Sunday, November 6, 2011
ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL FALL DAY
It's been a brilliantly beautiful week capped by today's pure blue sky and the clarity of Autumn sunlight making the bright colored leaves illuminate the trees as though they were created just to give delight, which maybe they were.
And then this evening my best pal Jamie Rose gave an equally brilliant reading/talk from and about her book SHUT UP & DANCE! at the local bookstore with friends and family in attendance.
Now, if only the corporation in charge of power in this part of the world could find a way to get the still live wire hanging into the street just one building up from mine, keeping my street still blocked off with police tape and barricades.
Like I said in an earlier post and I'm sure so many are feeling in this area and the surrounding states: How's that corporations-can-do-it-better-than-the-government thingee working out for y'all? Not so hot if you're still waiting for the power to be turned on, or live wires to be removed or repaired.
Given the "weather events" of the past year and the recent scientific conclusion (see SCIENCE magazine) that the predictions for the damage done by global warming were too optimistic—it's happening much faster and having a bigger impact already than they thought—you'd think the power companies would be better prepared, or would use some of their enormous profits to hire more workers and buy more trucks and equipment etc. and that even Republican politicians would want to get the government involved, raise revenues to hire workers to rapidly respond to these catastrophes and better prepare for them.
But nope, it's business as usual, meaning business makes even more money and those at the top who work in that business do too, while the rest of us sink into the "new normal"—or as I've been calling it for many years now, "the new Dark Ages" (in more ways than one).
And then this evening my best pal Jamie Rose gave an equally brilliant reading/talk from and about her book SHUT UP & DANCE! at the local bookstore with friends and family in attendance.
Now, if only the corporation in charge of power in this part of the world could find a way to get the still live wire hanging into the street just one building up from mine, keeping my street still blocked off with police tape and barricades.
Like I said in an earlier post and I'm sure so many are feeling in this area and the surrounding states: How's that corporations-can-do-it-better-than-the-government thingee working out for y'all? Not so hot if you're still waiting for the power to be turned on, or live wires to be removed or repaired.
Given the "weather events" of the past year and the recent scientific conclusion (see SCIENCE magazine) that the predictions for the damage done by global warming were too optimistic—it's happening much faster and having a bigger impact already than they thought—you'd think the power companies would be better prepared, or would use some of their enormous profits to hire more workers and buy more trucks and equipment etc. and that even Republican politicians would want to get the government involved, raise revenues to hire workers to rapidly respond to these catastrophes and better prepare for them.
But nope, it's business as usual, meaning business makes even more money and those at the top who work in that business do too, while the rest of us sink into the "new normal"—or as I've been calling it for many years now, "the new Dark Ages" (in more ways than one).
Friday, November 4, 2011
SHUT UP & DANCE!
If you're anywhere near Maplewood, New Jersey, tomorrow evening at 7:30 I highly recommend you stop by the local bookstore, WORDS, to see my very funny, yet still glamorous, multi-talented regular commenter on this blog and dear old pal, Jamie Rose read from and sign her part self-help part-autobiographical first book (full disclosure: I helped edit it and am quoted in it) SHUT UP & DANCE!
It's the story of how she found lasting romance (not to mention marriage) by overcoming her need to "run the show" all the time (in relationships) because that's how she achieved her independence and success as a film and TV actress in the competitive world of Hollywood.
She grew up acting, starting when she was barely past toddlerhood, becoming a household fixture for many as a young woman on the '80s TV hit FALCON CREST and later playing the first uniformed, solo, female cop on TV in a show built around her character: LADY BLUE.
In more recent years you've seen her as a guest star on everything from E.R. to TWO AND A HALF MEN, and in such cult classic films as BIKER CHICKS IN ZOMBIETOWN!
She's always been a terrific writer and I'm happy that's come together in her first book which not only tells the story of how she found lifelong romance after a lifetime of start-and-stop mini-love-stories that didn't work out because of...well, read the book, which, by the way is worth it if only for the photos, but also contains some great exercises for discovering "the goddess" in yourself (aimed obviously at the ladies) as well as how to have a more fluid, balanced and lasting relationship with your mate of any gender.
