Victor D. Infante's Blog, page 170
May 8, 2012
The Bowery Poetry Club Revival
The Bowery Poetry Club has always been my home in New York City. Right now, it's raising money for major renovations, and every little bit helps:
ETA: Sigh. The embed code's not working. Just go visit here.
ETA: Sigh. The embed code's not working. Just go visit here.
May 7, 2012
The Best of Next ... Magazine
It probably goes without saying, but I am extremely proud to be a part of Write Bloody Publishing. It's the press that published my book,
City of Insomnia
, as well as my wife's
The Constant Velocity of Trains
and the anthology she co-edited with Lisa Sisler,
Knocking at the Door
, and never mind the other great anthologies one or both of us have been involved with, such as
The Last American Valentine
,
The Good Things About America
and
Aim For the Head
. Seriously. I'm fond. I think Write Bloody skipper Derrick brown has done an amazing job building this thing on nothing about enthusiasm and a talent for convincing poets that this is a good idea. (Which, as with all publishing, is a dubious proposition.) There's never been any real money in it, but honestly? I'm ecstatic every day to be on the the same press as the likes of Daniel McGinn, Tara Hardy, Idris Goodwin, Anis Mojgani, Brendan Constantine, Mindy Nettifee, Steve Abee and so many more great poets, some from my generation, but most a tad younger. I love the energy and sense of community. I love that with each new crop of books, I feel like I'm learning something new that can be done with poetry. Seriously, young (well, younger than me) writers such as Sierra DeMulder, Jeanann Verlee and the rest constantly rattle my sense of complacency, and I love that. Write Bloody has an amazing body of work, and I'm proud to have a small part of it.
But if I were to be completely honest, the book I'm proudest to have had a role in is News Clips & Ego Trips: The Best of Next ... Magazine, edited by G, Murray Thomas:
[image error]
I have a lot of reasons to love this book: I was a writer for Next ... for rather a lot of its existence, and became managing editor for its last year. (I know ... I know ... dubious accomplishment.) But personally, it's amazing to go back and see my interviews with the likes of Marc Smith or the late Utah Phillips, along with other great inter views with the likes of Patricia Smith, Miranda July, Jerry Quickley, the Watts Prophets, the Carma Bums and more. We like to think that a moment in poetry will last forever -- Lord knows I used to -- but it really doesn't. That doesn't mean the moment that comes back is worse -- I'm rather fond of some of these young whippersnappers -- but the truth is, large amounts of great poetry and poetry history will get lost if we don't write it all down. So for that, I'm ecstatic this book is out now, because there was a lot from this time that was worth remembering. It was only 15 years ago, but already it seems so far away. Don't mistake this for nostalgia -- I'm excited about the present, and the future. But there was a lot of value back there, too, and it's worth holding onto.
But if I were to be completely honest, the book I'm proudest to have had a role in is News Clips & Ego Trips: The Best of Next ... Magazine, edited by G, Murray Thomas:
[image error]
Source: via Victor on Pinterest
I have a lot of reasons to love this book: I was a writer for Next ... for rather a lot of its existence, and became managing editor for its last year. (I know ... I know ... dubious accomplishment.) But personally, it's amazing to go back and see my interviews with the likes of Marc Smith or the late Utah Phillips, along with other great inter views with the likes of Patricia Smith, Miranda July, Jerry Quickley, the Watts Prophets, the Carma Bums and more. We like to think that a moment in poetry will last forever -- Lord knows I used to -- but it really doesn't. That doesn't mean the moment that comes back is worse -- I'm rather fond of some of these young whippersnappers -- but the truth is, large amounts of great poetry and poetry history will get lost if we don't write it all down. So for that, I'm ecstatic this book is out now, because there was a lot from this time that was worth remembering. It was only 15 years ago, but already it seems so far away. Don't mistake this for nostalgia -- I'm excited about the present, and the future. But there was a lot of value back there, too, and it's worth holding onto.
April 26, 2012
Music in the Telegram
Today's Go section has a bunch of great music stories, covering a pretty broad range of tastes. First off, my What You're Listening To column is back, with a new format. Now, I'll be focusing on three to five songs by local artists a week. In the print edition, you'll get capsule reviews. In the Web edition, you'll get music players for the actual songs. Of course, that limits me to songs that artists have up on SoundCloud, ReverbNation and the like right now, but really? I can go a long time on those alone. Anyway, this week we're starting with a blues-jazz bang with The Duende Project, Dale LePage, Cara Brindisi, James Keyes and Niki Luparelli. Go listen, and if you're an artist who performs locally, drop me a line backchannel to suggest a song.
