Tag: poetry/Archives

HV125- City of Angels

scene from the film Hearing Voices from NPR®
125 City of Angels: An Ode to Old L.A.
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2011-11-02

“City of Angels” (52:00 mp3):

We’re occupying the streets of Los Angeles; our demands: bring us stories…

“Pilgrim Land” (2005 / 0:43 excerpt) Tom Russell
“Old America” (3:32 excerpt)
“Bukowski #2 on the Hustle=” (2:08 excerpt)
“Honky Jazz” (4:14)
“Swap Meet Jesus” (4:21)

From the album Hotwalker: Charles Bukowski & A Ballad for Gone. An Americana ode to old L.A., the music, the culture, from beat outsiders to religious revivals to long gone radio sounds; with stuntman, circus midget, and actor Little Jack Horton.

Hotwalker is the best Sam Peckinpah movie since Peckinpah died. It’s a ghostly jubilee, an audacious slab of Blue America. Narrated aby noir cowboy, Tom Russell, it is a singular recording, bound to be controversial — it’s not only going to ruffle feathers, but leave feathers scattered on the ground.”
—novelist-poet Luis Urrea

A couple web extras…

Tom Russell’s ‘Hotwalker’ Influences,” an inteview by NPR’s Alex Chadwick:

“WLS Radio Interview w/ Tom Russell” (10:21 mp3):

“Man on the Street” (1995 / 8:11) Joe Frank

From Joe’s “Streetwise” hour, and the CD collection Joe Frank Team Favorites: an interview with an anonymous homeless man on the streets of Los Angeles. Music: Thomas Newman “Rock Hammer” The Shawshank Redemption: Soundtrack.

More…

HV112- Native America

Hearing Voices from NPR®
112 Native America: Our Nation’s First Nations
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2011-03-16

“Native America” (52:00 mp3):

Canoes, horses, poems, and songs in the heart of Native America:

“Driftwood Feelin'” (1996 / 1:40) Henry Real Bird

From the soundtrack, The United States Of Poetry, part of the
USOP project. Music by Tomandandy.

“Nez Perce Trail: Rediscovery” (2001 / 18:56)

A National Geographic / NPR Radio Expeditions: Nez Perce tribal members and Forest Service workers travel the Nez Perce Trail on horseback, looking for lost histories and common ground. Featues Nez Perce elder Horace Axtell. Producer: Carolyn Jensen Chadwick, editor: Christopher Joyce; engineer: Suraya Mohamed.

“Indigenous Angel (feat. Ulali)” (2003 / 1:00 excerpt) RedCloud

From the CD Traveling Circus.

“Crazy Horse” (2002 / 6:01) John Trudell

From the album, Bone Days, by actor, poet, Santee Sioux, musician John Trudell.

More…

Paul Bowles’ Birthday

Today is the 100th birthday of writer/composer Paul Bowles (December 30, 1910 – November 18, 1999). Here’s a celebratory sonic survey of his audio efforts…

From the 2001 movie “Baptism of Solitude: A Tribute to Paul Bowles” with music by Vince Clarke and Bill Laswell:

From the CD Baptism Of Solitude,, “Love Song” (0:00 mp3):

From the Library of Congress album Folk Music and Song, “Chorus and Dance,” rung and played by Rais Mahamad ben Mohammed and ensemble, musicians of the Haha tribe in Tamanar; recorded by Paul Bowles in Essaouira, Morocco, August 8, 1959 (1:11 mp3):
More…

Langston Hughes Blues

Book cover: Weary Blues, by Langston Hughes“I tried to write poems like the songs they sang on Seventh Street.” —Langston Hughes:

“Same in Blues / Comment on Curb” 1:46 Langston Hughes with Charles Mingus and the Horace Parlan Quintet mp3):

Lucky Psychic Hut has posted the entire Weary Blues album, Langston Hughes‘ 1859 spoken-word/jazz collaboration — among the musicians: Leonard Feather, Milt Hinton, and Charles Mingus. Poets.org has more on “The Weary Blues” book and record.

via WFMU.

