Mar 31, 2006

...

just got back from a huge bike ride through south Boulder...logged about 10 miles...i'm whipped...

...finally mailed the rest of the BB's this afternoon...so, expect those in your mailboxes in the coming days...

today read Batman Evolution by Greg Rucka and a bunch of Norma Cole from ACTS 7...

Jessica over at
  • looktouch
  • says some really nice things about the current issue of BB and about the series in general...also presenting by proxy a nice overview of Armand C.'s
  • Detumescence Press


  • KGNU, a Boulder radio station has expressed some interest in airing parts of my Macbeth remix, "ONLYMERK'S MACBETH"...it's one of my older Shakespeare sound collages, at least a couple years, i spent Wednesday afternoon in my office on Protools cleaning it up, cut about 35 minutes from the end...well see if that pans out...

    ...currently listening to Telephone Jim Jesus A Point Too Far To Astronaut...

    i dreamt...

    that there was a huge earthquake in SF...the sky coaleced into this giant rolling orange and black cloud form...it was massive, and scary...

    also, i wanted to be a long track speed skater...i was hanging out with Apollo Anton Ohno and Shanni Davis...i asked Apollo how old he was, he was all "i'm fourteen" then i asked Davis how old HE was, and he was all "i'm thirteen"...i realized at 26, i was much too old to take up speed skating...

    i feel like throwing the ball around, i think i'll call Jared later on...Joe Cooper, you game?

    did anyone else see that yahoo news article yesterday afternoon, they think they found Ajax's palace...yeah, THE Ajax from the Trojan War...vroom...

    read Drill #7 today...

    The Machinist- very Hitchcockian, very weird, sort of enjoyable...Christian Bale at 120 pounds is certainly something to see...

    ...currently listening to Wilco A Ghost Is Born...

    Mar 30, 2006

    dumpin' em in ditches...

    watched the first two episodes of Six Feet Under Season 5 last night...the best television drama ever produced...hands down...

    about to get to work on a Coolidge tape from 80'...

    a cool overcast spring day in boulder...making me homesick reminding me of spring in the East Bay...

    i heard a rumor that Thurston wants to come back to Boulder to perform again soon...hope it's true...

    Mar 29, 2006

    today...

    read:

    1-800-Flowers- Robert Fitterman

    Happy Endings- ed. Diana Schutz

    Gypsy/ Moth- Rachel Blau DuPlessis

    The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner illustrated by Gustave Dore- Samuel Taylor Coleridge/ Gustave Dore

    ...currently listening to The Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs Vol. 2...

    Poet's Theater...

    Calling All Poets!

    I am a producer/director in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I
    do a lot of independent, experimental theatre.

    I'm looking for plays by poets. Please send me them.
    They need to be:

    1. Short (less than 15 pages long)
    2. Small (4 people in cast, total)
    3. Cheap (no expensive production stuff)

    There is no deadline. Send me what you have. If you
    don't have it, send it to me when you have it.

    Send it to:

    johnmanno@yahoo.com

    (I should be able to open most file types, if I can't
    open it, I'll let you know).

    Thank you!!!

    John Manno


    ...currently listening to Uncle Tupelo 89/93 An Anthology...

    Mar 27, 2006

    GI Joe...

    first saw this on Juliana's page...

    everyone in the world should watch these...Matthew Arnone should watch these...

    my favorites: Jamaican Nyquil and Doggy...Skiing is also great...

  • GI JOE
  • ...

    so, my boss tells me it's spring break...huh...

    more BOTH BOTH mailing today...

    working on another Coolidge from 80'...C.'s got a huge Timon of Athens jones...

    Mar 26, 2006

    sunday warblin'

    I caught the Avian Bird Flu from my Netflix DVD
    Or
    Someone sneezed on the movie

    rock or what
    anyone up for grabbing some feed? I’m saturated
    yeah, right, sugar, you’re in of your own accord, Claire
    hee hee
    hey, now…
    no please…not my face!

    Det in-
    Atta
    Boy

    Dolly ride
    Tar-tar

    Skeex
    Pook
    Tar-tar

    Never you mind skeezix! I haven’t
    any knee length
    whiskers! It was
    all a Rip Van
    Winkle dream

    Wigglestick
    jumpin grasshopper!
    How in the name o’ reason did you
    get back here so quick?

    Well I’ll be jiggered
    Glory do you think he’s going?

    “Saturated not for them marbles or those beans baked
    into bracelets”

    warblin’ on my knee

    Baseball will have to start its spring training in May...

    Bernstein on National Poetry Month
  • NPM


  • also, Boyer on the AWP, and i'm with Nicoloff, someone should publish this...

    Saw II- kicked so much ass, i love this franchise...(man, the dirty syringe pit scene...i haven't squirmed that much in a while, eh, yikes)
    Alien Vs. Predator- definitly fun...
    Resident Evil Apocalypse- not as good as the first one...but that's relative, zombie's are ALWAYS fun...


    ...currently listening to Zap Mama A ma zone...

    Mar 24, 2006

    stuff...

    great stuff in the mail today from Ben Friedlander...

    1. two cds with a selection of Pound's World War II radio speeches (scary)...from what i gather Ben's been doing research on this stuff for a while...also included is a "draft text" for the prototype cds including Ben's notes and transcriptions...

    2. a beautiful little Robert Fitterman chapbook, 1-800-Flowers, that Ben designed and printed for the Alliance of Pigs with Wings (2005)...

    thanks so much Ben...

    ...currently listening to Akira Original Soundtrack Yamashirogumi Geinoh...

    Mar 23, 2006

    BB redux...

    sitting here smoking a Parliament, drinking a spiced rum with the just printed out March issue of BOTH BOTH...

