The song is...: August 2014

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Voting for the Contest (pt. 2)

Jazz Traditions... Here, too, please vote for one poem in this category.

Mary Jo Balistreri -- "Jivin'"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/08/jivin-and-new-metered-riff-by-mary-jo.html

C. Clifford Brooks III -- "Blues 'round Midnight"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/08/blues-round-midnight-and-meeting-old.html

Dr. Michael Anthony Ingram -- "Billie in the Morning"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/07/billie-in-morning.html

Joan McNerney -- "Jazz"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/07/jazzby-joan-mcnerney.html

Ed Schelb -- "Blue Logic" and "Sweet Sovereign Fleurs de Mal"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/06/blue-logic.html
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/07/sweet-sovereign-fleurs-de-mal.html

Jerry A. Scuderi -- "Jazzman"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/08/jazzmanand-other-poems-by-jerry-scuderi.html

Below is a picture of Dr. Michael Anthony Ingram performing at the open mic at Philly Steak and Cheese. I am not sure whether he is performing "Billie in the Morning" or his new poem about James Brown. The venue has an odd set up. The room was fairly crowded behind the newspapers on the counter.

Finally, we have Jazz...is Local for all the DC-area...or DMV poets.

Brenardo -- "Yellow"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/08/blog-post.html

Gabrielle Grunau, Ph.D. -- "Inspired by the First Movement"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/07/robert-glasper-and-christian-scottand.html

Dr. Michael Anthony Ingram -- "Billie in the Morning"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/07/billie-in-morning.html

Eric Lloyd -- "Jazz Most Elusive"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/08/jazz-most-elusive.html

Avis D. Matthews -- "Metaphorical"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/06/metaphorical.html

Ed Schelb -- "Blue Logic" and "Sweet Sovereign Fleurs de Mal"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/06/blue-logic.html
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/07/sweet-sovereign-fleurs-de-mal.html

Jerry A. Scuderi -- "Jazzman," "Shoreline," "Sentinels," "Sun City," and "Synthesis"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/08/jazzmanand-other-poems-by-jerry-scuderi.html

Again, please vote for only one poem in this category.

Let the voting begin at https://www.facebook.com/thesongis or thesongis@gmail.com. We await your votes!

Voting for the Contest (part 1)

Starting Sept. 1 and continuing to Sept. 15, you will be able to vote for your favorite poem in one to four categories. Each person may vote once in each category and in one method (email to thesongis at gmail dot com *or* Facebook). Poets may vote, and they may promote their poems. Musicians may vote, too! When you vote, though, be fair (and kind, if you comment). Winners of the contest will be announced shortly after Sept. 15. And yes, there are prizes.

The categories are Thelma's Prize (all poems included as full text in the e-zine are eligible), Jazz...Ron Carter & After (new name--for poems inspired by musicians born on May 4, 1937 and after), Jazz Traditions (for poems inspired by musicians born before that date), and Jazz...Is Local (for poets within the DC metro or DMV area). I haven't set up a category for art work or music, but please feel free to comment on that as well.

The following poems are eligible for Thelma's Prize. Please vote for only one poem in this category.

Mary Jo Balistreri -- "Jivin'" and "A New Metered Riff" --
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/08/jivin-and-new-metered-riff-by-mary-jo.html

Brenardo -- "Yellow"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/08/blog-post.html

C. Clifford Brooks III -- "Blues 'round Midnight" and "Meeting Old Man Scratch"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/08/blues-round-midnight-and-meeting-old.html

Bea Garth -- "Way Back," "Old Young Man," and "Willy Nilly"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/08/words-and-images-part-two.html
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/08/old-young-man-and-willy-nilly.html

Gabrielle Grunau, Ph.D. -- "Inspired by the First Movement"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/07/robert-glasper-and-christian-scottand.html

H.R. Holt -- "Mehliana exorcism"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/07/mehliana-exorcism.html

Dr. Michael Anthony Ingram -- "Billie in the Morning"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/07/billie-in-morning.html

Eric Lloyd -- "Jazz Most Elusive"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/08/jazz-most-elusive.html

Avis D. Matthews -- "Metaphorical"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/06/metaphorical.html

Joan McNerney -- "Jazz"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/07/jazzby-joan-mcnerney.html

Ed Schelb -- "Blue Logic" and "Sweet Sovereign Fleurs de Mal"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/06/blue-logic.html
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/07/sweet-sovereign-fleurs-de-mal.html

