WILLITS, CA., 8/6/25 — Mendocino County Poet Kirk Lumpkin brings two Bay Area musicians, Paul Mills on electric guitar and Mark Wieder on electric and double bass, to the Willits Community Theatre Saturday. Lumpkin has published two books of poetry on themes of the environment, celebration and social criticism, among others. Lumpkin is a natural storyteller and his voice brings drama to his poetry,
His collaboration with Mills and Wieder, as the Word-Music Continuum, has brought the trio to perform at festivals and clubs such as Burning Man, the Environmental Poetry Festival, the Beat Museum, and the Petaluma Poetry Walk.
This is the first time Mills and Wieder have joined Lumpkin on Lumpkin’s home territory in Willits. The new CD, “Wildflowers of Collaboration,” is the group’s 3rd CD. Wrote KZYX DJ Kathy Rippey about the CD: “absolutely astounding. Wonderful, empathetic accompaniment. [Kirk Lumpkin’s]…voice is so expressive … Every cut is such a great adventure.”
Word-Music Continuum, Saturday, Aug. 9, 7 p.m., Willits Community Theatre, 37 W. Van Lane, Willits. Admission by donation. An open reading follows the featured performance.