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dateline: Chicago, November 2005
Literary and new media arts events in the November Newswire...
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| in the greater sphere of poetry... |
in Ontario: celebrating Poetry for Peace
London, Ontario readers include Patricia Black, Julie Glaser, Andreas Gripp, Carla Hartsfield, Penn Kemp, Daniel Kolos, Sheila Martindale, Gloria Alvernaz Mulcahy, David John Paul, Shelly Siskind, John Tyndall and Hiedi Vamvalis. Daniel Kolos will be M.C.
The event will also launch an anthology, only the sea keeps: Poetry of the Tsunami. Just published in the U.S., India and Canada, it includes moving poems about ongoing natural disasters by Andreas Gripp, Carla Hartsfield, Ellen Jaffe, Penn Kemp & John B. Lee. Poets’ books/CDs will all be available.
For this event celebrating peace poetry, Penn Kemp has invited poets across North America, in Egypt, India, Britain, Ireland, Europe, and Brazil to join London, Ontario poets by reading a poem for peace of their own at that time, in their own place. Please circulate news of this event in your community and online.
Saturday, 5 November 2005, 2:00 to 4:00 PM, at My Green Garden, 809 Dundas St. (at Rectory), London ON. Local phone: 435-1498. To celebrate International Day of Poetry, a grassroots event featuring simultaneous poetry readings in sites worldwide. Further info is at poetsagainstthewar.org. Donations encouraged -- pay what you can. Coffee, tea and snacks available (by donation).
| poetry in video... |
Visible Verse: Vancouver's annual fete for poetry video on 10 November
Video poetry takes center stage for the annual Visible Verse celebration. Vancouver poet Heather Haley curates another special evening devoted to video poetry, featuring works by local, national and international artists. Also known as poetry-film or cine-poetry, video poetry is a hybrid creative form that integrates spoken-word poetry with media-art visuals produced by a camera or a computer. And, because voice is the catalyst whatever the medium, the evening also includes live spoken-word performances by Vancouver’s Kedrick James and Montreal’s Ian Ferrier.
The fourteen videopoems being screened highlight the vitality and relevance of this artform for filmmakers of all ages and backgrounds. Alongside works by established artists, poets and filmmakers, the program also includes two student works selected from production programs run by Pacific Cinémathèque's Education Department.
Pacific Cinémathèque is pleased to continue its ongoing support of poetry film in this latest collaboration with Heather Haley, architect of the Edgewise ElectroLit Centre and the Vancouver Videopoem Festival. Heather Haley pushes boundaries by creating across disciplines and media. Her work appears on paper, video, CD and the Internet at e-poets.net and heatherhaley.com. A collection of verse called Sideways was published by Anvil Press in 2003 and her videopoem, Dying for the Pleasure recently screened at the International ArtExpo in Milan, Italy, the National Centre for Contemporary Arts in Kalingrad, Russia, and the Gene Siskel Film Center/Chicago Art Institute. She is currently an artist-in-residence at Banff Centre’s Wired Writing Studio.
scheduled program:
Part I
Introduction by Heather Haley
On Stage: Kedrick James – in performance
On Screen:
- Paul Hettel - The Cigarette
- Dwayne Morgan/Michael Lambi - Three Knocks
- bill bissett/Lenore Herb - th wizard uv time
- Guillermo Gómez-Peña/Gustavo Vasquez - Declaration of Poetic Disobedience
- Laura Selden, Sally Ngo, Denise Lee - So Much of Life (student film)
- George Aguilar - An Ageless Certainty
- George Bowering/ Elvis Prusic - Lost in the Library
Part II (following an intermission)
On Stage: Ian Ferrier – in performance
On Screen:
- Adeena Karasick/Rosie Moyer - This is Your Final Nitris: Who's Got the Blues?
- Majid Naficy/Niloufar Talebi - Night
- Sophai Moulton, Kayla Brolly, Devon Bates, Sonia Nazarewich, Christina Tanaka - Inertia (student film)
- Abbas Saffari/ Niloufar Talebi - Tomorrow
- Hilary Peach - Pennsylvania
- Ian Ferrier/ Marlene Millar - This Fire
- Gerard Wozek/Mary Russell - Dance of the Electric Moccasins
See the Voice: An Evening of Visible Verse, Thursday, 11 November at 7:30 PM, at the Pacific Cinémathèque, 1131 Howe Street, Vancouver, British Columbia. Admission: $8.50 adult single bill. Advance tickets are available through the Cinémathèque website. You may also call the 24-hour Film Infoline: 604-688-FILM. Also available, an online program guide.
