This show was posted a few days before it was posted on Cable Access 29/76 TV in San Francisco. I posted it earlier as a reminder to go to http://accessf.org/guide/schedule so you can go there and find out when you can watch it on the big screen. It is only available there locally in San Francisco.
Below are the show notes.
Hello. This is my regular Open Mic Poetry TV Special first
broadcasted from San Francisco Cable Access TV, and later to be
podcasted from my Mystic Babylon Poetry Podcast at
http://mysticbabylon.podomatic.com , which will hopefully, also be
distributed in other places. Today we have an English poetess
named Jane Ormerod who will read for 20 minutes. I met Jane when
she was touring here in placeCitySan Francisco. It was through
subsequent contacts that we decided to work together to produce a
video.
Jane was born on the South Coast of England and moved to
New York City in 2004. She originally started as an artist
and then after obtaining an MA in writing from the
University of East Anglia she became
proficient as a writer. She has been published in a long list of print
and online anthologies. Some of them are “Brownstone Poets 2007
Anthology”, and an Anthology from Uphook Press called, “A
Cautionary Tale: Seven New York Performing Poets”.
You can find more about a readily available spoken word CD of
hers called, “Nashville Invades Manhattan”, by going
to her web site at: http://www.janeormerod.com . An anthology of
Jane’s is due to be published by a small press called Modern
Metrics at: http://modern-metrics.com . At the end of this show after
Jane reads I will read a few poems from my poetry book, “Spirits of
Bondage Inherent Transcendence”. The Background images and
music was either from the Podsafe music network, or used as art
under a permitted creative commons license. The web addresses of
this music and art will be listed in the credits.

This show will air on Comcast Channel 29 in San Francisco on:
Monday, 4/7 - 9:00 PM Tuesday, 4/8 - 6:30 PM Thursday, 4/10 - 9:30 PM, and will probably air numerous other times during the month.
Hello. This is my fifth poetry special on Channel 29/76 Comcast for the month of April. It will also be podcasted from my Mystic Babylon Open Mic Poetry Podcast located at: http://mysticbabylon.podomatic.com . Today we are lucky to have with us Bill Gainer, a one-man poet and runner of a small press, called R. L. Crow Publications.
Bill Gainer is known for the openness of his confessional poetry and is recognized as one of the founding contributors to the modern movement of "After Hours" poetry. Gainer says, "My poetry is written with an economy of words. I believe that the strongest way for poetry to achieve its goal, to express an emotion or feeling, is through the minimal poem." Gainer has contributed to the literary scene as a writer, editor, promoter, publicist and poet. He is a co-founder and current board member of the Nevada County Poetry Series. Gainer has read and worked with a wide range of poets and writers, including readings on KUSF with Punk-Rocker Patti Smith and a recent performance with California's Poet Laureate, Al Young. Gainer is nationally published and continues to be a sought after reader, he can be previewed on youtube.com – search Bill Gainer. If you would like to find out more about Bill Gainer, his books, and who he publishes, go to http://rlcrow.com . Before Bill reads I will ask Bill a few short questions which will come next, after this intro.
I, John Rhodes, will read a few poems at the end of this show, from my book, “Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence”. Hopefully this summer I am going to come out with a new book of poetry named after my Podcast, “Mystic Babylon”. It will thusly be titled, “Mystic Babylon”. I will probably submit it for publication to Authorhouse at the beginning of May, and hopefully within 2 months it will be published. I’ll end here, and now we’ll fade to asking Bill those questions.

Hello. This is John Rhodes and this my fourth poetry TV special being broadcasted from San Francisco on various channels, the most well-known one, being channel 29 Comcast. This show is also podcasted from my Mystic Babylon open mic poetry podcast at: http://mysticbabylon.podomatic.com . Today we are fortunate to have with us Doreen Stock, a bay area poetess/writer. She has been exploring creative writing for 30 years plus .
Her first book of poetry was: “Politics of Splendor”, Alcatraz Editions, published in Santa Cruz in 1984. It contains some of her works, and translations she did of the works of Marina Tsvetaeva and Anna Akhmatova.
Recently she has been published in some Marin Poetry Center poetry anthologies, they being volume 5, 8, and 9, published in 2002, 2005, and 2006. She has been published in numerous magazines and has reviewed the poet Sharon Doubiago with Redwood Coast Review. Sharon Doubiago is a poet who was on one of my early audio podcasts. Some of Doreen’s works can also be found in “Tambourine”, from In-between Books, Sausalito, published in Sept. 2000. She has also published an Indian travel journal called “The Third Tiger”, available at: www.nomad-travels.com . A historical fiction is in the works entitled, “Three Tales from the Archives of Love”. She has numerous chapbooks that are also available in the open mics of San Francisco. I will read a few of my poems also. Please consider buying my poetry book: Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence. My new poetry book is nearing the end of editing. I only have to edit about 15 or 20 more poems, then I will just do 4 or 5 quick edits of the whole book and publish it. I hope to have it out by summer. I think I am going to call it Mystic Babylon, after my podcast. I hope you enjoy the show.

