Matthew Mars/Niblock: Selected Works

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGbCW7-5jVs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4enUp8ZT8YQ
http://youtu.be/sQfU2xfAO4I

An open letter to poet/musician Matthew Mars aka Matthew Niblock.

Dear Matthew, A famous quote attributed to you is "I hate bad art.". Recently on the Facebook wall of  G. Murray Thomas (poet and NEXT... founder), you made a remark about how my poetry doesn't qualify (in your assumed opinion).  Though we don't really know each other, I've seen a couple of your features (one in Laguna Beach, one in Hollywood) during the period when you were most active in L.A. poetry.  I know a little of your work, and you have talent--but I'm curious as to whether or not you've read enough of my poems between 1998 and this year for you to pass an open-and-shut verdict on my work.  Really, I don't care if you don't like me personally.  But I'm offering you the opportunity to use this blog's comment section to tell me (and other readers) exactly what you think about my poetry.  And please offer quotations of lines/verses where necessary.  Awaiting your response--which will stand without any further reply from me.  Sincerely, Terry McCarty

Matthew Mars (formerly Matthew Niblock) in tribute to the late Erica Erdman.

http://www.radiuslit.org/2011/07/31/remembering-erica-erdman/#comment-2392

Re Erica Erdman's memorial and the passing of the old Iguana Cafe scene.

First, let me offer kudos to Amelie Frank, Richard Modiano and Beyond Baroque for the excellent memorial to L.A.'s Erica Erdman yesterday at Beyond Baroque. There was a fine line-up of people (including poets, Erica's father and former co-employees from FedEx) that communicated their love of Erica, her life and her poetry in words and song.

And I'll offer a sort-of-thanks to Tom Ianniello--a man who I have ambivalent personal feelings towards--for offering a stage to Erica and other talented poets/performers (first with the Iguana Cafe and later with Exile Books and Music) to develop and deepen their artistic craft.

I started reading my poems in public in 1998, so I missed out on the Iguana Cafe era--but was lucky to read at Exile (which later became Mysteries, Murder and Mayhem bookstore--run by mystery author Terrill Lee Lankford) when Amelie and Richard hosted a reading there. But it was inspiring to see and hear its alumni get together again.

Making a safe guess that Erica's spirit--which could be felt inside the Beyond Baroque theater--enjoyed and was gratified by the afternoon's tribute.

RIP to Los Angeles poet Erica Erdman, 55.

Was shocked and sad to find out that L.A. poet Erica Erdman passed away yesterday.

I didn't know Erica that well, but she was a class act as a person and as a member of the tribe called "the poetry community."

Met Erica in the late 90s at Amelie Frank's reading series at the Hot House in North Hollywood. Saw her last at the 2009 Newer Poets reading at the Downtown Los Angeles
Public Library.

Here's a link to Amazon.com for Erica's book THE APOCALYPTIC KID:
http://www.amazon.com/Apocalyptic-Kid-Erica-Erdman/dp/1892687003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266636221&sr=1-1