Busboys and Poets - BLOG

More than Just Food for Thought

2008-05-01T13:20:00.001-04:00

Finding good food that is worth eating is sometimes difficult. There is a McDonalds on the corner of every block with a Starbucks placed strategically in the middle. It's hard to get a fresh perspective on food when your options are limited to what is available, convenient, and mass-produced.

Although living one's life in the "gastronomic doldrums" is less than desirable, it is far more tragic to be deprived of intellectual stimuli from a wide variety of views and sources. There is no doubt that the mega-bookstores that have become dominant in the past decade have contributed to the limited options available to readers.

Luckily, Washington area residents have an alternative: the Busboys and Poets Bookstore. This nonconformist bookstore happily offers nontraditional books, such as those published by AK Press. The Oakland, California-based publisher/distributor was founded in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1990 and opened their U.S. branch in 1994. During their eighteen years in the publishing business, AK Press has become an ultimate authority on all anarchist books, CDs, and DVDs. Does that last sentence sound like an oxymoron?

Regardless, if you're craving something different, you can find many AK Press items at both the DC and the Virginia locations of the Busboys and Poets Bookstores. In a recent interview with Publishers Weekly, Don Allen, General Manager of the DC Busboys and Poets, noted that some of the best sellers from AK Press include a three-DVD set on the Black Panthers, What We Want, What We Believe and several of AK Press's vegan cookbooks.

Bitter? A Cure for What Ails You

2008-04-21T23:38:00.004-04:00

It's no secret: every recent utterance, and every distant association, of Busboys and Poets' favorite Presidential candidate is being parsed to the point of absurdity by his opponents, both Democratic and Republican.

Hendrik Hertzberg, in the new New Yorker, speaks to the absurdity surrounding the recent Philadelphia debate:

In the seven weeks since the previous Clinton-Obama debate, the death toll of American troops in Iraq had reached four thousand; the President had admitted that his "national-security team," including the Vice-President, had met regularly in the White House to approve the torture of prisoners; house repossessions topped fifty thousand per month and unemployment topped five per cent; and the poll-measured proportion of Americans who believe that "things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track" hit eighty-one per cent, a record.

In other words, only an out-of-touch elitist could call someone an out-of-touch elitist for observing that almost everyone has a reason to be bitter about the shape of national politics.

The Pennsylvania primary holds the potential to release us from at least one aspect of this madness: if Obama finishes within a single-digit margin of Clinton tonight, Stephanopoulos and his peers among the punditry might finally acknowledge that this race is between Obama and McCain, between responsible policies and destructive delusion. Hertzberg goes on to dream:

The battle might even be about ideas.

Have you been living in the Washington, D.C., area long enough that your first reaction to such a statement is "yeah, right"?

Or do you perceive a change in the wind?

We'll be watching tonight's events with rapt attention at the Busboys and Poets' Shirlington, VA, location. It'll be a community of Obama supporters, political activists, and just plain political junkies, gathered around a big screen and enjoying the drink specials and free wi-fi.

Details are here, courtesy of MyBarrackObama:

Join your friends at Busboys and Poets as we anticipate the PA returns! 7PM-till the last vote is counted! Drink Specials throughout the night. The returns will be shown on our Big Screen Projector and in our bar.

Join us!

For the Babies

2008-04-18T15:35:00.004-04:00

Literacy theorists, child educators, and all-around bloggers, take note: there's a great new blog on our radar called For the Babies...

Written by Leensa Fufa, the blog has been going since February. It's about, well, literacy theory, child education, and all-around blogging. An excerpt:

My fondest memory of literacy involves road trips with my sister and her godmother. My sister and I memorized Shel Silverstein poems to pass the time… and earn money! My sister’s godmother was very generous and I still have Tree House memorized. Now I recite it to my students.

Leensa writes about an experience perusing the aisles at the Busboys and Poets store, here:

I love this Busboys & Poets Books! Although small and somewhat crowded, I find its collection of books rich and refined. The affiliation with Teaching for Change ensures thoughtful and deliberate selection of books.

