Tales of two SoCal bookstores.

Thanks to Kevin Roderick of LA OBSERVED (a Los Angeles media website) for including this link to an article on the upcoming demise of Long Beach's Acres of Books in a recent column of his: http://www.presstelegram.com/search/ci_10009704

In Los Feliz, the thriving business of Skylight Books (formerly Chatterton's for those of a certain age) is expanding its space into the building next door.

I was in the store yesterday and noticed a paucity of certain kinds of poetry.  To use a baseball analogy, the store carries some major leaguers, but gives little space to the farm teams (some may become the "major" poets of future years).

Here's a letter I wrote to Kerry Slattery, the manager:

Hi Kerry,

 

This letter is intended to politely address an imbalance that you can help correct via the representation of Los Angeles poetry in Skylight Books.

 

I was at your store yesterday and bought a couple of poetry books by S.A. Griffin and Ron Koertge.  Upon looking at the selection of zines and chapbooks, I've noticed that a lot of work by Los Angeles' poetry community is unavailable. 

 

Ideally, there should be a more wide-ranging selection of self-published chapbooks, fledgling small-press books and poetry anthologies (the latest compilation of Valley Contemporary Poets and recent collections of Marie Lecrivain's POETIC DIVERSITY come to mind).

 

With the closing of Duttons Brentwood and the sporadic hours of the Beyond Baroque bookstore, there aren't that many places for local poets to have their work sold.

 

And, with too-high gasoline prices, the audiences for readings (where chapbooks, small presses and anthologies are often sold) are not what they have been in the past.

 

I'm aware that you have standards regarding what or what not to choose for sale at Skylight.  But it would be ever so kind of you to highlight newer and up-and-coming L.A./OC poets who haven't yet received exposure at the store.

 

Thanks so much for your attention in this matter.

 

Sincerely,

Terry McCarty

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: LAObserved.com, Kevin Roderick, Kerry Slattery, Acres of Books, Southern California poets, Southern California poetry

SALON's Andrew O'Hehir interviews filmmaker Courtney Hunt (FROZEN RIVER).

I saw the film FROZEN RIVER with Melissa Leo and Misty Upham about a week ago and recommend it highly as a drama nondependent on CGI and whirling Steadicam (it opens this Friday in select theaters).

Here's a link to SALON critic Andrew O'Hehir's interview with the writer/director Courtney Hunt: http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/btm/?last_story=/ent/movies/btm/feature/2008/07/30/frozen_river/

Tags: FROZEN RIVER, Sony Pictures Classics, Melissa Leo, Misty Upham, Courtney Hunt, Salon.com, Andrew O'Hehir, Beyond the Multiplex

LOS ANGELES TIMES on San Francisco poet August Kleinzahler.

Here's a link to a recent LOS ANGELES TIMES article on San Francisco's sometimes-impatient-with-literary-poetry-icons poet August Kleinzahler: http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-me-sfpoet28-2008jul28,0,4537015.story

[Thanks to Northern California poet Garrett Murphy for forwarding me the article.]

Sidebar: There may be one area of poetics that Kleinzahler and Billy Collins may agree on: the tendency of academia (or workshops) to homogenize poetry.  Collins, in a recent appearance at the Skirball Center in West L.A., alluded to the workshopping trend in question-and-answer remarks after his reading.

Sidebar #2: If Kleinzahler ever decides to move to Los Angeles, he'd become an instant pariah.

 

Tags: August Kleinzahler, Billy Collins, Charles Bukowski, Skirball Center, Bay Area poetry, City Lights Bookstore, Los Angeles poetry, Gregory Corso

Jon Voight's conservative talking points.

With the exceptions of supporting roles in Michael Mann films (HEAT, ALI), Jon Voight has methodically undone his once-sterling reputation as one of the most gifted actors of his generation (MIDNIGHT COWBOY, DELIVERANCE, CONRACK, COMING HOME).

And it's sad to see him regurgitating Republican talking points for THE WASHINGTON TIMES: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/28/voight/

Even Charlton Heston at his most vituperative could write better political prose than Voight.

Tags: Jon Voight, Charlton Heston, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, Hollywood actors who are Republicans/conservatives

Teaser trailer for Oliver Stone's W.

The official teaser trailer for Oliver Stone's George W. Bush docudrama W. is now on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyDvUwRalXY&eurl=http://www.dlisted.com/

Whether or not W will equal the commercial success of Stone's peak years of 1987-91 is an open guess.  But the fighting over the validity and/or truthfulness of Stone's take on George Butch, Jr. is only beginning.

Tags: George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, Oliver Stone, W, JFK, NIXON

On Shia LaBeouf's current troubles.

Here's the AOL snark link to Shia LaBeouf: The Beef Is Sauced! DUI Bust for LaBeouf

And here's a poem I wrote about him a couple of months ago:

shya lebuff

 

inside you’re john lennon

but they want you to be paul mccartney

 

spielberg depends on you

paramount depends on you

michael bay really depends on you

 

you know the laws of show business by heart:

be reliable and don’t make your coworkers nervous

 

remember to not be rude to your fans

 

and tell megan fox hello for me when you’re

on the set of transformers two

 

Tags: Shia LaBeouf, TRANSFORMERS 2, Steven Spielberg, D.J. Caruso, Michael Bay, Shia's 2007 arrest

BEYOND BAROQUE chapbook archive: remembering the living, the dead, etc. etc.

Here's a link to the (obviously not recently updated) BEYOND BAROQUE chapbook archive: http://www.beyondbaroque.org/archive/index.htm

There, you will see chapbooks, their authors and the approximate publishing dates. 

Given the self-imposed limitations of the scene, this may be the only way that future generations will know of some of the poets listed in the archive.

Tags: Beyond Baroque, Southern California poetry, Southern California poets, Los Angeles poetry, Orange County poetry

Young Turks' Cenk Uygur on Bush's comments on economy to the have-mores.

Here's a link via HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE to Young Turk Cenk Uygur taking a little over nine minutes to deconstruct George Butch Jr.'s recent caught-unawares speech in Houston--and the effect that all the bailouts of unregulated financial giants have on the American economy: http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2008/07/astute_analysis.php

Tags: HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE, Wachovia, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, The Young Turks, Cenk Uygur, George W. Bush