Come by if you can: I'll be there for sure, tomorrow, Saturday, November 5th, 7:30PM, WORDS, 179 Maplewood Avenue, Maplewood, NJ.
[And if you can't make it, buy the book!—the freelance actor/writer gig ain't easy to make work in any economy, but these days...]
[And if you can't make it, buy the book!—the freelance actor/writer gig ain't easy to make work in any economy, but these days...]
Thursday, November 3, 2011
DOUG LANG & RON SILLIMAN
Went into the city last night to the poetry project at St. Mark's to hear Doug Lang and Ron Silliman read their poetry. What a delight it was.
Doug is a dear friend from DC who I don't get to see that often, so it was just a pleasure to be in his company. He is also one of my favorite poets and writers but publishes sporadically and had never read at St. Mark's before, so it was an event just to hear him.
What a pleasant surprise to then discover he would read all new never before heard (at least by those of us in the room last night) poems, a series of sonnets that were as "chiseled" (old friend, poet Bruce Andrews' term) and yet expansive, as Michelangelo sculptures.
Each sonnet created a narrative drive without being a "story" and offered juxtapositions and dissonances that kept your mind alert and rewarded for it, as well as offering humor and poignancy wrapped in a word machine that seemed at once original and familiar.
I couldn't have asked for a better poetry experience. And thankfully my brain was functioning well enough to be able to follow his unique language structures and enjoy them (though walking to the event after dinner with another old friend and poet, Simon Pettet, and to the nearby bar after the event with a small crowd of old friends, I couldn't take the street sounds and sights, which up until the brain operation I'd always found exhilarating but now find almost painful).
Ron read second and it was a treat to hear him. I can't even remember the last time I heard him read but I suspect it was probably in the 1970s, which was also the last time I'd seen him I think. I first became aware of his work in the late 1960s or early '70s and included some in a poetry anthology I put together in 1974 that came out in '76 called NONE OF THE ABOVE. I dug his work then and have since been impressed with the ways he has expanded on his original poetic strategies.
Unlike Doug, Ron's work is much more readily available, but most of what he read last night was recent work and new to me. He is one of our most prolific poets and writers (his "Silliman's Blog" was one of, if not the, first poetry blog on the Internet and is I believe the most read). And whereas Doug's books, even his early novels, are mostly slim volumes, Ron has a few that rival Pound's CANTOS (like his ALPHABET, which is actually bigger than THE CANTOS).
It was a great match up, a terrific and even unique poetry event. And it was even more satisfying to me because there were so many old friends from the poetry world there, like my oldest friend in that world, Ray DiPalma, and the aforementioned Bruce Andrews and Simon Pettet, and John Godfrey and Vyt Bakaitis, Michael Gottlieb and James Sherry, Elinor Nauen and more.
Quite a delight, for which I'm grateful, as I am for so much these days, including the beautiful Fall weather we are having today, even though there are still small patches of snow around town and neighbors still without electricity or heat (Silliman, who lives in Pennsylvania said he's been without either for five days after the recent almost unprecedented October snowstorm) and still live wires blocking streets (including the one I live on) almost a week since the storm and the local power corporations still undermanned and under-equipped, though profits are up as usual (so how's that "let- corporations-take-care-of-us-they-can-do-it-better-than-the-government" thing working out for ya—and the rest of us—mister and missus rightwinger?).
Doug is a dear friend from DC who I don't get to see that often, so it was just a pleasure to be in his company. He is also one of my favorite poets and writers but publishes sporadically and had never read at St. Mark's before, so it was an event just to hear him.
What a pleasant surprise to then discover he would read all new never before heard (at least by those of us in the room last night) poems, a series of sonnets that were as "chiseled" (old friend, poet Bruce Andrews' term) and yet expansive, as Michelangelo sculptures.
