Beat Me With A Stick (click to watch show)

A Call for a Revolution

The Noiret Tina Blog

I was given this LINK from today from Noiret Tina. She lives in Brussels and is the Project leader in new technologies and knowledge management, who is more and more interested in the connection between literature and politics, technology and politics. She says, "Why not tell all this in the form of fables or poems?"

Please visit her blog and read her story.

The link to her site above is in English translation. For our French readers, please visit this link HERE.

Portrait by Noiret Tina

Some artists do not really know their talent.

Thus, she had casually made ​​this portrait ...

She does not like to be quoted, so I do not quote.

I just wonder the mirror

and without permission, 

I walk through the ages and their faces.

The Word Junkie by Ginger Eades

Click player to listen to Spoken Jive.  

Word Junkie: Spoken Jive by Ginger Eades

Poem by Ginger Eades read while spinnin' "Namaste" by the Beastie Boys in the background
The Word Junkie-

I was a highjivin' debutante, on the dole, tippin' along the stroll,
in boots of Italian leather; hustlin' words as Schedule II-Clever.
'Round midnight, I wound up down on Division Street
when I spotted Johnny Law walkin' that very beat.
I was hiding inside my head
when the officer came over and said,
"You're in possession of a meandering mind!
But I'm a cut you a break-- just this one time."
So the Law let me go with a clean break
But I had to hustle cos it was gettin' late-
See, I was a practicing "Word Junkie," if you catch my drift,
thought I had gotten away with a mere slap on the wrist;
So I copped some phrases, got a dime bag of wit
I was high on words; man, I was lit!
I shuffled uptown, and tipped along the stroll
I had my words and was ready to rock n roll
I put a poem in the pockets of my suit
When two rookie cops busted me for "intent to distribute."
The coppers didn't like my claim of "words for personal use"
So they cuffed me & added charges of "literature abuse."
I plead guilty at the arraignment and now I'm doing time:
Life without parole in the jail of my mind.

Click Here to Go to Word Junkie Player

Drowning Like Li Po in a River Of Red Wine: A D Winans Selected Poetry

This is a career spanning book of poetry from A.D. Winans, 398 pages. This book covers the period from 1970 - 2010 and contains a selection of poems from all of his 51 books over a period of 40 years. Paperback edition, limited to 100 copies in wraps. Perfect bound. $20.00. Contact the publisher Bottle of Smoke Press HERE.

Below are a few excerpts:

from North Beach Poems (1977)

FOR PADDY O’SULLIVAN

Paddy O’Sullivan

home again wearing

the scars of the past

like an engraved bracelet

passed on from one lover to another

walking the streets of north beach

in search of old visions now only

memories in the nightmare mirror

of madness—swapping tales

with obscene priests hung over in

the drunkenness of eternal failure.

Paddy O’Sullivan of Kerouac tales

and Cassady visions

Paddy O’Sullivan walking
Washington Square
the bulldozer death lurking everywhere.

Paddy O’Sullivan does your typewriter

still talk to you in

the lonely hours of the night?

Paddy O’Sullivan alone in

San Francisco

city of suicides past and present

waiting for that lady poet

who will forgive you in the morning

for forgetting her name in

the hour of dawn when our needs are soothed

with the power of the written word

that stirs moves inside us

like a runaway express train stalled

on the freeway

like the haunting breath

of a hound dog closing in for

the kill.

Paddy O’Sullivan where

have all the poets gone walking

straightjackets trapped by time

the sun is not as you see it now

everything changes and yet remains the same

the streets are no more or less intense

the lines on your face are the lines

on my face as we move back into

the body into the inner flesh measured by

the amnesia of yesterday.

this town coughs up its dead most rudely

the raw nerves of time returning to haunt me

oblivious to the thirst lying still at

the edge of the river.

the blueprint of our life etched in

the dark shadows of

the soul.

from It Serves You Right To Suffer (1997)

FOR DINO

The Beach is dead

The blood thin red

Dino the bartender lives

In a graveyard

Chief undertaker

Dispensing pain

Like low grade cocaine

There was a time when

I might have invited him outside

Only the tough guy image

Long ago died

The Beach is dead

The poets have left

Dino the bartender

Walks with spade and shovel

Having found his niche in life

The Beach is dead

The ghosts cry in despair

Mad cowboys rope my visions

Hog tie my poems

The curse of Kerouac serenades

The demons of sleep

The Beach is dead

from Sleeping With Demons (2003)

