Jun 30, 2006

ole!

just wanted to say that i'm here...i got into town late wednesday night after driving for 20 straight hours from Boulder to Concord...i didn't stop for breakfast, lunch or dinner though i had trail mix and apples...i stopped to pee twice though not at rest areas but on the side of the highway...i became extremely delerious as i approched Reno...i remember flipping off Reno and shouting "eat shit Reno!!!"...i'm not sure why, though i remember blowing a kiss to Sacramento and shouting "it's Sacramento!!!"...i'm pretty sure i know why...

B. "Branbo" Brown and A. "A-dub/ White Male Poet" Warren are making me dinner tonight...i think i'll bring them some wine and give them lot's of kisses...

Francois, i think i'm going to go skate around this afternoon...meet me at Woodside Elementary?

Jun 26, 2006

gyeah...

"ekrem: thanks for mentioning matt damon. armand c. sounds perfect as the matt damon of the po-scene ... well, not so much anymore, with that Captain Kirk business."

on the fly poem for G.M....

Is There Any Difference Between Treakers And Cranksters?

for Gina Myers

"I'm a dangerous man with six different spellings"
lead me back to Walnut Creek or
writing those whom you love are often feverish
send them to class and hope for his
sweating chest made him cold
at the jeep he hallucinated three
or five history teachers humping on about
Nasa for a few glamourless seconds

about the bag or a lightbulb
hollowed out in love despite
his unreasonable love for Stargate SG-1
and the blue leaves he watched in the
backyard for comfort as
he stole tiny plastic viles of air
to fill with "Paz" in his pocket
and someone maybe told me his dad
owned a gun store as smoke like
cotton filled his fan and smelled
like a sweet refinery outside of town

...currently listening to Blondie Parellel Lines...

...

"a bag of items, for you Bill Murray" —The GZA...or, my hed...it hoits...

i wrote a poem this morning...

Wake up in the mornin' and i raise my weary head
i've got an old coat for a pillow
and the earth as last night's bed
don't know where i'm goin'
only God knows where i've been
i'm a devil on the run, a six gun lover
a candle in the wind

i'm goin' down in a blaze of glory

...

just had one of those great nights at the bar where you meet really cute girls at the bar...leave bar with girls...go have adventures with girls...girls names are Annie and Jacque...and then at the end of the night (right now!) their names are Anne and Jessie, and my name is Josh...

so it goes!!!

...currently listening to my body saying it's really tired and should get some sleep...

oh yeah, the 8-ball says i'm going to die in Utah...

Jun 25, 2006

herm to the herm...

this afternoon, did i really hear Roger Ebert compare Larry Clark's new flick Wassup Rockers to Ferris Bueller's Day Off?!!!

and what's up with Edward Norton being the new voice over spokesperson for Miller Lite?!!!

watched The Italian Job and Finding Neverland and Jeepers Creepers 2...loved the first two, liked the latter...

...currently listening to So Called Artists Paint By Numbers Songs...

faux-hawk stage/ brother and sister at S. Gevirtz's house stage...




currently drinking tasty margaritas stage...

...currently listening to Radiohead Pablo Honey...

and speaking of chapbooks...

I'm sending out this note to request review copies of any chapbooks
published within the last year.
I write a new chapbook review column for Rain Taxi, the second of which
appears in the summer 2006 issue, and features: Pritts; Loden; Elmslie;
Hell/Shapiro; Cole; Schultz; and Nowak.

Please send to:

Noah Eli Gordon
195 Jackson ST #35
Denver, CO 80206

i'm moving home!

heading out at aprox. 4:30 am on wednesday morning, should be back in town by mid-friday...

back to the Bay Area! bye Boulder!

my new addy is
John Sakkis
967 San Simeon Dr.
Concord, CA 94518

...currently listening to Presage Outer Perimeter...

Jun 24, 2006

i was a 10th level wizard...or, magic missiles in the hizz...

  • Francois "Texas is where i belong" luong counter attacks, roll a d20 and let the games begin!


  • ...currently listening to The Buzzcocks Operators Manual...

    hey Francois, as they say in French "it's on motherfucker!!!" or Toulouse Lautrec vs. Yankee Doodle Dandie...

    i, John "merk-the-jerk" Sakkis declare war on Francois "your baby's mama" Luong for the heart and photography of Miss Claire...granted Francois has the better hair (awesome hair!) but i've got the guns! though if i was Claire i'd go for Fox Mulder...







    sousaphone!!!

    ...currently listening to Prefuse 73 One Word Extinguisher

    Jun 23, 2006

    ...

    eh...nevermind...

    Jun 22, 2006

    ...

    in the key of Kerri check out the new "Books Read" link at the lefthand sidebar...

    picked up Alan Gilbert's Another Future Poetry And Art In A Postmodern Twilight...

