will take place on tomorrow night, July 21, at the Cell Theater, 338 West 23rd St., in Manhattan, beginning at 7 p.m. The August salons will be on Wednesday, the 5th, at Bar Thalia (7 p.m.), 2537 Broadway, at 95th Street, and on Tuesday, the 18th, at the Cell Theatre.