Seattle's Reel to Real on 9 November
Lana Hechtman Ayers, Tatyana Mishel, and Marjorie Manwaring will read verse that ranges from the sublime to the surreal at this month's Reel to Real, Wednesday, 9 November at On the House, 1205 E. Pike Street in Capitol Hill (conveniently down the street from the Elysian Pub).
The show starts at 7:30 PM with a humorous videopoem that was a big hit at the last Poetry Festival. "Sandwiches," directed by Jennifer Labbienti based on a poem by David Donnell, is a noirish story of a woman who's looking for love and a sandwich. (The presenters were unable to show this film last month due to technical difficulties.)
Read more about the poets at the Seattle Poetry Festival website.
Rattapallax teams with Zebra Fest, shifts into aural & visual literature
Rattapallax magazine is shifting from CDs to DVDs for the spring 2006 issue (April 2006). We are including short films based on poetic and literary content with the magazine.
Cinema has become the people's art. With the advent of digital technology, filmmaking has become accessible to everyone. In this year's Tribeca Film Festival, over 50% of the films were made with digital cameras and 85% were edited on a computer. By merging poetry and literature with cinema, we can greatly advance the art form.
Some of the film-makers included in the DVD are Abbas Kiarostami (won the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival for Taste of Cherry); Daniel Mitelpunkt; Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (received two Academy Awards); Tonya Hurley; and films on Joyce Carol Oates, Yusef Komunyakaa, Martín Espada and selections from the 2004 Zebra Film Awards.
source: Ram Devineni
Click to the Rattapallax DVD page for deeper info.
Video Out: a brief
history of the VJ
From the psychedelic light shows of the 1960's to the heady, early days of experimental video art; from New York's nascent Soho Scene to today's techno underground, Video Out tells the story of live video art over the last thirty years.
The documentary is traveling now to many film festivals. It won "Best Documentary Feature" at the Winnipeg International Film Festival, and has screened at the Dallas Video Festival, New York International Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival and others.
Featuring: Steina and Woody Vasulka, Bill Etra, Kurt Ralske, Benjamin Weil, Carl Goodman, Angie Eng, The Light Surgeons, Joshua White, Glen McKay, George Stadnik, and many others. Produced and Directed by Meredith Finkelstein and Paul Vlachos, 2005. Approx 80 minutes.
"Video Out", a documentary on VJ's and Video Art, is now available through the Center for Visual Music online store. A QuickTime (video) trailer is also available.
| literature in electronic form... |
Triplopia: call for submits
The editors of Triplopia announce that, "Triplopia is an independent e-zine in search of quality writing from poets and writers from around the globe. Our current issue can be viewed at triplopia.org , and we are at present compiling material for our Winter 2005 issue, the theme of which is `Memory.' We invite poets to submit their work (3-5 poems, please) for consideration for this issue. The deadline for our upcoming issue is December 1st, and we have received many quality submissions already.
"We would also like to extend an invitation to writers to submit ideas for feature articles and cultural reviews. We are always on the lookout for commentary on cultural issues, and we welcome your ideas. We are especially interested in articles that comment upon the present state of the arts of poetry and writing, but we will consider ideas on a broad range of topics, including political commentary, movie and music reviews, or well-written creative prose. If you have an idea for such an article, please do feel welcome to approach us with it, even if it is in the early stages, as we are quite willing to work closely with writers in developing a piece that shows promise.
"As we begin our fourth year online, we would like to extend a warm welcome to writers from a broad range of backgrounds to join our undertaking. Submission guidelines may be found under the heading of `Submit' on our main page, and may be directed to submissions@triplopia.org."
- Tara Elliott, Gene Justice, Jenny Burdge and Paul Sonntag,
The Iowa Review Web releases new issue
A journal of New Media and experimental writing and art, The Iowa Review Web is published at the University of Iowa with support from the Graduate College and the Department of English, and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota.
Mew media features include Lance Olsen and Tim Guthrie, The Bomar Gene, Jason Nelson, Pieces of Herself, Juliet Davis, News from Erewhon, Millie Niss and Martha Deed. Click to the Iowa Revew Web homepage to follow these threads.
The next issue will feature sound art, and is edited by Ben Basan, featuring Work by: Douglas Kahn, Ed Osborn, Paul DeMarinis, Brandon LaBelle, Tomomi Adachi, and Alexis Bhagat. Keep an eye out for a number of guest edited issues from Scott Rettberg, Stuart Moulthrop, Stephanie Strickland and Marjorie C. Luesebrink, Rita Raley, Talan Memmott, and Jon Winet.
An End to the New?
... a call for papers
Convergence: The International Journal of New Media Technologies, is issuing a call for papers for Volume 12, number 4, winter 2006: "An End to the New? Re-assessing the claims for New Media Writing(s)," guest-edited by Simon Mills, Gavin Stewart & Sue Thomas.
