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April 4, 2010. 8:00 p.m. The Bourbon Theater. Lincoln, Nebraska.

Hip Hop

is better when it's more about, "Money, gear, drugs, guns, Goodyears" than your typical, disingenuous, socially conscious bull you hear in groups such as, Blue Scholars (I saw them recently--not impressed). Having a so called, "social conscious," regardless of artistic context, takes the art out of the social; it makes the artist more apparent than the art.



Raekwon's music, although likely exaggerated and embellished (but what good art isn't?), exposes much more of the hip hop culture than anything a group that editorializes their particular point of view could ever do.

Overtly politicized art is half art as far as I am concerned. Art can only reach as far as its fundamental limitations will allow. Therefore, art based in the ideas, policies, and consciouses of others' is art that only belongs to that artist insofar as they have developed these things for themselves.

Raekwon is an artIst. His songs grow past society's limitations in a way that use a sort of social artifice to recognize culture in a way that allows the product to be the product, as opposed to an auxiliary end to the producer. Right?

Some of my poems

published here.

A Poet You Should Know Is

Martha Ronk. While in Chicago last week I spent a fair amount of time at Powell's thumbing through their used poetry. I found a book called Why/Why Not.

Here's a sneak peak:

GETTING A HOLD

The foreign objects are related to the accent
adopted on moving to the coast or the slang she picked up later
slung across the countertop or the glassy essence she was
drinking from a transparent object she got in a pawnshop
which defines what it’s like to hold a cup.

Or water running through one’s hands.

She meant to bring him some as well
and an invitation to an occasion she couldn’t name
like “getting hold of yourself” is wrapping a hand around
or a way of phrasing a song too fast to catch the words.

Two more poems here.

Re: Vampire Weekend

"They're good if you dig that Paul Simon rip off kind of thing. Which I do." - Paul

Meh.

Rotating Kitchen

rotating kitchen from Zeger Reyers on Vimeo.

A State of Affairs

Only 8.3% of Americans read poetry in 2008 (cha cha cha cha ch-eeck it out) That's approximately 25,000,000 people. I wonder how many of those people read something written within the last 10 years. Even within the last 50. Contemporary poetry, I would ASSUME, has a much different audience. 1%? It would be reassuring if it was even that.

with my poems I am purchased
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxtonight I believe this

vision rises like light to its wave

the exact moment a poem dies it takes root

- Tony Tost, from Elephant and Obelisk (Published here)