Leensa also admits to a tendency that's becoming increasingly dominant among even the most avid of book-lovers: going to the bookstore to look for interesting titles, then picking up one's selections from Amazon for the sake of economy.

Hey, that's the modern world. The number of viable, community-oriented bookstores decreases by the year, as national and international retailers consolidate their hold on the market. Choice increases but it comes with a price.

At Busboys and Poets, we remain a vital space, but it would be much more an uphill struggle in such an environment if we strove to exist as a bookstore alone. So we have the restaurant; we have visiting authors; we have the Langston Room.

It's a privilege to be able to play host to the vibrant community of writers, poets, activists, educators, and literary enthusiasts here in Washington, D.C. and the surrounding area. There is truly a great movement underway, and what it needs to grow is community.

So please do come down to spend some time with us. Browse the shelves, view a reading, maybe sample a delicious panini-- and also, for community's sake, won't you please consider buying a book?

Richard Peabody on the Scene

2008-04-15T08:29:00.004-04:00

Sweet.

Local fiction and poetry publishing luminary Richard Peabody graced the Shirlington Busboys location with a reading last night.

And: local blogger of all things literary Wendi Kaufman wrote about it at The Happy Booker, here.

Thanks Wendi!

Busboys and Poets Getting Some Love

2008-03-28T00:25:00.007-04:00

What does it mean to say that Busboys and Poets has been getting a lot of love from a lot of corners lately? It means that the great events that take place here are receiving favorable mentions from various writers and press outlets.

St. Patrick's Day has already come and gone-- or one could say that we're now approximately 354 days away from the next one-- but that's no reason not to note that the Progressive Democrats of America gave us a shout-out in conjunction with the holiday's happenings:

National radio commentator, author, and speaker Jim Hightower will bring his unique combination of political insight and down-home humor to Busboys and Poets Restaurant on March 17 to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with Capital Area members of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) and help kick off PDA's "Healthcare NOT Warfare" national campaign.

Another thing that's recently taken place is, of course, Split This Rock: the four-day festival wherein poets and activists from all over the nation converged on the Capital City to collectively protest the Iraq War on the fifth anniversary of its inception. David Montgomery at The Washington Post wrote about it, and he didn't forget to mention us:

In long, disheveled columns, they are prowling Langston Hughes's old neighborhood around U Street NW. They are eating catfish at Busboys and Poets (where else?) and quoting Hughes, Shelley and Whitman back and forth -- "Through me many long dumb voices" -- over the hummus and merlot.

Catherine Andrews at the Washingtonian wrote about Split This Rock, and Busboys, too:

Timed to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq, the Split This Rock Poetry Festival brings in writers from all over the world. They’ll be reading in a variety of locations along the U Street corridor. (Definitely check out Busboys & Poets, where several readings will take place.)

That's a lot of love. Thanks, everyone-- right back at you!

Obama: A Poet in the Langston Hughes Tradition?

2008-03-24T01:26:00.006-04:00

John Lundberg, a contributor at the excellent news & opinion collator Huffington Post, has written movingly and presciently about Barack Obama's recent Philadelphia speech in an article entitled Poems About Racism.

Beginning with an analysis of Obama's deft delivery-- highlighting the ways by which the Senator defused the media's tendency to reduce the best oratory into a collection of damning sound bytes-- the article moves forward to draw parallels between the life led by Hughes and the one led by Obama.

It gets better: the piece then quotes Hughes' poem "I, Too, Sing America", Michael S. Harper 's "American History", Claude McKay's "The White House", and Robert Lowell's "For the Union Dead", threading these American artifacts together into a narrative that culminates with Obama's address to the nation.

Perhaps the following lines from McKay's poem might serve as a fulcrum for the argument:

Oh, I must search for wisdom every hour,
Deep in my wrathful bosom sore and raw,
And find in it the superhuman power
To hold me to the letter of your law!
Oh, I must keep my heart inviolate
Against the potent poison of your hate.

This may all seem counter-intuitive in the abstract-- after all, Obama never bussed tables and Hughes never ran for President-- but Lundberg makes the case convincingly, so please do check it out.

