Are awards the staff of life? Of course not. But they certainly seem like food for the hungry.
My Books
Several books of poems are published by Moloko Print and Stadtlichter Presse in bilingual (American-German) editions, and by Cold Turkey Press in handmade chapbooks. “The Z Collection” appeared in three editions, by AC Books, Blue Wind Press, and Moloko Print.”
Steff Signer / Cabinet Music — Frozen Duck Tears
Concept & Music Vocals & Moniphonium Inventions:
Steff Signer, Switzerland
Photography: Mario Baronchelli, Switzerland
«Mother of Transgression» Poetry: Florian Vetsch
Brass Instruments & Tibetan: «singi»
Cymbals: Markus Breuss, Spain
Electric Guitar Explosion: Chanan Hanspal, England
Viola: David Schnee
Recitation Text: Liz Foulis, Scotland
Recitation Poetry: Jaswant Hanspal
The Late Brion Gysin (1916-1986) Is Having a Moment
Over the years he had many, in fact, although few of them lived up to his expectations. But never mind. An updated model of his and Ian Sommerville’s Dreamachine was recently featured in a symposium on art, AI, and the humanities here in New York; and another will be installed in London at the Tate Modern, in the exhibition “Electric Dreams: Art and Technology Before the Internet,”which will run from the end of this month (Nov. 28) to June 1, 2025. Meanwhile, Roger Knoebber has brought Gysin back to life in a shaggy, unconventional book-length profile, “Hysteresis.”
New York City Opera
Outdoor Puccini Celebration in the Heart of Manhattan
Huge crowds turned out for two boffo evenings of concert excerpts from Puccini’s operas. It was part of Bryant Park’s free, summer Picnic Performances. Music was provided by New York City Opera, “famously dubbed ‘The People’s Opera’ by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia at its founding in 1943.'” I attended on a beautiful, balmy Saturday evening.
Here to Entertain You
My staff of thousands is curious to know whether the music is actually being played or dubbed.
Make of It What You Will
Other Minds Always Offers a Musical Change of Pace
Thirty-one years after its founding, Other Minds, the brainchild of Charles Amirkhanian and Jim Newman, is still going strong as a presenter of experimental contemporary music with an emphasis on “the most original, eccentric, and underrepresented creative voices.” Here’s a presentation of Linda Bouchard and the Ensemble TriOcular+.
Mashup of Amanda Gorman and Bach at Carnegie Hall
If I had been asked who would be the main attraction of Saturday night’s Carnegie Hall mashup between the poet and the composer, my guess would have been Amanda Gorman. I would not have guessed it would be the cellist Jan Vogler. As it turned out, however, his performance of three of Bach’s cello suites, more or less interrupted by Gorman’s rap-inflected poetry, made him the star of the show.
Age Is No Obstacle: Annie Fischer Plays Like an Angel
She’s also smoking a fag, as a Brit might say. Her touch — feathery and liquid both — is sublime. When I listen to her trills, I hear birds singing.
A True Poet’s ‘Great Balls of Doubt’
The world Mark Terrill sees is “essentially forlorn, if not absurd, if not entirely hopeless. But his poetry is far from hopeless.” — Lawrence Ferlinghetti
A Different Kind of Mushroom Cloud
Recalling the first Trinity nuclear blast, which is being memorialized by the new Christopher Nolan film “Oppenheimer,” I couldn’t help thinking of the last collage that Norman O. Mustill made and his first using digital tools.
Tugboat Tillie
Straight Up has moved house and is taking a vacation break.
‘Singular, Tender, Euphoric, Hypnotic’
Dylan Mattingly’s 6-Hour Opera Makes It to Los Angeles
The last time we heard excerpts of “Stranger Love,” it was in Brooklyn and the score-cum-libretto had yet to receive a full production. Now it is to be staged from beginning to end in a once-only performance at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
And Now . . . for a Lively Change of Pace
Nine years ago William Osborne posted this trailer for Cybeline, a multimedia music theater work performed by Abbie Conant with music by Osborne. The staff finds it remarkable at how fresh it remains.
A Something Else Reader
Newly Discovered, It Was Hidden Away for 50 Years
” ‘A Something Else Reader’ is a previously unpublished anthology edited by Dick Higgins in 1972 to celebrate Something Else Press, the publishing house he founded in 1963, and to showcase Fluxus and other experimental artistic and literary forms. … He assembled the table of contents and an introduction into a proposal, which went into his archive, where it was found by scholar and curator Alice Centamore, who compiled the works and assembled it.” — Primary Information
Counter Culture Chronicles
Retro vinyl is a thing. But retro cassette? Does anyone still have or use a cassette player? Apparently some do. René van der Voort has produced more than 100 cassettes by a wide range of poets, writers, and artists. His label, Counter Culture Chronicles, lists audio performances by Aram Saroyan, Charles Plymell, Jürgen Ploog, Stuart Perkoff, Allen Ginsberg, Nanao Sakaki, Angus MacLise, Ed Dorn, Ken Kesey, Joel Oppenheimer, Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, Ted Berrigan, Peter Orlovsky, Gerd Stern, Ira Cohen, Michael McClure, Fielding Dawson, Steve Dalachinsky, Neeli Cherkovski, Ed Dorn, and ruth weiss. My own cassette has just been released. The recording runs for 30 minutes.
‘A Solo Among Men’
Abbie Conant won an audition for first trombone in the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. But the conductor, Sergiu Celibidache, preferred a man upfront and demoted her. Conant speaks about coping with that as she looks back at her tenacious struggle for justice. Conant’s husband, the composer William Osborne was instrumental in a feminist campaign against sexism at the Vienna Philharmonic. As he said at the time, “If it were just the Vienna Philharmonic, the whole issue would be much too parochial to bother with. The real issue is that women are not treated fairly …”