Saturday, December 18, 2010

Invite your friends to listen to our poetry music

Flatbush
a new lyrical poetry song

To listen click on the link to our music site -

Mike Marcellino's ReverbNation music site

Randall Leddy from Flatbush wrote the music and plays bass on the song joining Mike Marcellino, songwriter and vocalist.  The song was actually recorded in Flatbush.

Tomas Texino, wrote and composed the music for our other five songs.

Please share the link to our ReverbNation site with your friends on Facebook and other social networks. Help us grow our audience.   We have regular followers on ReverbNation from 17 states.  Our fans also come from Indonesia, New Zealand, Italy, India, UK, The Czech Republic, Germany, Mexico, and Australia.


Be a listener and fan on ReverbNation or Mike Marcellino's music page on Facebook (band profile).  To be a fan it's easy to register as a fan on ReverbNation and it's free.  There are also hundreds of thousands of talented musicians on the site.

We've now up to #44 among the Top Folk Artists on ReverbNation's New York City Charts.  Help us get to the Top 10!

There's also a music player at the top of this blog.


Here's an example of what people are saying about our songs -

"Incredible work! Love it! So creative and artistic...so thoughtful and deep and engaging...with perfect music for each piece... Just went through all the tracks and shared"
- Joe Gande, singer songwriter, New York City

Thanks,

Mike, Randall and Tomas

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Joan Baez and my Oriental River girl

Oriental River, South Vietnam 1968 photo by Mike Marcellino, copyright 2010

Joan Baez and the Girl in the Oriental River

by Mike Marcellino

Twenty-seven years after I left the Vietnam War, after serving for a year 1967-68 as a U. S. Army combat correspondent and photojournalist, On August 20, 1995 I found myself seated in a campfire chair talking with Joan Baez, just as I would the girl next door.  I had listened to Joan's albums, attended concerts, one at the former Front Row Theatre with a moving circular stage.  I reviewed that concert for Sun Newspapers.

Darkness had set and it was quite outside Joan's tent in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park south of Cleveland where she had
performed for a Heritage Series Concert.  I thought back to listening over and over to "banks of the Ohio" my favorite Baez song.

As I worked as an aide to then Mayor Michael White,I came armed with  a proclamation, honoring Joan not only for her voice but her courageous opposition to the Vietnam War and support for human rights, all at great risk to her career.

Rather than an M-14 rifle, I carried to the concert a harmless treasure of seven hand printed black and white photographs I had taken of children caught in war.  One of the photographs shows  a young Vietnamese girl, smiling as she climbed out of the Oriental River balancing on a 155 mm shell casing and holding onto barbed wire.  It was June 1968, the year the TET offensive by the VC and North Vietnamese regular throughout the country never seemed to end.  I was following battery of 155 mm howitzers manned by the soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 11th Artillery of the 23rd Artillery Group, my home base.

Again, I was in the middle of nowhere, alone and as almost always, without a weapon (or a toothbrush).  But I had my notebooks, pens and cameras to record it all in stories and photos for Stars and Strips, the Army Reporter and other publications. 

It was a bizarre scene in a bizarre war, one where the battle cry was often "The End" by The Doors.  It was hot and it appeared the nearby Vietnamese village had come down to the Oriental River for a swim, right in the middle of a war.  I was tempted but didn't join them in the murky river.  Nearby was a camp of the 5th Special Forces called Tra Cu, 23 miles west of Saigon.  I think they called this the Second Battle of Saigon.  We won both battles, as we did all the battles but lost the war as it was a civil war and the South Vietnamese leaders weren't very popular and the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong weren't about to ever give up.

I walked up to the door of the Special Forces hooch (a primitive house made of concrete block, wire screening and a tin roof).  A gruff looking sergeant told me to go away; it seems Special Forces isn't interested in publicity.

Joan Baez's first album, 1960, Vanguard (Wikipedia)


I knew the one she would pick, the young Vietnamese girl  climbing out of the Oriental River.  I hope Joan still has it. (I have a museum quality, hand printed framed version still, along with the other six, that includes U. S. Army artillerymen, the 33rd South Vietnamese Rangers on a search and destroy mission, an elite unit, and other children coping in war.
I always wonder what happened to the girl from the Oriental River.


i knew joan baez
by mike marcellino

i knew joan baez
joan baez.
i knew she would
pick
this
one,
her little sister.
joan baez
i knew she would
pick
this one.
she had a choice -
barbwire
or
bobbing 155 mm shell casing
on the Oriental River,

no number
rung sat zone
south, southeast of Saigon
the delta hell on earth,
special forces
say.
i knew joan baez
joan baez,
i knew she would pick this one,
like her little sister -
joan baez,
i knew joan baez.
i knew she would pick this one.
copyright Mike Marcellino 2010

Here one of my favorite songs of Joan Baez that fits the story pretty well - "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" (written by Bob Dylan).  This is a beautiful recording.


The official website of Joan Baez

Friday, December 3, 2010

Notebook Writer with guests singer songwriter Sweet Soubrette and poet Tara Betts

Podcast of Dec 1st Notebook Writer show with guests singer songwriter Sweet Soubrette and poet Tara Betts, both from New York City.

Here's the link to listen to the Podcast -

Notebook Writer with Mike Marcellino

Friday, October 29, 2010

Urban hipster cult writer Tao Lin and widely popular electro pop duo Hank and Cupcakes on Notebook Writer show

Notebook Writer with Mike Marcellino

8-9pm EDT, Wed, Nov. 3rd

Call 646-595-4478 Blog Talk Radio show (New York City) or listen on the internet.  Listen to the Podcast anytime after the live show.

