Diane Wahto, her husband, and their two dogs live in Midtown. Her poetry has been published in Midwest Quarterly, AID Review, Coalition Connections: The Feminization of Poverty. and Begin Again: 150 Kansas Poets. Awards include the American Academy of Poets Award, the 2011 Salina Spring Reading Series New Voice Award, and honorable mention in the 2011 KWA contest. A retired journalism and English instructor, she has been active in the cause of peace, women’s rights, and the KNEA most of her adult life. Her three sons live in the Lawrence/Kansas City area with their families.

Join us for readings by featured poet Diane Wahto, and open mic, at A Night In Verse at NakedCity Gallery, April 19th at 7PM.

Crossing the Desert in the Summer of Love

Tony Bennett sings, “Wear flowers in your hair
if you come to San Francisco,”
a song we hear on every radio station
between Michigan and Mexico
as we drive the black station wagon
through miles of sand and mountains.
I wear my pink sleeveless dress
in the desert heat. Only prostitutes wear pants
in Mexico, you say. And I believe you.
When we get to the Sierra Madres,
you are sick from eating fried turtle steak.
I, a Pepsi propped between my legs,
my dress pulled up to my thighs, drive.
Clouds below us on the narrow, sinuous road.
I don’t dare look down, but keep my eyes
straight ahead, teeth clenched with hope
that we stay on the road when we are overtaken
by rickety trucks or buses filled with people
who stare, you in the back of the black car.
I drive alone, my dress pulled up.

Caution: Dangerous Curves Ahead! Five of New York’s most popular burlesque stars are on their way to Wichita. Dr. Dillinger’s Freaks & Floozies are proud to present Dangerous Curves Ahead: Burlesque on the Go Go, 8 p.m., Friday, April 13 at the Louise C. Murdock Theatre, 536 N. Broadway, Wichita, Kan. Reduced-price tickets are available in advance for $20 general admission or $16 military, student or senior at dangerouscurvesict.eventbrite.com. Ticket sales begin March 10. Purchase tickets at the door the day of the show for $25 general admission or $20 military, student or senior.

A supergroup of genuine award-winning burlesque artists, Dangerous Curves Ahead: Burlesque on the Go Go features Anita Cookie, Clams Casino, Darlinda Just Darlinda, GiGi La Femme and Minnie Tonka. Their sexy and hilarious show, while tasteful, is meant for adults-only. In addition to a variety of burlesque numbers by the featured artists, the night’s entertainment will include performances by Dr. Dillinger’s Freaks & Floozies, a modern vaudeville troop that includes singers, sideshow performers, dancers, and comedy. Dr. Dillinger will act as emcee for this burlesque bonanza with acclaimed Tulsa burlesque artist Ilsa the Wolf returning to perform by popular demand.

Alcohol will be available for purchase to those with a valid picture I.D.

Dangerous Curves Ahead: Burlesque on the Go Go is the nation’s premiere national touring burlesque troupe. Since 2010, the ladies have completed four national tours taking them to over sixty U.S. cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, Anchorage, Denver, Las Vegas, Dallas, Pittsburgh and Atlanta. The group hails from Brooklyn, New York, and as individual performers, each has won a variety of industry honors, including inclusion in 21^st Century Burlesque’s Top 50 for 2011.

For more information about this event, please contact Teddie Barlow: (316) 990-7790 or tedbarlow@sbcglobal.com or Teri Mott: (614) 506-9307 or terimott@gmail.com.

My name is Skyler Lewis, and I’ve been a Kansan my whole life. Looking forward to furthering my miles throughout the world; of course this also includes the pantheon in my brain. I would say my profession is being a writer, but as a career I’m hoping I can be a professor someday. I’m working on my bachelors degree right now in English, minoring in German. I wish to translate many contemporary writers that don’t readily get passed through into English. I used to host an open mic at Poetic Justice Cafe, but due to its closing, my group of friends and I host a poetry night at our apartment on the last Friday of the month. It is here we all find inspiration, longevity, prudence, love, and frondescent smiles.

Skyler Lewis will be the featured poet at A Night In Verse hosted by NakedCity Gallery, Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 7PM. Please join us to enjoy his readings and do some reading of your own during our open mic.  As always, the event is free, but donations are always greatly appreciated.

WISH WISH GREEN ARROW

Wish wish green arrow: say it,

Wheeze its fricative heart, our habit-

I want the bird, whose bones rack out,

Having no point to break, boiling toward our

Visions. Yet, I am eloped to these spaces, power

For immobility is

Granite.

I’ve tried to walk straight, but I am

Curved.

I admit my drunken dread, the droned

Dress measured wish by wish.

I know only one thing that could

Kneel a whole sky:

It’s pea body, holy poised, the green flake

Honed breath. The mantis in the foyer-

The green blades resume their trumpeting-

And beneath, the worms have a say, but they

Have too many hearts to tell us they

Were once the lips of angels…

And now they squirm in their tenor-

Somehow, whether by pincer or digging

A wish was never made, nor asked rightly

For that matter.