This special edition of Convergence marks the tenth anniversary of the trAce Online Writing Centre, UK. To commemorate this landmark event, the guest editors are seeking to evaluate the state-of-the-art of new media writing(s).
This special edition will seek to re-assess the claims made for these forms over the last decade, to challenge the dominant ideologies and terminologies of this maturing field, and to provide a critical re-evaluation of new media writing(s) in all its forms.
Encouraged discussion includes:
- The institutional settings of new media writing(s)
- The relationship between academia and new media writing(s)
- Re-assessments of the claims made for hypertext, new media or digital writing(s) over the past decade
- Art policies and development strategies for new media writing(s)
- The audience for new media writing(s)
- The economics of new media writing(s)
- Pedagogical approaches to new media writing(s)
- The historical context of new media writing(s)
- The relationship between new media writing(s) and other digital arts
Copy deadline for refereed research articles: 30 January 2006 All proposals, inquiries and submissions for this special issue should be sent to:
Gavin Stewart, Artistic Project Manager
trAce Online Writing Centre
Nottingham Trent University
Clifton Lane
Nottingham
NG11 8NS
United Kingdom
e-mail: gavin.stewart@ntu.ac.uk
phone: +44 (0)115 848 3569
Source: the trAce Online Writing Centre, The Nottingham Trent University, Clifton, Nottingham NG11 8NS, UK.
ELO calls for new works
The Electronic Literature Organization seeks submissions for the first Electronic Literature Collection. We invite the submission of literary works that take advantage of the capabilities and contexts provided by the computer. Works will be accepted until January 31, 2006. Up to three works per author will be considered.
The Electronic Literature Collection will be an annual publication of current and older electronic literature in a form suitable for individual, public library, and classroom use. The publication will be made available both online, where it will be available for download for free, and as a packaged, cross-platform CD-ROM, in a case appropriate for library processing, marking, and distribution. The contents of the Collection will be offered under a Creative Commons license so that libraries and educational institutions will be allowed to duplicate and install works and individuals will be free to share the disc with others.
The editorial collective for the first volume of the Electronic
Literature Collection, to be published in 2006, is:
N. Katherine Hayles
Nick Montfort
Scott Rettberg
Stephanie Strickland
This collective will review the submitted work and select pieces for the Collection.
The editorial collectives for each volume will be chosen by the Electronic Literature Organization's board of directors. The tentative editorial collective for the second Collection, to be published in 2007, includes Matthew G. Kirschenbaum, Marjorie C. Luesebrink, and Noah Wardrip-Fruin.
Literary quality will be the chief criterion for selection of works. Other aspects considered will include innovative use of electronic techniques, quality and navigability of interface, and adequate representation of the diverse forms of electronic literature in the collection as a whole.
For the first Collection, the collective will consider works up to 50 MB in size, uncompressed. Works submitted should function on both Macintosh OS X (10.4) and Windows XP. Works should function without requiring users to purchase or install additional software. Submissions may require software that is typically pre-installed on contemporary computers, such as a web browser, and are allowed to use the current versions of the most common plugins.
To have a work considered, all the authors of the work must agree
that if their work is published in the Collection, they will license
it under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5
License
To submit a work:
1) Prepare a plain text file with the following information:
a) The title of the work.
b) The names and email addresses of all authors and contributors
of the work.
c) The URL where you are going to make your .zip file available
for us to download. The editorial collective will not publish the
address of this file.
d) A short description of the work -- less than 200 words in
length.
f) Any instructions required to operate the work.
g) The date the work was first distributed or published, or
"unpublished" if it has not yet been made available to the public.
2) Prepare a .zip archive including the work in its entirety. Include the text file from step (1) at the top level of this archive, and name it "submisson.txt".
3) Upload the .zip file to a web server so that it is available at the specified location.
4) Place all of the text in the "submisson.txt" file in the body of an email and send it to collection@eliterature.org with the name of the piece being submitted included in the subject line.
The Electronic Literature Collection is supported by institutional partners including the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing (CPCW) at the University of Pennsylvania, ELINOR: Electronic Literature in the Nordic Countries, Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) at the University of Maryland, The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, and The School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota.
| poetry in print... |
Lombardo's Logic of a Rose proves to be literary juggernaut
Billy Lombardo's The Logic of a Rose, a collection of short fiction on growing up in Bridgeport in the 1960s and 70s, is showing some staying power in the eyes of Chicagoans, and may be staged to break out into broader literary horizons. The stories inhabit Chicago's near southwest side streets, apartments, and storefronts with sensitivity and insight. It makes an excellent "commuter book", a domestic and warm reading in contrast to another hit novel on Chicago, "The Devil in the White City." Lombardo is getting good reception from bookstores and fellow writers. Events featuring The Logic of a Rose follow:
Saturday, 5 November, 3:00 PM: reading and booksigning at Barnes & Noble, 1441 W Webster, Chicago (West DePaul)
Thursday, 15 December, 7:30 PM: reading with Stuart Dybek (The Coast of Chicago) and Alex Kotlowitz (Never a City So Real) for Steppenwolf's Traffic series. Tickets available online through the Steppenwolf website.