I'm glad I got to focus on talented locals, beause circumstances have forced us to focus on a couple acts that ... well ... let's just say I don't have quite as much love for. In his column, Craig Semon reviews the newest from Train, with results you might expect, and freelancer Alan Sculley takes us backstage at Nickelback's forthcoming show at the DCU Center. (thank you, Alan, for deftly excusing Craig and myself for having to write something nice abiout Nickelback! I don't think either of us could have survived the experience.)
Lastly, for fans with different taste, Nancy Sheehan previews tonight's screening of the documentary Under the Boardwalk at Beatnik's, which details the growing love for that humble instrument, the ukulele. Really, there's something for everyone in this one. Even if that someone loves Nickelback.
ETA: Almost forgot! Today's our weekly American Idol chat, at 1 p.m. EST. As always, Scott Croteau will be driving the show, but my question for him is, "Was Holli smart to go country?" Chime in and tell us what you think!
April 20, 2012
An Open Letter to Musicians & Other Performing Artists Looking To Get Their Info In The Newspaper
I wear a lot of hats -- lit journal editor, guy who writes poetry & fiction, unrepentant geek -- but the hat that actually pays my bills is being an editor in The Lifestyles Section of The Worcester Telegram & Gazette. It's a mongrel of a job that involves, among other things, laying out pages, helping reporters develop stories, writing my daily
Pop Culture Notebook
, writing my soon-to-return What You're Listening To column, editing the Go section calendar and a bazillion other odds and ends. Consequently, I tend to get a lot of questions from local musicians, poets and other artists about how to get word of their events in the paper. To that end, I like to post a FAQ every now and again, and it's been a while since I last did it. So ... on to business. (The information below pertains to the Telegram, but really, it's pretty much the same everywhere. Consult your fine local periodical to obtain contacts and addresses relevant to your area.)
How do I get my gig in the paper? The first, and most important thing, is to tell us about it. If your show is in the Worcester County area, send an email to submissions@telegram.com with the basic information: Who, What, When, Where, How Much. Maybe a little background information on performers or if its a beneift or some such, but don't go overboard. In our case, all of this information is put into one database by a very nice lady. This is the database that I and other relevant editors use to decide what goes in our various calendars, what we're going to recommend in our 10 Things to Do and The Weekend Starts Now features, and what's going to become full-length stories. Send the email at least two weeks in advance, and please, put the information in the body of the email, not in an attachment. You have no idea how annoying attachments become when you have to plow through a lot of them.
Can I just email you or send you a Facebook invite? Sure. But that won't guarantee that you'll get in the paper. I am absent-minded on the best of days, and get kind of bombarded with information about events from all over the country. If I'm busy, which is often, I might not even see it, or I might lose track of it because I get distracted by shiny objects. The best thing to do is email the info to submissions@telegram.com, and drop me or another reporter you think might be interested a line with more information. If you can give me a compelling reason to write something, I'll probably remember it when I see the listing in the database.
How do you decide what goes where in the paper? Every Friday, at about 4 p.m., I go through all of the listings in the database for the next Thursday to the following Thursday, and compile a list of events I think are noteworthy. While doing this, I spend a bit of time listening to bands I'm unfamiliar with on ReverbNation or whatever, so I can be sure not to leave off some touring band whom I don't know, but which is fantastic. (Sometimes this trick actually works.) Then, I sit down with my boss, the assistant features editor, and we work out what bits reporters have already claimed, which bits we'll assign a writer to, which ones I'll write a "pick" for, and what three we'll just call out with a photo in the calendar. Then I have to locate photos for the calendar, and move them to photo engraving before I leave, so I can have them ready to use to build the calendar on Monday morning. It's kind of an intensive process. I have two hours alotted for it on my schedule, but I pretty much always leave work late.
