On the road with the Monk and Moby Grape

When the idea came up for me to come to California and tag along as a possible back-up singer in M.L. Liebler and Peter Lewis's poetry and music act, I thought it was just a passing product of the time when you all meet for the first time and everybody's high on the positivity of whatever event that brings you all together. (M.L. and Peter came for Wyoming Poetry Out Loud at the end of February of this year.) So I really never thought that it would happen. Then Peter called me and asked me if I was still coming. "Absolutely," I decided at that moment.

You might want to get your broom and dustpan out now so you can sweep up all the names I'll be dropping here. It's the world that these guys travel in. All very nice folks, working hard at their craft. And a note on the visuals--they aren't great.

This past long weekend was my trip to Hollywood. ML picked me up at the airport after having spent all Thursday afternoon practicing with Peter and the band out in Venice. They had three gigs scheduled, one each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, and the performance in Venice at Beyond Baroque in the theatre would be the first.

Capitol Records Building

On Friday morning, M.L. and I went to Redondo Beach for a 2-mile fast walk. He warned me. I kept up, but he definitely won. He then took me on a mini Hollywood tour; first past the  Capitol Records building. Then past movie and television stars homes -- Ozzie and Harriet's, Lucille Ball's, Jack Benny's and Agnes Moorehead's. I took a photo of the Nelson's house, the front door of which was used in the opening shot of the TV show when the family would come out and stand during the opening credits.



Nelson's home

We drove past Book Soup, the famous independent book seller. M.L. was there for Chris Lemmon's (Jack Lemmon's son) book signing, where he sat next to Jack Klugman. There's where The Morrissey's have an apartment. There's the hotel (now an apartment house) where Janis Joplin died. Down this street is where Sal Mineo was stabbed to death. There's Whiskey a Go Go. The Roxy. Past Doheny Drive. Laurel Canyon. Stone Canyon Road, where Ricky Nelson lived and the band's name came from. Peter and Ricky were good friends. There's a song titled "Between Clark and Hillsdale." M.L. has this classic album. We drove by Pink's, the famous hot dog stand where many of the stars eat. There was a big line. M.L. had a dog there the day before. "Sometimes the line is all the was down the block," he said.

That afternoon, the boys wanted to have another short practice session and so I met Tony, at whose house they were practicing. Tony and Peter became friends when Tony was doing a documentary on Moby Grape, which is yet to be released. I also met Bill Bentley, drummer (VP of Vanguard Records; there isn't anybody in the music business who doesn't know Bill, and vice versa), who put on some nice brush work. M.L. and I took off to get ready for the gig.

Beyond Baroque is THE literary and arts center in L.A., and one of the leading poetry centers in the U.S. There are a few other centers around the country that also reach this realm -- Poetry Center in San Francisco; St. Mark's Poetry Project in New York City; Poetry Flash in Berkeley. The black box style theatre seats 70 and is, as you'd expect, intimate. M.L. and Peter were brought in under Baroque's new Beyond Music (scroll down to read more) series.

Poster in Beyond Baroques's
window

That evening I met Joyce Jenkins, editor and publisher of Poetry Flash. She came to California from Detroit in the 1970s to do the hippie and literary thing and ended up staying. I also met her daughter Claire, who is a visual artist. Claire and I had a terrific conversation about the weird kind of isolationism of L.A. and the famous Hollywood sign that LAers inevitably try to inventively climb up to (artistically and financially), but who are all living under it's seemingly significant cultural shadow.

The Friday gig went well. Joyce began the program with readings of poems that she'd written about Detroit, "in a California state of mind." A poem to her friend who passed away, "Robin's Song," was poignant and heartbreaking. The full band sounded great. Joining the band was Willie Aaron, guitarist and producer for Leonard Cohen, and Willie's longtime friend from childhood, Dave Sawyer on bass. M.L.'s and Peter's current repertoire usually includes works such as, "The Road," a tribute to Jack Kerouac; "Louisiana," "Jesus Gonna Be Here," "London," (poem by William Blake); "It's Late," a Ricky Nelson tribute; " and "Monkey Man," by The Rolling Stones.

M.L. picked me up on Saturday morning. We made a trip to Amoeba, that bills itself as the "World's Largest Independent Record Store," and carries vinyl, CDs, DVDs, and all kinds of rock memorabilia. What a store! We could have spent hours there. M.L. has on other occasions, but that morning, he was scheduled for an interview with Rattle Magazine. I met Editor-In-Chief Alan C. Fox, who greeted us at the front door and escorted us to his offices; editor Tim Green, and Daveen, Alan's wife and board member. The interview, which Alan thought turned out as one of their best, will be in the December issue.