    March issue features new work from Laura Moriarty
  • A Tonalist Notes
  • and Armand C.
  • Detumescence Press
  • with cover art by Brent Cunnningham
  • Brent Cunningham
  • and interior art by George Inness...

    mailing tomorrow!

    ...currently listening to Wilco Being There...

    BB...

    BOTH BOTH printing tonight before the Tom Raworth reading (7 pm in the Lincoln Studio/ Naropa)...i should start mailing copies tomorrow...

    ...currently listening to Why? Miss Ohio's Nameless...

    Mar 22, 2006

    CA Conrad...

    thanks Conrad for sending that tube full of Deviant paper, it was in the mail today...

    so, Conrad's book Deviant Propulsion is forthcoming from Soft Skull Press (April), check it out

  • Deviant Props


  • ...currently listening to The White Stripes White Blood Cells...

    oh yeah...

    i forgot, i watched Coach Carter this morning...

    Coach Carter- one of the great sport's movies...BB can feel me on this one, in fact i'd posit most boys can feel me on this one, we love sport's movies...one of my fondest sport's movie memories (and there are plenty) involved Brandon Brown (BB) and i buying a 32 pack of Pabst and renting The Rookie...that night involved lot's of tears and hooting...i mean, i seriously get teary eyed if a commercial plays the theme from The Natural (still in my opinion the greatest sport's movie of all time)...oh yeah, Coach Carter, first of all it takes place in the East Bay Area, where i'm from (so, automatic props)...specifically in Richmond, which is about a 30 minute drive from Concord (where i grew up)...Richmond is in Contra Costa County (CoCo County, as is Concord) and is a place you avoid at all costs, i mean, my theo peter and thea betty lived there and we NEVER visited, they visited us...according to statistics Richmond was recently classified as California's most dangerous city (a recent survey, i think i saw it over x-mas break)...you read about Richmond's "Iron Triangle" neighborhood in the papers every other day...it's a sad sad city...so it was great to see a movie like Coach Carter, based on a true story, rooted in the city of Richmond, rooted in something positive about Richmond, getting the movie goer rooting FOR Richmond...as the chant goes "Rich-what?! Rich-mond!!!...

    secondly it was super fun to recognize locations and names...Fremont, Pinole, Hercules (all places very close to home (literally))...and the final game was played at San Francisco State University (my alma mater)...

    if any of you are familiar with DJ Shadow, on his album The Private Press, the found recording that begins and ends the record is from a woman visiting Richmond, she says as much...

    ...currently listening to The White Stripes Elephant...

    ...

    hey guys, to the people in SF who read this blog...if you have any reservations about this "anthology" project, don't want to give work for any reason and are dreading a solicitation request from me, backchannel me at merkoneus@yahoo.com...let's chat...

    just to be clear, i have no reason to feel anyone feels this way, but just in case, i'm open to criticism and concern...holler...

    great headline up right now at yahoo news "Texas arrests bar patrons for being drunk"...hmmm, to bar or not to bar tonight...

    ...currently listening to Violent Femmes Violent Femmes...

    highschool sweetheart...

    OMG! OMG! OMG! i'm so on cloud 9 right now, a big goofy smile on my face...my highschool girlfriend, Megan, just found me on myspace...i haven't seen or talked to this girl for 9 years, since i was 17! always always always wondered what happend to her...

    we dated when i was 15 she was 16...she took me to her Junior prom...my first wet kiss (at a park after feeding the ducks...aw shucks), my first getting drunk with (i held her hair as she puked), my first lot's of things (not that)...such a strange feeling to have someone from your past, who only knows you from your past contact you...i love it...it's like i only know her as highschool always-trying-to-make-me-jealous Megan and she only knows me as highschool raver-bumpin'-Spice 1-in-the-trooper-car Johnny...i can't stop smiling right now...silly giddy...

    i guess she's some kind of talk radio show host in LA...

    here are a couple of recent pictures i stole off her page...





    and here is Megan in the grotto at the Playboy mansion...don't ask me why, i haven't spoken to her in 9 years...


    ...currently listening to The Verve Urban Hymns...

    Mar 21, 2006

    hello again...



    remember, jessica and i will post a month to month acceptance listing until publication date...great submissions thus far...keep em' coming...

    movie review:
    Hellraiser Hellworld- yeah, one of the better ones, a sort of PoMo "Scream" angle to it...well acted, well directed, AND Lance Henrikson was in it...can't go wrong with Lance...

    Steve Jewell called, he's head of security at Naropa, i also think he was one of the original Vrajna gaurds of Trumpa Rinpoche (go to T. Clark or E. Sanders for details), wanted details about the botched break in...

    ...my mom called, she wanted to know if i needed anything for her next care package (i <3 mom)...i told her lot's and lot's of pimento cheese...i loves me some pimento (what? i'm from Concord)...

    Magie just about broke my heart today...GAWD that woman kills me...good news, she's coming to visit in a couple months...

    also, my friend Katy from SF is coming to visit early April...she just got back from South Padre, she was invited to head down there for spring break and perform with her super group, Car Party, with the homie Goodword is tow...unless you have war hardened sensibilities i wouldn't recommend Car Party...they're like a mash up of a Jenna Jameson porno and Miss Kitten over some Bay Area slump...all in all a good time if that's your cup of tea...personally, i love it...



    Katy, Goodword and Bryn (Car Party) performing in South Padre...did i mention Goodword's debut album just got a really positive write up in URB?

    ...currently listening to Various Artists The Pachelbel Canon And Other Baroque Favorites...

    Mar 20, 2006

    Black sheep from Cunningham...

    j.

    At the natural history museum in New York last week I was surprised to discover the Bearded Sakis. Naturally I thought of you. The true animal version of many other poets were also to be found in various other dioramas in that lovely building, but your representation was the only one directly named. Surely you’re aware of this fellow, who I found to be somehow both cute and terrifying-looking.

