John Pietaro, Poetry & Prose

I reviewed a couple of wonderful jazz poetry albums this month in The NYC Jazz Record

*********************************************
William Ho**er
"music and poetry"
featuring
Bob Holman, John Pietaro, Paul Geluso, Laura Feathers,
David Soldier, Jair Rohm Wells, Patrick Brennan, Ras Moshe,
Kevin Ramsey, Yuko Otomo, Nory, Sarah Bernstein, Dave Sewelson
on
Wednesday , February 7th, 2024
at
Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery , New York City , 212-614-0505
$ 20.00 admission
IMG_0045.JPG

Sponsored by HKCC and Bowery Poetry Club
Tix on eventbrite

Laurie and I are very psyched to be part of this year’s ALTERNATIVE NEW YEAR’S DAY poetry and performance marathon at Westbeth performing “Is There Anything More Punk Than Mayakovsky”. We’ll be among the first performers (between 2 and 3 pm), but this will be an amazing day featuring some of the downtown underground’s best!

https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/art-is-labor-so-why-arent-musicians-and-other-artists-viewed-as-workers/

Art is labor, so why aren’t musicians and other artists viewed as workers? Art is labor. It’s really that simple. Creative professionals have crafted their art into a career. While there’s no dispute that the work of musicians, writers, actors, and dancers as well as visual, film, and performance artists begins with visceral inspiration, our pride lies also in our succ...

Early Notations for Kaddish - https://allenginsberg.org/2023/12/w-d-6-2/

THE RED MICROPHONE duet, Laurie Towers and John Pietaro, captured in performance at Pangea NYC 10/31/23. Video by James Lane:

Is There Anything More Punk Than Mayakovsky This is "Is There Anything More Punk Than Mayakovsky" by James Lane on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

Remembering Carla Bley | Local 802 AFM This article from the November 2023 issue of Allegro magazine…

Peter Orlovsky, Allen, Neal Cassady, with Natalie Jackson, Neal’s girlfriend of that season, immmortalized as Rosie Buchanan by Kerouac in “Desolation Angels,” who died tragically by su***de later that year. Late Spring 1955, North Beach, San Francisco, snapped by who? with Ginsberg’s camera.

✨SAVE THE DATE AND SIGN UP TO READ WITH US✨

The Walt Whitman Initiative (WWI) enthusiastically announces our fourth virtual "Song of Myself" Marathon on Sunday June 4, 2-5pm EST! Poetry lovers near and far, please help us celebrate Whitman's truly free verse at this global gathering!

This year's online marathon will be held on Zoom. We're currently recruiting readers for the 52 sections of this magnificent, life- and self-affirming epic, who will take part in a live Zoom reading that will be broadcasted on the Walt Whitman Initiative's YouTube channel. The reading will also be recorded and available on YouTube and at the WWI website; enjoy past iterations of the "Song of Myself" Marathon here!

If you'd like to yawp, please sign up as a reader by 5pm on May 28 indicating your favorite three sections of "Song of Myself" (using the 1891-'92 edition's breakdown of 52 sections; you'll find them neatly presented in several languages at the University of Iowa WhitmanWeb). Please reach out to us at [email protected] if you have any questions.

Sign up to read at the link below:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf8DnhauT9fLZapo-ILBxIFopU3fxwgSRsC98JiV3upGejOEQ/viewform

So pleased to have my latest, A BLEEDING IN BLACK LEATHER, for sale at Village Works (12 St Marks) and planted in excellent company!

Mac Gollehon: The End is the Beginning album review @ All About Jazz Mac Gollehon: The End is the Beginning album review by John Pietaro, published on February 26, 2022. Find thousands jazz reviews at All About Jazz!

2021 JAZZ CRITIC'S POLL: With so much going on, post-holiday, I'd somehow forgotten to post this Jazz Critic's Poll which I've been taking part in for several years now. Here's the big one headed up by Francis Davis which began at the Village Voice, was on NPR for some time and now on Artsfuse. And my congratulations to all of the winners....
https://artsfuse.org/244710/the-2021-jazz-critics-poll-only-the-best/

The 2021 Jazz Critics Poll: Only the Best - The Arts Fuse Jazz isn’t an orthodoxy, a religion, a form of faith healing, or a tribal rite — you don’t have to be in the room with it the moment it happens to reap its benefits.

