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Scandalabra
A collection of articles from Next... Magazine, which covered the Southern California, and national, poetry scene in the mid-90's. It covers the growth of slam, with interviews and profiles of many poets who are now important figures in American poetry.
- GenresPoetry
First published January 1, 2009
9 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
About the author
Derrick Brown
47 books87 followersDerrick Brown, former paratrooper for the 82nd Airborne, gondolier, magician, and fired weatherman, now travels the world and performs his written work. From Long Beach, CA, he is dedicated to bringing American poetry into rock and roll status.
As a poet, he has toured or performed with Indie rock act, Cold War Kids, The Decemberists, Comedian David Cross, Richard Swift, Pink Mountaintops and at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival with the Flaming Lips and Animal Collective. His work has been featured in books with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, Jeff Buckley, Jack Hirschman, Amber Tamblyn and poet laureate Ted Kooser. He has performed at the largest outdoor festival in the world, Glastonbury, as an author.
As one of the most original and well-traveled writer/performers in the country, Derrick Brown has gained a cult following for his poetry performances all over the U.S. and Europe. A poetic terrorism group has taken to tagging his metaphors across the globe. About.com called his latest collection, Scandalabra, one of the best books of 2009.
To date, Brown has performed at over 1500 venues and universities internationally including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, La Sorbonne in Paris, CBGB’s in NYC and a small Jewish youth group in Glendale. He is the host of the variety show, The Lightbulb Mouth Radio Hour. Lightbulbmouth.com
Known for a moving show that incorporates poetry, minimalist music, and sound fx, Brown is unique for being an outstanding performer but is foremost a page poet. He is the president of Write Bloody Publishing, the first indie press to be reviewed with favor by Forbes magazine.
Derrick is available for booking performances, workshops, Master of Ceremonies, Master of Puppets as well as Host for shows and motivational-ish commencement speeches.
As a poet, he has toured or performed with Indie rock act, Cold War Kids, The Decemberists, Comedian David Cross, Richard Swift, Pink Mountaintops and at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival with the Flaming Lips and Animal Collective. His work has been featured in books with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, Jeff Buckley, Jack Hirschman, Amber Tamblyn and poet laureate Ted Kooser. He has performed at the largest outdoor festival in the world, Glastonbury, as an author.
As one of the most original and well-traveled writer/performers in the country, Derrick Brown has gained a cult following for his poetry performances all over the U.S. and Europe. A poetic terrorism group has taken to tagging his metaphors across the globe. About.com called his latest collection, Scandalabra, one of the best books of 2009.
To date, Brown has performed at over 1500 venues and universities internationally including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, La Sorbonne in Paris, CBGB’s in NYC and a small Jewish youth group in Glendale. He is the host of the variety show, The Lightbulb Mouth Radio Hour. Lightbulbmouth.com
Known for a moving show that incorporates poetry, minimalist music, and sound fx, Brown is unique for being an outstanding performer but is foremost a page poet. He is the president of Write Bloody Publishing, the first indie press to be reviewed with favor by Forbes magazine.
Derrick is available for booking performances, workshops, Master of Ceremonies, Master of Puppets as well as Host for shows and motivational-ish commencement speeches.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 21, 2010
I'm going to say this early on, lest it get lost in fanatical rambling:
IF DERRICK C. BROWN IS ANYWHERE NEAR YOU - GO HEAR HIM!!!!!!
Is Derrick a great poet? ummmm, I'm not sure.
Is Derrick a great performer, yes!
Is Derrick super, ultra, crazy sexy? HELL YES!
When he performs his poems, I am caught up and laughing and fighting the impulse to stand and scream "YES!" my internals organs clench and unclench in agreement with his words. But when I read his poems, there is something missing, him. Do they stand on their own? I don't know - sometimes I think yes, sometimes I think I've been bamboozled.
There are some that I think I love on their own,
"When Your Friends Leave You" about a changing friendship between 2 guys is soooo sweet and funny and warm and "Writers Block" copied here in its entirey:
WRITERS BLOCK
When you say you love the quiet type
I just nod, put rubber thimbles on and throw a blanket
over the typewriter
I love that for so many reasons. I love it!
But either way, whether I'm being bamboozled by his sexiness or he really is good, I think the best solution is for him to come to my house and read his poems to me as preface to love making. There are 60 poems in this collection -I'm all about the simple solutions.
*********If any family member happens to come across this review I'd like to take this opportunity to say that I'M KIDDING, of course I don't want to have sex with a perfect stranger, even if he is tall and funny and writes poetry.****************************
*********If Derrick Brown happens to read that - that was a lie***********
IF DERRICK C. BROWN IS ANYWHERE NEAR YOU - GO HEAR HIM!!!!!!
Is Derrick a great poet? ummmm, I'm not sure.
Is Derrick a great performer, yes!