How do you choose photos to run in the paper, and how can I get in on that action? The photos in the calendar every Thursday are, usually, acts we've either written about too much or too recently, but which we think are still going to be a great show worth seeing, or acts which we think will be a show a lot of people will want to go see, but which, for whatever reason, we're not able to write up right that moment. Obviously, considering the time crunch I'm operating under, I don't have time to go tracking down artists and asking for photos. Thankfully, bands mostly have websites and social media presences these days which have publicity pics posted to them. The purpose, traditionally, of these pics is so some poor, overworked schmuck like me can go in and grab the photo and run with it. However, in the age of "tagging" photos on Facebook and MySpace, this has become slightly more difficult, so please do me and yourself a favor and CLEARLY MARK PUBLICITY PHOTOS ON YOUR WEB PRESENCE!!! I recommend making a separate folder on Facebook, so things don't get mixed up with pics taken by your friends and fans. We'd rather not accidently run a photo that the band doesn't have permission to use. This can be a real headache for me, and when in doubt, my usual method of dealing is to scrap the art entirely and give the publicity to someone else. Also, make sure the pictures don't suck: nice quality, high-definition photos work best. Don't just put up a snapshot from someone's phone of four guys in jeans and T-shirts standing in front of a wall. Action shots work best. Whenever possible, I want to run pics of people holding an instrument or in front of a microphone. Something with some motion. I'd rather have one awesome shot of one member of the band doing something than a boring shot of the entire band standing around. Remember, the point of this exercise is to make a reader want to go see you!
What do I do if you or someone else from the paper contacts me? Well ... talk to us, obviously! Here's the thing: Working in this department, I rarely ever have call to be hostile to anyone I'm interviewing. I might make a critical remark in my column or in a review, but really, mostly I'm content to just ignore things I don't care for. I have the luxury right now of only writing about what interests me. I rarely have time to commit actual acts of journalism, which means if I do, I think it's important. Now, I understand a lot of local artists aren't really used to talking to a reporter, so if you find yourself in this position, and aren't sure what to say, do this: Tell a story. Start at the beginning, and add details that make it real for someone who wasn't there. It might be the story of how a poetry slam went, or how a CD got made, or how you learned to play guitar, but if you're unsure how to proceed, start at the beginning. The reporter will guide you with questions if they need you to move along further into the story, or want you to elaborate on something. Sometimes the reporter will ask stupid questions. Pretend they're not stupid. Sometimes, the stupid question is asked because the reporter needs to spell something out for the reader, or sometimes just to stall for time while they finish typing up the previous question. Sometimes the stupid question is just stupid, but usually it's there for a reason.
Well. That doesn't seem so bad, does it? Remember: No matter what paper you're dealing with, the guy or girl at the newspaper is likely doing a job by themselves that a team of three or more used to do, and hasn't gotten a raise in at least three years. (Because no one's gotten raises in the past three years in this business.) Most likely, they stick working in the arts & entertainment section because they care about what they do, because they think art matters, and that readers should go support local artists and art venues. Often, they're constantly fighting for resources with other sections, because higher ups don't think the arts & entertainment pages are very important. (I don't have this problem, thankfully, although resources have been scarce for everybody these days. I'm immensely lucky to work for a paper that understands that what we do is important, and has been game to work with us to come up with new ways to handle entertainment content. I am seriously aware how lucky I am, and know a lot of my friends at other papers elsewhere in the country are far-more under the gun.) A news reporter friend of mine once quipped in the office that, "everyone in Lifestyles is a workaholic." He wasn't far wrong. I'm lucky to live in a town with a lot going on, but the price of that is, there's a lot going on. Anything you, as a performer, can do to make it easier to cover you is greatly, greatly appreciated.
Hopefully, this has been some help to someone out there.
How do I get my gig in the paper? The first, and most important thing, is to tell us about it. If your show is in the Worcester County area, send an email to submissions@telegram.com with the basic information: Who, What, When, Where, How Much. Maybe a little background information on performers or if its a beneift or some such, but don't go overboard. In our case, all of this information is put into one database by a very nice lady. This is the database that I and other relevant editors use to decide what goes in our various calendars, what we're going to recommend in our 10 Things to Do and The Weekend Starts Now features, and what's going to become full-length stories. Send the email at least two weeks in advance, and please, put the information in the body of the email, not in an attachment. You have no idea how annoying attachments become when you have to plow through a lot of them.
Can I just email you or send you a Facebook invite? Sure. But that won't guarantee that you'll get in the paper. I am absent-minded on the best of days, and get kind of bombarded with information about events from all over the country. If I'm busy, which is often, I might not even see it, or I might lose track of it because I get distracted by shiny objects. The best thing to do is email the info to submissions@telegram.com, and drop me or another reporter you think might be interested a line with more information. If you can give me a compelling reason to write something, I'll probably remember it when I see the listing in the database.
