the amplified bard

10 Famous People and Their Drug Habits

2008-10-10T03:02:00.000-07:00

There is this article on Mental Floss regarding famous people and their drug habits. They also mention the new book, Genius and Heroin by Michael Largo. This Mental Floss article focuses on drugs. It is an interesting read. Check out it here.

Cobras Wolves and Lions

2008-10-10T01:13:00.000-07:00

My friend Damon started a new blog about just whatever random thing pops in his head. According to the site's description: "Music & art enthusiasts from Houston Texas,we also like to go retro
and talk about subject matter from the 80's + 90's, Skateboards &
Freestyle bikes and whatever else."

Check it out here. You won't be disappointed.

Poet Hayden Carruth Passed Away

2008-10-06T03:41:00.001-07:00

Poet, editor, essayist and novelist Hayden Carruth died this week at
the age of 87. Carruth won the National Book Award in 1996 for his
collection, "Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey."

Read the wonderful NPR article here.

Endnote

The great poems of
our elders in many
tongues we struggled

to comprehend who
are now content with
mystery simple

and profound you
in the night your
breath your body

orbit of time and
the moment you
Phosphorus and

Hesper a dark circle
of fertility so
bloodthirsty for us

you in the world
the night breathing
asleep and alive.

(c) Hayden Carruth

Poems Published in CollaGed

2008-09-10T01:23:00.000-07:00

Two of my poems were recently published in a chapbook entitled "CollaGed: Collective Cultural Verse" from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Contributors include Robert Ramos, Mary Beth Ferda, Ilene Theyson, Radames Ortiz, Diego Baez and many more.

Collaged Verse will accept submissions from July through February. They will launch a proper website soon but you can contact them at collagedverse at yahoo dot com. I urge everyone to submit work to them when the time comes.

Genius and Heroin

2008-09-09T22:53:00.000-07:00

I discovered this new book coming out in the Fall. It looks absolutely amazing and I can't wait to order my copy of it.

According to the description on Amazon: "Genius and Heroin" chronicles the lives of the famously talented in all fields who all entwined their genius with one of the many paths toward self-ruin. Whether their downfalls were from opiates, alcohol, pills, absinthe, or the slow-motion suicide of obsession, the indispensable reference to the untidy and self-destructive lives of our greatest artists and thinkers.In this one-of-a-kind reference work, the age-old question - did genius create their own torment, or was it their torment that created their genius - is finally answered.

The Writer

2008-09-03T23:29:00.000-07:00

I know I'm a little on this but I still have to share this article regarding a huge sculpture of a desk and chair as "monument to the loneliness of writing," by Italian artist Giancarlo Neri.

You can read the article here.

Penguin's Guide to Internet Marketing

2008-08-25T05:42:00.000-07:00

I have always been interested in internet marketing. As a technical writer, I have written copy for several websites with high SEO (Search Engine Optimization) results. So, I know how much of a direct impact internet marketing can have on one's businesses or products. The same goes for writers. Thankfully, Penguin put together a wonderful guide to creating a presence on the web. So, if you are a novice or an expert, this guide will have something valuable to offer and most importantly, it's FREE!

Check out the .PDF here.

The Absurdity of Poetry Blurbs

2008-08-25T04:17:00.000-07:00

Today, I received the Contemporary Poetry Review e-newsletter. In it was this great article by Vic Peterson, who discusses the absurdity of blurbs on the jackets of poetry books. According to Peterson, "more than a few poetry book jackets in recent years contain wild-eyed
rhapsodies that seem barely related to the works they recommend." He then gives some examples but the most interesting one is the blurb from one of my favorite poets, Jack Meyers. He ends up concluding that "The
writers of these blurbs appear more interested in sounding informed than in making genuine judgments. They do not aim
to offer critical insight, but to confirm a disposition and reinforce the
mindset of the coterie that has already bought into the pretense"

I found the essay an interesting read. You can read the article here.

DIY Poetry Publishing Cooperative

2008-08-15T04:05:00.000-07:00

I stumbled up this great blog by poet Shanna Compton & Co. It's a blog dedicated to the whole DIY publishing world. Check it out here.

