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Literary Nonfiction. Music. Book + CD. Interviews. Photographs by Jacques Bisceglia. During the last 12 years, William Parker interviewed 32 of his friends and colleagues, artists and musicians. "There is a special level of trust and understanding that artists reach when speaking with other artists. William Parker goes deep in these one-on-one conversations to reveal brilliance, truth, wit, humanity and a relaxed eloquence that is both illuminating and a fascinating read. Conversations sheds long overdue light on some of the most important musicians of our time and in so doing presents us with an essential piece of the creative music puzzle. This is oral history at its best"—John Zorn. CD includes CD excerpts from the interviews and William Parker bass solos, total time: 68:40. Edited by Ed Hazell.
An intense, compelling conversation between legendary Beat icons William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, featuring photos by Ginsberg, and details of Burroughs' shamanic exorcism of the demon that led him to shoot his wife and drove his work as a writer.
“Engrossing and even at times uplifting, Scott-Heron’s self-portrait grants us insights into one of the most influential African American musicians of his generation.” —Booklist The stunning memoir of Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner Gil Scott-Heron, The Last Holiday has been praised for bringing back to life one of the most important voices of the last fifty years. The Last Holiday provides a remarkable glimpse into Scott-Heron’s life and times, from his humble beginnings to becoming one of the most influential artists of his generation. The memoir climaxes with a historic concert tour in which Scott-Heron’s band opened for Stevie Wonder. The Hotter than July tour travel...
Poetry. Asian & Asian American Studies. In a country renowned to be possessive of its language--France--Yuko Otomo composed her manifesto ANONYMOUS LANDSCAPE. There are no raised fists, no resentments, no confrontations, and only a modicum of regret. Released rather than frustrated by her inability to name things in that proud tongue, she leads the reader to understand her reunification with all creation, as if returned to the Garden prior to the delegation of appellation. An act of reverse alienation. Her immodest proposition is rendered in the most modest of dictions. There are 200, call them sub-poems, each with an integrity of sometimes aphorism, imagery, irony, or moving simplicity. Their austerities match the austerity of her persuasion. Their gem-likeness has the credibility of lived thought. Her sensitivity to words and the demands of craft, not by chance, renders us an implausible beauty.
"The Final Nite & Other Poems, Complete Notes from a Charles Gayle Notebook 1987-2006 chronicles, in verse, nearly two decades of work written while listening to live performances by the musician Charles Gayle. Including every poem written under these circumstances, the poems reflect, respond to, or incorporate elements of Gayle's music as well as his "speeches" and "sermons." The Final Nite was also the winner of the 2007 PEN Oakland National Book Award."--Publisher's website.
"Fueled by coffee and pea soup, Jack Kerouac speed-typed On the Road in just three weeks in April 1951. He'd been travelling America for the past ten years and now, at last, the energy of his experiences flowed through his fingertips in a mad rush, pealing forth on a makeshift scroll that he laboriously taped together. The On the Road scroll became literary legend, and now Burning Furiously Beautiful sets the record straight, uncovering the true story behind one of America's greatest novels. Burning Furiously Beautiful explores the real lives of the key characters of the novel-- Sal Paradise, Dean Moriarty, Carlo Marx, Old Bull Hubbard, Camille, Marylou, and others. Ride along on the real-li...
Jazz and Talmud meet in this brilliant, melodic, vibrantly colored first collection
A Superintendent's Eyes is a cycle of poems/prose dealing with the vicissitudes of being a building super back in the days when NYC streets were still mean; tossing out junkies, mopping the hallways, bagging garbage, listening to tenant complaints (both real and imagined) and trying to sell records and books on the side.
"Unconscious thoughts will illuminate caves where crystals have eyes, imaginary tunnels connect in a non-gravitational world of a surreal trifecta: surr-poetry, hypnotic collage and flash fiction. Enjoy this unusual hybrid exploration/book"--
Poetry. Photography. Music. With photographs by Jacques Bisceglia. Steve Dalachinsky, poet and New Yorker, if there ever was one, and Jacques Bisceglia, photographer and Parisian, if there ever was one, have forever been capturing the moment. Neither the tools nor the styles are the same, only in common do they share the captured instant. From the confrontation of these snapshots came to life Reaching Into the Unknown. Through looking at the poems, through reading the pictures, you will hear the music, you will understand jazz better than by reading an informative book on the topic. Most of the musicians you will meet in there are those who have pushed, and still do so, musical expression to its utmost boundaries, on a quest for a more spontaneous, more direct, deeper-rooted music, with the capacity of sticking to the emotions, to feelings, and the most complex and contradictory human behavior. In the same respect, this book ventures into the unknown as it tells the story of life. 180 photos, 140 poems, 45 years of music.