Happy Independence Day from Jackson Hole, Wyoming!
We’re on the road again, this time to Wyoming in our 1990 VW van, Baby Beluga! We plan to watch the fireworks go off in Jackson Hole, spend some time hiking and camping in Grand Teton National Park, then spend a few days in Yellowstone.
I will blog and post photos if I get a chance. More likely, if you click my Art Predator twitter feed on the right, you’ll be able to catch some of our adventures and see some photos of our travels sooner!
I’ll be doing my thing over at Ventura College tomorrow; if you’re free, it’s free and you’re free to join us, so please do! Two shows: 10:50 & 1:50! Details below.
I’ll be focusing on the 3:15 Experiment and my latest book of 3:15 Experiment poetry, Middle of the Night Poems From Daughter to Mother :: Mother to Son, which is available from me, locally, and in print and ebook from en theos press.
via The Write Alley
Friday Night Lights: 2 Rides 2 Night!
That’s right, tonight you can go on not one but two rides in Ventura!
LET’S START THE SUMMER OFF RIGHT!
RIDE #1 Ventura Critical Mass
5:30pm Meets last Friday of every month
Mission Park (Downtown Ventura)
This ride usually heads toward midtown and the east end, takes the streets, makes left turns into traffic, and instead of avoiding streets with congestion, embraces them! Stand up on your bike and be counted!
Bring:
>Lights
>Beverages
>MUSIC!
>Friends!
“Critical Mass is a bicycling event typically held on the last Friday of every month in over 300 cities around the world.The ride was originally founded in 1992 in San Francisco. The inspiration behind the ride was to create social space via the bicycle. In fact, the purpose of Critical Mass is not usually formalized beyond the direct action of meeting at a set location and time and traveling as a group through city or town streets on bikes.”
RIDE #2: The evening’s second ride also meets at Mission Park but at 7:30pm. After some socializing, the ride will travel up Ventura Avenue, around downtown and midtown, and will end up at the Local Cafe for some food. Since the Local Cafe closes at 9pm, my guess is the ride will go from about 8-845pm and zip around quickly!
Next Friday July 1, please join us for FLOWER POWER!
Ron Wells: Meeting Clarence Clemons 1983
There used to be one of the greatest little rock clubs on the West Coast called the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, California where, over the years, I saw Muddy Waters, Patti Smith, Paul Butterfield and so many others. The club was one of those sweaty, super small, and cramped little rock clubs that you don’t see a lot of anymore. Anyway, it was great club that was right on Pacific Coast Highway. On the other side was the Pacific Ocean and Huntington Beach Pier. Fantastic place now long gone so the city could “modernize.”
Clarence and the Red Bank Rockers came to town in 1983. I was ecstatic and drove up the coast and got there super early. It so happened that the band had just arrived and was setting up on stage.
I stood in a side door and watched. There was no security or anything, but I didn’t want to interfere with the band hauling all of their equipment in. Finally, Clarence took a break and was standing in the middle of the club just looking at the stage where the other players were beginning to tune their instruments.
Then he reached out and said, “Can I see that?”
I handed it to him.
He started laughing really, really hard. “Where in the hell did you get this?”
I told him bought it at a record swap meet.
The album was “Norman Seldin and the Joyful Noyze.” Clarence’s picture was on the back with the other band members.
He just kept laughing and shaking his head saying, “Man, oh, man. I didn’t know anybody out here had THAT album.” He kept turning over the album in his hands–first the front, then the back, and then the front again.
Finally, he walked up to the stage, and said, “You guys gotta check this out.” Read more…
LYING NOW IN THE NEW GRASS
the wind falls the fields
fold in upon each other
like wings on a sleeping
insect. The house heavy
with the day’s sweat sighs
beneath the hand of dusk.
All things sleep:
lilac iris bracken
windmill & anvil
the stones which dream
of moss the cold stars
in endless heaven.
Now may all rutting lovers
under this lace of leaves
lie down in comfort.
Let them not hear the dew form
over the pastures or foresee
its sharp hooves in the loam.
May the plow of night
pass over them.
by George Hitchcock from Turns and Returns
This has been a week for writing memorials and reflecting on those who have past:
And earlier in the week, 0n June 14, 2011, I wrote about The Wrecking Crew, a film which memorializes the musicians behind many of the greatest hits of the 60s and 70s, many of whom died before getting much in the way of recognition.
