Coleman takes lessons learned in Herndon's class to the stage

John Wesley Coleman, a former Austin Community College student, is a man of many talents. Wesley, one of Austin's commonly seen faces and well-known for performing while inebriated, has expanded his talents by exploring the art of comedy.

Wesley performed at Antone's Records during their 21st anniversary party Aug. 23, and he stirred up the crowd by interjecting jokes in between melodies and incorporating his comedic skills.

Recent events and art projects have come together for Wesley, such as paintings that are embellished with collected objects.

The paintings will be on displayed Oct. 25-26 at Domy Books, located on East Cesar Chavez Street.

He is also going on an east coast tour with his local indie/punk band, "The Golden Boys."

Wesley has shown his art at Domy Books in the past.

Over the summer he performed a poetry reading promoting his new book, "American Trashcan."

The book is filled with absurd, beat influenced poetry containing descriptions of cats and dogs.

Wesley stated that his influences for his art in general were, "neighborhood cats and dogs, as well as, old punk rock music."

To develop his writing techniques, Wesley took a creative writing class taught by Professor John Herndon at Austin Community Colleges' Rio Grande Campus.

Herndon is involved in organizing ACC Poetry Nights, which is where Wesley did his first reading from "American Trashcan."

The upcoming readings showcased by ACC poetry nights this season by other artists will be on Sept. 22, Oct. 20, Nov. 10, and Dec. 1.

The event is held at Austin Java, located at Lamar and 12th Street. ACC student are encouraged to share their work.

Herndon was a bit uncertain about Wesley upon first impression.

"Wes always seemed to not be paying attention until he would say something that was very clever," Herndon said

Herndon is also a multi-faceted artist. He is currently working on an album that he will release independently. Herndon writes, plays guitar, and sings on the forthcoming album. The group he plays with is "The Pound Dogs" and Herndon stated that his music will be "a reflection of my current interest."