Jerry A. Scuderi -- "Jazzman," "Shoreline," "Sentinels," "Sun City," and "Synthesis"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/08/jazzmanand-other-poems-by-jerry-scuderi.html

Felino A. Soriano -- "towards smile and its fundamental creation," "electronic dance and its configurations," "in this piano-glare fade from," "inflection rally my speech encompasses junction,"
"vibratory nuances in the celebrated fathoms of music," and, his collaboration with photographer Mary Judkins, "colorful thinker."
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/07/takuya-kuroda-and-kris-bowers.html
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/07/robert-glasper-and-christian-scottand.html
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/08/in-memory-of-charlie-haden.html
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/08/words-and-images-part-1.html

Russell Streur -- "Johnny James"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/07/johnny-james.html

Changming Yuan -- "Jazz on the Animal Farm," "Jazz Impromptu for Allen and George Yuan," "The Harpist and His Audience," "Music," "The Cosmic Music," "Rhapsody of Night Sky," and "Intermezzo of the Flute"
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/07/jazz-on-animal-farmand-other-poems.html
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/07/musicand-other-poems-by-changming-yuan.html

See pt. 2 for the other categories!

The Song Is....'s Facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/thesongis

Or you may email your vote to thesongis@gmail.com

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Yellow

D.C. poet Brenardo concludes the summer contest with his poem "Yellow," which was inspired by the jazz-fusion group, Yellowjackets. I really like that this poem depicts the musicians themselves on stage as well as the impression that the music makes.

I hope that at some point Brenardo has recorded this poem on YouTube as he is an excellent performer. We both took Michael Oliver and Elizabeth Bruce's Acting for Writers course this summer, and Brenardo's reading was one of the highlights at our performance on the last day. Furthermore, that evening, he was going to perform again at the 14th Annual D.C. Poetry Festival, so perhaps YouTube has a video of his work, if not of "Yellow."

YELLOW

MIGHT BE THE COLOR OF SOME TRUE LOVE’S HAIR

BUT YELLOW

IS SURELY THE COLOR OF THE GROOVE WE SHARE

IN THIS LAIR

YELLOW

THE COLOR OF THE JACKETS WE WEAR

IN OUR MUSICAL MINDS

KEEPING TIME

TIC TOCS DROPPED BY MARCUS’S SNARE

JIMMY RUNNING UP AND DOWN THE BASS LIKE STAIRS

RUSSELL RUSTLING CHORDS AND TONES OVER HEAR, THEN, OVER THERE

BOB BOBBING AND WEAVING, ERSTWHILE LEAVING TRAPESE SOARING, LIFTING, TWISTING WITHOUT CARES

RHYTHMS NIMBLE HIGH HAT, SYMBOLS, SYNCOPATED, ORCHESTRATED, CROWD GRACED, EMBRACES, CELEBRATES IT

BOOM THEN ZOOM FILLS ROOM WITH BASS, RACING, CROONING, LOOMING LARGE

PIANO CHARGING, PEAKS TO PAUSE, UNSPOKEN ARE OUR OOHS AND AHHS, MAJOR, MINORS, SPACED WELL PLACED

WIND COMES IN TO SEND THE FRENZY HIGHER

APPLAUSE ERUPTS WITH ALL INSPIRED

YELLOW IS THE COLOR OF THESE GROOVES WE WEAR

THESE MOVES THEY SHARE

THESE THINGS THEY DARE

WE ROCK, & BOP, WHILE YET IN CHAIRS

THE COLOR

YELLOW

Below are some videos of Brenardo as he performs "It Takes a Village to Raise a Child" and "Heaven Help Us All" at the MLK Library in DC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrjBAt9PKyA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU4_3hEP8h0

The Yellowjackets have had an extensive career, and various musicians have joined the group over the years. Their albums also feature a number of guest musicians, most recently the trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire whom we've heard at this site. Enjoy these selections from YouTube:

This video is by the most recent incarnation of the group: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbvABmqWUOU

Here guitarist Mike Stern plays with the group: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-93v5t_aL8

I just had to include this live clip from Hanover. It will also give some of us a better idea of what goes on in a jazz club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUoHh8zv9-U

We'll finish with a few old cuts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3OWXboXrks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo4AmzZGCqw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwjq_PRXF3U

Below is a picture of the Yellowjackets from 2012.

