Literalley Rat
Happy Chinese New Year: the Rat! So now, some Rat Haps!
To celebrate the Chinese New Year, sign up NOW for the Asian philosophy and haiku class that Sophia Kidd and I are offering this Sat Feb. 9 from 9am-noon through VC Community Ed. Right now it is under-enrolled, so unless you go on-line NOW and sign up, it will be cancelled tomorrow, Thursday, at noon. If you don’t know her, Sophia has a BA in philosophy from UCSC and she’s spent the better part of the last 10 years in Asia.
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Writers interested in working on craft might also check out Danika Dinsmore’s blog, The Accidental Novelist, which has weekly writing workouts on-line. These are posted on Fridays.
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Th. Feb 7 Artbarn
SIMPLE PROSPERITY Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle Slideshow and Booksigning with Author David Wann Thursday, Feb 7th at 7pm at the Artbarn: 856 East Thompson Blvd., VTA (btwn. ash & kalorama, behind kids & families together)
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Th. Feb 7 VC: Author and attorney Michael Mehas and a panel of local experts in the fields of law and psychology will take part in a discussion after a screening of the film “Alpha Dog” as part of the Ventura College Spring 2008 Arts and Lecture Series.
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Sat 2/9 Artists Union Gallery erotic show opening 6-9pm; Sat 2/16 Erotic Poetry Reading
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Sat 2/9 more poetry!
- Sojourner Kincaid Rolle & Sylvia Y. Curtis +O 2 pm Poetry Zone – Karpeles Manuscript Library (SBa)
- Beyond Words 3 pm KCLU (Radio)
- Mifanwy Kaiser & Claudia March Reder 7 pm Arcade Poetry Series – Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard $3
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Next 2 weekends: The Little Fakers fondly present: Episode 5 of “Sunset Chronicles” A Puppet Rock Opera
The Little Fakers is a collective of puppet theater artists, sound artists, musicians and writers working in the LA area. For the past three years we have performed our ongoing marionette serial at venues across the city including Beta Level, Il Coral, and the Velaslavasay Panorama, and in Joshua Tree at Noah Purifoy’s Sculpture Environment.
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W 2/13 VC
Dwight Reynolds
Professor of Arabic Language and Literature and Associate Director of the Middle East Studies Center at UCSB
and
Scott Marcus
Professor of Music and Founder and Director of the Middle East Ensemble at UCSB
in the Musical Traditions of Medieval Islamic Spain
with
Live Performance by the UCSB Middle East Ensemble
This program explores the many different offshoots of the musical heritage of al-Andalus (medieval Muslim Spain) including Andalusian songs from Algeria, songs from Sephardic and Yemeni Jewish traditions, as well as songs from eastern Arab lands such as Egypt and Syria. This commemoration of the astonishing richness and longevity of these musical traditions focuses on both threads of continuity in form and style, as well as highlighting the remarkable diversity of these various descendants of the Golden Age of al-Andalus.
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AHEAD:
W. 2/13 Moorpark College Read:
T. 2/19 6p REDCAT presents NY School Poets
T. 2/26 David Olivera at the Artists Union Gallery
W. 2.27 noon CA Poet Laureate Al Young at Oxnard College; he’ll be coming to VC in April!
Save the date: 3.8.08 Art City Fundraiser at Bell Arts. Beautiful letterpress tix (by lettre sauvage) on sale NOW from your friendly neighborhood artists (like Sophia and I)! Go to http://artcityventura.wordpress. com for more info. Many hands make light work you know.
Since this is by no way inclusive of everything, for more poetry stuff go to poetix.net
see ya on the prowl, the art predator
yes we can VOTE today
this is not an endorsement of one candidate or another as much as it is a reminder that yes we can CHANGE the world, yes we can have HOPE, yes we can VOTE. if you’re a Californian, that means VOTE in the primary today–polls are open until 8pm.