HELLO. THIS IS A REPOST IN AN ATTEMPT TO GET IT TO DOWNLOAD PROPERLY. POSTED HERE IT SHOULD DOWNLOAD. I HOPE YOU DON"T MIND THIS RE-BROADCAST.
This is the 2nd full length open mike poetry podcast recording of "Mystic Babylon" from the Haight in San Francisco. I am recording poems from the Word Beat Series of open mic poetry sessions in Berkeley from Telegraph Avenue right near the People's Park. The Word Beat web site is at http://www.angelfire.com/poetry/wordbeat . The poet from there is Michael Kelly, and I, John Rhodes am reading some of my poetry as usual too. I hope you enjoy it.

THIS SHOW HAS BEEN RE-MASTERED
Hello. This is John Rhodes and this is the third special airing on this Access TV Channel in San Francisco of my poetry show, which is also podcasted from my audio/video poetry podcast site Mystic Babylon, located at: http://mysticbabylon.podomatic.com . Today we are grateful to have as our guest Clive Matson, who will be reading for around 18 to 20 minutes. I will end the show reading from my podcast novel, “Little Bird Told Me” . Please also visit my podcast novel site, which is serially produced for free at: http://littlebirdtoldme.podomatic.com .
Here is Clive’s short bio.
Clive is a prolific San Francisco Bay Area writer and who is also very involved in the writing community with writing workshops, retreats, poetry events, and, open mic events.
In Clive’s early adult years, Herbert Huncke, a well known person of the beat generation, was his surrogate dad. He has taught more than 2000 workshops nationwide. Some of his titles are, “Let Your Crazy Child Write”, “Squish Boots”, his newly released “Chalcedony’s First Ten Songs”, “Heroin”, and “Mainline to the Heart” . The two latter books are scheduled for re-release later this year.
One very popular venue of Clive’s in downtown San Francisco is his monthly “Poetry and Pizza” poetry readings. If you are inspired by Clive and would like to find out more about Clive’s books, workshops, retreats, and activities, go to his web site which is at: http://www.matsonpoet.com .
The image above from the left is: Don Linker, Clive Matson, and me, John Rhodes

Hello. This is Mystic Babylon Open Mic Poetry podcast broadcasting from near the Haight with some more San Francisco poetry from the Poem Dome in April and also some more poetry/music from the Hydropods. The Poem Dome URL is: http://www.poemdome.com and the Hydropods URL is: http://myspace.com/hydropods . As I have mentioned before, the Hydropods are John Dooley, and Gary Glover. The Poem Dome Poets are in order, Selene Steese who is a regular poet at most of the open mikes in San Francisco, Gregory McGarry is from the Velvet Revolution representing SFSU here in San Francisco, Richard Ivanhoe is usually at the Park Branch Library open mic in the Haight where Diamond Dave is the host, Jerry Feraz reads next who runs the Bird and Beckett Bookstore open mike, and last but not least of the poets is someone who came up named Marty Campbell. When I first heard him speak his rant my audio equipment barely picked him up, saying his little rant, but then I ran it through a software program called the Levelator ( http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator ) and batta-boom, your could hear him walking up and down the isles of City Hall perfectly clear, so I decided to include him just for fun. Last but not least we have the Hydropods with a bit called, “Bum”…I never thought people thought I was so stupid… Well that’s a rap. Enjoy the open mike poetry.

This is John Rhodes and this is the 49th Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast/TV Show broadcasting from near the Haight in San Francisco.
This is the second poetry special that I have had through Cable Access 29 San Francisco. You can go here: http://accessf.org/guide/schedule to find out when the show is running again as a re-run here in San Francisco. Please check every two days or so because that’s how often they update it.
I am having two poets read besides me. They are Paul Watsky and Adele Mendelson.
Paul Watsky is a well-known poet of the open Mikes of San Francisco and is well-published. You can find more about him at: http://www.paulwatskypoetry.com .
Adele Mendelson was born in Cleveland, Ohio. When she turned 18 she ran off to New York City with her boyfriend. Later she followed the excitement to San Francisco. She became a flower child and lived in a Haight Ashbury commune. She also managed to finish college and began a teaching career at the University of California at Berkeley. She married, had two children, who grew up, and then she moved to the East Bay. Currently she lives in the Rockridge area of Oakland across from the Dept. of Motor Vehicles. She has written two chapbooks, “Gardens” and “Only in a Body”.
Contact Adele Mendelson at: adelemendelson@hotmail.com , for more information about her books.

