More Cobalt Cafe and CobaltPoets farewell messages.

Found these in my e-mail inbox:

Tuesday December 30, 2014
Cobalt Reading 20th Anniversary / Farewell Party

It's a potluck! Bring food and drink of any kind and plan on an evening of reminiscing, socializing, farewell and the mother of all group poems. Not so much a reading tonight but the mic will be open for the sharing of memories. We'll also be taking donations to send Cobalt owner Dave off with a little bit to help him move forward... so think generously, bring a nosh, and yourself as we end an era.

"Tell us what the Cobalt reading has meant to you.  Keep it brief."

I won't be attending the Cobalt farewell on the 30th since I believe it's meant for true friends of the host as well as those who stopped attending years ago but want to return.

Thanks to Dave and his former employees for keeping the Cobalt Cafe alive as a music venue which generously  chose to spare one night each week for poets of all types to read and/or just listen.

For exit music, I'm choosing the following:
http://youtu.be/p51Fgm1m6V0

New poem: FADED COBALT BLUE

vinyl album covers stuck
to the back of one wall
back room for BANDS ONLY
sticker pasted inside men's room urinal
bygone days when security guards
and refreshment counter employees
were still provided by the owner
open mike that drew young people
eventually replaced by poets with
varying degrees of pedigree
as features plus open mikes
stylishly designed featured poet broadsheets
on the host's adjoining table
plus numerous books by the host
at his personal table
peers of the host who used to attend
more often in the days of Magical Then
less frequent in the days of
LotsofGrownUpThingstoDo Now
readings started at Nine
and, much later, at Eight
and, by the beginning of January,
likely to be
no more events
at all
then all you can do
is turn on your mental DVR
to replay highlights

Los Angeles poetry/music venue Cobalt Cafe, as we know it, will close soon.

The Canoga Park rock club which provided a home for teen bands and Rick Lupert's long-running reading (which, during the years I went there, morphed from an all-open mike into a mostly more conventional featured poet and open readers format) will close its doors at the end of this month.

Assuming Rick will find another venue in 2015--or, at the very least, become a recurring host of special-event readings at Beyond Baroque in Venice CA.

Quoting Rick's letter in its entirety:

Sad News from the Cobalt front:
The Cobalt Cafe is closing

After over 20 years of providing an all-ages venue for music and poetry in the West San Fernando Valley, the Cobalt will be closing it's doors at the end of 2014. We're planning a 20th Anniversary/Farewell event for Tuesday night December 30th at the Cobalt. So please save the date for that.

Thank you very much to Dave Politi, the Cobalt Cafe owner for essentially giving a giant donation to the L.A. Poetry community over the last 20 years by providing the venue for free on Tuesday nights. We wish you nothing but the best in health and success in whatever adventures lay ahead for you.

There's a very slim chance the Cobalt will be sold, and if so we have no idea if the new owners would be interested in contuing to offer the venue for the reading to continue. It's all very unlikely but we will update you if anything develops.

Thanks very much to the thousands of people who have attended the weekly reading over the last 20 years that I've had the privilege to host it.

Word,

Rick Lupert

How I ruined it for everyone.

Here's a coda to the Yahoogroups CobaltPoets situation:

I recently accessed the at-that-time-open archives for the purpose of seeing whether a poet who hosts one week of the Rapp Saloon's reading series (I host the second week) had posted an announcement there.

Only then did I notice the discussion about the Monsanto protests.

To restate my earlier opinion in a more temperate way--I do understand the list proprietor's feelings that it's his domain to regulate as he pleases.  But once the not-a-poetry-announcement subject of Monsanto appeared (and was allowed to stay), then it should have continued, so long as the participants didn't try to strangle each other rhetorically.

Of course, it doesn't help that the list proprietor and I have had a history of disagreeing with each other--though I have, on occasion, acknowledged his talent and value (the latter in terms of his long-running reading series and pioneering poetry website).

I'm not comfortable with keeping things secret (whether they're poetry announcements or discussions/arguments within the "poetry community"). 

But other people are.

So now you have a poetry listserve mainly consisting of poetry announcements (which, ideally, should be available to the entire public) kept under lock and key.  And you have to be approved by the proprietor before being allowed to join.

And it's all my fault. 

Or is it?