Kevin Coval now in print:
Slingshots (A Hip-Hop Poetica)
|
Coval will be reading from the book in these Chicago bookstores:
Wednesday, 16 November at 7:00 PM
57th Street Books
1301 E. 57th St, Chicago
(Hyde Park/U of C neighborhood)
Friday, 17 November at 7:00 PM
Quimby's
1854 W. North Ave, Chicago
(Wicker Park/Bucktown)
Copies of Slingshots (A Hip-Hop Poetica) are also available through the publisher at em-press.com, and through amazon.com. Look for the book in stores through the first of the new year.
Liz Marino's poetry and memoir in print: Debris
Book of Voices contributor Elizabeth Marino is delivering a bevy special events this month for the release of her new book Debris (Moon Journal Press), a collection of poems and memoirs.
author reading & book signing
With Michael C. Watson and Beatriz Badikian-Gartler, hosted by Batya and David Hernandez at BlueLine Studio, 2814 W. Bloomingdale, Chicago. (west Bucktown/Humboldt Park). Saturday, 12 November. Doors open at 7:00 PM, and the show begins at 8:00 PM. Art, books, CDs, posters and refreshments available.
"DEBRIS: Incisive, entertaining and intelligent; Ms. Marino's Debris is a penetrating explosion of work that harnesses and displays reflection in an abundant bright light."
"Her poems can live comfortably in the sacred halls of academia or by Augie’s gas station, east of Ashland. Her reality is powerfully stark, beautiful and graceful, like thunderbolts and roses. After knowing her work for over 20 years, I’ve concluded that Elizabeth Marino is not just a major writer but a hero – it’s my honor to know her."
"Elizabeth Marino’s collection Debris is a road map of the heart, and an excavation through the layers of an individual’s and our society’s psyche. She claims the parts that can be saved, grieves for what must be abandoned, and re-uses anything salvageable…. Yet her cityscapes are so delicate you can hear a sparrow’s beating wings. Marino is a poet who urges us to ‘Open your eyes.’ Debris is a collection that will be read and remembered."
about the publisher:
Moon Journal Press celebrates its 10th year as a feminist press, supporting women writers and publishing primarily poetry under the founding editor/publisher Mary H. Ber. MJP also publishes the annual Moon Journal, and is based in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Marino's book Debris will be available through The Gallery Bookstore (923 W. Belmont, Chicago); Café Latakia (3204 N. Broadway, Chicago); Roosevelt University Bookstore (430 S. Wabash); NEIU Bookstore (5555 N. St. Louis); and puddinheadpress.com.
other events for the book:
- Book release reading and ice cream social at Café Latakia, 3204 N. Broadway, Chicago (Newtown/Lakeview). Sunday, 16 October, at 7:00 PM.
- Campus Equity Week Book Fair, featuring Joe Berry, Elizabeth Marino and guests; sponsored by RAFO (Roosevelt Adjunct Faculty Org.) at Roosevelt University, 430 S. Michigan, Room 244, Chicago (South Loop).Tuesday, 1 November, 4:30-6:00 PM.
- Ms. Marino appears on the Wordslingers poetry radio show with author and poet David Hernandez. Tune in to WLUW (88.7-FM), Sunday, 6 November at 8:00 PM. Hosted by Michael C. Watson.
| in Chicago's lit/arts community... |
Red Rover in early December:
Asimina Chremos & John Tipton
The Red Rover Series, readings that play with reading, is coming in early December... "Experiment #5: Greek Translations", featuring Asimina Chremos and John Tipton.
Dancer/choreographer Asimina Chremos works as Dance Editor for Time Out Chicago magazine. She was an active member of the Philadelphia creative community for over ten years, with occasional forays into New York City via Dixon Place, PS 122, Movement Research and the Gowanus Arts Exchange (now BAX). Currently Asimina resides in Chicago, where she was the Artistic Director of Links Hall from 2000 - 2004. A 2005 grant recipient from the Chicago Dancemakers Forum, she continues to develop and facilitate performance, workshops, classes, discourse, and other dance activities on a freelance basis. More info on Ms. Chremos is available on her website.