New Poem Comic Strip # 6

2008-08-14T05:03:00.000-07:00

Stop by the Poetry Foundation website to check out their latest poem as comic series, A.E. Stallings' poem, "Recitative" illustrated by R. Kikuo Johnson.

You can check out here.

You can also read Stallings poem here.

Kabukikatze Guest Blog Entry

2008-07-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

Since, I am leaving to NYC for about a month, I asked KabukiKatze, the wonderful graphic design artist, who designed the T.A.B's profile pics for the past several years, to write a guest blog entry. I urge everyone to check out her website and her amazing artwork. Below is her great design as well as her wonderful guest blog post:

Hello and welcome to a brief interruption of your regular, amplified, broadcast.

This is Kabuki Katze, you may know my handiwork from the Radames' header here or some of his other online haunts (more likely than not, I drew his profile picture).

Recently, I had the unusual opportunity of collaborating with him in illustrating a poem of his, "Relapse." In honor of that, he has invited me to talk about the experience.

Illustrating the ideas of others is nothing foreign to me; as a freelance artist I make it my business to climb into minds and try to tease out the images within. The difference between my regular work and the pictures I make with the Radames lies in the nature of the images. To be honest, the vast majority of what I tease out for customers involves pretty ladies, pert bosoms, and polished smiles. Not often am I asked to illustrate poetry, particularly not poetry of the gut-grabbing, visceral nature that Radames' work exemplifies. A rough time for me might be drawing a nasty villain facing down our comely heroine, not our ravaged hero looking for a shot of heroin.

As a result, working with Radames usually involves a greater investment on my part, emotionally speaking. Working with a poem is like striking a deal with the fae—you have to give in order to get. In my case, I have to give up some feeling, let myself be absorbed in the experience of the piece, to be given an image in return.

For this poem, I decided to play on the mythological elements in the text. The hummingbird, symbol of the Aztec Huitzilopochtli—yes, I looked it up—was my springboard. I took my cues of rich jewel colors, strange swirls, stylized features, from the bird-god. In the next few days I was amazed by the wealth of pictures of dead hummingbirds on the internet—type it in Google, but be warned that you'll be gone a while—and the strange ways of Aztec mythology. But eventually I had to sit down and hammer out the picture.

Every time I draw for Radames, I slip into a similar style: thick lines, sharp edges, and a feeling of aggression. While I tend to smooth curves and soft smiles in my personal works, these are not parts of this poet's world, so I have to set them aside. I also trot out a myriad of grungy textures and settings, from peeling paint to rusted walls. In this picture, I think the background comes from a bridge covered with years of spray paint, each layer peeling off to reveal the ages before. The end result is a mesh of urban decay and sharp modern imagery, something that fits comfortably in the dark world of the Amplified Bard.

Bio: Kabuki Katze is a freelance artist whose work appears on various websites, posters, invitations, etc. You can read more about her on her blog. If you enjoy my profile pics, then I urge you to contact her and hire her for a commission.

The Amplified Bard interviewed on the radio

2008-07-22T16:10:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, July 18th Living Art invited Taina, Founder/Producer of The Latino Poet's Society Spoken Word Tour and poet Radames Ortiz to an interview on their radio show.

Click on the link below to listen.

http://archive. kpft. org/mp3/080718_130001livingarts. MP3

Thank you for your support!

Cherry Lane Theater

2008-07-16T03:10:00.000-07:00

I recently found out that I will be performing at the Cherry Lane Theater in Greenwich Village, NYC on August 1st and 2nd as part of the Latino Poetry Society Spoken Word Tour.

For those in the NYC area, please come out and support this eclectic showcase of Latino gritos sharing their powerful words.

For more information, please read the information below:

The Latino Poet's Society Spoken Word Tour is a national tour created to showcase Latino talent within the spoken word realm.....

