The Austin Salon Poetic meets on the 1st and 3rd Monday of the month
 at Metal and Lace Club, 720 Red River Street, Austin, TX 78701; 7:30 PM CST 

Already about a year has swung by since first dreaming up the idea of The Austin Salon Poetic. Another venue, another voice in the Austin poetry scene, this past year had been exciting and insightful. Many poets and writers from all around Austin, Texas have participated in the featured reading and open mic since its first salon on August 20, 2012. The idea of having a poet feature has grown since that first salon that featured Headhunter Thom (Thom Woodruff) and was followed by an open mic equally powerful as the bard of Austin, TX’ presentation. Where we began doing single poet features, now the Austin Salon Poetic can feature as many as two or three poets and include a lively open mic. The pleasure has been in meeting and engaging the body of poets found here in Austin, and the chance to experience their craft and their talent. It has been a pleasure to create a space where people may express themselves as they see fit, for in this day and age, there aren’t many places where you can just present yourself regardless of the audience. Of course, for the love of the craft, and the joy of mechanism, open mics and features are also great places to practice while preparing for grander things. Indeed, all walks of life in poet boots have crossed the stage in the past year, and hopefully, more will continue to come.

Barbara Youngblood Carr features at The Austin Salon Poetic, April 1, 2013.

Poets who have featured at our salons have now included Austin poets and regional poets, such as: Thom Woodruff, Bill Shute, Juan Manuel Perez, Devorah Winegarten, Joe Hoppe, Brooke Axtell, Ricardo Acevedo, Dillon McKinsey, John Crow and many others. The spectrum of open mic readers has been just as wealthy in the poetry department. In fact, the Austin Salon Poetic prides itself on its reach of inclusiveness regarding poetry styles and types by disregarding such notions. At the Austin Salon Poetic people come to share their voice in a respectful though well liquored environment.

Still, there are great reasons more to come check out the place. It was disclosed a poet used to live on the second floor above the main bar room a few decades ago. Ask around and one may find much information on the cultural norms Austin rolled through in its long history. Apparently the Red River District where now stands the mighty Stubb’s Barbeque and the fallen Emo’s, held many early indie-type endeavors, including bookstores and arte. Now we find a quaint, the rough bar called Metal and Lace. Yes, if you recall, the Austin Salon Poetic first opened in what was then called Headhunters Club. To an extent, the joint is still Headhunters Club. That is definitely how people still refer to it. When the A.S.P. was first conceived, the idea was to have a Monday night poetry open mic in what is called the Cannibal Stage of Headhunters club, a two-story patio that had what most poetry venues require, seating. Booths and tables and bar chairs made the space, intimate as it was, accommodating. Alas, for a lack of anything else to do with the main stage, the Austin Salon Poetic was given that space to perform. The Headhunters of the time was ill-equipped for reading as there was inadequate lighting. There were no chairs. There was a “friendly” pungent odor that greeted you as you entered and acquainted itself with you throughout the night. The horror of creating a space for poets in a space so disenchanting. Indeed, the Headhunters of yore was a rough and gritty one, as it was a heavy metal, punk and thrash type bar littered with Hawaiian and Tribal type decorations to include a huge and dusty bamboo hut roof on the inside of the venue. The poets are great for having attended and participated wholeheartedly those first few open mics. Then something of a synchronicity occurred one fall evening when I was informed Headhunters was to undergo a remodel. How interesting, I thought. The cable-network program called Bar Rescue wanted to remodel and film an episode for their reality based show and use Headhunters for the job. They cleaned up the place, and turned the venue from a Hawaiian themed Tiki headbangers’ hall, to a cleaned, well-lit, stylized lounge type bar that followed a “steampunk” theme. This was Metal and Lace.

Ajari Eniyi participating in a special post-SXSW outdoor read at Metal and Lace Club.

Needless to say, as the show spent money money on a new state-of-the-art sound and lighting system, the bathrooms remained the same, as well as the two story patio in the back where the name “Headhunters” is still proudly dawned. Now with light and chairs and a great crew we are having successful readings with a great and diverse audience. It does come in tides, it seems, both low and high, but Metal and Lace / Headhunters still opens its doors to various genres, and the poetry open mics are usually followed by live metal bands or DJs spinning music and dropping beats.

As the Austin Salon Poetic reaches its one year anniversary in August, there is still much to look forward. The A.S.P. will be celebrating with a special poetry and music presentation with featured poets and a late night open mic! If you are interested in participating in our open mic, or featuring at the Austin Salon Poetic, please feel free to get in touch. All salons are held on the 1st and 3rd Monday of the month, and sometimes the 5th. The Austin Salon Poetic meets at Metal and Lace Club located at 720 Red River, Austin, TX 78701. More information can be found at the Austin Salon Poetic Website: http://austinsalonpoetic.blogspot.com/ and the Austin Salon Poetic Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/austinsalonpoetic/. Videos of poetry features and participants at the Austin Salon Poetic can be seen at our Youtube page from VGP Media, simply click the link at the bottom of the homepage! There’s really no telling what is next to come for the Austin Salon Poetic. For the time being we are just happy to be a part of the Austin poetry dialogue, and another venue for the expression of the written word and spoken arts. Poets, if you’ve nothing else better to do on a Monday evening, I look forward to hearing your work at the Austin Salon Poetic!