NO JOY IN MUDVILLE DEPT.
City authorities are taking no chances regarding the reaction of the Philly "Phanatic" creature to the untimely bouncing of the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team out of the championship playoffs.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
The Maddest mAD pOET
Steve Delia wowed the audience at the big 10/3 Mad Poets Festival.
See "Stray Notes" several posts below this one for a brief write-up of the event.
See "Stray Notes" several posts below this one for a brief write-up of the event.
Schizoid Poetry
Droll-looking Janet Spangler changing hats and identities was one of the humorous highlights of the 10/3 Mad Poets festival reading in Media PA.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Classic Phillies Game
GREATEST PITCHING MATCHUP OF ALL TIME?
Tonight! Roy Halladay (Yay!) versus Tim Lincecum (Boo!) as the Phillies square off against the San Francisco Giants in the first game of the National League Championship Series.
Tonight! Roy Halladay (Yay!) versus Tim Lincecum (Boo!) as the Phillies square off against the San Francisco Giants in the first game of the National League Championship Series.
Friday, October 15, 2010
The Host
Here's a shot of Eileen D'Angelo, the able host of October 3rd's mAD pOETS Festival in Media, caught backstage.
More photos of the event are coming up!!
More photos of the event are coming up!!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Media Arts Festival 10/3
Here's a shot of the Media Arts Festival, which I walked through on the way to the Mad Poets Festival October 3rd which featured 50+ of the area's best poets together at one time on one stage etc. Stay tuned. A few photos from the actual event will follow.
Media Train Station
This is where I arrived on October 3rd for the big mAD pOETS Festival in Media, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
Stray Notes on the mAD pOETS Festival
A FEW HIGHLIGHTS
-Richard Moyer's poems about the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team and a boxing match were clear, quick, and punchy.
-Awilda Castro was passionate.
-Janet Mason was funny.
-Lesbian street-poet J. Mace III opened by saying, "I have a foul mouth." A practiced performer, she was very good.
-Mace should've been a tough act to follow. Joe Roarty, while banging a drum, read a zombie poem. The performance was terrific, and not a little mAD. I jotted, "Off the deep end."
-The folk music duo "Silver Wind" were surprisingly good. The lyrics to their song "Indigo Joe" came from a poem by Brian Sammond, who'd read his poetry earlier, not long after I'd got there. While listening to the song I thought that Sammond had to be the best pure poet, as a poet, of anyone there.
-One of the Master of Ceremonies, Emiliano Martin, was wryly funny about a poet on the list who hadn't shown up, as was succeeding Mistress of Ceremonies Tamara Oakman, who kept asking for "Alien Architect" and wondering where he could be. She asked if someone could beam him up please.
-Steve Delia brought down the house with a poem about a lady on a Progressive (Insurance?) TV commercial.
-Amy Small McKinney, having to follow Delia, commented dryly that they always put "a semi-depressed poet after the funny guy." Hilarious.
-Janet Spangler, a character, performed a schizophrenic poem between two characters, the difference between them signified by her putting on and taking off an eccentric-looking cap.
-Michele Belluomini, who I've seen read before, was a contrast to the characters who'd preceded her, in that her words work through their quiet simplicity. When you tone down the performance, the emphasis goes onto the words themselves. This works well in a reading of contrasts, like a baseball pitcher's change-up after a series of fastballs.
-Alien Architect finally showed up at the microphone. Apparently he'd been on the porch, building suspense in the audience. He throws standard white hip-hop fastballs. His reading wasn't bad, though not as good as he thought it was.
-Leonard Gontarek received an impressive reception for what seemed a modest performance-- by then I was watching the time more than the podium because I had a train to catch.
-Kudos to the behind-the-scenes conductor of the poetic orchestra, Eileen D'Angelo, and her able assistants.
Photos from the big event will be up on this blog by early next week-- I hope.
-Richard Moyer's poems about the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team and a boxing match were clear, quick, and punchy.
-Awilda Castro was passionate.
-Janet Mason was funny.
-Lesbian street-poet J. Mace III opened by saying, "I have a foul mouth." A practiced performer, she was very good.
-Mace should've been a tough act to follow. Joe Roarty, while banging a drum, read a zombie poem. The performance was terrific, and not a little mAD. I jotted, "Off the deep end."
-The folk music duo "Silver Wind" were surprisingly good. The lyrics to their song "Indigo Joe" came from a poem by Brian Sammond, who'd read his poetry earlier, not long after I'd got there. While listening to the song I thought that Sammond had to be the best pure poet, as a poet, of anyone there.
-One of the Master of Ceremonies, Emiliano Martin, was wryly funny about a poet on the list who hadn't shown up, as was succeeding Mistress of Ceremonies Tamara Oakman, who kept asking for "Alien Architect" and wondering where he could be. She asked if someone could beam him up please.
