Allen Ginsberg on autobiographical poems

Allen Ginsberg serves up a lecture on revising autobiographical poems in this 1983 recording. Note: this is a class tape recording and the actual seminar does not begin until several minutes into the recording. "Could the rest of you please fucking do it," Ginsberg pleads on the tape, as he tries to get his Naropa students to do their homework. "You don't know what your losing, I'm not going to be here forever," Ginsberg says later as he curses out another late-arriving student. Autobiography in more ways than one. Eventually Ginsberg gets around to reading some classic poems in his theatrical style, to the sound of what sounds like a pen tapping.

Try writing with the intention of someone who wants to see you naked and has an ear for weird language, Ginsberg advises. "To be literal, I wrote 'Howl' with Kerouac in mind and with the specific intention that my father will never see this," he adds.

The Aftermath

As performed by the Danish rock group Kashmir.

The Coming Battle Over Free Wi-Fi

Chadwick Martin has an important story up on Slate now about a current bidding war for spectrum space that is supposed to be used to provide a free national wi-fi network across America... and what Big Telecom may do to sabotage the plan. I recommend reading this article. It can be found here.

The Taichi Sunrise

The Taichi Sunrise
Originally uploaded by Chad Ingraham

This photo is by an old acquaintance of mine, Chad Ingraham. He has a current photo exhibition now at PX2 Shanghai with Natalie Hill. Details are here.

"Dance With Shanghai" rehearsal

"Dance With Shanghai" rehearsal
Originally uploaded by photog37

I Saw Her In The Anti-War Demonstration

Jens Lekman performing live in 2007.

When I was sixteen I hung out with the kids who lacked it
The kind of punks that were born in leather jackets
The kind of punks who placed themselves in brackets
And she was one of them, back then she was somebody's girlfriend
And I was noone, I had nothing
And the skies, were clear blue skies
And her eyes, were clear blue eyes
And her thighs, were about the same size as mine
And we were walking in the anti war demonstration
It was a sweet sensation of love

Jens Lekman at the Glamour Bar

Jens Lekman at the Glamour Bar
Originally uploaded by photog37

Singing "Hotel California" with a bunch of pirates

I don't know where this Slate series is going but it looks interesting. From the latest dispatch:

ATAM, Indonesia—Mr. Black, the ex-pirate, doesn't exactly speak English. And I don't exactly speak Indonesian. The words we know in each other's languages are pretty basic. Eat, sorry, please, like, call, night, walk...

It takes me a minute to realize that one of these guys is Anto, the first ex-pirate I met—the guy who's been blowing me off for more than a week.

"I'm sorry, Kelly!" Anto says when he recognizes me. He speaks quite a bit of English. "I told you I was busy. I was busy with this!"

No problem, I say.

"But you should be happy now," he says. "You are sitting with all the pirates!"

Full story here.

cosmetix*

cosmetix*
Originally uploaded by ༺lifemage༻

One from Ian Sands, truly one of the best photographers on Flickr.

Folk Singer Odetta passes away

Odetta, a folk singer heavily involved in the civil rights movement in the 1950's and 60's, passed away on Tuesday. The New York Times has posted a interview with her here. I would love to find her cover of Bruce Springsteen's "57 Channels (And Nothing On," but the closest I could find is a grainy video of Springsteen singing live. Here is a very nicely aged video of Springsteen singing "No Surrender," which later became the theme song of the John Kerry presidential campaign. Or a rocking duet from the campaign trail with Eddie Vedder. Springsteen and Neil Young blasting through a fiery live version of "All Along the Watchtower." On second thought, the audio on that one sucks. Here's a slightly better, if sedated, recording.

But this is Odetta's moment, so we should end with a few highlights from her career. On "The Johnny Cash Show." A snapshot slideshow set to her rich cover of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind." "Midnight Special" with keyboard accompaniment. One in the stranger video category... And singing "Pastures of Plenty" last year in Michigan.

Pink Berry at Zhijiang Dream Factory

Pink Berry at Zhijiang Dream Factory
Originally uploaded by photog37

Got It Going On: Jens Lekman and Mahjong

I'd like to take this opportunity to once again plug Jens Lekman's upcoming shows in Shanghai (one of which is starting as we speak). Lekman is a stellar pop craftsman and I think he's going to be one to watch for a long time.

On another note, Shanghai Expat will be holding its eighth anniversary party on Saturday night with a Mahjong theme event at the Aqua Bar. Cocktails, a live band and a dj will be there to spike the night along.

Sunday, well we have plans for Sunday, too...

Kang Mao of the SUBS at Zhijiang Dream Factory

Kang Mao of the SUBS at Zhijiang Dream Factory
Originally uploaded by photog37

The SUBS played a wild set last Saturday night, reaching its zenith as lead singer Kang Mao leaped into the crowd for an instrumental set and danced with members of the audience. She wasn't performing out in the audience, she was truly one of them, soaking in the music, moshing with the crowd.