Tongue-in-Groove Poetry Jam featuring John Burroughs, Sunday 10/24

Next up! It's always fun to see Ray McNiece and the band perform (both by themselves and with other writers). And this month I get the honor of being their featured poet. Hope to see you there this Sunday! Please bring something (maybe spooky) to share during the open mic. Sunday 10/24/2021 at 6 p.m. Eastern.

From the press release:

Tongue-in-Groove Poetry Jam is back live at the Fillmore. Heights Poet Laureate Ray McNiece will host, with Al Moses on guitar, Nick Marino on bass, Michelle Clark on percussion and Tim Lachina on harmonica. Ohio Beat Poet Laureate John Burroughs will be our featured poet. Bring a poem to share (backed by the band if you wish) during the open mic.

Burroughs serves as the State of Ohio Beat Poet Laureate (2019-21). A nationally touring writer, his most recent books include Rattle & Numb: Selected and New Poems, 1992-2019 [2019, Venetian Spider Press] and Loss and Foundering [2018, NightBallet Press]. John recently curated the Poetry+ reading series in Lakewood, Ohio, and since 2008 has served as the founding editor of Crisis Chronicles Press.

 

[Photo of John at the Fillmore taken in 2019 by Sandra Feen.]

 

For more info on the Tongue-in-Groove Poetry Jam, contact Ray at mcnieceray@gmail.com.

 

Millard Fillmore Presidential Library
15619 Waterloo Road
Cleveland, Ohio 44110

Performing at Erie's Blues and Jazz Fest on September 25th

I will have the privilege of performing from the same stage as several fantastic word artists this Saturday, September 25th, during the 100 Thousand Poets for Change event at Erie's Jazz and Blues Fest in Erie, Pennsylvania. This will be my first trip outside of Ohio in eighteen months.

The poetry will begin at 4:30 p.m. (Eastern) at the Frontier Park Amphitheater, hosted by Thasia Anne and featuring the following poets.

4:30 - Matt Borczon

4:39 - Sean Thomas Dougherty

4:47 - Barbara Crone

4:55 - Mabel Howard

5:03 - Kim Noyes

5:11 - John Burroughs

5:19 - Abdullah Washington

Then at 5:30 p.m. Erie County Poet Laureate Dr. Chuck Joy will host an open mic. We hope to see you there!

Frontier Park
1501 W. 6th Street
Erie, Pennsylvania 16505

I Am Interviewed and Read Two Poems in Episode 6 of GAS

I am grateful to be part of the latest episode of GAS: Poetry, Art & Music, hosted by Belinda Subraman. The program also features work by Gail Newman, Sugar Whiskey (Dan Nielsen and Georgia Bellas), Peggy Rush, Ken Clinger, Jason O'Toole, Rigoberto De La Mora, and International Beat Poet Laureate Chryssa Velissariou. You'll find me around the 19:30 mark, where Belinda interviews me briefly and I read my poems "Flagging" and "Tell Them I Am Sent You."

Video permalink: https://youtu.be/dCRKVRgSt78.

2019 National Beat Poetry Festival - 8/30 thru 9/1 in Connecticut

*Copied from the National Beat & International Beat Poetry Festival Bulletin Board*

The National Beat Poetry Foundation, Inc. will host their annual 3 day, National Beat Poetry Festival, one of the largest gatherings in the US, of Beat Poets from the US and worldwide.

Master of Ceremonies: Darlene Fernandez.

Locations & Times:

Friday, August 30, 2019, Noelke Gallery, 15 Water Street, Torrington, CT, starting at 7:00pm. Readings and spoken word. Music by Podunk Throwbacks. Plus an open mic.

Saturday August 31, 2019, The Licia & Mason Beekley Community Library, 10 Center Street, New Hartford, CT, 2:00pm-6:00pm. Ten new Beat Poets Laureate will be named and honored at a special awards ceremony for their dedication and contributions to their respective communities for their love of writing, poetry, spoken word and the arts.
Music by Tony Vacca. Plus an open mic.

Sunday September 1, 2019, Farm River Cafe, 526 Main Street, New Hartford, CT from 2:00pm to 5:00. Readings, spoken word, and musicians should plan on coming to share their talents. Plus an open mic.

All aficionados of Poetry, Music, & the Arts are cordially invited to attend this cultural enriching three day event.

Books and merchandise from many different artists will be available for purchase all three days and at all three event venues.

Poets will be reading their poetry all three days from our newest poetry anthology called, We Are Beat from Local Gems Press [pre-order here].