Hosted by Cindy Suga Rush & with contributing artists such as:

La Bruja;
Bobby "El Bronx Taino" Gonzalez;
One of the original founders of the "Nuyorican Poets' Movement, Jesus Papoleto Melendez;
Award winning poet, Radames Ortiz;
Obie award winning director, published author and poet, Frank Perez;
and the best selling Latino playwright and author in the U.S. and one of the most influential voices in Puerto Rican poetry, Tato Laviera.

As well as some of the premiere emerging poetic talents of the tri-state area, LPS stands to be an exciting force within this genre.

If you didn't catch it, you can go online.
Tickets are $45 & available at www. telecharge.com
(Go to drop down menu, select NYC Off Broadway then select a show)

or visit the box office directly at:

The Cherry Lane Theater
38 Commerce Street
New York, NY 10014
Box Office Hours:
Sunday/Monday: Closed
Tuesday-Friday 2:00pm-7:00pm
Saturday 12:00pm - 7:00pm

Ortiz Middle School

2008-07-16T00:41:00.000-07:00

This past June, I was able to teach 6th graders for Writers in the Schools at a middle school. I'll admit that I was frightened at the experience but the whole session turned out great.

I had eight different classes, which I had to spread out throughout the day. We had a professional artist and musician visit our classrooms. Each artist spoke regarding the elements of their craft and how it related to creative writing. Students spent one day out of their week in summer school to create their own self-portraits using acrylics, canvases, and paint brushes.

When the musician visited our classroom, she spoke concerning the musical elements of poetry and introduced students to poetic terms that included alliteration, rhyme, and sound. She played various pieces from Hayden and Beethoven and asked each student to write down the images elicited from each piano piece. Students were then asked to write a poem using the images they imagined while listening to each classical score.

If you're interested in having a writer visit your school, please contact Writers in the Schools.

Here are some great pics from this summer:

Junot Wins the Pulizter Prize

2008-07-02T02:51:00.000-07:00

I just saw Junot on the Colbert Report and through that I found out he was recently awarded the Pulitzer Prize. I am so excited for him and I am thrilled that he showed the world that nerds not only come from midwestern America or India. We exist everywhere. We burrow ourselves in the nooks and crannies of every city.

I met Junot a while back during my undergrad years and when we went to have lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in downtown, he was very down-to-earth. We were just two Latinos from the neighborhood talking about the illest MC's hitting the airwaves. I felt like I was speaking to a cat from the hood, someone from the corner. In honesty, he was dope. Back then, I was too young to understand boundaries, yet he was kind to call me out on my shit. He's always been that way, truthful and I have always been indebted to him for that and for his support.

So, after hearing about this great award, I am utterly thrilled for him and I urge everyone to check out his latest novel, "The Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao."

Poem Published in Brainbox

2008-06-12T23:01:00.000-07:00

Please check out one of my newest poems, "Fathers" which was recently published in the latest issue of Brain Box. You can check my poem here.

According to the Editor's Note of the first issue, "In putting these pages together, we sought out those whose work possessed brilliant realness. non-academic genius. deviant humor. beautiful decay. awkward moments. dark places. too-bright places."

I strongly urge everyone to submit work to them.

Poems Published in Slab

2008-05-23T03:45:00.001-07:00

Two of my poems where published in the third issue of Slab. The issue features work by Allen Gee, Jennifer Weathers, Michele Battiste, Radames Ortiz, Allison Joseph, Maureen Tolman Flannery, Carissa DiGiovanni and many more. I urge everyone to submit to this wonderful literary journal. For submission guidelines, visit here.

"The Dead" an animated poem by Billy Collins

2008-05-20T02:53:00.001-07:00

The Dead - Billy Collins Animated Poetry

At the Beginning

2008-05-09T04:08:00.000-07:00

There is a voice burrowed inside, telling me to begin. "Just start," it echoes. I close my eyes and listen to the birds outside my window. Listen to the soft gurgle of the computer. Sunlight filters in, a blurred fan breathes on me. I usually enjoy beginnings but this is unlike the others. There is a sense of terror. A plane soars. Buses spew exhaust on commuters, waiting in the relentless afternoon. The erratic schedules, the congested streets, the joggers like leopards, running. No one will ensure my writing becomes fruitful. If I succeed or fail it won't matter to anyone. The universe is indifferent. "Just start," it grumbles. Patience wears thin. I've already begun.