In the reading/performance piece "A NEW GREEK READER," dancer Asimina Chremos uses her skills as a dancer and performer to interpret the educational text "A New Greek Reader," published by the Harvard University Press. The publication date of the book, 1954, precedes by only a few years her father's emigration to the U.S. from Greece. The Reader contains texts in Ancient Greek by Herodotus, Plato, Thucydides, Aristotle et. al., a language similar to—but not the same as—the language spoken by Chremos's father and spoken by Greeks today. Despite having grown up with intermittent exposure to the sounds and of the Greek language, and the visual impressions of Greek alphabet shapes, Chremos herself (whose entire life has been spent in North America), is not near fluent in Greek of any type. In a very personal approach to the text, Chremos links sounds, meanings, visceral impressions, memories and learning.
John Tipton is the author of "surfaces" (Flood, 2004) and director of the Chicago Poetry Project.
With a few guest performers, John Tipton will read from his translation of "The Ajax," perhaps the earliest of Sophocles' surviving plays. It relates the madness and suicide of Ajax, the greatest Greek hero at Troy after Achilles. Following Achilles' death, his arms were awarded to Odysseus under questionable circumstances. Ajax believed they were his by right of strength; he was after all the strongest Greek left alive. He became furious and set out one night to kill Odysseus and other Greek captains. Athena, the patron of Odysseus, drives Ajax mad so that he attacks a herd of cattle, thinking the animals are the Greeks he seeks to murder. The next morning Ajax comes to his senses and realizes what he's done. He reflects on the reversals in his life and then commits suicide in shame. The remaining third of the play is an argument over the fate of his body. His half-brother Teucer arrives too late to save him so he makes plans to bury him. He has to face Menelaus and Agamemnon in turn, each forbidding the burial. Strangely, in the end Odysseus arrives to intervene on Ajax' behalf and convince Agamemnon to allow the burial.
The Red Rover Series is curated bi-monthly by Amina Cain and Jennifer Karmin. Program is 7:00 PM Saturday, 3 December, at the SpareRoom 2416 W. North Avenue (Bucktown/Humboldt Park). Suggested donation $3. Click to the SpareRoom site for more info. Coming in February, Experiment #6 with Nathalie Stephens.
Wordslingers on 20 November, is now online, too
For the 20 November broadcast, Wordslingers features Carol Anderson, poet and author of Ordinary published by Puddin'head Press, and Dave Gecic founder, publisher and distributor of Puddin'head Press.
If you are out of broadcast range for the show, you can catch the program online with a live stream at wluw.org. But if you're not near either a computer or radio, you can still hear it on Wordslingers.org. Streaming archives of Chicago's longest-running radio program dedicated to performance poetry are available there, 24/7, and the list of back programs is growing.
MC/host Michael Watson launched the Wordslingers.org website in early November, he states, "... as an online extension of the radio show. Just as Wordslingers was created to give all kinds of Chicago poets a wider voice, the purpose of the website is provide a much wider, longer lasting (you know that sounds bad when I say it aloud) electronic presence for both written and audio poetry. Having just gone live two weeks ago, the overall response has been positive and critical." Visitors can post their own poetry, essays, and letters through the site, and review programs to hear Chicago poetry in its native aural form. His expanded online presence also echoes the response that many other broadcasters have had to online media, namely that the web is a great place for radio.
e-poets.net welcomes Michael Watson's Wordslingers to the network neighborhood and wishes him much success as he embarks upon this new venture with the Wordslingers program. His investment in the local community ratifies e-poets' own mission and dedication to online text with media since 1998 as e-poets.net, and even before that as Telepoetics/Chicago. We're delighted to have a neighbor with such magnanimity as Michael's, and with such span into the varied vocal communities that make up spoken word in Chicago. Good to have you around!
Wordslingers happens at 8:00 PM on the first and third Sundays of each month on WLUW, 88.7-FM, broadcast from the northside Chicago campus of Loyola University. Listen online in real-time through wluw.org, or click to Wordslingers.org for back issues.
Myopic Poetry Series for November 2005
The Myopic Poetry Series is a weekly venue for poetry, fiction, and occasional talks, hosted by Chuck Stebelton. This month's reading schedule is:
- Sunday, November 6 - Phil LaMarche and Chris Fink
- Sunday, November 13 - Andrew Zawacki and Toronto's RM Vaughan
- Sunday, November 20 - Tyehimba Jess and Krista Franklin
- Sunday, November 28 - no reading this week due to Thanksgiving
The Myopic Poetry Series convenes Sundays at 7:00 PM, at Myopic Books, 1564 N. Milwaukee Avenue, 2nd Floor, Chicago (Wicker Park neighborhood). Admission is free. Click to the Series website for full info.
