Readings, Signings & Exhibits
Word Up! Taylor Mali on Word X Word Festival 2011 and the Lives of the Poets
What’s the word? Find out this week in Pittsfield at the third annual Word X Word Festival from August 13 – 20. This celebration of words written, spoken and sung—created in 2009 by Jim Benson, proprietor of Mission Bar + Tapas—kicks off with its now-legendary rooftop party, one of the hottest events in the region (tickets are nearly sold out). The week-long festival features more than 60 performances of original song, poetry, theater, fiction, and storytelling—most free—at more than 15 venues throughout the city.
Word X Word 2011 has several new elements, such as a block party this Sunday, August 14, from 3 – 8 pm; the first spoken word contest for high school students, the winner of which will perform during the Festival finale at The Colonial Theatre; and the inclusion of narrative fiction with readings by a selection of nationally recognized novelists and short story writers curated by local author Brendan Mathews, whose own work was included in The Best American Short Stories 2010. And in late-breaking news, Benson has announced that Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick has joined the roster to read excerpts from his memoir, A Reason to Believe.
What’s not new is the festival’s focus on a stunning assortment of emerging singer/songwriters and spoken-word superstars, the latter curated by four-time National Poetry Slam champion Taylor Mali, who divides his time between New York, the Berkshires, and the rest of the world, where he leads writing workshops, curates readings, and judges poetry slams. Mali is a New York City native whose family has lived there since the 1600s; his great-great-grandfather and namesake, John Taylor Johnston (in portrait above, with Mali) was the founding president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He’s also is a former school teacher best known for his poem What Teachers Make and his advocacy for teachers. He and his wife, poet Marie-Elizabeth Mali, have had a home in the Berkshires since 2007 and have been involved with Word X Word since its inception.
Rural Intelligence cultural correspondent Bess J.M. Hochstein met with Taylor Mali at his Housatonic home to get the inside story on the Word X Word Festival and to find out more about the life of the poet.
Bess Hochstein: How and when did you get involved with the Word X Word Festival?
Taylor Mali: I’ve been involved from the beginning. Jim Benson came to one of my shows three years ago and asked me to help curate the poetry side of things. Last year Marie-Elizabeth and I both curated the poetry, and Jim says it was the poets who saved the festival. This year, I called in a lot of favors to get the people we got, particularly Rachel McKibbens, [2009 Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion, below, who performs on Friday, 8/19] and Buddy Wakefield [two-time World Poetry Slam Champion, performing on Saturday, 8/20].
BH: What do you look for in the artists you enlist for Word X Word?
TM: The ability to connect with an audience or change people’s minds about poetry, perhaps even broaden their definition of what poetry is. I have a love/hate relationship with The New Yorker magazine because the poems they choose to publish, ostensibly some of the BEST CONTEMPORARY POETRY IN THE UNITED STATES, are often only appreciated by people who already know they like poetry. Normal people read those poems and think, “I knew I didn’t like poetry, and this poem proves it.” I’ll never ask a poet like that to perform at Word X Word.
BH: Who are the must-see artists on this year’s Word X Word roster?
TM: They are all amazing. Iyeoka Okaowo [in video, below] performs with me at the opening event on Sunday, 8/14; Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz [three-time National Poetry Slam Champion] is the headline poet on Wednesday, 8/17; Omar Holmon [right] is Thursday, 8/18; Rachel McKibbens on Friday, 8/19; and Buddy Wakefield at the closing show on Saturday, 8/20. If I had to choose two it would be Rachel and Buddy.
BH: Is there a distinction between poets and spoken word artists?
TM: Depends on who you talk to. For me the term poet is a broader term; a spoken-word artist is a type of poet, one who writes poems that will be HEARD before they are read. In fact, a poem by a spoken-word artist may NEVER be read. And that knowledge changes the writing process a little. If you know that your audience will not have the luxury of rereading the poem several times if they don’t understand something, then you tend to write clearer and speak slower. And you choose words that will not obnubilate your message or be received as a vituperative assault on the probity of the reader. (See what I just did?)
BH: How often do you appear in poetry slams?
TM: I don’t actively compete anymore. I’ve won the National Poetry Slam four times so I feel like I’ve pretty much done that. To succeed in a slam, you need to write high-energy poems filled with self-righteous indignation that clock in at about 2:45, and I’m interested in writing different kinds of poems. Longer, shorter, quieter, funnier, more inward looking. That said, if the night is slow or the slam at the Bowery Poetry Club (where I help curate the resident slam series, which is called Urbana) has fewer than eight poets in it, I may well throw my name in the hat to remind the young folks how we used to do it in the old days.
BH: How and when did you become a poet?
TM: I wrote poems as a kid to be like my dad. He used to write rhyming toasts for special occasions: think Dr. Seuss meets Robert Frost. Everyone loved hearing them so I learned early on that poetry was a festive way to entertain people. My mom [Jane L. Mali] was an award-winning children’s book author so I was surrounded with the written word always. That said, the process of becoming a poet is long and unmarked so the more honest answer to your question is “I don’t know. Am I there yet?”
BH: Your family has a long and illustrious history in the city of New York. Any other poets or teachers in the family?