EARLY MORNING INSOMNIA

sitting here alone with

a perpetual hard-on

4 in the morning

insomnia tearing at my guts

can’t sleep, can’t write

pussy on my mind

and people keep writing

and telling me I’m a legend

so why am I sitting here alone

staring into the dark

like a sniper fingering

a hair trigger

restless, unheroic

waiting on words that

won’t come

 

Photo of A.D. Winans by Alexsey Dayen 2010

POEM FOR MY FATHER

It took me decades after his death

Before I could write a poem about him

It was as if a small part of him

Had entered my heart

And remained behind the barbed-

Wire fence he so carefully constructed

Over those long years

Stayed there all that time

Building an invisible umbilical cord

Reaching out for un unseen love connection

Sending signals carried on the sealed lips

Of blackbirds circling invisible graveyards

Finding in death

What we had never known in life

Those ghostly white hands scratching upward

From the grave

Desperately trying to cup the tiny flame

Flickering inside the valve of my heart

Robert Branaman Exhibit in Los Angeles

Virtual Slights copyright Branaman 2008

Bob Branaman is a film maker, printmaker and artist. He was an integral part of the Wichita Hipsters back in the Vortex of the 1950.., whose number included Bruce Connor, Charles Plymell, Roxie Powell, Michael McClure, Dave Haselwood and more. His art and films have been shown world wide. He lives in Los Angeles and is still being true to his school creating experimental and challenging art.

Robert R. Branaman aka Rapid Ronnie/Barbital Bob

Presents

Barbital Bites

Opening Reception November 6th 6-9pm

ART COYOTE GALLERY
640 Venice blvd.
Venice CA 90291



by appointment : info@artcoyote.com

Catching Up with Ngawang Choephel about "Tibet in Song": Re-posted from AVSTV

Catching Up with Ngawang Choephel about ‘Tibet in Song’

Posted by: E. Nina Rothe from http://www.avstv.com September 17, 2010

Tibet in Song is a lyrical new film that will open in NYC, at the Cinema Village Theater, on September 24th and will play in the Big Apple for a week, before taking off for the rest of the world. I was privileged to see an advance screening of the film and was absolutely mesmerized by Tibet’s breathtaking views, its people’s courage and beauty and Tibet in Song filmmaker Ngawang Choephel’s strength and resilience in the face of adversity. I know that after seeing this film I’ll never complain about a rainy day I have to spend inside and I’ll respect my Tibetan brothers and sisters only that much more! I recently caught up with Choephel and he shared some of his insight into this very personal journey of a film.

AVS: What made you go back to Tibet? And what happened while you were there, if you could explain it to our readers?

 


Ngawang Choephel: While growing up in India as a Tibetan refugee there was always this feeling that we would one day go back to Tibet. But years went by, Tibet alive only in our imagination and Tibetans in India kept demonstrating against China’s invasion of our country. It seemed more and more unlikely that all the Tibetans in India would go back to Tibet soon. Of course I wanted to feel that sense of belonging in a place that you can call your own, but most importantly it was Tibetan music and culture that drove me to go back to there. I had so many questions, curiosity, excitement and emotions that I simply couldn’t wait any longer to see Tibet. When I arrived there, the first impression I got came from the warmth of the people, the intensity of our culture and raw beauty of our landscape. I never thought in my life that I would be one of the first Tibetans from outside Tibet to film Tibetan music. I was proud of myself to be on that mission and it was a prime time in my life to have most of the Tibetans I met share their music and their stories with me. They went through so much yet they shared their music with me in a most intimate way. I never thought my life would be so valuable to experience this journey and moment with them in Tibet. I found joy, as they do, in everything they did and the way they live.

AVS: During your visit there, you were then arrested and most of your work was confiscated. How did you manage to keep all the footage that you have in your film?

NC: Yes, after two months of traveling and recording music I was arrested. After one year of interrogation I was sentenced to 18 years in prison, accused of spying. They confiscated 7 tapes, but I was able to send 9 tapes to India through a friend of mine, before I was arrested.