Here's the link to listen live or to the Podcast

Notebook Writer with Mike Marcellino on Blog Talk Radio

Mike's guests are Tao Lin, one of America's hottest young writers, and Hank and Cupcakes, one of New York City's hottest bands. Tao will read from his latest book, "Richard Yates" and Hank and Cupcakes will share their electro-pop songs.



Tao Lin's Blog

Tao Lin, New York City 

"Richard Yates" delivers his most compelling work yet." - Boston Phoenix

Tao Lin (b. 1983, Alexandria VA) grew up in Orlando FL and lives in Brooklyn NY. He is the author of 6 books of fiction/poetry & has a B.A. in Journalism from NYU. Tao's s...econd novel RICHARD YATES was published September 07 2010 by Melville House. His previous books are the poetry-collection YOU ARE A LITTLE BIT HAPPIER THAN I AM (2006), which is regularly a bestseller (#2, #2, #1); the story-collection BED (2007); the novel EEEEE EEE EEEE (2007); the poetry-collection COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY (2008), which has been assigned in college-level psychology courses; the novella SHOPLIFTING FROM AMERICAN APPAREL (2009), which was available at Urban Outfitters. Tao's books have been translated and published (or are forthcoming) in Japan, Germany, France, Norway, Spain, Serbia, South Korea, China, Taiwan. Two of his books, SHOPLIFTING FROM AMERICAN APPAREL & EEEEE EEE EEEE, were optioned for film in early 2010. His writing has been published in/on Gawker, Noon, Vice, Esquire, Poetry Foundation, The Stranger, Mississippi Review, and bear parade, who in 2006 published e-books of his poetry, stories, and collaboration with Ellen Kennedy entitled hikikomori. 





Hank and Cupcakes

Hank and Cupcakes, Brooklyn 


"They have consistently been making waves in the Brooklyn/NYC area and their live shows are off the hook." - wrote Music Vagabond and picking Hank and Cupcakes on the the 10 bands to watch in 2010

Other music critics wrote:
“mesmorizing” 
“Cupcakes is a rock star, capable of moving crowd. Hank is perhaps the best bassist I've ever seen” 
“Mind shattering, avant-garde” 

Since arriving in Brooklyn from Israel a little more than a year ago, Hank and Cupcakes have captivated New York with an explosive show noted for its simmering sexuality, irresistible dance pulse, and hard to pigeonhole sound. “If I had to define it, I’d call the music experimental minimalist pop,” Hank says. “We’re trying to make pop music without having a pop sound.”

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Poets Diane Wakoski, Lola Haskins, Terri Witek on Notebook Writer with Mike Marcellino

Notebook Writer with Mike Marcellino

Listen on the Internet or call 646-595-4478 to listen or comment. (To comment online must be registered on Blog Talk Radio and have a mic.) Or you may listen to the Podcast any time.

8-9:30pm Eastern time, Wed., Oct 20th

To listen to the Podcast click on the link below -

Notebook Writer with Mike Marcellino


Notebook Writer previews the Other Words Conference, sponsored by the Florida Literary Arts Coalition and hosted by Flagler College, St. Augustine, Florida Nov. 4-7. The theme of this year's conference is "Writing About Something."

Attracting writers from across Florida and from several states, the conference features a number of panel discussions on the theme, along with panels about publishing, submitting work, agents, editors, small presses, teaching creative writing, collaboration and others. Ten small presses will participate.

Mike talks with co-organizers Jim Wilson, creative writing professor at Flagler College, and Rick Campbell, director of Anhinga Press, a founder of the conference, and the Anhinga Prize for Poetry. Rick teaches English at Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL.

Mike's guests are three conference presenters – Florida poets Terri Witek and Lola Haskins and Michigan poet Diane Wakoski.

Terri Witek is author of The Shipwreck Dress (Orchises Press, 2008, Florida Book Award Medalist), Carnal World (Story Line Press, 2006), Fools and Crows (Orchises Press, 2003), Courting Couples (Winner of the 2000 Center for Book Arts Contest) and Robert Lowell and LIFE STUDIES: Revising the Self (University of Missouri Press, 1993). A new book, Exit Island, will appear in 2012. She teaches English at Stetson University, where she holds the Sullivan Chair in Creative Writing.

Lola Haskins ninth collection of poems, Still, the Mountain, has just been published by Paper Kite Press. Her tenth, The Grace to Leave, is coming from Anhinga in 2011. In-print collections include Desire Lines, New and Selected Poems (BOA Editions, 2004), Extranjera (Story Line, 1998) and The Rim Benders (Anhinga, 2001) and Hunger (University of Iowa Press, 1993-- winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize). She teaches in Pacific Lutheran University's low residency MFA program

Diane Wakoski, described as an "important and moving poet" by Paul Zweig in the New York Times Book Review, was born in southern California, lived and began her poetry career in New York City from 1960–1973. Since 1975, she has been Poet in Residence at Michigan State University, where she continues to teach as university distinguished professor.

Her poetry has been published in more than twenty collections and many slim volumes. Emerald Ice won the William Carlos Williams prize from the Poetry Society of America in 1989. The Butcher’s Apron is her most recent book, and, currently, she is working on a three-volume project, poetry as autobiography, of which the first volume, Blue Noir: 1956–68, is complete. She is actively looking for a publisher for a collection of her new poems, The Diamond Dog.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Poetry and music of Mike Marcellino featured in BAP Quarterly New York City issue

Mike Marcellino's lyrical poetry and music 
featured in BAP Quarterly's New York City issue

I'm pleased to introduce BAP Quarterly's New York City issue, featuring my poetry and music. Thanks to Jennifer Bal is the editor in chief. I hope you enjoy this issue. Theme of the next issue is Memory.

