PhillySound: new poetry

From the Harper's Index:

Average estimated salary, in adjusted dollars, of the dads on the 10 top-rated TV shows of the 1950s: $77,000.

Average of the dads on today's 10 top-rated shows: $207,000.


Will

Saturday's Night Flag debut reading will be a benefit for New Orleans refugees Brett Evans and Janine Hayes. They've relocated to Philly with nothing but their three dogs and the Texas thrift store clothes on their backs. All the money donated on the night of the reading will help Brett and Janine recover from the devasting events that have uprooted their lives.

Night Flag Reading Series presents Carol Mirakove & CAConrad
Saturday October 1st @ 7pm sharp!
The Khyber56 S. 2nd Street Philly

Carol Mirakove is the author of Occupied (Kelsey St. Press), temporary tattoos (BabySelf Press, 2002) & Wall (ixnay press, 1999). She is included in the Narrow House CD Women in the Avant-Garde, a live recording curated by Kaia Sand at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Carol and Kaia speak about the event in CAConrad’s Banjo: Poets Talking. Carol currently lives in Brooklyn.

CAConrad is the author of the soon-to-be-released Deviant Propulsion (Soft Skull Press). The Frank Poems (Jargon Press) and advancedELVIScourse (Buck Downs Books) are also forthcoming. He co-edits Frequency: Audio Journal with Magdalena Zurawski and edits the 9X9 Project. He is also the author of several chapbooks, including The Leo Journals.

- Frank Sherlock

This weekend's opening of Comicology: The New Magical Real at the Slought Foundation was an interesting tonal change from some of the bigger shows I’ve seen there recently. Its lower-key presentation is perfect for the requirements of time & attention each artist’s presentation demands. I didn’t grow up as much of comics-nerd. I’m a late-believer in the power of comic art, converted in part by the CHAIN issue a few years ago, edited by Gary Sullivan. So maybe my approach is different than a lot of the other attendees, but I really appreciated the time I had to read & study the work on the walls. The generational diversity reveals itself as a subtle exposition of influence. You can see how the work of Kim Deitsch and Philadelphia legend Charles Burns informs the younger artists also included. I’ve been a fan of Charles Burns’ heavy black line for a while. But it was a real treat to get turned onto Dame Marcy’s Victorian punkish notebook lyric scrawl. Anders Nilsen steals the show with excerpts from his Beuysian Dogs & Water series.

The exhibition will run until October 22.

- Frank Sherlock

Tangent Radio host Jules Boykoff has an Op-Ed in today's Common Dreams addressing the nomination of John Roberts. Check it out.

- FS

In DC this Saturday, there will be a massive anti-war march & rally planned by United for Peace and Justice, A.N.S.W.E.R., VoteToImpeach.org and the September 24 Coalition.) The march will be followed by a concert at the Washington Monument hosted by Jello Biafra, featuring Theivery Corporation, Bouncing Souls, Le Tigre, The Coup, Steve Earle, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists & many more.

Resistance to the Bush regime has been gaining momentum in recent months. More dead Americans. More dead Iraqis. No clear plan for success. No exit strategy. No decisive victories in the War on Terror. One decisive defeat in the War on Weather*. What can we expect from our fascists, if they're not even efficient?

Enough was enough. And it still is. See you in DC.




The Philadelphia Regional Anti-War Network (PRAWN) bus is available for $25 a seat from:

Peace Action-Delaware Valley
3001 Walnut St. 7th floor
Philadelphia, PA 19104
for info call: 215-386-4322
Leaving - 7:30 AM West Side 30th Street Station

ANSWER is selling bus tickets for $25 either by mail

Philadelphia IAC
813 S. 48th St Philadelphia, PA 19148
215-724-1618
or accepting credit card purchases www.troopsoutnow.org
Leaving - 8 AM from the outside of 30th Street

- Frank Sherlock


* courtesy of Matt McGoldrick September 8, 2005

The new web issue of XConnect is up. This issue features Pierre Joris, Laura Solomon, Will Esposito, Divya Victor, Ish Klein, Tom Devaney & many others. It's also my first issue as a Contributing Editor. Knock yourselves out.