UPDATE: Rick Lupert, CobaltPoets proprietor, replies to the above.  Here's his complete answer.
"oh, dear...no...I've received a couple of request from people (one recently and one not so recently) to delete past messages that had content they had written that they were concerned would come up as potential employees researched them on the web that they thought might not shed the best light on them. It was suggested to me that making the archives available only to members would make those posts not accessible by google searches etc while still allowing anyone who was part of the group (which is open to anyone to join) could still have access. So, yes there is an extra step for the public to get to the archived material, but it's still available and you, So you've ruined nothing and, Terry, you are more than welcome to rejoin the list if you'd like access to it. Re the Monsanto piece, I also received NUMEROUS requests to nip the conversation in the bud and a handful of "Thank Yous" after it was done...people tend to be pretty finicky about the amount of email they receive and when so much, to them, irrelevant material is posted to a list they're really just looking for poetry information on, it leads to people unsubscribing in flocks...many folks would just unsubscribe without bothering to send an email requesting the list remain focused on poetry...the main point being that the Cobalt list's primary purpose is to support the Cobalt reading...although it's very liberal on allowing other people to post news and information and marginally liberal on allowing occasional commentary and conversation on things involving poetry, when items like the Monsanto conversation come up directly cause people to want to leave the list, it becomes clear that the main purpose of the list begins to take a back seat which does not serve well the reading series or anyone interested in that primary purpose, which is most people on the list. Thanks, by the way, for the kind words you wrote about my website and me. I enjoyed your occasional picture from Italy and hope you and Valerie had an extraordinary experience there."

No pro-and-con disputes on Monsanto allowed on CobaltPoets list.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CobaltPoets/message/17384

Rick Lupert takes the floor:
I'd like to ask once again that this conversation be taken elsewhere. The Cobalt Poets email list is open to anything revolving around poetry, poetry events, , poetry announcements and any civil conversation regarding issues of poetry.

Thanks in advance for not responding to this email or any future emails to this list on the topic below.

R

[I was out of the country on vacation, so I came to this dispute on CobaltPoets' Yahoogroups list only a few minutes ago.

But I'll butt in and say that--even if the topic inspires heated and sometimes ill-considered remarks--topics such as Monsanto and its practices pro-and-con should get a discussion on a poetry listserve, for the sake of those who write poems about topics that aren't intended for workshops/MFA classes.

Someone like Phil Ochs would have a tough time on some of today's poetry listserves.]

CODA (6/3/13): The CobaltPoets Yahoogroups archives are now blocked to non-members.

Keeping Them Honest: Poetry Listserve Division.

Cobalt Listers,

The Cobalt Poets lists exists primarily for the promotion of the
Cobalt Cafe Poetry Reading.

I've left it un-moderated to allow folks to feel free to promote
other projects, converse with each other and be mildly annoying, as
we all tend to be on e-mail lists, in our attempts to be humorous,
intelligent or clever. This has strayed, far too often, from far too
many people into the arena of pain causing personal attacks, slander,
insults, unpleasantly :'discussion', and generally an
atmosphere of embarrassment for me at being the host of such a thing
which has served more to damage community than foster it.

Any future posts here which, at my sole discretion, even hint at this
kind of unpleasantness again will cause the poster to me immediately
removed from this list, no second chances, thanks bye.

Rick
--August 27, 2006


Subscribe or unsubscribe to the Cobalt Poets e-mail list. Also sort through the message archive or join in the un-moderated fun by posting anything you want about anything at any time for any reason.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention Terry. That [subscribe or unsubscribe....] was written when the Cobalt Poets email list was created, when, as a naive poetry host I thought having an unmoderated list was possible and before, as you know, so many people, yourself included, used it as a bully pulpit. I'll be editing the description to remove the 'anything goes' implication of the text. More good work sir!

It's a tiny thing as poetry community matters/manners go, but the Cobalt listserve description seen after the reprint of the 8/27/06 message hasn't been changed to reflect the list proprietor's "evolved" viewpoints on acceptable speech/conduct/posting, as promised.  So it appears as if I was subjected to either an untruth or withering "you lesser being" sarcasm.http://poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/links.html

UPDATE: The proprietor, via Facebook, addressed this issue.  Here's a portion of his response:

 Regardless of the inaccurate leftover original descriptions on the website, there has been a consistent moderation on the list which has applied to everyone equally specifically designed to avoid the kind of harm that was caused previously and refocus the list on its intended purpose to support and provide information about the Cobalt reading.