    ...currently listening to Del The Funky Homosapien No Need For Alarm...

    "boo boo head boo boo heads"
    —Del

    woot wooter!

    "If you are a John Sakkis fan you will find a rich catalog of John Sakkis Books right here."

    kick ass! evidently i've written a gaggle of books, enough to warrant a "rich catalog"...i guess they're available on the internet...

    ...currently listening to Odd Nosdam No More Wig For Ohio...

    blog...

  • Kerri Sonnenberg
  • has a blog much like Andre has a posse though not like a cliched phenomenological wheat-poster campaign cum corporate-hipster-wank...

    Kerri just left for Rettalack workshop. i'm drinking a Pabst. no netflix in the mail today. heading home on wednesday.

    ...currently listening to Odd Nosdam No More Wig For Ohio...

    the homie Kate Pringle...

  • waxes Brandon Brown's new chappy chap from Cy Press Memoirs Of My Nervous Illness"


  • hi Kate!

    ...currently listening to Sex Pistols Never Mind The Bollocks...

    i declare today Magie Day...

    cause i'm a sappy ma' fucker...by the way, neither Magie or i 'ride the yellow bus,' though sometimes we both 'get dumb'...

    an archived memory from Magie:

    "FROM JOHN:
    'don't like' is too stong...i DO like you...you're just incredibly annoying sometimes..."




    whatever.

    so,
  • Brandon Brown
  • claims he has a new blog...YOU DECIDE!

    ...currently listening to The Notwist Neon Golden...

    Narrow House...



    ...currently listening to Neu! Neu!...

    ...

    here's to Elza-Rob (Elizabeth Robinson)!!!

    E.R. passed on her new book Under That Silky Roof (Burning Deck) tonight after a fabulous dinner at her place...

    hey Elizabeth and Ken, you guys are the best...

    love,
    John

    ...currently listening to N.E.R.D. nerd...

    Jun 21, 2006

    wed...

    woke up this morning with a stomach ache...i ate half a watermelon last night before bed...

    going to take Kerri up the Rattle Snake Gulch Trail (RSGT) this afternoon...RSGT is like my Niagara Falls, my default visitor's attraction...and for good reason, it's fucking amazing...rock formations like nowhere else on earth, violent, mean rock formations, jagged, salient, abusive rock formations, green, blue and red rock formations...and then at the top of the trail is the Continental Divide Overlook...

    a great reading last night with Eleni Sikelianos, Joan Retallack, Elizabeth Robinson and Tonya Foster...especially into Robinson's new calligraphic poems...Eleni read from The California Poem as well as some newer work from The Body Clock...Retallack read from her Post-Apollo book Memoir which i enjoyed though was hard to hear as she was the last reader in a 2 hour event...Foster read a long poem ("sort of") about New Orleans which i liked...

    read:

    Batman Anarky- Alan Grant (DC)
    Elsewhere- Gary Sullivan
    Analfabeto/ An Alphabet- Ellen Baxt (Dusie)
    Dusky- Jocelyn Saidenberg (Belladonna)
    RecollecTed- Jared Hayes (Dusie)

    ...currently listening to DJ Spooky Necropolis...

    Jun 20, 2006

    from my boy Daniel...




    Ever loving Family & Friends,

    As you all may know, I am a Vet of the green machine, known as the United States Marine Corps. I have also sacrificed blood, sweat, and tears for this artificially stamped "War to free the people of Iraq". Now days, I spend most of my time serving as a voice for my brothers and sisters in harms way. I understand it is not their duty to analyze and understand the reasons why they have been taken from their families, here in the States, to give so called freedom to the people of Iraq. The one and only subject they should be focused on is how to stay alive. Earlier today I caught a splash of harsh reality.

    While I was at work, a co-worker informed me of the death of her cousin in Iraq that was a Soldier. This hit close to home because the fallen soldier, not to be named, was from Pittsburg. A small city close to where I live in Concord. My co-worker gave me the privilege to read the generic, copy and pasted, letter that was sent to her mourning Grandmother. When I read the letter that was printed with the House seal, my stomach turn four times fold after very word that was read. It was amazing to read the choice of words of my beloved concerned Government. I lost my barring when I read the second paragraph. It mentioned the reasons why this Soldier sacrificed his life. It read regarding his death, making the ultimate sacrifice defending our country's freedom & security, and our American values". Is this true?

    I will leave it up to you to decide. All I ask is for you to think. You do not have to agree with me by any means. Please think!! Did this man, brother, fellow American give his life for "defending our freedom & security, and American values"? I thought we went to war for "Iraqi Freedom", Iraqi security, and Iraqi values. Or is it a little closer to expanding and maintaining American economic freedom and security, by forcing our American Christian values?

