This Friday, August 7th from 7:30 to 9:30pm, Naivasha Studio and Gallery at 1499 Grant Ave. will present a night of spoken word. The evening's featured artists will include Zach Roz, Brandon Loberg, Charlie Getter, Daniel Vaccerelli, Kristin Kennedy, and Niko VanDyke, among others; food and wine will also be offered.

Hoodline spoke to Roz, who helped organize the event, about the first of what he hopes will become a series of spoken word and poetry events in North Beach. 

What is your relationship to the other participating artists? What is their history in the neighborhood?

"This is a collaborative event between several talented artists and writers who dwell in the North Beach area. Most of the writers involved are old friends of mine, whom I have met through a love of literature, trading books, and discussing our favorite authors over pint glasses in dimly lit bars, or by sharing poems on late-night street corners."

Why did you choose Naivasha to host this particular event?

"I had met the owners of Naivasha, Nathan and Lauren Goldsmith, on their opening night, another FirstFriday, nearly a year ago. I introduced myself, and we have been friends ever since."

Where did the idea for this event originate? 

"The idea for this event came to fruition amongst six friends who met every weekend at Church Key to swell our spirits and read original short stories or poems on the corner of Grant and Green.

"The idea to have a spoken word event came organically, while sitting in the gallery with the Goldsmiths, drinking wine and discussing Surrealist art.  Poetry had come up, and we all started reading poems to each other, with almost no audience but each other.

"We all felt that there were enough venues for live music, or general open mics that involved music. [We thought that] we should do an event that had only spoken word or poetry, without all of the singer/songwriters that seem to permeate the scene. Thus, the planning stages began."

How do you see this evolving in the future? Any particular hopes or goals? 

"The intended goal here, in our opinion, is to have a more structured writers' collaboration, with plans to continue the neighborhood's long-standing history of free expression without a commercial interest. This will be the night of our debut, and we hope to have many more in the future."

Can you provide us with some insight on what to expect this Friday?

"Plan to hear post-historic short stories, explicit sonnets, and nature poems, and to see disturbingly well-choreographed performance pieces."