It was a thing of legend. To this day, people get misty-eyed recalling the wonder that was The Lightbulb Mouth Radio Hour. Hailed by The District Weekly as the best show in Long Beach, local literati would gather in their best cocktail attire and hunker down for an entertaining melange of poetry, conversation, information, and music.

With palpable excitement pulsing through the City, the Lightbulb Mouth Radio Hour is making a come-back. Now presented on the last Sunday of every month, and ensconced in a new home at Harvelle’s, the maiden voyage sets sail this weekend at 6:30 PM, featuring musical guest Matt Costa.

The show is the brain child of celebrated poet and publishing magnate Derrick Brown whose company, Write Bloody Publishing, presents the event. I asked him how the show came to be.

“I was traveling all over the country,” said Derrick, “and noticing that the poetry slam movement was not very vibrant, but most of these writers had started shows that moved away from traditional readings or poetry slams. Some incorporated DJ’s and interviews. Some, like the 99 cent show, gave the authors an object to write about. Some, like livewire, had music, poetry and radio skits. The encyclopedia show had a theme show for writers, and multimedia. I wanted to bring a literary show to Long Beach that was fun and thoughtful. I loved Johnny Carson and my friend Markus was booking The Basement lounge, so we collaborated into something that blew up into a superjam.

“We were booking amazing talented writers,” Derrick continued, “informationists and bands from all over Long Beach and the US. We were doing it every week, which is a killer for writing interview questions, news updates, commercials and skits. The new once-a-month theme is much more manageable. I’m not crying blood anymore.”

I asked Derrick what caused the untimely demise of the original series.

“It was getting so big,” he said. “All we really needed was a better sound system, or just two speakers in the back of the bar. We finally got it on the last show, but by then it was too late. Also, they stopped offering drink specials. It was also killing me doing it every single week. I now have a solid and talented team of writers and producers and the show now has no open mic and several new twists.”

I asked him why he decided to bring it back.

“People were asking me in restaurants to bring it back,” Derrick admitted. “Also, a lady writer named Danielle Mitchell said that, this time, she would lead the production team, and that was the biggest relief. Also, I scouted Harvelle’s. It is the perfect place for our show, with a cool staff and gorgeous venue that few know about.”

I asked him how the new show has changed.

“The old format,” Derrick explained, “was OPEN MIC-NEWS-BAND-INFORMATIONIST-AUTHOR all with interviews. The new format ditches the open mic, but we now do NEWS-SKIT-BAND-FOUND OBJECT BATTLE-FEATURE. A found object battle is where we mail 7 authors a found object and they have two weeks to write a fiction, non fiction, or poem about the object. [At the show] the audience votes with poker chips.”

I asked him why he decided to abandon the open mic segment.

“The audience didn’t like it, but the poets did. As a writer and promoter, the audience is master. But now we have a contact button on our site so any writer can request to join one of our ‘found object’ battles. The themes change monthly. Instead of one author for 20 minutes, each contestant competes to get a 7-10 minute feature slot that night, 50 bucks, and all the found objects. Only one can win. The audience decides.”

I asked Derrick about the state of poetry.

“That’s such a hard question to answer cleanly, because the state of poetry in Hamburg Germany is different than the state of poetry in Orange County. I will say that it is way easier for poets to tour, now that we have the internet. The old way was sign up for an open mic, hope the MC liked you enough to feature you, ask the MC to talk to other venues to recommend you, call those other MC’s and drive on up, hoping to make a few bucks selling chapbooks. Everything is different, accessible, and success is possible if an author has duality, meaning they can write their ass off, but also be disciplined enough to market themselves.”

I asked Derrick how poetry remains relevant in our modern society, which seems so focused on commodification, consumerism, and short attention spans.

“I believe it links up perfectly with the short attention spans of our era,” he said. “I always say the novel kills you with a weak strangle, and poetry is a bullet. One line can be your destroyer. One stanza can be a lifetime. I also feel the faster we go, the more hungry we get for slow things, and poetry certainly commands us to notice, to notice all the wonders and bizarre uncertain details of living. It’s medicine. People think they hate it. It’s all changing for the better.”

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Tickets to The Lightbulb Mouth Radio Hour are $8 but, if you dress in cocktail attire, you get a $3 discount.

For more information about The Lightbulb Mouth Radio Hour, visit LightbulbMouth.org. Be sure to check out the podcast page for an impressive archive of past shows.

For more information about Derrick, visit BrownPoetry.com.

To purchase quality American books, check out WriteBloody.com.

To learn more about what’s happening at Harvelle’s, visit Harvelles.com.