This years award recipients are:

Paul Richmond: National Beat Poet Laureate USA (2019-2020)

Donna Anne Allard - International Beat Poet Laureate, Canada (2019-2020)

Dr. Chryssa Velissariou: Greece Beat Poet Laureate - (2019-Lifetime) from Larisa, Greece

John Burroughs - State of Ohio Beat Poet Laureate (2019-2021)

BLW (Babs) McGrory - State of Delaware Beat Poet Laureate (2019-2021)

Ron Whitehead - State of Kentucky Beat Poet Laureate (2019-2021)

Richard Wayne Horton - State of Massachusetts Beat Poet Laureate (2019-2021)

William David Sovern - State of Indiana Beat Poet Laureate (2019-2021)

Kate Lamberg - State of New York, Long Island Beat Poet Laureate (2019-2021)

Nordette N. Adams - State of Louisiana Beat Poet Laureate (2019-2021)

I would like to express my gratitude to Debbie Tosun Kilday and Colin Haskins of the National Beat Poetry Foundation. You may contact them with any questions about this and/or future events at: NBPF15@GMAIL.COM.

Next Performance: CLE Uncorked 8/13/2019 at CLE Urban Winery

Tuesday 13 August 2019, CLE Uncorked, Voices and Vines on Lee will happen again, hosted by Jason Patrick Meyers. I will again have the honor of being one of their featured performers, this time along with Kansas City poet Sara Minges and musical acts Sam Hooper, Cameron Schnell, Brian Alan Hager, Simon Kenneally, Erica Wise and Bridget Davis.

CLE Uncorked happens the 2nd and 4th Monday of every month at CLE Urban Winery, 2180 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118.

Find more information at cleurbanwinery.com and facebook.com/cleuncorked.

Bringing the Noise to Cleveland x 7

On July 7th 2019, I'll perform something strange during the Noise Lunch 7 Year Anniversary Cookout/Potluck Throwdown! at Now That's Class in Cleveland.

Curated by Lisa Miralia + Brian Neaville, the theme for this event is The Number 7.

3 - 5:30pm - Cookout/Potluck out back on the deck and parking lot.
Bring a dish to share and/or something for the grill!
/// Outdoor performances by:
Fear Rod (Jacob Bonhert)
Pokey Karol

5:45 - 8pm - Noise Lunch, Cake, and surprises inside.
/// Main Stage room performances by:
Concave Onion (Tyler Jasterbowski-Caleb Lutz-Bunk)
Contamination Diet (Kevin Terrorsick-Brian Neaville)
Dissilient + Murderous Vision (Chris Bilecki-Paul Markus-Stephan Petrus)
Elephant Pill (PA – Alex Wilson)
Ohio Beat Poet Laureate John Burroughs
Serrated Slump (Pete Bach-Maggie Duff)

Hope to see you there!

Performing at Sound Poetry: A Noise Lunch Reading 4/8 in Lakewood

Shelley Chernin, Jessie Herzfeld and I will perform a unique collaborative set Sunday 4/8/2018 during Sound Poetry: A Noise Lunch Reading (curated by Margo Emm) at Mahall's in Lakewood.

Other acts performing include
Andrew Auten + Rob Rosin
Catherine Butler
Frass Accolades
Grace Harper + Catherine Butler + Lisa Miralia
M; Margo
Maggie Duff + Alexa Mal
Robin Guiler + Ian Cummins
Xan Schwartz

The whole shebang runs from 4 to 8 p.m. Hope to see you there.

Mahall's 20 Lanes
13200 Madison Avenue
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
mahalls20lanes.com

Step Up! Poetry Open Mic & Workshop at the 2018 Lake Erie Folk Fest

Join Dianne Borsenik and me February 24th for a poetry workshop and open mic at The Lake Erie Folk Fest! We'll be on from 4 to 4:45 pm in room 258 of the Shore Cultural Centre, 291 E. 222nd Street, Euclid, Ohio 44123. See a full schedule of the day's workshops here. See all the day's musical acts here.

For more info on our part of the festivities, see
Step Up! Poetry Open Mic & Workshop.

 

John Burroughs and Dianne Borsenik have been performing their poetry and hosting events for the past ten years. Together, they produced the Lix & Kix Poetry Extravaganza reading series, Snoetry: A Winter Wordfest series, the Punch Through the Envelope workshop, and many other poetry events. They also travel, reading their work and connecting with poets across the United States. Burroughs lives in Parma, Ohio, where he publishes Crisis Chronicles Press. Borsenik lives in Elyria, home of NightBallet Press.

