Force To Be With Reckoned With

I had a great time in New York City yesterday. The Spoken Word Almanac Project (S.W.A.P.) 2011 encore show went over very well, and we performed in a beautiful theater called Wild Project. This venue had a different feel than the Nuyorican Poetry Cafe, where we had performed our year in review show last month. Both sites had their advantages-- The Nuyorican is a renowned poetry club, where the audience really responded to our work; and Wild Project was more of a theater setting, with stadium seats and a separate lobby area (the venue actually reminded me of the former Main Street Stage theater in North Adams, Massachusetts, where I had performed over the last ten years as a company member).

Wild Project also had a huge back wall, where we projected my visuals. They looked great-- particularly the Debt Ceiling piece performed by poet Advocate of Wordz. For this poem, I chose to run footage I had shot of the debt clock in Manhattan. It was a more simple, "abstract" visual, and I find myself wanting to move more in this direction, when possible.

After our tech rehearsal in the morning, I had some time to kill before picking up Sarah at Grand Central Station. I decided to run over to The Museum of Modern Art and have a quick look at their latest offerings and permanent collection. The Diego Rivera show was interesting, and I also enjoyed looking at some of the Pop Art on display. I think this was the first time I had been back to the museum since their renovation, and the place really looks great. I even stumbled upon a unique video presentation-- it looked as if it was documenting an artist's day on dozens of screens lining the gallery space. I'll have to look more into it. As I said, this was a quick trip to get inspired, and I was happy for the reciprocal program between my museum and others, which lets me take in such things for free.

It was fun to do the show again after a couple weeks off. I spent some time talking with the producers about the next steps for 2012, and enjoyed hanging out with the performers after the show. Sarah and I got back to the Hudson Valley very late, and so today has been a rather sleepy, laid-back day-- perfect for watching movies.

On that note, here is a film-related clip from the December 17th S.W.A.P. performance at the Nuyorican. In 2011, filmmaker George Lucas once again updated his original Star Wars trilogy with enhanced computer generated imagery. Now, a lot of us were greatly inspired by these films growing up, and take great exception to their need to be updated... including yours' truly! I have a lot of problems with CGI in general-- it is so overused, and really distracts from the moviegoing experience, in terms of story and quality. Bring me back to the innovative days of the 70s/80s where such incredible sci-fi films had an organic quality, and just as much care has been put into their story!

The "Open Letter to George Lucas" poem, co-written by S.W.A.P. poets Adam "ShadoKat" Bowser, Justin Woo, and Caroline Rothstein, was a lot of fun to work on. I found some fun images, including a cryogenically frozen George Lucas-- take that! I hope he soon learns that we don't need his "excessive use of Force" (pun intended), and would like our childhood inspirations kept intact.

The poem following this is by the talented Scott Raven Tarazevits, and deals with a recent trip he took to Ireland to shoot an infomercial for the country's Tourism Bureau. As he filmed a scene about the local cuisine, where the producers had laid out an unnecessarily gluttonous feast, he opened the newspaper to find a story about the ongoing famine problem in Somalia. A little different in tone from the Star Wars piece, obviously, but just as interesting. We actually updated this one for the encore show, including a few personal photos from Scott's trip to make it more clear.

So, that's a wrap for another year of S.W.A.P. I once again enjoyed my time being a part of the artistic scene in New York City.

One Last Look...

The death of bin Laden and Gaddafi

The tsunami in Japan

The rise of the Arab Spring

The U.S. economy

The Occupy Wall Street (and #everywhere else) movements

...2011 was some crazy year, huh?

Imagine trying to turn the year's top headlines into poetry. That is what The Spoken Word Almanac Project (S.W.A.P.) is all about. This group of New York City-based poets sets out each year to come up with their own insightful observations about the stories everyone is talking about. The group then selects the best of these poems to perform in front of a live audience, with visual support from yours' truly.

For the last couple years I have been working as S.W.A.P.'s official media designer. It is my job to create visuals to accompany each poet's words, so in a sense I am interpreting their interpretation. Ironically, I worked in TV news for several years as a cameraman and editor... but this is a whole new ball game. I like to think of S.W.A.P. as the news on acid... or antacid!

