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Vocalist Angelica Baylor performs at a recent installment of Tuesday Verses. (Photo by Jay Paul)
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Shon Davis performs spoken word at Tuesday Verses.
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Eric Dugan performs spoken word.
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Radio B was emcee for the evening.
At Richmond’s long-running open mic series, Tuesday Verses, the presence of Lorna Pinckney lingers. It's been a year since Pinckney died suddenly at age 43, leaving a legacy in Richmond as a creative genius with a big heart, quick smile and a wide web of friendships. But Tuesday Verses continues, with a team of Pinckney’s closest and oldest friends guiding the series forward and furthering her vision.
“Verses started at my restaurant, Tropical Soul Café,” says Nadira Chase. “My partner and I wanted to have an open mic, and we were planning it out. Lorna already had an event like that going on, Soul Kitchen. We asked her to host it, and she took it to levels I couldn't imagine.” Chase is founder, CEO and product developer of Adiva Naturals, a nationally marketed skin and hair care line. She is also a longtime Tuesday Verses team member, offering advice and support through the years. Chase says she is now part Verses’ management, whose goal is to keep the series running smoothly onstage and off.
Verses is “basically running itself now,” says Chase, but the evolution of the event has not been entirely without growing pains. After Pinckney's death on Oct. 5, 2017, vocalist and longtime crew member Nickey McMullen "took over a lot of what Lorna had been responsible for, which was instinctive because she was always there with Lorna," Chase says. "She is a powerhouse.” McMullen retired from her role at Tuesday Verses in July, largely due to self-described denial about Pinckney’s death.
“I wouldn't even say the word ‘death’ when referring to Lorna," says McMullen, who had been part of Tuesday Verses for 14 years. "That had the effect of keeping [the series] moving forward, but it also had a huge detrimental effect on me, mentally and emotionally.”
Fueled partly by burnout, and partly by unexpressed grief over the death of her closest friend, McMullen says she became uncharacteristically depressed.
“There was no time for me to grieve. … It was in my chest and in my gut, and it wasn't coming out. … I was at an impasse; if I allowed myself to go into grief, I would fall apart.” When stress-related health issues began surfacing, McMullen admitted to herself that it was time for her to give up the responsibilities she had taken on at Tuesday Verses. McMullen refers to Chase and other core Verses leaders as some of her closest friends, but says, "I did not have the emotional support that I felt that I needed” to continue in the administrative role. In her last performance with Verses, McMullen sang live at Addis Ethiopian restaurant in Shockoe Bottom on July 31.
Ultimately, Tuesday Verses has persevered in creating a unique atmosphere where Richmonders are welcome to express themselves creatively through poetry, music and performance art. Inside the soulful haven that is Verses, the “bonds are so much more meaningful than an event,” says Jeffrey “Nazdaq” Marlow, a poet and longtime friend of Pinckney’s. Marlow, who with Chase and others contributes to Verses’ current leadership, says he met his wife at Tuesday Verses. As for Pinckney’s continuing legacy, Marlow says, “Lorna is the city. … [There are] so many of us working to keep her alive.”
Pinckney’s mother, Eleanor Pinckney, says she is still processing the loss of her daughter and working to “get things in order” concerning some of Lorna’s personal affairs, but she says she has high hopes for the future of Tuesday Verses, and has suggested some ideas to Chase and other leaders that reflect Pinckney’s vision and purpose.
“I'd like to see, somewhere down the road, a scholarship being given in Lorna's name. … Verses doing something like that would be great, because Lorna really believed in and promoted the value of education,” she says.
Tuesday Verses takes place weekly at Addis Ethiopian, 9 N. 17th St. Doors open at 8 p.m.; tickets are $7. Follow versestheopenmic on Instagram for updates.