How do you decide what goes where in the paper? Every Friday, at about 4 p.m., I go through all of the listings in the database for the next Thursday to the following Thursday, and compile a list of events I think are noteworthy. While doing this, I spend a bit of time listening to bands I'm unfamiliar with on ReverbNation or whatever, so I can be sure not to leave off some touring band whom I don't know, but which is fantastic. (Sometimes this trick actually works.) Then, I sit down with my boss, the assistant features editor, and we work out what bits reporters have already claimed, which bits we'll assign a writer to, which ones I'll write a "pick" for, and what three we'll just call out with a photo in the calendar. Then I have to locate photos for the calendar, and move them to photo engraving before I leave, so I can have them ready to use to build the calendar on Monday morning. It's kind of an intensive process. I have two hours alotted for it on my schedule, but I pretty much always leave work late.
How do you choose photos to run in the paper, and how can I get in on that action? The photos in the calendar every Thursday are, usually, acts we've either written about too much or too recently, but which we think are still going to be a great show worth seeing, or acts which we think will be a show a lot of people will want to go see, but which, for whatever reason, we're not able to write up right that moment. Obviously, considering the time crunch I'm operating under, I don't have time to go tracking down artists and asking for photos. Thankfully, bands mostly have websites and social media presences these days which have publicity pics posted to them. The purpose, traditionally, of these pics is so some poor, overworked schmuck like me can go in and grab the photo and run with it. However, in the age of "tagging" photos on Facebook and MySpace, this has become slightly more difficult, so please do me and yourself a favor and CLEARLY MARK PUBLICITY PHOTOS ON YOUR WEB PRESENCE!!! I recommend making a separate folder on Facebook, so things don't get mixed up with pics taken by your friends and fans. We'd rather not accidently run a photo that the band doesn't have permission to use. This can be a real headache for me, and when in doubt, my usual method of dealing is to scrap the art entirely and give the publicity to someone else. Also, make sure the pictures don't suck: nice quality, high-definition photos work best. Don't just put up a snapshot from someone's phone of four guys in jeans and T-shirts standing in front of a wall. Action shots work best. Whenever possible, I want to run pics of people holding an instrument or in front of a microphone. Something with some motion. I'd rather have one awesome shot of one member of the band doing something than a boring shot of the entire band standing around. Remember, the point of this exercise is to make a reader want to go see you!
What do I do if you or someone else from the paper contacts me? Well ... talk to us, obviously! Here's the thing: Working in this department, I rarely ever have call to be hostile to anyone I'm interviewing. I might make a critical remark in my column or in a review, but really, mostly I'm content to just ignore things I don't care for. I have the luxury right now of only writing about what interests me. I rarely have time to commit actual acts of journalism, which means if I do, I think it's important. Now, I understand a lot of local artists aren't really used to talking to a reporter, so if you find yourself in this position, and aren't sure what to say, do this: Tell a story. Start at the beginning, and add details that make it real for someone who wasn't there. It might be the story of how a poetry slam went, or how a CD got made, or how you learned to play guitar, but if you're unsure how to proceed, start at the beginning. The reporter will guide you with questions if they need you to move along further into the story, or want you to elaborate on something. Sometimes the reporter will ask stupid questions. Pretend they're not stupid. Sometimes, the stupid question is asked because the reporter needs to spell something out for the reader, or sometimes just to stall for time while they finish typing up the previous question. Sometimes the stupid question is just stupid, but usually it's there for a reason.
Well. That doesn't seem so bad, does it? Remember: No matter what paper you're dealing with, the guy or girl at the newspaper is likely doing a job by themselves that a team of three or more used to do, and hasn't gotten a raise in at least three years. (Because no one's gotten raises in the past three years in this business.) Most likely, they stick working in the arts & entertainment section because they care about what they do, because they think art matters, and that readers should go support local artists and art venues. Often, they're constantly fighting for resources with other sections, because higher ups don't think the arts & entertainment pages are very important. (I don't have this problem, thankfully, although resources have been scarce for everybody these days. I'm immensely lucky to work for a paper that understands that what we do is important, and has been game to work with us to come up with new ways to handle entertainment content. I am seriously aware how lucky I am, and know a lot of my friends at other papers elsewhere in the country are far-more under the gun.) A news reporter friend of mine once quipped in the office that, "everyone in Lifestyles is a workaholic." He wasn't far wrong. I'm lucky to live in a town with a lot going on, but the price of that is, there's a lot going on. Anything you, as a performer, can do to make it easier to cover you is greatly, greatly appreciated.