Hello. This is John Rhodes and this is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry podcast in audio today. Today we have 3 poets besides me. We have some more of the poetry from the Poem Dome celebration last April. We have in order: Daniel Yaryan, Paul Corman Roberts, and Kim Johnson. I as usual will read a few poems in the beginning. At the beginning of next month I will have another Comcast Cable Access 29 show for you to watch. Please stay tuned for it and I hope you enjoy this audio podcast. Just a reminder, my TV shows re-run on channel 29 1-3 times week and if you look here: http://accessf.org/guide/schedule/ every two days, you can see when to see my show, and you will in this way, be able to see the TV show in its full resolution…if you live in the San Francisco Area. Please, also, buy the books of the authors on this web site. My book of poetry is: Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence. For you Poem Dome addicts visit: http://www.poemdome.com . The Picture above is of Daniel Yaryan.

Hello. This is John Rhodes and this is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poety Podcast’s first local Cable Access TV show. It is broadcasted on a local only Comcast Channel in San Francisco. This show was first broadcasted Nov. 1rst 07, at 7:00pm. It will be used as filler all the way until the end of January which means it will be shown anywhere from between 10-30 times. If you go to the channel 29 web page: http://accessf.org/guide/schedule/ , and check there every two days or so you will bound to be able to find a time you can watch or record it in its full broadcast resolution. That list is inaccurate beyond a few days, so please check it often. The show will probably at least be shown twice a week.
The show itself is a show with Clara Hsu, a San Francisco Asian poetess, who is the featured reader. Her web site is at: http://www.clarahsu.com . Enjoy!

Hello. This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast leaving a message for those wondering what happened to my web site over the last week or two. All my data was deleted from Podomatic because their hard drives failed, but I’m back up again and better than ever. I’ve decided to leave more shows on my main page rather than in the archives because people don’t know how to tweak their podcatchers to download from the archives and they prefer it all on the main page. I get twice the downloads this way. If the downloads stay this way I will keep at least 40 podcasts on my main page un-archived. Eventually I will have to archive the pages, which means you’ll have to look for the little calender on the main podcast page and click on it. The next show that I’m going to post is my first local TV show. That’s about it! Thank God for back-ups. Peace and Haight Street!

Hello. This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast Broadcasting from near the Haight. Today we are going to have some more poets from the Poem Dome Get-Together at San Francisco City Hall that happened in April. The first poet we are going to have is from Martin De Porres Soup Kitchen, and he is named, Sam Yates. The second poet is Mirabai Hagen from the Open Mike, Amnesia, and the last poet is Claire Marie from K’vetch. I fortunately, for the people who watch my show just with my flash player, have made this podcast a little shorter than usual, so it should play with a medium slow DSL.
Within a month or less I should be going a little bit more professional as I will be running my podcast as a local television show on Cable access 29, for those people in San Francisco. Those shows will be at full resolution of course. The first show will have Clara Hsu, make sure you ask her when she is going to be on. Unfortunately, in the sense that the video files will be large, the shows will all be about 28-30 minutes long, so they won’t play except with almost the fastest DSL or with a cable internet connection in the flash player on my site. Of course if people would buy my books, hint, hint, I could afford to have www.podomatic.com custom design my flash player for my site so I could run 30 minute videos practically through my flash player there. If only 2 or 3% of my audience would buy my books I wouldn’t have such a hole in my pocket. My audience every year ranges at around about 100,000 downloads a year. I hope you enjoy this podcast.

Hello. This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast Broadcasting from near the Haight. I had to delete my last show because contrary to what I understood, Diane Di Prima didn’t want her audio posted. I was happy to remove it, and I did so. I guess Donna is not the only primadonna. I do understand her fears of copyright infringement, but I think that it would have been a better decision to let it stay on my site. I am in the future going to be much more careful about getting permission from artists.
Today we are going to have a larger portion of poems by the Hydropods. The Hydropods are again, John Dooley poet, and Gary Glover Jazz improv., from Oregan. Their web site is at http://myspace.com/hydropods . I am in the process of attempting to start a TV show on Cable Access TV 29 here in San Francisco and am hoping that besides covering the open mikes I will be able to get videos of the more well known artists that many of you might have heard of. I am still going to record people from the open mikes though. It isn’t a sealed deal but I’ve got my fingers crossed. I hope you enjoy this podcast.

