Sign up to attend the "Metro America" Webinar on Tuesday, November 30th from 6PM to 7PM, PST.
This Webinar features Amy Goodman in discussion with The Great Divide book authors John Sperling and Suzanne Helburn.
Tune in to find out what really happened Nov. 2, how it happened and where we go from here.
This is a free web-based series of seminars on critical issues dividing the nation. The webinar series is one of several projects stemming from the bestselling book The Great Divide: Retro vs. Metro America.
The Great Divide platform seeks to reenergize the Democratic spirit and spark a progressive movement that ultimately will reunite Americans.
We hope you'll enjoy this Webinar covering topical events and issues through the thesis of The Great Divide: Retro vs. Metro America.
Click here to find out more
David Bromige, RIP
RSS Feed Button
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Carl Macki in the bush of poetry ghosts.
Webinar Tuesday, Nov. 30th -- 6PM
Collective Memory
The Poetry Center &American Poetry Archives 1954-2004
POETRY and its ARTS: Bay Area Interactions 1954-2004
Helen Adam, "For Love of Lilith," photo-collage, circa 1955,
courtesy of The Poetry Collection of The University Libraries,
State University of New York, Buffalo.
Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire
by Anne Norton, Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
Yale University Press
September 2004
256 p.
Cloth 0-300-10436-7 $25.00
A thin but elegant account of the life and ideas of the figure who has influenced the neoconservative movement, especially those who hold sway in the Bush Administration in its impetus toward Empire.
Stanley Hoffman's review in Foreign Affairs
Straussian resources
Related: Ravelstein, by Saul Bellow -- reviews
Up Beat About New Single from The Beat Up
release a new limited edition single "Messed Up" on Monday 22 Nov.
The single will be available as a LTD edition CD (1000 only
copies) featuring the exclusive Bsides "City At Night" & "Misunderstood"
and LTD edition 7" (750 x RED vinyl, 750 x CLEAR vinyl) with "Like A
Moron" as the exclusive B-side. Each format has a different picture
sleeve.
"Messed Up" is the first single from The Beat Up's forthcoming debut
album (out Jan) which was produced and mixed by Kevin Shields.
from www.fantasticplasticrecords.com
SoftSkull Press
Upcoming:
Current Affairs/ Politics:
White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, by Tim Wise.
Using stories from his own life, anti-racist activist and Fortune 500 racial awareness trainer Tim Wise demonstrates the ways in which racism not only burdens people of color, but also hurts, in relative terms, those who are “white like him.”
America’s Mayor: The Hidden History of Rudy Giuliani’s New York, edited by Robert Polner.
Rudy Giuliani’s admirably flinty response to the horrifying events of 9-11 has made him a national hero, positioning him for big things to come in the nation’s political life, as governor of New York, in Hilary Rodham Clinton’s coveted US Senate seat or, his ultimate quest, the While House. But the outpouring of praise for his performance after Sep 11, 2001 has obscured many uncomfortable facts about Giuliani, one of the most polarizing figures in the history of a great a frenetic city.
Fiction:
Everyone’s Pretty, by Lydia Millet.
A new novel from the author of George Bush, Dark Prince of Love (Scribner, 2000) and the PEN-USA Award-winning My Happy Life (Holt, 2002).
Dean Decetes, a pornographer with messianic delusions, spins out of control in Los Angeles, where he spends his time drinking himself into a stupor, getting beaten up by strangers he’s recklessly insulted, stealing credit cards to pay for sex, being arrested, begging favors, and mounting a PR campaign to make himself famous, with the help of a “loyal foot soldier”—a porn-loving midget he met in jail.
Deliver me From Nowhere, by Tennessee Jones.
In 1982, Bruce Springsteen departed from an upbeat rock and roll sound to release Nebraska—a spare, haunting piece of storytelling populated by deadbeats, desperadoes, and the poor souls unfortunate enough to fall in love with them.
In Deliver me From Nowhere, Tennessee Jones re-imagines the shadowy folk fables of Springsteen’s masterwork in stories that trace a proud but perilous journey across the class, gender, and sexual badlands of Middle America.