    With this in thought, today was a sad day of reality for me, yet again. I read something once that got the gears rolling in my head. "If war is the answer, then we are asking the wring question". What is the question we are asking? What kind of answers are we giving? Let me know what you think.

    Rest in Peace to all the recent fallen Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, Airmen, husbands, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters family members, and friends that have past in this conflict. You will be missed and loved. Bless you all!


    Daniel Pascual

    "Sergeant of Marines"

    Jun 19, 2006

    "dumpin' em in ditches" —Spice 1

    key word "ditch (es)"

    so yeah, i skipped on the Laughing Goat Lewis MacAdams and Michael Price reading...too many creepy crawly "open mike'rs" for my taste (or patience)...unfortunatly the bounce meant that i couldn't catch the bound to be interesting screening of Lewis MacAdams and Richard Lerner's film "What Happend To Kerouac?"...we all have to make sacrifices though, no?

    tomorrow morning going to attend the Panel: Ecology with Lewis MacAdams, Michael McClure and Eleni Sikelianos...

    currently listening to Ziyia From The Mountains...

    Joe Cooper es mi favorito!!!

    and how could he not be?! just look at the guy!!!



    Kerri (Sonnenberg) arrived this morning, got her settled in then took her to campus...
    ...we just got back from a nice lunch at the Boulder Cafe...i had a Gorgonzola salad, she had some kind of vegie wrap with cucumber sauce...we both had water...she's in class with Joan Rettallack until 6:30, then off to the bar with us!

    E-Rob (Elizabeth Robinson) gave an interesting talk this afternoon called "Ecology of Beauty"...topics included: irony vs. beauty in contemporary poetry, Wallace Stevens and George Albon, Retallack, Duncan on Olson, SF community etc etc...


    ...currently listening to Ziyia Travels With Karagiozis (just came in the mail!!!)

    Jun 18, 2006

    Tears From Heaven or STOP "collaborate and listen"...

    if anyone has seen Adam Venter, holler at me...

    read Holiday In Tikrit- Keith Tuma & jUStin !katKO (Critical Documents) (i liked, anaphora erasure with a splash of government censoring-stylings) (thanks for sending jUStin)

    in the mail, Elsewhere #2- Gary Sullivan (haven't read yet, looks amazing though, thanks for sending Gary)

    i saw Akilah Oliver last night, i thought she was still in NYC, i'm glad she's back so i can say goodbye proper...super good news for Akilah, Coffee House has picked up her poetry manuscript for publication sometime in the near future (we hope!)...and then look for an Akilah Oliver Belladonna chap later this summer...the lovely lovely Akilah...

    i hate the American World Cup announcers catch phrase "showed up"...as in, "so Stan, do you think the Americans will show up today for the match" or, "Yeah Mike, the Mexican team really showed up today" or, "Brazil shows up everytime they play, that's why they're the best team in the world"...i want to punch them in the throat when they say that...

    ...currently listening to a mash up of the France South Korea match and Anticon Presents Music For The Advancement Of Hip Hop...

    Jun 17, 2006

    ...

    i hate people who say "Vegas Baby!"...

    ...currently listening to Mark Farina Mushroom Jazz 3...

    Jun 16, 2006

    zzzz...

    I am a excalibur!
    Find your own pose!



    ...currently listening to Sonic Youth Murray Street...

    Hot Whiskey reading #2 (a L. Moriarty-style "paparazzi" reading report...)

    Noah Eli Gordon and Sara Veglahn

    Kate Sloan Fiffer

    Abbey Pleviak

    me!



    i might add, i've recieved a bunch of goodies in the mail over the last week or so...

    1. RecollecTed- Jared Hayes (Dusie)
    2. My Spaceship- ed. by Mark Lamoureux (Cy Gist Press)
    3. Hot Whiskey Presents- reading #2 chapbook, ed. Michael Koshkin and Jen Rogers (Hot Whiskey)
    4. That We Come To A Consensus- Noah Eli Gordon and Sara Veglahn (Ugly Duckling Presse) (thanks for the handoff Noah!!!)
    5. The Frequencies a poem- Noah Eli Gordon (Tougher Disguises) (thanks for the handoff Noah!!!)
    6. The Area Of Sound Called The Subtone (Ahsahta Press) (thanks for the handoff Noah!!!)
    7. Tract- Jon Leon (Dusie)
    8. Laws- Jen Hofer (Dusie)
    9. Dispatch- Marci Nelligan (Dusie)
    10. Been Raw Diction- David. B Goldstein (Dusie)
    11. Holiday In Tikrit- Keith Tuma and jUStin !katKO (Critical Documents)
    12. photo of ass pin -girl from Denver
    13. Dusky- Jocelyn Saidenberg (Belladonna)

    ...currently listening to Sonic Youth Murray Street...(anyone want to see SY with me in Sacto later this year?)