We reached Peter's and we all dressed up for the gig in San Luis Obispo. Peter put on his tuxedo shirt painted with bunches of purple grapes down the placket and on the back tail. It was given to him by a movie star, whose name escapes me at the moment, but you'd know her if I dropped it here.

The drive wasn't far. San Luis is a quaint little town with a European-feel downtown area; it is one of California's oldest communities. There are many historical buildings there. The coffee shop where we'd be playing wasn't busy at all, maybe three people in the back room wheree the stage area was; the person who was supposed to greet us wasn't there. After a couple of songs, for which we received absolutely no notice, it was decided that we'd go to Pismo Beach and have some dinner. We sat out on the heated patio and had wine, big bowls of clam chowder, crab cakes and calamari. It was relaxing, something that it seemed like we hadn't had time for since I'd arrived. When we returned to Peter's he put in the so far unreleased CD recording of Moby Grape members Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson and Peter, Skip Spence's son, Omar, and John Mellencamp's rhythm section, of Grape classics and newer songs. Omar is a terrific rock vocalist. The music moves from rock to Peter's more gentle folk rock songs, and  songs in between.

Peter also let me listen to a couple of new songs that he's composed for a new solo CD. They were surprising in that he moved away from his beautifully gentle melodies and rocked out on these, but they sounded terrific -- relevant and contemporary, but with that history of having authored "brilliant masterpiece songs," brought forward to this point in time. Peter is really such a talented musician and song writer, in that league of people who have been creating in their discipline and have not only the technical discipline and background but the quick discernment about their work and others' work they encounter -- what it might need to make it better or more complete. And as many accomplished artists can, he works very quickly. He does all of his recording work on a Roland Boss digital device, and puts on all the tracks himself -- lead guitar, rhythm, lead vocals, harmony, bass and drums. His studio is minimalist, effecient and effective: a desk on which sits the recording machine, a pair of headphones, a pair of small speakers, a single mic on a stand, and a stool. Peter has been an inspiration to me, as he is to many.

On Sunday, we had to get up to Berkeley for the performance which would be a fund raiser for Poetry Flash at the Ashkenaz Music and Dance Community Theatre (scroll down on home page under June events, and read about this event at Sunday 06/26/11). M.L. and Peter were up second. I joined them for a couple of songs, playing my ukelele, strumming on one song, playing "uke drum" on the next, because I didn't know all the chords to that one yet. Poets read -- Susan Browne, Raymond Nat Turner, and David Meltzer, an icon of the Beat generation poets and the San Francisco Renaissance. He and his wife Julie Rogers read together and then David closed the show by reading "When I Was a Poet" (City Lights, 2011), also the title of his most recent publication of  collected works. We stood when he was done with that one. Whew! We had a great time.

M.L. and I had to leave early on Monday, and so didn't get to say goodbye to Peter, he was still sleeping. We were very late getting home, and had to leave by 9 a.m. to get back in time return the rental car and miss any delays at the airport security checkpoints. But, we did get back to LA in time to go to Pink's and have a dog. We pulled at a most opportune moment. There were only a few people in line; we were served quickly.

ML in front of Pink's

M.L. was on a different airline than I, and his plane was leaving before mine, so we said our goodbye's on the rental car shuttle. He really took terrifically great care of me.

M.L. is off to Israel in a couple of weeks to teach a class sponsored by the State Department. He's been doing an American Studies program since about 2006. As all things do, the classes have evolved from teaching creative writing to teaching classes in American Studies -- The Beach Boys, African-American experience, Native Americans.

Watch for a further article focused more on M.L.'s and Peter's collaborative relationship. They will soon be releasing a CD of ten songs based on M.L.'s poetry that Peter has put to music. If my instincts are on, it will be worth adding this to your music library.

--Linda Coatney

Sheridan's Mike Mackey pens book on 1889 Wyoming Constitutional Convention

From a UW press release:

For years, Mike Mackey heard the same gripe from Steve Thulin, one of his former professors at Northwest College in Powell.

"He was always bemoaning the fact that there was nothing to use to teach the Wyoming Constitution," Mackey says with a smile.

So, Mackey did something about it.

The University of Wyoming graduate (B.A., 1992; M.A., '93) recently published his eighth book, "Meeting in Cheyenne: Wyoming's Constitutional Convention," a 232-page account of the 1889 gathering in which 49 delegates created Wyoming's state law.

The book provides a detailed background on the events of the convention, including recaps of key debates on subjects such as severance taxes, labor issues and water, and features a full version of the state constitution in the appendix.

