Westerns, Jazz, Poetry, and Baseball: My Experience at the Salem Arts Festival of 2012

On Saturday, June 2, I trudged through the rain to Salem for the Salem Arts Festival. After looking at the schedule online, I had decided that the Odyssey event would be interesting, followed by a performance by Salem State professor J. D. Scrimgeour, who I had the pleasure of seeing at the Confluence performance at Salem State.

The first Art Festival event was not at all what I expected. The rain had caused all of the performances to move indoors. When I finally figured out where this Odyssey performance was going to be, I found out the performer wasn’t able to make it. The few people who were gathered at the new venue said that, instead, a writer who was in the room would read from his work.

Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I took a seat in the almost empty 181 Essex Street, a large room with an off-limits upstairs and nothing but dividers lining the front wall, some tables, and a couple of rows of fold up chairs.

It felt awkward at first, being one of a handful of people and seemingly the only one who wasn’t a festival volunteer. But it was raining and I didn’t want to try to find another event, so I decided to stay. I’m glad I did.

J. D. Scrimgeour performing his baseball poetry

The writer who shared his work, Dann Maurno, didn’t read anything like the Odyssey. His work was very western, matching his attire from the vest covering his button up shirt to his jeans and cowboy boots. Even though I wasn’t hearing my favorite epic with music, it was a nice experience to talk to people who care about writing as much as I do and to listen to a writer who has a specific genre he’s good at writing.

The next performance jazzed things up with musical poetry. J. D. Scrimgeour performed a selection of baseball poems while his son, Aidan Scrimgeour, provided original musical percussion on the keyboard. I admit, I’m not the biggest baseball fan. But hearing the poetry behind baseball made me appreciate the sport more.

Before reading his poems, Scrimgeour told the audience how his family had discovered the correlation between baseball and poetry. They are both American pastimes, he explained, and the word “jazz” originated from baseball. It was used to describe a type of curve ball. He also explained what baseball meant to him. He and his son both had played baseball, another reason for bringing the sport into the performance. “There is no fence in the outfield”, Scrimgeour explained, “no boundary between the game and the real world.” This seemed to be what captured his interest about the sport. It’s one thing to watch baseball, but evidently it’s another thing to play it.

Aidan Scrimgeour playing the jazz music he wrote himself

He went on to perform, moving to the rhythm of his poems and his son’s music. It was difficult to sit completely still during the performance, especially during the musical solos. I wasn’t the only one bobbing my foot to the jazz; other members of the audience were following the rhythm by tapping their feet. Only a junior in high school, Aidan Scrimgeour wrote all the music he performed and plays in various bands, including that of his high school.

My favorite part of the performance wasn’t discovering the beauty of baseball. It wasn’t the poetry itself, even though the poems were good. Nor was it the bouncy jazz that made everyone want to dance. No, the best part of the event was when Aidan Scrimgeour  ended with a musical solo and his dad watched with the proud eyes and triumphant smile of a father truly proud of his son. This single moment was so significant because it shows that poetry and music can be more enjoyable if you share them with people you love.

Father and son performing together at the Salem Arts Festival