Bosphorus Art Project Quarterly is an online art journal aimed at bringing international artists and writers together. BAP-Q has a theme for each issue and based on the theme, discusses a wide range of topics including, but not limited to, visual arts, literature, theatre, cinema, aesthetics, and social and cultural studies.


BAP Quarterly

If you'd like to listen to more of Mike's work, visit his music site on ReverbNation

ReverbNation

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Roosevelt Island Fall for Arts Festival Performing Artists

Fall for the Arts Festival Performing Arts
The music and poetry lineup for the Roosevelt Island Fall for Arts Festival, 11am-5pm Saturday, Oct. 2nd is awesome and it's free. Headlining is wildly popular electric pop due Hank and Cupcakes (12:30 pm). With Hank on the bass and Cupcakes on the drums, the duo landed in Brooklyn from Israel two years ago and having been lighting up a storm with their mesmerizing sound. (I'm performing at the festival.)

Poets Rock RIVAA 3 (11am-4pm) features some very cool New York poetry and music - Jane Ormerod, David Lawton, Ocean Vuong, Brant Lyon, Elizabeth Harrington, Erica Miriam Fabri and Mike Marcellino, singer songwriters Chris Fuller, Stacy Rock and Sweet Soubrette and Indie rock band Bellow with Rob Gomez at Gallery RIVAA, 527 Main St.

Sharon Stern – 11:15
Naomi Imbrogno – 11:45
Erica Miriam Fabri - Noon
David Lawton – 12:15
Ann Settel – 12:30
Jane Ormerod – 12:45
Fran Bolinder/Catherine Hogan – 1
Carol Tanjutco -1:15
Elizabeth Harrington – 1:30
Brant Lyon – 1:45
Ocean Vuong – 2
Mike Marcellino – 2:15
Bellow and Rob Gomez (Indie pop band) – 2:30
Stacy Rock and Sweet Soubrette (singer songwriters) – 3pm
Chris Fuller (singer songwriter) – 3:45



Roosevelt Island is an beautiful and historic island in the East River, across from Manhattan. The festival is outdoors and indoors with Imagination Station interactive arts, magic and storytelling for kids all day and food. There's even a performance of “Oedipus Rex” by Faux-Real Theatre Company (2pm) outdoors at Roosevelt Landings Amphitheater, 540 Main Street.

The festival is sponsored by Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation.  For further information contact Erica Wilder at 212-832-4540 ext 349 or visit the RIOC website

Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation

Festival performing artists

 Photo by Alan Lugo

Hank and Cupcakes
When Hank & Cupcakes take the stage, their infectious energy dominates the room, generating a fierce groove that immediately has the crowd up and moving. First time fans may find themselves scrutinizing the stage, looking in vain for the guitar player that seems to be filling out the band's sound, but it's just Hank & Cupcakes.

Since arriving in Brooklyn from Israel a little more than a year ago, Hank and Cupcakes have captivated New York with an explosive show noted for its simmering sexuality, irresistible dance pulse, and hard to pigeonhole sound. “If I had to define it, I’d call the music experimental minimalist pop,” Hank says. “We’re trying to make pop music without having a pop sound.” Taking the best from all worlds, Hank & Cupcakes have managed to create a new hybrid of music. Tours de force cross between The Ting Tings and Yeah Yeah Yeah's, rock without guitars, pop without synthesizers.    

Hank and Cupcakes were determined to capture that live vibe when they recorded their new self- titled EP. They enlisted Grammy award winning producer Mark B. Christensen of Engine Room Audio. “We tracked the bass and drums live,” Mark explains, “then added vocals and layers of bass to get a fuller sound.” 

Hank and Cupcakes, kicks off with “Ain’t No Love” a stripped down new wave disco track with an effervescent bass line and simple, driving drum pattern. Hank’s percolating bass and melody lines weave in and out of the mix as Cupcakes lays down a bedrock backbeat that's solid enough to build a skyscraper on while wailing out the tough lyric with a soulfulness suited to an R&B diva.
 
Cupcakes grew up commuting between Australia and Israel. “I studied classical piano for about six years. When one of my teachers taught me how to accompany myself, I started making up songs.” Cupcakes still composes on piano, but had a musical shift at age 18. “A friend took me to a gathering of African drummers on the beach in Tel Aviv. I was hypnotized and started learning percussion.” Cupcakes took drum classes, but formal training was too restricting. “I got the basics and then took it from there.” Hank was born in Jerusalem. “I grew up doing art. When I heard the Beatles, I listened to them for two years exclusively and picked up the bass. I like the low frequencies" Hank laughs "and never wanted to front a band. I guess it’s just my personality.”


