MIND GRAVY

Last night I attended the usual Mind Gravy poetry and music gathering at The Drip. First I treated myself to some of the excellent gelato next door, which is supervised and owned by a man who apprenticed to one of the best specialists in the field in Italy. He makes really wonderful and some unusual combinations of flavors, although he didn't have coffee last night, so I went with a maple rum flavor, with a little chocolate. Then I sat and read for a while, finishing Gavin Francis's excellent Empire Antarctica. The opening music act was a duo of young musicians, one a recent graduate of a Cincinnati conservatory who played cello and his guitar/vocalist partner. He played the cello traditionally, as a bass, and as a guitar, and I liked it very much. She is a student at USC and had a good voice. Next up was poet John Lane, whose work didn't blow me away, although I much enjoyed his "Sweet Tea" poem. Then followed the usual eclectic mix of poets and musicians, some of which were entertaining.