
The Ugly Mug is a wonderful, literary, independent coffee house in Historic Old Towne Orange, Ca. (Known for its Antique Shops, and restaurants, including Watsons Drug & Soda Fountain, established in 1899, it's the oldest drugstore in the OC, and the oldest on-going business in the city of Orange.)
They are nestled on Glassell, between Chapman University on the north, and the Traffic Circle, on the south, which means that, every quarter, when the students do the famous "Thank God it's over!" Undy Run to the Circle, and back, you can visit this intimate setting including a living room area with couches, tables, and a stage, and sit out on an outdoor patio, and watch all the half naked students pass by. ;-D
The rest of the year they feature Live Entertainment, including Open Mic Nights and Poetry Readings, for those who are more adventuresome in their quest for enlightenment, and knowlege. ;-D
Which brings me to the reason for this post.
Regular readers will remember that I did my very first Open Mic reading of my Poetry, in July 2009, at a regular event in Encino.
MY 1st OPEN MIC: A Poem About A Weed? It's Very Good, Though!
Well, on Wednesday of this week, I ventured forth to inflict my poetry on an audience much closer to home.
The Ugly Mug plays host, each week, to the long running, extremely popular, Two Idiots Peddling Poetry (Going back to 2001, at least!).
Just who ARE these idiots?
Steve Ramirez hosts this weekly reading series, and is a member of the Laguna Beach Slam Team 2000, as well as one of the organizers of the Orange County Poetry Festival, and member of the Five Penny Poets in Huntington Beach.
Ben Trigg is the co-host, and he apparently does what I, and Nikita, have been attempting to do for 8 years...but far more successfully than us...He works hard to remind people that poetry is often fun, and sometimes silly. ;-D
He has performed throughout SoCal, parts of the NE U.S., and in Texas as part of the Austin International Poetry Festival, as well as being one of the organizers behind the first Orange County Poetry Festival in 2002, as well as subsequent festivals.
While they did not start this event the History is a fascinating one, and can be read on their website.
So there I was, having decided to test the waters for the first time in over a year, now that I finally had a night free that matched when such an even took place somewhere.
The living room area has a adjoining open space where rows of folding chairs allow any overflow audience to sit.
I bought an OJ, paid the $3 admission, signed up for the Open Mic, and settled for one of the couches. ;-D
I soon found myself chatting with a pleasant man, and woman (Name of Martha), who were both older than I.
She had noticed my T-shirt (I'm Strange, Maybe even A Little crazy, But There's Never a Dull Moment!), and when i told her that I had left the more interesting shirt at home she didn't flinch when I told her what it said (A Plug for the blog of my Cat, Nikita - Ask me About My Pussy! ). ;-D
She said she's married an Englishman, and that in England Pussy still referred to a Cat, as it originally did centuries ago.
Soon the show got under way.