New poem: CONTENTS OF JOURNALS PAST

no-longer-blank books on the shelf above me

reminding me of the way I used to write poems

one draft after another in blue or black ink

until they improved enough

to be tried out at open mics
>
other items in those books
including poems given to me
by poets no longer part of the scene
plus post-it notes with names
and addresses of poetry venues
that I eventually attended
>
in those days
before I became aware
of how unaware I was

My Frank Sinatra Reprise Records Playlist.

1. RING-A-DING-DING
2. I'M GETTING SENTIMENTAL OVER YOU
3. IMAGINATION
4. PLEASE DON'T TALK ABOUT ME WHEN I'M GONE
5. GOODY GOODY
6. NIGHT AND DAY
7. COME RAIN OR COME SHINE
8. FLY ME TO THE MOON
9. THE BEST IS YET TO COME
10. IT WAS A VERY GOOD YEAR
11. THAT'S LIFE
12. I CONCENTRATE ON YOU
13. STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT
14. SUMMER WIND
15. APRIL IN PARIS (Live, SINATRA AND SEXTET)
16. QUIET NIGHTS OF QUIET STARS (CORCOVADO)
17. SEND IN THE CLOWNS
18. LUCK BE A LADY
19. THEME FROM NEW YORK, NEW YORK
20. MY WAY

My Frank Sinatra Capitol Records playlist.

1. YOU MAKE ME FEEL SO YOUNG
2. IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS
3. I'VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN
4. COME FLY WITH ME
5. MOONLIGHT IN VERMONT
6. AUTUMN IN NEW YORK
7. I'M A FOOL TO WANT YOU
8. A COTTAGE FOR SALE
9. ANGEL EYES
10. EVERYTHING HAPPENS TO ME
11. NICE AND EASY
12. AMERICAN BEAUTY ROSE
13.  EMBRACEABLE YOU (DUETS II version w/Lena Horne)
14. ONE FOR MY BABY (AND ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD)
(DUETS version w/Kenny G soloing)

When ROLLING STONE grades/re-grades rock artists on a curve.

Links to various album reviews that have appeared in ROLLING STONE demonstrating the magazine's determination to "come through" for artists delivering albums that aren't universally acclaimed on original release.

First, founder Jann Wenner pre-emptively strikes critics of Bob Dylan's 1979 gospel album SLOW TRAIN COMING: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/slow-train-coming-19790920

Last year, David Fricke overrates Bruce Springsteen's grab-bag HIGH HOPES:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/high-hopes-20140106

Paul Nelson's lukewarm review of The Rolling Stones' SOME GIRLS:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/some-girls-19780810

The above is later reversed by Rob Sheffield's gooey, gushy five-star review of its reissued version:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/some-girls-deluxe-edition-20111121

Greil Marcus dismissing Bob Dylan's 1978 STREET-LEGAL:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/street-legal-19780824

Jann Wenner throwing Nelson and Marcus under the bus for not bowing to Greatness:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/love-in-vain-dylan-and-the-stones-in-the-seventies-19780921

Finishing with the all-time-classic miscue of Parke Puterbaugh giving The Who's IT'S HARD five stars in 1982: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/its-hard-19820930

New poem: OUTRAGE CULTURE

it's so easy

to be angry at Famous People

(justified or not)

for perceived sins of the past

and display purifying scorn
in public forums
via viral articles/blog posts
with no need
for nuance or perspective
or historical context
>
pre-empting opposite viewpoints
and making absolutely sure
actual or imagined crimes
and dubious, outdated, chauvinistic remarks
will cause every second of their art
and/or entertainment
created in the imperfect past
to be avoided like Video Plague
by future generations
and imprisoned in studio vaults
with no likelihood of escape
(except perhaps for YouTube)

On the subject of featured poets who leave readings early.

An interesting discussion is taking place on a Bay Area poet's Facebook feed.  She posed the issue of featured poets/writers who leave a reading early, as well as poets/writers who leave an open mic early.

First, let's hear from a literary poet, well known in California:
been on both ends. features know when the crowd is there because they want their 3 minutes of glory with the mic, not to listen to the feature. i usually stay, and like most open mics, might hear 1-3 really good poems, and a lot of really bad poetry. then i'll watch them exit with their hands in their pockets because they sure have no intention of buying a book or copy of my poetry mag. if i'm lucky, the host might give me 20 bucks for my gas and a trip to McDonald's. it's a glorious life. and the open-mic crowd wants a pieceof the action.

Another commenter:
  I think it'd very bad form to leave before the end of a reading, if you are reading yourself in any manner - unless of course circumstance compels you to leave. In which case, it's very good form to let folks know that you'll need to while you're at the mic. I generally assume that in most cases, when someone gets up to read and then leaves without mentioning that they need to, that they're only there to hear themself. Which in turn makes me disinterested in listening to their work in future, no matter what I might think of it.

Another commenter, who names Famous Names:

In the 1980s I drove some ways to Cal State Dominguez Hills to hear Robert Peters and Billy Collins, plus open mic. Pre-Mapquest, GPS, Google Maps. Found the building on-campus and was delighted by the features. They stayed for a little bit of the open mic but not the whole thing. I was sad they didn't get to hear me but not sorry I'd come. I believe Collins had been flown in for the event, and I'm sure these giants of poetry had plenty to say to each other.

Signing copies of HOLLYWOOD POETRY: 2001-2013 at LA TIMES Festival of Books: the information.

BOOK SIGNING INFORMATION

Author: Terry McCarty

Book: HOLLYWOOD POETRY 2001-2013

Date: Saturday, April 18, 2015

Time: 12:30PM – 1:30PM

Booth #: 208  [AUTHOR SOLUTIONS]

Location: North Trousdale [Trousdale Parkway] USC campus

For additional information on this year's Festival of Books:

http://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/ 

Sean Young, star behavior/misbehavior and Hollywood sexism.

From a GUARDIAN profile (inspired by a British theatrical reissue of BLADE RUNNER) by Danny Leigh
(http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/mar/26/blade-runner-sean-young-interview) :

It's strange, how the Blade Runner legend now leaves out both [Sean] Young and her co-star Daryl Hannah, presenting it as the collective triumph of Ford, Rutger Hauer with his “tears in rain” speech, and Ridley Scott orchestrating it all. Then again, that kind of thing often blights actors. Like a lot of what befell Young, it could only have happened to a woman.

The past is unknowable. But the idea that a young female actor new to Hollywood would be directed to the casting couch is hardly outlandish, or that the same actor would face the same demands even as a star. On-set, male actors can scream abuse at underlings and have it passed off as being “driven”; making Wall Street, an unwitting Young had a sign reading “cunt” stuck to her back by Sheen. And when the media reported her trials, they did so with the particular pursed delight that greets a woman’s fall from grace.

As for Hollywood, it often finds it easier to give second acts to men. Young could be excused a smile on noting that the highest paid actor in Hollywood for the past two years has been Robert Downey Jr, whose struggle with drug addiction in the 90s saw him spend time in state prison, as well as mistaking a neighbour’s house for his own and falling asleep in a child’s bedroom.

There are probably too many stories about Young’s “theatricality” for them all to be untrue. In the course of our email exchange, I am not always struck by the urge to get stuck in a lift with her. She admits to a “knack for pissing people off.” It is also rude to heckle someone while he’s collecting an award. But it’s unlikely any of this was helped by how the industry treated her. And she can be funny, and self-aware, and if even half those stories were embellished, and just some of that treatment was down to sheer misogyny – well, that’s quite a bum rap. You’d be angry too.