Stacy Rock
As a singer/songwriter, Stacy has toured the country several times playing hundreds of shows in support of her debut album, One Way Home. She has been compared to a baffling variety of artists including Tom Waits, Feist, Jeff Buckley, Regina Spektor, Aimee Mann, Stevie Nicks and even Queen. Gabriel Levitt of Brooklyn’s Jezebel Music wrote that her live performances are “unequivocally enchanting”. She is a two time award winner of the AscapPlus Award for accomplishments as a songwriter and was the resident piano player at NYC's Monkey Bar for 2 years. Also an actress, Stacy received a BFA in Acting from Boston University and moved on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. A few of her acting credits include shows at Barington Stage Company, North Shore Music Theater, The Voice of America Theater with Bill Pulman and Boston Playwrights Theater. She has starred in several films including the indie hit, "Murder Party", released by Magnolia Pictures 

Stacy Rock



Sweet Soubrette

Sweet Soubrette features the vocals and ukulele playing of NYC’s Ellia Bisker, whose original dark love songs are wickedly captivating, with clever wordplay and a sound like Regina Spektor meets the Magnetic Fields. Catchy melodies and a sultry vibe make Sweet Soubrette dangerously seductive. She is backed by a band of classically trained musicians (including a drummer who is a professional circus musician). Together they create melodic, witty songs that are by turns seductive, funny, and tragic.


Jane Ormerod
Jane Ormerod is the author of the full-length poetry collection, Recreational Vehicles on Fire (Three Rooms Press, 2009), the chapbook 11 Films (Modern Metrics, 2008), and the spoken word CD Nashville Invades Manhattan. Born on the south coast of England, she now lives in New York City.

A regular on the New York poetry and spoken word circuit, readings have included The Knitting Factory, The Bowery Poetry Club, (Le) Poisson Rouge, The Cornelia Street Cafe, Galapagos Art Space, and The Stone. She also performs extensively across the United States and beyond - San Francisco to Portland, Boston, Philadelphia, Syracuse, Salt Lake City, Canada, Ireland, Britain, and The Netherlands to name just a few places.
 
“One of the most imaginative, persistent poetry visionaries… (Jane’s) signature style is beyond belief—moving lightspeed with an astoundingly unique beat and the ability to communicate with complete command of language,” - Daniel Yaryan, producer of the San Francisco poetry series "Sparring With Beatnik Ghosts."


Erica Miriam Fabri 
Erica Miriam Fabri is the author of Dialect of a Skirt, a collection of poetry published by Hanging Loose Press (November 2009).

She is a writer and performer and a graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and received her MFA in Poetry from The New School.

Her work has been published in numerous literary journals and magazines including: New York Quarterly, Texas Review, The Spoon River Poetry Review, Hanging Loose Magazine, Good Foot Magazine, Paper Street and more.

She has performed and facilitated workshops and seminars at: Cooper Union School of the Arts, New York University, Columbia University, Penn State University, The Brooklyn Public Library, Poet’s House, The Fortune Society, The Robin Hood Foundation, and the PEN Prison Writing Program. She has worked on projects as a writer, editor and performance director for The New York Knicks, HBO and Nickelodeon Television.

She is also a spoken word mentor and curriculum writer for Urban Word NYC, a non-for-profit organization dedicated to bringing spoken word, poetry and hip-hop arts to inner-city teens.

She has been awarded a writer’s residency at the Omega Institute and has been a featured and/or visiting poet and performer for numerous art festivals and numerous outreach programs including drug rehabilitation centers, prisons and hospitals. Her first book, Dialect of a Skirt, was included on the list for: The Best Books of 2009 at About.com and made the Small Press Distribution’s Best-Seller list for June 2010.

She currently teaches Performance Poetry at Pace University, Creative Writing at The School of Visual Arts and a variety of Poetry courses at Baruch College and Hunter College of The City University of New York (CUNY).

She reads and performs solo, as well as with the hybrid music and poetry duo “The Robin and the Lady Poet” with muscian, Robin Andre. (click here for The Robin and the Lady Poet Website)

She adores everything that is bright, colorful and sparkling and her true love is her home, New York City.


 Photo by Oz Charles

David Lawton
David Lawton was a finalist for the 2010 Arts & Letters Prize for Poetry. He has a poem in the current Uphook Press anthology hell strung and crooked. And he has been very busy appearing as the epic hero in Rick Mullin's Huncke from Seven Towers Publications. See him feature at the Perch Cafe in Brooklyn on October 12th and the Beat Hour at Bowery Poetry Club on October 17th.


Ocean Vuong
Born in 1988 in Saigon, Vietnam, Ocean Vuong currently resides in New York City as an undergraduate English Major at Brooklyn College, CUNY. His poems have received an Academy of American Poets Prize, the Beatrice Dubin Rose Award, the Connecticut Poetry Society's Al Savard Award, as well as two Pushcart Prize nominations. His work appear in Word Riot, the Kartika Review, Lantern Review, SOFTBLOW, Asia Literary Review, and PANK among others. He enjoys practicing Zen Meditation and is an avid supporter of animal rights. 



Elizabeth Harrington
Elizabeth Harrington’s poems have appeared in The Hudson Review, Field, and Connecticut Review and other journals, and in an anthology about divorce. She was a winner of the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award. Her chapbook “Earth’s Milk” was first runner-up in the Main Street Rag Chapbook Poetry contest, and another chapbook, “The Quick and the Dead” won first prize and publication in this year’s Grayson Books Poetry Chapbook Competition. She has been featured or read at a number of venues in and around New York, including Cornelia Street Café, The Bowery, KGB Bar, The Knitting Factory, The Hudson Valley Writers Center, The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College, and others. She lives in Tarrytown, New York, with one black cat.


Brant Lyon
Brant Lyon is a writer of poetry, prose and music. “A rose without thorns is not worth sniffing,” he believes, so says, “don’t stick your nose where it doesn’t belong,” though he has often done just that while driving a cab in NYC, eating a guinea pig below Machu Picchu, playing piano at Carnegie Hall, listening to hail beat the tin roof of a tea house in the Himalayas, and teaching himself Arabic to open a cyber café with his favorite Bedouin in the shadow of the Great Pyramids of Giza. He produces the ‘poemusic’ reading series, Hydrogen Jukebox in NYC, and co-edits Uphook Press, and also edits for BigcCityLit and Spiny Babbler (Nepal). 