    House Of Raging Women...

    "i just dropped my Bic lighter on my privates!!!"
    —J. Sakkis

    "soccer...ha! look at that, there's more going on in the stands than on the field..."
    —Random man at the bar sitting next to me during the Angola/ Mexico game

    "those fucking liberals, like when they made not wearing your seatbelt a capital offence"
    —Random man at the bar sitting next to me during the Angola/ Mexico game

    "like, 'diversity' means what they want it, fuck it! i'm a fuckin' smoker"
    —Random man at the bar sitting next to me during the Angola/ Mexico game (in reference to the new "smoking ban in bars" law recently passed in CO...)


    ...currently listening to Murs Murs Rules The World...

    Taxt!

    one of my favorite people in San Francisco, Suzanne Stein, oi oi!!!, latest issue of BOTH BOTH...oi oi!!! has started a chapbook press
  • Taxt Press
  • ...

    peepers.

    just finished season 4 of Oz...kaboom!

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

    Jun 15, 2006

    um...

    um, John Ashbery just "friended" me on myspace...

    Hot Whiskey reading report (photos) coming tomorrow...

    and then the Jared Hayes/ Reed Bye/ Ted Berrigan "crankster" conversation at the corner bar...oh man!


    ...currently listening to The Doors Morrison Hotel...

    come see me read tonight with...


    Hot Whiskey Reading Series ..2: A Celebration of Small Press Editors

    w

    Abbey Pleviak (Wyrd Tree)
    John Sakkis (Both Both)
    Kate Sloan Fiffer (Wyrd Tree)
    Noah Eli Gordon (Braincase)

    7:30pm at Trident Coffeeshop (in the backyard)
    Pearl Street and 10th-ish Boulder, CO


    Bring a flask and take a load off!

    Jun 14, 2006

    the wifey...

    just found out that she's 1/2 Turkish! i'm not joking...somehow Rania (sister) only learned of this today...this whole time we thought she was full Egyptian-(American)...go figure!

    yes, the bikini pic is a TOTAL objectification of my gal (so what? i'm allowed)...and yes, i've posted the bar picture of the two of us like, a million times...(GAWD i'm boring!)...




    it's probably 197 degrees out today in Boulder...i've put my head under the cold shower stream (a la Do The Right Thing) probably 6 times this afternoon, at least...

    ...currently listening to Air Moon Safari...

    Bombay Gin #32 ordering information...

    may seem a bit pricy for an university lit. mag but i think it's worth it...it's a big book (over 353 pgs.) filled with amazing work...thanks for your support!

    "For now please have people mail book orders to:

    Bombay Gin
    Attn: Book Orders
    Naropa University
    2130 Arapahoe Ave
    Boulder, CO 80302

    Or drop them by to me or email: swall@naropa.edu with Bombay Gin book order in the subject.

    The book is $14. Plus $4 shipping and handling for one book, $6 shipping for 2-4 books."

    ...currently listening to Cat Power Moon Pix...

    Bombay Gin #32 is here!

    as some of you know i served as translation editor for
    Bombay Gin #32...it's been a great year of reading/
    soliciting/ selecting/ editing and publishing...so,
    Bombay Gin #32 is here!...here's the list of the
    translation contributions...

    1. Etel Adnan (essay on translation)
    2. Nyuyen Thi Hoang Bac translated by Linh Dinh
    3. Zhang Er translated by Rachel Levitsky
    4. Seyhan Erozcelik translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat
    5. Laura Solorzano translated by Jen Hofer
    6. Daniil Kharms translated by Matvei Yankelevich
    7. Daniil Kharms translated by Eugene Ostashevsky
    8. Abdallah Zrika translated by Pierre Joris
    9. Shimon Ballas translated by Ammiel Alcalay and Oz
    Shelach
    10. Augusto de Campos translated by Samuel Knights
    11. Benjamin Hollander and Brandon Brown (epistolary
    exchange)
    12. Mahmoud Darwish translated by Rick London and
    Omnia Amin
    13. Rachel Blau DuPlessis translated into Greek by
    Demosthenes Agrafiotis (i edited a section called "In
    Other Words" where poets/translators from other
    countries translated American poets into their own
    languages)
    14. Georg Trakl translated by Andrew Joron
    15. Daniil Kharms translated by Thomas Epstein and
    Eugene Ostashevsky
    16. Amelia Rosselli translated by Jenifer Scappettone
    17. CA Conrad translated into German by Holger
    18. Jaqueline Risset translated by Norma Cole
    19. Venus Khoury-Ghata translated by Norma Cole
    20. Kalidasa translated by Henry Schliff
    21. K. Silem Mohammad translated into Italian by
    Gherardo Bortolotti
    22. Jean Grosjean translated by Keith Waldrop
    23. Ernst Jandl translated by Rosemarie Waldrop
    24. Barbara Kohler translated by Rosemarie Waldrop
    25. Friedrich Holderlin translated by Maxine Chernoff
    and Paul Hoover
    26. Brandon Brown (essay on translation)
    27. Tamura Ryuichi translated by Luke Kearns
    28. Chet Wiener (essay on translation)
    29. Heinrich Heine translated by Jerome Rothenberg

    i wish i could direct anyone interested in purchasing
    a copy to our website but it still hasn't been
    updated because we're lame...as soon as it is i'll post the address...

    giant is to shrimp as myspace is to secret shows...

