VOX: A Spoken Word Performance

I'm not going to be able to make this, but I think you should. Eric Hull of the Waterbrook Studio talks about the project below.

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For those of you who have not seen and heard our previous performances, let me offer a brief description:

We take the poetry from the page and speak it in chorus. It is an experiment in form and expression. Some of the words are spoken in unison, some are solo, and some are spoken in a counterpoint combinations.

I just finished scoring the Dylan Thomas poem, “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.” It is a simple and loving expression of a son’s hopes for his aging father.

We will also read Dorothy Parker’s “Bohemia,” and a new arrangement of Gertrude Stein’s cubist portrait of Picasso, “If I Told Him.”

In an arrangement of three works about grief and the recovery from grief, we present a medley of poems by husband and wife poets Donald Hall and Jane Kenyon. Kenyon’s poem about attending a funeral is blended with two of Hall’s poems that trace the trajectory of his grief at Kenyon’s death.

In “Liberator of the Spirit” by Kamau Daaood, the poet calls the great saxophonist John Coltrane a “freedom fighter/Liberator of the spirit from the shackles of form….” VOX uses the words of this poem to explore the choral possibilities of reading the words as if Coltrane was performing them, complete with his thrilling arpeggios spoken rather than played.

If you've never heard us, here is a link to a recording of "Footnote to Howl," by Allen Ginsberg. It will give you an idea of what is in store if you can come.

I hope you will find it an evening that presents poetry in a new and revealing way.

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The remaining performances are tonight and tomorrow at 7:30 PM at the Waterbrook Studio - 2109 N. Albina. Tickets are on a sliding scale, $10 - $15. Call 503-901-5101 to reserve tickets. The cast includes Gary Brickner-Schulz, Adrienne Flagg, Theresa Koon, Quigley Provost-Landrum, Kerry Ryan, and John Vergin.

My Sunday Secret, 11-15-09

Inspired by PostSecret. I'm planning to do one secret of my own every Sunday. You know, in the interest of bravery and full self-disclosure and megalomania, and whatnot.

To avoid confusion: I don't hate Christianity, and I certainly don't hate Christians. There is much that is beautiful about that religion, especially when practiced with a heart full of love and acceptance. What I hate is Christianity's cultural hegemony, just as I would hate it if Buddhism, or Judaism, or Shinto, or any religion were omnipresent. I think there are many fingers pointing at the moon, and they all should be represented and respected.

The Pain Is Fascinating

I know, right? Not words you'd necessarily put together, but there they are. And it's absolutely true.

It exists simultaneously in my shoulder joint, the muscles of my shoulder and neck, and the skin where my shingles rash is, such as it is - it's barely noticeable now, thank you very much to my medication. None of these three areas of pain are particularly strong in and of themselves, but taken together they create a sensation of space, an impression of needed care, or my arm might come off if I move incorrectly.

If I move to touch my right ear to my right shoulder, the pain in my left shoulder joint becomes excruciating, but the rest of the time it's merely annoying.

Finally, the three areas of pain have completely different flavors, if you will. The joint pain is like needles jabbing from the inside. The muscle pain is stiff and clenched, like a fist. The skin merely burns if my clothes rub it the wrong way.

I could study this pain all day, if it wouldn't take away from the living of my life. As it is, Tylenol suffices when it gets too bad. And the pain is receding, little by little, for which I am grateful.

Home Invasion

"Shingles occurs when the virus that causes chickenpox starts up again in your body. After you get better from chickenpox, the virus "sleeps" (is dormant) in your nerve roots. In some people, it stays dormant forever. In others, the virus "wakes up" when disease, stress, or aging weakens the immune system. It is not clear why this happens. But after the virus becomes active again, it can only cause shingles, not chickenpox.

"You can't catch shingles from someone else who has shingles. But a person with a shingles rash can spread chickenpox to another person who hasn't had chickenpox and who hasn't gotten the chickenpox vaccine."

The above quote is from the website WebMD. What does it have to do with me? Funny you should ask.