Not surprisingly, Thulin applauds Mackey's writings. He says the book fills "an important research gap" by using "hitherto neglected records of the actual constitutional convention."

"It illustrates an important theme that I have endeavored to convey in my classes inasmuch as it documents the fact that the men who gathered in Cheyenne in 1889 to write the constitution were rather well-informed men of their day and equipped to incorporate what were, for their times, the most modern concepts and tools of government found elsewhere in the United States," says Thulin, who has taught U.S. and state history at Northwest College for some 20 years.

"All too often, I find that even Wyomingites tend to characterize their founders as men who plagiarized other state constitutions and to misunderstand that they were generally well-informed thinkers of their day," he says. "I can use Mike's book to reiterate in a Wyoming context what I teach in my course about national issues. And my students can see that Wyoming was, indeed, not so isolated from the main currents of political and social thought."

While working on the book, which he heavily researched at UW's American Heritage Center and the Wyoming State Archives in Cheyenne, Mackey says he was struck by how the problems of yesteryear remain the problems of today.

"It really is surprising how little things have changed in 120 years," says Mackey, who lives in Sheridan. "They're still arguing the same stuff and there seems to be no resolution."

"Meeting in Cheyenne: Wyoming's Constitutional Convention" is simply the latest of Mackey's books to become a valuable teaching tool. Five of his eight books, which all focus on Wyoming and western history, are required texts in classes at several universities and college across the United States.

He published his first book, "Black Gold: Patterns in the Development of Wyoming's Oil Industry," in 1997. His other writings include "The Equality State: Essays on Intolerance and Inequality in Wyoming," "Heart Mountain: Life in Wyoming's Concentration Camp," and "Inventing History in the American West: The Romance and Myths of Grace Raymond Hebard."

"Meeting in Cheyenne: Wyoming's Constitutional Convention," by Western History Publications, is for sale at bookstores across the state. Cost is $22.95.

Photo: Mike Mackey

Call for applications: smARTpower

From a press release:

smARTpower will send fifteen U.S. artists abroad to work with local artists and young people around the world to create community-based art projects. Travel opportunities of up to 45 days will be awarded to selected artists to design and develop programs in cooperation with local arts organizations in host countries including China, Ecuador, Egypt, Ghana, India, Kosovo, Lebanon, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Venezuela. smARTpower will support the development and implementation of community-based art projects that engage youth and other local residents, including artists. The projects are strongly encouraged to create a tangible legacy of the work accomplished through smARTpower in a variety of visual arts media, including but not limited to painting, sculpture, drawing, video, installation, photo-based work, public art, and interdisciplinary projects. Participatory work is strongly recommended and encouraged. Artists will address a full range of relevant subjects including, but not limited to, women’s empowerment, the environment, health, education, and civic engagement.

The objective of smARTpower is to support the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs mission to increase mutual understanding between the peoples of the United States and other countries, emphasizing shared social and cultural values. The program will showcase the role of visual artists as vibrant, engaged, and innovative partners in addressing broader social issues important to communities worldwide. The following is a link to the article published in the New York Times regarding the project: www.nytimes.com/2010/10/26/arts/design/26friends.html?_r=1&ref=arts

Emerging to mid-career artists are encouraged to apply. Finalists will be identified through open competition and selected by a national advisory panel of artists and art professionals. Each recipient will be provided with an honorarium, travel funding, a budget for materials, resources for documentation (including photography, video, and web posting), and on-site logistical support. Proposals must be submitted ONLINE ONLY by midnight, February 28, 2011. Please read all of the information below carefully before applying, to ensure eligibility and proper formatting of your proposal. Mailed applications will NOT be accepted.

Listen to oral history podcasts featuring Thyra Thomson

From a SPCR preess release:

A series of oral history podcasts of former Wyoming Secretary of State Thyra Thomson are now available on the Wyoming State Archives, wyoarchives.org.

Originally interviewed by historian and author Mark Junge in 1993 for his book, “The Wind is My Witness,” Thomson speaks about her strong advocacy for women’s rights and her life in public office.

“I quickly saw around me in State Government how it was a man’s world, women’s place,” Thomson said. “There were so many things going on in which there was not a justice, and it was natural for me to pursue it not only in Wyoming, but nationwide because Wyoming was the Equality State.”

She first ran for office after the untimely death of her husband, Republican congressman and senator-elect Keith Thomson.

To listen to the podcasts of Thomson or to read the transcript, log onto www.wyoarchives.org and click on “oral histories,” then click on “Wyoming stories” for a complete list of oral histories.