Mental Graffiti features Katherinne Bardales, 21 November
Katherinne Bardales is a Chicago-born Latina raised in Peru for six years -- the inspiration for much of her writing and video. She teaches bilingual third grade at Boone School in west Rogers Park. She has enjoyed featured performances at Wright College, Insight Art's Women Performance Jam, Women Outloud (an adjunct series to Mental Graffiti, where she was once a co-host) and at the Hothouse. She was a finalist for the 2002 Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award and a winner of the 2003 Her Mark Calendar Poetry Contest. With Video Machete she co-produced "Nuestras Voces,Nuestras Luchas", a documentary about Latina/o life in Chicago. She currently also co-directs a dance troupe that offers free workshops and performs Peruvian folkloric dance called Peru Profundo. And, of course, Katherinne is a contributor to the the Book of Voices.
Mental Graffiti is at the Funky Buddha, 728 W. Grand Avenue (at Halsted, River West district). Doors open at 7:30, open mic starts at 8:00 PM. $5 cover. 21-and-over venue, with special $3 imported beers. Featuring after the show, DJ Low Budget from Hollertronix and Major Taylor.
Danny's Series, 16 November:
Laura Sims and Bin Ramke
Bin Ramke is the author of eight books of poems, including Matter (2004), Airs, Waters, Places (2001), Wake (1999), Massacre of the Innocents (1995), The Erotic Light of Gardens (1989), The Language Student (1986) and White Monkeys (1981). His first book, The Difference Between Night and Day, won the Yale Younger Poets Award in 1978. He teaches literature and writing at the University of Denver and edits Denver Quarterly. He is a visiting writer this fall at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Laura Sims is the winner of the 2005 Fence Books Alberta Prize. Her manuscript, Practice, Restraint, will be published by Fence Books in October. She recently published two chapbooks: Bank Book (Answer Tag Press) and Paperback Book (3rd Bed). Her poems have appeared or will soon appear in the journals First Intensity, La Petite Zine, How2, 6X6, 26, 3rd Bed, and Fence, among others. She has written book reviews for Boston Review, Jacket, and Rain Taxi, and an overview essay on the work of Diane Williams for The Review of Contemporary Fiction. In 2004, she was awarded First Prize in the Summer Literary Seminars writing contest, which provided her a month's stay in St. Petersburg, Russia. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
Danny's Reading Series happens monthly at Danny's Tavern, 1951 W. Dickens (near the corner of Armitage and Damen; Bucktown). Phone 773-489-6457. This is a 21-and-over venue, so please bring ID. Click for more info. N
Discrete Reading Series at SpareRoom:
Grinnell & Watson
E. Tracy Grinnell received her MFA from Brown University in 2001. She currently lives in New York and edits Litmus Press and Aufgabe, a journal of new poetry and translations. She is the author of Harmonics (Melodeon Poetry Systems, 2000), Music or Forgetting (O Books, 2001) and Of the Frame (a duration e-book, 2004). Quadriga, a collaboration with Paul Foster Johnson, is forthcoming from g o n g chapbooks, and her second full-length book, Some Clear Souvenir, is forthcoming from O Books in 2006.
Craig Watson is the author of True News (Instance Press, 2002), Free Will (Roof, 2000). His new book, Secret Histories, is forthcoming from Burning Deck Press. With Michael Gizzi he publishes QUA Books. He lives in Rhode Island, where he works in as a dramaturg and producer in a professional theater.
Event begins at 7:00 PM, 11 November at the SpareRoom, 2416 W North Ave, Chicago (Wicker Park/Bucktown). $5 suggested donation, all ages welcome. (No BYOB) Coming 9 December: Elizabeth Block and Jordan Stempleman. For venue info, see spareroomchicago.org.
The Dollar Show, 4 November:
Christoper Piatt
Christopher Piatt says, "I'm thrilled to be making a special appearance in the one-year anniversary blow-out of the Dollar Store [Show] at the Hideout. If you've never seen my friend Jonathan Messinger's fine show, then, well, you've misspent at least one dollar in 2005."
The Dollar Store Show inspires (provokes) each featured writer/performer to create a new short story, monologue, or narrative especially for the show, using a simple $1 prop procured at a neighborhood bargain shop. Knick-knacks, kitchen gadgets, notions, tchochkies, and even swizzle sticks all have been the fuel of original fiction at this monthly revue. Piatt shares the bill with Jeb Gleason-Allured, Megan Stielstra, Nathan Keay, and the new Executive Director of the Poetry Center, Lisa Buscani. Fiction gets a live music chaser thanks to The Grackles and Pearly Sweets.