Great Article in the Washington Post today

2008-03-22T09:26:00.003-04:00

Poetry takes front and center during this week of protest against the Iraq war (or any war for that matter). Great programming throughout the weekend. Check out www.splitthisrock.org for more details and visit www.busboysandpoets.com for the complete schedule of events.

David Montgomery of the Post writes: 'The politicians have had their say, and the veterans, the military families, the kids getting arrested in the streets this week -- now it's the poets' turn".

"People in this society are starved for meaning," he says. "In a time of war, the government divorces language from meaning. . . . They drain the blood from words. Poets can put the blood back into words." Martin Espada -poet and professor at University of Massachusetts

folks can turn their lives around if they are given an opportunity

2008-03-21T12:21:00.003-04:00

"People need to know that just because you are incarcerated does not mean you are not a productive member of society... folks can turn their lives around if they are given an opportunity... We have to reintegrate people back into society... Those released need to be helped to become active politically - their involvement can get them to feel connected back to their community."

"Poetry Kept Me Alive"

2008-03-21T12:05:00.003-04:00

"Poetry is a way of keeping alive and keeping emotionally vivid .... you need to keep feeling ... without it you forget you are a human being ..." prisoner

"I was a very young angry child ... I marched for civil rights as a child... I got angry and militant... I got in trouble - not being able to read and write - I got locked up ... then Martin Luther King Jr. died and got angrier - they took away my reading in prison ... I got more angry and I did not stop until someone gave me back my book... I started reading and writing... I later formed a writers club"

"Poetry is much more important than food"

2008-03-21T11:48:00.003-04:00

I am sitting here in the Langston Room at Busboys and Poets listening to prison poetry. What an incredible panel. This is the second day of "Split This Rock" poetry festival.

What an incredible collection of poets and artists. Yesterday Sonia Sanchez took center stage in the main dining room. There were over 300 poets - artists - dreamers - activists and friends sharing their humanity - together. All of us were there to mark the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq. All of us struggling to make sense of the senseless - to make sense of the depravity - to make sense of the devastation - and ask ourselves - why?

We are all here to bare witness - to speak the unspoken - to hear the unbearable - and to express our collective rage.

We are all here to connect and reconnect with other artists and poets... to provoke and challenge "conventional wisdom".

obama yes we can speech

2008-02-14T12:21:00.000-05:00

Barack in Virginia

2008-02-14T12:16:00.000-05:00

The Barack Obama 'Yes We Can' Music Video With The Lyrics

2008-02-06T15:47:00.002-05:00

brilliant.

---

LYRICS

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --

Yes. We. Can.

Oprah's speech for Barack Obama

2008-02-06T15:47:00.001-05:00

in ucla

Instant Updates on Super Tuesday

2008-02-05T21:15:00.000-05:00

Who are you voting for?

2008-01-10T22:40:00.001-05:00

Barack Obama

Dennis Kucinich

John Edwards

Hillary Clinton

Ron Paul

Mike Huckabee

John McCain

Mitt Romney

Ralph Nader

green party candidate

2007-11-24T20:40:00.000-05:00

The large serving of meatloaf was homemade good, drenched in mushroom gravy and served over a large mound of mashed potatoes. It was comfort food at its best. The crab cakes are even more successful. Although they do contain filler, it's just enough to bind the lumps of crab together. They are served atop lobster grits with slivers of stir-fried carrots and peppers.
Service was attentive, and the servers were quick with refills on drinks, including water and sodas.

It seemed that every second table had a plate of fried calamari, and many tables were crammed with various kinds of pizzas.

Desserts were especially enticing. Here, I finally found the simple but delicious chocolate layer cake I'd had a taste for and a not-too-sweet carrot cake that was rich with spices.
The Washington Post

November 22, 2007

pink - mr. president with spanish subtitles

2007-11-23T19:53:00.000-05:00

Bomani Armah, not a rapper but a poet with a hip-hop style, is hitting the big time

2007-11-22T12:05:00.001-05:00

(Photo credit: By Bill O'leary -- The Washington Post)

Bomani Armah is a Busboys and Poets regular. For the Busboys family, he often leads Open Mic Night while inspiring his fellow poets, poetesses and audience members alike.