  • my cousin Timoleon of Naxos, a bearded Sakis


  • yours,
    Brent

    ...currently listening to Various Artists Mourmourika Songs Of The Greek Underworld...(the Bearded Sakis being one of them)

    in lieu of an AAC yearbook...



    a vintage All Aspects Crew hoodie...we were like "The Pink Ladies" (TPL?) in Grease 2...ya heard?!

    ...currently listening to Various Artists Mondo Greece...

    new recording...

    check out K. Lorraine Graham's poem
  • Graham Mipoesias


  • also, Tom Raworth this thursday at Naropa...

    ...currently listening to Various Artists Mondo Greece...

    March madness...

    Nicoloff responds to my response
  • response


  • Cockney geezer reads The Communist Manifesto
  • McCaffery


  • didn't leave the apartment the entire weekend...actually didn't really leave the couch...and that's why i still have a computer, a television, an ipod and whatever else the dumbfuck idiot who tried to rob my house would've taken...i mean, come on, if you're going to rob a house don't you usually make sure the person who lives in it isn't on the couch watching The Untouchables?! MOR-freakin'-ON...

    and can i just say how much i hate March Madness...basketball is a lame enough sport as it is without it being aired 18 hours a day...everyday...i mean, for the b-ball fans...how do you get excited watching this sport...it's like field goal/ field goal/ field goal/ field goal/ field goal/ field goal/ field goal/ field goal/ field goal/ field goal/ field goal/ field goal/ field goal/ field goal/ field goal/ field goal/ field goal...and that happens within like four mintues, where's the excitement?...i'll tell you where the excitement is...the last 4 minutes of the game...that's it...skip the entire game, chug your beer during the last four minutes, scream and shout, go home...in fact, i'd go so far as to say that basketball games should only be 10 minutes long...5 minutes for the monotony of field goals and slam dunks as a set up/ and 5 mintues of real hussle and passion to win the game...sounds good to me...and this is coming from someone who played Catholic school basketball for 7 years (i'm not Catholic but the private school teams were better than the public ones i went to so i played for them)...

    movie review:

    A History Of Violence- i think David Cronenberg is officially my favorite director...i've loved every single one of his movies...from Scanners to The Fly to Naked Lunch to AHOV...a strange otherwordly quality to them...like they take place on an alternate earth in an alternate time that's concurrent with our own...anyway, i loved AHOV...AND to boot, he's really good friends with Norma...

    saw Eleni Sikelianos read on Friday...lucky us, all new work...her The Body Clock especially sticks out...i don't have my notes on me (i'm at work) so i can't go into any detail...later...

    and now that the USA team is out of the WBC...i'm with BB and Pierre, viva la Cuba, viva la Cuba!!!

    Mar 18, 2006

    sort of freaked out...

    someone just kicked in the screen to my bedroom window and slashed it with a knife...i was in the living room falling asleep, i was startled by a man's voice coming from my room, i got up like "huh, what the fuck?" blinds go flying, screen goes slash...man runs off...

    i'm sitting her waiting for the police to get here with my baton in my lap...

    i mean, a 1 1/2 ft. slash across my screen? and i have a garden level apartment...that means the screen is above the head of my bed which means the screen is about 2 feet above my head....sharp knife, clean slice...



    ...

    Mar 17, 2006

    to the two girls in my life...hella...

    so, as a prologue to my forthcoming AAC post...an introduction to two of my bestest friends...Leslie and Magie...



    this is Leslie (i met Les in a warehouse at 3:00 AM on Hagenburger Rd. in Oakland when i was 15 (another story)...we've been violently in and out of love since then...this is probably my best friend in the world...) (she rescued me this morning and i love her for that)



    this is Magie (i've known and been in and out of love with Magie since i was 14...Magie is the best, you have know idea...no one appreciates Brandon Brown's "Concord" song more than her...Magie and i will probably end up married...AND her mom makes the dope humus) (Magie rescues me everyday) (the boy is my little brother Louis Lopez)




    ...currently listening to Various Artists Ken Burns Jazz Disc 3...

    ...

    that AAC post threw the entire blog off...if i have the patience maybe i'll try and repost this weekend...

    happy birthday sister Deme!

    AND happy Agios Patrick's day...

    Standard Schaefer's two books, Water & Power and Nova, in the mail yesterday...thanks Standard! can't wait to did into them...

    Eleni Sikelianos reading tonight at Naropa...

    currently feeling a little like Michael Douglas in Wonderboys...not sure where this thesis is going or when it's going to stop...toot toot!

    USA loses to Mexico and is eliminated from the inaugural WBC...in other related news, Brandon Brown is a chauncy bastard...

    ...currently listening to Classic Bluegrass from Smithsonian Folkways...

    Mar 16, 2006

    ...

    i've hit a wall...like just finished week 4 of the SWP sort of wall...

    ...hit me up if you want to hang out...

    ...Mexico VS. USA tonight...

    realizing more and more than i'm really into women's ears...not "poetic ear," but actual physical girl ears...

    just got done with a Coolidge tape from 80'...all about Shakespeare and Melville...

    submissions are coming in...that's great...

    must finish preliminary draft of thesis this week...must...

    movie reviews:

    1. Ray- great
    2. Hotel Rwanda- wow
    3. The Passion of The Christ- uh huh...and now i know that my instinct to wait till it's out on DVD was correct...how anyone could sit in a theater and attempt to watch the film with people eating popcorn and/or snicker's bars in the seat next to them is WAY beyond me...i can only imagine the scourge scene coupled with the unmistakable movie theater grotesque of nuget mastication...as for the film...pretty fucking amazing...

    ...currently listening to yer mom...

    Mar 15, 2006

    legitimate dangers?

    Michael Nicoloff brings up some interesting concerns and questions regarding the anthology...

