SLANT FORUM: TALK ABOUT A GREAT IDEA
'INFORMATION PARTY' REDISCOVERS LOST ART
OF CONVERSATION
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, Jan., 31, 1993)
by Charles Slack
This is the MTV generation, right? Generation X. Raised on "The Brady Bunch." Life reduced to sound bite. Conversation is as old-fashioned as doctors' house calls and the milkman delivering a pint of cream to your door. Everybody knows that nobody talks anymore.
Then what are the 30 or so patrons of The Bidder's Suite on West Grace Street, many in their early 20s, doing here on a Monday night with the music turned down?
As it turns out, they've paid a 99-cent cover charge for the sole purpose of doing what everyone says people just don't do anymore -- having a conversation. Welcome to the Slant Forum, billed as an "Information Party."
At the microphone is F.T. "Terry" Rea, publisher of Slant, one of the city's longest-running alternative publications. Some of the topics are straight out of the headlines -- date rape, gun control, gays in the military. Others take a lighter look at popular culture.
Rea says the idea came to him late at night. He jotted down a few notes. "When the idea hit me, I got very excited. The next day I looked at my notes. I was still excited."
That being his acid test for ideas conceived in the dead of night. He contacted his friends at The Bidder's Suite, a coffee house/restaurant/ bar on West Grace Street. The restaurant was closed on Monday nights. How about opening it up for weekly discussion nights? Rea would charge the 99-cent cover, the restaurant would serve its usual menu of sandwiches, appetizers, coffee and drinks.
"I'm from the `60s generation," says Linda Beales, who owns the restaurant with her son, Jame-Paul Owens. Ms. Beales says she'd like the place to capture the atmosphere of coffeehouses that flourished around the country in the `60s.
The Bidder's Suite already features poetry readings and acoustic guitars. So why not discussions? Rea and The Bidder's Suite vow to hold the discussion nights each Monday as long as interest is sufficient.
A little after 8 p.m., Rea gets the evening under way with a trivia contest and the first of three pre-set discussion topics. If you've followed Slant magazine's iconoclastic take on Richmond life but never met Rea, you expect the 45-year-old to look sort of funky, with long hair, perhaps, a full beard, and a T-shirt with some anti-establishment slogan.
Instead, Rea appears with short hair, button-down shirt and a striped sweater. He looks more like a schoolteacher than a rebel. And that's exactly his function in these discussions. He's like a teacher -- one of those cool ones who lets the kids express themselves without fear of reprisal.
Except it's better than a classroom here, according to patron Paul Hudert, a student at VCU. "You get to voice your opinion. It's more personal."
Hudert's friend, Lisa Clayton, says she prefers the give and take of the discussion over simply absorbing facts from the media. "The media give you one opinion. They tell me the same thing over and over." The first subject Rea has selected for the evening is "anti-classics," meaning those aspects of popular culture that seem prevalent today but are destined for history's dustbin with the likes of the Hula Hoop and Pet Rocks.
The discussion starts promisingly, but soon degenerates into a personal listing by patrons of likes and dislikes. Smoking is on the way out, one patron declares. Anti-smokers are on the way out, says another. When the subject runs out of steam, Rea declares a short recess, then returns with a discussion about what Bill Clinton should do with Saddam Hussein.
What follows is a literate, informed debate with opinion ranging from lay off the Iraqis to finish the job that George Bush started. Gregory Maitland, who has served in the Army and is now a cook at The Bidder's Suite, was working the night the first forum was held in December. He was so intrigued by the discussion that he requested Monday nights off and has returned every week to participate.
Maitland says he comes "not just to state my opinions, but to hear others." He believes, "We're in a new age, from `This is what I think and that's all that matters' to `What's your opinion?' "
Many of the participants are regulars, but new faces have been appearing each week, Rea says.
VCU students Amy McGahan and Hugh Apple dropped in after seeing a Slant ad posted in another restaurant.
Ms. McGahan says, "The thought of people coming together and talking seemed really cool. It's encouraging. You get so tired of watching TV and going to the movies."
Though the crowd leaned toward students in their early 20s, the mix is not limited by age. Gayle Carson, who returned to college after leaving 20 years ago, says, "I'm one of those people who like to voice an opinion.
"Even though we've had some intense discussions, it's never gotten to the point that it's beyond polite conversation."
*
After this article was published I moved the location to a coffee shop in Carytown and put it on an AM radio station ... live.
Much as I had done with a couple of other broadcasting schemes, I bought an hour from WTVR, then sold 30-second commercials. I produced and hosted the program. The live broadcast was done using a phone line, exactly like AM radio remotes were done in the old days from car dealerships, record shops, etc.
My daughter, Katey, was my on-the-air assistant. She took a microphone out to the audience, who were seated at tables. But she held it for them; Katey knew just when to cut a talker off, by taking back the microphone. Naturally, she occasionally chimed in with her opinions. We had a good time with it.
One of the founders of the Richmond Forum became a regular; he was in his 80s. His name was Mort. He told me what I was doing was exactly what the original Richmond Forum was supposed to be. Mort was cool.
Business-wise, SLANT Forum worked for a few months, but in the end I couldn't sell enough ads. People kept insisting it had to either be a right-wing show, or a left-wing show. Several potential clients told me they had listened to it and actually liked the show. Then they would say something like they didn't think everyday listeners were smart enough to enjoy political commentary that was unpredictable.
So, I pulled the plug and moved on.
After this article was published I moved the location to a coffee shop in Carytown and put it on an AM radio station ... live.
Much as I had done with a couple of other broadcasting schemes, I bought an hour from WTVR, then sold 30-second commercials. I produced and hosted the program. The live broadcast was done using a phone line, exactly like AM radio remotes were done in the old days from car dealerships, record shops, etc.
My daughter, Katey, was my on-the-air assistant. She took a microphone out to the audience, who were seated at tables. But she held it for them; Katey knew just when to cut a talker off, by taking back the microphone. Naturally, she occasionally chimed in with her opinions. We had a good time with it.
One of the founders of the Richmond Forum became a regular; he was in his 80s. His name was Mort. He told me what I was doing was exactly what the original Richmond Forum was supposed to be. Mort was cool.
Business-wise, SLANT Forum worked for a few months, but in the end I couldn't sell enough ads. People kept insisting it had to either be a right-wing show, or a left-wing show. Several potential clients told me they had listened to it and actually liked the show. Then they would say something like they didn't think everyday listeners were smart enough to enjoy political commentary that was unpredictable.
So, I pulled the plug and moved on.
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