-Steve Delia brought down the house with a poem about a lady on a Progressive (Insurance?) TV commercial.
-Amy Small McKinney, having to follow Delia, commented dryly that they always put "a semi-depressed poet after the funny guy." Hilarious.
-Janet Spangler, a character, performed a schizophrenic poem between two characters, the difference between them signified by her putting on and taking off an eccentric-looking cap.
-Michele Belluomini, who I've seen read before, was a contrast to the characters who'd preceded her, in that her words work through their quiet simplicity. When you tone down the performance, the emphasis goes onto the words themselves. This works well in a reading of contrasts, like a baseball pitcher's change-up after a series of fastballs.
-Alien Architect finally showed up at the microphone. Apparently he'd been on the porch, building suspense in the audience. He throws standard white hip-hop fastballs. His reading wasn't bad, though not as good as he thought it was.
-Leonard Gontarek received an impressive reception for what seemed a modest performance-- by then I was watching the time more than the podium because I had a train to catch.
-Kudos to the behind-the-scenes conductor of the poetic orchestra, Eileen D'Angelo, and her able assistants.
Photos from the big event will be up on this blog by early next week-- I hope.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Watching the Game
THE PHILLIES BEGIN THEIR RUN
Among all the spots to watch the baseball games, one of the best is outside the Wanamaker ticket office on 16th just south of Market Street. At least, I watched one of the games of the crucial series with the Braves a couple weeks ago which decided the division. I was among an eclectic group of homeless, and guys in suits just got off work, all who shouted on every Phillies hit or made play. This is a sports-mad city, and right now for the town the universe is in harmony, the planets aligned.
Among all the spots to watch the baseball games, one of the best is outside the Wanamaker ticket office on 16th just south of Market Street. At least, I watched one of the games of the crucial series with the Braves a couple weeks ago which decided the division. I was among an eclectic group of homeless, and guys in suits just got off work, all who shouted on every Phillies hit or made play. This is a sports-mad city, and right now for the town the universe is in harmony, the planets aligned.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Quick Report
--ON THE MAD POETS FESTIVAL IN MEDIA PA.
The Mad Poets Festival Sunday featured as wide a variety of poetic styles in one place as I've seen. The amount of talent surprised me.
I arrived a bit late, and left early to catch a train back to Philly-- but while I was there the event was fun and fast-moving. Mad Poets Chief Eileen D'Angelo is as good an organizer as I've seen-- she does so unobtrusively and makes it look easy. Poets efficiently enter and exit the "stage," nonappearances are virtually unnoticed-- time strictly enforced by taskmaster Missy Grotz-- the result is that poets are shown at their best, there's not one dull moment, and everyone has a good time.
I scribbled a few notes re the event and the individual poets on my way back, which I'll be posting in a few days, with photos to follow shortly. I looked up from my scribbling just as my train pulled into the University City stop-- revealing very close downtown Philly looking like a painted backdrop-- an angle of the town I'd never seen. I should've gotten off there and snapped a photo for this blog! Oh well.
The Mad Poets Festival Sunday featured as wide a variety of poetic styles in one place as I've seen. The amount of talent surprised me.
I arrived a bit late, and left early to catch a train back to Philly-- but while I was there the event was fun and fast-moving. Mad Poets Chief Eileen D'Angelo is as good an organizer as I've seen-- she does so unobtrusively and makes it look easy. Poets efficiently enter and exit the "stage," nonappearances are virtually unnoticed-- time strictly enforced by taskmaster Missy Grotz-- the result is that poets are shown at their best, there's not one dull moment, and everyone has a good time.
I scribbled a few notes re the event and the individual poets on my way back, which I'll be posting in a few days, with photos to follow shortly. I looked up from my scribbling just as my train pulled into the University City stop-- revealing very close downtown Philly looking like a painted backdrop-- an angle of the town I'd never seen. I should've gotten off there and snapped a photo for this blog! Oh well.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Reminder
The big Mad Poets Festival is tomorrow in downtown Media, PA. 50+ poets headlined by past Poet Laureate Daniel Hoffmann. I'll be reading for five minutes, scheduled to go on at 2:15. (Event goes from noon to five.) If I can grab a camera from somewhere I'll be snapping photos-- hope to get several for this blog. Price of admission is one nonperishable food item. For more info see
www.madpoetssociety.com
There are two big events in Philly area Sunday: the Eagles, and the Poets!
See ya there!
-Karl Wenclas
www.madpoetssociety.com
There are two big events in Philly area Sunday: the Eagles, and the Poets!
See ya there!
-Karl Wenclas
The Salesman
Entrepreneur Jan Sklaroff caught recently on the streets of Center City hustling for somebody.
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