We were thrilled to crack open this morning's Washington Post and see that they had featured Bomani on the cover of the Arts & Living Section (C01). The article's title is aptly written: His Punch Line Smarts: Hip-Hop Parodist Bomani Armah Juggles Sense of Humor and Identity, and the contents of the article are even better.

A few of our favorite passages on his provocative and now infamous song "Read a Book" (for the full article from today's paper, please click here)

[Its] rise to [the] consciousness:

He's fixated... on what has happened to him over the past four months, how he somehow became a symbol of the coarsening culture. All because he wrote a crunk song, "Read a Book," that traveled the Internet, that was discovered by Black Entertainment Television, that was made into a video, that ignited a controversy, that turned Bomani Armah into a person he didn't recognize, someone accused of "setting my people back 100 years." Between the irate blog posts and the snippy interviews by the likes of CNN's Tony Harris, Armah discovered that he had suddenly become somebody.

Bomani's follow-up thoughts [below the surface] of "Read a Book":

" 'Read a Book' was a joke from the beginning," he says. "It was more about parodying the state of hip-hop." And now it has become the thing that defines him. He thought about that for a moment. "Damn, do this many people not get me?"
[...]

"I feel like I'm a sergeant out here in the field, showing how ridiculous the culture is," Armah says. He began performing his song around the Washington area and it caught on. He made it available for free download on his MySpace page, and the buzz grew. At some point the "Read a Book" MP3 reached the inbox of Reginald Hudlin, president of entertainment for BET, who passed it on to the network's animation division, which loved it and wanted to create an animated video off the track. Which is where Tyree Dillihay, a Los Angeles-based animation director, comes in.

OMN 11/13: Presenting Loren...

2007-11-18T18:44:00.000-05:00

Loren doesn't just serve customers dinner at Busboy and Poets, he offers his poetry and a little bit of a soul. Great waiter. Great poet.

Love may leave you heartbroken and hopeless.
Tears may fall, but life must move on.

"Never had I heard such beautiful lies spoken. I tried to dry my eyes from time to time..."

OMN 11/13: Presenting Derrick...

2007-11-18T18:40:00.000-05:00

OMN 11/13: Exclusive Interview - Erwin Catlin

2007-11-18T18:31:00.000-05:00

OMN 11/13: Presenting Erwin Catlin...

2007-11-18T18:29:00.000-05:00

OMN 11/13: Presenting Katrina...

2007-11-18T18:27:00.000-05:00

OMN 11/13: Presenting Doug McCulloch...

2007-11-18T18:26:00.000-05:00

OMN 11/13: Presenting 2 deep...

2007-11-18T18:24:00.000-05:00

OMN 11/13: Presenting Marcus...

2007-11-18T18:21:00.000-05:00

OMN: 11/13: Presenting Neil Not Neyo...

2007-11-18T17:55:00.000-05:00

OMN 11/13: Presenting Jenny...

2007-11-16T10:42:00.001-05:00

Words by Langston Hughes

Numbers are only shapes meant to deceive us into believing that anything, anything, at all is certain 'cause it never is and we never had control.

OMN 11/13: Presenting Sheryl...

2007-11-16T10:41:00.001-05:00

Reading "Inspiration," dedicated to her brother:

"We are very different, you and me..."

OMN 11/13: Featuring Nathan...

2007-11-16T10:37:00.000-05:00

But you can be my target market!
Welcome to my target market!
Congratulations, you're my target market!
You hit the bullseye in my target market!
My target market!

OMN 11/13: Presenting Vanessa...

2007-11-16T10:36:00.000-05:00

"It's entrapment I say, to keep your soul locked in a cage."

OMN 11/13: Presenting Ephrata...

2007-11-16T10:35:00.001-05:00

Words by Ephrata

it's for a happy home even if you live alone the emotions will muscle you like al capone crippled cracked paralyzed ... bob marley's revolution keep biblical connection

(Transcriber's note: We're about 80% sure that this is at least 20% wrong.)