Bopping at the Stop this Sunday 9/25 with Étienne Massicotte

Étienne Massicotte at the Barking Spider during
BeatStreet Cleveland [photo by Chandra Alderman]

Twice in 2015 I had the distinct privilege and great pleasure of performing my poetry in collaboration with Étienne Massicotte, trumpet player (and composer) extraordinaire - first during BeatStreet Cleveland: The International Beat Poetry Festival and then at storied Severance Hall, home of the Cleveland Orchestra.  Now I'm thrilled to announce that we're doing it again.

This Sunday, 25 September 2016, at 4 pm, Étienne Massicotte presents: New and Unusual Sounds of the Trumpet at the Bop Stop in Cleveland. A live performance and discussion of modern trumpet repertoire curated by Mr. Massicotte, this special event features four crazy-cool performance sets including works by Olivier Messiaen, Peter Hatch and Christopher Biggs, along with our aforementioned trumpet and spoken word collaboration.

From the official write-up:

"This collaboration between John Burroughs and Etienne Massicotte began as an informal experiment in interpretive improvisation. The goal was to explore various means of reflecting the imagery of spoken text through the voice of the trumpet. Spontaneously, a unique accompaniment to each of Mr. Burroughs’ pieces began to develop, as his words were ripe for translation into musical language. Influenced by artists such as Miles Davis, Giacinto Scelsi, and Luciano Berio, these instrumental musings include use of modern techniques such as multiphonics (singing one pitch while playing another) and circular breathing (a method of inhaling and exhaling simultaneously)."

Please don't miss this very special event.  Admission is free, although donations to support the performing artists will be gratefully accepted.

BOP STOP at The Music Settlement
2920 Detroit Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44113
www.themusicsettlement.org

Click here to read more about Étienne Massicotte. 

And here's the program:

Expedition Flyer

I just got this flyer for the Expedition: Spaces II event I posted about recently.  Gonna be great fun!

Expedition: Spaces II: A Guided Journey of Words, Sights & Sounds! (6 Aug 2016)

Photo: Tim Kaiser

Expedition: Spaces is an annual multimedia art blast curated by Craig Chojnicki and Lisa Miralia at quite possibly the coolest gallery in Cleveland, SPACES, and I'm so happy to be a part of it again this year.  Here's a copy/paste from the SPACES website and the Facebook event page:

EXPEDITION: SPACES II: A Guided Journey of Words, Sights & Sounds!
 
Performance: Saturday August 6, 2016 8-11pm
Doors open 7:30pm, Show starts 8pm
$10 – all proceeds will go to the performing artists
 
This guided expedition brings together artists from across the globe to explore the realms of experimental and electronic sound, live projections, and performance art.

(See performers' bios below.)
 
Featured performers include sound artist and inventor TIM KAISER, who is recognized nation-wide for his accomplishments as an avant garde instrument builder and performer. Writer and poet JOHN BURROUGHS will lead us from gallery to gallery with spoken word segues. MACHINE LISTENER will perform a set of complex tapestries of heady electronic sound. Performance art trio MARCIA CUSTER + ALYSSA D'AMICO + BETH LOMSKE will delight us with a set exploring the nature of friendship, fear, and the cyclical nature of leaving. MIKE MCNAMARA and NATHAN (GERONIMO) MELARAGNO will collaborate on a set of guitars, electronics, and found sounds paired with live analog liquid light projections. Underground vinyl DJs DAN COOK and MARC LANSLEY will open and close this Expedition, spinning an eclectic mix of minimal techno and electronica.
Want to volunteer?
_________________________
Performers Include:
TIM KAISER (MN)
Tim Kaiser is well known in the homebuilt instrument and experimental music scenes nationwide for his blending of acousto-electric contraptions and Frankenstein electronics to create ethereal, layered drones.
His hand-built instruments are as alluring as the sounds they make, and his sonic landscapes have been called "experiments in adventurous art" and "eclectic genius" by the likes of Make Magazine, Wired, the New Art Examiner and the Associated Press. Tim has also been featured on the PBS program MakeTV, has scored films, and toured extensively, including headlining numerous experimental music festivals in the US. He's been a founding contributor and champion of the Weirdo Industrial Complex for more than 30 years. http://tim-kaiser.org/
_________________________
MACHINE LISTENER (CLE)
Cleveland based visual and sonic artist Matthew Gallagher crafted his Machine Listener alter ego from early experiments peeking into and deriving sound works from the electromagnetic radiation that emanates from household electronic gadgetry, though he's slowly grown his repertoire to include synthesizers. Patched correctly, these became almost sentient, the self-generating patterns of control voltage evoking complex tapestries of deeply spun tones. Gallagher's latest missive entitled Endless Coil, is out now via Tusco/Embassy Press. - Decoder Magazine http://machinelistener.bandcamp.com/
_________________________
MARCIA CUSTER + ALYSSA D'AMICO + BETH LOMSKE (CLE)
Experimental sonic and performance artists Marcia Custer, Alyssa D'Amico and Beth Lomske are friends first and collaborators second. Marcia and Beth of Half An Animal and Alyssa D'Amico of NRML GRL will collaborate on a new performance experiment "Are You Afraid of the Light" which explores the nature of friendship, fear, and the cyclical nature of leaving. The artists have individually performed at venues and galleries such as SPACES, Guide to Kulchur, Mahall's, and Pilgrim Church. All three participate in the SPACEBEACH integrated media performance art collective.
www.spacebeachcle.tumblr.com / http://www.marciacuster.com/
_________________________
MIKE MCNAMARA (music) + NATHAN MELARAGNO (projections) (CLE):
Mike and Nathan will perform a collaboration set of music and liquid light projections.