AVS: Were there ever moments of doubt in your mind during your incarceration. Thoughts of ‘Why did I do this, why did I come here?’
 
NC: There were a few times I was thinking “If I had not done this or done that” but I never questioned that coming to Tibet was the wrong idea. I don’t remember ever feeling like that. Most of the time I was thinking and contemplating  how my work could be a crime or why was I being held in prison and eventually I could feel the same pain and injustice of humanity for what all my fellow Tibetan political prisoners went through. I was in a way proud to be one among many who have sacrificed their lives and who were in prison at that time. I would forget to worry about myself most of the time and my main worry was for my mom and uncle. But then again as one of my closest friend, a late political prisoner said “What you are talking about? The only difference is you are inside and she is outside. That’s it”.

AVS: How were you finally freed?

NC: I was finally released in January of 2002, after my mother’s relentlessly solitary campaign, with the help 0f the US government, many international artist, the Tibetan government in exile and many other organizations that fought hard for my release.

AVS: You grew up in India, but then what made you move the US after you were finally freed from jail in Tibet?

 
NC: I was released to India via the USA in 2002. Since there is a strong philanthropic sense and interest in independent work in the US, I decided to resume my work here, continuing where I left off before my incarceration. I didn’t know it would  take this long, but the entire process of making this film and meeting hundreds people in the business, sharing my story and getting their help was a journey that I believe would not have happened anywhere else except here in the USA.

AVS: What is the most important lesson you learned while making this film?

 
NC: I have learned so many things from making the film but the most important lesson was how important it is to collaborate with others. You can make films by yourself but working with others who really believe in the subject makes a film complete.

AVS: What do you think will be your next project, after this film it will have a tough act to follow…

NC: I am a very passionate person and my life is dedicated to what I can best do for the Tibetan cause and our story. I will most likely work on another Tibet related documentary.



AVS: What are some of the plans for this film, in the next couple of months?

NC: We are opening Tibet in Song in NYC at Cinema Village on Sept 24th for a one-week run and it will be in 12 different cities after that. I plan to attend most of opening nights to help promote the film.

AVS: Before you started filming in Tibet, before you were captured, what had you hoped to accomplish with your work? Did you know you would eventually make a film out of it?
 

NC: My mission was to go to Tibet to find the right location and people for our next crew which I was planning to bring during my next trip. I was collecting info and doing some short field research while filming in Tibet, but my main goal was to do pre-production work. I had already conceived the idea of making the film and I had made a presentation cut -  to raise funds etc. - before I went to Tibet.

AVS: And finally, if you had to describe your Tibet to a person who knows nothing about your country, how would you do that?
 

NC: I would say that Tibet is highest country in world, a beautiful land with beautiful people. It has its own unique civilization, history and culture, but since the Chinese invasion in 1949, Tibetans have been victims of the longest cultural genocide, with the highest number of imprisonments, torture and deaths in this world. It’s like its climate is controlled by China’s totalitarian regime: Sometimes it’s sunny, sometimes it rains, but most of the time it’s dark and cloudy in Tibet.

All images above, courtesy of the filmmaker

The article above was originally posted on the AVSTV website AT THIS LINK by E. Nina Rothe. I have re-posted it above with hopes of making information about Ngawang and his film, "Tibet in Song" even more widely available to the public.
 

Charles Plymell Reading Charles Henri Ford Last Prints

Charles Plymell with Charles Henri Ford at UBU Gallery

The Eve of Fluxus: Review by Hammond Guthrie

The Eve of Fluxus: A Fluxmemoir by Billie Maciunas

Arbiter Press, Orlando, Florida  ISBN 978-0-615-35216-9

Fluxus is a name taken from a Latin word meaning "to flow"— often described as "intermedia," a term coined by Fluxus artist Dick Higgins in 1966. Fluxus as an artistic group was named and organized by George Maciunas, a Lithuanian-born American artist and founding member of Fluxus, an international community of artists, architects, composers, and designers - among them, George Brecht and Nam June Paik, Dick Higgins, Wolf Vostell, La Monte Young, Jonas Mekas, and Yoko Ono. Fluxus is an attitude ~ not a movement or a style.