- Frank Sherlock

Philadelphia City Council passed a resolution on September 15, 2005 requesting the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. The resolution was sponsored by Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown. She's done alot of great work faciltating community investment in Philly's low-income neighborhoods.

Read the resolution here.

- FS

The Chicago City Council passed a resolution calling for the full, immediate & orderly withdrawl from the occupation of Iraq. It's the largest city in America to pass such a resolution.

- FS

The above quote is from an e-mail my old friend Adrianne Shtop sent me this morning. She's going to a protest this weekend at Indian Point Nuclear Facility.

CAConrad

Below is one excerpt from Michael Moore's e-mail he sends out to his list. This latest one just sent out today.
CAConrad

"My staff and the vets spend their 18-hour days delivering food and water throughout the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. What they have seen is appalling. I have asked them to post their daily diaries on my website (www.michaelmoore.com) along with accompanying photos and video so you can learn what is really going on. What the media is showing you is NOT the whole story. It is much, much worse and there is still little being done to bring help to those who need it."

The new incarnation of the La Tazza Series will launch in a few weeks.

Night Flag Reading Series presentsCarol Mirakove & CAConrad
Saturday October 1st @ 7pm sharp!
The Khyber56 S. 2nd Street Philly

Carol Mirakove is the author of Occupied (Kelsey St. Press), temporary tattoos (BabySelf Press, 2002) & Wall (ixnay press, 1999). She is included in the Narrow House CD Women in the Avant-Garde, a live recording curated by Kaia Sand at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Carol and Kaia speak about the event in CAConrad’s Banjo: Poets Talking. Carol currently lives in Brooklyn.

CAConrad is the author of the soon-to-be-released Deviant Propulsion (Soft Skull Press). The Frank Poems (Jargon Press) and advancedELVIScourse (Buck Downs Books) are also forthcoming. He co-edits Frequency: Audio Journal with Magdalena Zurawski and edits the 9X9 Project. He is also the author of several chapbooks, including The Leo Journals.

Welcome back,

Frank Sherlock

(The below e-mail announcement received today, check out the event if you can, and Media Tank if you can. Invaluable resources for our times! CAConrad)

Dear Media Tank members and allies

Media Tank invites you to join us in supporting Bread & Roses CommunityFund this Monday, Sep. 12th as they honor Councilman David Cohen and his wife Florence Cohen long-time progressive activists and supporters of media democracy!

Bread and Roses, a supporter of Media Tank, has offered discount tickets totheir annual Tribute to Change event featuring Amy Goodman, host of the popular Pacifica radio show Democracy Now! If you have not had the chanceto hear Amy speak you should definitely take this opportunity to hear her!

Get Discounted Tickets as a Media Tank guest for only $10! (The normalticket price is $50; grassroots scholarships also available.) Just RSVP byemail mailto: jennie@breadrosesfund.org or call 215.731.1107 x206, and say that you are a guest of Media Tank. Sign up by Friday, September 9th.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Bread & Roses Community Fund TRIBUTE TO CHANGE with AMY GOODMAN

Honoring Councilman David Cohen and Florence Cohen

Monday, September 12, 2005The Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut Street6-7 PM - Reception and Very Silent Auction7-9 PM - Awards Presentation and Address by Amy Goodman, Host of Democracy Now!

Call 215.731.1107 ext. 206 for discounted parking.

Visit http://www.breadrosesfund.org for more details.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
If you are not yet a Media Tank member and would like to join, please visitour online membership page: http://www.mediatank.org/Join
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Hi All,

Please refer to Pattie's post, directly below, regarding how you can help with the animal rescue effort.

Also:

Philadelphia is going to be accepting 1,000 families who've been displaced by hurricane Katrina. Here's how you can help:

http://www.phila.gov/katrina/

On the left, there's a menu of options. besides giving money, you can donate clothing, & here's how:

You're going to WANT to click "make a donation" but this is a phila.gov website, so it's a little ass-backward (I say this with love...), & "make a donation" only means $$. therefore, you'll want to click on "sign up to volunteer", & fill out the form, & when it asks you the type of assistance you're volunteering, you can choose "clothes" (or whatever) from the drop-down menu.

thanks,

love, jenn mcc.