OMN 11/13: Presenting Kuku...

2007-11-16T10:34:00.001-05:00

Kuku
on
vocals
and
strings:

"I was so I was so I was so... I was so I was so ... I had to go..."

OMN 11/13: Presenting Alao...

2007-11-16T10:30:00.000-05:00

A Wooing
Langston Hughes
As performed by Alao

I will bring you big things:
Colors of dawn-morning,
Beauty of rose leaves,
And a flaming love.
But you say
Those are not big things,
That only money counts.
Well,
Then I will bring you money.
But do not ask me
For the beauty of rose leaves,
Nor the colors of dawn-morning,
Nor a flaming love.

Open Mic Night 11/13: MC Bomani Armah and "The Rules of the Stage"

2007-11-16T10:12:00.001-05:00

Bomani got things started Tuesday night... check it:

Time & cleverness: "You get two pieces or five minutes, whatever happens first, all right? If you're clever enough to do haikus, you're clever enough to know when to stop."

Pay respect to Langston Hughes: "The other thing is we ask that you read a piece by Langston Hughes. So just pick it up, randomly open it. The shorter poems are in the front. Read whatever. Randomly open it, and read whatever poem you open to. Make sure to give Langston Hughes some credit for paving the way for so many poets."

Re-capping last night: "Open Mic" videos coming soon!

2007-11-14T15:35:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a powerful night. The line-up and energy were awesome and we have the clips to prove it. We are working hard to get the videos and some pics ready, so please stay tunned.

Thank you to everyone who shared last night --- and to the audience, too. We hope to feature more events and artists as we work out all the kinks. Let us know if you have any ideas or would like to get involved -- it is your space to be and make and do.

In the words of Bomani, we all certainly were able to: "Shake it off, take it off and break it off" in one way or another.

Send us an email if you would like to receive an update once the videos are up! (busboysandpoetspr@gmail.com)

Getting the stage set for the real stars, walk this way and stay tunned...

This Saturday (11/17): Robert Parry joins us...

2007-11-13T19:38:00.000-05:00

If you haven't visited the Busboys and Poets location in Shirlington, this Saturday is a good time. The journalist Robert Parry, who broke many of the key details of the Iran-Contra affair, will be there from 4 to 6 p.m. with his sons, discussing their co-authored book, "Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush."

Award-winning investigative reporter(who broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s) and two of his sons, Sam and Nat Parry, will be at the new Busboys and Poets restaurant in the Shirlington Village section of Arlington, Virginia, from 4-6 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 17.

We have only just begun...

2007-11-12T23:21:00.000-05:00

The table is set, the food is ready, the guests are on their way... all we need is YOU. More specifically, your story. We are looking to grow our online community to better serve everyone -- think of it as an "open mic" night, only without the line.

We will start by covering some of the artists that share this Tuesday night (the 13th), and we will keep the conversation going in the days, weeks and months to come. Truly, we are almost as excited about ramping up our online community as we are living and contributing in our real one!

As a part of this effort, we are also reaching out to bloggers, writers, busboys, poets, poetesses, neighbors, foodies, activists, artists, you name it. So please let us know if you are interested in sharing your story, your writing, or your art. Think of this space just like the Langston Hughes Room Mural... room and support for everyone.

Calling all poets, poetesses and artists/musicians

2007-11-12T23:11:00.000-05:00

We are excited to be kicking off the cold weather with some warm words, soul food and real-deal energy. Open Mic will be this Tuesday night from 9:00 PM - 11:00 PM, but get there early to get tix. The line usually starts around 7:30 PM in the bookstore and tickets go on sale at 8 PM ($3/each).We host this event every Tuesday at the same time and same place – we look forward to seeing you there!

We will be filming the event tonight and will then post the performances here. We want to share them far and wide, so help us spread the word and the love.

May 25, 2007 (Friday)

2007-05-26T19:10:00.000-04:00

9:00 PM- 11:00 PM (Langston Room) PS24, BusBoys & Poets' resident band, is back for another wonderful night of music. Doors open @ 9pm, only $5. For info on PS24 go to www.myspace.com/ps24music