Danny Radovanovic, a Chicago-based poet performing and writing as Stutterbot, hopes his showcase next week with three fellow creative minds at Valparaiso’s Cornucopia Coffee Company, hopes to do more than merely entertain with his words.
“I hope people can relate to the things that we bring up, whether it's bad, happy, mad, any type of emotions they could possibly feel,” he said. “I hope that they’re grabbing something that they can take with them and use it in a positive way.”
Radovanovic is a poetry poet and performer who was a past finalist of Chicago’s Louder Than a Bomb, one of the Windy City’s most renowned poetry slams geared toward young artists. He is also the singer and keyboardist of The Island for Misfit Toys, a Chicago-based rock band.
One of four poets and musicians slated to perform at Cornucopia March 19, Radovanovic will be joined by fellow Chicago-based Misfit Toy member Anthony Sanders, who writes and performs as Songlines and Dreaming Tracks. Sanders is also a past Louder Than a Bomb finalist.
At Cornucopia, the pair will be joined by a pair of performers familiar to patrons of the arts in the region.
Anthony Miller, who was reared in Gary and currently hails from Valparaiso, is a poet who has showcased his works locally at Valparaiso’s Front Porch Music and LaPorte’s Fellowship Fest. Rounding out the lineup for the showcase is Portage musician Wesley Engel, who has performed in the past at Cornucopia.
Radovanovic and Sanders are currently stepping out of their Windy City confines to perform on their first spoken word tour. Their current jaunt is also being taken in support of the release of “Racket Games Basketball Camp Centerpiece Sultan’s Golden Cake Book,” a book featuring their writings as well as art created by friends and published last week.
“There’s a lot of different styles (of poetry) just between the two of us,” Sanders said.
At Cornucopia, Radovanovic and Sanders will meet Miller and Engel in person for the first time.
“We’ve never met (Miller and Engel) but (management at) Cornucopia recommended I reach out to them, and we reached out to them by email and by phone,” Sanders said. “They both seem really awesome, and we’re both excited to perform with them …. (Miller) has this kind of Lenny Bruce thing going on, which is really awesome, and Wesley is a super-talented songwriter.”
Please Wait…