Future Grook

PRESENCE OF MIND

You'll conquer the present
    suspiciously fast
if you smell of the future
    -- and stink of the past.

—Piet Hein, More Grooks 1968

Grooks | Wikiquote | Wikipedia | Appreciation | Amazon

DREAM INTERPRETATION
Simplified.

Everything's either
concave or -vex,
so whatever you dream
will be something with sex

LILAC TIME

The lilacs are flowering, sweet and sublime,
     with a perfume that goes to the head;
and lovers meander in prose and rhyme,
trying to say --
          for the thousandth time --
     what's easier done than said.

via Technology360.

Light the World

I think over again my small adventures.

My fears.

Those small ones that seemed so big.

For all the vital things

I had to get and to reach.

And yet there is only one great thing.

The only thing.

To live to see the great day that dawns,

and the light that fills the world.

—The Light that Fills the World, old Inuit song

(used at end of Never Cry Wolf)

One Art- Records

Reading One Art, a huge collection of poet Elizabeth Bishop’s letters. I notice this, written
from Key West in l938:

“I have a little Victor record player that attaches to the radio.  It is quite good; and a lot of records I got from Sears, Roebuck… the Negro ones are the best: “That Bonus Done Gone Through,”  “Riding to Your Funeral in a Ford V-8″… but it is almost impossible to find anything about who is composing them. (They appear all over the South within three days of any major news event, it seems.)”

Sounds like an early version of twitter.  I’ve never heard of this before, have you?

Lincoln Langston Carl

Photo of Abe as young man, standingFor an upcoming HV hour on Lincoln and Civil War (for July 4th), here’s a couple poets mixed with music from Lincoln Shuffle (by Bryce Dessner, guitarist for The National and Clogs, for the great bicentennial site 21st Century Abe, used with their re-mixing blessings).

UPDATED AGAIN VERS “Lincoln Langston Carl” (4:27 mp3):

Voices: 1- Langston Hughes performing his poem “Lincoln Monument, Washington” (1955 album: The Dream Keeper and Other Poems of Langston Hughes). 2- Poet Carl Sandburg addressing the U.S. Congress on Lincoln’s 150th birthday (2/12/1959; excerpt). 3- “A Visit with Carl Sandburg” interview on NBC-TV Wisdom Series: Conversations with Elder Wise Men (2/8/1953; excerpt). Music: Bryce Dessner “Long Summer” (2008: Lincoln Shuffle for 21stcenturyabe.org). Production: Barrett Golding HearingVoices.com.

HV055- Wordshakers

Poets Ginsberg, Whitman, TennysonHearing Voices from NPR®:
055 WordshakerS: For Poetry Month
Host: Andrei Codrescu of NPR / Exquisite Corpse
Airs week of: 2012-04-04 (Originally: 2009-04-01)

Wordshakers (52:00 mp3):

Poetry Grits Glory Verve:

POETRY is a discourse
and we its discouragees.

Lord Alfred Tennyson bangs the podium in “The Charge of the Light Brigade” (from the book/CD set Poetry Speaks).

Thomas Edison waxes Walt Whitman’s “America” (Poetry Speaks).

Cheerleaders Chant” a found-poem (CD: The United States Of Poetry, part of the USOP project).

If it’s a worldwide depression, everyone is depressed.
Ah, but try to run a gypsy through the ruins of time.

Host Andrei Codrescu decontructs his “Poetry.” Codrescu assembles The Exquisite Corpse (a Journal of Life and Letters), and is an NPR commentator.

Denise Levertov knows “The Secret” (Poetry Speaks).

Carl Sandburg wonders “What is Poetry?” (produced by Barrett Golding).

Scott Carrier presents the categorical conundrum of “Alex Caldiero- Poet?”

Ed Sanders (fmr Fug) poses “A Question of Fame,” off his CD Thirsting for Peace.

My publisher says “At some people’s readings
the crowd goes out and buys their books.
At yours they run out and steal them.”