MIKE MCNAMARA is a guitarist and composer who has been active in NE Ohio and beyond since 1996. Mike has a wide performance repertoire and has performed solo at various venues, galleries, festivals and theaters in NE Ohio, as well as with Neil Chastain/Pureplex, Muamim Collective, LMNTL, and Kokolo Afrobeat Orchestra. He has also collaborated with movement and visual artists at multi-media special events like Ingenuity Fest and CPT's Pandemonium. Mike holds a BM in Classical Guitar from CSU and teaches privately and with the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society. For this evening's performance, Mike will be working with guitars and electronics and found sounds from the urban landscape to create an ambient, layered environment that explores stillness, austerity, and emotion.
 
NATHAN MELARAGNO is a multi-media artist living and working in Cleveland, OH. His artistry spans from analog liquid light projection, to film photography, sound environments, and large scale painting. Nathan preserves psychedelic history through practicing, studying and teaching analog techniques in all fields of his creative focus.
_________________________
JOHN BURROUGHS (CLE)
John Burroughs is a Cleve-based poet, playwright and musician whose books include The Eater of The Absurd, Barry Merry Baloney, and Water Works. He co-founded the annual Snoetry: A Winter Wordfest and performs solo and with random partners as Jesus Crisis Ban/ne/d. John has served as founding editor of Crisis Chronicles Press since 2008, publishing superb indie writers from around the world. John will be our guide for the event, responding to the evening's doings with poems improvised and/or memorized but never cauterized.
www.crisischronicles.com
_________________________
DJs DAN COOK + MARC LANSLEY (CLE/Germany)

DAN COOK is a techno DJ and producer from Cleveland, OH. He got his start DJing and throwing parties in 2010, culminating in the Solarity series of large format events at Oberlin College through 2013. More recently, Dan has been featured in Bent Crayon's monthly underground vinyl DJ series Hollow Earth and also runs a sound system in the area with sightings at local DIY venues and events.
 
MARC LANSLEY is a producer and DJ based in Cleveland,OH and Cologne, Germany. Marc has had a passion for electronic music of all kinds since the 90s, a path which led to becoming one of Cologne's foremost underground DJs and a well-established entity to connoisseurs of the city's somewhat secretive nightlife. In 2006 he started drip-feeding his own material to unsuspecting crowds, leading to a debut release with longstanding partner in crime Falko Brocksieper on the iconic Sub-Static imprint, a small batch of rarefied leftfield edits and remixes for acts like Walls, Kasper Bjorke or Fraktus. This remixing lead to Marc teaming up with Okinawa 69's Shumi as DJ/production duo Truffle Shuffle - which in turn resulted in them co-founding their own label Low Hanging Fruit, distributed by Kompakt and sporting releases by artists like Camp Inc., Bryan Kessler, David Hasert and more. Having recently relocated to the US, he now scouts new battlegrounds for his personal brand of electronic mayhem in Cleveland, OH, the punk queen of the rust belt and as much a staple in the hidden history of alternative music as was his former hometown. – (adapted from Resident Advisor).

Delirious: A Poetic Celebration of Prince

Many thanks to NightBallet Press for including my poem "From Genesis to Exodus" in their marvelous new anthology, Delirious: A Poetic Celebration of Prince. I'm also thrilled that they used one of my photos on the front cover. The book's official release date is June 7th, which would have been Prince's 58th birthday, but you can order now for only $10 plus shipping.

Love you, brother G.O.R.K.

