Another blog added to the list

How could I not have Adam Deutsch's blog listed in my blog roll? Clearly something was wrong. Problem solved now.

This Friday at Court Street Gallery

(Click on image for larger version)

This Friday the Last Friday Poetry Series at Court Street Gallery officially turns one. Reading will be Christine Hume, Arra Ross, and Chey Davis. Please come out and help us celebrate & say goodbye to the space. Unfortunately, due to a reorganization of the gallery, they will no longer be able to host poetry events, so we're going on hiatus (though there is already talk with another venue to get something going, so we shall see).

I want to give a special thanks to all the poets and writers who have read in this series or any of the other events I hosted here: Kate Greenstreet, JodiAnn Stevenson, Skip Renker, Christi Griffis, Robert Fanning, Tom Laverty, Aaron McCollough, Hazel McClure, Matthew Falk, Matt Hart, Nate Pritts, Mike Sikkema, Chad Sweeney, Kristi Maxwell, Michael Rerick, Adam Clay, William Allegrezza, Garin Cycholl, Mary Ann Samyn, Jeremy Benson, Nathan Hauke, Kirsten Jorgenson, Robin Brox, Ben Somers, Judith Kermin, John Palen, Mariela Griffor, Dan Schell, Anna West, Megan Dougherty, Matt Bell, Josh Maday, Ish Klein, John Beer, Joshua Edwards, Christine Hume, Arra Ross, and Chey Davis. (I just pulled that from memory, so I hope I'm not forgetting anyone!) Also a big thanks to Sarah & Paolo at the gallery.

This last event starts at 7 p.m. This event is free. I hope to see a lot of people there to send this series off with a bang.

Review of Tennis's Cape Dory

My review of Tennis's Cape Dory is now up at Frontier Psyichiatrist. You can check it out here.

Self-explanatory

I received this image in an e-mail from a friend this morning. I don't know the source, but it made my morning.

Two More Blogs Added

This seems to be all that I am posting about lately, but here are a couple more additions to the blog roll. These two blogs should be of extra interest to people interested in following the arts in Mid-Michigan: John Palen's Three-Eyed Fish and Janet Martineau's Mindless Meanderings.

This Friday: Canarium Books at Court Street Gallery

(Click on image for larger version)

This Friday, January 21st at 7 p.m. please stop by Court Street Gallery to check out three poets who are currently on the road in support of their new books. Reading will be Canarium Books authors Ish Klein and John Beer and Canarium Books Editor Joshua Edwards. Here is more info on each author:

John Beer's first book, The Waste Land and Other Poems, was published by Canarium Books in April 2010. His work has appeared in Verse, The Brooklyn Rail, Denver Quarterly, Crowd, and e...lsewhere.

"Only a genius could write a book called The Waste Land and Other Poems. Well, John Beer is that person. 'I set out to write a treatise on failure, and it turned out my subject was love,' he writes. 'Call it my confusion.' We should all be so confused."
- John Ashbery

Ish Klein is poet and self-taught film and puppet maker. She is an alumna of Columbia University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop for Poetry. Her poems have appeared in numerous magazines and her films have played at festivals around the world. Canarium Books published her first book, Union!, in 2009 and will publish her next book, Moving Day, in early 2011. A longtime resident of Philadelphia, she now lives in Amherst.

“Like the title of her first book Union!, poet Ish Klein’s name deserves to be followed by an exclamation point. Make that three of them.”
- Poetry Flash

Joshua Edwards directs and co-edits Canarium Books. His translation of Mexican poet María Baranda's Ficticia was published by Shearsman Books in September 2010, and his first book of poetry, Campeche (with photographs by his father, Van Edwards), is forthcoming from Noemi Press in early 2011. He's currently a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, and he lives in Berkeley.

Court Street Gallery is located at 417 Hancock Street in Old Town Saginaw. The event is free.

And while we're at it...

Since I just added two blogs to the blog roll, why not add another? This time I don't know the writer personally, but I once saw him read his poems and I've seen his band too. Check out David Berman's Menthol Mountains.

New Blogs

I've added two new blogs to my blog roll, both by dear friends of mine and also Lame House Press authors, Hazel McClure and Nathan Hauke. The three of us originally met in Mt. Pleasant as undergrads at Central Michigan University. Our poetry teacher called that year of students his "all-star team," because in addition to us, there were many other poets dedicated to the art who went on to M.F.A. programs and have published books. I've known Hazel and Nathan for over ten years now and I think my life is the better for it. Please check out Hazel's blog Catalpa & Ash here, and Nathan's blog Blue Rags Stitched Together By Crows here. I always thought my blog title would be one of the longest out there, but Nathan blew me out of the water.