TM: Besides my father, I don’t know of any other poets. And come to think of it, I’m the only teacher in the family that I know of, too. So how “illustrious” can my family be?
BH: You seem to embrace your identity as a WASP in the sometimes gritty realm of slam poetry. How do you make that work for you?
TM: Not very well sometimes. But it’s true, I do embrace my identity as a WASP. Shouldn’t everyone embrace their identity? And it’s true, there aren’t many other WASPs in the spoken-word/poetry slam community. But that makes me a novelty, I think. And my poetry isn’t ABOUT being privileged and coming from old money. It’s informed by that, sure. How could it not be?
BH: Are you still teaching? If so, where?
TM: I haven’t had a full-time teaching job since 2000. That said, yes, I am still teaching. I just do it all over the world now, one day at a time. Sometimes I’m the visiting writer for a week. Rarely is it longer than that, however. I do about 80 gigs a year, which doesn’t quite mean I’m on the road 160 days of the year, but sometimes it feels like that.
BH: In the year 2000, you set a goal to inspire 1000 people to become teachers. How is that going?
TM: Slowly but surely. I’m almost up to 800! If you think my work has helped you decide to become a teacher, please go here to add your name to the list.
BH: So, what’s a poet make?
TM: I make people think, and laugh. I make people furious. I make people change their minds about poetry! But seriously, the travesty is that I earn considerably more as a poet than I ever did as a teacher. In fact, I probably make more than ANY high school teacher makes today, even [those] with a PhD and 40 years of experience in the richest suburb in the country.
Word X Word Festival 2011
August 13 - 20
Downtown Pittsfield, MA
Festival Highlights
Block Party Sunday, August 14 @ 3-8 p.m., Palace Park, North Street. Free
Kick-Off Show Sunday, August 14 @ 8 p.m., CompuWorks Loft, 1 Fenn Street. $30
World premiere staged reading of Mrs. Lincoln’s Séance, a new play by Mark St. Germain, Monday, August 15 @ 7 p.m., Barrington Stage Company, 30 Union Street. Free
Reading & exhibition by artist, critic, and former slam poet Carol Diehl, Thursday, August 18 @ 7 p.m., Berkshire Museum, 39 South Street. Free
Beauty in Decay DISH + DINE dinner and discussion about contemporary photography, Friday, August 19 @ 6:30 p.m., Ferrin Gallery, 433 North Street. $100
Poetry Slam Finals, Saturday, August 20 @ 6 p.m., Shawn’s Barber Shop, 442 North Street. Free
Festival Finale, Saturday, August 20 @ The Colonial Theatre, 111 South Street. $15 - $30
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Posted by Bess Hochstein on 08/08/11 at 04:56 PM • Permalink
The Millbrook Book Festival
The Millbrook Free Library
One of the defining characteristics of the small towns in the Rural Intelligence region is the pride of place that public libraries and independent bookstores have in our communities. When the independent Merritt Bookstore and the Millbrook Free Library join forces, you get a literary tour de force like the 4th annual Millbrook Book Festival that takes place on Saturday, May 14. “We work hard to have a variety of authors so there is something for everyone,” says Alexas Orcutt, one of the organizers. “Whatever you like to read—history, local interest, fiction—there will be authors you will want to meet.”
Literary locavores won’t want to miss the panel called “River of Words: Portraits of Hudson Valley Writers” (10:30 - 11:45 a.m.). Nina Shengold hosts fellow local authors to read from their work and talk about the Hudson Valley literary community. Akiko Busch (Patience), Susan Richards (Saddled), John Darnton (Almost a Family), Marilyn Johnson (This Book is Overdue), Gwendolyn Bounds (Little Chapel on the River). At noon, Millbrook resident Micahel Korda 
will discuss his latest book. Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia. There should be many laughs at the panel discussion organized by Thelma Adams, the film critic and author of the novel Playdate. Called “She’s A Serious Writer Listen to Your Mother,” the panel features New York Post columnist Tina Traster (Burb Appeal), New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly (When Do They Serve the Wine?), Nina Shengold (River of Words), Jenny Nelson (Georgia’s Kitchen), Daphne Uviler (Hotel No Tell) and Carole Maso (The Art Lover).
The free one-day festival includes two book sales—a tent on the library lawn featuring books by every author participating in the festival and the Friends of Millbrook Library used book, CD and DVD sale where every item is pay what you want. “We’re also closing down a side street as book alley,” says Orcutt. “It’s supposed to be a day of fun that promotes literacy. It doesn’t matter what you read—as long as you do read.”
Millbrook Book Festival
Millbrook, NY
Saturday, May 14; 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 05/11/11 at 05:46 PM • Permalink
A Happening Reading Relaunches the Basilica
A reading of renowned novelist and screenwriter, Rudolph Wurlitzer’s 1984 novel Slow Fade by singer-songwriter, folk-music legend Will Oldham (below), who has played with the band Palace Brothers as Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. The evening celebrates the release of Slow Fade, the first in a new line of alternative audio books by Chicago’s seminal independent record label, Drag City. Oldham’s voice is on the audio book, but on Thursday night both Wurlitzer and Oldham will participate, accompanied by guitar player Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance) and with photographic projections by acclaimed photographer Lynn Davis. Connecticut-based artist Elisa Ambrogio, of noise rock band Magik Markers, will open the evening with her own reading.
