After a three month summer hiatus, HCAM Studios is gearing up for the next new season (the 5th; of some very diverse and impressive talents of the literary.... including poets, writers, song-writers and spoken word artists.

The show.... originally formed to get poets, writers and mainstream community together to listen and honor the art of local poetry, has evolved into a vibrant, artistic community where poetry readings are shared on the same stage with original songs and spoken word stories... showing that the literary arts can in fact mix and that talented writers of different art-forms and of different levels of experience (beginner to professional) can enhance and inspire one another...much like what takes place at the Dodge Poetry Festival.

The monthly attendance of those coming to share at the open mic as well as listen has been growing and this past season has ranged from 30-70... showing that people indeed are waking up at least once a month on the early side of a Saturday morn to catch some very talented writers who share their art-form be they guest features and/or open mic participants. Each show is also filmed and later edited for a 90 minute monthly cable television program that can be viewed on local cable television as well as on some distant stations and online.

your host, Cheryl Perreault

January Gill O’Neil is the author of Underlife (CavanKerry Press, December 2009). Her poems and articles have appeared in The MOM Egg, Crab Creek Review, Ouroboros Review, Drunken Boat, Crab Orchard Review, Callaloo, Literary Mama, Field, Seattle Review, and Cave Canem anthologies II and IV, among others. Underlife, won a bronze finalist prize in ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Award, and was a finalist for the 2010 Paterson Poetry Prize. In 2009, January was awarded a Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fund grant. She was featured in Poets & Writers magazine’s January/February 2010 Inspiration issue as one of their 12 debut poets. A Cave Canem fellow, she is a senior writer/editor at Babson College, runs a popular blog called Poet Mom, and lives with her two children in Beverly, MA.

Ashley Jordan is a 17 year old singer/songwriter who is making her mark with her distinctive vocal and guitar performances. In February of 2010, Ashley released her debut CD called “Simple Love” which was recorded with producer and music guru, Steve Rapson. Ashley’s new CD met with immediate success when her title song “Simple Love” was selected by In-Play Films to be included in their first independent feature motion picture in Seattle, WA. In addition, Ashley was selected in March along with several other young musicians to perform at the legendary Hard Rock Café in Boston as part of a talent showcase, and was also selected by radiolicious.fm (Regent Broadcasting) as a runner up in their “Elite Artists Series”, gaining her a personal radio station for one year  . Ashley has been featured as NRG Theory’s “Artist Pick of the Week”, Doug’s Top 5 for May at Metronome Magazine, and Skope Magazine’s “Artists to Watch” for May, 2010. In June, Women of Substance Radio selected two of Ashley’s songs to begin airing on their internet radio station, and in July, 2010 Ashley is featured on the cover of Metronome Magazine with an interview by Brian Owens, and as a July feature story in Worcester’s Pulse Magazine. AshleyJordanMusic.com

Bethel Steele is an emerging singer-songwriter in the Boston folk community. Bethel has released 2 CDs, a full-length studio album “Come Home” (2009) and a self-recorded solo EP “Beautiful Woman” (2007). Steele’s Americana/country-inspired music first had it’s debut in the Hudson Valley, New York, followed by a move to Boston three years ago. Bethel’s music has been described as “hard driving rhythmic guitar, with a powerful stage presence and a voice reminiscent of the quality of Joan Armatrading” (Dan Zampino and Angela Masciale fellow performers on the Boston folk circuit). Steele has performed all over the East coast and has been showcased as a solo artist and as an opening act for nationally- and regionally-touring artists. Bethel’s CDs are available at Bethel’s website, CDBaby.com, and iTunes.