Hopefully, this has been some help to someone out there.
April 18, 2012
Drive-By Post
I was briefly interviewed by Marie Schutt about my poetic-prose piece "Boys' Own Stories" for The Collagist blog. Enjoy!
April 14, 2012
Catching Up
Lea and I had an amazing time in Ossning, New York, where our young friend Jackie Morrill invited us to come read at a special National Poetry Month event at a senior center. There was also an open mic, where residents from the center read, along with a few students from Sarah Lawrence College. An excellent time, all around, and it was great to end up in a place we usually wouldn't. (Although if I someday end up at that facility, I won't complain. It was rather nice, with lots of activities. We spied a giant swimming pool, and caught a glimpse of residents playing "Wii Bowling.") I opened my set with the poem "After Rain," by Daniel McGinn, from his book
1000 Black Umbrellas
. One of the SLC students read a poem from Andrea Gibson's
Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns
. Always nice to see Write Bloody books out in the wild.
Afterward, Lea and I made our way to New Haven to visit our scientist friend, Jenna, and have the most incredible sushi at Miya's. Seriously. I got the "blue plate special," which had a sampling of some of their more unique offerings. I can't even begin to describe how good it tasted, but I intend to return. Afterward, Lea, Jenna and I had far too much whiskey. Excellent capstone to a great day.
I did very little after getting home yesterday. Which was nice. Right now, I'm cleaning my office, which is sort of a ritual I need to do before finishing my taxes. I call it "putting my crazy in order," because it seems my office is where I sort-of put all my self-neglect and disorganization, so I don't take it out on the rest of my life. Yeah, I know how insane that sounds, but I have a habit of putting my more self-destructive habits into places where I can deal with them, or at least manage them. It's mostly effective. Mostly. In any case, dealing with it at tax time sort of becomes a mental exorcism. It's an OCD thing, I know, but I've never claimed to be completely sane. I'm just happy I have coping mechanisms at all.
Afterward, Lea and I made our way to New Haven to visit our scientist friend, Jenna, and have the most incredible sushi at Miya's. Seriously. I got the "blue plate special," which had a sampling of some of their more unique offerings. I can't even begin to describe how good it tasted, but I intend to return. Afterward, Lea, Jenna and I had far too much whiskey. Excellent capstone to a great day.
I did very little after getting home yesterday. Which was nice. Right now, I'm cleaning my office, which is sort of a ritual I need to do before finishing my taxes. I call it "putting my crazy in order," because it seems my office is where I sort-of put all my self-neglect and disorganization, so I don't take it out on the rest of my life. Yeah, I know how insane that sounds, but I have a habit of putting my more self-destructive habits into places where I can deal with them, or at least manage them. It's mostly effective. Mostly. In any case, dealing with it at tax time sort of becomes a mental exorcism. It's an OCD thing, I know, but I've never claimed to be completely sane. I'm just happy I have coping mechanisms at all.
April 12, 2012
This, That and The Other ...
Tomorrow, Lea and I head to Ossning, New York, to read at some National Poetry Month shindig or other at, I believe, is a Senior Center. Don't know a lot about the gig (it was set up by a young friend out that way), but I actually rather like reading at Senior Centers. The last time I did was at Leisure World in Laguna Woods, California, and it was a surprisingly fun time. In any case, it'll be good to get away from home for a day. Afterward, we'll be heading to New Haven, Conn., to visit our friend Jenna, who's doing SCIENCE! at Yale. When you're working at Yale, SCIENCE! is always in all-caps, with an exclamation point. It's in the Constitution.)
***
On the homefront, the website for The BILiNE Project, aka Best Indie Lit New England, has gone live. BiLINE is a project a bunch of editors from various New England-based lit journals -- including myself, Thomas Dodson, Samantha Milowsky, Astrid Drew, Lori Desrosiers, Annabel Gill and Elizabeth MacDuffie have -- have been working on for a few months. All the info's on the site, but the short of it, I'm really excited to have an opportunity to draw attention to some of the great, independently published poetry and fiction that comes out of New England. More soon, but in the meantime, I'm really looking forward to this.
