Happy Birthday Dizzy

Photos of Opus 40

Some beautiful work by photographer Chris Davis Cina on her travel blog.

Opus 40 in Best American Poetry

An entry in the Best American Poetry blog (it's hard to tell by whom, since the blog is not set up as well as it could be) recounts a visit to Opus 40 -- I'm going to guess it's by Dara Wier, since she's their resident guest blogger right now. Entitled "why going to Opus 40 is a wistfully true okay thing to do," it's wistfully poetic and evocative piece.

Unfortunately, Ms. Wier did not inquire as to whether there were any resident poets at Opus 40, but you can't ask for everything.

Opus 40 in the Little Rebellion

A very good article by student Sarah Calandra Fine in a SUNY New Paltz publication called The Little Rebellion.

New Opus 40 photos on the web

Very nice work by Fred Miranda.

This weekend at Opus 40

The Peace Walk gathered at Opus 40 this morning. I wasn't able to take photos -- if anyone has any, I'd love to see them - tad@opus40.org

The 7th Annual Saugerties Art Tour was a success once again. I was much too busy to take photos at the opening reception for the group show Friday night -- the turnout was exponentially larger than any we've ever had. And too busy showing work over the weekend to take photos, but here are a couple of the pieces I had on display.





The Vanaver Caravan's performance on Saturday evening was sublime. I've posted a slide show at the Opus 40 website. Here's one image:

Peace Walk

Take a Walk for Peace in Woodstock Saturday and Sunday with the United Nations-affiliated World Peace Prayer Society.

Walkers will begin gathering at 8 a.m. Saturday at the intersection of routes 375 and 212. The walk kicks off at 9:40 a.m. with a parade of flags through the town to Comeau Field, where the World Peace Prayer Ceremony will be held. After the walk, the Olatunji Drummers and Kodi Drummer's Drums for World Peace will perform at the Wok 'N' Roll Café, 50 Mill Hill Road in Woodstock. And, beginning at 3 p.m., the Bearsville Theater, Route 212 in Bearsville, will host the annual Upstate Reggae Festival.

Events continue at 7 a.m. Sunday with a nondenominational Sunrise Peace Vigil at Opus 40. Also, the Church of the Holy Transfiguration of Christ on the Mount, 125 Mead Mountain Road in Woodstock, hosts music, prayers and celebrations throughout the day.

Historic New York

A wonderful series of videos on historic New York State, including Opus 40.

Fieralingue Four Seasons

Now online, and dedicated to Antonio Vivaldi, Anny Ballardini's Four Seasons Anthology.





Summer




Autumn









Winter




Spring



I'm represented in all four seasons, and lots of other good poetry is there too.

Opus 40 in the Albany Times-Union

A reminiscence about Opus 40 and another magnificent obsession.

Broad Street Books (Middletown, CT) Reading

Featuring Tad Richards!

On the first Tuesday of every month, Broad Street Books hosts a featured poet followed by an open mic. All are welcome to come and read, recite, perform their work!

Tad Richards is the author of three books of poetry – My Night With the
Language Thieves, Situations: a Novel in Verse, and Take Five: Poems
in 5/4 Time. His work has been compared to Terry Gilliam, Byron,
Pushkin and Tom Waits. His songs have been recorded by Orleans, John
Hall and Fred Koller. He has written nonfiction on such diverse subjects
as poetry, music and money, if those subjects are diverse. He is the
author of a dozen or so novels, most recently Nick and Jake, a
lighthearted romp through the McCarthy Era and the CIA’s overthrow of
the Mossadegh government in Iran, which will presented this fall on the
Internet in serialized form, and as a podcast starring Alan Arkin and
Tom Conti.

Come help us welcome Tad Richards to the store and share some of your own work too!

Broad Street Books
45 Broad Street
Middletown, CT 06457

For more information contact:

Brian Mitchard
(860)685-7323

Two prints in Saugerties

Two of my prints, "Easter Egg Hunt" (pictured) and "Stream with Kids and Dogs" are currently on view in the window of Smith's Hardware Store in Saugerties.

New on Examiner

A series on Chris Anderson's book "Free."
Great Beginnings Mondays -- Frances Osborne and Ralph Ellison.
The National Book Award fiction winners.
Sex and chicks and dudes.

Check it out!

Opus 40 noted by MJ

...who has yet to actually visit, but we hope she will. Here's her blog entry.

Artists of the 50s

Who were the greatest artists of the 1950s? Artists whose careers blossomed in the 50s, either reached their zenith or (in the case of artists with long careers) their first flowering? Peter Jones and I put this list together off the tops of our heads -- certainly we've forgotten people.


Allen Ginsberg
Bill Evans
Chuck Berry
Edward Albee
Elvis Presley
Fats Domino
Hank Williams
J. D. Salinger
Jackson Pollock
James Baldwin
Jerry Lee Lewis
John Updike
John Coltrane
Johnny Cash
Miles Davis
Robert Lowell
Sonny Rollins
Walt Kelly
Willem deKooning
Willie Dixon


All men, which probably says something negative about the way our minds work, but it also says something about the 50s. So who did we miss?

Transitions at The Gallery at Opus 40

Battle of the Decades

Jerry Lee takes the last one with 12 (maybe 13), but it wasn't unanimous, and it wasn't the whippersnappers who dampened the Killer's great ball of fire.
Elvis gets 2, or maybe 1, depending on who Caitlin's "ditto" was for, the vote just above hers, or the majority.
One for Patty Smyth, one for Frankie Laine, both of them deserving.



40s on 4*
Duke Ellington
The Gal From Joe's http://www.lala.com/#search/the%20gal%20from%20joe%27s%20duke%20ellington


50s on 5*
Playmates
Beep Beep
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-h27xvUGbo


60s on 6
Steam
Na Na Hey Hey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsaTElBljOE


70s on 7*
Orleans
Love Takes Time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WESBLOPiuM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdSa5GMWCmY&feature=related

80s on 8* Wham!
I'm Your Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwm-okcskVA


90s on 9*
Jane's Addiction
Jane Says
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh-5FI21s6M



Not hard to figure out what gets the gate first here. What is hard to figure is why "Beep Beep" would inspire this arty film-student video.

And for me, second out the door isn't hard either, but there are a few George Michael fans here who might disagree with me. I can't see how.

Jane's Addiction did some interesting stuff, and this is representative of it, quirky and ranty but arresting. Although I have to say I think Sergio is better off -- and don't worry, Sergio, there's nothing much good on TV anyway. And I definitely wouldn't have dinner with Jane.

For cultural relevance, you'd have to go with Steam, who became a ballpark staple first for White Sox fans and then for the world. As I understand it, this was cut as a demo with a scratch vocal -- they were planning on coming back and adding real lyrics to it later. But someone recognized its terminal catchiness, and a group was hastily thrown together to tour behind the song.

For musical value, you'd have to go with Ellington, Cootie Williams and Johnny Hodges. Here's another neat version of the song by Nina SImone -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwBqW26FBgo

But I'm going with nepotism. Orleans and "Love Takes Time."

Recently on NY Writing Examiner

Recently in NY Writing Careers Examiner:

What you can learn from Keats, Coleridge and Harold Arlen
Great Beginnings Monday: Lorrie Moore, Mark Strand and Maxine Kumin
Can creative writing be taught?
E this book
Kindle -- what you can and can't do
Private eyes and cliches
Great Beginnings Monday: The Good Soldier
How much control does a writer have?

http://www.examiner.com/x-2862-NY-Writing-Careers-Examiner

Who not to submit to

Who not to submit to.

Besides authority, that is.

NY Writing Examiner's Great Beginnings Monday

James Joyce.