Each sonnet created a narrative drive without being a "story" and offered juxtapositions and dissonances that kept your mind alert and rewarded for it, as well as offering humor and poignancy wrapped in a word machine that seemed at once original and familiar.
I couldn't have asked for a better poetry experience. And thankfully my brain was functioning well enough to be able to follow his unique language structures and enjoy them (though walking to the event after dinner with another old friend and poet, Simon Pettet, and to the nearby bar after the event with a small crowd of old friends, I couldn't take the street sounds and sights, which up until the brain operation I'd always found exhilarating but now find almost painful).
Ron read second and it was a treat to hear him. I can't even remember the last time I heard him read but I suspect it was probably in the 1970s, which was also the last time I'd seen him I think. I first became aware of his work in the late 1960s or early '70s and included some in a poetry anthology I put together in 1974 that came out in '76 called NONE OF THE ABOVE. I dug his work then and have since been impressed with the ways he has expanded on his original poetic strategies.
Unlike Doug, Ron's work is much more readily available, but most of what he read last night was recent work and new to me. He is one of our most prolific poets and writers (his "Silliman's Blog" was one of, if not the, first poetry blog on the Internet and is I believe the most read). And whereas Doug's books, even his early novels, are mostly slim volumes, Ron has a few that rival Pound's CANTOS (like his ALPHABET, which is actually bigger than THE CANTOS).
It was a great match up, a terrific and even unique poetry event. And it was even more satisfying to me because there were so many old friends from the poetry world there, like my oldest friend in that world, Ray DiPalma, and the aforementioned Bruce Andrews and Simon Pettet, and John Godfrey and Vyt Bakaitis, Michael Gottlieb and James Sherry, Elinor Nauen and more.
Quite a delight, for which I'm grateful, as I am for so much these days, including the beautiful Fall weather we are having today, even though there are still small patches of snow around town and neighbors still without electricity or heat (Silliman, who lives in Pennsylvania said he's been without either for five days after the recent almost unprecedented October snowstorm) and still live wires blocking streets (including the one I live on) almost a week since the storm and the local power corporations still undermanned and under-equipped, though profits are up as usual (so how's that "let- corporations-take-care-of-us-they-can-do-it-better-than-the-government" thing working out for ya—and the rest of us—mister and missus rightwinger?).
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
A (HOPEFULLY) NONCONTROVERSIAL POST
Me at the piano on the small stage at The Cornelia Street Cafe just before the reading started that I took part in Oct. 20th. I'm not sure who took the photo, maybe the reading organizer my old pal Eve Brandstein. The reason I don't know is because I was so intent on playing quietly, I thought no one was noticing and was completely unaware that someone was standing on the stage taking a photograph! That's the kind of focus it seems only (almost) creative work can bring to me, otherwise I'm the original easily distrac..."Squirrel!"
It was a nice piano, a Yamaha baby grand, great action, a delight to play around on. When I got up from it there was a little burst of applause which also surprised me since I thought I was playing so quietly and folks were busy talking and socializing that no one even noticed. A sweet moment for someone who rarely plays privately, let alone publicly.
It was a nice piano, a Yamaha baby grand, great action, a delight to play around on. When I got up from it there was a little burst of applause which also surprised me since I thought I was playing so quietly and folks were busy talking and socializing that no one even noticed. A sweet moment for someone who rarely plays privately, let alone publicly.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
"BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT"
On the second "snow day" for my young son and his schoolmates because of the second weather catastrophe for our state, New Jersey, in only a mater of months (the snow isn't what's keeping him home from school, the downed wires are, which includes a live one only one building up from the old house our apartment is in resulting in our street being closed off since the weekend) I want to offer this video that is making the rounds among some of my friends, including my friend and neighbor "Doc" Burke who sent it to me.
I don't agree with everything the speaker in this video says, but I appreciate his reasoned, logical argument for seeing our president and his achievements more "relistically":
I don't agree with everything the speaker in this video says, but I appreciate his reasoned, logical argument for seeing our president and his achievements more "relistically":
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