The event kicks off at 9:30 PM, 4 November, at the Hideout, 1354 W Wabansia, which is 1 block east of Elston Avenue, and northeast of the Kennedy Expressway and North Avenue intersection. Phone 773-227-4433. Admission is (what else?) $1. Click to the series website for continuous info.
Ana Castillo & Carlos Cumpian feature in 14 November readings & workshop for Poetry Center
National Endowment of the Arts Fellow Ana Castillo is a poet, novelist and playwright. Her collections of poetry include Otro Canto, The Invitation, Women Are Not Roses and My Father Was a Toltec. Her novels include The Mixquiahuala Letters, So Far from God, Peel My Love Like An Onion as well as a collection of short stories, Loverboys. Castillo's play Pssst . . . I have something to tell you, Mi Amor, was performed at the Goodman Theater in Chicago as part of the 2003 Latino Theater Festival.
Carlos Cumpian is the editor of March Abrazo Press, a publishing house devoted to publishing Hispanic and American Indian Poetry. He has published three poetry books, Coyote Sun, Latino Rainbow and Armadillo Charm. He also teaches high school English in the Chicago Public Schools.
Ana Castillo and Carlos Cumpian reading for the Poetry Center of Chicago, Monday, 14 November, 6:30 PM. $10 general admission, free for Poetry Center members, at the SAIC Ballroom, 112 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago (Loop). See poetrycenter.org for more. Phone: 312-899-1229
Ana Castillo Workshop
Sunday, 13 November, 2:00 PM
$95/$75 members
37 S Wabash Ave, suite 815, Chicago (Loop)
To reserve a seat for the reading or for more information about Castillo's workshop please call Michelle Taransky, Programs Coordinator, at 312 899 1229 or email at mtaransky@poetrycenter.org.
also of interest...
Susan Howe & David Grubbs: THIEFTH
Tuesday, 8 November, 7:00 PM
1010 E. 59th St, Fulton Recital Hall
Thiefth is the first collaboration between poet Susan Howe and musician and composer David Grubbs. For this performance, Susan Howe will read, accompanied by David Grubbs at the piano and computer. The Poetry Center of Chicago is joined in this collaboration by The School of the Art Institute, the Chicago Poetry Project, the Committee on Creative Writing and Chicago Review. More details on "Thiefth" can be seen at the U of C Poetics website.
Homolatté for November 2005
Check out Chicago's weekly LGBT/Q coffeehouse for the latest in queer music and spoken word. This months' schedule for Homolatté includes:
2 November: Don Bapst (words) / Tim Cain (music)
9 November: Jessica Wacker / Lojo Russo
16 November: Lisa Grayson / Vicki Blankenship
23 November: Kirk Williamson / Anthony Whitaker
30 November: Outmusic open mic hosted by Lars Von Keitz
Homolatté queer words and music, weekly on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 PM at Marrakech Expresso, 4747 N Damen Avenue (just south of Lawrence Avenue, Ravenswood neighborhood), Chicago. Phone 773-271-4541. Admission is free, though the host, Scott Free, invites guests to donate $5; all collections go the featured artists and only the artists. Full program listing is available at homolatte.com.
digital audio workshops at ESS this month
Introduction to the Digital Audio Workstation
conducted by Pete Wenger
Saturday & Sunday, 11/05/05 & 11/06/05, 10AM - 1PM
$60/$50 for students and ESS members
For people who are digital novices, or just need a brush-up, and would like to learn how to get started using a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Explains how to set up a DAW as a project studio, or as a component of an existing analog studio. In-depth presentation of digital audio principles and terminology. Introduces standard DAW components as well as the ProTools software interface & the elements of a "Session". You'll learn how to: create a session in ProTools, navigate the Edit and Mix windows, import digital audio into a session, create audio regions, perform basic edit & mix functions, create simple automation with volume & pan graphs, and create a stereo file from your mix. Limited to six students.
Advanced Digital Audio Workstation
conducted by Lou Mallozzi
Saturday & Sunday, 11/12/05 & 11/13/05, 10AM - 1PM
$60/$50 for students and ESS members
This workshop takes a detailed look at the creative use of the digital audio workstation (D.A.W.) in the production of sound works. We will dissect music, audio art, installation, and cinema soundtracks produced on the ESS Pro Tools system, investigating the software’s attributes for each project. This will include plug-ins, advanced mixing techniques, signal path routes, alternative outputs, synchronizing to video for soundtrack production, and more. An excellent workshop for people with basic D.A.W. knowledge who want to unlock the system’s creative potential, or for more advanced folks who want to consider alternative approaches to production. Limited to five.