Is Derrick super, ultra, crazy sexy? HELL YES!
When he performs his poems, I am caught up and laughing and fighting the impulse to stand and scream "YES!" my internals organs clench and unclench in agreement with his words. But when I read his poems, there is something missing, him. Do they stand on their own? I don't know - sometimes I think yes, sometimes I think I've been bamboozled.
There are some that I think I love on their own,
"When Your Friends Leave You" about a changing friendship between 2 guys is soooo sweet and funny and warm and "Writers Block" copied here in its entirey:
WRITERS BLOCK
When you say you love the quiet type
I just nod, put rubber thimbles on and throw a blanket
over the typewriter
I love that for so many reasons. I love it!
But either way, whether I'm being bamboozled by his sexiness or he really is good, I think the best solution is for him to come to my house and read his poems to me as preface to love making. There are 60 poems in this collection -I'm all about the simple solutions.
*********If any family member happens to come across this review I'd like to take this opportunity to say that I'M KIDDING, of course I don't want to have sex with a perfect stranger, even if he is tall and funny and writes poetry.****************************
*********If Derrick Brown happens to read that - that was a lie***********
December 25, 2014
Scandalabra has all the quirky humor you would expect from Brown, but the subtle, often gut-wrenching vulnerability in this collection is what sets it apart from his earlier work. I've followed Brown's career for nearly a decade, and I've read all but one of his books (most of them dozens of times). I can honestly say that this is his best collection.
Brown has always written honest poems; he has always written with a perfect balance of absurd and subtle. For the first time, though, Brown gives a collection written almost entirely from points of vulnerability. The softness of the heaviest lines will take you by surprise. The brutal humor of terrible moments will whisk you into memories you thought you'd forgotten. The last line of nearly every poem will bob in your chest for days. Simply put, this is an amazing read from one of the most important poets in American literature. If you haven't read it, you don't yet know just how far language can take you.
Brown has always written honest poems; he has always written with a perfect balance of absurd and subtle. For the first time, though, Brown gives a collection written almost entirely from points of vulnerability. The softness of the heaviest lines will take you by surprise. The brutal humor of terrible moments will whisk you into memories you thought you'd forgotten. The last line of nearly every poem will bob in your chest for days. Simply put, this is an amazing read from one of the most important poets in American literature. If you haven't read it, you don't yet know just how far language can take you.
August 5, 2011
I am naturally adverse to poetry, I find prose more fulfilling and interesting, but once in a while a poet will change my mind. Derrick C. Brown joins Bukowski and Ginsberg in slipping a raw sliver of honesty under your fingernails and soothes the pain with well-constructed, terse and beautiful lines. At times painfully depressing and grotesque, at times, laugh-out-loud funny, but always thought provoking and intriguing.
July 6, 2011
More Derrick Brown. Soda through your nose funny, from a real heart on sleeve romantic. The poet, along with Tracy Morris, who taught me that spoken word poetry wasn't poetry that can't make it on the page. It's poetry that has an ear as well as an eye.
April 9, 2024
When Derrick Brown is good, he’s phenomenal. When Derrick Brown is bad, he reminds me why I stopped romantically pursuing men. 3.5, rounding up.
July 25, 2024
This is a book you want the writer to read out loud to you in a quiet bar. Just wow.
Want to Read
June 1, 2025Cutting is for Poetry of Bonnie Parker
By Bonnie Parker (ed Alexander Baron)
Another cutting is for Meatloaf
By Derrick Brown
By Bonnie Parker (ed Alexander Baron)
Another cutting is for Meatloaf
By Derrick Brown
May 8, 2012
I went to a screening of "You Belong Everywhere: Portrait of a Living Poet" at Cal State Univ., Long Beach a few weeks back. In case you aren't aware, it's a documentary (which you should definitely watch if you have a chance) about Derrick Brown's Europe tour with the Cold War Kids. The man himself did a reading before the film and (with director Stephen Latty) a Q&A session after.
I had never been to a poetry reading before.
I fell in love immediately.
Afterward, the books went like hotcakes, and I managed to get my hands on a copy of Scandalabra. I also got a nice little note on the first page thanking me for "making northern Brentwood safe again...and saucy."
Anyway, the book.
I've never been very fond of poetry books, and I've come to the realization that that is mainly because I like to read things quickly. Something this short ought to keep me entertained for 2 hours, tops. Right?
Nope.
I took my time with this one, and it was certainly worth it.
Though he's not necessarily the "best" poet I've ever come across, he's quickly become one of my favorites. He's got a fantastic way with words, and had me laughing my head off and tearing up at times. Sometimes in the same poem.
He has brilliant lines like "Don't come to me all dressed-up in a peanut butter and / nightmare sandwich. I will not bite." ("Valentine's Day In Dresden") and "Meditation seemed like something you'd do / if you owned a Subaru Forester and organicked / all the fun out of your life." ("Blazing the Valley in Psalms").