***
On the homefront, the website for The BILiNE Project, aka Best Indie Lit New England, has gone live. BiLINE is a project a bunch of editors from various New England-based lit journals -- including myself, Thomas Dodson, Samantha Milowsky, Astrid Drew, Lori Desrosiers, Annabel Gill and Elizabeth MacDuffie have -- have been working on for a few months. All the info's on the site, but the short of it, I'm really excited to have an opportunity to draw attention to some of the great, independently published poetry and fiction that comes out of New England. More soon, but in the meantime, I'm really looking forward to this.
April 9, 2012
Getting Back on Track
A while back, I started blogging about heroes and heroic fiction here in my personal blog, but after a while, that sort of trailed off. It wasn't that I didn't have anything to say, or because I was done with the topic -- the problem was I couldn't justify writing for my blog when Radius,
Pop Culture Notebook
and my other projects needed attention. (That I feel the need to put my own writing aside for the sake of projects is another subject entirely. Although really, if somehow huge chunks of time and money came my way so I could have more time to write, I wouldn't object.) (Yeah, yeah. A guy can dream.)
Anyway, a couple of conversations in the past few months revolving around Gilgamesh and Beowulf have persuaded me to move the bulk of the series over to Radius, beginning with a sort of opening salvo, "Is Katniss Everdeen Gilgamesh Dreaming?: Unveiling The Connections Between Poetry and Heroic Fiction." This allows me to do two things: 1.) Give myself permission to do writing I'd likely already do without the nagging, guilty feeling that I should be doing something else; and 2.) Allow me to bring other writers into the mix. In fact, later this week we'll have old November 3rd Club favorite Tony Williams talking about John Carter, and more to come in the works after that. It's a departure for Radius, but as we flesh it out, I think it's proving to be a surprisingly good fit. Some of the heroes stuff will still appear here from time to time, but the bulk of the real work will be over in Radius.
The other big change is to my long-languishing "What You're Listening To" column for The Telegram & Gazette, which began its life as a sort of "What's on Your iPod" deal and evolved into an actual music column. The problem is, when we started the daily Pop Culture Notebook, that began eating the time I would normally devote to the column. (You have to remember, I only have, really, between four and seven hours officially in the space of a week to accomplish writing five notebooks and one column. The rest of my week is consumed by other, less fun duties.) But neither I nor my employers ever intended to shelf the column entirely, so it'll be back either this week or next in its new form.
So. What's the new form? The new concept we've been working on is a more compact column which will focus exclusively on three to five songs by local artists (or who have strong local ties.) There's a bit more to it than that, but that's about the crux of it. Everything else WYLT did will move to Pop Culture Notebook, so I can have some more flexability there to accomodate its more demanding daily schedule.
And that's that. A little bureaucratic, but it's all in the mission of getting myself back on track and putting myself in a position where I can write the things I want to write without the constant, nagging feeling that I should be doing something else. I don't have high expectations that I'll lose that feeling compeltely, but one lives in hope.
Anyway, a couple of conversations in the past few months revolving around Gilgamesh and Beowulf have persuaded me to move the bulk of the series over to Radius, beginning with a sort of opening salvo, "Is Katniss Everdeen Gilgamesh Dreaming?: Unveiling The Connections Between Poetry and Heroic Fiction." This allows me to do two things: 1.) Give myself permission to do writing I'd likely already do without the nagging, guilty feeling that I should be doing something else; and 2.) Allow me to bring other writers into the mix. In fact, later this week we'll have old November 3rd Club favorite Tony Williams talking about John Carter, and more to come in the works after that. It's a departure for Radius, but as we flesh it out, I think it's proving to be a surprisingly good fit. Some of the heroes stuff will still appear here from time to time, but the bulk of the real work will be over in Radius.
The other big change is to my long-languishing "What You're Listening To" column for The Telegram & Gazette, which began its life as a sort of "What's on Your iPod" deal and evolved into an actual music column. The problem is, when we started the daily Pop Culture Notebook, that began eating the time I would normally devote to the column. (You have to remember, I only have, really, between four and seven hours officially in the space of a week to accomplish writing five notebooks and one column. The rest of my week is consumed by other, less fun duties.) But neither I nor my employers ever intended to shelf the column entirely, so it'll be back either this week or next in its new form.
So. What's the new form? The new concept we've been working on is a more compact column which will focus exclusively on three to five songs by local artists (or who have strong local ties.) There's a bit more to it than that, but that's about the crux of it. Everything else WYLT did will move to Pop Culture Notebook, so I can have some more flexability there to accomodate its more demanding daily schedule.