Info for people interested in helping animal rescue efforts, here are
some groups that are working on it now.

Noah's Wish : http://www.noahswish.org/

The ASPCA : http://www.aspca.org"

The Humane Society : http://www.hsus.org/

I have sent e-mails to these groups with the address Frank gave for the
location of the animals (3331 Dumaine St) & have been trying to post
info to petfinder.org (though I've been having trouble with that). But
if you or Frank or someone else has more info on the animals, it might
help for that person to write or call these organizations as well. If
someone wants to let Brett know that all animals rescued from NO by the
LA SPCA are being taken to the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales,
LA -- they are going to post photos of found animals to petfinder.

Thanks. love, pattie

Anne Rice in the NY Times:

"Do You Know What It Means to Lose New Orleans?"

- FS

Below is the letter being sent around by Brenda Iijima, who can be reached at yoyolabs@yahoo.com

Thanks Brenda,
CAConrad

-------------

Hi everyone:

I'm sending letters such as this one to media outlets hoping it will urge the press to report as frankly as as possible and with as much fortitude about the various dubious issues at large. Here is a sample letter. Maybe you'd like to join in. There is so much I am leaving out, but it points to several key issues.

xo, Brenda


To: 60m@cbsnews.com

Dear 60 Minutes Team,

PLEASE when you present the question of "Why did the Levee Break?" on this upcoming Sunday’s show, report the facts with honesty as the America public deserves this.

— The Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked the potential damage to New Orleans as among the three likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country although President Bush declared that ‘no one knew this would happen’

—Although President Bush declared that ‘no one knew this would happen’, earlier this year the Bush administration drastically cut the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by a record $71.2 million dollars. These cuts clearly affected hurricane and flood and hurricane protection and planning abilities. Contractors were out there working for free to try to complete the levees.

These are not ‘partisan criticisms’- the policies of the administration are not abstract; they have direct consequences for the US citizenry and for our national security, and they need to be discussed.

It is your duty as journalists to serve the public. Please honor that duty and those who are suffering by telling the truth, and let the public debate it and come to their own conclusions.

I truly believe there is a racial issue underlying these poorly made decisions--at the basis for these avoidances of responsibility by the government to a civic population. This needs to be addressed. It will also be interesting to watch the rate at which the oil refineries are rebuilt and compare it to the speed in which these civic communities are rebuilt. And what kind of government monies goes where.

Presses are the veins of our democracy.

Thank you so much.

Sincerely yours,
Brenda Iijima
Brooklyn, NY 11238

“I think it’s extremely shortsighted,...When the Corps of Engineers’ budget is cut, Louisiana bleeds. These projects are literally life-and-death projects to the people of south Louisiana.”
--Mary Landrieu, D-La

I talked to Brett this afternoon. He's in Shreveport, and he's okay, considering...

Brett's dogs are not inside the apartment at this time. This is good news, since the Texas SPCA has informed me that they don't have the authority to break into people's residences. The four dogs (medium brown & white foxhound-type mutt, medium black mutt, small brown beagle and a small black & white corgie) are on Brett's back porch.
The address in 3331 Dumaine Street.

Again, if anyone has any animal rescue contacts, please inform them that the animals are on an open porch & can be scooped up without entering the home.

- FS

Brett was rescued by helicopter in New Orleans yesterday after spending the week on the fourth floor of a converted warehouse. He was taken to the New Orleans Convention Center, where he was shuttled to Houston. We're glad he's okay. He'll be reuniting with Janine & his parents in Shreveport soon.

His four dogs & three cats are STILL in the apartment. The rescuers wouldn't take the animals he stayed to protect. Animal rescue efforts were not yet allowed into the city as of yesterday. If you have any contacts at all with organizations participating in the rescue, please let them know there are four dogs and three cats in the American Can Company (now condos/apartments) at the corner of Orleans Avenue & Bayou St. John, Apartment #4403. And please contact me if you hear any developments at fsherlock7@hotmail.com

- Frank Sherlock