What appears to be a SoCal poetry community in-joke.

Actual quote from a description of a link to a SoCal poetry listserve, written by the listserve's creator:

"Subscribe or unsubscribe to the Cobalt Poets e-mail list. Also sort through the message archive or join in the un-moderated fun by posting anything you want about anything at any time for any reason."

To the above quote, I can only say:
A lot of people are comfortable with/unquestioning of the "my site, my rules" policies of websites that allow comments after posts--or listserves where, in theory, a member can post on a topic of his/her choosing.
Perhaps this is an oblique way of stating this rather than writing something boring and technical
i.e. "if you post anything that isn't a reading announcement and you criticize the community (or someone in it), even if it doesn't descend into blatant insults/profanity, then I will moderate content and possibly ban you."

So now, as the late commentator Paul Harvey used to say, you know the rest of the story.

UPDATE: The proprietor of the Cobalt Poets list, via Facebook, posted an answer to this post.  And, in the interest of equal time, here it is:
Thanks for bringing this to my attention Terry. That was written when the Cobalt Poets email list was created, when, as a naive poetry host I thought having an unmoderated list was possible and before, as you know, so many people, yourself included, used it as a bully pulpit. I'll be editing the description to remove the 'anything goes' implication of the text. More good work sir!

My reply to the proprietor's statement: Always glad to advocate truth in advertising.

TRIBUTE TO RICK LUPERT--"Tired Dogs, Uninterested Cats"

Physical violence and poetry readings should never mix.

Over a week ago, a poet was punched and injured by an audience member at the Cobalt Cafe in Canoga Park.  I attended that reading, but left as soon as the closing "group poem" was concluded.  So I missed the incident--not hearing about it until a couple of days later.

Am guessing last night's Cobalt reading was a more civil occasion (I was at Coffee Cartel in Redondo Beach).

Nonetheless, I very much hope that the Cobalt Cafe owners will once again (as in past years) pay for either a bouncer and/or someone to work the counter on Tuesdays.  It isn't fair to ask longtime host Rick Lupert to do everything on those evenings.

A poetry blast from the past--how some of my cynicism developed.

From an old Cobalt Poets listing in the last decade.  Here's Richard Beban, one-time Hyperpoet, talking to Bowerbird Intelligentleman, performance poet, about me.  Beban gets in a shot at a poem of mine, that, interestingly enough, was published in the first Tebot Bach anthology SO LUMINOUS THE WILDFLOWERS (highlighting is mine):
Bird:

I'd have to agree with you about it being "certainly no worse
than much of the stuff out there." High praise from you.

Much of the stuff out there is also prosaic polemic, little
angry essays that probably work in high school "satire"
magazines, but bear little resemblance to crafted poetry.

Terry is a PROSE writer, Bird; there's little difference between
one of his angry posts and one of his angry "poems," generally
about failure in Hollywood.

Just because you break a line where you want it, instead of
where the typesetter wants it, that doesn't make you a poet.

It's truly hard to tell, in a McCarthy performance, where the
incohate rant stops and the poetry begins. And it's hard to
find the music, the poetic craft, on the page of one of his
chapbooks, either.

Here's a "list poem" from the Wildflower anthology that's
big on list and small on poem. Gee, it's a satire about
showbiz. Well beat me over the head with a Princeton New
Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, I hadn't noticed how
deft and brilliant the satire was. (Last sentence satire.)

Aside from the occasional stabs at assonance and consonance
picked up and dropped so quickly they make me think they
were the kind of random typing accidents that happen
when monkeys try Shakespeare, show me the poetry in this piece:


Icarus' Itinerary

Fly high in the sky.
Allow wings to be melted
by the sun.
Fall to Earth.
Suffer painful injuries.
Hire a PR firm to do damage control.
Apologize to Jay, Dave, Conan,
Larry, Connie, lyanla,
Dr. Phil, Barbara and Oprah.
Confess past sins
to a sympathetic journalist.
Do a photo shoot for
VANITY FAIR.
Get a suspended sentence,
contingent on completing
200 hours of community service.
Go to a rehab center in Malibu.
Become clean and sober.
Get a new pair of wings.
Feel immortal.
Repeat all of the above.