Graphic Novels:
Juicy Mother, edited by Jennifer Camper.
A cartoon anthology with work by and about queers, women and people of color. The collection showcases comics by such well-known cartoonists as Alison Bechdel (Dykes to Watch Out For), Howard Cruse (Wendel, Stuck Rubber Baby), Diane DiMassa (Hothead Paisan), and Ariel Schrag (Definition, Potential).
Poetry:
Road Movies (Tenth Anniversary Edition), by Lee Ranaldo.
Road Movies is prose, poetry, and lyrics by the guitarist of the seminal punk (and beyond) band Sonic Youth, who paved the way for the explosion of Nirvana and punk on to the mainstream scene in the early nineties.
As the title suggests, large parts of the book are inspired by time spent on the road with Sonic Youth and evoke the strange surprises and almost out of body clarity that occurs during travel.
How To Make a Living as a Poet, by Gary Mex Glazner.
The 9-digit U.S. Department of Labor code for POET is 131067042. In How To Make a Living as a Poet, Glazner details how he and a diverse group of American scribes (including Sherman Alexie, Mary Karr, Naomi Shihab Nye, Paul Polansky and Beau Sia) found ways to integrate poetry into their financial and occupational plans until they could do what many writers consider unthinkable: list their life’s passion on their tax forms.
Jane: A Murder in Poems, by Maggie Nelson.
Jane tells the spectral story of Maggie Nelson’s aunt Jane, who was murdered in 1969 while a first-year law student at the University of Michigan. Though officially unsolved, Jane’s murder was apparently the third in a series of seven brutal rape-murders in the area between 1967 and 1969. Nelson was born a few years after Jane’s death, and the narrative is suffused with the long shadow her murder cast over both the family and her psyche.
The Literary Press and Magazine Directory 2005/2006, from the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses.
Whether you’re a writer of fiction, poetry, or prose, this all-new, updated and redesigned directory is the essential source for expanding any would-be author’s publishing horizons.
Conductors of the Pit: Artaud, Holan Cesaire, Vallejo, Breton, Neruda, Radnoti, Rimbaud, Hierro, Bador, Jufasz, Szocs, edited and translated by Clayton Eshleman.
“Forget the orchestra/ conduct the pit!” National Book Award and PEN Award-winning translator Clayton Eshleman commands, of both himself and his muses in a search for “the abyss, the recesses of the mind, the darkness of political domination, the gulf between worlds.” Featuring the major forces behind surrealist movement from around the world, his essential study brings these poets to a new generation of creative hearts.
Look Slimmer Instantly!, by Jerome Sala. Slam poetry pioneer Jerome Sala critiques the commercialism and shallowness of American media and culture with poems both playful and chilling. Along the way he makes an unexpected discovery: that even the most crass aspects of our society are flooded with the poetical.
There's more. (Download Winter 2004 catalog).
For more info: Kristin Pulkkinen at kristin@softskull.com
Nick Drake
The unofficial fan site
iguana site
courtesy Yahoo! Launch
the Albums
Five Leaves Left
"Bryter Layter"
"Pink Moon"
"Time Of No Reply"
"Way To Blue"
"Tanworth-in-Arden 1967/68"
interview with Ted Kooser, US poet laureate
"Retired Insurance Man Puts A Premium On Verse," by Elizabeth Lund
from the Christian Science Monitor
Backnote
In announcing the appointment of Ted Kooser a Nebraska native, as the next poet laureate of the United States, Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington, said, "Ted Kooser is a major poetic voice for rural and small town America and the first poet laureate chosen from the Great Plains. His verse reaches beyond his native region to touch on universal themes in accessible ways."