  • Nicoloff on the anthology


  • ...currently listening to Various Artists Basquiat Original Soundtrack...

    Mar 14, 2006

    he, don Juan, a translation

    an old chapbook of mine he, don Juan, a translation (2002) has been republished by Armand C. over at Detumescence...

    you can download it here
  • he, don Juan


  • thanks Armand!

    ...currently listening to Anthology of American Folk Music...

    Mar 13, 2006

    friends...

    anyone want to get a drink tonight? i need to work on some anthology ish and some thesis ish...let's say catacombs-happyhour...hit me up on phone or email...either way i'll be at the bar...hope you will too...

    Koshkin, let's hear some AWP stories!

    tell me when to go...

    working on a Creeley tape (surprise!) from 83'...but i have no interest in writing about it...

    ...so, go listen to E-40's new one at
  • E-40


  • check out "Tell Me When To Go" (gettin' dumb!) and "White Girl" (Yay Area)...

    i have a feeling this album is going to blow up...

    Hyphy...

    "wearin' psycheldelic jewellery nothin' but the Bay runnin' through me"
    —E-40

    "*#&*'s on my #*% cause they know i'm the mayne"
    —E-40

    Mar 12, 2006

    ey yo...Jim Behrle...whatuper dood?!




    okay, so i just watched a fantastic WBC game between Venezuela and Cuba...a major upset, Cuba whooped that Venezuelan ass...got to watch American League Cy Young winner Johan Santana pitch a great game for Cuba...got to watcch SF Giants (!!!) short stop Omar Visquel (Venezuela team captain) make a couple of rare errors...one of them being a strange play where the ball ended up getting caught in his "blouse" (announcers term not mine/ i'd prefer "jersey")...got to watch former SF third baseman Eddie Alfonso do jack shit (well, he had a base hit so...)...team USA is playing Japan as i write this...go USA...

    so, who wants to go to hella Rockies games this season...seats are only $4 in the Rock Pile (i know Michael Koshkin and Jeremiah Bowen are in)...it'll be fun...we can all collective boo Todd Helton and his AA squad...

    SO (and this is going in all caps to emphazize):
    I'M LOOKING FOR SOME COVER ART FOR UPCOMING ISSUES OF BOTH BOTH...PLEASE SEND ALL SUMBISSIONS TO merkoneus@yahoo.com AS JPEG OR TIFF. FILES...VISPO MORE THAN WELCOME...blog readers, please spread the word!

    BTW, the new issue of BOTH BOTH (March) should be done by this coming Wednesday...a super great issue...AND the April issue of BB is ready to go (i think peeps are going to esp. enjoy this issue!)...

    ...currently listening to Trip Hop Mix Lot's And Lot's And Lot's And...

    optioned...

    Michael Keaton stars in the film adaptation of my play, Game 6...

  • Sakkis' Game 6


  • who would've thought that a short one act performed at the Poet's Theater (SF) would garner such attention?

    it's getting good reviews...how could it not though...

    ...currently listening to Three Melencholy Gypsies Three Melencholy Gypsies...

    Mar 11, 2006

    "fragile...hmmm...must be Italian"



    go to
  • Pierre's blog
  • for the full story...

    i heard a rumor that Naropa's own Feliz Molina (of Hair Flip magazine) got into Brown's graduate Creative Writing program...go Feliz!

    anyone ever notice that Tom Waits sounds exactly like Ol' Dirty Bastard on the song Eyeball Kid...i'm talking EXACTLY...

    ...currently listening to Tom Waits Mule Variations...

    both both...



    Thurston Moore and Anne Waldman at the Bombay Gin benefit 3/9/06 Boulder Theater...

    photo by Ambrose Bye...

    ...currently listening to Tom Waits Mule Variations...

    Mar 10, 2006

    boom...

    Jessica and I are excited that Michael Carr of Katalanche Press has joined the project...he'll be helping out with Boston and surrounding areas...thanks Michael!

    just watched USA (fuck you Brandon) whoop the hell out of a bunch of 17 year old South Africans...woot woot! go USA...but also, go South Africans...their team standing ovation for Roger Clemens (who just shut them down with a 17-0 score/ they had to stop the game after the bottom of the 5th for the "mercy rule") was super commendable...i'm loving the WBC...and i want a t-shirt...that logo is the best thing this side of the Olympic rings...



    met with Anselm, he's into the thesis thus far...sigh...chatted a bit about the state of the publishing industry, the show last night, the bookshops around town and junior college teachers...as Amy King would say, Anselm "rocks the planetary Kasbah"...

    movie review:

    The Island- oh yeah, this is my shit...another Michael Bay classic a la The Rock or Bad Boys...loved it!

    ...currently listening to Themselves The No Music Of Aiff's The No Music Remixed...

    highlights...

    last night was a huge success! super fun...

    highlights:
    working Jello's merch table was hilarious...i can't tell you how many cute-as-a-button baby punk rockers asked me if i was part of "Jello's entourage?" to which i told the truth...they were so cute with their pins and black hoodies, i couldn't lie to them...the best was all the little punk rock boys who were accompanied by their moms...i LOVE that dynamic...i think those moms rock and those boys are brave, go moms!...the best was when this adorable little (probably 14 yrs old) punk rock boy asked his mom nervously if she would buy him a Jello shirt ("Bush hates me") to which she looked at the shirt in question and quickly said "i don't think so..." the boy then looked at me embarrassingly (because i'm part of Jello's entourage) and quickly walked over to the under 21 area...awwwwwwwwww....

    (ps. i really identify with the boys and their moms...growing up my mom took me and my little brother (AND all our friends) everywhere...from comic book conventions to skate competitions to shows to R rated movies (Alien 3 for 8th grade graduation) to wherever you can think of that a little skater kid would want to go...so when i see moms at a "punk show" with their awkwardly pubescent sons i want to hug them and tell them they're great...)))

