Today we’d like to introduce you to Peter Woods.
Peter, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
In the early 2000’s I knew all of these killer musicians of every hue and genre and they are all telling me how hard a time they are having getting booked at venues around L.A because of the BS “pay to play” rules most venues were adhering to at the time. I felt like that just didn’t make sense. The practice itself was ableist and racist and I decided to resist that. Challenge it. My response was to strike a deal with Derrin Crane of Crane’s Cavern that would secure Tuesday nights (for a 1-year lease) and create the weekly live music event Transmissions. The deal with Cranes stated that:
1) I could host Transmissions weekly (on a slow Tuesday)
2) I would not be paid in commission or stipend or charge (“no cover, just love”)
3) Cranes could not interfere with the booking or performances regardless of bar sales or occupancy
In short, we had Autonomy; zero dollars; and the most diverse weekly musical offering. After a few months, I noticed the real commodity of value that was created by our little weekly… staring me in the face. It was the community that was building around Transmissions. There was a collective…a family that stood around Transmissions like a warm fire. We stoked that flame for ten years. We supported each other and watched each other grow and grace stages big and small. Bands began to co-mingle and set up their own clubs and festivals. Genres began to blend. Magic happened. This is where I learned the immense power within for engagement and community building, which are the foundations of the work I do now with The Accomplices, Writ Large Press and the City of L.A.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Challenges are indelibly linked to the work of amplifying marginalized voices. Lack of resources. Lack of sleep. Lack of support from allies. Racism (both your garden variety and the nuanced version you see in arts funding). The list can go on and on….and challenges are to be expected.
In 2014, Writ Large Press launched our 90×90 LA event. 90 days of literary programming for 90 consecutive days. Finding a venue for 90 days straight was a nightmare but thankfully we found a sponsor who owned a restaurant in downtown L.A. We traded some sweat equity with the owner and cleaned and painted the venue in the weeks coming up to the launch. We had most of our calendar booked and we were just putting together our bar staff when we got the call. Two days before the event we find out the owner can’t get his sales license in good standing without $20,000 cash. We have been promoting for weeks. We spent two weeks painting and lighting the place that we can no longer use. More importantly, we have two days to convince someone to let us use their location for 90 days.
Chiwan, Judy and I start brainstorming…We are making calls…We ask people on the streets…Finally, I get a call back from stuntman/real estate agent Brady Westwater, who connects us with a congressman who connects us with a bar and in two days 90x90LA begins on Broadway. While it wasn’t perfect, we managed to pull off 14 events there (including one mean boggle championship) and it bought us time to segue into the fitting Traxx Bar in Union Station for the remaining 76 events. After that, I knew I was working with a couple of people that could solve any issue over a couple of Jamesons. And also outside of systemic racism, obstacles are good bench-tests for a crews strengths and ingenuity.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about The Accomplices – what should we know?
Writ Large Press is a publishing company that was founded by Chiwan Choi and Judith Oden Choi. In 2007, I was asked to become a partner. 15 years of event production and four years of booking readings and events at The Last Bookstore primed me for the partnership. We focused on publishing local writers but after a while we began to be noticed for our events…(readings mixed with butoh dance and electronic music; live micro concerts inside a micro-bookstore, inside of a bank vault inside the last bookstore; one on one readings with poets in a downtown liquor store; a reading where the poet rips up and buries the only manuscript of the reading). That’s what I am happy to say I specialize in. I manage/support creative works in ways that are creative in their own right but that truly focus on community, accessibility and creative function.
This year the entities Civil Coping Mechanisms, Entropy, and Writ Large Press formed The Accomplices, a literary arts partnership and media company dedicated to amplifying marginalized voices and identities, particularly writers of color, through traditional and new media publishing, public engagement, and community building. We have had the opportunity to work with some of the most incredible writers, such as Soham Patel, Gabrielle Civil, Wendy C. Ortiz, Scott Woods, Lynell George, Porochista Khakpour and others. Outside of my daughter Orelia, this is the 2nd thing I am most proud of.
I’m also excited about the July 6th event…WU TANG Verses L.A.: A tribute dj night + a generative free verse writing session inspired by the music of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan. Music will be provided by DJ LP and The Street Life Sound System (Dez Hope and Myself) who will supply originals, remixes, mashups and OG sample sources from the 9-man Staten Island crew. Selected free verse poetry created onsite will be published on Entropy Magazine, The Dryland Review and the upcoming Writ Large Press small book release of the same name. More info here: https://tinyurl.com/y3f2cngz
To me, everything is art and all art is political.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Peter J. Harris, JM Walker, Kathy Gallegos, Harold Patton, and Billy and Sarah Mark were all essential to my journey to identifying what I was truly passionate about and framing success from my own lens. These important ideas helped me locate what seems like a limitless fount of resources and inspiration when monetary resources were scant.
My partners Judith, Chiwan, Janice, and Micheal are F*#$-ing awesome. Not only would they fight other publishers beside me (we are kinda gully)…they would help bury the bodies (yeah, we’re mad gully). Oh, and did I mention our authors may be the best authors out there.
The L.A. community is thick as plaster and it is literally like another family. I would fill up this entire site with names of musicians, actors, writers, poets, journalists, programmer and artists that I have had the pleasure to work with. These folks are the constant reminder of how many talented, thoughtful and beautiful people there are in a world that doesn’t always put its best side forward.
Pricing:
- Entering the Blobosphere: A Musing on Blobs by Laura Hyunjhee Kim $15.95 https://amzn.to/2XW4R7Y
- Letters to My City Paperback by Mike Sonksen $15.95 https://amzn.to/2T2o4CA
- Icon Paperback by F Douglas Brown $15.95 https://amzn.to/2PDFYsZ
- (the Other House) Paperback by Rocio Carlos $15.95 https://amzn.to/2TYFa4A
Contact Info:
- Website: http://theaccomplices.org/
- Phone: 2132145262
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peterwoodsla/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/QualityCollective
Image Credit:
Farah Sosa (profile pic)
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
