Michael Zapruder ~

The great folks at Largehearted Boy invited me to do a Book Notes for their blog, so I did!

Here it is.

mz

Ah, the portmanteaus. They are in boxes, currently somewhere between Chicago, IL and Oakland, CA.

I’ve been wanting to find a way to incorporate them into this website, but until now everything has either been impossibly awkward or too complicated to set up. I found a gallery hosting site (it’s called carbonmade, in case anyone’s interested – I am not affiliated) and so now there’s a portmanteaus page here.

Hoo ray! The new page has some info on what they are, and a link to the gallery:

See it at Portmanteaus.

cheers,
mz

The very good, thoughtful Christopher Connor interviewed me for Zyzzyva about poems, songs, Pink Thunder, and that is here.

Finally back home, and Kevin and I will be playing the Pink Thunder songs tonight with readers Matthew Zapruder, Jason Bayani, and Gillian Conoley!

STUDIO ONE

Studio One’s Sheila Davies Sumner asked me some very interesting questions about Pink Thunder, and, although I don’t know if they are interesting or not, I gave her some answers here.

Come to Studio One tonight!

mz

Kevin and I are in Iowa and it’s excellent!

Not much time to post but here are the details:

Pink Thunder at Mission Creek

mz

Tomorrow night, March 30th at 7pm! I will be reunited with the Pink Thunder portmanteaus and will get to see the Rational Park Exhibit for the first time. I’m excited.

We’ll all get to hang out, people can listen to the portmanteaus, and then I’ll be playing a bunch of songs from the record. This is presented by some of my favorite organizations:

Make Literary Magazine

Rational Park

Black Ocean

Danny’s Reading Series

And then, on Tuesday April 2, I’m really looking forward to talking about songs and poetry, and playing some songs, in dialogue with Billy Blake and the Vagabonds as part of the venerable Danny’s Reading Series.

And as if that’s not enough, on Wednesday April 3, Kevin and I will be performing at The Mill in Iowa City, as part of the fantastic Mission Creek Festival, which you should fly to Iowa for. We will be supported by Christopher the Conquered.

Midwest, come say hello!

mz

Here’s all the info on the Chicago events from Make Magazine:

In celebration of Michael Zapruder’s Pink Thunder, a New Collection of Songs Featuring Collaborations from 23 Poets. Performance: March 30, 7pm, Rational Park. FREE. Gallery Hours to view the portmanteaus: March 22-April 12, M-F (by appointment) Rational Park is excited to host 22 portmanteaus, each containing a song from the album Pink Thunder—a collection of free-verse pop art-songs, including contributions from 23 poets, three engineers, and a few dozen musicians. What began as a bus tour that brought together hundreds of American poets has been recorded and remixed into a potent collection of poem-songs. Pink Thunder features instrumental contributions from over forty musicians and poems from Noelle Kocot, James Tate (MAKE #10), Bob Hicok, Mary Ruefle (MAKE #9), D.A. Powell, Dara Wier (MAKE #9), Joshua Beckman, Travis Nichols (MAKE #6), Dorothy Laskey (MAKE #8), Matthew Rohrer (MAKE #2), and many more. The album was released on October 16, 2012 via The Kora Records, and the corresponding hardcover book of poems, with CD, it out now from Black Ocean. Saturday, March 30, 7pm, Michael Zapruder and friends perform a full set of Pink Thunder songs among the portmanteaus. This special live performance is free! Refreshments served. presented by Rational Park, Black Ocean, Danny’s Reading Series, and MAKE Literary Productions. For more information about the events, participants, and sponsors,click here. Rational Park is located at 2557 W. North Ave, Chicago, IL 60647.

Tuesday, April 2, Billy Blake and the Vagabonds + Michael Zapruder in conversation and performance. Tuesday, April 2, kick off Poetry Month by spending an evening with two poetry/music projects. Members of Billy Blake and the Vagabonds will join San Francisco-based musician Michael Zapruder and friends to perform a few selections from their latest albums, then discuss the process of writing songs around the framework of poems—for Zapruder, from his contemporaries, and for Reid Coker, Kennedy Greenrod, and Saleem Dhamee, the poems of Romantic poet William Blake. Danny’s Tavern, 1951 W. Dickens Ave, Tuesday, April 2, 7:30 p.m. Hosted by writer Fred Sasaki and MAKE Poetry Editor and Danny’s Reading Series curator, Joel Craig. presented by Rational Park, Black Ocean, Danny’s Reading Series, and MAKE Literary Productions. For more information about the events, participants, and sponsors,click here.

Rational Park, the wonderfully-named gallery/art collective in Chicago’s Humbolt Park, is showing the Pink Thunder portmanteaus from March 22 – April 12!

This is the second public exhibition of the portmanteaus, and the first outside of the Bay Area.

The opening party is Thursday, March 22 from 7-10pm.

I will be performing at the gallery at 7pm on Saturday, March 30.

The portmanteaus will be available for viewing/listening by appointment anytime until April 13.

Go to them. They are as friendly as they are strange.

love,
mz