Mike Marcellino 
Mike Marcellino, a Vietnam war correspondent and award winning journalist, continues to write stories and poems about people, places and things. Mike has added a twist, with musicians the stories become a unique blend of music and spoken word. He’s performed in New York City, Cleveland, Tulsa and Baltimore. His new recordings include New York City stories, Alphabet Coffeehouse and Flatbush, Amelia Earhart, soft silver wings, and The Walls of Fire. He surfs and writes about that too (Bondi Beach). His writing appears in Coventry Street Fair Anthology and Stain Glass Confessional II and online at Outsider Writers, Red Fez, Literary Fever and Universe of Poetry. Mike hosts Notebook Writer Blog Talk Radio show on writers and the arts. He is author of the popular Blog, The Point of the Whole Thing. 

Mike Marcellino

Bellow and Rob Gomez

Bellow began with Rob. He had written many songs that he was performing at solo gigs and open mic nights. He grew up in Queens, a fan of classic, moving songwriters like Eric Clapton, Freddy Johnston and others. In late summer 2005, he decided he really wanted a band, so he recorded himself, put up a website and put an ad in Craigslist. Rob works as an art director and designs the artwork for Bellow.

Next came Chris, who grew up in the UK and moved to NYC to begin work with a non-profit organization, working with individuals with developmental disabilities. He played in Lukas, a UK-based band, for 4 years. Chris also played briefly with User-friendly, a New York punk band, but it did not suit his musical preferences. After searching Craigslist, he found exactly what he was looking for. When he first played with Bellow, he instinctively knew it was where he should be, and Rob & Adil welcomed him with open arms and french kisses.

Last came Andrew, from NYU who met Bellow on Craigslist and joined in July 2007. Originally from Portland, Oregon, Andrew wanted to expand on the new musical influences he discovered in NYC and found the perfect opportunity with Bellow. When he’s not rockin’ out with Bellow, he continues to do some freelance work throughout the city.
We hope our songs resonate in you.


Chris Fuller

Chris Fuller's music covers a wide section of the Americana map, touching upon folk, blues, jazz, rock, country and Hawaiian.  His songs blend emotional melodies with literate storytelling, touching the mind, heart, and gut.  Chris performs live regularly in the New York City area in a variety of venues ranging from nightclubs to libraries.  He has been selected as an Artist in Residence by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and in 2007 he released the album Sangamon.  He lives in New York City with his wife and daughter and writes a new song every week. 



Thursday, September 2, 2010

Podcast of Notebook Writer with Mike Marcellino Sept. 1st show

Listen to the Podcast of Notebook Writer with Mike Marcellino on Blog Talk Radio with guest writers Brooke Axtell, singer songwriter & poet from Austin, TX; Liz Robbins, poet from St. Augustine, FL and Louis Bourgeois, writer, poet and founder and editor of VOX Press in Oxford, MI  Share our show with your friends.

Notebook Writer with Mike Marcellino on Blog Talk Radio 

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Notebookwriter with Mike Marcellino Podcast Aug 4th show

Notebook Writer Show Podcast:
Tess Gerritsen, Paula Caplan, Eileen Sisk and Chris Fuller

Podcast of Notebookwriter with Mike Marcellino Aug 4th show with guest writers Tess Gerritsen ("Ice Cold," latest in Rizzoli & Isles medical thrillers, basis for new hit TNT TV series), Paula Caplan, psychologist, playwright, actor ("War and Therapy"), author Eileen Sisk ("Buck Owens: The Biography") and New York City singer songwriter Chris Fuller

Notebookwriter with Mike Marcellino Podcast

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Medical thriller author Tess Gerritsen joins Mike Marcellino on Notebookwriter


Bulletin:  Podcast of Notebookwriter show August 4, 2010 with best selling author Tess Gerritsen, whose latest Rizzoli and Isles medical thriller is The Silent Girl. Gerritsen's books have sold 20 million copies in 30 countries.  The second season of the Rizzoli and Iles hit television series on TNT starts November 28th.  Though the first episode gained audience of 9 million, a cable TV record, the series has received mixed reviews.

Here's a Podcast of the show:


Listen to internet radio with Red River Radio on Blog Talk Radio


Guest writers joining Mike Marcellino on his "Notebookwriter" show on Blog Talk Radio 8-10pm EDT, Wednesday, August 4th -

Tess Gerritsen, New York Times best selling author whose Rizzoli and Iles series is the basis for the hit TNT television series that premiered in July. Her latest book, Ice Cold" was just published. Her medical and suspense thriller have sold 20 million copies worldwide.

Eileen Sisk, former award winning Washington Post designer and editor, and author of her second book, "Buck Owens: The Biography"

Paula Caplan, psychologist, author, playwright and actress, whose latest play, "War and Therapy" about the impact of the Iraq war on a woman veteran has premiered in Washington DC and Edmonton, Alberta.

Chris Fuller, New York City singer songwriter.


Thursday, July 8, 2010

Podcast of the Notebook Writer show on Blog Talk Radio


Notebook Writer Show:
with guests Kelsey Waldon, Elizabeth Brown, Annie Finch, Rebecca Cantrell


Podcast of July 7th Notebook Writer with Mike Marcellino on Blog Talk Radio with guests - Kelsey Waldon, singer songwriter from Barlow KY who goes by "Anchor in the Valley;" Elizabeth Brown, writer, musician and writing teacher; Annie Finch, poet, poetry critic from Portland, ME and Rebecca Cantrell, author of the Hannah Vogel novels from Hawaii.