Starting in January, I listen to and read each poets' submissions, and then start brainstorming on a possible visual concept. Then, I start searching for existing still photos and video footage. Let me say that Google Images has become my new best friend-- it is sometimes amazing (and ridiculous) what you will find just by searching for a word like "gun rights." Depending on the tone and pacing of the poem, I might choose to use very literal images to match the words... sometimes I find myself steering visuals into a more abstract realm. Other times, I head out to film my own video, or take my own photos. It has been a fun and challenging exercise for me, and I certainly don't look at these news stories in the same way (hopefully, neither does the audience).

We just performed three high-energy and well-attended shows at New York's Nuyorican Poetry Club last month. I saw "we" because I was right there working alongside the poets-- not literally on the stage, but from behind-the-scenes, running the visuals in time with each poet's performance. What fun to be back working in live theater... a little different this time, since I am used to being the one performing. I do think there is some element of performance in running the visuals though-- like a musician, I try to respond to the rhythm of each piece... like an actor, I try to hit my marks and respond to the lines. Over the course of several performances, I might decide to run the visuals at different times, or switch things up completely... that is part of the fun of learning how to interact with what is unfolding.

S.W.A.P. is presenting an encore performance of its year-end show this Friday, January 6, at Wild Project, 195 East 3rd Street, New York City, starting at 9 p.m. The show is being presented as part of Poetic License, a larger festival promoting social justice through spoken word, hip hop, and slam poetry. If you are in the area, I encourage you to come check us out-- including all the topics listed at the top of this blog posting (and more), this year's show is funny, sometimes dramatic, and always entertaining. Please stop by and say hello... and let me know what you think!

Learn more about S.W.A.P. on the group's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/swappoetry

Purchase tickets to S.W.A.P., and other shows featured in this year's Poetic Theater Festival at www.poetictheater.com

Here's a video of S.W.A.P. founder Darian Dauchan performing "She's Just Not That Into You" at the July 2010 show. Visuals courtesy of yours truly (with thanks to Pete Souza and the other talented White House photographers!).

It's The End of the World As We Know It, and I Feel Fine...

New Year's Eve, 2011. Welcome to my blogosphere! Ok, this is fairly new territory for me. I used to keep a journal as an effort to sort out my thoughts and loosen up my creativity, but in recent years I haven't really made the time. Well, one of my new year's resolutions is to get back to that... but don't worry, I won't be sharing all of my innermost feelings here (although that could be interesting)!

The real reason for this blog is about moving forward-- the new year will be a big one for me, as I am getting married to my longtime girl (the lovely Sarah) and looking forward to new opportunities-- both personally and professionally.

On that note, I'm just finishing up a "stay-cation" away from my full-time job at the Norman Rockwell Museum, where I manage the press department. I know what you're thinking... how did I end up doing that? Well, it's actually not as far a stretch as you might think. I did study illustration back in college, but the real reason I ended up at the Museum was curiosity.

My father, who passed away when I was a teenager, was a big fan of Norman Rockwell's work. When I moved to the Hudson Valley over ten years ago, I stumbled upon the nearby cultural mecca of the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts, and, in turn, the Rockwell Museum. I thought it might be a kick to learn more about the artist, and learn a little more about my father's interests as a result. In addition to interning in New York City at a video post-production company, I also began working at the Museum as a docent, giving talks about Rockwell's work and such, which was a fun outlet for my performing side. Before long I was also offered a full-time job in the Museum's communications department, which was intended to utilize my background in video production and other forms of creativity.

And so, several years later I now manage the press department, and have created several videos for the Museum's exhibitions, promotions, and archives. I have been proud about what I have accomplished during my unexpected tenure in Stockbridge. One of the highlights of 2011 for me was being asked to lecture at The George Eastman House in my hometown of Rochester, NY, about my experience interviewing Norman Rockwell's models. Over the years I have actually produced a pretty extensive collection of oral histories with people Rockwell used to help bring his paintings to life. This has offered me a rather unique insight into an artist's creative process, and I can't help but think that my Dad would have been amazed to learn about my experiences.

I'll try and talk more about this work at a later date, but here's an edited podcast, containing audio (and some of the visuals I used) from my lecture at the Eastman House from last August. Certainly one of  my fondest memories of 2011:



Oops, my fiancee is reminding me of the other highlight from this past year-- getting engaged! True dat. :) I hope to also use this blog to document the equally creative steps leading up to the BIG DAY!

They say that 2012 will be the "end of the world," but for me it's just the beginning. HAPPY NEW YEAR!