This evening's program fuses Rich Ferguson's self-immolating poetry with the energy of rock music, as this veteran free-versifier is backed by a band that includes Butch Norton (Lucinda Williams, the Eels) on drums, Paul Garrison (Rickie Lee Jones) on guitar, and Rich Mangicaro (Glenn Frey) on percussion. The band's hard-edged bossa nova adds a jauntiness to Ferguson's unflinching spoken word, which encompasses gang and police violence, wasted kisses, political hypocrisy, home cooking, sex, wealth, vanity, racial tension, God, and the Lakers.