Brief note: A few weeks ago, I went on the road a bit with poets Alejandro Guitierrez and Amihan Aquino for a few readings on the East coast. I’ve had correspondence with both poets since 2017 but we weren’t able to coordinate our schedules to get anything organized. We’ve discussed continuing touring together at a later date.
The DC area was recently hit hard with thunderstorms and the several trees at Arlington National Cemetery were severely damaged. The Honor Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier didn’t miss a beat, continuing their tradition of marching and protected the Tomb through the thunderstorm. The phrase by Sun Tzu comes to mind “in the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity” which always brings a smile to my face.
I didn’t get a chance to spend a lot of time at Arlington or Washington DC but I will be back that way in November. Alejandro, Amihan, and I have also discussed continuing this tour at a later date.
I would like to thank our hosts as well as those in attendance for each one of these readings. Great turnout at each location, great performances by everyone involved.
I have a love/hate relationship with the city of Pittsburgh, PA. Well, that isn’t entirely correct. It’s more of a tolerate/hate relationship. I was warned by several friends of mine from NY when I moved to Pittsburgh in 2017 that the citizens of Pittsburgh would get on my nerves. And for the most part, they were right.
When Ghosts For Valhalla Press first approached me on participating in the Apparition Juxtaposition Poetry Tour, I requested that Pittsburgh be added to the tour schedule. It was merely a coincidence that the city was the last stop on the tour. For me, it was a personal issue that I needed to read in Pittsburgh.
One of the main aspects of doing poetry tours is to sell books. Generally speaking, with a few exceptions, most independent authors really don’t sell a lot of books while on tour. Your sales will either come from pre-sale events or the initial book launch. A unique aspect about the dynamics of this tour, since every event was a house show, is that more attendees purchased books because the organizers at each event brought in people who would buy books. While I didn’t sell any books (I didn’t see the point on try to sell Legends of Doe Hoe because for me its old news), I’m just glad that whatever my contribution was during each event helped Dan and Dana sell theirs. Ghosts For Valhalla Press was also happy so that is always good as well.
Before the reading, we were discussing the lineup, and everyone assumed that I was going to go last. I requested to go first, Dana Cheung followed, then Dan Altimus closed the poetry contribution of the show. The Soulfly Tangerines did a series of musical numbers to close out the show.
The hosts for this event were absolutely great. They were very welcoming and were very appreciative that they were included as a location on the Apparition Juxtaposition Poetry tour.
I’m also glad that the performers didn’t have to really do any publicity for these events. We just showed up and did our thing.
Provincetown is right on the tip of Cape Cod. Off season on the Cape is a second home to me. Vacant beaches, no tourists, and being surrounded by rude New Englanders just seems to appeal to me. In May, the Great White Sharks migrate north to go after the seals. There are warning signs on every beach to be careful in the water. The sharks will get really close to the shoreline, a matter of a few feet actually. If the sharks don’t kill you, the rip tides can and will. Unless you are an expert swimmer and know how to navigate yourself in those waters, if you get caught in a rip tide, you’ll get pulled right out to sea.
If the Great Whites don’t get you, the rip tides don’t get you, then the damn tourists will. I wasn’t born on the Cape, so I know I’ll never be fully accepted there, but I do everything I can to not act like a tourist when I’m on Cape Cod. But when the season begins, the tourists pour in, traffic backs up, the beaches get crowded, even the locals hate it, but it brings the money in.
Outside of Pride Month, it’s very common to see pride flags everywhere in Provincetown. Rainbows are all over the place. It’s been my experience that it’s also very common at house shows in Provincetown that there is a drastic concern over the use of pronouns. “Which pronouns do you prefer to be referred to?”. While I respect anyone’s decision to be referred to by the pronoun of their choosing, for me, if it comes down to it, and I’m being forced to pick a pronoun, I would rather be referred to by the acronym of one of the mental health diagnoses that I’ve had over the past 50 years. The choices are: PTSD, GAD, MDD, or NREM-related parasomnia. Before the reading, I was pressed to pick a pronoun, I gave the options available, and someone in the audience had an issue with this, raised a ruckus and was escorted out of the house show.
