PAVO magazine highlights Birmingham's Art Scene

On Saturday night I had planned to drop by Rojo for an hour to celebrate the launch of PAVO Magazine. They advertised free food and discounted drinks so I thought, "The James' are watching the Alabama game, so why not drop in." I saw a couple of people I knew including a person who I practiced Yoga next to every Sunday for several years, but we had never had a conversation.

After I spent the first hour killing the fajita bar and drinking unsweet tea, the publishers started the program. It started as a traditional, let me thank everyone yada yada yada and then some poetry reading. Then a woman who had interviewed me for the magazine pulled out her cello and started rockin' with a band. More poetry reading. Then Sharrif Simmons entertained us with spoken word and his acoustic guitar.

A guy who I had a conversation with while standing in line for the bathroom, got up with a thick stack of papers to read his poetry. I was thinking, "This would be a great time to leave." However, I was intrigued by this hip hop group that was setting up while he was talking, so I stayed. To my amazement, the poet's piece was called, "Duran Duran Buttons" or some other eighties reference that intrigued me. It was great.

The hip hop group had a DJ whose set up seemed elaborate to me. He had two turn tables, an equalizer, a Mac laptop. Eventually, the place exploded with a house mix and samples from the Transformers. I was thinking I'm not going home anytime soon. One of the emcees introduced the group as he revealed a green t-shirt. "Hello. We are The Green Seed. "

So an hour "let me show my face" turned into a three hour experience. Good luck PAVO. If your magazine is anything like your parties, we are in for a treat.