Worth visiting:
Library of Congress Poetry and Literature Center: www.loc.gov/poetry/
Skindred
"one of the best bands in England" --NME
Read about Skindred: Rocknworld
Their Lavarecords site
The album "Babylon"
Appearing on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (NBC) December 14th
Touring the US with Korn and Chevelle:
11-14-2004 Tacoma, WA Tacoma Dome
With: Korn, Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin, Instruction
11-17-2004 Los Angeles, CA Universal Ampitheatre
With: Korn, Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin, Instruction
11-19-2004 Albuquerque, NM Sunshine Theater
With:
11-20-2004 Tucson, AZ Pima County Fairgrounds
With: Instruction, Breaking Benjamin , Chevelle, Korn
11-22-2004 Colorado Springs, CO World Arena
With: Korn, Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin, Instruction
11-24-2004 Minneapolis, MN Target Center
With: Korn, Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin, Instruction
11-26-2004 Chicago, IL Aragon Theater
With: Korn, Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin, Instruction
11-27-2004 Milwaukee, WI Eagles Ballroom
With: Instruction, Breaking Benjamin , Chevelle, Korn
11-28-2004 Cleveland, OH Convocation Convention Center
With: Instruction, Breaking Benjamin, Korn
11-29-2004 Providence, RI Lupos
With:
11-30-2004 Trenton, NJ Sovereign Bank Arena
With: Instruction, Breaking Benjamin, hevelle, Korn
12-03-2004 West Palm Beach, FL TBA
With:
12-04-2004 West Palm Beach, FL Sound Advice Amphitheatre
With: WPBZ
12-05-2004 Clearwater, FL COACHMAN PARK-WSUN/97X
With:
12-06-2004 Orlando, FL Hard Rock Live
With: Instruction, Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, Korn
12-08-2004 Pensacola, FL Pensacola Civic Center
With: Instruction, Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, Korn
12-10-2004 Dallas, TX Nokia Live at Grand Praire
With: Instruction, Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, Korn
Mac Dre, RIP
SPECIAL -- Editorial "Preventing A Rap War" by Alonzo Washington in ballerstatus.net
MORE THAN THE THIZZLE REMAINS 
Andre Hicks (July 5, 1970-November 1, 2004)
Sacramento rapper Mac Dre was killed around 4:30 a.m. November 1, 2004 after being shot by an unknown assailant in a black 2003 Infiniti G36 in Kansas City, Missouri on Highway 71. He was riding in the back of a white van, which later crashed after going down into a ditch. Mac Dre was thrown out of the vehicle. The driver of the van survived the attack by ducking, and after the crash, went to a nearby store to report the shooting.
Mac Dre performed in Kansas City on Friday night, and may have upset some guests of a private affair on Sunday, whose flyers he was listed as performing, but did not.
His controversial career included the release of more than twenty albums, and he was influential in establishing Vallejo as a major force in rap. In the '90s, he served five years in prison for being connected to the Romper Room Gang, a bunch of bank and pizza parlor robbers, whom he also celebrated on his recordings and live shows. At the time of his death, Mac Dre was enjoying a surge in popularity, both in records sales and radio airplay. His new release, Appearances, on his own label, Thizzle Entertainment, is due out on November 16, 2004. Mac Dre was 34. A viewing of the body is scheduled on Tuesday, November 9, from noon to 5 p.m., at Mount Calvary Baptist Church, in Fairfield. In addition, his family is holding a private service for him.
For links to more about Mac Dre, visit MyYahoo!
Greg Palast on the Election
"KERRY WON. HERE ARE THE FACTS." Check it out, it's on TomPaine.com as well.
Thich Nhat Hahn
this from Connie Madden:
A'midst all the frustration, analysis, strategizing, and despair, came the following.
By the way, Thich Nhat Hanh, who wrote this, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr. not long before King was assassinated. He has long been an advocate of peace and is the source for the idea of *engaged Buddhism.*This is an excerpt...it really applies to the interconnectedness of everything...may our *leaders* come to that insight!