My Best of Jazz and New Music 2021 on AllAboutJazz (always pushing the boundaries lol):
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/john-pietaros-best-in-jazz-and-new-music-2021

John Pietaro's Best In Jazz And New Music 2021 article @ All About Jazz John Pietaro's Best In Jazz And New Music 2021 article by John Pietaro, published on January 4, 2022 at All About Jazz. Find more Year in Review articles

MY 'BEST OF JAZZ & NEW MUSIC, 2021' (a personal view):

This year in which we celebrated the return of live performance and simultaneously foresaw a rise in virus numbers and the resumption of show and venue closings, the pervasive issue remains on the anti-vax know-nothings affecting the lives of the careful, caring and compliant. Health regs and advisories as simple as getting a lifesaving vaccine are not too much to ask for, yet conservative talking heads retain their manipulative stronghold over the frightened Right, conveniently confounding vacc mandates as anti-liberty. That's a rancid swill of "states' rights", xenophobia, guns-lobbies, white citizens' councils (spelled with three Ks), sexist old boys' clubs and corporate dollars. While the effects of this on the creative community shouldn't be first in the complaint line, the fact is, artists and arts institutions have been decimated and the prospect of yet another lockdown has already seen tours cancelled and records labels rethinking contracts. Still, artists will make art---and have. The outcome of this year's anxious output has been something special, and this much we can revel in. And should.

And then going forward, let's simply close out anyone who selfishly risks YOUR life and the lives, health and lifestyles of everyone around us. The arts are about healing and such ignorant, self-centered arrogance should not be tolerated by artists and art-lovers of conscience.

jp

Now then, following is my personal BEST OF JAZZ AND NEW MUSIC, 2021...

MUSICIANS-
alto sax: David Lee Jones / Darius Jones / Devin Brahja Waldman

tenor sax: James Brandon Lewis / Andrew Lamb

baritone sax: Claire Daley / Dave Sewelson / Gary Smulyan

flute: Nicole Mitchell / Cheryl Pyle

trumpet: Kirk Knufke / Mac Gollehon / Ingrid Jensen

trombone: Steve Swell / Chris McIntyre

violin: Sam Bardfeld / Sarah Bernstein / Gwen Laster

viola: Melanie Dyer / Joanna Mattrey

cello: Lester St. Louis

acoustic guitar: Stephane Wrembel

electric guitar: Aurelien Budyack / Vernon Reid / Bill Frisell

upright bass: Ken Filiano / William Parker / Cameron Brown

electric bass: Jamaaladeen Tacuma / Bill Laswell / Steve Swallow

piano: Vijay Iyer / Helen Sung / Mara Rosenbloom

drumset: Ches Smith / Hamid Drake / Cindy Blackman-Santana

percussion: Warren Smith / Bobby Sanabria

vibraphone: Joel Ross

multi-instrumentalist: Elliot Sharp / Daniel Carter

vocals: Sheila Jordan / Fay Victor

spoken word: Anne Waldman / Patricia Smith / Ngoma Hill

MISCELLANIOUS INSTRUMENTS-
banjo: Brandon Seabrook / Arnt Arntzen

harp: Zeena Parkins

washboard: Newman Taylor Baker

laptop: Ikue Mori

UP-AND-COMERS-
Lee Odom (soprano sax)

Luke Stewart (upright and elec bass)

LARGE ENSEMBLES-
Mingus Big Band /Afro-Yaqui Music Collective / Maria Schneider Orchestra


SMALL GROUPS-
Three Layer Cake / Ceramic Dog / The Fringe

CONCERTS OF THE YEAR-
1) Mingus Big Band, 11/9/21, the Django at the Roxy Hotel, NYC

2) Anne Waldman (with William Parker and James Brandon Lewis), 9/30/21, First Unitarian Universalist Church of Brooklyn

3) Andrew Lamb’s Circadian Spheres of Light Project, 12/1/21, Roulette, Brooklyn NY

4) Ceramic Dog/the Messthetics, 10/2/21, the Bell House, Brooklyn NY

COMEBACKS OF THE YEAR-
Bush Tetras, 11/13, 21, Le Poisson Rouge, NYC
Ivan Julian- new album and performance!

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT-
Warren Smith / Sheila Jordan / Dick Griffin / Legs McNeil

VENUES-
Manhattan: Le Poisson Rouge, Clemente Soto Velez Center, the Django

Brooklyn: Roulette, Barbes, Mama Tried

RECORD LABELS-
ESP-Disk / Rare Noise / 577

NEW ALBUM RELEASES-
Ceramic Dog, Hope (Northern Spy)

James Brandon Lewis/Red Lily Quintet, Jesup Wagon (Tao Forms)

Three Layer Cake, Stove Top (Rare Noise)

Benjamin Boone, The Poets Are Gathering (Origin)

New Muse 4Tet, Blue Lotus (Muffymarie)

Sarah Bernstein, Exolinger (577)

Francisco Mela featuring Matthew Shipp and William Parker, Music Frees Our Souls (577)

SOLO ALBUM-
Sarah Bernstein, Exolinger (577)

UNEARTHED GEM-
Sheila Jordan: Comes Love (Capri)

BOXED SET -
Bush Tetras, Rhythm and Paranoia (Wharf Cat)

RADIO STATION (broadcast)-
WFMU-FM
WKCR-FM

RADIO STATION (streaming)-
Give The Drummer (WFMU.org)

Sheena’s Jungle Room (WFMU.org)

Maker Park Radio (MakerParkRadio.NYC)

http://theculturalworker.blogspot.com/2021/12/best-of-jazz-and-new-music-2021.html

BEST OF JAZZ AND NEW MUSIC, 2021 (a personal view) BEST OF JAZZ AND NEW MUSIC, 2021: John Pietaro This year in which we celebrated the return of live performance and simultaneously foresaw ...

