SPREADING THE WORD for 10 YEARS!

 “Tongue & Groove” 

A monthly offering of short fiction, personal essays, poetry, spoken word + music produced by Conrad Romo. This  month features Eileen Cronin  "Mermaid", Rob Roman, Carribean Fragoza, Bill Brochtrup, Tom Lisowski and  music by  Tony Shea

Eileen Cronin grew up in the Midwest during the 60s and 70s. Her memoir, MERMAID, was selected for O Magazine's "10 Titles to Pick Up Now" and was included in Page One of Poet's & Writers. Her first publication was a cover story for the Washington Post Outlook section. Awarded the Washington Writing Prize in fiction and a notable essay in Best American Essays, she also practices clinical psychology. Eileen, her husband, and daughter have lived in the Washington, DC area and now live in Los Angeles.

Carribean Fragoza is a writer and artist from Los Angeles. She has published fiction and poetry in publications such as Palabra Literary Magazine and Emohippus and has a forthcoming short story in Bomb Magazine. Her arts/culture reviews and essays have been published in online national and international magazines such as Letras Libres, Culture Strike, and Tropics of Meta. She is a graduate of UCLA and CalArts' MFA Writing Program. She is founder and co-director of the South El Monte Art Posse, a multi-disciplinary arts collective.

Robert Roman grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, where he sold newspapers to cars from a concrete island. He worked as a mail carrier, busboy, bartender, and laborer while earning a degree in English Literature from the University of Pittsburgh. He taught GED preparation at a juvenile detention facility, elementary school in the Baltimore City public schools, and English to high school seniors in Howard County, MD. He studied writing at Johns Hopkins and UCLA. He now lives in L.A., where he writes fiction and  hangman puzzles.

Bill Brochtrup is a stage, film, and television actor best known for playing "P.A.A. John Irvin," on ABC's long-running NYPD Blue.  This season he has recurring roles on Showtime's Shameless and TNT's Major Crimes.  He has told his original stories at numerous Spoken Word events and has written for OUT Magazine and the best-selling book of essays I Love You, Mom!  He is an SPCA "Friend for Life," has hosted AIDS Walks across the country, and has traveled the world visiting our Troops with the USO and Armed Forces Entertainment.  He is the Co-Artistic director of The Antaeus Company, LA's classical theatre ensemble, and is currently appearing onstage at the Odyssey Theatre in Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play.  www.billbrochtrup.com. 

Tom Lisowski is an artist whose life changed irreversibly after he found himself in one of David Sedaris’ creative writing courses at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Now residing in LA he is the author of the very short fiction blog By day he works as a production designer on feature films.

Tony Shea is the lead singer for Candygram For Mongo (C4M) who has been a featured artist on Clear Channel Radio's Discover New Music Program and whose songs have been heard on  Battlestar Gallactica (Syfy Channel) and Unhitched (Fox) among other shows and films.

Come early!  Seating is limited and we start on time! tongueandgroovela.com