G.O.R.K., aka François Fissi Bissi OkraKongo
16 March 2014 at Snoetry 4: A Kulchured Winter Wordfest

Read

Attend

Contribute

Listen

Listen

Listen

Listen

Video: Burroughs & Massicotte perform "Way Erred Scenes inside a Jazz Mine" at BeatStreet Cleveland, 19 September 2015, Barking Spider Tavern

Thank you, Dianne Borsenik, for putting last night's great event together and recording this clip of us performing! What a pleasure it was to collaborate with Étienne Massicotte and to share a stage and room with so many of my favorite poets, publishers and people.

Video permalink: https://youtu.be/1GfqH5H1NHY

Way Erred Scenes inside a Jazz Mine

Aswirl in creative flux

feel a faux need to squeeze
to get any err out
on screen or page
feeling sage in this smoke
of jasmine incense
hearing a catalyzing muse
sick I can't name and
I can't blame
you or blame me
not sure why we need to lay
it on anyone
as it is what it is
and just is
and what's wrong with that
why do we
always have to find something
wrong with everything
I can sing
without notes or tune
and so
I suspect
can you
whether or not some see it
as cruel or kind
aren't we blind to believe
every song needs sound waves
every lyric needs words
every world needs saved
every who needs heard
every herd needs a who
ain't it just what it is
whatever it is
and I know Dylan
said he not busy being born
is busy dying
but he failed to say
he busy being born is busy dying too
and why can't we say that
unafraid
it is what it is
and so what
the best jasmine incense burns out
eventually and the worst often lives
in memory just as long and wise
any writer wrong
what's worst or best
anyway
scents won't last forever
I think nonsense
won't either
but in some sense might
like night
wonder
if one day everything
we think is wrong
passes on
and everything right is left
could anything be right again
without us rewriting it
and when
you or I wonder
why I do or don't talk
may be hear's what you're missing
I'm always listening
and never shut up
sure it's easy to think
at least one of us is
in this walled room
in this sided house
in this incorporated city in this state
of apparent confusion
but Daishonin said

ichinen sanzen
each moment possesses three
thousand realms
and I'm never outside a moment
even when I'm conscious
and your movement pervades
the realms I monitor
even when you don't feel
odd when you don't hear
sometimes we use the wrong ears
wrong might be the wrong word
because in certain uncertain worlds
sound waves are inefficient
often ineffectual
and even oddly misleading
despite their repeated best intent
shuns to be otherwise
so I use them or don't
you too
as inclination dictates or allows
but it's all
now
becoming
evident to me
that we're all ultimately
aswirl in creative flux
insight
outside
out of sight
inside
becoming
okay
either way
with or without
hour
foe need
two squeeze
smoke key
jazz mine

[This poem appears in my 2013 chapbook It Takes More Than Chance to Make Change, published by The Poet’s Haven.  It first appeared in print in What I Knew Before I Knew: Poems from the Pudding House Salon-Cleveland and online in The City. I've edited it slightly since then.  It also appears in the newly released collaborative chapbook A Case for Ascension published by Asinimali Publications.]

Barking Spider Diddley Groove Uncaged

Don't worry, it goes right side up in about 7 seconds.  This is me spewing an incomplete version of my poem "John Cage Engaged and Uncaged" to the accompaniment of Ray McNiece's Tongue-in-Groove band on 16 May 2015 at the Barking Spider Tavern in Cleveland during the Hessler Street Fair.  Thanks to Dianne Borsenik for recording it.  I promise no microphones were harmed in the making of this video.

Jesus Crisis Ban/ne/d at Mad Sing You III

If I get home from Florida in time, as expected, I will be playing music and spouting words as my alter-ego Jesus Crisis Ban/ne/d a week from now during Mad Sing You III.

From the press release:
 
Now in its 3rd year, the Mad Sing You poetry-music festival happens Saturday July 25th, 2015 at the Barking Spider Tavern in University Circle. Things kick off at 2 p.m.

Performers include:

• Vince Robinson – Tha Soul Poet
• anitakeys + Jeffrey Bowen
• The Bottom Dogs
• Shelley Chernin
• Theresa Gottl Brightman
• Jesus Crisis Ban/ne/d
• Latex Menagerie
• The Deep Cleveland Trio Band
• Nick Traenkner & Amanda Howland

Suggested donation is $5.

Barking Spider
11310 Juniper Road
Cleveland, Ohio

Believe In

Maybe this isn't a poem.  A haiku?  Well, it has two stanzas, so I'm gonna call it ku-ku.  Don't call me cuckoo - yet.  Written a few hours before game 6 of the 2015 NBA Finals, though it's about more than just that.

Believe In

Bought this 45
Just shy of 15.
My first Journey record.

Escape "next year."
Don't stop
This year.



#AllInCLE (Don't be shy of '15.)

Work?

This is one of those mornings I wish I could follow Andy's advice.  I used to be able to.