It started on Friday, on top of my left shoulder, with what looked like a gigantic spider bite. I thought maybe something cruised through the house, decided to chomp on me while I was sleeping, and then went on its merry, vampiric way. The only thing strange about this "bite" was that there were no bite holes - the skin where it had appear was raised in a bunch of tiny stipples. Then yesterday I noticed a light pink scattering of raised dots on the left side of my chest, followed this morning by another "spider bite" on the back of my neck. The rash is tender to the touch, and is accompanied by muscular stiffness in my left shoulder and neck.

I'm on prescription antiviral medicine now, and I hope this thing clears up soon - especially considering how big, ugly, and painful this condition can become. Seriously, I think I've gotten off pretty lucky so far. However, I'm both horrified and fascinated by the idea that something could lie dormant inside of me, for my entire life, and make itself known whenever it wants to.

It's an idea that dovetails with a conversation I had a few weeks ago with some friends of mine. A study in the September issue of The American Naturalist talks about a certain form of fungus that will invade an ant and take over its brain, directing it away from the colony to a place that will be advantageous for the fungus to propagate and disseminate itself. Having found that place, the fungus makes the ant latch down on a leaf with its mandibles. Having no use of its mouth, the ant dies of starvation. Meanwhile, the fungus converts the ant's internal organs into food, and starts producing spores in order to infect another bunch of ants - leaving only the head, and the muscles that keep the mandibles clenched tight to the leaf, giving the fungus a place to live and grow.

It makes you wonder what else lives inside of us, directing our actions, changing our physiology, controlling us in ways so subtle that we may not even realize it. We may even mistake it for "free will," when in fact there is no such thing, and we might not even recognize it when we see it.

Juggling as Theater #2

Disseminated further into the public sphere of attention by the Ministry of Manipulation:

Performance in 531 Festival of new juggling. STOA Theatre, Helsinki, Finland, 19.10.09. 12 pieces of Stuff: Marco Paoletti (juggling), Sebastian Gerer (music), Christian Kielblock (video projection). Name of the piece: Hold.

An interesting exploration of duality and synaptic delay. The thought does not match the deed. Inner reality is not inseparable from outer reality. Mind and physical form are connected, but not the same.

Juggling as Theater

Meet Luke Burrage.

Juggling video hosted @ Juggling.tv

What I like about Luke is that his work harkens back to a day when juggling was more a form of theater than a sport or an entertainment, though of course it has always been all of these things. It wasn't just about somebody making a video or getting up on a stage and saying, "Look at me." It had a story. It had a gyst, a point, a thrust, a reason beyond its own existence.

In the man's own words: "Every throw has a name, every catch has a name, every trick has a name." Giving something a name adds to its weight, form, and shape. It makes the arc it describes through the world clearer, allows us to grasp it for a time.

Good Eats

Okay... I don't usually share recipes because, well, dammit, they're my recipes. I don't want other people to steal my thunder. Or my recipes. But in this case, well, hot damn. You just need to go home and make this right now.

Yes, you. I'm talking to you.

Fettuccine a la Wohlmut

1/2 lbs. fettuccine
4 T. butter, unsalted
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
salt and black pepper, to taste
2 medium tomatoes, rinsed, seeded, and chopped
dried basil to taste

1. Cook the fettuccine until it is al dente. Drain, and return to the pot. Put a lid on it, so it retains heat.

2. Sautee the garlic in the butter over medium to medium-low heat, until the garlic is pale blonde and the butter is just beginning to brown. Remove from heat.

3. Add the butter and garlic to the noodles, as well as the cheese. Toss to combine. Add the salt and pepper. I suggest going easy on the salt, as the cheese will add a little salt flavor too.

4. Throw in the tomatoes, cold. Add the dried basil. Toss to combine.

5. Plate and serve with a nice pale ale, possibly Mirror Pond. Eat. Try not to go into a coma afterwards.

It's that simple. Sorry I didn't get a photo. I ate too quickly to think about it.