Black Ocean, Danny’s Reading Series, Rational Park, and MAKE Literary Productions present….
Three events in celebration of Michael Zapruder’s album Pink Thunder and the 22 unique portmanteaus which each represent and host a song from the album, which is a collection of free-verse pop art-songs, including contributions from 23 poets, three engineers, and a few dozen musicians.
1. A portmanteau listening party and gallery opening at Rational Park
2. A live performance of the album Pink Thunder by Michael Zapruder and guests at Rational Park.
3. A mini musical performance and Q & A at Danny’s Tavern with Zapruder and Billy Blake and the Vagabond members, Reid Coker and Kennedy Greenrod.
Details below:
1. A listening party and gallery opening featuring Michael Zapruder’s 22 Pink Thunder portmanteaus
Friday, March 22, 7 p.m – 10 p.m.
Rational Park, 2557 W. North Ave
Rational Park invites visitors to view the 22 unique portmanteaus which each represent and host a song from the album Pink Thunder—a collection of free-verse pop art-songs, including contributions from 23 poets, three engineers, and a few dozen musicians. What began as a bus tour that brought together hundreds of American poets has been recorded and remixed into a potent collection of poem-songs. Pink Thunder features instrumental contributions from over forty musicians and poems from Noelle Kocot, James Tate, Bob Hicok, Mary Ruefle, D.A. Powell, Dara Wier, Joshua Beckman, and Valzhyna Mort. The album was released on October 16, 2012 via The Kora Records.
Each portmanteau contains a song from Pink Thunder and headphones with which to listen. Visitors are encouraged to experience each song from this unique collection.
View show by appointment March 22-April 12.
______________________________________________________
2. A live musical performance by Michael Zapruder and friends
Saturday, March 30, 7 p.m.
Rational Park, 2557 W. North Ave
Potent with weird, funny, and singular possibilities, Pink Thunder presents a poetic experiment to see what happens if poems are sung instead of spoken, when words are surrounded by music instead of silence. The album has already been featured on the Poetry Society of America‘s blog and in performance at the New School’s Tishman Auditorium for the Festival of new American Poets.
“…a work of extraordinary merit and historical significance….” Huffington Post
“… reminiscent of everything from Kurt Weill to Elliott Smith…. ” Los Angeles Times
Michael Zapruder is certainly prolific—but it’s his songs’ quality that’s noteworthy…He builds symphonic compositions in the mold of Sufjan Stevens or Andrew Bird.” SPIN
For more press and reviews, visit http://www.michaelzapruder.com
Download “Florida” at the Kora Records (mp3 Available to Post)
3. Michael Zapruder joins Chicago musicians Reid Coker and Kennedy Greenrod from Billy Blake and the Vagobonds for mini-performance from each group, followed by a Q & A.
Tuesday, April 2, 7:30 p.m.
Danny’s Tavern, 1951 W. Dickens Ave
Attendees will be treated to intimate performances, followed by a discussion on the intersection of visual art, contemporary poetry, William Blake, musical performance, and much more. Co-hosted by Fred Sasaki and Joel Craig.
~
LINKS:
Black Ocean: http://www.blackocean.org/
Rational Park: http://www.rational-park.com/
Danny’s Reading Series: http://dannys.noslander.com/
MAKE: https://dev.makemag.com
Billy Blake and the Vagabonds: http://billyblakeandthevagabonds.bandcamp.com/
Michael Zapruder: http://michaelzapruder.com/
MORE ON PARTICIPANTS:
MICHAEL ZAPRUDER is an award-winning songwriter and recording artist, and a co-founder of San Francisco’s Howells Transmitter arts collective and record label. His albums include 52 Songs, This is a Beautiful Town, New Ways of Letting Go, and Dragon Chinese Cocktail Horoscope, which won a 2009 Independent Music Award for Best Folk / Singer Song-Writer Album. His most recent work is Pink Thunder, a collection of free verse pop art-songs made from the poems of more than twenty contemporary American poets. Contributors include Noelle Kocot, James Tate, Bob Hicok, David Berman, D. A. Powell, and Valzhyna Mort.
Billy Blake and the Vagabonds is songwriters Kennedy Greenrod and Reid Coker, guitarist Saleem Dhamee, bassist Jason Labrosse & drummer Seth Vanek. Inspired by 18th century Romantic mystic, William Blake, the Vagabonds have arranged 15 new tunes from his canonical collections, “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience”. Contemporary interpretations of Blake’s classic work, the Vagabonds breathe new fire and meaning into William Blake’s iconic words, helping to re-illuminate his incendiary visions to both casual and most devoted of Blake enthusiasts. Drawing from Stones-y-rock, mellow pop, countrified folk, gospel music and hopping Bo Diddley blues, “Billy Blake and the Vagabonds” are a wholly modern representation of William Blake and his work.
Fred Sasaki is associate editor of Poetry magazine. His most recent writing can be found on VICE.
Joel Craig is the author of The White House (Green Lantern Press, 2012). His poems have appeared in A Public Space, Boston Review, Fence, Iowa Review, and Typo, among others. He lives and works in Chicago, Illinois where he also curates the Danny’s Reading Series and is the poetry editor for MAKE: A Literary Magazine.
MORE ON THE SPONSORS:
Black Ocean From early silent films to early punk rock, Black Ocean brings together a spectrum of influences and combines them with a radical social perspective on the nature of art and humanity. We manifest our aesthetic in the books we print, the shows we produce, and the work we promote.
Based out of Boston, New York and Chicago, our intent is to saturate the public with skillful and passionate forms of expression through a wide variety of mediums.
Danny’s Reading Series at Danny’s Tavern, Chicago, features great poetry and fiction from Chicago and abroad.
MAKE Literary Productions, NFP is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization whose purpose is
to publish and promote contemporary literary writing and visual art. MAKE is a biannual publication not only showcasing established and emerging talent, but also creating a lasting document of the current writing and visual arts landscape. It is a literary, artistic object in pursuit of a thematic vision.
Rational Park essentially started in 2007 as a cooperative model for friends running independent creative businesses. After relocating to the current space, it has evolved into a resource not only for the members, but for their larger scale projects and for the community as a whole. They are designers, developers, art directors, illustrators, publishers and musicians.
###