Sharing this email from Marty McConnell ...

Hello good people. I'm writing you today not with news of upcoming shows, but with a call for support for a stellar human being and wonderful poet. Derrick Brown ( www.brownpoetry.com or www.writebloody.com for those of you who don't know him), as you may or may not know, recently suffered a major medical incident, the cause of which is still not known. His whole story is below, but in summary he's recovering and looking at massive medical bills.

His books are more than worth buying on any day, but now is a great time to stock up. Donations of any amount will also get you poems from his new book, which is scheduled to come out around Valentine's Day.
www.brownpoetry.com/writebloody/store/orderbooks.html

We'll have him featuring for louderARTS as soon as we can (and had actually been trying to organize a date when this happened!) but he needs our support now.

Hold who you love tight.

End public service announcement.

Marty.

From Derrick:

----What a weird week for me. First of all, it's good to be alive. Second of all, don't get too close or I might tell you I love you or something gooshy.

----Here is a short summary of what happened to me for those concerned, and I must say I was overwhelmed and honored by everyone's emails and support. It was the best thing about that rough and boring and painful hospital stay

----So I was out in California, at a show in my beloved Long Beach at the broadlind. My friend Amber and I visited my folks on the way to the show and had some food beforehand down in Cypress. Minutes later after the meal my breathing got a little heavy. I thought I was just jetlagged. We drove off. In the car as Amber drove, I said "Hey, something is happening to my heart.... My moms phone is under MA cell in my phone...and"

----Then my face froze up. Locked up in the jaw. Then a tingling down my body from my face to my toes and within a minute my body had locked up and shut down in paralysis. Amber saved my life by absolutely hauling ass back to my folks, skipping an ambulance and racing to the ER in los alamitos. My breathing had slowed to almost nothing. I could not see. I could hear. My breathing was about done. I wasn't in pain or sad, but I was crying out of one of my eyes.

----They pumped me with 3 types of drugs and I remember it burning in my chest and I thought they were accidentally giving me acid. Soon I was glad they did it. I then gained feeling in my jaw and then arms, then the right side of my leg and about an hour later my toes. I saw someone who had been stabbed in the back being police escorted in handcuffs and things seemed less bad in numbville. ----I had to stay there for 4 days. I got weak off the drugs and fat off the steroids they pumped me full of. 12 pounds. My heart felt like it was exploding all day long on the methylprednisone. I wanted to see an allergist, but they wanted to do all the expensive tests first, to rule out brain troubles. They wont be able to diagnose what I have (out here in Tennessee) until the middle of September. Allergy maybe. Blood sugar problem maybe.

----Folks called and came to see me when i felt so burnt out and I always wept when they left. I had toured the world preaching I love you is back and I rarely told anyone that I loved them. I sure as hell feel different about that now.

----My bill was huge. I am trying to put out a new book for Valentines day. Many have called asking if there's anything they can do and the answer is yes. I need money. Even a buck or 2 would help me a ton. I don't want anything for free. I'll email everyone 3 poems from the new book for any donation amount.

http://www.brownpoetry.com/writebloody/store/orderbooks.html

----You can click on BUY BOOKS THROUGH PAYPAL and enter any amount. It will go directly to my medical bills. You can send checks or whatever. Or if you can't do the money thing, there is a support link on www.writebloody.com You could put a banner on your myspace or blog and maybe I can print up someone's book for them. Or even an email saying howdy would be much appreciated.

----Cheers. I love you.
D
brown @brownpoetry .com