Hello. This is John Rhodes and this is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast broadcasting from near the Haight in San Francisco. Today I am going to have one other poet besides me read, named J.R. Brady.
J. R. Brady is an actor, playwright and poet. Her plays have won awards and have been produced in the United States and in Scotland. From 1995 to 2002 she performed poetry and jazz with her late partner, Jon Greene, at numerous venues including the 1996 Edinburgh Fringe Festival where they received a four star review...Currently, she continues to write and perform. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including 33OO REVIEW, HAIGHT ASHBURY LITERARY JOURNAL, OXYGEN, NORTH COAST LITERARY REVIEW, NORTH BEACH JOURNAL, EARTH'S DAUGHTERS, and VAN GOGH'S EAR. She has had three chapbooks published: MERGING TRAFFIC and GENERATIONS by EYELET PRESS; and VANISHED
LAUGHTER by 3300 PRESS. She has studied with Ernest White at San Francisco State University and with Diane Di Prima.
At http://littlebirdtoldme.podomtaic.com I posted the 3rd chapter of my podcast novel, ‘Little Bird Told Me’, last week. Please subscribe to it. I do hope you try to listen in. Please remember to buy the books of the authors on this site. You can buy my aforementioned podcast novel in its full audio version from www.audible.com , and you can buy it, or my poetry book ‘Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence’ , in text form from www.authorhouse.com . You can also pay for the free listening by telling as many friends as you can about my works. The image is a color version of the cover of my novel. Thanx.

Hello. This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast broadcasting from near the Haight in San Francisco. Today we have a poetry/music group called Hydropods and a special treat for San Francisco poets, a recording of the late poet of the open mikes of San Francisco, Susan Birkland. Susan passed a way not long ago, and there was a fair amount of poems about her passing, back then, in the open mikes. I may have some more recordings of her and I might put together a larger recording of her works.
The Hydropods are an ensemble of poet and musician, based originally in Portland, Oregan. It consists of two people. One is John Dooley, poet, and Gary Glover Jazz improv. They have produced numerous CDs. Some of their works are for sale at: http://myspace.com/hydropods, and they hope to have a new album out in the fall called: Vulture and Other Stories.
Just an update. My novel podcast of my book: Little Bird Told Me, is now online in its serial form at: http://littlebirdtoldme.podomatic.com , and also in its full version at http://www.audible.com .Now I have two books to my name, the other being my poetry book: Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence. I have another completed poetry book which I am editing and it should be ready by early next year. In the summer of 2008 I hope to have another novel out. It is one third done. It is a completed short novel I am turning into a full length novel. Please remember to support my productions by buying my books either in audio or text form.
To note. Please excuse my last video podcast. The lighting was only tolerable, and the size of the file was so large you needed a fast connection to watch it in the flash player on my site. I will try to be more careful. Live and learn. The poetry podcast will start shortly. I, as usual will read 2 or 3 poems first. The picture above is from the Hydropods my space page listed above. Enjoy.

Hello. This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast broadcasting from near the Haight.
THIS IS A REDITED VERSION IN ATTEMPT TO MAKE IT COMPATIBLE WITH MY PODCAST FLASH PLAYER.
Sorry about running such a late show, but I did finally get it out. My web site totally crashed from late Saturday to late afternoon on Monday. Also an old poet named Drew Stroud on podcast 15, who recorded with Jennifer Barone had a stroke. Please pray for him. A friend of his sent out emails to a lot of my friends and apparently they were written in a way where it sounded like I had the stroke not Drew and I was in ICU. I got a lot of letters out there from friends thinking I had had a stroke. To all my poet friends out there who still don’t know, I am perfectly fine and no, I’m not know going to now fake my death. No harm done, and I do extremely hope that Drew Stroud gets better soon. He is still in the archives if you would like to re-listen to him.
Today is going to be rather relaxed as I have no featured reader. I taped this at the Priya Restaurant in Berkeley where they hold an open mike called Poetry Express run by Mark States. I met Joyce Jenkins, when of the people who runs the Poetry Magazine, Poetry Flash, at Poetry Express. I tried to get her to be on my podcast and read some of her poetry, but I think she had an old 50’s 60’s ballad going in her head like Honey Do, Honey Don’t, because she would alternate between yes and no. Anyway, please read that Magazine if you can. It’s web site is: http://www.poetryflash.org . Please pardon the lower resolution in the first part of the video as I had to lower the resolution on Mark States introduction through the software, to improve the lighting. I didn’t realize I had a lighting problem when I recorded it. The rest of it should be fine.
I think you will find show of mine this better than any sit-com, and yes I also programmed this so you can watch it with Apple TV, and if you have the appropriate extra hardware you can watch it with your tivo I think. It’s not HD video, but when they start using fiber optics more commonly in the U.S., I will upgrade to HD.
Again, please buy my books, which are, in poetry, “Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence, and in fiction, “Little Bird Told Me”. Audible is still saying that they’ll have my audio book, “Little Bird Told Me” on line, and the next date that they gave me was today or tomorrow, but I’m beginning to think about crying wolves at this point. I hope they estimated right at this point. The photo above is a picture of Mark States..

