written by Gustav Sallas

Saturday, March 11th, 2006 was a gloriously beautiful day as eight Guerrilla Poets piled into Hawa’s van for a road trip down to Charlottesville, VA to perform at the amazing “Better Than TV” infoshop, which features an art gallery, darkroom, kitchen, performance space and lending library. The show was bottomlined with characteristic skill by Laurie Blair who not only coordinated our invitation from Kai, but also herded Laila, Jess, Mo, Fadi, Gustav, Hawa and Shahid (who showed up on time!). Upon our arrival, we were treated to a fabulous vegetarian meal prepared by Jennifer in the infoshop kitchen. Off the hook DJs rocked the performance space while we ate and prepared to perform, and then the GPI and a group of over 20 supporters took over a plaza on the open air downtown mall near where BTTV is located. Bathed in the gorgeous warmth of the sunny day, we attracted quite a crowd of passersby, many of whom stayed for several pieces or more. We then led a parade-like procession, chanting and holding a banner, back to the info shop. Laila and Jess led a breakaway group of eight (not to be mistaken for the G8!) to workshop some new poems which were read to the group – after what seemed like way too little time to have produced such polished and engaging pieces – during an open mic performance that we hosted. It drew some superb poets, including some who were performing their work for the first time ever before an audience. The feedback we received was all positive, and many people told us they had been eagerly anticipating this show. A great time was had by all, and it seemed we reached a large number of passersby in Charlottesville, and personally touched the hearts and minds of some of Charlottesville’s artivist community.

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