The MOuTH @ Mark Twain House

One of my favorite arts / culture events in the region is the more or less bi-monthly spoken word / story event entitled "The MOuTH". A clear homage / dig at public radio's "The Moth" (which reportedly dissed Hartford's overture in terms of setting up a local Moth event), and very appropriately held at the Mark Twain House (Mr. Clemens loved a good story), I've been to most of "The MOuTH" evenings, and have even graced the stage (back in December 2013).

Hosted by the talented, and much loved Chion Wolf, with the imprimateur and able assistance of Twin House Director of Communications Jacques Lamarre, it represents the best of Hartford's creative class.

Last night was no exception, a nearly sell-out crowd, with wonderful stories (funny, dark, wistful, tentative) around the theme of "I Quit", a featured guest (Joey DeFrancesco, famous for his Joey Quits video and resultant website / social movement working for service worker rights), and a surprise performance by the Hartford Hot Several, featuring Ms. Wolf gleefully pounding on a fluorescent pink bucket along with a score of musicians of various levels of talent and costumery.

I will, of course, take a bow for prescience, having spotted Ms. Wolf on the media horizon way back in 2007-2008) - by dint of her Flickr page and photo junkets to the Plainville Balloon Fest, Bradley Airport (Airbus A380 Visit), and Hillary Clinton's campaign stop in town as well as her continuity work at WNPR (back before I realized it was all pre-recorded, I thought she might be living at the station on weekends). And I could swear, in a fit of semi-drunken over-sharing at Real Art Ways in the dark ages (between Colin's departure from WTIC and his arrival at WNPR), that I insisted he get Chion on board if he got a gig at WNPR, but I might be mistaken there.

In any case, Colin was present last night in spirit; the dude next to me was looking around hopefully and musing out loud to his seatmate that "Colin might be here", and one of the speakers dropped his name talking about her apartment, in a building here Colin used to reside. And although she gives mad props and huge gratitude to Colin for plucking her into the limelight, Chion stand firmly on her own two feet these days in terms of talent, celebrity, and passion.

Chion announced the dates, and themes, of "The MOuTH" for 2015, which I failed to record and can not seem to find online. But you can keep in touch via Facebook, as well as on the Mark Twain House events page. So happy this series will be an ongoing event.

NPR Pet Peeve

It's a minor thing, and perhaps only irksome to the NPR addict, but it makes me cranky when a particular topic, individual, author make the rounds on NPR (and often bleed over to The Daily Show and The Colbert Report). It gets kind of repetitive.

Today's example: Bob Mankoff, on Fresh Air on Monday to shill his new book How About Never? Is Never Good For You? Three days later, he's popping up on The Colin McEnroe Show (along with many others) for a more free-form discussion about getting cartoons published (or not) in the New Yorker.

As least there's a bit of introspection or self-awareness, as TCMS page notes "Bob Mankoff, the cartoon editor of The New Yorker, has been all over the media this week...." - and I am sure the publicists of these authors and celebs make a point of hitting all the usual outlets. But I can be pretty sure that when I hear about a person, book, or topic on Fresh Air, I'll likely hear about it again via On The Media, Studio 360, On Being, RadioLab, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, or one of the local WNPR shows (The Colin McEnroe Show or Where We Live).

Telling Stories in Connecticut

Seems like spoken word performance / story telling is all the rage in these parts.

I attended the inaugural "The Mouth" at the Mark Twain House this past month; anything carrying Chion Wolf's imprimateur has got to be good. (and it was....) You can keep up with "The Mouth" on Facebook.

A quick web search also uncovered The Connecticut Storytelling Center, which hosts an annual Connecticut Story Telling Festival at Connecticut College, April 26-27.

In addition, there's a weekly Urban Storytellers series at MCC on Main, Manchester.  This is a great space (and not just because my beloved Guinea Pigs have a gig coming up, March 22.

And a last minute addition, the ongoing Other People's Stories series, held irregularly at La Paloma Sabanera in Hartford. 

Finally, the twitter reveals a new series, Speak Up, to be held at Real Art Ways. The inaugural date for this event is Saturday. May 4, at 7:00 pm.

I'm a big fan of The Moth and Snap Judgement - so hopefully these things will do well. The quality of stories told at The Mouth was just steller, IMHO, so hopefully that is a harbinger of some good talent in the area.