Hello again! This is John Rhodes and this is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast Broadcasting from near the Haight in San Francisco. Today besides me, the Poet Laureate of California, Al Young, is going to read. This is another recording courtesy of Jim Nesbit who only asks that I mention that you respect the copyright of the authors in the recordings. Al Young has a web site at: http://www.alyoung.org . He was elected Poet Laureate of California in 2005 and I think that means that shortly his honor shall be transferred to another poet. This recording was done at a small open mike here in San Francisco with all the other regulars of the open mikes present, so it was very informal. I hope you enjoy the recording and consider buying the books of any of the readers on my podcasts. Again, my books are in poetry: ‘Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence” and in fiction: ‘Little Bird Told Me’. I do hope that next week www.audible.com will post my for sale audio version of my fiction novel, ‘Little Bird Told Me’, and I can then present you with my free serial version sometime next week. Keep your fingers crossed. They are actually a speck late. Enjoy .

Hello, this is John Rhodes and this is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast broadcasting from near the Haight in San Francisco, with the best of San Francisco poetry. Today I am having one poet besides me, named Richard Schimpf read. He has been involved in many forms of writing and film production which includes two movies. They are: ‘Between Places’, and ‘Mission Movie’. You can find more about him at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1721786/ . He also is a poet.
Any day now I will post my first audio chapter of my novel, ‘Little Bird Told Me’ at: http://littlebirdtoldme.podomatic.com . It has been at www.audible.com about two weeks, and shortly they should be finished formatting it for posting. As soon as it launches there, I will launch the serial version. Please buy the works of the authors on this site. My poetry book is entitled: ‘Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence’. Thanx.

Hello! This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast broadcasting from near the Haight, with the best of San Francisco poetry. Today we are having 3 poets read, and, a San Francisco president of the board of supervisors named Aaron Peskin is also going to read a few poems. These poems were all read in late April at an annual be-in/get-together, at City Hall which was made up of a collection of poets from San Francisco called, ‘Poem Dome’. ‘Poem Dome’, has a web site at: http://www.poemdome.com . You can hear a little bit of Diamond Dave giving his compassionate hosting skills on this podcast also. He runs an open mike at the Park Branch Library which is very close to the Haight. The poets that will read besides me are, Angela Ngai who reads at the Sunset Heighborhood Beacon Center in connection with http://www.bamboozled.org. That venue is run by E.K. Keith, who helped put on ‘Poem Dome‘. Kaisha Borgaro is the second poet to read who reads at: “Just Gimme the Mike”, in the Bayview District of San Francisco. and the last poet is Bill Evans, who is visible most everywhere, but won a chance to read at the ‘Poem Dome’ at the Café Prague Open Mike in North Beach, where the term Beatnik was coined by Herb Caen.
Just to note. I sent in my audio file of my novel, ‘Little Bird Told Me’ to Audible Books Thursday to post there in its complete for sale version, and as soon as they post it, I am going to run the serial, free version of it, one chapter at a time every two weeks for 56 weeks. Please consider buying it from Audible. Though. I very much enjoy entertaining you with the poets of San Francisco and have been trying to get you some of the big ones like for instance Jack Hirschman, but so far all you have been able to afford me so far in purchases is a gravestone in “Potter’s Field”, with the other dead poets and novelists. Please remember to support the authors (including me) in this podcast by buying their works. Thanx.

Hello! This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast Broadcasting from near the Haight. Today besides me we have Elz Cuya reading. She is the host of the Dalva series poetry readings in the Mission District in San Francisco, and works for Youth Speaks
( http://www.youthspeaks.org), and does numerous other things which she will mention when she reads. This podcast I am hoping will be my first properly formatted video to look at on Apple TV, so if you have Apple TV, see if it loads right and leave me a comment on my show notes. She has one myspace site I am sure of at: http://www.myspace.com/poetrymission, and I think she runs a yahoo group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PoetryMission . Pardon me for a shameless plug but please by Youth Speaks books and if you can please buy one of my 2 books too if you can. Thanks!