And that's that. A little bureaucratic, but it's all in the mission of getting myself back on track and putting myself in a position where I can write the things I want to write without the constant, nagging feeling that I should be doing something else. I don't have high expectations that I'll lose that feeling compeltely, but one lives in hope.
April 6, 2012
It's Always Personal
I was in a pretty good mood going in to Thursday. Go was out that morning, and there was a lot in it that I was happy with, including Craig Semon's review of the new Madonna album and, on the website, Nancy Sheehan's brief interview with local drag superstar Lady Sabrina:
I know I make a joke of it sometimes, that I'll be putting poets and drag queens in the newspaper until they make me stop, but I'm thrilled to work for a newspaper that agrees with me that we need to make an effort to present the range of arts & entertainment in the area, from the mainstream to the fringe, from the open mic to the symphony. It'll never be perfect, but I'm pleased with what we do.
Still, I didn't think Thursday would be that demanding, aside from having to kibitz on Scott Croteau's "American Idol" chat, it looked like it would be a normal day.
Then the news started breaking that Scott Ricciuti had died.
Working in Features, we don't really get a lot of breaking news, and if we do, it's easy: a band announces a big concert; a show gets canceled. You post it online and move on. Scott dying was real news. Which is fine. I've done real news. But the deal with real news is you can be a bit dispassionate with it. You have no idea who that person is in the car crash or the burning building. Not really. But when you work arts & entertainment, you're at least casually familiar with every major figure in the scene. You can maintain your objectivity in most things -- that's a work skill -- but news like this? Objectivity goes out the window. There is no way to pretend you don't give a damn. When a significant local artist dies, it's always personal.
I didn't know him that well, but Scott Ricciuti was an extremely talented musician, and a heck of a nice guy. He was one of those people who made this such an amazing place to be an artist and to be a journalist that covers arts. He's going to be missed.
I know I make a joke of it sometimes, that I'll be putting poets and drag queens in the newspaper until they make me stop, but I'm thrilled to work for a newspaper that agrees with me that we need to make an effort to present the range of arts & entertainment in the area, from the mainstream to the fringe, from the open mic to the symphony. It'll never be perfect, but I'm pleased with what we do.
Still, I didn't think Thursday would be that demanding, aside from having to kibitz on Scott Croteau's "American Idol" chat, it looked like it would be a normal day.
Then the news started breaking that Scott Ricciuti had died.
Working in Features, we don't really get a lot of breaking news, and if we do, it's easy: a band announces a big concert; a show gets canceled. You post it online and move on. Scott dying was real news. Which is fine. I've done real news. But the deal with real news is you can be a bit dispassionate with it. You have no idea who that person is in the car crash or the burning building. Not really. But when you work arts & entertainment, you're at least casually familiar with every major figure in the scene. You can maintain your objectivity in most things -- that's a work skill -- but news like this? Objectivity goes out the window. There is no way to pretend you don't give a damn. When a significant local artist dies, it's always personal.
I didn't know him that well, but Scott Ricciuti was an extremely talented musician, and a heck of a nice guy. He was one of those people who made this such an amazing place to be an artist and to be a journalist that covers arts. He's going to be missed.
April 2, 2012
I'm Afraid I May Have Said Some Things That Aren't Entirely True ....
Well, another April Fool's Day has come and gone, and as most who know me know, I can't resist a good practical joke, and an outrageous yet vaguely plausible shaggy dog story is my preferred medium. Frankly, though, I'm amazed this year's installment fooled anybody.
The tells:
*April Fool's Day falling on a Sunday made this particular joke a tough sell, as it hinged on the fact that no one would have heard about it before now, in a medium that wasn't on the Web and thus, easily checked.
*Setting aside the issue of my never-before mentioned fictional agent, I'm flattered that anybody could believe I'd nail down a simultaneous book and movie deal, let alone for something called Never Spoken: Sex, Redemption and Poetry. I can't think of a less commercial-sounding book/film! Also, any semi-autobiographical work that I would write would probably be something of a snoozer. Aside from a few colorful chapters in a misspent youth, I've spent most of my life with my nose in a book, and my poetry career has been pretty much the same. I don't do drugs, barely drink and have spent the past 16 years in a happy relationship. I don't even tour as much as I should. Seriously. Writers like me might get book deals or movie deals on occasion, if we're lucky, but rarely both at the same time, and not for that sort of thing. (:
*Alas, to many people's disappointment, The Worcester Hip-Hop, Spoken Word and Burlesque Festival was indeed also a fictional creation. However, I think we should seriously talk about making this happen, because it would rock. I saw Cowboy Matt and Jeff Siegrist today, and they were totally into the idea. (However, I wasn't lying about being knee deep on working on new content for Telegram.com, including a relaunch of my What You're Listening To column. Not as sexy, I know, but it's still going to be pretty cool.)
