LIT FEST 2006
presented by
Springfed Arts - Metro Detroit Writers
Saturday June 10 & Sunday June 11
on the LaSalle Music and Literary Lounge Stage
Springfed Arts – Metro Detroit Writers and LaSalle Bank present Lit Fest 2006 with an outstanding line up of readers and musicians, including the winners of our 2006 Poetry and Fiction contest, an open mike for our members, the kids from Inside Out, and poets and musicians from around the country. The Festival Literary and Music Café sponsored by Springfed Arts-Metro Detroit Writers will open at noon, Saturday and Sunday. Plan now to be here all day every day. This is a “do not miss” event.
SATURDAY, JUNE 10
12:00pm -  The Inside Out Detroit Poets featuring Dr. Terry Blackhawk
12:45pm -  Michael Jones, The Dancing Poet (Detroit)
1:00pm - Metro Detroit Writers & Public Open Mic
2:10pm - Geoffrey Jacques (NYC)
2:30pm - Brian Gilmore (Washington, DC)
2:50pm - DJ Renegade (Washington, DC)
3:15pm - Barry Wallenstein (NYC) & The Magic Poetry Band (Detroit)
4:00pm - Annie Gallup (Ann Arbor)
4:30pm - Dick Siegel (Ann Arbor)

SUNDAY, JUNE 11
12:00pm - Metro Detroit Writers Award Winners
1:30pm - Keir Jackson (Michigan)
1:50pm - Anca Vlasopolos & Christorpher Kreipke (Detroit)
2:15pm - Arthur Pfister (New Orleans) and The Magic Poetry Band (Detroit)
3:00pm - Mikhail Horowitz (Woodstock, NY)
3:25pm - Jabiya E. Dragonsum and The Friends of the Family Band
4:15pm - John D. Lamb (Royal Oak)
4:30pm - The Chris Chandler & David Roe Show (The Streets of America)

PERFORMERS
Terry Blackhawk founded InsideOut, a literary arts project for Detroit students that places professional writers in schools for residencies, publishes student writing and art, and sponsors student performances and workshops. She is the author of two full-length collections of poems - Escape Artist (Bookmark Press 2003), winner of the 2002 John Ciardi Poetry Prize, and Body & Field (1999); and a chapbook, Trio: Voices from the Myths (1998). Among her awards for poetry are the 1990 Foley Poetry Award, a Distinguished Merit Award from Poetry Atlanta, and the John Ciardi Prize.
Michael Jones (Detroit) is known as The Dancing Poet who’s a delight to watch as well as hear.
Geoffrey Jacques is a poet and critic whose work has been published internationally. His previous volumes of poetry are Hunger and Other Poems (1993) and Suspended Knowledge (1998). A former McDowell Colony Fellow, he is on the faculty of the English department at Lehman College. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. His book, Just for a Thrill: Poems, offers acute observations on America’s racial, social and political world.
Brian Gilmore (DC) His first book of poetry, Elvis Presley is Alive and Well and Living in Harlem, covers serious issues with sarcastic humor and shifts to gentle passion with his love poems.
DJ Renegade (DC) was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. His poems have been published in Time Magazine, The Washington Post, Callaloo, Antioch Review, and several anthologies including: Def Poetry Jam, Slam (The Book), Revival: Spoken Word from Lollapallooza, and The Black Rooster Social Inn, which he also edited.. He has performed in the documentaries Voices Against Violence and SlamNation, and on BET’s Teen Summit and By the Book, and in the feature film Slam.
Barry Wallenstein (NYC) of The Magic Poetry Band is the author of five collections of poetry. He has made five recordings of his poetry with jazz musicians; the most recent, Pandemonium (Cadence Jazz Label). He is a Professor of literature and creative writing at the City University of New York. He will perform his jazz poetry with Detroit jazz legends Faruq Z. Bey, Ron English, Jef Reynoldz and Bill Hulet (aka The Magic Poetry Band).
Annie Gallup (Ann Arbor) Her writing is unabashedly imaginative and richly sensual. She is a teller of short, elaborate tales — song-length works of fiction that sparkle with the complexity and polish of poetry. Annie has released several CDs of her music and songs.
Dick Siegel (Ann Arbor) is a member of the Detroit Music Hall of Fame and recipient of multiple Detroit Music Awards and the Kerrville Music Festival’s New Folk Award. His lyrics and dynamic musical style incorporate modern folk, roots, and jazz. Named in WDET’s list of the most influential artists in the history of Detroit, with legends such as John Lee Hooker, Stevie Wonder, and Aretha Franklin, his songs have featured prominently on stations such as Austin’s KUT, New York’s WFUV, and San Francisco’s KPFA, as well as the syndicated Mountain Stage and All Things Considered.
Keir Jackson (MI) gives us poetry and music from the heart of Detroit, relatable to anyone dealing with unemployment, layoffs, hard times or a string of bad days.  His poetry and music sounds like a blend from Jill Scott, Kirk Franklin, Gill Scott Heron and Erykah Badu. 
Anca Vlasopolos (Detroit) wrote No Return Address: A Memoir of Displacement. She has a poetry collection entitled Through the Straits, at Large; a chapbook of poetry titled The Evidence of Spring; and a novel entitled Missing Members. She will read poetry accompanied by Dr. Christian W. Kreipke (Detroit), a musician who has composed over 300 original musical works. Anca & Chris released a CD of their classically inspired music and poetry last year.
Arthur Pfister (New Orleans) and The Magic Poetry Band. Arthur (Arturo), a former Writer-in-Residence at Texas Southern University, has had his works appear in such diverse publications as The American Poetry Review, The Minnesota Review, and The New Orleans Tribune. Presently, he is professor of English at Southern University at New Orleans living in Connecticut due to Hurricane Katrina.
The Magic Poetry Band (headed by M.L. Liebler of WSU, Director of MDW and author of several books) featuring well known Detroit musicians Faruq Z. Bey, Ron English, Bill Hulet, Jef Reynoldz & Brigitte Knudson will back up Barry Wallenstein, Arthur Pfister and Mikhail Horowitz on Saturday and Sunday's Lit Fest.
Mikhail Horowitz (Woodstock, NY) His exuberant word jazz hits all the high notes and then keeps climbing, a wild blend of Lord Buckley, Jack Kerouac and Professor Irwin Corey that bops the Apocalypse. Like Lenny Bruce in the mid-’60s, Horowitz goes way beyond what mere mortals consider comedy. He’s a lucid Hunter Thompson. Blues Of The Birth is his Euphoria/Sundazed debut.
Jabiya E. Dragonsun and Friends of the Family Jabiya was in the B company 1/8 4th infantry division from January 1968 —August 1969. A well known Detroit poet and photographer, much of his work with local jazz and rock musicians appears on CDs. He is an active Vietnam vet artist and activist and is planning an expedition of African American Vietnam veterans back to Vietnam. He will be joined by several Detroit area musicians.
John D. Lamb (Royal Oak) is a rock & roll storyteller who weaves his fables from the stuff of everyday life. He fills his tales with familiar characters, and as we know, in these lives of great ordinariness, extraordinary things happen… or are at least dreamt about. His CD A Novel Day is a local folk/rock classic, and his Lamb Songwriter Retreats and The Walloon Writers’ Retreat have been mainstays on the Michigan Arts Scene. He is the Founding Director of Springfed Arts.
Chris Chandler of The Chris Chandler and David Roe Show (from the streets of America) has worked with everyone from Allen Ginsberg to Ani DiFranco and Pete Seeger. Utah Phillips says, “Chris Chandler is the best performance poet I have ever seen.”