    "MySpace Secret Shows

    Sign up with MySpace Secret shows now! You'll always be the first to know about secret shows by your favorite bands in your hometown. Trust us, you'll wanna be there."

    ...currently listening to DJ Spooky Modern Mantra...

    Jun 13, 2006

    ...

    "Because you are wasting less of your life on stupid shit."
    —PZA

    ...

    currently thinking about doing something really stupid...

    ...currently listening to Deerhoof Milk Man...

    John Greiner...

    Kansas City's finest at his recent show in SF...





  • don't you just love it when you can honestly say to yourself "he's not only one of my best friends, i'm also truely one of his biggest fans..."?




  • ...currently listening to Beck Midnite Vultures...(an album i don't really like, except for "Peaches And Cream")

    Gyorgy Ligeti 1923-2006

    Jun 12, 2006

    some little bittle poems...(after some Jameson, so, forgive...)

    for Brandon Brown

    at the Tobe
    on deck like
    slangin' mac and cheese
    to the hippies
    slangin' foodies
    at the Mission

    for Armand C.

    you call yourself "farm
    clown" as if your pants
    weren't fresh enough
    for San Francisco

    for Jessica Smith

    a game we play
    as kids, hop
    hop scotch
    Ba-Gok kids in
    a raver crew from
    Concord, CA

    for Francois Luong

    why Sweden
    why South Korea
    the World Cup does
    doubles on the NBA

    for Michael Koshkin

    without your computer
    i'd be in the galleys
    without your cat
    i'd be green

    for Jared Hayes

    when you throw
    the ball at my face
    i go "Whoop" like
    a catcher caught
    yellow

    for Alli Warren

    BB makes me feel
    warm inside
    when he cooks for you
    (awwww)

    for James Sakkis

    Pontic! kid
    gone wild

    for Magie Kalifalla

    someone told me
    Doric means Egypt
    and your mom's humas
    means husband

    for Angelos Sakkis

    getting slapped in the face
    by your wife
    in L.A.
    was an eye-opener
    for David

    for SnowLion Apartments

    everytime i do laundry
    women in bathing suits ask
    how i'm doing

    for Naropa University

    clean
    the
    fuck
    up!

    Pontiaka...

    The main instrument used in Pontic music is the "kemenche" ("lyra" in modern Greek), a bottle-shaped, 3-stringed fiddle played in the upright position. Traditionally, other instruments used are the "tulum" (a double chanter bagpipe with no drone that is also played in other parts of Eastern Turkey and Georgia); the "davul" (a double-headed drum); and occasionally, the "zurna" (double reed oboe) and more rarely a flute. Modern Pontic bands use keyboards, guitar, drums and sometimes clarinet and violin - but always the "kemenche" as well.
    Most of the music is based around the dance; but there are also songs that are sung or played in the "moiralogia" or "epitrapezio" free rhythm style.

    The oldest known Pontic dance is probably the "serra" or "pyrrikheos", a pyrrhic dance that is described by Xenophon in the 4th century B.C. A mens' war dance, it is sometimes danced with knives or short swords similar to the Caucasian kinjal.

    The most commonly used mode is the Phrygian/Ushak type, although Hijaz is also used and recently the Western minor scale is being played in many songs. Both the instrumental and vocal styles are heavily ornamented and in many cases instruments will try to mimic other instrumental styles e.g. kemenche playing in tulum style. The melodic range of many of the songs, especially the older ones, is a fifth or less. The music is played around shifting centres, the most common being {I, III, II, VII, I} {I, IV, VII, I} {I, VI, VII, I}. Some of the older melodies will centre on the second and the seventh below only hitting the tonic on the last note of the verse or occasionally, never resolving to the tonic but constantly switching between second and seventh.

    The older style singing is very glottal Caucasus and Persian influenced but this is being lost. Some dances such as Shairanitsa, Kots, Sarigouz, and Lechina are unique in that they have only one melody. Others are imported such as the Russian "Kazaska" and "Tash" a 6/8 dance from the Caucasus, a variant of the originially Daghestani but now pan Caucasian dance Lezginka.