Thank you for a wonderful summer contest. I have enjoyed meeting many poets and presenting their poems at The Song Is.. Next up will be a post with information about voting and the categories. In the meantime, enjoy "Yellow" and music by Yellowjackets.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Old Young Man and Willy Nilly

This evening I'd like to take a break from preparing for the semester ahead by posting two new(er) poems that Bea Garth has sent me. These are "Old Young Man" and "Willy Nilly." These are perfect poems for a Friday night that is part summer and part fall. I am also posting three of her pen and ink drawings to complement "Cat Dance."

OLD YOUNG MAN

I am with a young man,
I am with an old man
--what are the mistakes
I wish to avoid,
what are the mistakes
I will make again?

I am with a man
amongst this tangled wood
we gesticulate and sing
our love rising
like these trees surrounding us.
Is this the young woman I was,
is this the old woman I am becoming?
What wisdom will I share
with this young/old man?
What passions will flame
in this deep rooted fire?

What are the mistakes
we want to avoid,
what are the mistakes
we will make again?
Old new love
-- we want so
to avoid the pain
but neither of us wants
to miss one kiss
or this chance
to remake our lives again:
old young man
with young old woman
in this dance of sweet bliss
and agony.

-- Bea Garth, copyright 2007

WILLY NILLY

You change your mind, willy nilly,
how can I believe what you say?
You love me, you hate me,
which is it? Willy Nillyl?
What wrong have I done, what right?
We dance this dance,
I am too tired to fight -- and I won't.
I'll leave sooner than swing
to that peppery sonata,
that blue step step.
Love me or leave me, let me be
I tell you, but then you draw me back,
your tongue as sweet and fickle
as a peach tree on a late July night.

-----Bea Garth, copyright 2007
this last poem Willy Nilly was previously published in Fresh Hot Bread.

I think that some of Dee Dee Bridgewater's songs will go well with Bea's poems.

Here is a fairly early song by Miss Dee Dee:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gvlI29qZLg

Her version of "Nica's Dream" from 1995 is more traditional jazz. Moreover, it will motivate you for the fall contest honoring Thelonious Monk as the Nica in the song title is his great and good friend, Pannonica de Koenigswarter, the Jazz Baroness:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwvuGJPQBNw

More recently, Dee Dee Bridgewater has portrayed Billie Holiday in the musical Lady Day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1zwKfZOPhM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nNyepVOYkk

I'll finish up with her "Afro Blue"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URZlh3G6JTo

This version of "Afro Blue" is live, so you get to see Miss Dee Dee perform:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHbGZ52FseM

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Jazz Most Elusive

Eric Lloyd's "Jazz Most Elusive" reminds us of how linked jazz and performance are. Some of our poems are, of course, inspired by LPs, CDs, and even YouTube videos, but the heart of jazz is live performance. As Eric indicated when he submitted this poem, it was inspired by "a combination of experiences that I've had with live, contemporary music in an urban setting."

Jazz Most Elusive

Eager menagerians

Haphazardly located

Around a nondescript stage

Aglow with amber, smokey

Crepuscular purple light

Focused on four sharp figures

S-curved as music made them.

With ritualistic grace

Betraying deep devotion,

A motion mantric... tantric,

They obsessively coddled

Worn, weathered, leather cases

Unlatching, unravelling,

Adorning, purging, tuning,

Extending and arranging,

Well-crafted and well-polished,

Wood and metal masterworks

Of timber, texture and tone.

Time blurred, snapped, locked to locus.

The four of them assembled.

Dialectic imminent,

The air buzzed, hummed and convulsed.

The drummer sat at his set

Then checked the ergonomics --

Fixed the snare and the hi-hat,

Nodded to the bass player

Who gave a smile in return.

The bartender dimmed the lights.

The crowd juxtapositioned.

Without further commotion,

The cool coeval quartet

Expertly coaxed their lovers

Caressing warm expressions,

Quixotic emotations,

Wanton wending white spirals,

Fractalized black progressions,

A long writhing aggregate,

An evolving creation,

Twisting around the root note,

A dirty mind altering

Melee of dark seduction

Cascading the cortexes

Of the entranced listeners

Switching them on to active

Socratic participants --

Minds seduced and bedazzled,

Attuned to arcane chantings

Of prolific enchantments

Flowing from, to, dancing round,

Harmoniously converging

Then diverging

From the epicenter

Of that most precious

Elusive, sought after

Long lost,

Forgotten,

Original
Jazz.