More…

HV039- Portrait of a Plague

Hearing Voices from NPR®
039 Portrait of a Plague: For AIDS Awareness Day
Host: Joe Richman of Radio Diaries
Airs week of: 2011-11-30 (Originally: 2008-11-26)

“Portrait of a Plague” (52:00 mp3):

W.H.O. World AIDS DayCreative Time- Web Action banner by Superbad
The 1st of December Red ribbon, symbol of AIDS Awareness A Day Without Art

Creative Time- Web Action banner by Guthrie DolinSister Agnes Ramashiga makes her rounds at Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto; 2000 patients check in daily, half are HIV positive. It’s “Just Another Day At the Biggest Hospital In the World,” a Radio Diaries by Joe Richman & Sue Johnson (Picture-Projects).

HIV-Positive teenagers, Tanya, Mark, and Tenisha, record audio diaries about living “The Positive Life”; produced by by Stephen Smith & Stephanie Curtis for American RadioWorks (photos and journals at ARW).)

Poet Lisa Buscani is “Counting” on her mom’s health advice, from the book Jangle and the CD Word Up

Creative Time- Web Action bannerAnd Trouble Came: An African AIDS Diary (CD at Arkiv Music) by Laura Kaminsky is a compositon for viola, cello, piano, and for a narrator, reciting poems, biblical verse, and stories of Tamakloe, a warrior, tailor, and AIDS victim.

AIDS once meant death. Now improved treatments keep HIV-positive people alive for decides. So what’s that like, being brought back from the dead; as when Jesus revived his dead friend “Lazarus;” by Krandall Kraus from his book Book: It’s Never About What It’s About.

“Letters to Butchie” are a dying mother’s writings to a son she’ll never see, produced by Dave Isay Sound Portraits (music: Nick Drake).

Creative Time- Web Action banner by Friederike PaetzoldWeb Resources:
CDC (USA), Critcal Path, AVERT (UK), UN AIDS, Know HIV/AIDS, AIDS Diary, Visual AIDS.

Animations from Creative Time- Day Without Art: Web Action, top to bottom:
Ben Benjamin- Superbad & Chisato Uyeki- Chisa, Guthrie Dolin, Yoshi Sodeoka- Soundtoys, Friederike Paetzold- Iconogene, Lance Arthur of Glassdog.

Creative Time- Web Action banner by Lance Arthur.

Post-Madonna Prima Donna

CD coverPost-Madonna Prima Donna, Jason Cady’s CD, is out on Peacock Recordings (see prev post: Jason Cady & The Artificials).

Post-Madonna Prima Donna (2001) is a one-act opera. The subject is language, sepcifically, in this excerpt, the Minnesota vernacular. “Post-Madonna Prima Donna: Recitative 1 | Aria” (1:01 | 3:02 mp3):

Also on the CD is an 11-part Odi et Amo (2006), a cantata inspired by the love poems of the ancient Roman poet Catullus.

If These Walls Could Talk

Audio aritiste extraordinaire (and USA Fellow) Susan Stone’s new project is IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK “Inside Youth Speak Out: testimonial writings by the youngest members of America’s prison system.” Lots of poetry and audio there, some w/ music by Malcolm Marshall. A couple of my faves…

“Two Cripples” (1:07 mp3):

“Missing Moms” (0:44 mp3):

Homeless Poets

Greg and DanReal nice piece by Lu Olkowski on last week’s This American Life:

Gregory Deloatch and Daniel Canada dreamed of being writers, but normal life—marriage, jobs, paying the rent—always got in the way. To pursue their dream, the two friends embarked on an unusual experiment. Lu Olkowski tells the story of how it turned out.

The World Is

The Third Coast Festival conf is having a live broadcast party at :Vocalo, ChiPubradio’s new station. You can contribute pieces to this on-air extravaganza (how-to: start a user acct, then upload audio w/ tag “Third Coast Festival”).

The broadcast is Fri nite; pieces need to upload by Thurs noon. One of the pieces (“SisterLove”) is where I heard this band named Unforscene putting beats to one of my fave beat poems, Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s “The World is a Beautiful Place” (Pictures of the Gone World © 1955). From the compilation Dubplates From The Lamp Vol 3, Unforscene with “The World Is” (5:02 mp3):