    Pontic music - with ancient rhythms and sung in Pontic Greek (a mixture of Ancient and Byzantine Greek, Ottoman Turkish, as well as some Persian and Caucasian words) - has influenced and been influenced by other cultures of the area. For example, the music of the Caucasian Laz peoples in Turkey is very similar - same instruments and styles, but with not as many dance forms and much less decorated ornaments. In comparison, the Laz kemenche is slightly thinner than the Pontic instrument and is sometimes called "zil kemence" by Pontic musicians. This thin kemenche was also the only one played by Pontic Greeks before 1922, the thicker version that is played now was created in Greece after the Exchange .

    There are variations in musical style and instrumentation within the Pontic area. The kemenche and tulum are prevalent in the Eastern regions around Trabzon, Of, Surmene and Giresun while Western Pontos especially Ak Dag Maden is stylistically closer to local Turkish music with the Halay being common. Kars, in the east is known for clarinet and accordian styles.

    As well, there is the "kemane", a sort of large kemenche with four main and four sympathetic strings, similar but with fewer strings than that played in the Cappadocia region of Turkey by the Karamanli Christians. Some of the Karamanli argued against being transferred to Greece in 1923, saying although they were Orthodox Christians they were not of Greek lineage but descended from the pre-Byzantine indigenous population. They speak their own language, Karamanlidika, written with Greek characters but loosely based on Turkish, yet when they were transferred to Greece they were settled within the Pontic community.

    There is a relationship between Pontic music and that of Iran, the Caucasus and Central Asia. For example, the Kochari melody can be found in the Caucasus, in Iranian and Kurdish areas and as far east as Pakistan and Afghanistan. In many of these areas, even the name is the same. As well several of the rhythms and melodies of other Pontic songs and dances are found in Afghanistan (especially the North) and Uzbekistan and Central Asia in general. Numerous other 5/8 and 7/8 melodies played by Pontic musicians can also be found in Iranian areas. Several Dipat rhythm melodies can be found in Bektashi/Alevi communities in Turkey.

    Recently, - due to its high energy - Pontic music has also influenced the music of southern Yugoslavia and even other parts of Greece itself. Today, a large proportion of Greek singers of all styles are Pontic in origin.

    ...currently listening to Ziyia From The Mountains To The Islands...(Ziyia is a Greek Folk group from Albany (Bay Area), they're probably the most talented group of Greek Folk musicians in the US...their song "Ta Daoulia Kroun" being the Pontic beat!)

    full on Pontic-style Greek dancing...

    just think of the heaviest, most insane drumming you could possibly imagine under what sounds like a screeching bagpipe (i can't remember what the instrument is actually called but my brother and sister are both national gold medal Greek dancers (FDF) and they describe it as a goat carcass...literally...the instrument is a dried up goat carcass! the sounds are made pneumatically from the stomach of the dried animal!!! with a Greek (male) baritone vocalist probably out of his mind on ouzo and hash singing about the woes of his village...then you've got a feel for what the Pontic style is...Pontic makes me crazy, seriously, it shits on ANY hip hop beat...bam bam BOOM BOOM BOOM TAP TAP bam bam BOOM BOOM BOOM TAP TAP TSK TSK TSK TSK bam bam bam bam bam BOOM BOOM BOOM TAP TAP TSK TSK TSK TSK TSK...heaven!





    Ekrem...

    just wanted to give a shout out to
  • Ekrem Serdar Berk
  • who i've been having a most interesting conversation with for the last couple of hours (comment boxing and email)...Ekrem is a Turk, i'm a Greek-American...not that that should matter but for some it does, for Ekrem and i it also does, but in the most productive sort of way...topics included: Greek/ Turkish foods (the scandal!), Greek gyros/ Turkish gyros (our collective frustration with finding either/ or), Murat Nemet-Nejat, Siarita Kouka/ Demosthenes Agrafiotis, antagonism among our cultures, tsatsiki sauce, Turkish/ Greek coffee (decidedly Turkish, come on now...), our parents/ where they're from/ how that affects their outlook on things political, translator's symposiums, folk music, feta cheese (yes!), raki or ouzo (the conundrum), the historical movements of purifying the Greek language of Turkish influence (called Kethurevisa)/ purifying the Turkish language of Greek influence (or is it just Western influence?), Cyprus etc etc...

    i really want to share a drink with Ekrem...Yamas (Greek for cheers!) and Serefe (Turkish for to honor!)...

    yamas/ serefe,
    xo-john

    ...currently listening to Frederic Chopin Masters Of Classical Music Vol. 8...wishing i were listening to some Pontic Greek folk music...Pontic is drum heavy (the hyphy'est of Greek folk music) that shares more than a little in common with traditional Turkish folk music...in fact, the picture of me and my brother with our arms up, shoulders thrust forward, is the traditional Pontic style of dance...

