livewire/wordstock post #124
OK - here's the truth of the matter. It has almost been a week, and I haven't gotten to my favorite parts of the event yet! Honestly, I didn't get a program and I have no idea in what order the following events occurred (except to know what came last) - so here's the rest of what happened, in no particular order (when it airs on tv/radio all of these questions will be resolved):
Marc Acito - author of How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship and Musical Theater. He was hilarious in an agitated sort of way. I bet the book is very funny. M. pointed out that he looked like Starsky (Ben Stiller version) in his ruffly blue shirt (which, by the way, he was also wearing the next day at the book fair. Either he didn't change clothes, or he's got a closet full of them). He and the host bonded over high-school musicals, he talked dirty for a bit and it will be interesting to see how much of it makes it to broadcast.
Libretto - hip hop poet. I liked his songs quite a bit- he rhymes over some classic-style soul, which, much like ketchup, goes with everything. Lives in Portland, so he should know better than trying to get people to wave their hands in the air like they just don't care. He performed twice - I could tell right before he came on because he had a separate little mixing thing that his (cohort? assistant? DJ? right-hand man? number-one fan?) used, and the production people had to bring out and set up this little table, and run MORE cords, wires and sundry to stage right. [is that right? it was on the left from the audience, so I think that makes it stage right]. He spoke movingly about his daughter, but I ended up feeling just a wee bit manipulated by the time he was practically BEGGING people to put their hands in the air. Something about if you've ever done a bad thing to somebody, or if anything bad had ever happened to you. If I wanted to testify to a bunch of people about how shitty I've been, or how the world has treated me ill, I would go to church! But, not to end on a sour note - he was very gracious about the audience's lack of hip-hop manners.
Willamette Radio Workshop - they did something from The Island of Doctor Moreau. It was freaky and creepy (especially when I could only see the three guys on stage and not the other 4 on the ground in front of the stage - I thought they were the three best ventriloquists EVER). I thought this was cool because it was so Old Radio Show. Or my ideas (probably gleaned from television and movies) about what Old Radio Shows were like. There were monkey noises, and I got a little context for the phrase "Are we not men?" which I previously only knew from MST3K, or possibly a Devo song. It was fun.
....almost done, I swear!
OK - here's the truth of the matter. It has almost been a week, and I haven't gotten to my favorite parts of the event yet! Honestly, I didn't get a program and I have no idea in what order the following events occurred (except to know what came last) - so here's the rest of what happened, in no particular order (when it airs on tv/radio all of these questions will be resolved):
Marc Acito - author of How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship and Musical Theater. He was hilarious in an agitated sort of way. I bet the book is very funny. M. pointed out that he looked like Starsky (Ben Stiller version) in his ruffly blue shirt (which, by the way, he was also wearing the next day at the book fair. Either he didn't change clothes, or he's got a closet full of them). He and the host bonded over high-school musicals, he talked dirty for a bit and it will be interesting to see how much of it makes it to broadcast.
Libretto - hip hop poet. I liked his songs quite a bit- he rhymes over some classic-style soul, which, much like ketchup, goes with everything. Lives in Portland, so he should know better than trying to get people to wave their hands in the air like they just don't care. He performed twice - I could tell right before he came on because he had a separate little mixing thing that his (cohort? assistant? DJ? right-hand man? number-one fan?) used, and the production people had to bring out and set up this little table, and run MORE cords, wires and sundry to stage right. [is that right? it was on the left from the audience, so I think that makes it stage right]. He spoke movingly about his daughter, but I ended up feeling just a wee bit manipulated by the time he was practically BEGGING people to put their hands in the air. Something about if you've ever done a bad thing to somebody, or if anything bad had ever happened to you. If I wanted to testify to a bunch of people about how shitty I've been, or how the world has treated me ill, I would go to church! But, not to end on a sour note - he was very gracious about the audience's lack of hip-hop manners.
Willamette Radio Workshop - they did something from The Island of Doctor Moreau. It was freaky and creepy (especially when I could only see the three guys on stage and not the other 4 on the ground in front of the stage - I thought they were the three best ventriloquists EVER). I thought this was cool because it was so Old Radio Show. Or my ideas (probably gleaned from television and movies) about what Old Radio Shows were like. There were monkey noises, and I got a little context for the phrase "Are we not men?" which I previously only knew from MST3K, or possibly a Devo song. It was fun.
....almost done, I swear!
Yay! I loved reading your whole summary of the show - it was so fun! I thought I'd post Dag's Haiku but I can't remember it exactly. It was something like:
ReplyDeleteOh they are so hot
Those faces for radio
I listen naked
I would be totally into going again next time too!
Hahahahaha! That sounds exactly right - I remember the "I listen naked" line. He seemed especially inspired by the muse of poetry that night! I am surprised they didn't pick it! I suppose there's really no way for them to read them all before they have to choose one.
ReplyDeleteThe Livewire website features other haikus, so maybe his will reach the wider audience it deserves.