Conway singer and songwriter Alex Ball will be this week's feature for Wednesday Night Poetry at Kollective Coffee+Tea, 110 Central Ave.
The regular open mic session for all poets will begin at 6:30 p.m. and Ball will perform at 7 p.m., followed by another open mic. Admission is free and open to all ages.
Currently a culinary arts student at Arkansas Career Training Institute, Ball began writing music in 2001. "Before then I wrote poems about what most 16- and 17-year-old guys write about," he said in a news release. "Things like girls and getting drunk -- stuff like that."
Then, Ball learned to play the guitar and his poems turned into songs. These days, those songs are about current events, his struggle with schizophrenia and the pain and frustration that comes with that, the release said. "I use music as a way to get stuff out of my system."
Some of his songs are about growing up in southwest Little Rock. "When I lived there it was a really rough part of town. Writing about that violence helped to keep me from getting caught up in it," he said.
Over the years, Ball has played professionally with numerous bands. In 2009, he toured nationally as a backup musician with the California rock band Buckcherry. "When you play on that level, music becomes more like a commodity instead of art," he said in the release. "After awhile I got to where I didn't enjoy playing very much. So I got out and went back to making my own music."
Inspired by artists such as the group Sound Garden, Isaac Hayes and James Brown, Ball's music is a mix of rock, soul, blues and hip-hop. Over 30 of his songs can be found online at http://www.soundcloud.com/djangopanda.
Email [email protected] for more information about Wednesday Night Poetry.
Entertainment on 11/14/2017