Flobots perform free concert at UW April 28

From a UW press release:

From Denver, Colo., the Flobots will perform a free concert Wednesday, April 28, at 8:30 p.m. in the University of Wyoming Union ballroom.

The group in 2007 went from an underground hip hop music group to an international phenomenon with their major label debut "Fighting with Tools." The song "Handlebars" became a radio hit in 2008. The Flobots released their newest CD last month, "Survival Story."

Air Dubai, an up-and-coming hip hop group out of Denver, will open the concert. The group takes hip hop to new places by blending genres, sounds and emotions to make heartfelt, believable music.

The show is sponsored by the Student Activities Council. For more information or for Individuals with disabilities needing accommodations, call the Campus Activities Center at (307) 766-6340.

Photo: The Flobots, an underground hip hop phenomenon, will perform a free concert Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. in the Wyoming Union ballroom.

Tom Rea speaks about "Martin's Cove Controversy" in Rawlins Nov. 10

"The Martin's Cove Controversy: Public Land, Sacred Land," featuring author Tom Rea (pictured above), will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 7 p.m., at the Carbon County Education Center, Rawlins. This event is free and open to the public. It's part of the award-winning "Power of Place" series. FMI: Dave Throgmorton, 307-328-9204

Here's a description:

Bad weather, bad planning and their own zeal killed about 150 members of the Martin Handcart Company as they trekked across Wyoming in 1856. Today, the spot on the Oregon trail near Devil’s Gate where some of these Mormon pioneers died lies on BLM land--and at the center of controversy over religious freedom and the right of public access. Tom Rea explores the history of Martin’s Cove, using historical and contemporary photographs, and describes its later transformation into “holy ground” for the LDS Church. His presentation raises questions about who owns the past and how we preserve a balance between public and religious rights.

Tom Rea grew up in Pittsburgh, Pa., and has lived in Wyoming for 35 years. He holds degrees from Williams College and the University of Montana, and worked for many years as a reporter and editor on the Casper Star-Tribune. His books include Devil’s Gate: Owning the Land, Owning the Story (Oklahoma, 2006), winner of the 2006-07 nonfiction book award from the Wyoming State Historical Society, and Bone Wars: The Excavation and Celebrity of Andrew Carnegie’s Dinosaur, (Pittsburgh, 2001, paperback 2004) winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award for contemporary nonfiction. He lives with his family in Casper.

Lecture series: "Socialism in Wyoming politics"

From a Wyoming SPCR press release:

Socialism during early 20th century Wyoming is the subject of the next Wyoming State Museum lecture series presentation, October 8 at 7 p.m., in the Multi-Purpose Room in Cheyenne.

“ 'So Would You Be:' Socialists and Socialism in Wyoming Politics, 1902 to 1940” will be presented by Wyoming State Archives reference archivist Carl Hallberg. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The Wyoming Socialist Party came into being as its predecessor, the Populist Party, was dying out. For nearly 40 years, Socialists advocated social and political change that challenged the mainline parties and Wyoming citizens.

With a diverse constituency, Socialists and Socialism added a colorful perspective to Wyoming politics.

The Wyoming State Museum is located in the Barrett Building, 2301 Central Avenue in Cheyenne. For more information about this and other State Museum programs, please call 777-7022.

Sheridan writers read Oct. 15 at Senior Center

Sheridan area writers will be presenting their work at a free reading on Thursday, October 15, 12:30 p.m., at the Sheridan Senior Center, 211 Smith St.

Participating writers: Aaron Holst, Abbie Taylor, Chris Valentine, Rose Hill, Treva Lannan, Bruce Anderson, Duane Portwood, Terry McNutt and Joan Puma Bennet.

FMI: 307-672-2240

Thomas Pogge discusses "Health Care Reform for the U.S. and the World's Poor"

Widely-published author and philosopher Thomas Pogge will discuss "Health Care Reform for the U.S. and the World's Poor," Tuesday, Sept. 1, at 4 p.m. in Room 133 of the University of Wyoming Classroom Building in Laramie.

A prolific writer and lecturer, Pogge who has written extensively on moral and political philosophy, including books on cosmopolitanism, global justice and extreme poverty. His book "World Poverty and Human Rights" is regarded as one of the most comprehensive works on global justice.

Pogge also heads a team that is developing a complement to the pharmaceutical patent regime that would improve access to advanced medicines for the poor worldwide. He received his Ph.D. at Harvard University.

For more information, e-mail UW Philosophy Professor Ed Sherline, sherline@uwyo.edu.