Conclusion: reading Derrick Brown is well worth your time. If you ever have the opportunity to see him live, do it. I cannot recommend it enough.
I'll wrap up this review with one of my favorite passages in the collection.
From "After the Bachelor's Party":
I had never been to a poetry reading before.
I fell in love immediately.
Afterward, the books went like hotcakes, and I managed to get my hands on a copy of Scandalabra. I also got a nice little note on the first page thanking me for "making northern Brentwood safe again...and saucy."
Anyway, the book.
I've never been very fond of poetry books, and I've come to the realization that that is mainly because I like to read things quickly. Something this short ought to keep me entertained for 2 hours, tops. Right?
Nope.
I took my time with this one, and it was certainly worth it.
Though he's not necessarily the "best" poet I've ever come across, he's quickly become one of my favorites. He's got a fantastic way with words, and had me laughing my head off and tearing up at times. Sometimes in the same poem.
He has brilliant lines like "Don't come to me all dressed-up in a peanut butter and / nightmare sandwich. I will not bite." ("Valentine's Day In Dresden") and "Meditation seemed like something you'd do / if you owned a Subaru Forester and organicked / all the fun out of your life." ("Blazing the Valley in Psalms").
Conclusion: reading Derrick Brown is well worth your time. If you ever have the opportunity to see him live, do it. I cannot recommend it enough.
I'll wrap up this review with one of my favorite passages in the collection.
From "After the Bachelor's Party":
I stand by the roulette table and the writing comes.
I am writing this feeling down because sometimes
I am a believer but a forgetter
and sometimes I look at all the things around me that
make want to kill all those beliefs in us
and say fuck it, today, I am going to nowhere. I am marrying this feeling.
Today I'm selling this loathing and cynical film score.
Today I'm gonna call the bomb squad and ask them to dismantle me.
Today I'm gonna talk about everything I am supposed to be ashamed to talk about.
June 12, 2013
I own four poetry collections of Derrick Brown’s and Scandalabra is my absolute favorite. It begins with two of my favorite Brown poems, “Cotton in the Air” and the brief and unforgettable “Patience” (“I cannot love you until you love our beautiful waitress in the simple way that I do.”)
Two other gems are the heart-breaking “Beauty Mark of the Beast at Mach Six” (“You can send someone compassion / in First-Class Mail / and if they can’t accept it / or wear it like perfect pajamas, / it will return to you / and sit on your porch all beaten up.”) and the inspiring “Blazing the Valley in Psalms” (“To the mountains rising above you: / you should say…move. // You will say move.”)
There is a fearless certainty in Brown’s work that makes his poetry comforting and at the same time terrifying, something that should not be possible but is in this book. Something that, come to think of it, is perhaps only possible in good poetry.
Two other gems are the heart-breaking “Beauty Mark of the Beast at Mach Six” (“You can send someone compassion / in First-Class Mail / and if they can’t accept it / or wear it like perfect pajamas, / it will return to you / and sit on your porch all beaten up.”) and the inspiring “Blazing the Valley in Psalms” (“To the mountains rising above you: / you should say…move. // You will say move.”)
There is a fearless certainty in Brown’s work that makes his poetry comforting and at the same time terrifying, something that should not be possible but is in this book. Something that, come to think of it, is perhaps only possible in good poetry.
February 9, 2011
This is one of my favorite books. Derrick Brown's use of free form poetry has really opened my eyes to the many wonders of poetry and prose writing. What I like about his poetry is how honest it is. He doesn't try and sound intelligent or extremely talented, he just puts his heart on the paper in the most raw form possible.
March 6, 2016
I bought this collection after seeing Derrick Brown live a while back and only just got around to reading the whole thing. He's an incredible, visceral performer live and the book manages to capture some of that energy. This poetry is raw and fun, even without the smooth guitar stylings of Sam Crocket to accompany it...
September 18, 2019
As I reread Scandalabra, I continue to stand by my reflections from when I first read Derrick Brown's work. His words are visceral and raw, soaked with a passion that screeches against the confines of physicality. Really insightful through its grittiness and damn beautiful as well. Quirky, humorous, and exceptionally dark when it matters, Brown remains one of my favorite poets.
Read
July 29, 2009I keep these at my bed side and enjoy reading poems at random, sometime several in a row, sometimes just a lucky one.
June 12, 2009
As far as I'm concerned, this is Derrick's best since If Loving You Is Wrong Then I Don't Want To Be Wrong. Read it. Love it. Go!
May 12, 2011
I'm in loooooooove.
August 26, 2014
Fierce, and gritty, like passion and words should be!
April 15, 2009
I can not love you until you love our waitress in the simple way that I do. Andy Buell. Thanks.
September 12, 2009
This book made me think I could like poetry.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews