Artists Resources for the Tri-State April Arts Showcase

On Sunday, April 25th, I had the opportunity to read from American Soma at the Artists Resources for the Tri-State's quarterly Arts Showcase, which features original work by musicians, writers, and performing artists from West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio.

The pictures here were snapped by my husband Michael and include Jay Flippin, who did a fantastic impromtu scoring of my story "North American Twilight" (the part in which Edward Boone first meets the Angel of Death). It was a wonderful addition to the story.

During the program, Jay also got together with Arts Showcase co-founder Michael Harbour, who played bass for the Jay Flippin Jazz Trio. And later, singer Jay Oaks (right in photo), who appears with fellow guitarist and friend Pete Calico presented some of his original folk songs.

Rounding out the presentation was painter and guitarist Jan Haddox, whose song "West Virginia Morning" has been adopted by the West Virginia Lottery and is now used in their commercials. It's a great song that celebrates the beauty of the mountain state. Jan's second song "Ain't No Mothman Blues" borrows from the legend of his hometown of Point Pleasant, WV, which is occasionally haunted by the prophetic creature that appears before major disasters. (They made a movie back in 2002 with Richard Gere and Debra Messing, but it was not filmed on location).

After the performances, we were invited to stay for dinner, which included a great white turkey chili, cornbread, slaw, and a fantastic bread pudding. We got to spend more time with everyone, and discussed the practical matters of gardening, canning our harvests, curing iron skillets (Michael and I prefer iron skillets over Teflon pans), and fruit cake traditions (along with fruit cake disasters). We had a great time in Huntington and are very grateful for 733Arts' program and their wonderful hospitality.

To read more about the event, check out the article that appeared in Monday's Herald-Dispatch.