Hello! This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast broadcasting from near the Haight. Today we are going to have a very nice recording including the poet Laureate of San Francisco that was made at Sweetie’s in San Francisco, May 2nd 2005. Jim Nesbit, the man who ran that open mike was kind enough to let me use his recordings just as long as I was sure to make people aware that the copyrights of all poetry reverts back to the author. Jack Hirschman was born in 1931 and has written more than 50 books and essays. He is judge of the ongoing San Francisco Poets Eleven Poetry Contest, here in San Francisco, and I was one of the winners. The library and the city, are helping run that contest. They are also going to put out an anthology of winning poets. Jim Nesbit is also a writer and you can find out more about him at: http://noirconeville.com/ . Please excuse my delay about posting the audio for my novel, ‘Little Bird Told Me’. I promise it will be out in no later than a month. The book is now available from all online bookstores, but please buy it from Authorhouse. The give me more money. Remember to by the books of my posted authors. Thank-you.

Hello! This is Mystic Babylon broadcasting from near Haight Street with the best of San Francisco poetry. Today we have some poetry from two other poets besides me. First I have some poetry from a poet who asked me a long time ago to record some of her works named Lenore Weiss. She gave me a disk of what she called cell-phone poetry and I extracted one small snippet from that recording.
After that I have some poetry from a poet named David Alpaugh. He also runs a small press. David Alpaugh’s works have appeared in more than a hundred literary journals and anthologies. His first collection, Counterpoint, won a prize, and is published by Story Line Press. He has had chapbooks published by Coracle Books and Pudding House Publications.
His new book HEAVY LIFTING has just been published by Alehouse Press. Order it direct from the poet for $15 postpaid: Small Poetry Press Distribution, P.O. Box 5342, Concord, CA 94524, or go to:
http://www.alehousepress.com . He has his small press at: http://www.smallpoetrypress.com .
May I remind you to read and buy our books. My poetry book is: Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence, and my new novel is called: Little Bird Told Me. My voice-over for that book is almost finished and as soon as I get it submitted to Audible.com in its full version, for sale, I will start posting it chapter by chapter over a whole year.
David's picture and part of the cover from his new book is above.
Remember, as Poor Richard’s Almanac said, “Money Doesn’t Grow On Trees”.

Hello there. Here I am again with my Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast from near the Haight in San Francisco with the best of San Francisco Poetry. Today you will be able to see a big icon of the open mikes. This is the poet Julia Vinograd. I remember seeing one of her books I think, back in the seventies in Cody’s old book store on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, and I remember wondering how she did that. You can find more of her work at: http://www.zeitgeist-press.com . I have been trying to get a video of her for awhile. Please buy our books. My book is Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence.

Hello. This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast broadcasting from near the Haight in San Francisco. Today I have one poet besides me. The poet is named Tom Odegard. You can buy his book, or chapbooks, by writing: Tom Odegard
P.O. Box 2808, Friday Harbor, Washington, 98250, or by sending an email to: tommsg@gmail.com . All of this info will be in the web site show notes and Tom will give more info when he introduces himself when he reads. You can see the cover of his newly produced book, right here above the show notes. It is entitled: Past Lives Led. I decided I am going to read part of the first chapter of my new novel, “Little Bird Told Me” that just came out. If you want to read the full first chapter it is posted at: http://www.rhodespoetry.com. I’ll probably read 6 minutes. Please consider buying my and the other author's books. My book is available through Authorhouse for a reduced price and for a little more from Barnes and Noble. The reading segment will start shortly.

Hello again. This is John Rhodes, and this is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast broadcasting from near the Haight in San Francisco. Today I have one poet besides me named Lynette Cloutier. She received a scholarship from the New York Metropolitan Opera, studied voice and drama with them, and also explored for awhile contemporary music. In 2003 her work was published in the French publication Van Gogh's Ear, and Paterson
Literary Review. In 2004, she published her first chap book “Between Worlds“. I think you will enjoy her works.
My book, “Little Bird Told Me”, is officially out all over the web. Last time I checked Amazon didn’t have it yet, but Barnes and Noble has it. Please though, buy it from http://www.authorhouse.com . It’s cheaper through them, and I get twice the royalties if you buy it there. Please also consider buying my mystic book of poetry: "Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence".

Hello! Welcome again to Mystic Babylon broadcasting from near the Haight. Today I am recording poetry from the Gallery Café near the Cable Car Museum in San Francisco. The host that you hear in the recording is Kit Kennedy. I will be brief in this part of the intro. I hope you enjoy this poetry.
My new mystic novel is out, “Little Bird Told Me”. It is purchasable from http://www.authorhouse.com , for a reduced price in their bookstore. If you can, please buy it from them because I get twice the royalties, plus the retail price for you is much less. If you must, it will be available from other online bookstores in a month or so. I changed my personal web site around a lot also so please check it out at: http://www.rhodespoetry.com .
The photograph above is of the host of the Gallery Cafe, Kit Kennedy.

