Category Archives: Uncategorized

October

“October/And the trees are stripped bare/Of all they wear”– U2

which makes it sound like a nice lazy month for the trees. unfortunately, i dont have such a restful itinerary.

dont get me wrong. this is exactly how i like my life. full of craziness & goodness which will help this month zip by so that november can finally get here.

you will hear more about these badboys as they appear, but for now, here all the cliff notes:

Wed, Oct 5 @ 7pm– The Bronx Council on the Arts’ 1st Wednesday Reading Series at the Downton Bronx Café guest hosted by Oscar Bermeo with featured poet Maria Negroni. An open mic session will follow Ms. Negroni’s reading.
For more info: http://bronxarts.org/genpublic.asp
*

Sat, Oct 8 @ 7pm and Sun, Oct 9 @ 3pm– EVE DESCENDING is a journey through the stories of women in the Bible. Each woman comes to life through poetry, dance, and song to speak where the scriptures have been silent.

Produced by Actors Stock Company NYC
Conceived and directed by Abena Koomson
Cast: Elana Bell, Keisa Ababio, Annmarie Benedict, Oscar Bermeo, Jessica Elizabeth, Deborah Goffe, Hanna Kivioja-Honeycutt, Sabrina Hayeem Ladani, Dara Lazar, Marty McConnell, Dana Shavonne Rainey, Melanie Stroh, Jane Titus, Rich Villar, Scott Williams, Stephanie Williams
For tickets: http://smarttix.com/show.aspx?showCode=EVE35
*

Thurs, Oct 13 @ 7pm– ACENTOS- The Uptown’s Best Open Mic and featured poet MARTÍN ESPADA
The Bruckner Bar & Grill
1 Bruckner Boulevard (Corner of 3rd Ave)
6 Train to 138th Street Station
Hosted by Oscar Bermeo
FREE! ($5 Suggested Donation)
For more information, www.louderarts.com/acentos/
*

Sat, Oct 15 @ 8pm– PARSE Book Release Party
Bowery Poetry Club (308 Bowery at Bleeker Street) $10 cover

Please join Friendlyfire Press (Chad Griffin and Scot Lee Williams) as they celebrate the release of PARSE – Alchemy, a new collaboration of visual artistry and poetry featuring poems by: Elana Bell, Oscar Bermeo, Jai Chakrabarti, Robert Bevan Dalton, Sabrina Hayeem-Ladani, Mara Jebsen, Raymond Daniel Medina, John J Trause & Rich Villar

With readings by the poets, musical collaboration from synonymUS and
Raj spinning tunes. For more information, www.bowerypoetry.com
*

Tues, Oct 25 @ 7pm– ACENTOS- The Uptown’s Best Open Mic and featured poet MILDRED RUIZ
The Bruckner Bar & Grill
1 Bruckner Boulevard (Corner of 3rd Ave)
6 Train to 138th Street Station
Hosted by Oscar Bermeo
FREE! ($5 Suggested Donation)
For more information, www.louderarts.com/acentos/

PARSE


PARSE Invite
Originally uploaded by oscarb.

PARSE Book Release Party
Saturday, October 15, 2005
8:00 – 10:00 PM
Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery at Bleeker Street
$10 cover

Please join Friendlyfire Press (Chad Griffin and Scot Lee Williams) as they celebrate the release of PARSE – Alchemy, a new collaboration of visual artistry and poetry featuring poems by:

Elana Bell
Oscar Bermeo
Jai Chakrabarti
Robert Bevan Dalton
Sabrina Hayeem-Ladani
Mara Jebsen
Raymond Daniel Medina
John J Trause
Rich Villar

With readings by the poets, musical collaboration from synonymUS and Raj spinning tunes.

PARSE Volume 1 – Alchemy is the first in a series of books based on the fruits of collaboration between artists of different disciplines.
Friendlyfire Press is dedicated to promoting the arts through the creation of beautiful books and amazing poetry. Hope to see you there!

