JPC In the News

Stafford Resident Spreads Spoken Word

By: ERIC BEIDEL
Stafford County Sun, August 9-15, 2002

STAFFORD- Stafford resident and former marine Phillip Gregory took the microphone first Saturday night to make preliminary announcements before the Poetry Café at Caribbean Delights got underway.

He went over some house rules and then read two pieces he had written for his wife. "We're trying to put Stafford on the map as far as poetry goes," Gregory said.

Gregory's mission began back in Feb. 13 when he put on the first reading at the Safari Lounge in Uptown Central Park. The next stop was the Six Twenty Three Bistro on Caroline Street in Fredericksburg.

Gregory and company, under the title of G & A Productions, hit their stride when they were regulars every Wednesday evening from April 10 to the end of June at Stafford's Dining on the Knoll for their "Midweek Meeting of the Minds."

"Dining on the Knoll was very instrumental in the growth of this," Gregory said. "But someone mentioned that I ought to get something together on the weekend, being that we are in a commuter-oriented community."

So the project moved to its current location, at Caribbean Delights in the north Stafford. Every first and third Saturday night of the month, poets and instrumentalists are free to walk in, introduce themselves and proceed to express whatever it is they wish to get across.

"It was the 'Midweek Meeting of the Minds,'" Gregory said. "Now it's the 'End of the Week Unwind.'"

Earl Powell, Owner of Caribbean Delights, said that the business created by the readings is great for the two-year-old restaurant. "I think it's a very good idea," he said. "We're making a lot of money."

This past Sunday, Gregory has some new faces with him, along with some familiar ones. Dre Lite, Mark Price, Mike Brokenburr and Telekinesis were the familiar performers. They are all part of a group called the Staffbridge Poets, made up of poets from the Stafford and Woodbridge areas.

Then there was Khalid Abdul-Khaliq of Laurel, Md., who has been doing spoken word for about two years. "My poetry,' he explained, "Is about what's going on with the people. I am a social commentator and I try to touch new audiences if I can." Another new face and complete stranger to the spoken-word scene was Curran Doc Dougherty, an acoustic guitar player who has been playing his folky brand of jazz at coffee houses and folk festivals mostly throughout the northeast part of the country.

Doc, who currently lives in Triangle, came in for dinner with his wife. When he found out what was going to happen, he rushed home and got his guitar. "It's my first time doing this," Doc said with a smile. "I guess it's meant to be."

Gregory also managed to bring Femi Lawal from Baltimore down as the featured poet. Going by the stage name The Dri Fish, Lawal, born in London to Nigerian parents delivered two pieces laced with social commentary, nostalgia and humor.

"I enjoy writing and listening to poetry," Lawal said. "I am a child of hip-hop. I'm just using words to paint pictures."

Lawal, who was the champion at the Artscape 2000 Poetry Slam, has done shows in New England, Philadelphia and as far as Detroit. A couple of years ago he left jobs in a warehouse and as an after-school tutor and coordinator to become a full time poet.

He has already released two CD's one solo and one with his group, Thee Family. Before the year is out, he hopes to have out a book and another solo CD. The book will be called "Clown Without a Circus," "It's just another way of saying unemployed, but still able to juggle," Lawal said, laughing.

Being able to bring poets like Lawal to his readings, along with having local poets, is exactly what Gregory is shooting for. "It gives us a chance to represent the talent we have in Stafford and showcase Stafford County's poets," he said.

More exposure is due in the near future, as Gregory and company have been filming their shows as a part of an agreement with Roger Bell and Adelphia Channel 3 for 60- minute slot on Friday night cable show called "The Poets Drum." An exact airing date will be determined once editing for the project gets underway, Gregory said, which will be soon.

For more information about Poetry Café, send an e-mail to ga_productions@msn.com