Var Gallery Presents: Club Noir Summer Showcase w/ Kavon Cortez Jones

Var Gallery and local poet, Kavon Cortez Jones (Kj) will love to invite you to Walker’s Point for a short open mic and one hour solo poetry showcase by Kavon Cortez Jones himself. Kj will perform about 10 timeless and original poems from the past decade with you as an audience member. Kj’s goal is to sell 50 copies of his debut poetry book, Club Noir for a measly price of $25 each.

Event Info:

Presale Ticket $7

Door Ticket $12

Doors open at 6:00 PM

Showtime at 7:30 PM

Kavon Cortez Jones (Kj) was born on September 26th, 1994 the same year as Bucks forward Giannis in a city he calls, Paris of the Midwest. He is a Milwaukee homegrown poet, avid biker, and storyteller who was born and grew up in Milwaukee. Young Kj was inspired to write poetry in 7th grade while attending Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. K-8 School thanks to local mentors Kwabena Nixon and Muhibb Dyer. Kwabena & Muhibb visited  his school when he was 13-years-old, and wowed a gymnasium full of angsty-teenagers with poetic storytelling. Their stories talked about everything from losing loved ones to gun violence, to how jump rope, particularly Double-Dutch, is a lost art form. Muhibb wore an orange jumpsuit and Kwabena brought a jump rope which made the visual performance more intense and tear-jerking. Lupe Fiasco's Superstar, a 2007 hit song around the time was another catalyst to indulge him into the scribe culture.

Kj has not stopped writing since then. He's accumulated over a 100 composition notebooks in the past 16-years of not just poetry, but plays, stories, songs, drawings, whatever his imagination can regurgitate on the page. His juvenilia sit wonderfully gathering dust within his cluttered  room  of poetry books alongside a Jimi Hendrix and Prince poster to name a few. He pulls them out once and a while and a nostalgic cry waterfalls down his face.

Kj also found his voice as a poet through his Riverside University High School years in English teacher Paul Moga's after school poetry club, HyPOETically Thinking (2009-2013). He took a break after high school and started to perform all over Paris; Riverwest DIY punk rock venues, local colleges like Alverno, UWM, Marquette, art galleries, bookstores, coffee shops and so forth. His passion even earned him a spot on Wisconsin's Brave New Voices team for a youth poetry competition in Philadelphia, Summer 2014, age 19. He met youth poets from all over the U.S and the world like Miami, New York, California and even an amazing South African SLAM team. Sarah Kay, his favorite contemporary poet from Manhattan took a picture with him.

Kavon Cortez Jones is 29-years-old now and still lives in  Milwaukee spreading peace and love to all who lend an ear. You can catch him in homegrown cafes and bars writing and biking with Red Bike & Green’s Ammar Nsoroma around town talking to local luminaries who make MKE great and him special. Do not be hesitant to say hi…