Mischief Time

Another Opening, Another Show!

Tonight's theme is the Western, that hallowed, long past its heyday but not totally bygone (if I have anything to do with it), genre of Hollywood storytelling.

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New story at Fictionaut

Scuttling on his knees now, he crossed to the other side of the boat and dropped the fish into a bucket of water. He knew what he had to do next.

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The Kinks Turn Sixty: reflecting on 1968’s “Till Death Us Do Part”

The whole business makes me dippy, and honestly, I don’t care about any of it unless there’s some magic in the work itself, a spark in the melody or the lyric that will distinguish the work the way all great art is distinguished, by its timelessness and universal appeal. A song, for the sake of this argument, like the small wonder that is 1968’s, “Till Death Us Do Part.”

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The Return of Dai Bando: Music Room #5

On the track "Rubylove" (Cat's nod to his Greek heritage) he features traditional bouzouki and sings a verse in his Cypress-born father's native language. And thank god for Greeks: lamb souvlaki, dark olives, John Cassavettes' movies, Platonic relationships, Nana Mouskouri and Cat Stevens.

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Notes from the New Year:

But wait, there's more. And it's the thing I really wanted to talk about from the start: Joe Pug's monthly newsletter called The Enthusiast Digest. There's something kind of vaudevillian about Joe's mix of links to must-read articles, unusual podcasts, literary tidbits and recipes.

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Civita di Bagnoregio

Once you have trekked up the pedestrian bridge that connects old Civita to the town of Bagnoregio (about 75 miles north of Rome), and walked its quiet streets, at some turns shaded by fulsome persimmon trees and at others, decorated by medieval-era depictions of Madonna and child, the thought of Civita di Bagnoregia sliding into the valleys below is saddening.

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This is my final appeal (promise) unless…

From "The Night It All Got Going": I’m thinking, “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” but before I can open my mouth, she’s pointing at the window on my side of the bed. Light from the moon spills over the sill and bounces onto the adjacent wall in overwrought shadows. I shudder. She’s turned pale.

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Act Three

  The body is a peculiar instrument, the actor thought after weeks of therapy. It can be imploding in the brain and a man can still hold himself upright. Even if only for short periods of time. The heart, of course, is a different proposition.

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New Digs for the Rhodeo Poets

We're rounding up the Rhodeo Poets this Thursday. If you're on the island of Jamestown, between 6 and 8 pm, we'd love to see you at General's Crossing Brewery, 34 Narragansett Avenue. Shannon Kennelly and I will host.

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The Don Rickles Show

It’s a treat when he turns up on Leno or Letterman, even if his mind is peripatetic and the put-downs lack those surreal associations and references that would reduce even a seasoned straight man like Johnny Carson to tears of laughter. Absent too is the rarefied foolishness that would break out when Rickles would interrupt one of his host’s sketches.

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Withnail and I: La Fin D’une E’poque

Grant’s Withnail, a combination of old boy pomp, contempo degeneracy, and stagey narcissism, lies, bamboozles, mooches, saturates himself in whiskey, pints and wine, and manages to stay at once angry and self-pitying throughout. He is a miracle. He carries on, rages ahead, all the while increasing his best friend’s anxiety while Marwood (Paul McGann) tries desperately to hang onto some semblance of reality. The walls are closing in and Withnail can’t get an audition. Marwood seems on the verge of another one and this frustrates “With”....

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On Sale Here!

Unless, of course you find me reading my work in your neighborhood! THE PITCH: Here Comes Herodotus, Again! (and other microhistories) A limited number of my chapbook, Here Comes Herodotus, Again! (and other microhistories), which is part of the Open: Journal of Arts & Letters 2021 Chapbook series, are available here at Just Between You... Continue Reading →

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Popkrazy

Lyrically, Bill Nelson’s songwriting seemed to ascribe more to the ethos of another underrated band of the era, Blue Oyster Cult, and their code language of flames and futurism, than any other contemporaries. And even these similarities are more subtle than striking.

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Blazes (originally published in the Ocean State Review Volume 1: No. 1)

One evening just a few weeks ago, I noticed him fiddling with something on his back deck. Cleaning bird shit off the umbrella above his picnic table, maybe. He held a spray bottle in one hand and a sponge in the other. He stood on a chair, squirting and wiping. Then he'd give the umbrella a little twirl and hit another spot. That was his method. 

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Talking to Spank the Carp and more

STC: Tell us about the mechanics of how you write. Cresser: First thing, pen to paper with as little self-editing as possible. When I feel like I'm running out of gas, I stop. I don't set daily goals, but I have a morning practice during which time is allotted for writing.

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Season’s Readings

The Jamestown Community Theater in collaboration with the Friends of the Jamestown Public Library, pulled together a winsome, varied group of islanders to celebrate the holiday season with poetry and song.

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Publishing news!

There were chinks in the fabric of the twilight trees, little sparks of fire, like the tip of a match at the moment when a flame is sparked---Whoosh! Pop! Fizz!

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He returns!!

  Number one, I wanted you to know that you'll find connections to new pieces listed elsewhere on the site (under Story Links). The second purpose of jumping on a blog here is to say hello again. It's been a while. Have I been woodshedding? Trying on new plots, characters, themes. There is new work,... Continue Reading →

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Poetry Tonight!

So pleased to be associated with this fine collaboration between two of Jamestown, Rhode Island's principal cultural institutions. Saturday, April 13th, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm, FREE 26 North Road (JPL) and 18 Valley St (JAC) The Jamestown Arts Center & the Friends of the Jamestown Philomenian Library celebrate National Poetry Month! The program starts... Continue Reading →

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Playlist II: Spinning Plates

There’s some music from Henry Mancini, classic title and closing themes, and as you might imagine, there’s overlap there with Mancini, and something my wily co-conspirator, Michael Stevenson, and I talked about when I was cooking up this show---actors who are called upon to sing sometimes.

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