THE RED MICROPHONE
- INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS ARTS FESTIVAL
The Wild Project Theatre, NYC, 12/11/21
Ras Moshe Burnett Moshe Burnett tenor saxophone/flute
Rocco John Iacovone alto saxophone
John Pietaro poetry/voice/percussion
Dave Ross guitar
Laurie Towers bass

VIDEO BY Sherry Rubel SR Productions
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf8doO-r5eI&feature=youtu.be

The Red Microphone

My detailed historical profile on Bush Tetras appears in today’s edition of PleaseKill Me
https://pleasekillme.com/bush-tetras/

BUSH TETRAS: A HAPPY SAD CELEBRATION OF DOWNTOWN GIANTS Bush Tetras, for some the embodiment of the Downtown music scene, are back in the public eye, for one really good reason and one really sad one. First the sad one: The recent, sudden passing of original drummer Dee Pop was a major blow, but the saddest part may be his not living long enough to take....

In - my obit and profile of Dee Pop with photos by I had a lengthy phone interview with him some months ago and planned to use it for an article to commemorate Bush Tetras new boxed set and tour, but we lost Dee just as this was all to begin. The photos were shot backstage last year just before the Tetras’ victorious 40th anniversary gig, a beautiful memory for everyone who attended.
Love and Peace to The band.
Rest in Power, Dee

https://thevillagesun.com/dee-pop-bush-tetras-drummer-dies-at-65-played-with-array-of-musicians-from-experimental-to-punk/amp?__twitter_impression=true

Dee Pop, Bush Tetras drummer, dies at 65; Played with array of musicians, from experimental to punk BY JOHN PIETARO | Dimitri Papadopoulos, known as Dee Pop to a fan base of millions, died in his sleep at his home in Brooklyn on Oct. 9. He was 65. The drummer, a founding member of the celebrated Bush Tetras, performed with an astounding array of artists over the past four decades, from punk royalt...

I’m pleased to have my biographical article on poet/lyricist/producer PETER SINFIELD just published in Please Kill Me:
“ In the Court of the Crimson King, the 1969 debut album by King Crimson, not only bestowed progressive rock’s crown on the band, it also brought with it the canonization of Robert Fripp and his ever-shifting court of collaborators. But with each variant of the band’s line-up, from this explosive debut through ongoing reconstruction, the lyrical content has been vital to its legend. Whether coated in psychedelia, painted by otherworldliness, misted in wayfaring balladry or haunted with rueful agitation, the voice of King Crimson is found in its verse. That it all began with a young, wandering poet named Peter Sinfield is too often lost in the band’s history”
https://pleasekillme.com/peter-sinfield-king-crimson/

PETER SINFIELD: BRINGING WORDS TO KING CRIMSON’S COURT King Crimson’s instrumental juggernaut was, in the first years of its existence, given balance by the band’s talented lyricist, Peter Sinfield. Even so, the poet, musician and producer (who later wrote lyrics for Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Procol Harum’s Gary Brooker and Eric Clapton, among many ...

Jan 23 at the Secret Loft, NYC, reading new poems including two premieres: “Seven Questions”, “Shadow People in Waiting “ and “Max of 10th Ave”
Photos by Laurie Towers

word

****A lovely way to begin the new year: my satirical piece of fiction, “the Turning of California Tony”—a near-truth tale of urban skirmish set in a Hell’s Kitchen of the past—published in the new issue of: https://ovunquesiamoweb.com/vol-3-issue-3/john-pietaro/

John Pietaro   THE TURNING OF CALIFORNIA TONY Shortly after Nicky Lustig moved into the 3-story walk-up on West 39th, he married Lucille. Everyone knew Lucille: you couldn’t possibly miss the clinging skir…

THE RED MICROPHONE in various incarnations: with and without AMINA BARAKA upfront; performing at the Colony in Woodstock; Wayward Social, Spectrum or 17 Frost in Williamsburg Brooklyn; Clemente Soto Center for Arts for Art on the LES; in the studio...
Some very, very special memories over a handful of years. Many thanks to Ras Moshe Burnett, Rocco John Iacovone and Laurie Towers, the core, as well as guiding light and partner for a time Amina Baraka and of course Steve Holtje of ESP-Disk