Bent Pin: D. Jason Cooper & Karl Miller, post mortem on divinity - newlink

NOTE THIS PAGE IS NOT YET IN THE NEW ARCHIVE. MAYBE LATER.

A new page is up on Bent Pin featuring a very funny bit of writing called God's Will by D. Jason Cooper as well as two poetic shorts by Karl Miller, called Communion Obsolescence and Once Last Insult.  The combination twists the meaning of the works just a bit. Take a peek.  <--this link has been repaired for the second time!!!!


UPDATE: Bent Pin closed in November of 2009. The Bent Pin Archive and Index are moving, albeit slowly.... to:

http://bentpinquarterly.blogspot.com   Note: the author index now at http://bentpinquarterly.blogspot.com/p/author-index.html is part of the archive

Gearing up for performance: testing the songs and the pipes

This past week at Wednesday Poetry both the open mic and the feature (Poet Will Nixon from Woodstock, NY), brought forth some novel and interesting material - and that always makes me happy.  Nixon is a very funny guy which was a nice change from the heavy and the heart-rending - though those can be powerful.  It was a great night.   For me, I brought my guitar and tested out a song of mine that I had rescued from my forgotten tunes pile...   It's called I Bet It All On You -You can listen to it over on my Youtube page. First I read it as a slam-syle poem, then I played it. The audience was very kind and appreciative.

I am getting ready for the four forty-minute sets deal again, and trying to bring the songs I used to play back into working memory. I am  right at the stage of prep, where my voice sounds good, and words come, but sometimes right in the  middle of something, I draw a blank on the next chord.  I know this means I need to get out there to open mics as much as I can to harden up the muscle memory again.  Over the years, I have learned that muscle memory really helps in performing and the only way to seal the memory is to heat it up repeatedly (sort of like the hardening process for metals) - that is, to play under fire in front of an audience over and over.

So, I thought I would re-enforce my Wed, Night experience with a little Friday trip. So Friday I rolled down the hill to a nearby open mic - one that's not advertised much - at the  East Coast Music Mall. Customers and students are invited at checkout or during their lessons.  It's really open mic/jam every other Friday night from six to nine, right in the store. (Sometimes it's weekly call the store for details) There are lots of under-age players with their parents. It's a nice supportive environment for young players to get used to an audience.

Nonetheless, this old bat (me) waded on in there and signed the list. There were other gray heads as well as a metal head or two, and styles ranging from folk to jazz with a lot of rock sandwiched in the middle. When my time came, I asked for advice on the settings of my Cort's builtin equalizer and pickup, then I said hello and gave my name, and launched into the first tune. I played "I Bet It All On You" and "Love Makes You Free" and then tried to quit -- but the audiences requested one more (you get a full 15 minutes), I turned to the sound guy. "I know you have at least one more tune in there..." he said so I played "Smooth As A Wishing Stone"(Long pond is cold) too.

Folks there were so very kind... Both the parents and the young players were very complimentary and encouraging.  A couple suggested I should go on the coffee house circuit. Another said he was glad I played the extra tune and that he would have been happy with a half hour more or so....   Of all the things I do and have done - my own songs with my own voice yield the most positive responses....

Like the little polish priest Father Olbrys told me "Choose to do that which only you can do......"  Though I am a firm atheist, I'm running with his advice.....

Bent Pin: Cortney Davis, Stephen Muret, Ken Pobo, Lisa Siedlarz

POST ABOUT MY NOW DEAD EZINE: 

This week's Bent Pin is unusual in that it features four writers instead of the usual pair. Each work offers a different twist on religion. I have titled the page brand loyalties, since there are so many competing varieties of religion. Take a peek

At the Monday J-Cherry Open Mic

Went to Middletown Monday night to check out the J-Cherry Anything-goes Open Mic at the Buttonwood Tree. I found at least one person I know there -, that wildman beataphile poet Sympetalous. He gave one of his energetic type 60's style poetry performances.  The posting below which I found on YouTube is not the performance I heard. But it gives you the idea....

hhttp://www.youtube.com/v/ZJdcEGBFBnM&hl=en&fs=1&

  As you can see from this video, one really fine feature of this open mic is the music folks will sort of jam behind the poets, so Stan had a backup band more or less.   This also happened behind a poetess who's name I am not sure of. It worked out fairly well both times.  They have congas, and some chime style percusion, sometimes someone has a keyboard or a guitar etc.  You really don't know what will transpire here. Once a musician named Tom who had improvised an a capella  song, got up and tap danced!