Someone else had an issue with the title of Dana Cheung’s book “Known Pronouns“. This person raised more ruckus than the previous person and was escorted out.
These two guests were tourists, from Illinois if I remember right.
Hell of a way to start an evening.
Dana was upset and fired up so we decided that since Dana had the most energy of the night, the line up would be myself, Dan Altimus, and Dana closed the show.
To add more kindling to the drama fire, The Soulfly Tangerines individual members only refer to each other by his/her/their pronouns. Not the Christian names given at birth. It’s not a joke and is the preference of the individual members of the group.
After the reading, I spent a lot of time contemplating exactly how many Great Whites were roaming in the dark of the coast of Cape Cod. That might have contributed to the NREM-related parasomnia event I had later on in the evening but who knows.
I have to admit, my only legitimate reference point for the city of Boston comes from TV: Cheers, the Celtics, the Red Sox. Two out of those three entities listed I absolutely cannot stand. I grew up a Lakes and Yankees fan so to say that I was a bit biased regarding the Boston area is a bit of an understatement.
Since Massachusetts is Dana Cheung’s back yard, we all agreed that she should close the show. I opened followed by Dan Altimus. During my set, I debuted the piece “the disastrous hobby of counterfeiting Oswald’s ghost” from my upcoming book “Base Jumping at Taughannock Falls” that will be published later on this year by Ghosts For Valhalla Press. I had to leave shortly after the reading to catch a flight back to Pittsburgh for a set of meetings on Sunday so my Boston experience was a bit brief.
As with the hosts from the other shows we have done on this tour, the Boston crew was very welcoming as well as generous. Even to this 50-year-old Lakers/Yankees fan.
It might have started with either the countless hours I spent as a child watching Sesame Street or staring at the W.B. Mason sign in left field at Yankee Stadium whenever the Bronx bombers were on TV, or the early Martin Scorsese films I used to be obsessed over, but I have always had a fascination with the Big Apple. For me as a poet, New York City is the Mecca for poetry readings and performances. Yes, there are other metropolitan areas with poetry scenes, but if you get a shot at reading in NY, you better take it, and you better bring your A game.
My first reading in The City So Nice They Named It Twice, was in September of 2017. Originally, I was offered a 30-minute set at a joint on the Lower East Side. I had my flight already booked from Kansas City, transportation plans figured out, as well as lodging. A move to Pittsburgh later on in life changed the flight, lodging, and transpo plans. In a moment of beneficence, I gave up 15 minutes of my set before hand to a poet from KC and invited two other poets from Pittsburgh to read at the end during the open mic segment.
In hindsight, I never should have done that. It was my time, and “My Time” should be just that. My time in The Empire City.
Lesson learned.
In 2017, we drove up from Pittsburgh, (the KC poet flew out), did a reading in NJ, then headed to The White Horse Tavern for a meetup with a couple of NY writers and some drinks. A pint of Guinness was $9. I don’t remember how many I had. The KC writer wore a suit jacket, I wore a decent pork pie hat, white shirt, black tie and a vest. The Pittsburgh poets dressed as if they had a side gig hauling used refrigerators out of Camden, NJ.
In my opinion, if you are reading in The City That Never Sleeps, you damn well better respect the Mecca, respect the craft, and dress the part.
Lesson learned.
I paid $40 for a $9 bottle of Mark West Pinot Noir at the 2017 establishment. Even shared a glass or two from that bottle.
I did 15 minutes of my greatest hits at the time during my set.
Flash forward to May 20, 2023.
Reading at a house show in Manhattan, NY, a gnat’s eyelash away from Central Park, a 30 minute set for each poet reading for the event, full bar, catered event with a chef on hand, and the house wine of the evening: Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee Reservee 2015.
I didn’t share shit.
Lesson learned.