The evening also marks the reopening of the Basilica, the 19th-century-factory-building-turned-performance-and-events-space across from the railway station in Hudson whose former owner, Patrick Doyle, had dubbed it Basilica Industria. Rechristened Basilica Hudson, it’s new owners, the filmmaker Tony Stone and his wife, the singer/songwriter/bassist Melissa Auf der Maur, hope to someday turn the building into a green production facility for film, photo, and music. Meanwhile, they are hosting events, such as Thursday night’s reading, and, on Saturday, Hudson’s First Annual Ramp Festival.
Slow Fade is a portrait of Wesley Hardin, a film director whose life has been devoted to the manipulation of images—on screen and at the conference table, with actors and technicians, even (and especially) with those closest to him. In his 71st year, he tries to divest himself of illusions, to make peace with his demons and his past. Slow Fade is by turns spare and eloquent, dryly humorous and darkly savage, a deeply informed novel about the unshakably transient worlds of the movies and rock-and-roll, as well as a rowdy account of the cultural and generational pas de deux that occurred throughout the 1970s—a dance that inevitably recurs to some degree as each subsequent generation has passed the torch to the next.
Rudolph Wurlitzer is the author of five novels, Nog, Flats, Quake, Slow Fade, and most recently The Drop Edge of Yonder. He is also a screenwriter, responsible for the groundbreaking scripts for Two-Lane Blacktop, as well as Glen and Randa, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Walker, and Candy Mountain. In 1991, he published the travel diary/memoir, Hard Travel to Sacred Places. He lives in Hudson with his wife, the photographer Lynn Davis.
Basilica Hudson
Across from the railway station.
Thursday, April 28; 6 p.m. - midnight
Suggested donation/$5
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 04/21/11 at 04:05 PM • Permalink
Video Intelligence: The RI Interview with “Hero” Author Michael Korda
Michael Korda at home on his farm in Dutchess County.
Apple-cheeked and clutching a steaming cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, the best-selling author Michael Korda doesn’t look tired when he strides from the stables at his Stone Gate Farm in Pleasant Valley, NY, on a recent Sunday morning to greet a video crew from Rural Intelligence. “It is already so cold!” he exclaims, fresh from his morning ride, a ritual he has followed most every day of his life whether in New York’s Central Park or here in the heart of the Hudson Valley. “Let’s get inside so we can talk.”
Korda is eager to discuss his new book, Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia, and he lead us to his office in the historic white farmhouse that he and his wife have owned for over three decades,. The antique colonial farmhouse, built in 1765, is thought to be the oldest home in the town of Pleasant Valley, and was a central character in Korda’s Country Matters: The Pleasures and Tribulations of Moving from a Big City to an Old Country Farmhouse. (Harper Collins, 2001). The house was initially a weekend retreat and is now their full-time home.
The editor-in-chief emeritus of Simon & Schuster in New York City, Korda has set aside time to talk with Rural Intelligence about Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia , his new biography of T.E. Lawrence, the British military legend. With this latest book launch in full swing, Korda has been hustling to media interviews and book readings throughout New York City and across the Hudson Valley with recent appearances at Merritt Books in Millbrook , Vassar College, and Marist College. He will reading at Rhinebeck’s Oblong Books on Saturday, Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m. RI wanted to ask Korda about the book, and naturally, about his life in Pleasant Valley on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the publication of Country Matters. The interview follows in three acts.
Act I: Why Lawrence of Arabia?
Act II: On Lawrence as Media Celebrity
Act III: On Country Life in Dutchess County
Related links:
NPR: Lawrence of Arabia, ‘Hero’ In The Middle East
The New York Times Book Review: “Lawrence: Fresh Look at Warrior of Desert”
DailyBeast: “The Last Hero”
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 12/08/10 at 05:30 PM • Permalink
Michael Korda on His T.E. Lawrence Bio
December 3, @ 5 p.m.; December 4 @ 5 p.m.
According to Michael Korda’s new biography of the British soldier and adventurer T.E. Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia; 1888 – 1935), George Bernard Shaw once scolded his friend, who had just published a biography, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, “Confound you and the book: you are no more to be trusted with a pen than a child with a torpedo.” Nonetheless, Shaw used Lawrence as his model for Saint Joan.
A former editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster and the author of many books, Michael Korda, who lives in Pleasant Valley (Dutchess County), will read from and discuss his latest, Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia, as part of the Vassar College Bookstore Author Series on Friday. He will do likewise at Merritt Books on Saturday and at Oblong Books & Music in Rhinebeck on December 11 (for details on this last and a video interview with Korda see Rural Intelligence next week).
Vassar College Bookstore
Main Building
Poughkeepsie, NY; Friday, 5 p.m.
Merritt Bookstore
Millbrook, NY; Saturday, 5 p.m.
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 12/02/10 at 08:05 PM • Permalink