New York Memories...

I was going through and deleting files on my computer today when I came across this gem (saved as "Landlord Complaint") from 2006:

We are writing to inform you of the inhabitable condition of Apartment #11 at XXX Hooper St. When we signed the lease to the apartment in February, we submitted a request in writing to have the bathroom ceiling fixed before we moved in. However, it was not fixed.

Since moving in on March 1, 2006, we have reported a number of problems to both the superintendent XXXX and XXXX Realty, the worst one being the leak in the bathroom ceiling.

The last time the water came through the ceiling, Saturday April 22, 2006, we talked to both YYYY on the phone and ZZZZ in person, and we were assured that the source of the problem would be found and fixed.

However, on Friday June 2, 2006, water began pouring through the bathroom ceiling, through the light fixture and various cracks along the walls. This lasted for approximately two hours, causing paint and plaster to fall onto the floor, filling three buckets of water, and flooding the floor. This is the fourth time since March 1, 2006 this major leak in the bathroom has occurred. We see no other solution but to move out of the apartment as soon as possible to allow XXXX Realty to fix the source of the problem. As it is, the apartment is uninhabitable.

In addition to the water problem, the refrigerator door does not stay closed, the pipe underneath the kitchen sink falls off regularly, and paint is peeling from the ceiling in the bedroom. Also, in one of the bedrooms, bars were partially removed and are now hanging off the window. Please see enclosed pictures.

We hope to find a new place to live as soon as possible and expect to receive our full security deposit since we are being forced to leave the apartment due to unsafe living conditions.

Please contact us as soon as possible to resolve this matter.

Introducing Matt Bell

I imagine the people who read this blog already know Matt Bell so there is no introduction necessary, but here is a profile I wrote about him for a local alt arts and entertainment paper: "Introducing Matt Bell."

Adventures in Audio Books

For a recent car trip, N & I decided to take along an audio book. The last time I listened to an audio book was in a high school English class. I can't remember what book it was now, but we were to read along as we listened and highlight moments that related to the various themes of the book. (Our teacher had identified three themes before we started the book, and we were to have a different color highlighter for each theme.) When thinking about the possibilities of audio books for this road trip, I thought what could be better than Tracy Morgan's I Am the New Black read by Tracy Morgan?

It was when I was getting ready to put the first cd in that I noticed the packaging for the audio book stated in the lower left corner "An Adaptation." In the introduction, Morgan refers to the audience as people interested in listening to his story, so I thought perhaps that was the extent of the adaptation--instead of addressing readers, he would be addressing listeners. However, in numerous instances it becomes clear that Morgan had departed from any sort of script.

There was a moment of time where I had the opportunity to edit audio books, which I had to pass on due to other obligations. Realistically, I don't think I have the patience to sit and listen to a work and compare it to the original text. And in a case like I Am the New Black, I imagine it made much more sense to say the audio was "an adaptation" instead of trying to make it match the original. At times the audio book is rambling and often the information contradicts itself, and the last two discs splice in these brief pieces on other comedians that made me wonder if they were interspersed throughout the entire book or if they only do come in towards the end after Morgan was working as a comic. The audio book definitely has some advantages over the print book. For instance, Morgan includes the last two songs that his father recorded before his death, which is surely something the book doesn't include.

After listening to the audio book, both N & I had the same reaction: We now both really want to read the actual book. I wonder, is a normal reaction to audio books? Or perhaps it was only because it was so clear that this version didn't match the original? Anyone out there have similar experiences with audio books?

Review of Kate Bernheimer's Horse, Flower, Bird

My review of Kate Bernheimer's Horse, Flower, Bird is now up at NewPages. You can read it here.

New Review at Frontier Psychiatrist

My review of Just Kids is now up at Frontier Psychiatrist. You can read it here. And if you're not already familiar with FP, take some time to check out what's all there. The website, which describes itself as being "devoted to urban life, music, food, drink, and culture," burst onto the scene about a year ago. The "About Us" page says, "With staff writers in Brooklyn, Chicago, and Washington DC, and a growing roster of local and national contributors, FP chronicles indie life in America in an attempted tone of authority tempered by humility and irreverence." It's definitely become regular reading for me.

Pittsburgh Bound

Heading to Toledo tomorrow to see The Triple Aces play at Frankie's Inner City, and then heading to Pittsburgh on Wednesday to check out the Warhol Museum. I'm going to have some extra time in Pittsburgh, so if anyone has suggestions of places to check out, let me know in the comments field below. I've already been hearing about a lot of great places on Facebook--The Church Brew Works, E. Carson St., Primanti Bros., and the National Aviary.