Jim Merrill marks his life by what he can remember: playing in the foothills of East Bay- S.F. area, 1950’s; drums in the garage early 60’s. Teenager going to San Francisco and Berkeley staring at hippies and record album covers; also acid light shows at the Avalon Ballroom: the Dead, Quicksilver, Airplane, Janis, Bowie later, the Who, Hendrix. 1970’s: Delve into Donne, Marvell, Wordsworth, Keats in college. 1980’s followed John Denver’s dream to a Rocky Mtn. high–skiing 5 years at 10,000 ft. Then to L.A for screenwriting; teaching in the ghetto, Hollywood, Santa Monica. 1990’s college teaching in Denver after MFA at Naropa in Boulder. Move to Oregon 1999 to teach then retire at Chemawa Indian School. He has been writing poetry since high school. His first book, “Blues Fall Down Like Rain” was published in 2016. Both available from author or Amazon.

Find us in the back room. Featured reader begins at 7:00 and the open mic will directly follow. Our hosts, The Barrel & Keg, feature a wide variety of beverages and the food pod in the back has a rotating menu of options for dinner!