Eric discovered at a young age that in order to write, one must live, and life is to embrace liberty in pursuit of ever fleeting happiness. His opinion is that the writer through life must fill his or her soul with a collection of sensory experiences from which to draw through his or her command of language to convey his or her soul in relation to those experiences to ultimately connect with his or her audience. To Eric, poems should represent a snapshot or snapshots in time of the long body of the poet in relation to his or her experiential travels. Here is a link to Eric reciting the poem below:

http://youtu.be/t1i_9-sS2cU?list=UUBnfeTqdmfuWIWwnbnNn_nA

To accompany Eric's poem, I am also posting links to The Fantastic Merlins, Jack DeJohnette, Sound on Survival, and Charlie Byrd's music. (Eric had mentioned each of these artists in our correspondence.)

Here the Fantastic Merlins perform at the Black Dog Cafe in St. Paul, MN:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnchsRZGiG0

I have to include their "Cambodian Folk Song":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5oRnFd7Dgw

Jack DeJohnette plays live with Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, and Dave Holland:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMxESFBS4mY

In these videos, he plays with Sonny Rollins and others:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiYms26Y098

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVKTpq2DoDE

Sound on Survival is live in Montreal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzcAvVtp3ec

We'll finish with some Charlie Byrd:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSpe8g4A5Pc

Enjoy! Thank you for submitting your wonderful poems!

This album cover takes us into the fall.

In Memory of Kenny Kirkland

Before we get to the main attraction today, I just wanted to post a link to my poem "After The Summer of Young Men In a Hurry" that appeared in today's Pyrokinection:

http://www.pyrokinection.com/2014/08/a-poem-by-marianne-szlyk.html

The late Kenny Kirkland is one of the many artists who inspired my summer contest, and he himself inspired "After The Summer of Young Men In a Hurry" -- as I always think of him as someone who left us too soon.

It's fitting that A.J. Huffman decided to post that poem today as we are finishing up the contest this evening. Voting begins on September 1 and ends on September 15.

To finish with, here are a few videos for you to enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YME61KAYZDo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDQod7qJVbg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GDeDTnRRCA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asPdkHD9k8M

That last video really wakes me up!

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Blues 'round Midnight and Meeting Old Man Scratch

Photographer -- Matthew Polsfuss

Today Georgia poet Clifford Brooks brings us back to blues. The first poem, "Blues 'round Midnight," was inspired by Billie Holiday and Robert Johnson, both of whom need no introduction. The second, "Old Man Scratch (2)," responds to the blues of Barry Adamson, who began his career in the post-punk band Magazine and later joined the Buzzcocks. Like many British rockers, Adamson went to art school for a time.

Enjoy these soulful poems that channel both traditional and new blues.

Blues ‘round Midnight

Robert Johnson is laced in my cigarettes.

There ain’t no other blues

the universe can throw

at me

like being blood-drunk.

The Devil knows my number.

Gums receding, mentally rickety,

there’s the memory of losing a girlfriend

to Jesus.

He can have her.

She’s married with five kids now.

When guilt comes,

I got somewhere else

to be.

…

Little old ladies are precious

in churches

where organ music never changes.

It’s a tender language.

It’s a prayer list.

Such a small, quiet room

where people think of the dead

and sniffle.

The stabbing sprawl

of what pain is,

is the same

as the day after vodka

sucked from a plastic bottle.

Amore and addiction (their taste

is exactly the same):

I stitch both in a potato sack

and cast it into the Cohutta.

I reflect on all the reasons

life hasn’t let me go

when there’s doubt

this warrior’s walk won’t work out.

Doubt:

It’s time to give up that ghost.

The only choice is what

form of attrition I enjoy most.

For far more than a few hours

I’m sure I’ll still stay up,

fumble with ideas beyond

what my mind and fingers

can form.

I will ignore rusty pipes

as migraines mend,

an agony kept quiet by,

Don’t Explain.

Billie's "Don't Explain" is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ2gnNRNFSU

Meeting Old Man Scratch (2)

Old Man Scratch

seems sat-back-easy

on my front porch,

slouched in a chair

where my grandmother snapped

green beans

during times

men were more crossroads wise.

Predestination or not,

Granny

knew her eldest grandson

is one

who would welcome calamity

for more celebrity

than he can carry.

There’s black magic around

my enchanted

choice of occupation,

but it is the music

that keeps a fire in men.

The Saint of Pimps

appears almost blameless.

Iniquity reclines in a reverie

that seems complete and content,

like the first time

I kissed a girl.

....

There's a familiar shadow

between us,

in the sun they look the same.