The Cottage Collective, the newest addition to The Green Elephant Village shopping center, is set to open March 30. The store is made up of seven unique vendors, each selling goods that are handmade, refinished or vintage. The shop fills a gap in Wichita for those looking for locally made and locally found goods.

The store will open at 10 a.m. Friday, March 30, and will also host a grand opening celebration at 6 p.m. that night for the Final Friday art crawl in downtown Wichita. The evening will feature door prizes and treats, and the vendors will be on hand to greet shoppers.

The shop is owned by Abbe Doll who sells refinished, repainted, and re-imagined furniture and home decor through her business, All Dolled Up. Most recently her work could be seen at At Home with Style at Central and Woodlawn, and now her goods will be found exclusively at The Cottage Collective.

“The collective concept is unique in Wichita,” says Doll. “All these talented local artisans will be in one spot to create a shopping experience unlike any other in this city.”

The store is focused on local goods to support local families. “Each of our vendors is a Kansan running a small business either hand making or repurposing goods, and dedicated to providing for their families with their talents,” says Doll.

The shop also includes vendors:

A Lady with a Baby by Tiffany Claasen: specializing in handmade wreaths, pillows, aprons and other hand-sewn adornments for ladies, home and children.

A Prairie Market by Courtney Browning: Vintage decor and found objects with a unique farmhouse/cottage look.

Marigold Road by Mindy Harris: Kitschy headbands, flower pins, necklaces and other accessories made from unique fabrics like wool felt. Also specializing in funky, colorful vintage finds for the home.

Paper Goods Creative by Jennifer Wenzel: A local graphic designer who creates custom stationery and unique paper goods. She’ll also feature fun party supplies and gift wrap.

Poema by Missy Chester: Handmade jewelry, specializing in polymer clay beads and accessories. This artisan will also offer workshops in jewelry making.

Zerbers by Tara Shepherd: Hand-sewn items for babies and kids featuring blankets, burp cloths, capes, dresses and skirts, onsies and more. Zerbers also offers custom monogramming.

The Cottage Collective is located at 509 N. Lorraine and will be open Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Fridays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Goods will be restocked on a weekly basis, ensuring new and unique items on each visit.

Michael Hathaway lives in central Kansas with a house full of cats (all spayed/neutered & spoiled rotten). He works as curator for his county historical museum and is founder and publisher of Chiron Review literary magazine, currently on hiatus. He’s had more than 300 poems appear in literary journals and anthologies and has published 10 books of poetry and 1 of prose. (Most are available at chironreview.com or Amazon.com.)

ABOUT HEAVEN

WHAT THE CALENDAR DIDN’T TELL ME

For the first artist’s opening reception of the year, NakedCity Gallery is thrilled to start off the New Year right with Urban Passages: Photography liberating daily life. This show brings together Darrin Hackney and Undrell Maholmes – two photographers that always keep their eyes open and cameras ready. The images presented in this show, however, were not selected from their formal practice.  All photographs in this show were directly pulled from their iPhones.

This decision was not born out of the art world’s devotion to Apple (which, as a PC user and happy Android owner, I know to be rampant). Instead, having a look at their opportunistic photos sheds a light on these photographers’ informal practice. In this way, Urban Passages is about process as much as it is about beautiful compositions and compelling subject matter. These images are happened-upon situations taken in-transit and on the move. Whether driving, dining, or free roaming the city, Hackney and Maholmes remain ever-alert to the beauty of everyday life.

These two photographers are not passive in their daily lives. They take the initiative to get out into the city and explore their immediate surroundings, snapping pictures along the way. A wide breadth of images is displayed in Urban Passages. This exhibition presents pictures from the road, humble diners, neon signs of the city, familiar Wichita places, unexpected objects, and simple moments typically bypassed in the hustle of an urban existence.

Maholmes’ picture of an empty E&J Brandy bottle lying on the asphalt is direct in composition, yet complex in subject matter. The clarity of the green glass in this sunlight is stunning. But the beautiful emptiness evokes a clash of emotions when the life that purchased, consumed, and abandoned this bottle is considered. This is the brilliance of Maholmes work – it is straightforward in presentation with intricate tones of curiosity, compassion, and reverence.

From a stoic row of dryers at the laundromat to familiar places like the Donut Whole, Hackney highlights the quieter moments of life. In a large black and white photo of a diner, a gentleman sitting alone faces Hackney from a few booths down. With head resting in hand, this fellow diner patron has followed a daydream far beyond the walls of this simple place. He is somewhere else in this moment when boredom turns into freedom.  Hackney’s observant and unobtrusive photographic sensibilities capture a timeless grace present in this photo and his body of work.