    ...i met Jello, he's all "thanks for watching my stuff"...end of meeting...
    ...Jello WAS really gracious with the kids though...he probably made the years of about 20 little punk boys, i totally sympathize with that feeling of meeting your hero, what that means as an adolescent...they'll cherish last night for a long time to come...go Jello...

    Anne Waldman was the shit...she did an amzing piece with her son Ambrose on keyboard as part of an extended poetry set, Anne was ON last night, she rocked the spot...

    Thurston Moore blew me away...seriously one of the best "shows" i've ever been to...his banter with the crowd was classic...best moment of the night, a girl from the audience screams "Thurston you're hot!!!" to which he deadpaned "yeah and i'm also 47..." and later after someone in the audience shouted "how's Kim?" he stopped in the middle of a poem and told the story of how he was supposed to be at Debbie Harry's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame party in NYC but came to see Naropa instead...and then someone shouted "call Kim!!!" to which he replied "should i, haha" and then he did...he put his celli on speaker and held it up to the mic, he got her message machine, he's all "hey Kim honey, i'm at the Naropa thing the audience wanted to say hi" everyone screamed..."okay, i gotta go, i hope you're having fun at Debbie Harry's"...and then he kissed the phone and continued reading...he ended his set with 4 new songs (2 acoustic 2 electric) from an upcoming album...the audience was in a trance...amazing (superlatives!) amazing performance...

    went out after with Jeremiah...met up with this super cute Greek Naropa girl Lexie...had drinks with her...swoon...

    came home to find my SPD order had arrived...
    1. The Peripheral Space of Photography- Murat Nemet-Nejat
    2. Petroleum Hat- Drew Gardner
    3. O One/ An Anthology- ed. Leslie Scalapino

    movie reviews:
    1. Kingdom Hospital- holy crap could they have made a crappier mini-series?
    2. Hellraiser Deader- boo...

    got a meeting with Anselm in an hour...dumping snow outside/ beautiful...

    ...currently listening to Telephone Jim Jesus All Songs By George...

    Mar 9, 2006

    Sonic Youth...

    just got word that Thurston Moore will be visiting the archives office in a bit...i get off at 1:00, i hope he stops in before i'm out...i'm giddy with anticipation...

    ...currently listening to Momus Manhattan Fake Ways...

    stuffers...

    Bravo! Canada is going to begin airing a program on Canadian poets...the first episode features beat-meister Christian Bok
  • Bravo! Canada


  • speaking of Christian Bok...from his Cyborg Opera
  • Synth Loops


  • i'm thinking a Bok Vs. Rhazel battle...perhaps the DMC or Blaze Battle could host...





    Bok is to Rhazel as Glitch is to Hip Hop...or, Bok is to Rhazel as Autechre is to Run DMC...

    currently at work on a Creeley tape from 83'...before reading Olson's "Hotel Steinplatz, Berlin, December 25" Creeley asks the class if anyone has a smoke...after a student gives him a smoke he remarks "i can't read the poem without a cigarette, it takes a lot of breath..." after he finishes the poem he says to himself "remarkable, it's just remarkable..." then immediately to the class "i use that word too much, 'remarkable,' it's like book blurbs..."

    Jello, Thurston and Anne tonght at 7:00!!!

    Mar 8, 2006

    sweet!

    just heard back from Cynthia Sailers, she's signed on to help me with the Bay Area...made my day...thanks Cynthia!

    it's really dumping snow outside...70 yesterday, foot of snow today...the saga of CO weather continues...it's funny, since moving to CO i've become a Doppler radar junky...i swear, Coloradians watch the forecast like you watch The OC...

    i'm really trying to resist going to the Downer right now to watch the game...really...we'll see...

    ...currently listening to T.V. On The Radio Young Liars EP...

    ...

    beautiful morning, rainy, mid 30's...care package from my mom yesterday...pistachios, trail mix, soups, tuna...

    i'm NOT going to the bar to watch the game...the downer is a creepshow...

    got about 3 pages done on B. Hollander's Lyric Analytic..."in one sense Hollander's lyric analytic is a critique of the construction of limits imposed on the construction of critique..." Hollander and Levi Strauss' collective responses to Sillman's "Negative Solidarity" (Sulphur 22) published in Temblor 9 have been immeasurably helpful...

    3 new netflix movies in the mail today...

    i have a mysterious parcel waiting for pick up at the post office...no idea what it could be...certainly not my "i invented flarf" t-shirt...they could just stuff that into my mailbox...

    ...currently listening to Sunspot Jonz Child Ov The Storm...

    Mar 7, 2006

    up to the daters...

    Lorraine Graham just signed up for the SoCal contingent...thanks Lorraine!

    went to the bar this afternoon...saw team USA woop (not really actually) Mexico 2-0...go USA...tomorrow USA plays Canada...i'm thinking of calling Akilah to see if she has ESPN2...the freaks at the bar drinking at 3 PM are a bit scary (like Tenderloin scary/ they're all drunk and mentally ill)...overheard conversation this afternoon "are you registered to vote?" "yeah" "as what party?" "independent" "i'm a Rebublican, at this point in my life it doesn't matter who's president, i mean, I'M SEEING PINK DONKEY'S...AHHHHHHHH...I'M SEEING PINK DONKEY'S!!!..."you're alright" "I MEAN....AHHHHHH...JUST BECAUSE I'M HALLUCINATING ALL DAY DOESN'T MEAN I DON'T CARE...HAHAHAHAHAHAH... ".................." "I MEAN....BEING LUCID IS WAY OVER RATED...AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"...followed by the sounds of my hands clapping as team USA wins the game...gheesh...

    maybe i should go visit family in Chicago...Boulder is under the skin at the moment...

    ...currently listening to Sufjan Stevens Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lakes State...

    woo hoo...

