R.I.P. Larry Jaffe

Just read on Facebook about the passing away of Larry Jaffe. New Yorker, Californian and, of late, Floridian.  Larry, along with the late Donn Deedon, hosted the Poetic License readings in Pasadena/Hollywood (Melrose)/Los Feliz/Silverlake.

His raucous informality as host and poet/storyteller gathered a large following of poets in various stages of developing both writing craft and stage presence.  

This was a time when SoCal readings—populist and elevated—thrived.

By 2002, the L.A. scene began to crave formality and a tighter standard as to features (mostly limited to prestige small presses and MFA degree holders).  Larry, perhaps sensing this shift, began hosting a reading at the Autry Museum which, after an initial evening resembling the Poetic License of yore, became shorter and more subdued afterwards and limited in terms of features plus invited poets with less time allowed (no open readers as I recall).

If memory is correct, Larry did host a one-off reading at the Rainbow Grill at the Sunset Strip around 2004.  It was  more in the Poetic License tradition and the last time I encountered him in person.

I was never allowed into the inner circle of Poetic License (writing this now as a neutral observation), but I did like to go to its readings and made a few friends/acquaintances there.

Essentially, Larry, Donn, Midnight Special’s Olin Tezcatlipoca and Joan Zoric and Pasadena’s Don Kingfisher Campbell and Jack Bowman were quite influential on my ventures in this subculture between 1998-1999.  Regardless of how the later years turned out, I’m glad to have met and learned from them.

RIP Los Angeles poet Steve Baratta.

Steve Baratta, who was a regular at SoCal open-mike readings in the 90s and 2000s (chiefly the various Poetic License readings hosted by Larry Jaffe and the late Donn Deedon--plus the Midnight Special Bookstore reading in Santa Monica, among others), passed away at the age of 61 this past weekend from a blood clot prior to having surgery for a heart condition.  In recent years, Steve was active on Internet radio hosting the Monday show OPEN WINDOWS for KillRadio.org

Steve was idealistic and believed in positive change to benefit the world. 

Here are a few of his poems:
http://poetsagainstwar.blogspot.com/p/steve-baratta.html

THE BURDEN OF ETERNAL YOUTH--RECORDED VERSION

I read this in 2002; Jimmy Smith put a backing musical track on it and combined both at his home studio in Sherman Oaks CA.

What I keep forgetting about the notion of "friends" on Facebook.

Earlier this afternoon, I unfriended someone who I had known since the early days I participated in L.A. poetry.  We got along fairly well and I even gave him rides to and from readings.  I knew he had a less-than-positive opinion of the poems I wrote at the time, but I (sometimes with swallowed discomfort) accepted it and was happy to have at least an acquaintanceship with him.

Recently, the poet (now living in another state) took to Facebook to complain on a topic I could empathize with--feeling marginalized and perhaps pushed out by a dominant faction in his poetry community.

I read his post and the comments from his friends in the other state wishing him well and hoping he'd continue his poetry/publishing activities.

Backchannel, I wrote him a letter (duplicating the well-wishes described above) and got a terse response of, essentially, "it's nothing, just problems with someone in City X."

I wished him well nonetheless--and later, I noticed he posted another (apparently related to the earlier post) complaint about "incest" in poetry (presumingly about cliques of poets who have a narrow who's in/who's out policy--also something I have awareness of).

And there were supportive comments from his recent friends.

This made me realize that he thought of me (who knew him over a two-year period) as someone not worth talking to even on a superficial level about what was bothering him.  Perhaps he wanted to hear from the "right" people in his city/state.

So, I unfriended him.  This likely made me a bad Facebook "friend" or perhaps "petty" to some people's thinking.

But it was a reminder of the lesson that one should think very hard about the people you are tempted to friend--and that this social network contract be based on something a little more substantive than cursorily knowing someone for a few years, months or days

A BRIEF HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES POETRY AS I KNEW IT

TRIBUTE TO JACK SHAFER #3--BLUES FOR A STREET POET

New poem: A BRIEF HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES POETRY

A BRIEF HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES POETRY AS I KNEW IT


When there was an El Nino storm,




people still went out to poetry readings.



That was 1998.



NEXT magazine was the beacon



telling you where to find the word banquets.







And the first place I went



was the Midnight Special Bookstore



on Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade



because it was listed in NEXT.







Politics in the air at Poetic License.



Poems with "Free Mumia" messages.



Lots of fingersnaps for a line or even a word.



People filled with strong notions



of what was right and wrong.







Just about every reading



was filled to capacity.



And it was easy



to find readings



every night of the week.



It was also possible



to make acquaintances



and real friends.







In those days,



people weren't always worried



about being Published.



You could go to Kinkos



and print your own DIY chapbook--



breaking even by selling it to other poets



at readings.







Went to the Rose Cafe



and was exposed to poetry as Disciplined Art.



Long introductions for features



and open readers told to return



next week when time ran out.



(Eventually, the Rose Cafe



became the template



for most readings in Los Angeles and Orange County today.)







Those were the days



before venues and readings closed,



gasoline prices climbed,



popular poets and hosts moved out of state



or left the Earth entirely,



remaining poets began feuding



and a quiet movement began



to encourage uniform standards of quality.



raise the bar for booking features



and discourage the kind of open mikes



that attracted musicians and comics.



For some, this was a great notion







Oracles said that it was good for poetry.



I heard phrases like "layers of meaning"



used ad nauseum.







And other poets said not to complain



about changes in the scene--



or other poets themselves.



For it was perceived as



causing the entire scene



to suffer grievously



from intemperate words.







And today, there are fewer venues.



And just a few poets with power--



some of them use it more generously



than others.







Recently, there was a rainstorm



in Santa Monica.



It wasn't as strong as an El Nino.



And people did come to the reading--



but not nearly as many



as on a torrential night



thirteen years before.

Current and former Los Angeles poets looking back at the previous decade.

1998 was the year I became active in Los Angeles poetry. It was a time when poetry readings came in a selection of rock-and-roll, hip-hop, folk-radical agitprop or chamber music. And, on occasion, readings could blend all of the above.

2008 is a year where Los Angeles poetry is mostly chamber music (with occasional exceptions such as Fairfax's Da Poetry Lounge and the Wednesday night readings at the Unurban Cafe) that can, at its soporific worst, remind one of the sound of water being poured into a glass.

Recently, the Onyx Cafe, an everyone-can-participate Los Feliz reading dead since 1998, staged a reunion at the Echoplex in Echo Park. A documentary film may surface someday of the reunion.

Ex-L.A. poet Larry Jaffe, who co-hosted Poetic License with the late Donn Deedon, was a beneficiary of the Onyx's legacy. Here's a link to his latest project--UNPROTECTED POETRY 10 YEARS AFTER: www.lgjaffe.com/unprotectedpoetry

Rick Lupert, a veteran of the local scene, has finally acted on a suggestion I (among others) made to him years ago and reissued his second book--I AM MY OWN ORANGE COUNTY--consisting of poetry written between 1990-97. More information on the book can be found here: http://poetrysuperhighway.com/iamooc.html

Reissues are all well and good for reminding the public of work done in the past. And 10th anniversary celebrations are a valuable opportunity for seeing now-mostly-retired poets make rare reappearances and for poetry hosts (such as Ron Dvorkin, who recently celebrated his 10th anniversary as host of the Barnes and Noble reading in Encino) to make note of their longevity in a changing scene.

After the celebrations are over, questions remain:
What kind of poetry scene will we be looking back on in 2018?
Inclusive or ultraexclusive?