WNPR Signal Outage

WNPR has been off the air since yesterday around noon-time, apparently there was storm related damage at or near the transmitter on Meriden Mountain.

In the meantime, I've kind of been enjoying radio silence. I am an admitted NPR addict and I often have WNPR going on multiple radios (office / bedroom / living room) not to mention my car and an occasional podcast. So it's sort of nice to try a more contemplative, silent morning. I suppose I could catch the stream (shades of Colin McEnroe on WTIC during Red Sox games) but my computer speakers are not great and I'm slinging around large files for work this morning. Don't worry, WNPR. I will be back to my old ways as soon as you are back on the air.

In the meantime, just passing this along....

I’ve just received word from WNPR’s engineering department this evening that the power lines to the Meriden transmitter sustained heavy damage this afternoon during the violent storm that passed through the area.

CL & P crews, local tree removal services and tower maintenance personnel are working in concert to restore power – and our signal – as quickly as possible.

As I write, we anticipate the earliest time to get WNPR’s 90.5 signal back on line is late Friday afternoon.

Member support not only delivers the best news and information available, it also ensures that we can restore delivery of WNPR’s service as quickly as possible during times like these.

Thank you for your understanding and your financial support. Tonight in particular, your generosity will be at work throughout the night.

Jack

Jack Callahan
Vice President, Individual Giving
Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network
CPTV | WNPR CPTV4U | cpbn.org
1049 Asylum Avenue
Hartford, CT 06105
jcallahan@cpbn.org
Phone: (860)275-7320
www.cpbn.org

The Bulletproof End of the Spectrum

It's a little thing, I know. And I'd hardly notice it except that I am an NPR junkie who listens pretty much non-stop.

There's a promo running right now about WNPR environmental reporting, and the interviewee in the promo is talking frogs. Not exactly a direct quote, but he says "....frogs are on the bulletproof end of the spectrum; they spend part of their lives on land and part in the water, so they are exposed to lots of toxins and are at high risk as a result."

Now, Frog Mutations are a pretty well known (if not fully explained) phenomena. Frogs are pretty sensitive to environmental issues. So I would not exactly refer to them as "bulletproof".

Call me Miss Cranky Pants, but wrong word, dude! And "boo" to WNPR for putting that particular clip in their promo so we're subjected to the improper usage repetitively....

*** End of Rant ***

Madame Secretary

Triggered by Colin McEnroe's Easy to grasp = True, regarding Susan Byseiwicz's problems with her prospective bid for the Attorney General position.

The whole shuffling of candidates and elected positions in Hartford leaves me with a bad taste. Regardless of whether she is qualified or not (in fact, by the legal definition, or as perceived by the electorate) - her candidacy for AG seems less like a well thought out career arc and more of a "I'm entitled to one of these jobs, the question is, which one"

Do we have a ruling class in the state? If there is one lesson to be taken from MA it's that a position or elected office for granted is no longer a sinecure.

I've always liked Ms. Byseiwicz in her role as SoS; she seems to be on top of things like reaching out to the disenfranchised, being a visible and accessible public figure in terms of elections and voting mechanics. But I've seen nothing that makes me think she has the drive or chops to be AG (other than, perhaps, having done what she can as SoS).

Maybe she has either or both of these. I hope she can communicate that to us. But right now, I'm getting a whiff of entitlement and ruling class (evidenced by Martha Coakley, whose main qualification for Senate seems to have been "I put in my time, you owe me") - and with the mood of the electorate, that does not seem like a good thing.

Saab Stories

This morning on Where We Live.

I always thought the passenger side mirror was developed due to Saabs (joke). Because back in the day (late 70s / early 80s) it seemed like if someone came screaming up and passed in the right lane, s/he was driving a Saab. Or sat on your bumper and flashed the headlights if one was not doing 20 mph over the limit. I've never quite shaken the stereotype of the Saab driver as being a bit of a speed demon / hothead, although certainly other cars have filled that wanna-be race car driver niche in ensuing years.

Where We Live @ Real Art Ways

I went to the taping of Where We Live last evening at Real Art Ways. The theme of the show was Locating Creativity in the city of Hartford - official guests were an official from the city of Providence (Water Fire....ooooo!) as well as the COO from the city of Hartford. Several local bloggers were in attendance (waves!) as well as a cross-section of the local arts community.