*The rap stuff is where I was really pushing it, and many people told me that's where they knew for certain it was a joke. The structural tell, in the joke, is that I say it's the story of a young rapper, when earlier I said I wanted to be played by Paul Rudd. I almost went back and fixed that before I posted the story, but decided it was funnier that way. Also, no one wants to hear me rap. Seriously. It would be bad. Dogs howling at the moon bad. Like, not even bad in an entertaining Shatneriffic way. Just outright, do not pass go, do not collect $200 awful.
*The part of this all that was outside my control was that poet David Lehman, a very witty man whom I've interviewed in the past, perpetuated a similar prank ... only better. Read the article James Franco Buys Film Rights to David Lehman's "The Last Avant-Garde" for Record Amount: Actor to Play Poet Kenneth Koch on the Best American Poetry site. Enough people read both this blog and that one that I thought one joke would cancel out the other. In a few cases, it seems the reverse was actually true.
And that's about it. Happy April Fool's Day, Hail Eris, and thank you all for being such wonderful sports about the whole thing. Reading the comments here, on Facebook and elsewhere have been great, and I'm glad that the people who figured it out a few minutes after posting took it so well. And trust me. If I ever do get that sort of deal on that sort of level, I will have an immense amount of trouble keeping it mum. I'm pretty sure you all will be amongst the first to know.
The tells:
*April Fool's Day falling on a Sunday made this particular joke a tough sell, as it hinged on the fact that no one would have heard about it before now, in a medium that wasn't on the Web and thus, easily checked.
*Setting aside the issue of my never-before mentioned fictional agent, I'm flattered that anybody could believe I'd nail down a simultaneous book and movie deal, let alone for something called Never Spoken: Sex, Redemption and Poetry. I can't think of a less commercial-sounding book/film! Also, any semi-autobiographical work that I would write would probably be something of a snoozer. Aside from a few colorful chapters in a misspent youth, I've spent most of my life with my nose in a book, and my poetry career has been pretty much the same. I don't do drugs, barely drink and have spent the past 16 years in a happy relationship. I don't even tour as much as I should. Seriously. Writers like me might get book deals or movie deals on occasion, if we're lucky, but rarely both at the same time, and not for that sort of thing. (:
*Alas, to many people's disappointment, The Worcester Hip-Hop, Spoken Word and Burlesque Festival was indeed also a fictional creation. However, I think we should seriously talk about making this happen, because it would rock. I saw Cowboy Matt and Jeff Siegrist today, and they were totally into the idea. (However, I wasn't lying about being knee deep on working on new content for Telegram.com, including a relaunch of my What You're Listening To column. Not as sexy, I know, but it's still going to be pretty cool.)
*The rap stuff is where I was really pushing it, and many people told me that's where they knew for certain it was a joke. The structural tell, in the joke, is that I say it's the story of a young rapper, when earlier I said I wanted to be played by Paul Rudd. I almost went back and fixed that before I posted the story, but decided it was funnier that way. Also, no one wants to hear me rap. Seriously. It would be bad. Dogs howling at the moon bad. Like, not even bad in an entertaining Shatneriffic way. Just outright, do not pass go, do not collect $200 awful.
*The part of this all that was outside my control was that poet David Lehman, a very witty man whom I've interviewed in the past, perpetuated a similar prank ... only better. Read the article James Franco Buys Film Rights to David Lehman's "The Last Avant-Garde" for Record Amount: Actor to Play Poet Kenneth Koch on the Best American Poetry site. Enough people read both this blog and that one that I thought one joke would cancel out the other. In a few cases, it seems the reverse was actually true.
And that's about it. Happy April Fool's Day, Hail Eris, and thank you all for being such wonderful sports about the whole thing. Reading the comments here, on Facebook and elsewhere have been great, and I'm glad that the people who figured it out a few minutes after posting took it so well. And trust me. If I ever do get that sort of deal on that sort of level, I will have an immense amount of trouble keeping it mum. I'm pretty sure you all will be amongst the first to know.