"Fluxus is a Latin word George Maciunas dug up. I never studied Latin. If it hadn't been for Maciunas nobody might have ever called it anything. We would all have gone our own ways, like the man crossing his street with his umbrella, and a woman walking a dog in another direction. We would have gone our own ways and done our own things: the only reference point for any of this bunch of people who liked each other's works, and each other, more or less, was Maciunas. So Fluxus, as far as I'm concerned, is Maciunas."  --George Brecht

Three months before his death, George Maciunas married his friend and companion, the poet Billie Hutching in a "Fluxwedding" held in a friend's loft in SoHo, February 25, 1978. Among the participants were artists Alison Knowles, La Monte Young, Jackson MacLow, and Louise Bourgeois.

Life as therapeutic fetish, the marriage of Billie and George was equal to the concept of Fluxus, and their union became the essence of the 'Fluxus perspective' ~ an exchange of deep-rooted intentions along with their clothing and characters, as bride and groom both wore white wedding dresses for the ceremony. Gender role playing and more, at George's request, would continue in private. George in drag acting as Severin von Kusiemski tied to the nuptial bed by Billie, his Wanda von Dunajew. "I'll beat you again," I say, "then I'll let you go." "You're wonderful," he breathes as she leaves.

With this first publication of The Eve of Fluxus, Billie Maciunas writes/sings of their brief yet intensely personal relationship in an expressive voice not unlike the late diarist Anais Nin. Perpetually ill, George developed cancer of the pancreas and liver in 1977, and their all too brief time together was to a large extent dominated by George's painful illness and fear of abandonment. In the most evocative passages Billie describes her attempts to help George with his significant discomforts by employing relaxing "immobilization" techniques, while at the same time working to preserve his place in the greater pantheon of Art.

George Maciunas died on May 9, 1978, and astride her significant grief following George's death, Billie was almost immediately confronted by adversaries over how to distribute her husband's estate, which included the artist's significant Fluxus archive.

Billie Maciunas' journey is indeed a road less traveled, yet one I encourage you to take in this intriguing, well composed, and deeply moving memoir.    © 2010 Hammond Guthrie

My heart has outgrown, like magic,
the clamor of painful things...
Beneath the burnt heather are newborn roses...
I've put an end to my tears.

—from the poem: "Desert In Flower" © Billie Maciunas

Buy the Book:

Mail orders for "The Eve of Fluxus" (signed by the author):
Billie J. Maciunas
10152 Berry Field Ct.
Orlando, FL 32821
The Eve of Fluxus (web site) 

Hammond Guthrie is the author of "AsEverWas..Memoirs of a Beat Survivor" and editor of The 3rd Page Journal of Ongrowing Natures.

© 2010 Hammond Guthrie

Excerpt from The Iron Journals

for years we'd been over it and over it. the abandonment the betrayal. the relatives the coaches the peers the feet the fists the spit the punches and the kicks. the graffiti the notes the winks the uncles the aunts the abandonment the betrayal and the violence. we'd been over the loss the drugs the alcohol the loneliness the dissociation the hallucinations the imaginary beasts the fractured visions the seizures and the abandonment and the betrayal and it seemed as always i was doomed to repeat the trauma. i said one day on the couch staring at the ceiling while secretly counting the specks and tiles again: goddamnit. i've had enough. i can't do it anymore. i can't come in anymore man. why? why do we have to keep going over it? we've wrung it dry. how many times? these are ghosts. demons. no one said it was going to be easy. otherwise everyone would do it and no one would be unhappy. you must find something. not a way out but a way through it. tell everyone you know if they don't like it to get off the boat. you don't need them on board if they can't handle it. now find something to help funnel all of this. something that's there when i'm not. twice a week for an hour i'm here. the rest of the time you're on your own. i said i don't know. i don't know man. it was the iron but it started off with myself. body weight. 120 pounds i had to manipulate. 71 reminded me that i needed to add not subtract but i had to forget that temporarily to clean out the system. to know the system and prepare for addition which unlike elementary school is harder to learn than subtraction. that meant starvation. caffeine. macrobiotic diet. running. sweating. jumping jacks and the removal of the infant body. i weighed 112 pounds in september 2005. i sold 700 books. i threw out bags and bags of trash. i cleaned starved and removed most everything. 71 said you must add now. you must add instead of subtracting. and i did.                                                                                            

 

To Read More IRON JOURNALS click HERE