I had a great time at the 2nd Friday Reading at AtF(LE) in Long Beach. I read from: When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, Vigan and Other Stories, Woman With Horns and Other Stories, and Out of Cebu. The gallery was full, with some people standing in the back. And what an attentive, generous audience! They were with me 100% from the beginning til end of the 1 hour reading I did. Thank you, Audience, and thank you Mike Buckley for inviting me, and to Sarah Miller and all the other organizers of the event.
Going there, I had a mild panic attack because 405 traffic was extremely bad, and I had promised Mike I'd be there at 6:40 p.m. The program was scheduled from 7-9 p.m, and I assumed the reading would go first.
Aside from the horrendous traffic, we took the wrong exit and wasted more precious minutes. Fortunately we did get back on the Freeway, and I was at the gallery before 7 p.m. I was relieved to hear that the reading program wouldn't start until 8 p.m. The wine and cheese reception allowed people to enjoy the live jazz music of Garland Campbell, and to mingle.
At 8 Mike Buckey introduced me and ta-da - I did the one-hour reading to this wonderful audience. They were sad and reflective when I read about Doc Menez in When the Rainbow Goddess Wept and the Black Man in the Forest; and they laughed at Flip Gothic, and laughed even harder when I shared the non-fiction "How I Learned to Make Leche Flan (or How I Met My Husband).
That's really all a performer can ask for - a good audience. When they're with you, you give more, and so the performance becomes better - magical even.
Some friends and I went to dinner afterwards, and I just got back, so time to rest but here are some pictures - Enjoy!
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Photos:
top: Guests mingling
next: the Jazz duo
next: Greg and Carlene
next: Loreta, Mike Genelin, Mike Buckley, Lauren Brainard
next: Lyn Buckley, Mike, Cecilia, Ted Buckley
bottom: Lauren Brainard, Elizabeth Allen, Mike Ross, Cathy and Bob from Canada, John Allen, Cecilia Brainard
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