After a brief discussion, we decided that Dana Cheung would start the reading off first, followed by Dan Altimus, the I read some old stuff as well as some new stuff that I’ve recently finalized. Everyone was dressed to the nines. The Soulfly Tangerines even wore suit jackets and did a few bits with me at the end of my set.
“The last time I had a reading in New Jersey was back in September of 2017. I shared the bill with a poet from the Kansas City area as well as two poets from Pittsburgh. The reading was at a public library that included an open mic. A common conundrum of any public reading is if there is an open mic, where in the lineup do you put the featured readers? If you start the night with the open mic session, most open mic readers will simply leave after their reading, leaving an almost empty room for the featured readers. If you put the open mic session at the end, you run the risk of open mic readers coming into the venue while the featured readers are reciting their work. Another conundrum with public readings is the issue of publicity. With which modalities are the venue as well as the featured readers going to utilize to promote the event? Radio, local TV, social media, podcasts, fliers? All of them?
One benefit of doing a house show, especially a house show tour, is that the performers don’t have to be concerned about an open mic or publicity for the event. The host of the house show handles the invitations on who gets in and there is rarely an open mic.“
These were my initial unsolicited ramblings to Dan Altimus and Dana Cheung before the house show in Atlantic City on May 13th. This is their first poetry tour; I’ve lost track of how many poetry tours I’ve done. A few, going on 6 years now.
One of the requirements/limitations/decrees of this particular tour is that the hosts have requested/required all of the performers at each event to not shoot photos or take videos during the set or while on the premises. While this request/requirement may irritate the younger generation who have grown up with a constant diet of Tik Tok/Instagram/Twitter stimulation/need for validation, it really focuses on the beauty of the present moment. Your performance only matters to those who are on site during the event. There also the issue of the privacy of those hosting the event. Most people really don’t want their details of their loft/gazebo/backyard studio broadcasted on Facebook/Instagram live. Some people don’t care, but those hosting us during this tour have raised those concerns.
Since we are being compensated for travel, food, lodging etc. during the tour at each event, there really isn’t room to gripe.
Not that any of us on the bill are.
Some poets are worried about the batting order of the lineup. If you go last, you are perceived as the headliner. If you go first, you are the opener (less experienced poet?). I’ve never bought into that crap. Other than being aware of the performers vocal tone or delivery, it doesn’t really matter to me where I am at in the lineup. As diverse as the lineup is of the current poets on this tour, we can be interchanged anywhere in the line up in my opinion.
I opened the reading, followed by Dan Altimus, then Dana Cheung closed the set. In between there were selections performed by The Soulfly Tangerines.
There was a good showing at this event. I’m guessing 150 people.
“Don’t get used to this kind of turn out after this tour.“
Another one of my unsolicited ramblings to Dan and Dana.
At the reading at the public library in New Jersey in September of 2017, there were probably 10 -12 people in the audience. The organizer of the event didn’t even attend.
After a long internal debate, I’ve decided to revamp my author site (create a new one).
A lot has transpired over the past 6 years. I’ve accepted the position of poetry director for the Rusted Straitjacket Unicycle Troop, a conglomerate of poets, musicians, and visual artists throughout the US. In addition, I’ve performed a variety of poetry readings in the US but focused mostly on the East Coast.
In late October of 2017, after flying back from California after visiting family and attending a few literary business meetings, I was physically assaulted outside the Pittsburgh International Airport over poet drama. During the attack, I was told to remain silent of said poetry drama. Due to the viciousness of the attack and the absurdity of this crap, I immediately left Pittsburgh the very next day and severed all ties that I had with the poetry world for a while. Over time, I developed new partnerships and developed more beneficial ties in the poetry and performance art community.
In association with Ghosts For Valhalla Press, I’ve recently been included in a series of readings on the East Coast with fellow poets Dan Altimus and Dana Cheung. Ghosts For Valhalla Press will be publishing my next book entitled “Base Jumping at Taughannock Falls” later on this year in addition to shooting a video interview with me.
Transgressions in Transubstantiation: The Mantras of Jameson Bayles 
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