Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Mmm, Ahh, Ooo: Poetry for your Mind, Body and Soul



Event: Rhyme N Chatt Interactive Poetry Organization presents its annual fall poetry and jazz show entitled “Mmm, Ahh, Ooo: Poetry for your Mind, Body and Soul”

DATE: Friday, October 23, 2009

TIME: Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; show starts promptly at 8 p.m.

PLACE: Loose Cannon which is located at 1800 Rossville Avenue. (off Main Street behind the #1 fire hall)

TICKETS: $10 in advance/$15 day of show

Shows have sold out for the past 4 years straight, so be sure to reserve your tickets now by calling Toni at 423/544-1597 or Marsha at 423/504-0361.

Rhyme N Chatt offers quality spoken word shows that prove that you don’t have to go to the A T L for an upbeat, entertaining spoken word event. The subject matter is not offensive and the interactive format allows the audience to “talk back” to the performers. This is a great night out for couples, for a girls- or guys-night out and even for the single person looking for something fun to do where they can meet some awesome people. Audience members are encouraged to get involved during the open mic segment by stepping to the microphone and sharing their gift of spoken word, song, and musical performance.

You will NOT be disappointed. Rhyme N Chatt shows have been a local crowd-pleaser for over 7 years.

Contemporary smooth jazz /neo soul artist David Anthony will be the featured musician of the night. David currently tours with and is the Musical Director for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s, The Impressions. As a soloist, David has recorded and released “Wonder Love”, a 2008 debut CD and is working on the follow up, “A Side Kool - B Side Smooth” that is scheduled for an October 2009 release.

For more information, call Toni at 423/544-1597 or Marsha at 423/504-0361.

Visit their website at http://www.rhymenchatt.org/. Email them at rhymenchattpoetry@gmail.com.

Monday, September 21, 2009

The Listening


A few weeks ago, I started doing some recording with Mike McDade, who is very well known and respected by many musicians in and around town. We spent somewhere in the neighborhood of four hours laying down five tracks. I'm really happy with the material we've recorded so far, and all the people who have heard the rough tracks have been impressed as well.


I'm planning on recording some more things with Mike, so stay tuned for that. I'm mapping out what poems and other writings I'd not only like to lay down, but wouldn't mind hearing more than a few times.


I actually wanted to give you good people out there the opportunity to check out one of the working tracks. I'd love to hear what your thoughts are. The version you're going to hear (if you choose to make the download, that is) will most likely differ a bit from the finished product, but this will give you an idea of how the material is sounding at this juncture.


The particular piece that I've posted is called Night Riders. It's about graffiti and the passion behind laying tags. So far, this is both Mike's and my favorite piece that we've got. Let's see what you think.


You've got 2 options as far as the download goes. I know some folks out there are religious Rapidshare users, so I've got that angle covered. Also, I've thrown it up on Megaupload.com.


Blessings




Saturday, September 19, 2009

Join the Speakeasy group on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=163051593017&ref=mf#/group.php?gid=113128739240

The Poem


Hey Folks,

Everyone who has seen the painting that Ms. Kristen Rogers did for our collaboration has loved it. They haven't really been able to make out all of the text, so I figured I'd make things a little bit easier for those who were interested. We only ended up using the first portion of it, so that's what I'll throw on here.

Blessings

I.
Outside my window
the night sky holds a strange hue,
a strong blend of yellow & orange,
& a large dark tree towers
over the stretch of earth
as if on patrol, its army of branches
at the ready.
The beauty at work just beyond
this hospital room is almost enough
to make me forget the medications
& the depression that collapses
upon me like the weight of a falling tsunami
when I do not take them.
It is almost enough to make me forget
that I am stranded here,
living broken in a sea of glittering shards
& unaware of how long it will take
to piece each fiber together anew.
Almost, simply, is not enough
to distance myself from all the dead
who have been laid to rest within my skull
& how they are resting comfortably,
their flesh eating away at itself
& returning to the bitter soil of my mind.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

"The Place in Which Our Passions Meet"








Greetings World,

This year, I've been fortunate enough to do a number of things, including having some poems published, performing more out of state, etc. One of the things that I'm most happy about, though, is collaborating.

Earlier, I had the opportunity to jump on one of Gabriel Newell's songs called Breathless. You can hear some of his material here http://www.myspace.com/gabrielnewell and see us perform a version of Breathless with the lovely and talented Megan Howard here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsqPI5pFpks. While we're speaking of Megan, you can peep her out here as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oSvdK_bmzg

I've been in talks with a number of other musicians and artists, and a lot of collaborations are still pending. However, on Monday night of this week, one such projects came to fruition.

Kristen Rogers is a photographer and artists. She's been doing live artwork for the Speakeasy poetry open-mics that I run, and the idea to collaborate on a piece struck me a few weeks back. We discussed concepts and themes for a while, and then she decided on a scenario. her idea was to have a "Yellow-orange background with an intricate tree and the grass will be made of words." Once she laid it out, I started trying to fill in the blanks and bring something to life through words. My job was to build a story for the piece, and by no means was it an easy assignment.

After MANY misfires and concepts I quickly lost interest in, I watched a documentary on Anne Sexton, who is one of my favorite poets. Thinking about her life just gave me the idea to write from the perspective of someone in a mental hospital.

This past Sunday, I managed to write a pretty good bit of something I'm sure I can flesh out and complete down the line. It was enough to give Kristen a sizable amount of text to use for the painting, though.

You can check out how things turned out above, if you haven't already done so. I was really impressed at how she executed the whole thing, and when you take into account how swiftly she managed to put everything down, it's even more of a feat. Give it a look and let me know what you think.

Blessings

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Blast from the Past

A few months back, I randomly discovered that my college literary-arts publication had started putting some of the material from past issues online. Imagine my surprise when I found a poem of mine posted. It's called The Craving, and all of you boys and girls can peep the piece here:
http://www.quiltlitmag.com/view-content.php?contentID=43

Blessings

The Purpose




Greetings Good People,

If you're taking a look at this blog, then more than likely, you're familiar with me in one capacity or another. Just in case you aren't, allow me to bring you up to speed. I'm a writer (most often recognized as a poet), a musician, an actor on occasion, etc. I've had the honor over the years to meet and perform with a number of talented people including several members of the Def Poetry alum, and I've performed for crowds as large as 700 people. For anyone, let alone a poet using only his words, voice, cadence, and passion, my performing career has been personally awing.

The reason I decided to create a blog was to clue people in to my creative life. I wanted a chance to really promote what I was working on and towards, what I find inspiring, etc. Hopefully, all of you out there who happen to visit here will find something to connect to as well.

Blessings