There’s a hell of a distance between wisecracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words.
Dorothy Parker, The Paris Review, Summer 1956
On November 10 we launch the next 50 years of Beyond Baroque at our 9th Annual Awards Dinner. Held at the historic Santa Monica Bay Woman’s Club, The Beyond Salon will be a sparkling evening of words, music, food, wine, and wit. Join us in honoring our executive director emeritus Richard Modiano for his years of exemplary service to Beyond Baroque; the visionary poet Harryette Mullen for her outstanding achievements in poetry; Get Lit-Words Ignite founder and director Diane Luby Lane for her service to the young poets of Los Angeles; and UCLA professor and writer Johanna Drucker for her extraordinary generosity in organizing and cataloguing Beyond Baroque’s 50,000 item archive.
The Beyond Salon takes its inspiration from New York’s legendary Algonquin Round Table, where a circle of supremely inventive writers, actors, critics & playwrights gathered for a daily mixture of lunch and biting wit. Guests at the Beyond Salon have the option of purchasing a salon seating ticket which allows them to sit at a table with one of 14 table hosts from the poetry, literary and music worlds, which also includes a reception with the hosts, for $125. Tickets are also available at $100 for a non-hosted table. All will enjoy a stimulating atmosphere of creative, lively conversation, with performances by the incomparable composer and musician David Amram – who was the first artist in residence under Leonard Bernstein’s NY Philharmonic, co-wrote Pull My Daisy with Jack Kerouac, scored the Manchurian Candidate and Splendor in the Grass; singer-songwriter, poet Vince Bell, whose career began in the 70s Houston folk music scene with Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett; seven albums, two produced by Bob Neuwirth, the current – OJO – dubbed “shamanism” by T-Bone Burnett and author of the critically acclaimed memoir “One Man’s Music”, his tale of music and survival of being hit broadside by a drunk driver in 1982, an accident that nearly took his life, a 12 year course of recovery. Jerry Casale is a musician, composer, music video director, and vintner.Casale’s music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder and bass player of the new wave band Devo, one of the main composers of their music and directed most of Devo’s music videos.
Salon Table hosts
Will Alexander, avant garde poet & poet in residence at Beyond Baroque; David Amram, composer, musician (Pull My Daisy with Jack Kerouac, Manchurian Candidate & Splendor in the Grass), artist in residence under Leonard Bernestein, New York Philharmonic, world music; Barbara Bain, actor, Mission Impossible; Victoria Chang, poet; Kim Dower, poet/author; S.A. Griffin, poet; Susan Hayden, poet and producer of Library Girl and Steve Hochman, music critic/author/radio host; Ronnie Schneider, business presence at the center of pivotal 1960s events including the Altamont Free Concert, the dissolution of The Beatles, managed the early US tours of The Rolling Stones and financial affairs of some of the biggest names in rock history including the Stones, The Beatles, Neil Sedaka, Sam Cooke, Nancy Wilson, Bobby Vinton, Herman’s Hermits and the Shirelles; Hiram Sims, poet; David St. John, poet, English Department Chair of USC; Russ & Bonnie Tamblyn, actors/long time Beyond Baroque supporters; Pat Thomas, author (Allen Ginsberg, Jerry Rubin and more), music re-releases; and V. Vale, veteran punk press editor and writer.
Support our Mission:
This event not only honors those who have contributed greatly to our organization and literary arts community, but also serves as one of our largest fundraisers to help us sustain and grow the year-round curriculum and programming that has been happening each day at Beyond Baroque for over 50 years, furthering our mission of advancing the public awareness of and involvement in the literary arts. You can help contribute to our mission in the following ways