Saturday, July 3, 2010

Notebook Writer with Mike Marcellino on Blog Talk Radio

Notebook Writer with Mike Marcellino Blog Talk Radio show 8-10pm EDT (7-9pm CDT) Wednesday, July 7th.  Call 646-595-4478 (NYC area code) or listen on the Internet.  If you'd like to comment on the air please call or register on Blog Talk Radio.

Mike's guests - Singer songwriter Kelsey Waldon, writer and professor of writing Elizabeth Brown, poet Annie Finch and author Rebecca Cantrell.

To listen to the Notebookwriter show click on the link below:

Notebookwriter with Mike Marcellino

Kelsey Waldon, Barlow, KY

an emerging 22-year-old singer songwriter known as "Anchor in the Valley."

Her debut CD, recorded in Nashville, is receiving rave reviews -

"Waldon’s delicate voice mixes well with the old time instrumentalization. This is not quite the Delta, and not fully the Low Plains, the music skirts all around the south while remaining fresh at each turn."
-DayBowBow-Dallas, TX

"Crystal, clear voice and unique country sound"
-Jack Montgomery - Java City - Western Kentucky University

"something as intensely artistic and moving as this record demands the attention of the world. Miss Waldon is a gifted lyricist with a voice not heard since the famed Bristol TN sessions of old."
-Andrew Sovine (Kink Ador, Electric Guitar)

Barlow is located at the very Western tip of Kentucky and is very close to both the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Waldon has been writing songs and playing guitar since she was 13. Anchor in the Valley's first album (out now) was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Phil Harris at Battle Ridge Studios in Nashville, TN and features 10 original songs written by Waldon herself. There is nothing that makes her more happy than writing a good tune.

Elizabeth Brown, Chicago

a writer, professor of writing, and musician who is the Founder and Director of both the Chicago Writers' Workshop and the soon-to-launch Los Angeles Writers' Workshop, both of which bring writing classes, workshops, and mentoring programs to adults throughout Chicago, Los Angeles, and the world. The CWW and LAWW workshops also include special programs that mentor underprivileged teens and adults in creative writing, screenwriting, and filmmaking studies.

Annie Finch, Portland, Maine

author or editor of fifteen books of poetry, translation, and criticism, including the trilogy of poetry collections Eve (1997), Calendars (2003), and Spells, and the long poems The Encyclopedia of Scotland (2002) and Among the Goddesses: An Epic Libretto in Seven Dreams (2009). Calendars was shortlisted for the Foreword Poetry Book of the Year Award, and Eve reissued in the Carnegie Mellon Classic Contemporaries series in 2010. Other honors include the 2009 Robert Fitzgerald Award and fellowships from the Black Earth Institute and the Wesleyan Writers Conference.

Finch's music, art, and theater collaborations include the opera Marina (American Opera Projects, 2003). Her work has been translated into numerous languages, and she has performed her poetry across the U.S. and Europe. Her books about poetry include A Formal Feeling Comes (2003), The Ghost of Meter (1994), An Exaltation of Forms (2003), The Body of Poetry (2004), and A Poet's Ear (2010). Finch holds degrees from Yale University, The University of Houston, and Stanford University. She currently lives in Maine where she directs Stonecoast, the low-residency MFA program at the University of Southern Maine.

Rebecca Cantrell, Hawaii

A few years ago Rebecca Cantrell quit her job, sold her house, and moved to Hawaii to write a novel because, at seven, she decided that she would be a writer. Now she writes the Hannah Vogel mystery series set in Berlin in the 1930s, including “A Trace of Smoke and the forthcoming “A Night of Long Knives.” “A Trace of Smoke” was considered by major cable networks as a television series.

A faded pink triangle pasted on the wall of Dachau Concentration Camp and time in Berlin, Germany in the 1980s inspired “A Trace of Smoke.” Fluent in German, she received her high school diploma from the John F. Kennedy Schule in Berlin and studied at the Freie Universität in Berlin and the Georg August Universität in Göttingen before graduating from Carnegie Mellon University.

When she visited Berlin in the summer of 2006, she was astounded to discover that many locations in her novel have been rebuilt and reopened in the last few years, including the gay bar El Dorado and the Mosse House publishing house.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Poets Rock Gallery RIVAA, 8pm, Friday, April 9th, New York City

Mike Marcellino releases his first album, "Notebook Writer," at Poets Rock Gallery RIVAA, 8pm, Friday, April 9th at Gallery RIVAA, 527 Main Street, Roosevelt Island, New York City.  Performing with Mike at the poetry and music show are Gil Fagiani, New York City poet and co-host of the open reading of the Italian American Writers Association, the longest standing poetry series at Cornelia Street Cafe, marking its 20th year in 2011.  New York singer songwriters performing are Stacy Rock, accompanied by musician Randall Leddy, and Chris Fuller.

While the show is free, donations are welcome to Gallery RIVAA.  Refreshments follow the show.  Take the F Train to Roosevelt Island.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Alphabet Coffeehouse, a new song



















"It's wonderful! Thank you for telling me about it! It reminds me very much of the East Village and that day."

– Rebecca Turner, New Jersey singer songwriter, after listening to Alphabet Coffeehouse.


