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A fashionable assemblage of elegant notables



Salon n.

2. a fashionable assemblage of elegant notables (as literary figures, artists, or statesmen)



Last Saturday evening, October 5th, Patty and I held a salon at our Chicago apartment. Patty is a writer and I am a visual artist, and since about 2003 we've hosted one party a year (sometimes more) at which we invite the many writers we know to read something from work in progress or published work, the artists to bring some work along and talk about it, and any musicians to play a song if they feel inclined. It's more of a party than a salonin the traditional sense--no Gertrude Stein holding forth about modern art in the corner, no competing for attention or ascendancy. Just an opportunity to eat, drink, and share some work to combat the isolation that usually goes along with the writer's and artist's lot.

This recent one was great for many reasons, chiefly that so many people contributed, and so many were there for the first time. In addition to the photos from the salon posted here, below are links to the elegant notables' work online, where I could find them (I will add more as I find them).

Writers


Geoff Hyatt, Birch Hills at World's End (novel).
Patricia Ann McNair, The Temple of Air (stories).
Gail Wallace Bozzano, interview.
Wyl Villacres, excerpts.
Columbia College Chicago student writers (link).

Visual artists


Lynn Tsan
Sal Campbell
Rita Grendze
Lynn Neuman
Dimitri Pavlotsky
Deborah and Glenn Doering
Kevin Swallow
Joanne Aono
Mare Swallow
Doug McNair

Musicians


Randi Russo (links to the song, Invisible, that she sang for us)
The Dawsons (Ted's band, Mr Mayor and the Highballers, is performing at the Battle of the Jug Bands on October 25th

And finally, I played ma gee-tar a bit, but here is me playing better than I did a few nights ago:



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