You can find your polling location by clicking here:
Online lookup (works for most counties):
http://www.smartvoter.orgPhone info for all counties:
http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_ppl.htm
2 C or Not 2 C: The Early Bird Gets Hamlet
I am writing this post from the happening REDCAT Lounge…free wireless (abc12abc12 I think) following the Wooster Group’s strange bizarre and awakening version of HAMLET. All the actors and crew are hanging around, very joyous after a successful show, although a little wild to hear the voices and words from Hamlet echoing in my head and hear the voices form Hamlet echoing around my head…Too bad I don’t know how to take pictures with my cell phone or I’d share the images in mind…
To back track a few hours…I scooted along traffic free LA roads (always plan to drive during the Super Bowl) to arrive at the REDCAT by 5pm (2 hours before curtain) to get in line for the $25 tickets for me and LA performance artist Pat Payne…to have them sold out under my nose! A few tix remained at $55 but I turned my empty pocket book up at them and strode in the venue in search of my ticket. I asked around but to no avail…and then, on the tip of the barkeep, wonderful guy that he is, who remembered me as not the grumpy poet from Ventucky but the jubilant one, I approached the house manager to offer my services as usher. He had no need but you never know is this business so I hung out…
and lucked into a seat! Yes I had to work a little before and after, but I was already hanging around, I’m not afraid to tell people what to do, and I was able to see a mind blowing show. For FREE. Ah yes, ushering, the secret to seeing awesome shows for free if you don’t mind going early and staying late and occasionally taking abuse. I’ve seen many a show on those usher coattails. (It’s kinda like dressing the bar…)
If YOU want to get in to see this absolutely stunningly visual Hamlet like you’ve never seen before, you got to get in line before the box office opens (2 hours before curtain). It is SOLD OUT. If you want to get one of those discounted seats, they have very very few so you’d best come well before 2 hours before the show. Bring a book. Hang out in the lounge. Buy a drink. Tip the cool barkeep. Comment on my blog. It’s worth it. But right now I have no idea how to even start to explain this show other than you’re seeing all the Hamlets you’ve ever seen at once and not actually seeing one Hamlet at all.
PS Hot tip–you can park in the garage here for FREE for 30 minutes while you get your ticket then go find a free spot somehwere…(be super nice to the guys who work there of course!) I love parking in front of DWP on Temple and the parking gods have smiled upon me several times there.
gotta get on the raod–see ya on the prowl!
the art predator
The House on the Avenue Speaks: a poem
The House on the Avenue Speaks
The house gets a facelift
chain link fence
rough wood siding too near
glass doors steel framed
attached to chain link
open to sky.
rests uneasy
old wood beams tense
new glass, steel invades
worker ants bees men:
loud intrusive hard
do not listen, hear
sits alone
cement buildings crowd near
cramp encase block
shiny sleazy fence
smug street yards
offensive cars.
leapfrogs away
hopscotch four blocks
cross Main Street
just four more blocks
avoid freeway dodge cars
to open ocean.
great water is there:
smell the sea
yearn for voyage
waves gently teasing apart
board by board by board;
pieces wash near and far.
to those who listen
the house sounds a bit mexicana,
un poquito indio:
Let me rest.
I do not want this change.
I am ready to retire.
Just shoot me then.
Send my social security
to the grandchildren.
First draft written in Danika Dinsmore’s experimental writing workshop,
3:15 Fiesta 2006, Bell Arts Factory, on the Avenue in Ventura
The house is part of Bell Arts Factory complex and is almost done being renovated. Josh Addison’s office will be on the top floor; he’ll be in by the March 8 Fandango Americana fundraiser for Art City…
To Bowl or Not to Bowl: Hamlet is the question
In the LA area and looking for an alternative to the SuperBowl and KCRW pledge drive?