Call ESS to register: 312-850-9362
Puddin' Head Press readings
Puddin' Head Press is getting particularly busy this season, with a roster of contributing poets whose talents are equally inclusive of performance and print. Selected events under the Puddin' Head banner are listed below:
4 November: DvA Gallery, Chicago
Lee Kitzis, author of The Laundromat Girl, will be featured
along with Michael Watson and Steven Schroeder. The DvA Gallery is at 2568 Lincoln Avenue north of Fullerton Avenue. The show starts at 7:30 PM. The event is free.
4-5 November, Peter Jones Gallery, Chicago
Cathleen Schandelmeier, author of Chicago Phoenix, and South African
musician Francois leRoux (HA!Man), collaborate in a multimedia production which includes music, video, shadow puppets, and more, accompanied by "spring board" musician Eric Leonardson, and musician, Peter Bartels. Shadow puppet imagery and dramatic video footage of Chicago takes you on a sweeping journey to the heart of the windy city. At The Peter Jones Gallery, 1806 W. Cuyler at 6:30 PM both days. Cathleen will read from her book which is integrated into the show. Admission $12.00.
6 November, Veteran's Memorial Park, Worth IL
Carol Anderson, author of Ordinary will be reading poetry at the Worth Illinois Veterans Day celebration at the Veteran's Memorial at the corner of 111th Street and Harlem Avenue. The event is free and starts at 11:00 AM.
For more information on these and other events by Puddin' Head Press, visit puddinheadpress.com or call 708-656-4900.
Long Day's engagement on stage, and with a practicing counselor
Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night is canonical in American literature, and suffers from no lack of performances. However, one local company is distinguishing their rendition of it with a more psychologically-engaged approach. In late October, producer, poet and company director Jeff Helgeson invited author and counselor Nina Corwin to join the cast after one performance. The actors -- in and out of character -- discussed their relationships, suffering, challenges, and desires. Corwin also met with the cast in early rehearsal, and assisted them in accessing their characters' psychology.
While the conversations on stage were a little tongue-in-cheek, no one denied that the cast left the experience with a deeper understanding of their own lives, their characters' lives, and the cognates between them. So if the actors seem to be inhabiting their characters with a particular immediacy, one could easily say they've had good guidance to that understanding. This make Collage's mounting of Long Day's Journey... worth a trip in itself.
At the Gunder Mansion of Chicago's North Lakeside Cultural Center, 6219 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago (Edgewater neighborhood). Tickets $15.00/$10.00 students and seniors. Performances continue through November 20th, on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM, and with Sunday matinees at 2:00 PM. Reservations, phone 773-764-0353. Further info is at collageproductions.info.
| and finally... |
links we like
Fresh links for October 2005...
Did you say, "Monsta funk?" If so, you hold the buzz-words to a site by e-poets' African contributor Kojo Baffoe, who keeps a blog on South African poetry and spoken word. If you were wondering how that community speaks, just click to find out.
Rock for Reading brings on the noise in service to literacy, libraries, and schools around Chicago. See the benefit concert coming on 26 October at the Vic, featuring Nickel Creek.
Poultry Broadside, a free monthly broadside series, is taking submissions on an ongoing basis. Check the Gunch Press blog for guidelines and a sample issue.
Anida Yeou Esguerra's website is up and loaded with tons of goodies, including videos and audio clips you can download. There are even some pic in the scrapbook section from her recent Asia performance/literary expeditions.
The Lycette Brothers' Not My Type site is a clever way of looking at typography, that verges on concrete poetry. Well, almost. Still, worth a watch! ... In a more verbal direction, but no less artistic, check out Blair and his spoken word, who's well-known and -admired in the Midwest, but gaining a strong national rep', too.
Xlibris, a strategic partner of Random House, is reaching out to small publishers and independent writers who are considering self-publishing. They have a special where you can get free copies of your book if you try them this month. (No, not a commercial endorsement here... However, if you're aching to get your work in print, this may be a solution for you.)
The Great American Poetry Show is more book than broadcast, though it's on the web, and available in PDF format. Open submits, year round... Taking a different approach, there's Effing Press... And being a bit more generalist, there's We Love Poems, a directory of poetry from all over the web... Looking for more random reads in a more southwesterly direction? Try Blond Chili, Cine Space, or OverUnderMag.com... and reaching a little further al sur, there's the stark textzi.net from México, D.F., edited by Ivan Monroy.
And how about a clutch of links around the recent MusiCircus, where new music, performance, and language arts convened at the MCA in the spirit of John Cage? Check these out: Bad At Sports; Likes To Do Other Things, art and culture in Chicago and around the world; or the homesite at the Chicago Composers Forum for the MusiCircus.
As always, we thank you for reading our monthly update, and also thank those who keep it supplied with news, announcements, leads, commentary, and positive buzz.
- Kurt Heintz, founder
e-poets network, Chicago
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