A New Tradition on Marin Street

by


I was not able to experience the big picture of the First Annual Listen & Be Heard Marin Street Summer Arts Festival on Saturday August 18, 2007, because I was quite busy most of the day and night inside Listen & Be Heard Poetry Café. But it was very satisfying to look up and down Marin Street and see people strolling, enjoying the beautiful weather and buying art from local artists. What started out as Tony’s idea, and became a conversation between him and I, which turned into an event that cost practically nothing, but went a long way toward creating good feelings and an image of Marin Street, in downtown Vallejo California, as the center of a burgeoning creative arts movement.
Since Saturday people have walked into the café telling me it was the first time they went inside the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, that they hadn’t been previously aware of Vallejo Music Theatre’s plans for a performing arts center right across the street from the café, and they didn’t even know that Vallejo has an artists’ guild until Saturday. Others told me that they bought art, or had gotten a wonderful caricature of themselves from none other than our own treasure on Marin Street, Cleven Goudeau.
A real community of artists on Marin Street is beginning to see the possibilites that cooperation and hard work can create with practically no budget. When we say that we want to do something and we will do it, then we put ourselves in a powerful position, where we dictate rather than ask what the program will be.
The pictures above, and the slideshow by Stephen Jacobson really only convey a small portion of the many wonderful moments that made up the day and night. If you took pictures, please share them with us!
Next up from Listen & Be Heard…a political forum for all our local candidates to speak about their commitment or lack of commitment to the arts in Vallejo…coming up in October…stay tuned…

Related Posts:


  • EP29-Shirley Ancheta, M. Evelina Galang

    EP29-Shirley Ancheta, M. Evelina Galang

    we feature a Manang from Manilatown, poet, Shirley Ancheta and novelist M. Evelina Galang, who has a newly published collection of short stories entitled When the Hibiscus Falls. We also feature a set of poetry celebrating John Coltrane on the occasion of his birthday, and a spoken word set that includes Dr. Maya Angelou in… Read more

  • Basketball, Bagoong and Bayanihan in Albany, Georgia

    Basketball, Bagoong and Bayanihan in Albany, Georgia

    In Albany the Filipino community is holding a basketball tournament with teams from the local Filipino league competing. The tournament is a fundraiser for children in the Philippines, children in need of school supplies. This is one of several basketball tournaments of the Filipino basketball league in the Southern part of the US that has… Read more

  • This Afternoon on WPVM Radio

    This Afternoon on WPVM Radio

    Please join host, Martha Cinader, for the Listen & Be Heard Radio Show on WPVM. We will play two interviews from Tony Robles: Shirley Ancheta and M. Evelina Galang. Also, a poetry tribute to John Coltrane on the occasion of his birthday, and as always, some spoken word. Read more

  • John Coltrane Sunday Morning

    John Coltrane Sunday Morning

    Tony Robles recites poem, John Coltrane Sunday Morning in Hamlet, North Carolina, Birthplace of John Coltrane On The Day After His Birthday Read more

  • Pilgrimage to Hamlet, North Carolina, Birthplace of John Coltrane on His Birthday

    Pilgrimage to Hamlet, North Carolina, Birthplace of John Coltrane on His Birthday

    Peggy Harris shows Listen & Be Heard Contributor Tony Robles the John Coltrane Mural in Hamlet, North Carolina. Peggy was born and raised in Hamlet and graciously guided Tony to the mural while telling stories of her birthplace and what John Coltrane means to the community. Read more

  • Think BIG. Start small.

    Think BIG. Start small.

    Have BIG plans? AWESOME! Where would you like to begin? THIS one simple question can often derail our plans before we even make a plan! When our dream is so big that we have no way to even imagine the full picture, we often have no idea how to get started moving in the direction of… Read more

%d bloggers like this: