City of Legends

In the spirit of "Live at Kyrienar" from my first CD, I did this week’s podcast with a faux audience…slide to the right and pluck it off the podcast listing.  The selections are from my almost upon us book entitled

Selected Poems and Passions:  2004-2011

Many thanks to White Sunday, and others, for the inspiration.

Dutch tech-musical-wizard Ophidian has permitted me to not only feature his great piece "Pegasus", which features my reading of "the philosophy of dreams" but also includes his newest work "the violence of indifference", which includes my reading of my poem "from out of the city" in my latest "from out of the city" (coincidentally) podcast.

You can subscribe to the podcast at Apple’s iTunes Music Store or through the Feedburner feed (click here, dummy).  Give a listen and let me know what’s your take.

Thanks again to the great Ophidian!

Note to Avid Fan:  The book progresses.  My editor assures me it is proceeding well and will be amazing.  I trust her.

It is the return of the "From Out of the City" podcast.

Featuring a funked up, cathedral organ pure testosterone and tears fueled delivery of "The Sacraments" from "Apokalypsis".

Well, what the hell are you waiting for?  Here’s the link:

From Out of the City for January 1, 2011

This Friday night, at approximately midnight, as the new year turns on the East Coast of the United States and the people closest to me are, for the most part. elsewhere, the "From Out of the City" podcast returns with something remarkable, "The Sacraments" from the forthcoming book Apokalypsis, perfromed with my band.

I just listened to the revised music, now I have to go back into the studio and tweak my vocals, as I need more from my voice.  The integrity of the original take is amazing, so powerful that the Sunday Girl herself refuses to listen to it.  I need more.  I need incandescence.  I need a religious fervor worthy of a Joan of Arc or a Saint Stephen.  I need to dig deep and release it all.

And I will.  The next three days are very important.  They are a time of great turmoil and pain in my life, or survival and passion and the last romantic verb.  And I don’t want all of you who have waited the last couple of years for the return of the podcast to be disappointed.  I don’t want to be disappointed, not by myself (I am disappointed enough in others, you know).

I’ll post the link once the podcast is up and you shall see, you shall hear, did I take it all the way?  Did the afterburners kick in and the last wisps of fire really press things as far as they can go?

Let’s find out what I have left, shall we?

You asked for it, you got it.

The "From Out of the City" podcast will be returning at the stroke of midnight, December 31st, 2010…

featuring our most explosive set yet as the original Gods of Love reunite to back my madness on "White Sunday:  The Sacraments".

Anyone left alive in the studio after that recording, please turn the lights off as you leave…more info coming in the next two weeks.  And if your WikiLeaks, please clean up and spray some Febreze on the spot.

No, I am not confused, I know today is July 1st.

I am just putting emphasis on that date. It’s going to be a brutal day for me. Deadlines that extend beyond the not-dead and the undead. Impossible goals.

Bring them on.

On that date, at 12 noon, EDT, a select group of people (even they do not know who they are, nor will they, in advance) will receive an email invitation to download and listen to previously unreleased tracks from Evangelist, my new CD. This will be all of the previously unreleased tracks.

They will be asked to give comments and rate them. Not that I take seriously anyone’s counsel but mine own, I just like hearing how other people perceive things (even whack jobs sometimes have epiphanies, you know).

The new protest track, Kitabu, will be linked to multiple sites that already embrace my politically conscious works.

My internet radio station at Live/365 will be getting a major overhaul. You have no idea how arduous that is.

I will also be unveiling a series of new chapters to Tales of the Amomancer on the Random Drafts and Chapters blog.

I will also be announcing the three next book projects being put out by Peacat Press (As such was the first). The Peacat site will be getting a facelift that day.

I will be unveiling my new, mighty 100+ blogroll on this site.

All of this will be accomplished between 0000 hours and 2400 hours, EDT, on July 5th.

On the 6th, I will rest. Yeah, right. Why July 5th? Well, it works with my schedule and it is, believe it or not National Workaholics Day here in the US of A.

I am not as clueless as I sometimes seem.

 The drive to see my parents (I am in to actually see my 95 year old Grandmother, who is in failing health) is always an interesting time, as it allows me buffered time to think out loud.  Usually I get a lot of thinking and writing and sonic experimentation on the 3-1/2 hour trip.

This morning was no exception.  It started as a ramble, dealing with lyrical issues on the new Evangelist CD, but then segued into an examination of my life over the last year.  A lot has happened, many events and elements I could not have foreseen.  Some gentle, some brutal.

All in all, I have come to a conclusion.  This is one of the best years of my life.  

I have reconnected with old friends I had no expectation of ever hearing from again.  I have taken public stands on the issues of the day, been recognized for these stands, and made connections with people who have the power to affect things.  I have loved openly and with abandon a woman who loved me in the same manner.  I have broken some bad habits, written some great poetry, recorded some interesting material to posterity, helped a few friends get elements of their lives in order, saved at least two lives (according to the individuals) and published a remarkable book.  I’ve learned new words and concepts, examined my own failings and picked splinters from my metaphorical ass.

There have been some downer days and strange pains, but when the scales are weighed, I have to say that if every year was as remarkable as this one, I would be the luckiest man alive.  Most people do not live as much and as well in an entire lifetime as I have lived this past year.

I thank all of you who have shared this voyage with me, from the most vocal of friends to the saddest stalkers.  From the constant to the mercurial, from the inspiring to the oppressive.  From those who will still be a part of my life next year and for years and decades to come, to those who have now passed back into the grey.  

I thank you all with profound and spiritual gratitude and wish only to say that, while I compiled a massive list of names to include here, I shall not.  Some secrets are best kept.  While I won’t lie to you, I will withhold that which would force others harm or pain.

I have some great ideas now to finish up those damn final tracks on Evangelist, and am looking forward to tomorrow with great hope, joy and peace.

I have no quarrel with any of you.  If you have with me, that is a measure of you, not me.  Being loved and respected is not a measure of a person, loving and respecting others is.

Namaste.

In addition to the fine 24/7 service provided by Live365 Internet Radio, I have begun the process of restoring Radio City of Legends to its former glory.

To listen to hours of poetry, discussion and interviews by and with myself, and such luminaries as Larry Jaffe, Dan Mctaggart and Nordette Adams, you can click on the Audio permalink, at the top of the page, or go to http://cityoflegends.com/radio-city-of-legends/.

Your choice. Enjoi.

Having recently announced to the world that I am pulling out of AuthorsDen, a site where I had been in residence for many years, I just today reaffirmed my commitment to them and decided to re-assert my presence there.

Then mere moments ago I get a notice and a call from my friend and collaborator Daniel S. McTaggart, announcing he is dropping out of AD. I had to laugh.

Dan, you will be missed there, and anytime you want me to post anything of yours or let the world know about an upcoming project or event, just drop me word (and that goes for any and all of my writerly friends). Mi blog es su blog (we know how much trouble that can lead to, eh?)

Dan has stood by me through thick and thin, sharing some very bizarre events in my life, and I am proud to have not only designed the cover for his book Midnight Muse in a Convenience Store, but also co-authored an anthology with him, Psalms of the Monster River Cult. He has made multiple appearances on my lagging podcast (I’m getting back to it, I promise). Both books are available at fine bookstores and online. Go. Buy. Sheesh.

Watched the video for "Return to Innocence". Still hits me like a freight train between the eyes.

I laughed at a flirtatious joke an old friend made. It felt good. I hadn’t really laughed like that in a while.

I looked to the sky at one point and muttered, defiantly, "If you want me dead you’ll have to come kill me". Survival mechanisms are working overtime. This will be an interesting season.

This weekend is going to be monumental, with everything I have planned and the house to myself. I’ll pop the clutch early Saturday morning and double-shift into something for which there is no rational number.

By Monday, expect a lot. A lot