You might even say Ron Well’s guest post of June 7, 2011 which reviewed Herzog’s “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” is a memorial for the people who past 30,000 years ago and who left such mysterious and haunting traces behind.
So for today’s Monday Poetry Train, I am posting one of the poems I read by George Hitchcock and which has widely been anthologized; you can find it in Turns and Returns: Poems and Paintings by George Hitchcock published by Philos in 2002 ($12.95) as well as in One Man Boat: The George Hitchcock Reader from Story Line Press 2003 ($18.95). These are both wonderful collections and I am so happy to have purchased them both at Saturday’s event (thanks Jackson!) If you come across either one, I am sure you will enjoy these wildly imaginative surrealist works.
Next Monday, I plan to post a poem that includes Johnny Cash and of course, I have a whole poetry book that serves as a memorial to my mom, Suzanne Lawrence who died July 30 and which is dedicated to my mom and to Paul Squires aka GingaTao so memorials have been on my mind for a while now…
You can buy my new book of 3:15 experiment poetry Middle of the Night Poems from Daughter to Mother :: Mother to Son from en theos press in print or ebook or from Amazon). Read sample poems here. Read a review by Robert Peake here.
You can also join me at Ventura College on Monday; I’ll be reading poems and discussing writing process at two free workshops that are open to the public.
For more poetry by bloggers from all over the world, catch the Monday Poetry Train!
As we stood holding each other, tears in our eyes, I wondered what to say to my husband who has seen over 100 Bruce Springsteen shows, and most of them with the E Street Band, at least 80 shows with Clarence Clemons, and I wondered what to write about here. The thought crossed my mind: our friend Ron Wells will write something worthy of the occasion.
When we came home, we toasted Clarence Clemons, his life, his work his gifts. We read accounts online as they turned up and watched videos.
About midnight, Ron Wells sent out the following email:
“When a great man dies, for years the light he leaves behind him, lies on the paths of men.”—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Maybe,’ I figgered, ‘maybe it’s all men an’ all women we love; maybe that’s the Holy Spirit-the human sperit-the whole shebang. Maybe all men got one big soul ever’body’s a part of.’ Now I sat there thinkin’ it, an’ all of a suddent-I knew it. I knew it so deep down that it was true, and I still know it.”—John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath
Did you hear it, when sparks flew on E Street that first night Bruce Springsteen touched that hand, touched that heart, touched that mighty soul of Clarence Clemons? The world had never seen nor heard anything like it, nor will it ever be repeated. (Photo from Backstreets).
And how was it for all of us the first time we saw that big man smile and then blow that saxophone so joyously that the earth trembled, the angels smiled, and we stood silently listening as our lives quietly changed forever? Did you hear it then as Bruce glanced over to his right and grinned so broadly?
How lucky we were to be on this Earth at this moment in time, to have been in his presence and watch a love so profound that it carried us on each and every note of his horn, on waves cascading unto the heavens above. Read more…
Today I am joining other area poets to celebrate the poetry and art of George Hitchcock at the Carnegie Museum in downtown Oxnard. The reading goes from 2-4pm; the show The Wounded Alphabet: 
A Life in Words and Art remembering the art of poet George Hitchcock from the Collection of Jackson Wheeler will be up for awhile (depicted is an example of George ‘s work).
I will be reading four of Hitchcock’s poems including “Lying Now in the New Grass” from his collection The Dolphin with the Revolver in His Teeth which organizer Jackson Wheeler kindly lent to me.
While a few of the participants met George, most knew him by reputation as the publisher of the influential literary journal of the 1960s, Kayak. The youtube video above shows the wonderfully colorful and imaginative covers over the years. The video shows all 64 covers of the legendary poetry journal Kayak, edited and published by George Hitchcock from 1964-1984. Video first shown at “Kayak at the Confluence: A Tribute to George Hitchcock” which took place March 18-19, 2011 in St. Louis. http://www.kayakattheconfluence.org .Photo of George Hitchcock at his press by Jim Hair. Covers by a number of artists, including George Hitchcock, John Digby, Philip Kuznicki, Laura Beasoliel, Karen Rasco and others. Video by Liz Hughes Wiley.
I did know George personally, although not well. Hitchcock, who died September 4, 2010 at 96, was my first adviser at UC Santa Cruz.
When I went up the stairs at Porter College (College 5) for our first meeting in September 1985, I thought they had it all wrong. He was obviously some crazy poet type. And very theatrical, a performer.