Hello! This is “Mystic Babylon” Open Mike Poetry Podcast broadcasting from near the Haight. Today I’m doing a blue screen at a religious shrine next to St. Ignatius church just above the Haight. I decided to read some poems with the name Mary in them, to topically connect with the image of Mother Mary is in the background. I am not very conservatively religious but have studied Christianity and all religion fascinates me, especially when it relates to the subjects of meditation, world peace, and inner peace. I thought the statue looked very graceful so I included it.
Today I have one other poet besides me who is reading, and that other poet is Joan Gelfand. She has been published widely including in publications like, the New York Times, Vanity Fair, and the list goes on and on. She has a poetry book out called, “Seeking Center”, and she has a novel coming out called, “Voice Over”. Joan has a blog at, http://jg.typepad.com/ciel .
Please remember to buy the author’s books. The book I am reading from is, Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence.
There has been a delay in the creation of the voice over of my text/audio novel, Little Bird Told Me, but the audio version should be out by the end of March. I think my text version of the book should be posted in the Authorhouse Bookstore, and hopefully in
places like Amazon.com by the 23rd of Feb. It will have a cheaper base price from Authorhouse, and I get twice the royalty from their book store so if you can, please buy it from them if you do.
I don’t want to brag, but I think some of the material I put on my poetry podcast is fairly professional in quality and many times rates equal with public radio. They often repeat a lot of their shows on and on and I don’t. The reason why I mention this is just to remind you that we appreciate any support you can give us by buying the books listed here. I have yet to find money growing on trees, although poetry seems to grow on them quite well.
Just to note. With my tax returns I upgraded the hardware on my computer so the quality of the video will hopefully improve greatly.
This video podcast may not show it because it was half edited with my old hardware but the next video podcast should show it.

Hello! This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast broadcasting from near the Haight. I am trying to plug a new open mike in San Francisco. Today I am recording a segment from Red Hill Books which is at 401 Cortland Avenue in the Bernal Heights Area, for those listening in the San Francisco Area. I’m not positive which Monday they have the open mike, but please call them at (415)648-5331, and ask for Sierra to find out the exact date and time. They need you to be interested, so please think about coming. Their web site is at: http://www.dogearedbooks.com/redhill . The book I will read from briefly is: Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence.

Hello! This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast broadcasting from near the Haight. Today we have an eclectic mix of poets who most have already read on my podcast.
This podcast was recorded at the 3300 Club at 3300 Mission in the Mission District. The 3300 Club’s web site is at: http://www.3300club.com .
I have two jokes for this Super Bowl day. The first is: even though people are dieing like flies these days our civilization has improved. People no longer die laughing. The second joke relates to one of the poems in this day’s recording. The joke is about a poem about snow there. I just wanted to say that I think that the conservatives in San Francisco want to put artificial snow on Haight Street so the aging hippies and baby boomers won’t complain about global warming. The joke will explain itself when you hear the poem.
Nancy Keane is the MC at the 3300 Club.
Please let me remind you to buy my book, “Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence”. If you’ve put up with my poetry this long maybe you should just up and buy it.
The manuscript for my hippie podcast novel: “Little Bird Told Me”, just went to the publisher and I hope it will be purchasable from Amazon.com in 3 weeks. I have reserved a podcast page to podcast it in audio at: http://littlebirdtoldme.podomatic.com .

This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast located near the Haight in San Francisco. I am recording partly from the Oval Office today. The Commander in Chief wanted me to read some of my pacifist poems here as a State of the Union message. Besides me reading here in the Oval Office, I am going to have a poet who read at a poetry venue called Poetry and Pizza, in San Francisco. His name is David Shaddock. His books of poetry include Dreams Are Another Set of Muscles and In This Place Where Something's Missing Lives. For those from San Francisco, Poetry and Pizza, is at 333 Bush Street, and for a five dollar donation you get pizza, a drink and salad, plus poetry. They generally meet the first Friday of the month. Clive Matson is the MC. The URL of Poetry and Pizza is http://popizza.white.prohosting.com .Just to note…at Poetry and Pizza they donate the donation you give to a benefit of the poet’s choice which was at this time, Rabbis for Human Rights. It is located at http://www.rhr.na.org .