Got a chance to hear a relatively new duo Spencer and Sparks. Their harmonies worked very well and they sang original material. They are working on a CD to be out soon.

I played three of my original songs,  I Bet It All On You, Love Makes You Free and Wishing Stone. and plugged my myspace page.  I was a little surprised to get up there and find behind the music stand, a tiny olympus digital recorder with its red recording light on.

You can hear one recording of Spencer ad Sparks on the event's myspace page  where some of those recordings end up.  And as you can see from the video above sometimes someone puts it on YouTube as well.

This  did give me pause for thought that anytime you perform in public someone maybe recording you with one these tiny devices or with their phone - and if you are having an off night or just testing something out - well, some one posses it out there.  Maybe without your knowledge or permission.  Anyway its something to ponder in this new world file sharing world. And even before the recording question came up - it's long been a world where  singers and  bands cover their favorite famous performers and never ever credit the actual songwriter......

Molly Darcy's with Future Tense

Last Saturday I was at a writer's meeting all day, and drank about four pots of coffee. So Saturday night,  at about 9:30pm I hit on the idea of going out, since I was still raging on with the after-effects!

So I went to Molly Darcy's where I knew a few friends and relatives were taking a rock band called Future Tense.   It was a great time and I really enjoyed myself in the crazy rock 'n roll madness of the evening: with a great band, blinking lights, dry ice smoke, a packed dance floor, a multi-generational crowd, Mike and Paulette at the mic - and Dave that great bass-player,   DR on the keys, was that Ed Lange on the drums?  The new guitar guy spun out some great solos too.

This band has just been together for decades and it shows because they are tight!  For the facebook group, they have a fan page there.....   it's at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Future-Tense/58230551679?ref=ts

CT Folk Cycle Tour 2009

Last Gig: Sept 12, 2009: Hindinger Farms on the Tour des Farms, which offered two bicycle touring loops of scenic local farms with a different Ct folk musician entertaining at each stop. The tours were part of the Ct Folk Festival.


Well Sept. 12, 2009 was the day - I played at Hindinger Farm for the Tour Des Farms - a cycling tour that was part of the Connecticut Folk Festival. It was a stop on the longer 35 mile loop. The weather was cool but there was not a drop of rain.

After briefly overshooting the turn, I arrived around 9:15. I had plenty of time acclimate myself and set up before cyclists started appearing around 10AM. I played straight through to 11 when the last of them pedaled off up the hill. I had little trouble as my fingers got a bit cold. It was about 60 degrees when I started, and a tad early for my voice to function -- these days I usually practice at night. Mostly things went very well. I started out playing things in a little lower key because it was so early in the morning, around 10:45 I put the capo on and really could let some high notes peal out. I did repeat two songs, but I thought the folks that had heard them had gone.

"We're loving this," one couple told me. Another lady, a customer of the farm rather than a cyclist, asked me if I had a CD she could buy. Darn. I hope to remedy that this coming year... Another customer told me that having music at the farm, made her feel like she was in Vermont rather than a mile off a main road. I hope to get out and play more. I had the sense, at least part of the time, that I was really in the flow - and that's a really good feeling. Ms. H and all of the people at the farm were wonderful. They gave me a cup of coffee, and before I left I bought some veggies, fruit, and a big jar of jam. In order to have the full tourist experience I paid 50 cents for the special goat crackers. They sell goats milk and cheese as well.

Bent Pin: Howie Good and T.G. Mazur, over the edge of something...

Post about my dead ezine: 

Went with some hardwood flooring and a few fall leaves for the front of Bent Pin. There 's a new page up too, "over the edge, one way or the other"  one poem incorporates dying words from famous folk (by Howie Good) and the second (by T.G. Mazur), features the faith of the hang-glider & hang-gliding instructor as they leap from a cliff.....


UPDATE: Bent Pin closed in November of 2009. The Bent Pin Archive and Index are moving, albeit slowly.... to:

http://bentpinquarterly.blogspot.com   Note: the author index now at http://bentpinquarterly.blogspot.com/p/author-index.html is part of the archive