www.montereycountyweekly.com APRIL 18-24, 2024 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 33 LIT This is the last opportunity to celebrate April as National Poetry Month with Hofsas House Hotel in Carmel—at least with some of the old if-walls-could-talk paint and fixtures. The place will soon be closed for demolition and rebuilding. But before the magic is over for the year, Hofsas House hosts a poetry celebration led by its artist-in-residence. That would be Phillip Rosenberg, also known as “Rags”—a poet and musician who arrived in Carmel in 2021 after spending years remodeling homes and songwriting in Nashville. “I started writing poetry in high school,” Rosenberg says. “Then I heard Bob Dylan on the radio and I realized that I can do both.” During the pandemic, Hofsas House commissioned muralist Marie-Clare Treseder Gorham to touch up the colors of the welcoming Maxine Albro mural. Working with her was such a delight that the hotel instituted the artist-in-residence program, offering Gorham a place for a studio. “When Rags rented our studio apartment and told us about his poetry and songwriting talents, it became clear that we could work with him to help support and market him,” says Carrie Theis, the president and manager of Hofsas House. Soon, Rosenberg was in and wrote a poem for the 75th anniversary of the storied hotel, built in 1957. Hofsas first celebrated April as National Poetry Month in 2022, attracting about 50 local poetry lovers. This year, the audience is invited for a poetry reading and meeting with invited speaker Marie Boucher, a poet and English professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Rosenberg’s first chapbook, Raised in the Shadow, is available on his website. His poetry has appeared in Black Moon, Fine Homebuilding Magazine, The California Writers Club Literary Review and The Hudson Review. His song “I’ll Meet You There,” co-written with Grammy winner Lyn Langham, was used in the film Beyond Right and Wrong. “A poem seldom becomes a song,” Rosenberg says. “Because a song has to be sung, it needs rhymes and the melody of the vowels. But if all those rules applied to poetry, that would be the end of it.” National Poetry Month at Hofsas takes place 5:30–7:30pm Thursday, April 18. Hofsas House Hotel, San Carlos Street north of 4th Avenue, Carmel. Free. 6242745, hofsashouse.com, ragsandbonesmusic.com. DANIEL DREIFUSS Rags to Riches Hofsas House celebrates National Poetry Month with a speaker and an artist-in-residence. By Agata Pop˛eda Phillip Rosenberg, aka “Rags,” is the artist-in-residence at Hofsas House in Carmel. He arrived at songwriting after discovering a love for poetry. APRIL 20 I 7:30 PM APRIL 21 I 3:00 PM Pre-Concert Lecture 6:30 - 7:00 PM Pre-Concert Lecture 2:00 - 2:30 PM LOMA PR ETA MUSIC DIRECTOR, JAYCE OGREN SUNSET CENTER, CARMEL montereysymphony.org (831) 646-8511 SEAN PANIKKAR, TENOR DANIEL NEBEL, HORN
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==