Alphabet Coffeehouse

Lyrics and vocal 
by Mike Marcellino
Music by Tomas Texino


Alphabet Coffeehouse,
“Where can it be?”
Wandering streets,
A to Z
the East Side,
New York City
aimlessly,
late afternoon, after a show.
Red, white and blue
chipped, cracked lettered
no name circle concrete park,
bed of violet flowers
in the middle,
back lit
crimson eyed Susan’s
no name circle concrete park.

Alphabet Coffeehouse,
“Where can it be?”
sundown of existence,
A to Z
the East Side,
New York City,
10th and C.
Only a clue,
whisper,
unknown friend, fellow traveler
searchin’ for the
Alphabet Coffeehouse
9th and C,
‘round the corner from Banjo Jim’s.

“It’s nothing,” the young man replied,
aimlessly.
“Everything is nothing here,” he said again,
“nothing” about
Alphabet Coffeehouse
“Where can it be?”
A to Z,
red, white and blue
no name circle concrete park,
flag pole,
no colors up.

“Everything is nothing here,”
echoed across
the East Side,
New York City’s
middle a projects
brick, white window sills
houses of thirteen stories.

Jump rope,
rapping voices,
rollerblades,
bikes
black and brown
German Sheppard
walkin'
over a freeway
crooked overpass -
bottom of 10th,
East River Park.
Softball diamonds,
a dog like Sally with her master,
cars speeding, either way.

Banjo Jim’s open.
“Listen,”
the LA country girl sings,
Rebecca Turner,
no cover.


Alphabet Coffeehouse, copyright by Mike Marcellino 2009


Photos of Banjo Jim's in East Village, New York City from www.banjojims.com and Rebecca Turner, singer songwriter, from her bio on www.rebeccaturner.net




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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan


i think that was Dylan
by Mike Marcellino

You could say I grew up with Bob Dylan, and the likes of Joan Baez, Carolyn Hester, Hamilton Camp, Buddy Holly and the Beach Boys.  Though I've owned more than a dozen of his albums, the ones that most influenced me in music, my own writing and political and social views were his first three - Bob Dylan (1962), The Freewheelin Bob Dylan (1964) and The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964) and John Wesley Harding (1967).


While I have not yet recorded "i think that was Dylan" you're invited to listen to my collection of 9 new lyrical poetry song recordings.  Some folks have compared my music to Dylan, though I don't sing, i talk, but then Dylan hardly does either.
Just click on this link to our Facebook music page where you may listen free, share our songs and "like" us. (or you may listen on the music player at the top of this blog)



It's hard to recall when I first listened to the folk songs of Robert Allen Zimmerman, raised in Hibbing, Minnesota, near the Mesabi Iron Range west of Lake Superior.  He was the grandson of Ukrainian and Lithuanian Jews, who escaped antisemitism in the early 1900s.

I've found very few albums in which I liked every song - Freewheelin' was such an album.  I liked Corina, Corina most and would listen to it over and over.  The times from 1963 to 1967 in Dylan's half century music career were turbulent. I listened to Dylan around the time of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, though time stood still as we sat glued to the television in a fraternity house on the campus of Wake Forest College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  I listen in my hooch at a base camp at the tip of the Viet Cong Iron Triangle stronghold northwest of Saigon in the Vietnam War.

Over the Dylan years, I've seen him in concert twice, the first probably the most memorable.  It was November 12, 1965 at Music Hall in Cleveland, Ohio.  Six weeks later, the day after New Year's I would leave on a train filled with Army recruits on the way to basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Our seats were red velvet, right in the middle, not far from the front, perfect seats.  I was with a very pretty blond,  Cindy.  I was in love with her and her sister, Gretchen.  Wonderful girls, Swedish.  Dylan played alone, with his guitar and harmonica, the first half of the concert.  It couldn't have been better.  He came on electric in the second half.  You could hear a pin drop.  Everyone was in shock.  He had earlier been booed off the stage after three songs when he went electric at the Newport Folk Festival. I though it was cool.  Still do, even though I was raised on the acoustic poet.

The second time I saw Dylan was at the concert for the opening celebration for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum on June 7, 1993.  He had lost most of his voice and Dylan and the night were both electric - romping around Cleveland Municipal Stadium with my ex-wife (who looked like a female version of Dylan) and our three children with nearly 80,000 screaming rock fans.  As I was on duty as an aide to the mayor, I had a seat in the sixth row for the ribbon cutting of the stunning building designed by I. M. Pei.  The spot lit structure's reflection on the waters of Lake Erie at night is still a sight.  Yoko Ono was there alone at the party after the ribbon cutting, John Lennon had been shot and killed December 8, 1980.

 "Search and Destroy" photo by Mike Marcellino, TET Offensive, Vietnam War, 1968.  After I was turned away from my request to meet with Dylan, I left a print of this photo at a studio in Cleveland where Dylan was recording or hanging out. Naturally, I did not get a thank you.


While Dylan was in Cleveland, I did try to meet with the icon, bringing some of my favorite photographs taken in the Vietnam War where I served as a combat correspondent and photojournalist.  I got as far as inside the door of the recording studio he was at in an eastern suburb, but no further.  I left Dylan this signed black and white photography of Army artillery forward observers with the 33rd Vietnamese Rangers on a search and destroy mission in the rice paddies.


Last year I got to thinkin' about the cover of the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan wrote a song about some crazy days I had spent roamin' the streets of New York City and wrote a song about those times.  Today on Gothamist.com I learned the story behind the cover art.  Bob Dylan wanted to recreate a photo of James Dean (see the link to Gothamist story) for the cover of "Freewheelin'" released May 23 1963.

