NEW FORMAT,
Watertown series pairs writers and musicians
Writers and musicians aren’t natural bedfellows. Yes, Stephen King and Dave Barry played in a novelty band for a while (the Rock Bottom Remainders). And sure, U2 and Salman Rushdie collaborated on a song (“The Ground Beneath Her Feet”). But start digging deep and you’ll find few significant connections. The team behind the Earfull series is working to change that.
The series puts writers and musicians on the same stage for readings and performances at Watertown’s Mosesian Center for the Arts — Tuesday’s event features authors Shari Goldhagen and Julia Glass with singers Kim Taylor and Julie Rhodes. November’s will bring together Marianne Leone and Claire Messud with Merrie Amsterburg and Abbie Barrett.
While the bills are unfamiliar territory for both groups of artists, organizer Jen Trynin, who is a musician and an author herself, has seen both sides fall in love with the format. The pairings work because, as Trynin is fond of saying with a wink, “Musicians like it because they can feel smart and writers like it because they can feel cool.”
That may be true, but there’s more to it.
“We attract audiences that really listen, which can be a surprise for musicians used to noisy crowds in clubs,” Trynin said. “For writers, they get to read in a more relaxed, more unique environment.”
“An environment where people can get a drink,” co-organizer Mike Denneen, who is Trynin’s husband and a co-owner of Q Division Studios, added with a laugh.
After more than a decade of dormancy, Earfull was revived last spring by Trynin, Denneen and bookworm Tim Huggins. In the early 2000s, the series was a success — one notable, and awesome, pairing was Dennis Lehane and Dropkick Murphys — but Earfull shut down in 2003 when its home, Cambridge’s Kendall Cafe, closed. When Denneen and Trynin became involved in the Watertown arts center, they got the itch to relaunch Earfull. It appears artists are equally thrilled with the return of the series. “We have asked a lot of different people to participate and we haven’t been turned down yet,” Denneen said. “We haven’t had any repeats because we want to host as many artists as possible, but we’ve had a lot of requests to come back.”
Smashing together the aesthetics of a rock club and bookstore reading can be tricky, so the organizers try to give each program a nice, natural flow.
“One of the keys is getting writers and musicians who work well together and then using the short sets to build on each other,” Huggins said. “We alternate the sets between writers and bands, making sure the first band is stripped down a bit and the second features a big, musical end. The goal is to have the whole thing rise through the final act.”
“Plus each set is only 20 or 25 minutes so you don’t have enough time to get bored if you don’t like one of the performers,” Denneen added with a chuckle.
It’s a formula the team has honed over time. And it’s one that has been proven to work: Many of the nights are sellouts, Earfull is already pulling together its spring 2018 lineup.