Last Comic Standing...not featuring John Kerry

Okay, people, we get it...John Kerry is never going to headline at "The Comedy Store".

Now, can we start dealing with the War in Iraq, the price of gasoline, the genocide in Darfur, the rich getting richer while the poor lose their health insurance, the failure of the government to back up their concept of teacher accountability with any sane program that actually helps students learn, the impending global ecological and financial crises, lobbyist scandals, the arrogance of power brokers, terrorism, the gutting of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (except for the one clause in the Second Amendment about getting to own rocket launchers and bazookas) and the need to coherent immigration reform? Please?

Or, do the talking head son TV have nothing of substance to say to defend the incumbents and are just looking to fill air?

Kerry has never been able to tell a joke, his ad libs are as clumsy as Al Gore doing the lambada, but that's not a good enough reason to throw away out children's futures and our rights.

The store has the new CD

It is done.

The new CD, NEMICORN, is now available at the city store of The City of Legends, along with THE LAST ROMANTIC VERB, THE COMPLEAT PANTHER CYCLES, 101 GREAT LOVE POEMS and Dan McTaggart's MIDNIGHT MUSE IN A CONVENIENCE STORE.

Christmas chopping season opens early in the 'City.

Our first official review:

"An excellent line-up of brilliant work from a modern poet of real literary, musical and cultural consequence. NEMICORN is yet one more reason to celebrate the increasing significance of poets, their visions, their voices, and their craft."

- Aberjhani,
author of "Visions of a Skylark Dressed in Black", and "Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance"

One analysis of the tracks

I have come to learn that I attributed the chart of analysis of the tracks for Nemicorn incorrectly to Lupi Basil, it was actually her son (a note to that effect was obscured in the download of the media portions of the mail). I would still very much like to share the chart with you, but will need their permission first (I am a stickler on the etiquette of copyrights).

In the course of the chart, very nicely colour coded, he breaks things down in multiple categories, piece by piece, and assigns grades...I am sad to report it wasn't all A's and B's.

The categories he used were (his explanation) along with the high and low "students":

Voice Tone: (How the poet's voice plays with the poem ont he recording)
A+ on "Texture of Your Tongue", "The Faerie (Strange but Beautiful)", "Pink Jade - Soft as Dawn", "Thetis", "Wild and Defiled, Along the Way", "Once Again, the Nemicorn" and "A Passion, Unrelenting".
D+ on "Falling and Fallen Angels" .

Emphasis: (Annunciation of words and sounds, clarity in voice and sound)
A+ on "Nosferatu's Quandry", "Texture of Your Tongue", "The Faerie (Strange but Beautiful)", "Thunder Out of Valhalla", "Pink Jade - Soft as Dawn", "Thetis", "Darfur (Jesus Wept)", "Amomancy" and "A Passion, Unrelenting".
C- for "Damascus 3" and "Love Gods (Multivox)".

Rhythm: (The beat and/or stress and/or flow of the poem with its words)
A+ on "Nosferatu's Quandry", "Right Set of Lips", "Falling and Fallen Angels", "Brisant Revelations", "The Faerie (Strange but Beautiful)", "Thetis", "Wild and Defiled, Along the Way".
D+ for "Love Gods (Multivox)".

Image: (Imagery; the use of sight, sounds, taste, smells and tactile sensations in the poem)
I won't bore you with this one...15 of the 19 tracks got A+, the lowest grade was a B...for "Thunder Out of Valhalla".

Sound: (Linking words through alliteration, vowels & consonants, or the use of onomatopoeia or rhyme)
A+ for "Right Set of Lips", "Brisant Revelations", "The Faerie (Strange but Beautiful)", "Thetis" and "Amomancy".
C+ for "Falling and Fallen Angels".

Density: (Detailed poetry shows slower pace and less detail quickens pace - the use of either in an easy, fluid manner)
A+ for "The Faerie (Strange but Beautiful)", "Pink Jade - Soft as Dawn", "Thetis", "Wild and Defiled, Along the Way".
B- (for shame!) on "Love Gods (Multivox)".

Poetic Line: (The poem as a whole, whether long or short, analyzed by how the poet uses rhyme or non-rhyme schemes through creativity; this includes "content" quality: This is not based on the subject matter choice or preference, but how you play with it)
12 tracks got A+, 6 got A, one didn't have lyrics. Hey, I am a poet, after all.

Music Content:
A+ on "The Faerie (Strange but Beautiful)", "Love Gods (Multivox)", "Thetis", "Amomancy", "Once Again, the Nemicorn".
D- on both "Nosferatu's Quandry" and "Falling and Fallen Angels".

Final average grades:

A+ "The Faerie (Strange but Beautiful)" and "Thetis".
The lowest overall average was B- for "Theocricide".

In the real world, the two tracks I ended up dropping were "Amomancy" and "Brigit".

I can live with those grades. And I am grateful to Lupi's son for the energy and time he took to involve himself in this project...I'm sending him a free copy of the CD.

Belated thanks to Lupi Basil

Lupi Basil, of Wings of Dawn Publishing and Emotions Magazine, sent me her comments ont he tracks for the new CD. Wonderful amount of work went into her analysis (I got a chart). I am actually pulling the CD back from release for a few hours this morning to upload the new cover to give her proper credit for her hard work in the acknowledgements.

I sat down and listened to the final CD this morning. It is...okay, by my self-deprecating and sometimes cyncially self-loathing analysis, which for me must be high praise.

Received a lovely note from a young man with Aspberger's Syndrome, regarding my recent entries about my son, Dante, who is in the high-functioning end of the Autistic spectrum. Pleasure to meet you, David. I will pass along your wishes and words.

There, just moments until the new CD is back in release mode. God, but I love the Digital Renaissance.

Today is November 1st. We know what that means. For the record...miss you, Nancy.