Friday night at Calabash

Joe Meno reading in the main tent at Calabash tonight

Calabash 2007 began with a sort of “meet and eat”–a pre-performance crowd eating seafood, drinking Red Stripe, and schmoozing on the lawn near Jack Sprat, the official Calabash restaurant. I stumbled upon Marlon James chatting up a Canadian film crew–tomorrow Marlon will be running the two open mike sessions. A white-haired Michael Ondaatje was sitting at a table nearby, apparently enjoying his rice-and-peas.

The evening’s first performance was by the American actor Roger Guenveur Smith. His Who Killed Bob Marley? was a multimedia autobiographical exploration of his relationship with his father and with Jamaica–and a fascinating example of a black American’s attempt to negotiate with the often different ideas and realities of blackness in the Caribbean. It could have done with some judicious cuts, but it was a fairly gripping performance, despite the best efforts of the Treasure Beach mongrels to interrupt.

Next up were three writers from the Akashic Books stable. I missed Felicia Luna Lemus’s reading, but I caught most of Joe Meno and all of Aaron Petrovitch. I thought the last two were a little too clever and McSweeneyesque for their own good, but the audience enjoyed their spirited performances. Petrovitch had his entire piece by heart–a dialogue between two men who, he explained, confusingly have the same name. An impressive feat of memorisation.

And then everyone was meant to drift towards the beach, where a bonfire was in preparation and the party was supposed to go on till three. I decided to drift towards bed instead. But not before I post this update, dear readers…. Check in tomorrow for more Calabash reports.