Rock out with your…

Re: the cantankerous yahoos known as the louderARTS project

y’all is mah peoples!!

we all rocked the ef out last night at the bowery which was packed to capacity, a wonderful show of support from the artistic community or, as the kids might say, putting your money where your mouth is. or sumthin like dat.

first off, we got the cool ass intro to amiri baraka courtesy of bob Holman & willie perdomo. then got down with some serious jackassery with pat rosal.
amiri after seeing the fellas with willie & pat: oh, you brought your WHOLE crew!

abena brought the house down with her bluesed out version of sonnet to east st louis. fish got props for his till pieces. i missed profe on the mic but saw him get the full rock star treatment after his reading. and as for me, i was on fkcin fire!

well, maybe not so much. i did ‘like dawn in new york’ to a so-so reaction but then I busted out ‘about b-boys in the boogie down’ and it was on like grits with gravy. damn, that poem makes me happy (for a variety of reasons*). love the twists and turns it takes me on and how the poem dee-mands i modify my voice.

at one point, i hit the refrain and heard “say it louder!” even though i was already on blast. note to self: memorize that fuckin piece already. i already have it down but I need to have it DOWN.

afterparty at Galapagos in Brooklyn as we play “help profe get out the hood” a fun and wonderful educational TV series that lets us study all the geography and cultural diversity between nyack, ny and da ghetto.
“ok kids, one mo time, whats the statue of limitations on assault & battery?”
SIX YEARS!!!

ya know its only funny cuz that’s how it actually went down.

we missed the performance of louderARTS blue team (dats right! we roll deep like dat) but got to hear some funky ass prog rock that had me acting all kinds of foolish.
*strike the derek jeter running to first base pose*

coral sky


Brooklyn Sky
Originally uploaded by Sarah Lee.

dawn now comes through way past the time i should be up. we’ve hit that bump where if i can see the sun rise, i might as well just hop in the shower (arctic blast*) and get the machine rolling from there.

which doesnt mean i wont do that, it just means that i have negotiate that within myself.

so yeah, being that this benefit is for New Orleans (i cant fking stand it when it is called NOLA but dats a whole nother rant) or if ya will, Nawlins, then i might as well talk about the things that make a city vibrant alive and dark and nasty and albatross and robust. ¿tu sabes?

ps- props to sarah for the dope pic.

Dawn by Federico Garcia Lorca

Dawn in New York has
four columns of mire
and a hurricane of black pigeons
splashing in the putrid waters.

Dawn in New York groans
on enormous fire escapes
searching between the angles
for spikenards of drafted anguish.

Dawn arrives and no one receives it in his mouth
because morning and hope are impossible there:
sometimes the furious swarming coins
penetrate like drills and devour abandoned children.

Those who go out early know in their bones
there will be no paradise or loves that bloom and die:
they know they will be mired in numbers and laws,
in mindless games, in fruitless labors.

The light is buried under chains and noises
in the impudent challenge of rootless science.
And crowds stagger sleeplessly through the boroughs
as if they had just escaped a shipwreck of blood.

Federico Garcia Lorca

pps- uhhm, look at this. some lorca in german. doin it in deutsch, indeed*

tonight at the bowery poetry club

join me, rich villar, fish vargas & abena koomson as we are in the 7-8pm time slot

what will you read, o? good question! no frickin clue as of right now
but i am leaning toward one of the city pieces that i have
maybe ‘like dawn in new york’ which i havent done since the bar13 feature

love ya like pinot loves grigio

Shelter From the Storm — Poets, Musicians, Artists
Unite to aid the Katrina disposse
Amiri + Amina Baraka, Eric Bogosian, Marc Ribot, Anne Waldman, Peter Stampfel, Taylor Mead at Midnight, Everyone you want! and more — all looked over w/ loving grace of NOLA Poet laureate Kalamu ya Salaam!

bowerypoetry.com
click here to buy a ticket