by SUSAN LIN
It's moniker, The Touch Bar, might make you wonder what kind of place it is. But a second after walking in, you'll think the name is perfect for this Island Park lounge.
Think oversized windows with fancy molding, second-hand plushy couches, the shadow of flickering candles on the walls, tasseled Oriental rugs, and several leopard-skin barstools to boot. On a small, elevated platform at the far end stand a couple of microphones. The Touch Bar is obviously all about touching people, and hearts and minds.
Although he served his first customers more than two months ago, owner/manager Adam West said, "I'm really just launching the bar now." His first promotional event, "Posics," debuted Jan. 21.
Posics, a combination of the words "poetry" and "music," starts at 7 on Sunday nights, the mellower of the party nights. The show features a poetry act or acoustic band each week, followed by an open mic for any daring audience members.
"I'm trying to attract the kind of crowd that enjoys music and culture," West said of his aim with Posics. "I don't want a regular bar crowd."
Keeping with the art-bar theme, poet/musicians Paula Cursi and Zoe Jade Austin of The Acoustic Poets Network kicked off Posics with a show that hybrids poetry with acoustic music and sound effects. In a typical performance, Cursi and Austin recite original poetry behind microphones. Behind them are speakers that play a bare acoustic guitar sound.
"It's kinda like rap," said Cursi, whose poems and guitar music is sometimes confrontative. The Acoustic Poets' style, though, also has a free-spirited bohemian feel, and in that aspect might be unlike gangsta rap.
"I try to engage the audience when I perform. It makes the show more fun," said Cursi. The Acoustic Poets' repertoire included a piece called "Holy Cannoli," which pokes fun at Cursi's Italian upbringing in Canarsie, Brooklyn. Now, Cursi lives in Long Beach.
"Holy Cannoli" begins with Cursi reciting, in an affected, thick Brooklyn accent, "I was on a trip in Portland, Oregon, and I saw four Italian males!" The audience then says, as instructed earlier, "Holy cannoli! There's a Guido in Portland!" Cursi responds, "I sore 'em , I sore 'em! Four Italian males, Georgio Armani types, smokin' their Dinobleeees, just that Guido way."
The farce goes on for a few more minutes, with Austin interrogating Cursi about the men in question, and the audience chiming in, "Holy cannoli!" The lyrics are accompanied with guitar effects from the speakers.
In a different vein from "Holy Cannoli," Cursi also writes lyrics that are "more cerebral," she said. For performance-based poetry, though, she chooses pieces that are plainer, as opposed to abstract or flowery. "In a Posics show, people aren't going to be, 'What the heck did they say?'," said Cursi. Her more abstract pieces she saves for poetry recitals in a Starbucks or library.
Her vision for Posics, she said, added, "Bookstores have open mics all the time, but a bar is a more serious place. I hope the shows bring more opportunities to local artists to be able to share and present their work to an audience that's more interested."
At the Jan. 21 show, several audience members signed their name on the "Open List." The first volunteer was "S.A.M.," who lives in Lynbrook. In blue jeans and a sweater, he sang and played acoustic guitar, running off several angry love songs. Taking a more humorous tack, S.A.M. also did an imitation of The Artist (i.e., Prince) doing a rendition of Bob Dylan's "Love Bunker."
"This place is close to where I live, so it's convenient to play here," S.A.M. said.
A second open-mic performer that night was Larry Farber of Lido Beach. Decked out in a colorful poncho, he got on stage and played a few soulful, all-instrumental pieces with a two-foot long, wooden, Native American flute. "I'm self-taught," Farber said afterward.
Future Posics shows will be emceed by The Acoustic Poets Network and Lisa Itts of the Solstar, an acoustic, Long Beach-based band. Itts was scheduled to open for the first Posics show but was ill and couldn't make it.
In a telephone interview, Itts said "Starbucks often has open mics, but there are a lot of 15-year-olds there, and cappuccino makers are going off in the background. Posics at Touch Bar is more for adults."
Cursi agreed. "Bookstores have open mics all the time, but a bar is a more serious place. I hope the shows bring more opportunities to local artists to be able to share and present their work to an audience that's more interested."
>h3>"Posics" at The Touch Bar
4135 Austin Blvd, Island Park, (516) 670-8617
Sundays, 7 - 10 p.m., $4
Feb. 4: poetry group Zero Gravity
Feb. 11: musician Larry May
Feb. 18: poet/acoustic musician S.A.M.
open mic following weekly feature
