T. J. Anderson is an associate professor of English at Hollins University. He is the author of 'Last Round Up' and 'Notes to Make the Sound Come Right: Four Inovators of Jazz Poetry' and has written extensively on jazz poetry and the black experience in American literature.

Bob Kaufman was a surrealist/beat poet of the San Fransisco Bay area. Known in France as the American Rimbaud, he co-founded Beatitude Magazine and is considered by many to be the quintessential "jazz poet" of his generation. His spoken word poetry comes to us largely because of the work of his wife Eileen Singe who transcribed his readings.

Anderson is seen her at the Water Heater in conjunction with the Roanoke Marginal Arts Festival. He is accompanied by Matt Ames on bass. Later, Post-NeoAbsurdists Brad Chriss and Olchar Lindsann join him for a simultaneous scat poem. Anderson caps off the reading with two of his own poems.