We Are The Web

2008-05-09T01:19:00.001-07:00

Micheal Wesh, a digital ethnographer and professor at Kansas State University, explores the nature of Web 2.0 and the impact of the internet on communication. I post this video because he points out that we need to redefine our relationship to the written word. In an age, where text is no longer linear but fluid, "movable," "flexible," society will have to redefine its relationship to form and context. We must reevaluate our principles and definitions of aesthetics, identity, and information ownership.

How does this affect poetry? Poetry will have to evolve if it is to remain a relevant art form. But how does a poet go about accomplishing this? I pose more questions than answers because as much as I love poetry, I feel that it may be a dwindling art. I do however, believe that there will be future poets who embrace Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 and out of the ashes of print-based media, poetry will rise again like a phoenix, scorching our web browsers, mobile phones and other devices with its ability to adapt to new forms of distribution, new themes and subject matter. Perhaps, there will be epic poems composed using wikis, sonnets delivered as text messages, hypertext poems, etc. I know there are poets already experimenting with these techniques and new way of writing. I just hope that it continues and the thing we love also evolves, perhaps becoming Poetry 2.0.

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

Steampunk in the NY Times

2008-05-08T05:07:00.000-07:00

From BoingBoing: "The New York Times fashion and style section has a nice piece today on the aesthetic influence of steampunk on fashion and art." You can read the NY Times article here.

Poems Published in Hayden's Ferry Review

2008-05-06T03:16:00.000-07:00

Two of my poems were recently published in the Spring issue of Hayden's Ferry Review.

Contributors include: Jeffrey Angles, Nick Bacon, Daneen Bergland, Craig Blais, Katherine Bode-Lang, Anna Bogatin, Jacob Boyd, Jericho Brown,Eric Burger, Ryder Collins
Katy Didden, Kasandra Duthie, Bruce Fulton, Ju-Chan Fulton, Phillip Gardner, Sarah Gerkensmeyer, Radames Ortiz and many more.

6 a.m.

2008-04-22T06:04:00.000-07:00

It's 6 a.m. in L.A. Back home, it's 8 in the morning. I warned my friend, Mando of my inability to sleep early. I think he thought I was joking. I've been up throughout the night. I've seen the sun rise far too many times. Insomina feels the same in any city. It's a feeling of desperation and yearning. I hope to fall asleep soon.

Arrived in L.A.

2008-04-22T02:52:00.000-07:00

I am finally here in L.A. I arrived Monday night. My initial thoughts are that people here are a lot more talkative than back home. While waiting for my luggage I decided to smoke a cigarette outside. Immediately, I met a young Philipino woman named Rita. She too was on my flight. Apparently, she is studying design at a school in London and is just visitng her old college mates. She was nice and suggested I give her a call if I wanted to hang out in West Hollywood. This doesn't happen back home. People there are too closed off sometimes.

After smoking my cigarette, I went to get my luggage and I met up with Mando. We then got into his Thunderbird and bolted out onto the freeway. He immediately took me to Hollywood Blvd and we had dinner at Miles Diner. The food was okay and a bit pricey but I expected it since it was in a tourist part of town. By that time, the time difference started to affect me. So, we came home to his apartment in Pasenda.

The freeways here are amazing. There are so many beautiful trees and the roads curve like snakes in a valley. There are tunnels, sharps turns and the freeway ends into a normal street. I enjoyed the fact that there wasn't much construction like at home.

Finally, we arrived to his apartments which use to be an old hotel and is next to the Stanely. The woodwork is amazing and they still kept the old lobby intact. It reminds me of the hotel in "The Shinning." I'll be alone tomorrow and plan on checking out Pasenda and perhaps learn how to navigate the subway. I hope I continue to meet interesting people. I am terribly excited.

Six Word Memoir

2008-04-22T02:47:00.000-07:00

My
throat
stripped
of its
whirlwind

*tagged by anita

The six word memoir rules are:
write your own six word memoir.
post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.
link to the person that tagged you in your post.