    "whoa-oh, KCMO, whoa-oh, KCMO!!!" -Tech 9

    well, not so much 'whoa-oh KCMO' as whoa-oh Moe-OH...

  • makin' Jack Collom jealous and shit...


  • ...currently listening to Ludwig van Beethoven Masters Of Classical Music Vol. 3...

    me and my little brova at the top of the Rattle Snake Gulch Trail...



    ...currently listening to Giuseppe Verdi Masters Of Classical Music Vol. 10...

    Get On The Wagon!

  • tea drinkers go home!


  • ...currently listening to Television Marquee Moon...

    hey Dan Hoy...

    thanks for sending Soft Targets! it's gorgeous, and enormous...it's gornormous!

    ...currently listening to Sole Mansbestfriend...

    ...

    Greeks as "healthy cosmic jocks"
    —Robbins

    GREEK DANCE PARTY IN MY BEDROOM!!! with bro and sis...last week...





    my friend Armand in gorgeous!

    Armand is the guy all the way on the right...this is probably one of the coolest pictures i've ever seen of him...beautiful!



    currently at work on a Ginsberg tape from '82...boo!

    Jun 11, 2006

    what i had for dinner...a tragedy...



    oh, and i watched disc 2 season 4 of Oz...

    and then i watched Mexico wreck shop on Iran...boo!

    ...currently listening to The Grouch Making Perfect Sense...(what's up Corey!) (side note (itty bitty name drop moment): Grouch aka Corey
  • Living Legend
  • used to come to my house a bunch back in the day before he was like the king of independent rap music, he was best friends with my cousin Petro (who just graduated from Wharton and is now living in China) from Skyline High in Oakland...both Petro and Corey were also friends with the Heiro kids (Souls of Mischief what?!)...anyway, Corey used to drive his huge purple cadi over to my house to play pool, air hockey and basketball, he'd always beat me at everything as he was 6 years older (he didn't seem to think this was unfair)...so, if you listen to Corey's first album, the Bay Area classic, "Don't Talk To Me" check out the song "Car Troubles"...that's all Petro and Corey in the purple cadi...i think the chorus goes something like "fuck my car fuck the thieves for trying to take my shit/ fuck my car for always simply trying to break and shit/ fuck insurance fuck the motherfuckin' DMV/ and fuck the traffic court judge for not believin' me"

    "if i had a flat tire you'd probably pass/ and if you stopped i'd better watch my ass"
    —Grouch

    new blogs!

    and then another one, Mr.
  • Jon Leon
  • just alerted me to his blog...


    currently watching the Iran/ Mexico match...never thought i'd say this but, GO IRAN!!!

    Jun 10, 2006

    and then...

  • Susana Gardner
  • of Dusie has created a blog (oops not created, but currently dedicated to) to review the Dusie Kollektiv's collective chapbook exchange...this has been one of the coolest community experiment's i've ever been a part of...go Susana!

    ...currently listening to Mystik Journeymen Magic...

    new blog...

  • Standard Schaefer
  • just alerted me to his blog...maybe not SO new but new to me...

    ...currently listening to Mad Season Mad Season...

    wiffle!



    ...currently listening to !!! Louden Up Now...

    Jun 9, 2006

    poem to the mask...




    To My Pity I Owe Decadence
    for the John Sakkis mask

    her, the paler skin of his body
    her, from tower to deep cellar
    Lessa sat rebelliously down on the fur-covered wall seat
    the tray on the low table in front of her
    she would not waste future opportunities
    she was the yellow of tempting winter fruit
    'we're going to compose a poem!'
    the moment the idea becomes indigenous
    we are meat, bread, a pitcher of KLAH
    we are imagined, a fragile rebellion in the deep throat

    by Anatra di Battimento
    translated by Michael Koshkin

    ps. the "John Sakkis" mask was going to be worn by an unnamed poet at graduation as he streaked the stage...fortunately for my parents that idea was scrapped...

    ...currently listening to The Ramones Loud, Fast Ramones...

    one of the reasons i'm going to miss boulder...

    is because it's 80 out right now and pouring rain...none of that in the Bay...

    looking at the "we're the kids in the Bay Area, oi oi!!!" posts and realizing it's all coming to an end...my stay in Boulder that is...a little sad but so so so so SO going to be happy to get back to all my delicious friends...you're all beautiful and amazing and i've missed you more than you can imagine (hi BB!)...and ongoing, the series that is...i can only upload the photos at work, fast computer...so, a few more to come...

    going to order a huge pizza and watch American Psycho...

    ...currently listening to The Ramones Loud, Fast Ramones...

    Rizzo in the Hizzo...

    and then check out
  • Chris's
  • dismantling of Silliman's reading of the new Cy Gist anthology, My Spaceship...

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

    May BB...

    okay folkers! the May issue of BOTH BOTH is printed and ready to mail tomorrow...