    Kerri Sonneberg just signed on to help out with the Chicago contingent...

    ...currently listening to Subtle Winter...

    updaters...

    Dana Ward
  • Cy Press
  • has just offered his editorial assistance to the anthology, which we gratefully accepted...Dana will be helping out with Cincinnati and surrounding areas and states...thanks Dana!

    most of the readers of this blog should be expecting solicitations in the coming weeks...for those readers who i'm not in a name to name face to face relationship with please submit your poetry to poetry2008@gmail.com...also, for those of you expecting solicitations (and you know who you are) you can save me the trouble of asking by just sending your work to poetry2008@gmail.com

    please include a short bio (under 100 words) and your birthdate...if you want to make it easy for us, send in 10 pt Garamond as a doc. file...also, perhaps you can tell us where you're from...region, city or state as you see it applying...if you don't see it applying that's okay, but it's helpful for Jessica and I to be able to locate "who, what, and where" as we move along, so please include it anyway...

    ...currently listening to The Strokes Is This Is?...

    ...now currently listening to Subtle Spring...

    baseball!

    okay, this afternoon, USA vs. Mexico in the WBC...i'm gonna try and work on B. Hollander and watch at the same time...this might prove difficult...

    as updated below, Corrine Fitzpatrick (1/2 NYC/ The Poetry Project) has joined the project...go Corrine!

    two new
  • Detumescence
  • chapbooks for free downloads...1. Jessica Smith's bird-book has been republished 2. ex-Spicer circle member Larry Kearney's brand new chapbook, Eros has been published (!!!)



    for everyone who's going, have fun at the AWP...or more likely the un-AWP...

    ...currently listening to The Streets Original Pirate Material...

    Mar 6, 2006

    peeps in the heeps...

    okay, and i think this is safely public record (Jessica let me know if it's not)...

    confirmed board members for the anthology thus far:

    1. CA Conrad (Philly/ Phillysound)
    2. Jason Christie (Canada/ Shift & Switch Anthology)
    3. Eric Gelsinger (1/2 NY / House Press)
    4. Scott Pierce (Austin/ Effing Press)
    5. Aaron Lowinger (Buffalo/ House Press)
    6. Armand C (1/2 Chicago/ Detumescence Press)
    7. Corrine Fitzpatrick (1/2 NY/ The Poetry Project)
    8. Dana Ward (Cincinnati/ Cy Press)
    9. Kerri Sonnenberg (1/2 Chicago/ Conundrum)
    10. Lorraine Graham (Sothern California/ Spooks By Me)

    ...we're still thinking about who for Los Angeles, we have a couple prospects but...if you can recommend someone please do...


    ...currently listening to Squarepusher Selection Sixteen...

    ...

    currently at work on a Creeley workshop from 83'...Creeley speaks at length about Dorn, Olson, Oppen, ex-patriotism (decidly not in favor, "ex-patriots are a bore"), Francis Crick, Freud, The Fugs, the Pound BBC interviews ("you cannot have poetry without curiosity!"), Eliot, fascism, Canadians, and Vietnam...

    Ginsberg makes some astute comments...Peter Orlovsky doesn't...

    it's warm out today, upper 60's, i don't like it...can't wait until Thursday, supposed to be in the 30's...

    but here's the real Daniel...

    Mar 5, 2006

    there's always room for Jello...

    so, this thursday, 7:00 PM sharp, you can find me working Jello Biafra's merch table at the Boulder Theater...

    oh those merch tables...last time i worked a merch table was after my old crew AAC/ Headquaters (what!) opened up for...hmmm...should i risk coming off like a dick and name drop...oh what the hell...my old crew AAC/ Headquaters opened up for Outkast and the Black Eyed Peas at Maratime Hall in SF (RIP...this was in either 99 or 00)...it's a bit foggy now...but, it was super fun...working the merch table that is, AND performing of course...i sold an AAC/ Headquaters t-shirt to Melky of the hip hop duo Melky Sedek...Melky is the brother of Wyclef Jean and Sedek is the sister...pretty good, now defunct (as far as i know) rap/r&b group (they were also opening)...anyway, Melky was a really fun guy, and blunted as all hell...i didn't want to come off like poser so when i asked him to sign his cd i asked him to make it out to my little brother...stupid...but back then i was an egomaniacial little punk ass hip hopper...brimming with false pride...i'm trying to get my friend and fellow crew founder Daniel Pascal to send this amazing photo he has of 1/2 of the crew down in Fresno (breaking show) from like 98'...it's hilarious...we're all wearing white K-Swiss shoes with fat laces, what!!! (i'll post it if he can find it)

    my fondest and most surreal memory of that night was a couple hours before the show backstage, all the performers including: my whole crew, Big Boi, Andre 3000, Apple (of BEP) eating a spaghetti dinner together...i mean, wtf?! you know...there's Apple, with red sauce on his chin shooting the shit with me...the ufin' beat!

    too bad that crew busted...the b-boys's heads were too big to fit the bill...that's why to this day i love AND hate b-boys...man, the egos on those kids is phenomenal...i mean, were talking fist fights within the crew, one of them i shamfully took part in...and these guys were probably within the top 15 dancers in the Bay Area, easy...and if you're familiar with b-boy culture in the Bay then you know that's saying something...i mean, A Tribe Called Quest wanted the dancers from AAC to go on tour with them for The Love Movement...and then they broke up...Tribe that is...i've lost touch with most of them...Eric and Daniel went to Iraq and thankfully came back safely (this is Daniel (he looks like a meanie but he's all PLUR, he's going to hate me for posting this)...