> but richard, why do you keep blasting terry's work?
>
> while i haven't heard much of it, what i have heard
> seems to me to be at an acceptable level of quality,
> certainly no worse than much of the stuff out there.

>
> -bowerbird
>

Rick Lupert: SoCal poetry's Hall Monitor.

So I went over to the Cobalt Poets Yahoogroup to check on whether a certain reading was going to occur this week, and I read something about an open mike charging $5.00 [actually, it was $5 for a coupon to buy coffee and goods at the coffeehouse] and there's a discussion that isn't totally positive [not discussing a somewhat more contentious one involving fundamentalism and homophobia a few posts later].  Here comes the Cobalt Cafe host Rick Lupert to express his usual discomfort (boldface added by me):
More importantly, it would be nice, kind and even more human if we didn't jump

on opportunities to critique others, their readings or projects in a cynical or
sarcastic way. If that's your preferred style of communication, please contact
the intended recipient directly as it is not welcome on this list.

This is essentially a "don't say anything un-nice about anyone; I only want this list to be announcements only because I like control better than dealing with variables" announcement.

While one can at least respect Rick as a poet and long-time community pillar, one can't help but long for the days of the Cobalt list when people could disagree (and sometimes quite forcefully) with each other without being almost immediately told to shut up and take it elsewhere or suffer banishment.

Perhaps it's better for people to be themselves every so often without masks and hypocrisy.  It makes it easier to see which community poets you want to be friends/allies with--and which ones to avoid.

When poets are treated too much like royalty.

http://poeticdiversity.org/main/columns.php?recordID=1565&date=2010-08-01

Part of the purpose of my writing this blog is to expose nonpoets to how poetry communities (or at least the ones in Los Angeles and Orange County) carry out their tribal business.

Rick Lupert is a much-lauded poet from Los Angeles.  And, for better or worse, his every book is wildly praised (whether the book in question happens to merit it or not).  And, also for better or worse, he's hosted a reading for quite a long time in Canoga Park (plus the almost-as-long-running Poetry SuperHighway site), giving him Important Person status.

Regarding Rick as a poet, I think his best books (I'M A JEW, ARE YOU?, LIZARD KING OF THE LAUNDROMAT, MOWING FARGO, FEEDING HOLY CATS) are pretty much behind him.  But, admittedly, a great "selected poems" volume could be compiled of his best post-FARGO work.

But one is not supposed to say these things about Rick Lupert in public because 98% of the poetry community thinks of him as a lovable, funny I-riff-on-myself-and-those-around-me poet, a Nice Guy and as someone whose favor is courted by poets.
Unlike some, I can have two minds about certain people.  As a poet-entertainer, Rick's to be admired for quick wit and great timing and delivery.  I'm a bit more dubious about the merits of kissing his feet, though.

And, between Marie Lecrivain and G. Murray Thomas' recent bouquets of rapture for Rick's WE PUT THINGS IN OUR MOUTHS, I'm cynical enough to think at least part of this praise is motivated by poetry politics and wanting to be "in" with the Nice Important Guy.

In closing, I know it's an occupational hazard for poets to review the books of their friends.  I just wish that, if they refuse to recuse themselves, they can at least maintain some respectful distance (praising what's good and being tactfully analytical of what doesn't quite work).

Probably the quintessential quote criticizing me for not being a 100% poetry cheerleader.

"Everyone is having a great time.  Literally everyone....and you come along and take a shit in the middle of the living room."

 I just reiterated a pithy precis of every single time I've made poets angry over the last seven years--regarding things I've posted on Yahoogroups listserves or on this blog or (in some unfortunate cases) said at readings.

And I'm presuming that the anonymous person who fired the shotgun blast of the quote above is quite pleased to speak a version of the Truth to me--knowing that he/she (though I'm certain it's a "he") speaks for lots of wronged people (and as I've been re-learning, if I'm critical/questioning of others and they respond with anger and hatred, it's all my fault and none of theirs).

Eventually, we'll all leave the Earth behind and our poems will remain--to be evaluated on their enduring qualities when the specific virtues and sins of the poets writing them are long forgotten.

That should matter more than who is currently valued as the best-liked, harder-than-hardest-working, and/or most commercially successful person sitting in the musical chairs of what's still referred to as the Southern California poetry community.






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