Throughout Urban Passages, we are confronted with the ebb and flow of humanity – paths intersecting, observing, discovering in a tumult of daily life. These photographs liberate unexpected, uncalculated moments from our time-space continuum and offer us a pause for contemplation.  Urban Passages: photography liberating daily life reminds us that when we are actively aware and engaged with life around us, “We have a world of pleasure to win, and nothing to lose but boredom.” *

*Quote taken from The Revolution of Everyday Life by Raoul Vaneigem, Belgian writer, philosopher, and co-founder of the Situationist International. Urban Passages: Photography liberating daily life is a cash (or card)-and-carry show that celebrates the launch of the new Final Friday campaign. On view from January 27 – March 30, 2012 with new photographs continually added by Hackney and Maholmes.

The opening reception featuring iPhone Photography by Darrin Hackney and Undrell Maholmes will be Friday, February 10, 2012 from 7-10pm. All works are cash-and-carry. Please join us!

Oh yes, I have heard it. All of it. Did you really think we would leave you high-and-dry like that? From little love notes on the gallery door, to people calling, and mumbling under their breath, believe me, I know you’ve all been waiting to find out “What the heck is going on with NakedCity?” Admittedly, I wanted to see just how much hubbub I would actually witness if I just sort of kept things hush-hush for a month or three. And I can tell you that I am relieved that it has been A LOT! I gave you a little teaser on my Facebook status back in October of 2011 letting you know I was dreaming of what to create for you next. I wasn’t kidding. And although we had planned to have this new-and-improved NakedCity in your hands by January 1, it has taken my team and I a bit longer to put this book together. Here is what you have to look forward to because of it:

1. NakedCity Magazine will now be published 6 times per year
2. NakedCity Magazine will now be 64 pages plus a beautiful spot-varnished cover
3. NakedCity now has 6, brand new categories
4. NakedCity will now print and distribute 15,000 magazines, up from the 10,000 we did in the past
5. NakedCity will now be a larger format than before….bigger photos, bigger articles, bigger ads, bigger, bigger, bigger!

Basically, it’s NakedCity on steroids. We will still have the same awesome coverage of local music, concerts, artists, theater, and urban life in Wichita written by the author’s you’ve grown to love, only now there is even more.

To celebrate our new changes, I would like to offer all businesses* that have considered advertising with NakedCity a chance to test the waters and allow us to make you a believer! For one issue only, if you call me TODAY, Friday, January 13, 2012, I will let you make me an offer. You tell me what ad size you want and what you are willing to pay for it. I want you in this first beautiful book. Give me a call today at 316.708.6090. Yes, I’m posting  my personal phone number for you to call me directly. Let’s chat. Let me help you reach the hippest, smartest, most active audience in Wichita….and you name the price. Space is limited though, so don’t waste time. Once it’s sold out, there will be no more. Geeez, I sound like a really bad infomercial.

I can’t wait to hear from you today! HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!

~xoxo

*new advertisers only

I wrote a few years back about what I felt could be done to better Wichita’s ever-growing music scene. I wasn’t trying to preach some unifying theme. I am aware of how diverse this town can be, even based on its per capita ratio. I just like the fact that people are going to shows and enjoying live music, even if I think the band you are venturing out to see is a musical abomination. But it would seem still that more could be done. One simple way to help better things is for promoters to actually promote their shows. I know I am not going to make a lot of friends with that statement, and that’s fine. If you ever see me out and want to chat about what you are doing and how hard it is to do shows as a promoter in this town, then by all means, let’s chat. But what I will say, is relying on Facebook, Twitter and electronic media only to get the word out, is not going to get the job done or people out to see touring bands.

I am so sick finding out a band was in town and I missed it because someone I don’t know booked the show and thought the 300 friends they have on Facebook should be the only ones in the know. Exclusivity helps no one, especially the bands on tour. When bands are on tour they’re hopeful that the promoter did his job and the audience did theirs by remembering to show up. Not every show has to be a sell-out, but I can certainly say, that in the past 3 months I missed four out of six shows because I was completely unaware or it was not visible enough to help remind me.

Visibility is the key. We are so inundated with messages all the time, that it is easy to miss something, but there are still simple and effective ways to get across to people. I deeply miss seeing fliers. Yep. Fliers. Pieces of brightly colored paper with everything from professionally done design to hand-written-cut-and-paste punk rock Xerox jobs. What they do, that Facebook or Twitter don’t, is be the best kind of eye-sore and they are more effective than a buzzing update on your smart phone. I love walking into my local watering hole, bookstore and pizza joint and seeing something new for me to pay attention to. There are a thousand places to get the message out with fliers in town, and most business owners welcome it. If you’re only printing a couple dozen fliers and hoping 200 kids show up, you shouldn’t be surprised when they don’t. It takes far more to spread the good word around town. Put them in all of the places you think your target listener might hang out. Don’t forget the insides of stall doors…you’ll truly have a captive audience.

Additionally, give your fellow promoters and local businesses a hand. If you see a flyer promoting an event that has expired, take it down. It takes a village folks. If we help one another out by keeping the business-owners real estate looking nice and tidy, they will be happy to allow you and others to continue to promote with them.

I think this is just one thing that can be done to keep old jerks, like myself, and others in the know. It’s not really that big of an idea, but it is something that I’d like to see more of.