The REDCAT’s offering an amazing and splendiferous version of Hamlet until Sun. Feb 10, with tickets today and Tuesday Feb. 5 available for $25! instead of general admission price of $50!
| January 30 – February 10, 2008The Wooster Group: Hamlet Los Angeles premiere“American theater’s most inspired company.” The New York TimesAn archaeological excursion into America’s cultural past, The Wooster Group’s highly experimental, multimedia incarnation of Hamlet channels the ghost of Richard Burton’s legendary 1964 Broadway version of the work—a production that was recorded from 17 camera angles, edited into a film, and screened for two days only at some 2000 cinemas across the country. The earlier production’s aim was to bring a live theatrical experience to thousands of viewers simultaneously through a new form called “Theatrofilm” (made possible through the “miracle of Electronovision”). The Wooster Group’s brain-twisting version, as directed by Elizabeth LeCompte, works to reverse that process, reconstructing a speculative theater piece from the fragmentary evidence of the edited film—like an archeologist inferring an improbable temple from a collection of ruins. Featuring Scott Shepherd in the title role and Kate Valk as both Ophelia and Gertrude, with music by Fischerspooner.
For student and CalArts alumni, faculty and staff discounts, REDCAT is offering a limited number of $25 tickets to the Sunday, Feb 3 and Tuesday, Feb 5 performances. These tickets will be made available for in-person sales two hours prior to curtain at REDCAT’s box office, limit two tickets per person. For this special engagement, no student group sales discounts or student rush tickets are available. Please call the REDCAT box office at 213-237-2800 for more information. |
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hands: 315 experiment poem 8/25/06
August 25 2006 315am
My mother’s hands are nothing like the sun
My hands are getting brown & dry & cracked
ok so I exaggerate
Every night my mom would wash the dishes in Palmolive soap
Was it really Palmolive soap? What a name—
conjuring up palm oil & olive oil
a small green bottle I can smell its smell
saturating her pans & plasticware after years in use
in the smell & consequences of the soap
my mother would slather her hands in jergens
the smell of jergens
was the smell of the night
it was creamy & white
with a black & white w/a little pink label
after our baths it was
almost like she was rubbing Read more…
rain rain go away
rain rain go away
don’t come back for many a day
our hillside needs to dry a way
before the rain can come and play…
how many sandbags can you haul around before you send your soas into spasm?
the art predatory answers: 20 or so…
can i hate my neighbors and their tightwad idiotic ways anymore? oh that’s right they belong to the church of the asshole neighbors–and i am trying really hard not to sing along…just keep calling the police, contacting the city, calling out the inspectors, commenting on megan’s law (oh yeah, he’s back wreaking havoc–the brawn to the insane brain of the pope to the church of the asshole neighbors )
guess no one important heard my ditty cuz after a day of reprieve from the downpours and thunderstorms and hail, it’s coming down hard again. at least the pope is trying something with pipe and sandbags which might mitigate the water flowing around the slurry that was somehow supposed to stop the sinkhole…breathe breathe breathe ahh it’s letting up already…now drink more coffee to prepare for the meeting with the insurance agent…in hopes they will file the motion to enforce the settlement agreement
some light verse by Joyce LaMers
friday on Saturday at the Bell Arts Factory
PANTOUM
“ArtLife is still here because of you and your devotion
to the obscure and enlightening work we all do.”
–Phil Taggart, in an e-mail to local poets
The work is obscure and enlightening
And yet it’s what poets all do,
A concept that’s just a bit frightening
Because it is terribly true.
And yet it’s what poets all do
In spite of the pay, which is minimal,
Because it is terribly true
That letting one starve is not criminal.
In spite of the pay, which is minimal,
A poet is sworn to speak truth,
And letting one starve is not criminal
Though it might be considered uncouth.
A poet is sworn to speak truth
So let the chips fall where they may,
Though it might be considered uncouth
To listen to what poets may say.
So let the chips fall where they may
On work both obscure and enlightening.
Who listens to what poets say?
What a concept! That really is frightening!
Joyce La Mers
literalley: KCRW pledge drive edition W 08
That’s right, KCRW’s pledge drive runs from this Fri. Jan. 25-Mon. Feb 4–so get your pledge in and then get out on the town! Need some ideas about what to do and where to go? see below!
