Last month I posted about an event in Vancouver (WA) called XXI Century Brautiganism. The event was a multimedia performance hosted by the DTC (digital technology & culture) department & students at WSU (Washington State Uni).

To catch up… here’s an article published in a local paper before the event.

One of the folks on our mailing list has been kind enough to supply images & the commentary below about the event:

Do you remember the cold Friday evening of December 4th, 2009? Well, I sure do, that was the historical night when about 50 people gathered in Vancouver WA to celebrate a great (and even local!!!) wordsmith – Richard Brautigan.

Dr. John Barber and some of his students put on the event, complete with archival video footage of Richard many had never seen before playing on a giant screen, plenty of history on his books and life, and also a portion where humans read Brautigan’s wonderful words from the past from old fashioned books (remember those things?), scraps of paper and yes: handheld electronic devices. Hey, this is the future after all – all watched over by machines of loving grace indeed!
 
Many great poems, stories and lines were shared by the class members, some of us simply audience members/fans of Brautigan, and even Dr. John Barber himself read some verses: an actual friend and acquaintance of Richard’s: what a great host for an evening of Brautigan celebration.

People took turns at the mic reading their favorites, I even read two of his poems, a man in the crowd got up to read, in its entirety, the Kool-Aid Wino chapter to us from Trout Fishing in America… ahhh… 
 
While the event was in progress, they were feeding footage up onto a tower outside on the campus, so that all of the snowmen and snowwomen of Vancouver WA could see the the great poetry tower mentioned in Richard’s 1967 poem Rainy Day Gary Snyder Poetry Night. Yes, dear reader, it was all pretty magical.
 
The archival video portion featured lovely music made by one of the students, artsy visuals with Brautigan’s words incorporated and many other great images. Very well done!
 
Hopefully there will be more footage from the event online someday for all to enjoy, I have gleaned that it will someday be posted, but patience in needed.

I took a few quick photos and rough videos - though they are far from professional, they might just give you a quick simple idea of the spark in the auditorium that night.
 
I had a blast. My son, who was only a few weeks old at the time, slept in the comfort of his mother’s arms while great words and memories hummed all around him.
 
7odd, who’s on the mailing list & was lucky enough to attend XXI Century Brautiganism

7odd’s pix & video

Here’s another video of the event (found on youtube!):

Thanks 7odd for your contributions!!!!

Update: Here’s a link to another story about the event from the local newspaper