  
Here's my version of the story in a poetry song I've performed.  The song was covered by Chicago folk singer Justin Boerema as we shared the stage at Spike Hill in Brooklyn. Justin was back lit in silhouette, wearing a Fedora, playing guitar and harmonica, real Dylanesque.  I hope to record the poetry song soon, perhaps on my trip to New York City in April.  I will be performing the song though and together we return  to The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. 



i think that was Dylan
by Mike Marcellino

i think that was Dylan,
walkin down Jones Street
girl in his arm
right in the middle of the slushy road,
right pretty too,
comin right at me,
so i ducked
down into the
alley
found sally
and wrote this piece.

"i didn't see you there,"
 - went something like that

i think that was Dylan
walkin down Jones Street
trouble was the cold,
blinded me,
so i parked my car,
a cutlass i believe,
recklessly
at the first illegal spot i could find
went up to the bar
"Irish whiskey,"
i said that,
it must ta been in '65
i think that was Dylan
walkin down Jones Street,
go ask Sally.

i think that was Dylan copyright by Mike Marcellino 2009   

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Miss the flavor of the Sixties?

Photo from the opening of the new Root Cafe last Christmas time.

Try a cup of Phoenix coffee at the reborn "Root Cafe"
by Mike Marcellino


If you hail from, ever in, or never been to Cleveland, don't miss stopping by The Root Cafe in Lakewood, Ohio (minutes west of Public Square downtown), for a trip back to why we miss the 60s and the best coffee, camaraderie, bakery, music, poetry and food like veggie pizza. (It already has two five star reviews on yelp.com.)


I've the pleasure of knowing the proprietors Julie and Bobby, who realized their dream with hard work and help from the community. The cafe moved a couple of doors down from their Lakewood Phoenix Coffee, but the beans are still roasted right in town by Carl Jones of Phoenix Coffee, rising from the ashes of his once famed Arabica Coffee, founded on Coventry Road, Cleveland's answer to Haight-Ashbury.


While Cleveland carries shackles of such recent pop titles such as America's "most miserable city" bestowed by Forbes Magazine, don't believe it. Cleveland won that title largely due to its lake effect blizzards and corrupt politicians, aspects it shares with many of America's big northern cities.


If you doubt that unsung Cleveland's a cultural gem, stop by The Roots Cafe. Tell Julie and Bobby (and their really smart, friendly kids, Hazel & Gabriel) that Mike says hello, and misses them and the rest of what makes Cleveland special. Or, maybe we can meet there, at The Root Cafe, 15108 1/2 Detroit Ave. for their all day celebration of the spring equinox Saturday March 20th.  (I once read poetry at an open mic at the old Lakewood Phoenix.)


And to see that Cleveland does have some decent public officials, stop by the office of U. S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich, just down the road. He's the guy that ran for president to set up a Department of Peace.

Copyright by Mike Marcellino 2010

Friday, February 19, 2010

Palin's early presidential bid slips off course again


Will the real Sarah, please stand up?
by Mike Marcellino

Ex-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, vice presidential candidate in 2008, continues to go to the gold as she lays the groundwork for a presidential run in 2012.  Trouble is her apparent calculated public speeches and comments keep getting her off course and on some pretty think ice.

Only weeks ago Palin inked notes on the palm of her hand to remember to uplift people in trying to ignite the Tea Party by her speech in which she predicted flatly that the only way President Obama could get re-elected was the use what she referred to as "the war card" by declaring war on Iran.   That reminded me of the late Senator Barry Goldwater saying in a speech that he might use the atomic bomb against the communists. The difference is that then presidential candidate Goldwater's statement was a candid answer to a question, while Palin's created "the war card" phrase to nail her rival with a political shot.  Her shot trivializes the consequences of war and the complexity of U. S. relations with Iran, that country's nuclear program and Middle East peace.

In her latest pre-campaign episode, Palin lashed out bitterly against the makers of the latest episode of "The Family Guy," about a girl with Down syndrome with a joke about her family.  Palin's song, Trig, has Down syndrome.  Plan called the show's makers "cruel, cold hearted people" and accused them of "mocking her family."

Palin's criticism drew a response yesterday from actor Andrea Ray Friedman who portrays a girl with Down syndrome.  Ms. Friedman matter of factly explained that she has Down syndrome and also a sense of humor.

The Arts Beat "Culture at Large blog of Dave Itzkoff in The New York Times last night's has attracted 368 comments, one from a "conservative" Frank from Texas who wrote of getting annoyed by Palin.


What may be most revealing about the latest Palin episodes is they seem to reveal her real nature.  Palin portrays herself as a political outsider, a female version of Joe six pack and all for regular people. 

The uplifting palm notes, coining "the war card" and now blasting the liberal media, in this case an animated television comedy series raise serious questions about the true nature of Sarah Palin.   

Palin's choice of words in public  reveals a politician trying to win a campaign not yet begun by creating her own issues that don't match up with reality very well. The latest "Family Guy" episode belies the nation of equality and the wrong in discrimination.  

I don't know about Palin, but I look at blacks and whites, people with Down syndrome, AIDS and soldiers and veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as people.  Aren't we all just people after all? Isn't that equality?

When it comes to comedy, I like the kind that's funny and let's us laugh with each other, not at each other.  Other than that it doesn't make any difference if your mother is the ex-governor of Alaska and a former vice presidential candidate.  It's just a funny, quirky line in a television show, making fun of a politician, after all. 


When you've stated publicly that you may run for president of the United States, being the subject of jokes comes with the territory.  Lighten up Sarah.

Copyright by Mike Marcellino 2010