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Registration is open for a yoga class I’m teaching 11am Sundays: 1/27, 2/3, and 2/10 ($49 for all 3 one hour classes) plus a Haiku & Asian Philosophy class I’m co-teaching with Sophia Kidd 9-noon Sat. 2/9 ($49). We may do a second session later as a fundraiser for Art City (whatcha think, Sophia?)
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The Tuesday Night poets meet at 730pm tonight and every Tuesday night at the Artists Union Gallery for an open mic and often a featured poet. Tonight Jan . 22 is Chyrss Yost from Santa Barbara; she’s a poet and an editor of several anthologies including California Gold. Next Tuesday Jan 29 the feature is Jim Lenfesty, founder of the Ojai Poetry Festival; he’s also published several books including a beautiful translation of Cold Mountain. Looking ahead, David Oliveira returns from Cambodia to read at the AUG Feb. 26.
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Thursday’s Train of Thought continues to arrive at the Artbarn on Thompson at Kalarama; music, open mic, read your favorite poems, relax by the fire…BYOB
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This Saturday afternoon 2pm Jan 26, head for the hills behind Santa Barbara for the second annual William Stafford reading organized by Westmont’s Paul Willis. Bring your favorite Stafford poem to read alongside feature Glenna Luschei and David Starkey at the First Crossing Day Use Area, Paradise Road, Santa Barbara, Los Padres National Forest. In case of rain, indoors at the nearby Los Prietos Ranger Station. No day use fees necessary.
William Stafford won the National Book Award in Poetry in 1963 for his book TRAVELING THROUGH THE DARK. He subsequently served as Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress and as Poet Laureate of Oregon. During World War II, he worked as a conscientious objector at the Los Prietos Civilian Public Service Camp. This camp, now torn down and converted to a picnic area, is the exact site of the reading.
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Saturday night Jan 26 7:30pm head over to Bell Arts where Friday hosts Joyce LaMers plus an open.
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Fridays at the Getty? First Fridays at the LA County Nat History Museum? Why not do both Friday Feb. 1 by checking out the scene at the Getty from 6-9pm (Peter Case at 730–need a reservation though) then cruising over to the Nat Hist Museum! Lecture at 530, music etc until midnight. And if you don’t want to leave town, you can always check out First Fridays Ventucky…
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Sat. Feb 2 is Ojai’s annual Mardi Gras party at the Women’s Center. Live music, costumes, food, rowdiness, costume contest!
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This should be enough to keep you busy for the next few weeks! Check back with the ART PREDATOR for more todos including MARCH 8: FANDANGO–FUNDRAISER for Art City! and California State Laureate Al Young’s visit to Ventucky College! etc etc etc!
For more poetry news, go to poetix.net for calendar listings or to read Phil Taggart’s column about SB and Ventucky haps.
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i will try to add more details and links about these events when i get a chance!
2008 COACHELLA LINE-UP!
Coachella Valley Arts & Music Festival is the last weekend in April Fri April 25-Sun April 27 and in 2008 features:
FRIDAY, APRIL 25: Jack Johnson, The Verve, Raconteurs, The Breeders, Fatboy Slim, Tegan and Sara, Madness, The Swell Season, The National, Animal Collective, Slightly Stoopid, Mum, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Stars, Battles, Aesop Rock, Midnight Juggernauts, Does it Offend you, Yeah?, Minus the Bear, Spank Rock, dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip, Diplo, Adam Freeland, Santo Gold, Jens Lekman, John Butler Trio, Vampire Weekend, Dan Deacon, Architecture in Helsinki, Sandra Collins, Busy P, Cut Copy, Black Lips, Datarock, Professor Murder, Reverend and the Makers, The Bees, Porter, Rogue Wave, Modeselektor, American Bang, Lucky I Am.
SATURDAY, APRIL 26: Portishead, Kraftwerk, Death Cab for Cutie, Cafe Tacuba, Sasha & Digweed, Rilo Kiley, Dwight Yoakam, M.I.A., Hot Chip, Cold War Kids, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, DeVotchKa, Read more…