    (though on my last trip home over x-mas Daniel told me he had been shot 6 times in LA a week after he got back...as he tells it, he's getting out of his car at a Safeway about to do some grocery shopping when this dude said something to him...in Daniel's words, and he says so regretfully "so, i'm just back from Iraq, i'm like, i just fought a war, so who is this punk ass to say shit to me..." so Daniel says something back, the guy pulls his gun and starts shooting...Daniel runs around his car to dodge the bullets, dude follows, still shooting, Daniel is hit, and then hit and then hit and then some...he told me it was like being chased with a squirt gun..it was so surreal...Eric came back and got married, i have no idea if he's living in the Bay...Sean, who was always the craziest member, is according to Daniel, still living in South Concord and crazy as all hell, this guy was a fucking liability...but we loved him...Issac as far as i know is the only ex-member still dancing...and making a living at it...we reconnected through myspace recently, he's still teaching breakdancing at a few local studios in the Bay, but mostly he makes his money off the myriad breaking videos he and his new crew put out...i guess they're pretty big time...as for the other members, i think Safari is in NY now, still MCing...the last thing i heard from him was on Grouch's 2003 album Crusader For Justice...Daniel is about to start junior college in the East Bay using his soldier's pension...i'm still djing though rarely out anymore...though i did have a semi-regular weekly at The Top in the Lower Haight before i moved to Boulder...i'll always DJ, i just hate the hip hop scene as a scene that it limits my level of participation...


    anyway, i just got back from a Bombay Gin meeting and felt lke digressing...

    ...currently listening to Spice 1 AmeriKKK's Nightmare...

    "i'm the East Bay Freddy Krueger!"
    —Spice 1

    retard...

    i guess the Academy Awards weren't on last night...maybe tonight...

    ...currently listening to The Sound Of Greece Vol. 6...

    Mar 4, 2006

    here's to success...

    and this is one of the many reasons Jessica and I should be working on an anthology together…



    we’re both huge Law & Order junkies…Jessica just sent me this photo of my future 4th dimensional/ 5th plateau wifey…the inimitable, talented, delectable Mariska Hagarty….

    …Jessica claims she has dibbs…no way man…no freakin’ way…


    ...side note...i was digitizing a Blaser tape a few weeks ago where much to my delight he professed his love for all things Law & Order...it's in the stars folks...

    ...currently listening to Sonic Youth Goo...

    settling in...

    okay, just got back from Liquor Mart where i purchased a tall-boy of Foster's and a 12 pack of Pabst...checked the mailbox and found that Michael Slosek's Drill issue 7 had arrived...i'm pretty sure the Academy Awards are on tonight...settling in...

    "Drill, issue 7, is completed. It's quite simply the best one yet. Cover art by Luke Daly, art work by Scott Shanley, a CD edited by Eric Unger with sound poetry by ric royer, jUStin!katKo, and Eric Unger. And 17 poets: Eric Unger, jUStin!katKO, Dorothea Lasky, Luke Daly, Aaron Lowinger, Barrett Gordon, Piers Hugill, Sheila Murphy, Tawrin Baker, Michael Slosek, Michael Koshkin, Maureen Thorson, Andrew Peterson, Francis Raven, Ian Duncan, and Derek Beaulieu. I'm ever so slowly mailing out issues to contributors - a good number of them should be in the mail on Monday. If you'd like an issue, please let me know via the House Press email address. Also, if you're going to be in Chicago in early April - Luke Daly, Eric Unger, and I will be reading (probably at Danny's) as a launch for both Drill and Spell magazine. Thanks to everyone who submitted work. Drill will return in the late summer or early fall with an 8th and final issue. I'll keep you posted."

    can't wait to did into it...all of it...


    ...currently listening to Sonic Youth Goo...(can you tell Sonic Youth is one of my favorite bands?...i'm going to try and get a picture with Thurston at the reading...tee hee...)

    anthology ish...

    go here for up to date info
  • 2008



  • ...currently listening to Sonic Youth Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star..."

    what's all this talk about a new anthology?

    Jessica Smith of Outside Voices has graciously asked me to edit the "West Coast" portion of a new anthology of younger poets (25-35) to be published in 2008...more details to come as the project moves forward...

    here's what Jessica had to say about the project on her blog:
  • looktouch


  • (if someone can teach me how to hyperlink my links i'd be grateful)

    for all my left-coast friends (loosely from Texas to Washington), expect solicitations with details forthcoming...

    ...thinking about going to the liquor store in a bit, grab some beer (burnt on whiskey for the weekend), watch the Academy Awards...

    ...currently listening to Sonic Youth Disappear Maxi Single"

    ...

    just woke up from a dream...i was at Fenway Park, opening day...Red Sox vs. A's...pregame...Red Sox fans were giving the few A's fans (appropriately decked out in green) a lot of friendly verbal hazing...i remember this one kid got up looking offended and shouted "calm down you guys, this is comedy, this is just baseball," and i got up immediately and shouted down to the kid "this isn't comdey!...this is DRAMA!...this is BASEBALL!!!"...ha! what a weirdly satisfying dream...

    i also dreamt that Dose One came to teach at the SWP...i was his faculty aid...and he was perpetually hung over...i remember introducing Dose to Alan Gilbert saying "Adam this is Alan Gilbert, he's an art critic, music critic and poet, he's written for Artforum and the Village Voice..."...wtf?

    and then i was skating down Monument Blvd. in Concord...my skateboard broke, a bunch of Scraps ran up on me about to beat my ass...i recognized one of them as my friend Oscar from highschool, Oscar quickly helped me up and introduced me to the guys...i remember the ghetto Spanish i spoke in highschool came back...it was all "que onda whey? and "simone whey"...and pats on the back...

    ...currently listening to Sole Uckrt...

    Mar 3, 2006

    boy wonder KK...

    didja know that Kevin K. is now officially #193 in the world for amazon.com reviews...?

    his amazon "project" (though i'm sure he wouldn't call it that) is probably the Arcades Project of our time...