    May issue features wonderful new work from Suzanne Stein (one of the Bay Area kids, oi oi!!!) and Michael Koshkin (translating Anatra di Battimento) with special cover art from Anthony Dines...look for it in your mailboxes in the coming days...

    this afternoon after printing BB Michael and Jen began work on the cover for Hot Whiskey mag #2...i've always wondered what the silk-screen process entailed and today i found out...let me say this (no spoilers though), #2's cover is the beat! beautiful, meticulous attention to detail which we've come to expect from ALL Hot Whiskey endeavors with a twitch of sardonic humor aimed maybe at all of us "post-avants"...it's going to be a fun issue that will undoubtadly sellout fast so order your copy while they're still around...

    also purchased from Michael and Jen, Joseph Massey's Bramble and Anselm Palatore's The Squalicum Harbor Suite...at $5 a pop i felt like i was ripping them off...i went ahead and gave them $20 asking that they just send what ever two projects come out next...those projects probably being Anne Waldman's new chap (i saw the proof today, looks fantastic) and Hot Whiskey mag #2...can't wait to get my greedy hands (and nose, with respect to the mag) on them...

    yesterday read:

    A Poem- Cheryl Quimba (Dusie) (little tiny tiny booky book)
    The Metal Sunset of Tomorrow's Asending Dissension- Jules Boykoff (Dusie) (a title worthy of M.C. Esher)
    In The Quells- Christopther Rizzo (Dusie) (maybe my favorite Dusie chap thus far, gorgeous design to boot!)

    thanks to Mr. Thurston (Mr. Thrust On!) i may be reading in Buffalo later this year...details are sketchy (no details really) but i was invited which i'm super excited about...Brandon Brown, wanna take a trip to Buffalo with me?

    dream: Jessica Smith, Martin (Jessica's man), Francois Luong and me on a yacht in the French Riviera...Martin was playing me all these hip-hop beats that he'd recently produced...they were really good, i was like "holy shit Martin! i didn't know you produced?!" he responded "totally, producing is my life..." lot's and lot's more but the details are sketchy...by the way, i've never met any of these people (in person)...i like the fact that my subconscious mind has made up personalities and voices for two dimensional representations (blogger photos and text)...i think that rocks...

    good news for me (and maybe you depending on who you are)...i'm moving back to the Yay Area later this month (a full two months earlier than planned)...should be back in C-Town by June 29th...Brandon is going to make me dinner, you should come over, he's sort of the best chef in the world...go read his brand new blog "Fuck You, I'm A Chef!!!" for proof...

    ...currently listening to Various Artists Lost In Translation...

    Jun 8, 2006

    i like Laura Moriarty's...

    poetry-camera-kids as "The digital paparazzi"...

    about to head over to Koshkin's to print the May BOTH BOTH...should be mailing in the coming days...

    ...currently listening to DJ Shadow Live In Austin Texas...

    Jun 7, 2006

    ...

    a Palmer poem from The Danish Notebook is stuck in my head...
    i don't own The Danish Notebook...
    like a song stuck in my head i hardly know any of the lines...
    so, in my head the poem goes something like this

    ..................sun.......
    green................sunset
    .............at the tip...............
    women..................
    .........................................
    sun.......................
    ..............the owl...............
    in the sunset....................
    ..........................gathering
    .......beach........................
    ..........................sun........
    before sunset..................

    ...currently listening to Led Zeppelin III Led Zeppelin III...

    Jun 6, 2006

    hella stuff...

    okay, no time as it is, family in residence, perked and what not etc...

    but a couple things:

    i'm perked, my brother and sister are currently visiting me in boulder, i have less than 25 days left in Boulder...hooray for me! you know?!

    a few things i've read in the last couple days:

    1. Flies On The Ceiling- Los Bros Hernandez (Fantagraphics Books) (the next best thing to BEING the Hernandez brothers would be SUCKING the Hernandez brothers' collective dicks...i'm most def. on the jock...can't get over how great these comics are...swoon)

    2. Ishmael Among The Bushes- William Allegrezza (Dusie) (can i call him Bill?...anyway, a beautiful little perplexing chap that makes me want to say "the beat!")

    3. Each In Neither- Michael Slosek (House Press) (thanks for sending Michael! a minimalist expose into the heart of what it is to be a "ghost in the hole" or to be "moved from things/ saved from blinding"...i love this book...i want to bite this book)

    4. Signed Faun As A Waiting- Paul Klinger (Dusie) (erasure as crab-scratch a la The Invisible Scratch Pickles)

    5. Life Of The Party- Mary Fleener (Fantagraphics Books) (cocaine-ho with doodle talent gone wild!!! fun LA (LALA land) stories from the post-hippie POV...good time all around)

    currently listening to Sole Learning To Walk...