It was the first
Monday of the month and the Alchemy family met again in the basement of the
NAPA bar. Against the orange wall; prose and poetry was read, lyrics were sung and
stories were told and the red lights on the floor created a Christmas-like
atmosphere, though it was the 6th of January already. During these
performances that –as always- lasted no more than 7 minutes, beer and wine was
drank and the basement was fairly warm, despite the cold winds blowing from the
river and sprinting through Charles Bridge, located just around the corner.
The evening started
off with Ken Nash (founding father of Alchemy), who played a row of songs from
his newest album “Human Creatures”. Performed with a poker face, the humorous
lyrics of songs like “Old Folks Home”, “Laundry Day” or “Like Her” together
with laughter filled the space and created a positive beginning of the evening.
After him, an old American man came up and explained the story behind the text
imprinted on the T-shirt stuck on the wall that said “Ken Nash is stalking me”
– again, the sound of amusement echoed throughout the room.
(Image credits: Anna Hupcejová)
The evening developed
spontaneously, jumping from genre to genre. David Stringbreaker read a few
poems that included “Small People” (published in this issue); Stephan Delbos
read a translation of a story by the Czech writer Nezval or Hans Fellmann, who
recited a couple of his poems – which was quite a change, as usually he reads
prose. There were more performances, but I don’t recall them so well or I
didn’t find them worth mentioning (like a long, rather descriptive poem about
anal sex).
The night concluded
with a final roar of laughter caused by Willie Watson’s poem that compared the
Prague metro to a Sparta match – with his Cheshire Cat smile and the unique
themes of his song lyrics, his performance is always one to look forward to.
Just like the future Alchemy readings that I would recommend anyone interested
in creative writing to attend.
-
Anna Hupcejová
ALCHEMY READING AND PERFORMANCE SERIES
Prague's
premier monthly English-language literary event with featured guest performers
and an open mic. More at www.alchemy-prague.com and find us on www.facebook.com/alchemyprague
