Harriet

Categories

Harriet
Contributors

Archive

Blogroll

All Posts

Music

Queen of England! Holly Pester’s News Poem August 2, 2011: "Spy swap." "Disney...Disney..." "Hand gun...laser weapon." These are only a couple of fragments from Holly Pester's ongoing news poem made of breaths and words. Sourced from the Today programme’s news bulletins on BBC Radio 4. A sample if you click here. by

Maggie Nelson’s Bluets Adapted To Song August 1, 2011: Maggie Nelson's Bluets has been set to music, along with writing by four other authors: Vladimir Nabokov, Michel Houellebecq, Matt Ruff and Helen DeWitt, by Seattle-based band Ball of Wax. Levi Fuller recorded them for Ball of Wax #25: Songs About Books. A brief description from the Ball of Wax Bandcamp page: 5 artists were each [...] by

The Waterboys to release an album of songs based on W.B. Yeats poems July 11, 2011: An article at Clash Music reports that the "deeply under-rated" (really?) Waterboys will release an album of songs based on Yeats' work. Singer Mike Scott explains: Since 1991, when I sang a few Yeats interpretations onstage at the Abbey as part of a festival, I’ve had the vision of a whole show and an album using Yeats’ words as [...] by

Pandora’s gift (2) April 30, 2011: I think I remember accurately the last time I bought, or otherwise sought out, a book of brand new poetry based on a critic's printed poetry criticism (not a chat or a live event, but something I read). It wasn't last week: it might have been late last year. How often do you seek out the books that printed criticism recommends? If the answer is [...] by

when you’ve got trouble April 29, 2011: I've just come back from seeing the singer-songwriter Liz Longley, for the second time this year. It wouldn't surprise me if you, too, found yourself hearing her in a public place, and wanting to hear her again, by next year-- she's got one of those once-in-a-generation pop voices, completely "natural" in the sense that the sounds are never [...] by

It’s Easter? Cue the strings, pass the Kleenex and fetch my pen. April 24, 2011: I'm an insanely musical person, with an astounding memory for songs no one in their right mind should retain. Yep, I've got a clutch on the standards, from Gene Pitney to Wilson Pickett, Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers to Badfinger, "Strange, I Know" to "Muskrat Love." I don't only recognize both Top 40 smashes and dusty obscure little ditties, [...] by

Six File Sharing Epiphanies April 22, 2011: Epiphany No 1: While I could discuss any number of musical epiphanies I've personally experienced over the past half a century, all of them would pale in comparison to the epiphany of seeing Napster for the first time. Although prior to Napster I had been a member of several file sharing communities, the sheer scope, variety and seeming [...] by

don’t call it classical April 14, 2011: Ahem. My literary-life motto for this year is "slightly less writing and much more reading," and so I almost said no to this return-to-blogging — but having now seen Anselm's amazing nonlinear take on writing with a newborn around I'm in the mood to believe anyone can do anything, as long as it's done in an enthusiastic and a nonlinear fashion. [...] by

Music and poetry from the Deserter’s Information Center March 28, 2011: Last year, singer/songwriter Jeffrey Foucault filed through poet Lisa Olstein's backpages of unpublished writing and came up with the lyrics for Cold Satellite. It's an album that no less than Greil Marcus says has "a country feel that puts the people who live in the Nashville charts to shame." While it's many poets dream to actually be up on [...] by

This window makes me feel like singing March 22, 2011: Composer John Supko composed and recorded an arrangement of Robert Fitterman’s poem “The Window Makes Me Feel,” which you can listen to here. The poem, in prose and more like a drone than a song, might seem to be a counterintuitive choice of libretto, but according to Supko: The music, scored for mezzo-soprano, keyboards, percussion and [...] by

All Posts