Barely a breathable distance

in that space at any time,

it’s deliciously brutal.

There's too much truth in

Georgia-poet voodoo

to let me forget

my momma,

and a monster,

have an equal share

of my tombstone stock.

There's a tally taken

for every untouched flower

I pick, promise forever,

then only keep a single evening.

There are spells in ink

up both arms

to squirm a few more weeks

of Sundays;

to stay in the sun

until my Wendigo wise up.

Mad-rushing memories

have immortalized motels in Athens

and romances in Rome.

This restlessness

is from knowing

there’s a hard time

to get on with.

I try not to make my folks

fuss too much.

I’ve got one’s good sense,

and the other’s talent

for thinking around it.

Morality is best left to Milton.

I’ve got a 100 dollar bill

and golden fiddle built-in

when the world, during a rave,

or Easter morning, ends

on a high note.

…

Digging back into the Devil,

my only two cents sneers out:

Bring on the Rapture!

I’m sure Paradise is boring,

if all the women there are pure.

I’ve got better things to do

than worry about fear, forgiveness,

and you.

Barry Adamson performs "Jazz Devil" in 2010:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DbmKoeGOIk

I have been looking for more performances to post at The Song Is... as jazz is about performance. Fortunately, Clifford obliged with videos of his performances. In the picture below, you can see the Atlanta skyline.

Photographer -- Matthew Polsfuss

Here Clifford is reading at Rome, GA's Second Service @ The Vault:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGE0s9GWeyg

His recording of Charles Bukowski's "Poetry Readings" is also at the Bukowski Library:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWKYXI4vYNQ

Clifford truly has a gorgeous voice!

Rapper and poet Ezra Letra has drawn on Clifford's talents in "Tears from the Same Cloud." Please support them by purchasing this download:
http://ezraletra.bandcamp.com/track/tears-from-the-same-cloud-feat-clifford-brooks

Photo of Ezra Letra by Letra himself

Clifford has also collaborated with poet-editor-writer-lawyer-and-former-hip-hop-artist Jamez Chang on "Whirling Metaphysics." The painting in the video is by Ka-Son Reeves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CE94uyfLUs

"Whirling Metaphysics" reminds me of what I like about hip-hop, the blend of words and music and poetry. And Jamez has a great voice. (I would hit the exclamation point, but Callie, the other cat, is sleeping on that particular key. She has been mesmerized by all the videos I've been playing. Thelma, on the other hand, is keeping my husband company while he reads in the other room.)

Photographer -- The Wispy Gypsy

Here is Clifford's bio:

Clifford Brooks, a native of Athens, Georgia, grew up running wild among trees and open air all over his home state. A Huck Finn in his early years, by far not a fan of public school (or being indoors for that matter), he began to write as an escape. His passion for letters grew over time into short stories and humorous non-fiction he became known for in smaller literary circles.

It wasn’t until 2003 that he took up poetry as his sole muse. A few years later, with the help of an agent, editor(s), and publisher, The Draw of Broken Eyes & Whirling Metaphysics became a means of introduction to a much wider audience of readers.

Before turning teaching and creative writing into a means of financial survival, Clifford worked as a bookseller, landscaper, juvenile probation officer, and social worker. In 1999 he received a Bachelors of Science in History/Political Science from Shorter College in Rome, Georgia.

Today his book, The Draw of Broken Eyes & Whirling Metaphysics, has been nominated for 2 Pushcarts, a Pulitzer in Poetry, and Georgia Author of the Year. With the attention his literary career has garnered, he has since started The Southern Collective Experience and invited into The Last Ancients. Both of these groups have given Clifford new energy and inspiration to complete his next book, Athena Departs.

He hopes that you will visit his website for more: http://www.cliffbrooks.com/

The Draw of Broken Eyes & Whirling Metaphysics is also available at Barnes & Noble online and Amazon:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-draw-of-broken-eyes-and-whirling-metaphysics-cliff-brooks-3rd/1109476180?ean=9780983365532

http://www.amazon.com/Draw-Broken-Eyes-Whirling-Metaphysics/dp/0983365539

In Amelia Clegg's photograph below, the men are, from left to right, Randy Brown, Jr.; Andy Whitehorne; Jamez Chang; and Clifford himself. All are members of the Southern Collective Experience: https://www.facebook.com/TheSouthernCollectiveExperience

Photographer -- Amelia Clegg

Now to post this entry before I wake Callie.

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Friday, August 22, 2014

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Saturday, August 16, 2014

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