14H: Why did you decide to start Saturday Night Special?

 

Hollie: When I used to host the Velvet Revolution weekly reading series at SFSU, friends were always asking when I was going to do something on this side of the bridge. I've been threatening for a few years now, so when my old friend and fellow writer Tomas Moniz invited me to do a collaboration in Berkeley, I was delighted. 

Here's the scoop: We found this funky little jazz-themed speakeasy called Nick’s Lounge, right by Ashby BART in Berkeley, with great acoustics, delicious drinks, a smoking patio out back, and a sweet, literature-lovin' new owner, Bryan Smith. He not only lets us take over the mic for free from 7 to 9:30pm on the last Saturday of every month and doesn’t mind when we have pizza delivered to the bar, but also features a revolving Saturday Night Drink Special just for us: $5 for a beer and a shot! 

 

14H: What is the atmosphere of the reading like?

 

Hollie: It’s a great crowd that shows up for this event: a diverse mix of writers and non-writers, of casual and dressy, of young and old, of curious locals and dedicated fans that trek in from the City. Everyone is welcome. Anyone who doesn’t want to read can just listen, sip a tasty beverage, and clap when everyone else does; there’s no pressure! After the readings, everyone hangs out at the bar, drinking and schmoozing, listening to that killer juke box, and making new friends.  

 

Richard Loranger, a hilarious writer who rocked the open mic and won our prize last month, sent me a note after the event: “[It’s] a good, energetic reading,” he wrote, “very pleasantly hosted by Tomas and yourself. Just my opinion but I've been to probably thousands of open mics at this point, so I have some perspective.” 

 

14H: How is this different than your typical open mic?

Hollie: Each month we feature one or two of our favorite local writers, and offer about fifteen 3 to 5-minute open mic slots for anyone who wants to get up and share a poem, a short story, a novel excerpt, a little stand-up routine, a grocery list, anything goes. Our featured writers have been the fabulous fiction writers Rose Tully (pictured left) and Brixton Key (pictured right) and brilliant poet Katherine Sanford. (pictured on the homepage)

 

We try to offer a safe supportive place where both established and emerging writers can promote a new book or try out brand new work for the first time. To encourage this, we offer a fun optional monthly writing challenge, a theme or prompt that anyone can take on and then come back and share at the next reading. Last month, we gave away silly prizes to everyone who read on the topic of secrets, speakeasies, or the forbidden. The theme for our September 24th (this Saturday!) reading, in acknowledgement of Tomas's one-time absence, and in honor of our featured reader Maxine Chernoff, is to write something new on the topic of (or including the word) "without."

Read the SF Weekly article here   

 

 

 

  

HOLLIE HARDY leaps tall buildings in a single bound. She can teach you how to survive anything. Her Survival Poems have titles ruthlessly appropriated from The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook. She taught Creative Writing 101 at San Francisco State this summer, where she is finishing up her MFA for poetry. She recently retired as Editor-in-Chief of Fourteen Hills: The SFSU Review, and co-curator of Litquake’sFlightofPoets and former curator of the VelvetRevolution, a weekly open mic reading series. Her work is published in or forthcoming from Eleven Eleven, sPARKLE & bLINK, The Common, A Sharp Piece of Awesome, Parthenon West Review, One Ded Cow, Transfer, Milvia Street, and other journals. She lives in Oakland, California. Write to holliehardy@gmail.com if you want to give her money. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TOMAS MONIZ is the founder, editor, and a contributor for the award-winning zine and recently published book Rad Dad. He is also co-founder and co-host of the successful monthly reading series Lyrics and Dirges, every third Wednesday in downtown Berkeley. He’s been making zines since the late nineties, and his most current project is the serialized zine novella, Without Words & Without Kneeling, which began in September 2010 and will continue a chapter a month for twelve months. Tomas teaches at Berkeley City College focusing on basic skills classes and works with the National Writing Project. He is helping to raise three children and lives with a menagerie of animals in Berkeley, California. You can e-mail him here: tomas.moniz@gmail.com