*Featured image is a painting by Lindsay Adams titled “The Weary Blues” (2025). It was inspired by the Langston Hughes poem of the same name.
Ready, set, go! Hi all, guess what? Tomorrow is our first session in an experiment in social gatherings (think book presentation meets live music performance meets having your friends over for a potluck-style dinner party + discussion). And I am soooo nervous and excited! Also: I feel like I haven’t taken a deep breath in months. (I’ll do that Thursday.)
Below you will find the texts, audios, plus image with which we will be “playing” on Wednesday evening. Seba Vargas, who is many things, including a photographer, zine maker, former owner of Paraphernalia listening bar & record shop, and jazz event / radio / etc. producer, has curated content from blues musicians and modern poets born in the U.S. and American—as in Latin American—souths to guide us through our evening of reflection and discovery.
I will be pouring wine and participating in the conversation as best I can, and Nico (who is currently unsure how he got talked into this) will be performing live covers of “Key to the Highway” (by Big Bill Broonzy), “The Things That I Used to Do” (by Guitar Slim), and “Walkin’ Blues” (by Robert Johnson).
Among other things, we will be asking on this night: Que idioma tiene la melancholía? / To what language does melancholy belong?
Feel free to send your thoughts.
Monument City 
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