For Immediate Release
Contact:
City Art Director Joel Long: joeltlong@yahoo.com
City Art Presents Melissa Bond and John Louviere
Salt Lake Public Library Main Branch
210 East 400 South
Salt Lake City UT 84111
Wednesday December 11th 7:00—9:00 P.M.
Writer Melissa Bond and singer/songwriter John Louviere will read and perform their work on December 11th at the Salt Lake City Public Library at 7:00 P.M. as part of the City Art Reading Series.
Melissa Bond began her literary career in Salt Lake City 1995 by starting the city’s very first Poetry Slam despite death threats and the claims that she’d be escorted to the border for such heresy. In 2002, she won the Mayor’s Artist Award for the Literary Arts. In 2006, City Weekly magazine handed her a plaque that said Best Poet in Motion for tearing out Katrina soaked drywall with her bare hands and putting together a multimedia show about said drywall and the people that no longer lived inside. She was a finalist in the Western Publisher’s Association Maggie Awards for Profile writing in 2009. She then had two children in quick succession and everything that had nothing to do with keeping infants alive stopped.
“The Future Is Now” is the latest album by singer/songwriter, John Louviere, and, by far, his best to date. The album was produced by multi-instrumentalist, collaborator, and recording engineer Andrew Goldring at Soundcave Studios in Salt Lake City, Utah (http://soundcavestudio.com/). Louviere seems to have found a sweet spot in his collaboration with Goldring, as there are no misses on this fine album. True to form, though, his brand of heartache matched with his understated, emotional, and melodic delivery continues to be as unique as it is beautiful.
The release of his 2014 EP, Longest Year, marked a transition in the life of singer/songwriter John Louviere. “What I wanted was to have a batch of songs that expressed true transformation - some sort of positive change or awakening. And in reality - it's exactly what I got: the courage to tell the real story of how my life has been these past number of years.” Known for his honest, and witty stage presence, Louviere is aiming for the heart. Twenty years in the making, he is emerging as a modern-day troubadour and storyteller with lyrics that are as poignant as they are poetic. >From his yearning, melodic voice and rich guitar, you will hear the influences Mark Kozelek, Bruce Cockburn, and Damien Jurado. “I’m a folk musician, I get that. And true to folk musicians, I’m a storyteller. I just happen to tell pretty sad stories. Which suits me just fine.”
Most featured readings are followed by an open reading. City Art is sponsored by the Utah Arts Council, the Salt Lake City Arts Council, Catalyst, the Salt Lake City Public Library, Xmission, and the Zoo, Arts, and Park Fund.
The event is free and open to the public. City Art is sponsored by the Utah Arts Council, the Salt Lake City Arts Council, Zoo, Arts, and Parks, X-mission, and audience donations.