    KK is a dreamboat...

    tangent: Jessica Smith (of Outside Voices) is planning a "Norton" anthology of youngsters (25-35) for a 2007 publication...we love Jessica...yes we do...

    still...currently listening to Sole Selling Live Water (can you believe this Bay Area Slump?!)...

    "selling live water to out of towners with cameras"
    —Sole

    "friends...how many of us have them...?"

    can i just say how much i appreciate the phone calls...are you guys prescient? the phone calls couldn't have come at a better time...

    first Brandon Brown, my best friend in SF...made me nostalgic and happy...thanks Brandon...




    and then Akilah Oliver just now...just to check in...which i love her for...




    don't worry, i'm not depressed or anything...far from it...but, it's good to hear familiar voices in an unfamiliar enviroment every now and then...and with Akilah, we can bond over that...

    ...currently listening to Sole Selling Live Water...(one of my favorite Yay Area records ever)...

    by the way, you should all buy Brandon Brown and Akilah Oliver's books...

    Composition As Explanation...

    okay, one of the things that's so cool about working on the Naropa U. archive project, besides the fantastic material, good pay and cool office, is the flexible hours...yet again, i couldn't sleep last night so i got up, worked out, showered, coffeed, and went to work...at 5 AM...woot woot...

    so, currently at work on a Robert Creeley class workshop from 1983 where he discusses all thigs Zukofsky and Stein...an amazing moment came twenty six minutes into the recording...in the middle of reading Zukofsky's A 11 Creeley begins quietly weeping...he continues reading the poem pausing along the way to try and gain composure...after he reads, the class is silent and he remarks "I can think of nothing more ridiculous than reading something that makes you want to cry and not crying..."...what a guy...

    a Creeley tick that i hadn't been aware of...while reading, if he messes up or bumbles a line he quickly interuptes himself saying out loud "wait a minute" and begins again...

    also, Creeley tells a funny story, with regard to work being a distraction, about stealing the girlfriend of (can't remember the first name, a painter) Rice, a good friend of his at Black Mountain...Rice was so busy with his work he had no idea Creeley and his girl had "fallen in love"...it was only when Rice had finally completed what ever painting he had been working on for the past months that he realized what was going on...for shame!

    Kaplan has nice reading report on Alice Notey...

    good readings coming up at Naropa, Tom Raworth later this month, and Bob Gluck as a seperate event later this month as well...don't forget the Bombay Gin event staring Thurston Moore, Jello Biafra and Anne Waldman on the 9th, and a couple others that i can't remember at the moment...

    the March issue of BOTH BOTH is looking to be one of the best yet...two of my favorite writers and an amazing cover...

    Mar 2, 2006

    Kansas City King Hillbilly...

    on the message machine last night from John Greiner...

    "hey Johnny Sack-is...this is Johnny Greiner, i just wanted to call and make sure that your moose was loose..."




    ...this is usually where John calls from...outside the Flea Market Bar "lookin' at all the beautiful women!"...



    ...and this is John peeing down by the river from my last visit...

    oh yeah, John's one of the best singer/songwriters in Kansas City, MO...
    god i love that boogan son of a bitch!

    ...currently listening to Sigur Ros sigur ros...

    Mar 1, 2006

    never mind the insomnia...

    because i woke up at 4 AM this morning i didn't have the energy to do much but eat some salami and chedder and watch Wedding Crashers...

    Wedding Crashers- wow! i wasn't really expecting to enjoy it...but i sure did...super funny...i usually hate Vince Vaughn (sp?)movies...like that fraternity movie (YUK) and, well i can't remember what else (Jurassic Park Pt. 2, though that doesn't really qualify as a Vaughn move, you know what i mean...they usually co-star Ben Stiller...YUK)...but yeah, i was laughing a lot..."you shut your mouth when you're talking to me!!!"

    Jim Behrle doesn't believe me that i ordered a "I Invented Flarf" t-shirt...medium black dooder...send that shit!

    and then i fell asleep late afternoon to the Sex Pistols playing which segued into The Shins which maybe or maybe not informed my alpha-sleep dreams...

    and then i went to the bar...got about 6 pages done on Palmer's poem "Echo" from First Figure...which prologue to the nap i thought was going to be impossible...prelim theis draft due friday...ouch...but not so ouch now that 6 more pages were added, AND i took tomorrow off work (sorry no "currently at work on" posts till friday)...i'll still have to explain to Anselm why i'm 5 pages short...

    wrote three poems for Mouf...(roughy rough)

    "the islands will
    be a grave
    for their children"

    which slept inside
    the rock
    which the mind
    is made up
    which exenterates
    the islands
    and then and then
    so it became
    an immediate rime

    which they will forget
    in a sense
    then go to sleep

    ...


    "the limit of the song is this
    prelude to a journey to
    the outer islands"

    his words are over
    the stain on the sheet

    the flower and so on
    the ink dries

    to the piles
    of flowers

    I did?

    which is also opal
    a long blue

    listeners at the crook
    of the brook

    ...

    I have been travelling
    a white strip
    my head is the meadow
    the carnelian
    weather or
    a small room in
    a steel vise
    I am a woman or
    a man been travelling
    into the details
    as it sounds
    to fuck the
    subject against
    the ceiling/ borders
    of the bathroom
    sulphur borders
    mirroring the brides
    waved an "odor of sulphur
    penetrated the rooom"


    ...currently listening to Shuggie Otis Inspiration Information...

    Flarf couture...



    have you bought your "I invented Flarf" tee yet?

    Eric Gelsinger made my insomniac ass laugh out loud at 4:30 this morning with his "And where the hell are they finding Danish flags in Iran, Afghanistan, and Libya."

    ...does a Notley/ Bok reading bill seem strange to anyone else...?...was it a strange reading? how did it go? any intersections?


    ...currently listening to Scarub Heavenbound...