At the time, I had just finished backpacking from Mexico to the California-Oregon border, with plans to continue to Canada. I was writing an environmental novel. In what ways was he a good match to advise me?
Only later, Read more…
Celebrating the Man in Black: Roadshow Revival Saturday
Ventucky this weekend is really about celebrating music and musicians, the ones up front and the ones that made it happen, tonight with the Wrecking Ball documentary at the Ventura County Museum (plus sculptures of musical instruments by Ramon Byrne and rock photos by Guy Webster), and tomorrow, Saturday June 18 with the Johhny Cash Festival and Road Show Revival at the Ventura County Fairgrounds.
With headliners X and favorites the Blasters, plus Kris Kristofferson and Lee from the Stray Cats, the afternoon will be full of fun music to listen to and dance too!
Bands will play a combination of their top hits along with their own tributes to the memory of Johnny Cash.
Doors open at 10am; the event is over at 8pm.
| 10:30 am |
Cash on the Line |
| 11:15 am | Pee Wee Moore |
| Noon | National Anthem |
| 12:15 pm | Deke Dickerson |
| 1:15 pm | Hayden Thompson with Omar & The StringPoppers |
| 2:15 pm | Levi Dexter with The Buzz Campbell Band |
| 3:00 pm | Pin-Up Pageant |
| 3:30 pm | Lee Rocker |
| 4:45 pm | The Blasters |
| 6:00 pm | Kris Kristofferson |
| 6:45 pm | X |
DJ Rockin Vic will be spinning the records between sets, there’s a kids corral, classic car show, pinups girls and more.
This is shaping up to be one humdinger of a Father’s Day weekend, at least for this household! We’ve got a sitter lined up and we’ll be riding the tandem down to the Road then going out to dinner! Let’s hope the sun comes out to dispel the June Gloom!
The Wrecking Crew: On the road to you!
When I found out The Wrecking Crew would be shown here in Ventura on Friday and on the road to raise money this summer and fall, I contacted my friend Ron Wells who is both a music lover and film enthusiast, about the documentary. He graciously wrote the following to encourage me and readers of Art Predator to see it and support the project.
The Wrecking Crew may have been the greatest band there ever was, and yet it was never really a band at all.
For this Wrecking Crew was the name given to the fantastic studio musicians living and working in Los Angeles in the the 1960’s when rock and roll was really beginning to take off. The songs they worked on are an iPod full of hits that is the sound track for everyone who grew up during this period, or even for those who grew up much later and have still heard the music played on radio, television, or even YouTube.
The musicians’ names are little known except to those in the music industry, but they should all be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, if not have their faces faces sculpted into the hillside by the Hollywood Sign. For Earl Palmer, Hal Blaine, Carol Kaye, Plas Johnson, and Tommy Tedesco, among a whole host of others were instrumental in launching some of the greatest pop and rock songs ever recorded.
The documentary on the Wrecking Crew, directed by Denny Tedesco, Tommy’s son, is a monumental achieveme
nt that will forever put on record the importance of, and contributions of, these musicians to the history of popular music. Similar to Standing in the Shadows of Motown, this film shines a long overdue spotlight on those who who gave so much to the music of the 60’s, and yet got little or no credit.
Certainly, no one will find their names on the back of the album covers of the records on which they played.
Denny Tedesco has set out to right this wrong and this documentary is a living, breathing tribute to these remarkable, unsung heroes. The Monkees, the early Beach Boys, The Association and many other bands did not yet have the musical licks necessary to play in a studio, and so these session players would pick up their instruments and do anything and everything that needed to be done. Read more…
Know Your Rights: Workshop for Creatives
While working on this blog post on this workshop about copyright law for creatives like artists and writers, I spent more time than I care to admit listening and watching various versions of The Clash’s classic song “Know Your Rights.” (You can watch the best one of The Clash doing the song that I found below.)
But here’s my favorite video, above. It’s not by the Clash–it’s Eddie Vedder singing the song which has been put to a Disney cartoon of Donald (Daffy?) Duck. Please watch it. Then share it. Please.
And if you’re interested in knowing your writes/rights as someone doing creative work and you wonder about how to protect yourself from people using your intellectual and creative property OR if you are interested in whether you are using someone else’s property legally, check out this workshop on Weds. June 16 at Bell Arts Factory. Read on for more.
via The Write Alley
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