Meta Commentary: Just love watching radio happen. John Dankowsky is quite entertaining as he does his opening bit (using his hands and body to drive his voice) although he settled down for the interview itself. Nice to see the faces (oh so young!) behind the WNPR shows I listen to daily: Catie Talarski, Libby Conn, Patrick Skahill, Chion Wolf. Not *quite* as interesting (from a performance standpoint) as the Thsi American Life simulcast (for example) but good nonetheless.

I was not so thrilled with the guests (civil servants) - Providence seems to have hit the creativity jackpot with Waterfire but it was not so clear if this was the city putting together a framework that the ground level folks built upon, or if this was a vision of one person / group that the city reluctantly embraced once it became a success. Regardless, it capitalizes on a city that has embraced it's waterways rather than turned its back on them.

Asked for ideas to engage Hartford, one of the audience members (forget who) quipped "Daylight the Park River" - and yeah, I get that. Ever since I learned of the history (wherein Trinity College was relocated and the Park River buried to make room for Bushnell Park and the State Capitol), that seems like the fatal move that sealed Hartford's future.

An Artspace resident spoke highly of that facility; although I suspect there is a waiting list. Local artist Anne Cubberly countered with concerns about the cost of studio / workshop space. Janice LaMotta from Billings Forge spoke, as did a number of artists, U-Conn students, and other local arts / culture insiders.

There was some discussion of the iQuilt initiative to knit local arts and cultural destinations and make the city more walkable. Mention was made of Theaterwork's recent "City Arts on Pearl" project as well as the Bushnell working to connect the Capitol / Bushnell Park are to Main Street.

Discussion, but not a lot of solutions nor a lot of consensus. Most I spoke to afterwards felt that the focus on a governmental solution was not optimal. Many spoke of "silos" - individuals or organizations that are taking on their own corner of the world but not a lot of synergy or formal collaboration. So we have Real Art Ways, Billings Forge, Artspace, Theaterworks, Hartford Stage, Bushnell, the Wadsworth Atheneum (not represented....), and dozens of other organizations, each chipping away at their geographic and cultural plot of land. But not really working within an overall framework.

I'll add a concept in here are well - Interest Silos. Have been part of a few different communities, I see small groups of interest. The film clique - moving from Real Art Ways to Cinestudio to Cinema City to the Atheneum. The theatre group - from the larger equity theaters to the smaller community spaces. There are, I am sure, small communities formed around jazz. Around folk / acoustic music. Around indie / rock music. Around dance. Around visual arts. Around spoken word. Around sports (cricket? historic baseball? disc golf?). I am sure there are others.

I see the key to developing a vibrant local culture to expand the iQuilt concept past the geographic (still important) and figure out the connectors - individuals and organizations that, either by design or by accident, bridge these interest silos. Real Art Ways is one such entity, with connections to film, to music, to visual arts, to spoken word / performance, and to the corporate world (via the popular Creative Cocktail Hour which takes all these entities and stirs them together). Billings Forge seems to be there as well, mixing locavores, arts, music, with a healthy dollop of community activism.

An interesting evening; I look forward to listening to the show, to see how the show was mixed down and cleaned up.

On a personal note, sitting here in my new digs within the city limits of New Britain, I am torn between my relationship to Hartford, and a desire to look towards my new city - which has a number of burgeoning arts spaces itself. And I'm excited to be emerging from a few months of focusing on my personal saga (buying a condo, and moving) and looking once more outward, on the blog and in the rest of my life.

Addendum: Where We Live / Real Art Ways Collaborative Blog

The Ballad of Colin McEnroe

In tribute to my friend Colin McEnroe's last show, a bit of folk music whimsy. I would NOT do this for anyone less beloved and respected than Colin, mind you.....

The Ballad of Colin McEnroe (circa mid 90's). Wav file here

Words by Mike Russell (who?) and music by Bruce Springsteen. (it's based on the song "Youngstown" from the Ghost of Tom Joad" album)
Guitar and Vocals by Mike Russell, Mandolin and Vocals by Jon Lewis

Colin played this on his morning show back in the day. I think he called it tedious. Ah well. Art isn't easy.....

In retrospect, a lot of dated references. Squids in the sound. Dubey and all those Barbaras. Dr. Laura (who grabbed his morning time slot, back in the day, this is not the first time Colin has lost a slot on WTIC). Tick inspections. Rush Limbaugh's ties. And Colin McEnroe circa 2008 is anything but equivocating, and has quite the backbone (back in the 90's he was a bit less sure of himself).