We have to help our government so that a president elected by 51% of the population will not serve just that 51% but the whole country. We need to keep speaking out, daily letting our government know what we want, expressing our insight and understanding. We need to be very present, very firm and constantly let the government know we are here. We can support them in our own way, through being present, calm, lucid and compassionate. Being compassionate doesn’t mean we surrender and give up. It means we see clearly that our country, our government is us and it needs our help. Compassion means acting with courage and deep love to help manifest what we know our country is capable of. Historically it has happened that the agenda of the left has been realized by the right. We have to speak out and keep speaking out, and it is possible that the Republicans will accomplish what the Democrats, what the left, had hoped to realize had they won. We also need to remember that even if Kerry had been elected, he would also have had to partly realize the wish of those who voted for Bush, and it is not sure that he would have been able to stop the war in Iraq. Nothing is lost because we are in President Bush. There is a loss only if we respond with anger and despair. We have to continue on, to continue our practice, and remain strong in our role as bodhisattvas helping the other half of our country by our firm, clear and compassionate action for peace-- the kind of peace in which both sides win because it is based on mutual understanding.
more on Toni Dove
Toni Dove's electronic installations that utilize interactive video and virtual reality create a new narrative symbology.
Her works, Mesmer - Secrets of the Human Frame,
The Blessed Abyss - A Tale of Unmanageable Ecstasies
Archeology of a Mother Tongue,
Casual Workers, Hallucinations and Appropriate Ghosts
Artificial Changelings
using new media to retell the new.
Rome show, Ikara Colt, et al.
Monday, 15th November
ROME
venue: ALPHEUS, Via del Commercio 36
9.00pm: IKARA COLT + THE RAVEONETTES + LINEA 77
From Ikara Colt's record label:
We have a limited number of spaces on our guest list for this show, so if you are going to be in Rome and would like to go, please let us know:
enquire@fantasticplasticrecords.com
Interactive Art: course info directions
from MIT/OCW/Media Arts and Sciences/
MAS.878 / MAS.478: Special Topics in Multimedia Production: Experiences in Interactive Art, Fall 2003
Other resources
See postings in web log for artists featured in this course, (available free of charge and without registration, as part of the MIT OpenCourseWare), as well as related postings.
blackbox-- "Democracy"
You may go to the main link to visit the blackbox voting site. For an illuminating article on the controversy over "blackbox" voting, attend to this. and Thom Hartmann's piece.
Don't the lyrics from Leonard Cohen seem appropriate here:
"Democracy" from
"The Future" (1992) (To buy it, at Amazon.)
It's coming through a hole in the air, from those nights in Tiananmen Square. It's coming from the feel that this ain't exactly real, or it's real, but it ain't exactly there. From the wars against disorder, from the sirens night and day, from the fires of the homeless, from the ashes of the gay: Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming through a crack in the wall; on a visionary flood of alcohol; from the staggering account of the Sermon on the Mount which I don't pretend to understand at all. It's coming from the silence on the dock of the bay, from the brave, the bold, the battered heart of Chevrolet: Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming from the sorrow in the street, the holy places where the races meet; from the homicidal bitchin' that goes down in every kitchen to determine who will serve and who will eat. From the wells of disappointment where the women kneel to pray for the grace of God in the desert here and the desert far away: Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
Sail on, sail on O mighty Ship of State! To the Shores of Need Past the Reefs of Greed Through the Squalls of Hate Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.
It's coming to America first, the cradle of the best and of the worst. It's here they got the range and the machinery for change and it's here they got the spiritual thirst. It's here the family's broken and it's here the lonely say that the heart has got to open in a fundamental way: Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming from the women and the men. O baby, we'll be making love again. We'll be going down so deep the river's going to weep, and the mountain's going to shout Amen! It's coming like the tidal flood beneath the lunar sway, imperial, mysterious, in amorous array: Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
Sail on, sail on ...
I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean I love the country but I can't stand the scene. And I'm neither left or right I'm just staying home tonight, getting lost in that hopeless little screen. But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags that Time cannot decay, I'm junk but I'm still holding up this little wild bouquet: Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
© 1992 Leonard Cohen
Krzysztof Wodiczko
MAS 878 478 W
Wodiczko at MIT
view "Art For A Change"
http://www.mit.edu:8001/afs/athena.mit.edu/course/4/4.395/www/krystof/krystof.html
How was he influenced by the Situationalists?
