May The Spoken Word Be With You

Here is the flyer for this year's Spoken Word Almanac Project mid-year show, to be held at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City on Saturday, June 30, starting at 7 p.m. I have created visuals for about ten of the poems that will be performed that evening. Come check it out if you are in the area (it's a nice venue). $8 in advance, $10 at the door:

Related Links:

www.facebook.com/swappoetry

www.nuyorican.org

poetry in motion

Photo from last year's SWAP mid=year show.
Media design by your's truly.
Photo courtesy SWAP. All rights reserved.

I spent the evening trying to wrap up the visuals for The Spoken Word Alman Project... almost there! Earlier in the day I heard an interesting take on the concept of poetry inspired by news and current events--it seems that each month NPR is airing a poet's take on the news of the day... now that's a challenge (the SWAPsters at least have three weeks to come up their monthly poems)! It's called NewsPoet, and the entry today is by Robert Pinksy, who served as the United States Poet Laureate from 1997-2000. Looking further back, I notice that they also have an entry from Kevin Young, who I had been hired to film last year at The Mount, writer Edith Wharton's estate in the Berkshires, where he did a special reading of his work. Poetry is an interesting art form... I wouldn't mind learning more about the structure... I am always drawn to rhythm, which is probably why I enjoy video editing so much.


Closer to home, my long-time friend Leslie emailed to let me know she had finished a poem of her own for Sarah and my wedding... looking forward to hearing that on our big day... I can only imagine! 


Related Link:


Excerpt from Kevin Young's Ardency: A Chronicle of The Amistad Rebels (At Length Magazine)

House Cleaning

Ok, I'm on a tear this afternoon, using some of my old shelving and storage units to help organize our cohabitation. It's not even spring, but things are feeling good! I could keep going like this all day, but I probably should stop and get some of my other work in order.

Speaking of work, my buddy/poet Darian Dauchan will be performing his new piece Obamatry this afternoon at 1 p.m., at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City. The performance is what he calls a "spoken word remix," collecting many of the poems he has created, that document Obama's presidency. Adding to that mix, he will be using several of the "chiefly commanding" visuals I have created over the years for the Spoken Word Almanac Project, where I serve as multimedia designer. The afternoon event is free, but donations are being accepted for a Kickstarter campaign for Dauchan's hip hop poetry musical Death Boogie, which he is attempting to share with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. If you can't make today's performance, you should be able to stream it live at www.bowerypoetrylive.com

On a political note, I was watching Meet The Press this morning, and I swear it's a miracle that anything gets done in Washington. Some of the bantering is so petty, and this latest controversy over the funding of contraception by insurance companies is infuriating. I think Al Franken was spot on when he declared: "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot." Go ahead and have a public discourse, but keep your sexist comments out of it. Oh, I better get the visuals ready... I'm sure one of the SWAP poets has already started working on this one...

control

Speaking of Adam "ShadoKat" Bowser, here is a poem he created for the Spoken Word Almanac Project (S.W.A.P.) on the topic of gun control. It was actually written in response to the news of the assassination attempt of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, representative of Arizona, back in January 2011. The tragic shooting actually happened a year ago to this day... so it shows just how early the poets start their work.

This poem made it into the year-end show--and for good reason. It has all the elements of the best S.W.A.P. pieces, which I described in the previous post. An emotional response from the audience, and for the poet--equally invested.

The process starts like this: first the poet chooses a news story each month. From there, they write the poem, eventually sharing it at a monthly meeting of the entire group. In this early stage, I start to think about visuals that might accompany the piece, and wrap my head around not only the story, but also the idea/tone the poet is trying to convey.

I like Adam's delivery: it gets more intense, more heightened as the poem goes along. I responded by making the imagery more and more alarming, and the cuts a little more frantic. I thought this one really captured the feeling of an idea gradually unravelling--losing control.

As good as this piece was, there are only so many works that can be included in the final show. It was decided to switch this out for the encore performance, so that Adam could have a chance to deliver his poem about Troy Davis (see last post). I am reminded of my years working in TV news, where the stories prepared for a live broadcast would sometimes get shuffled around last minute--or a new story would need to get cut. I have memories of frantically running back and forth from the studio to the editing room to facilitate such requests. Thankfully, things aren't quite that "last minute" with S.W.A.P., but we all need to be on our toes. That is the exciting thing about the live performance--I have experienced it on the stage as a performer, and here, behind the scenes as S.W.A.P.'s media designer.

Well, I have a train to catch--see you tonight in NYC!

Details:

The Spoken Word Almanac Project 2011 Encore Show
Friday, January 7, 2011, 9 p.m.

at Wild Project
195 East 3rd Street (between Ave A & B), New York, NY 10009
For more information: http://poetictheater.com/festival

Sensitized

I'm getting ready to take part in the encore performance of The Spoken Word Almanac Project's 2011 Year In Review show, that will be taking place at The Wild Project in New York City tomorrow, January 6, starting at 9 p.m. There has been one last addition-- a poem written about Troy Davis, the man who was executed this past year after a long drawn-out fight to determine his innocence. This is one of the interesting photos I have found during my research, and I'll be using it as part of the visuals I have collected to accompany the poem (created and read by the talented spoken word artist Adam "ShadoKat" Bowser). It's an intense poem, guaranteed to stir up some emotions, and at its best, that is what S.W.A.P. is all about.


For the record, I am against the death penalty. I feel it is a flawed tool used to exact revenge in the name of "justice." I think I actually had my mind made up by art. When I first moved out to the Hudson Valley, I volunteered at the innovative community arts organization Time & Space Limited. Based in Hudson, New York (where I currently reside, and my family is from), the company offers a mix of the arts, theater, community activism, and a progressive forum for discourse. Their 2000 exhibition Condemned dealt with Sing Sing's death row, and included mug shots of some 130 people who were executed at the Ossining, New York correctional facility, along with copies of their final letters, autopsy reports, menu for a last meal, and other memorabilia-- it was quite striking and alarming. According to The New York Times, "between 1891 and 1963, the year of the last legal execution in New York State, more people -- 614 -- were executed at Sing Sing than at any other prison." In very simple yet bold design, the exhibition showed how many death row inmates were falsely accused and sentenced, with proof of their innocence showing up after it was too late. Read The New York Times' June 21, 2000 review of the exhibition here.


I hope that the multimedia I create to accompany the S.W.A.P. poets' work might achieve the same result-- make the audience think, and above all feel for the subject matter. It is the personal that interests me, and it is a beautiful thing to be able to use your creativity in a way that contributes to the greater good of humanity-- no matter how small.


Learn more about the Poetic License festival and buy tickets to the S.W.A.P. encore at:
www.poetictheater.com
(friends, please use the "SWAP10" discount code to receive special $10 tickets)

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!).