Hello. This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast broadcasting from near the Haight. Today we have two poets besides me. These poets are H.D. Moe and Doug Reese. H.D. Moe has many, many books out which can be purchased from numerous places, the main one being his web site at: http://www.hdmoe.com . The second poet, Doug Reese is a close friend of Moe’s and has some very good poems here.
I, being much like the Huichol Indians in Mexico who eat Peyote, don’t have curse words in my vocabulary, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huichol), but I try not to rationalize and censor, when people want to use them in their poems, so, I have permitted a few to slip under the wire. Even when censoring serves its purpose it is also a form of rational analysis based on preset values that impose upon the freedom of the mind. I have thusly put explicit on this particular podcast in iTunes, whatever that must mean.
May I remind you to buy the author’s books. My book is, “Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence”. It is fun buying books to put on your shelves. I am waiting, for instance, for Donovon’s newly published autobiography: “The Hurdy Gurdy Man”. My new book, “Little Bird Told Me” might delay a little bit, but be patient, and it will be out soon.

Hello! This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast broadcasting from near the Haight in San Francisco. Welcome!
Today we have one poet besides me, John Rhodes. That person is a lady named Jan Steckel. I recorded her at the Gallery Café by the Cable Car Museum. That open mike is the first Mondays of the month. Jan Steckel, besides writing poetry writes short stories, has been nominated for a Pushcart Price.She has a poetry chapbook that was recently published called, “Underwater Hospital”, by Zeitgeist Press. She has a web site at: http://www.jansteckel.com , and Zeitgeist Press is at: http://www.zeitgeist-press.com . You can buy her book there. Also don't forget to buy my book: Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence. It is available at almost any online bookstore. My novel, "LIttle Bird Told Me" has a about 30 pages of minor rewrite left, which equates to not more than a month. I hope you find it interesting when it comes out and are loyal enough to buy a copy. I am very proud of it.

Hello, this is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast recording from near the Haight in San Francisco. Today we have only one poet besides me, but we have a special treat today. We have Judith Barnett who works at the Beat Museum in the North Beach area of San Francisco near City Lights Bookstore where the Beats came from. The URL of the Beat Museum is: http://www.thebeatmuseum.org . I met her at the open mikes that they hold there regularly.
I have one proverb to state as we approach the end of this intro that I hope you consider worthy. Why do we fight battles in Iraq where more people die, when we could fight battles on Cancer right in the U.S. where fewer people would die? As you might notice in Judith’s poetry she talks about her fight with Cancer. Let’s hope that she wins. I remember reading a book when I was about ten years old about cancer called “Death Be Not Proud”, by John Gunther. I recommend it.
Judith has a book coming out hopefully in February. It is called “Critics and Other Lovers”. Please by it if you can. You will probably be able to buy it through the Beat Museum.

Welcome to Mystic Babylon open mike poetry podcast broadcasting from near the Haight in San Francisco. This is my video poetry podcast version today. I will try to alternate recording one video then one audio, on a weekly basis, so if you only have an audio iPod, you will be able to at least get your regular bi-weekly audio shows. Today I am recording two of my poems, and from Bird and Beckett Books, Walker Brents will read. He is fairly well known around San Francisco for his poetry. His video was a recording of him as one featured reader out of two, at Bird and Beckett.
First I will read two poems, next there will be a short plug for Bird and Beckett, and then Walker Brents will read. May I remind you to buy my book , “Spirits Of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence”, and please buy the books of the authors on this show. I hope you enjoy this video .

Hello again. This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast broadcasting from near the Haight with as usual, for my audio podcast, two other poets. The two poets are Joanna Planteen whose pen name is Monique Marquisa de Magdelena, and the other poet is Dorothy Walters. Joanna, or Monique, as she calls herself, is going to have an all-female poetry collective with a first show Dec. 2nd. Info about this can be found at: http://www.thebeatmuseum.org , or http://www.thewordparty.com . From what I understand, it will be at the Beat Museum at 7:00 pm the aforementioned day. You can hear some of Monique’s early all-girl band at http://www.inflatableboyclams.com . She hopes to have a web site running at http://www.moniquepoet.com within a few weeks or so .
Dorothy Walters has two books out. She is into Kundalini awakening, and writes about it in her books. Her poetry book is entitled: “Marrow of Flame” which are poems of a spiritual journey, and she has another book, a spiritual auto-biography, called “Unmasking the Rose” which she describes as a record of a Kundalini Initiation also with some poetry in it. She has a blog at http://kundalinisplendor.blogspot.com .
Must I remind you to buy our books. My book is available from most on-line bookstores and is called: “Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence”. I probably will only read 60 or 70 of the poems online from that book which has a total of about 180 poems in it so please buy it, to read the rest of the poems. I want to publish another book of poems that I have, but I need your support so I can afford it. At least, thanks for listening. The photo is an image of Dorothy Walters.

Welcome to Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast. I hope this podcast brings up images like the Beatle’s song: “A Day in a Life”...only this is, “A Day in a Life”, of me, John Rhodes, going from open mike, to open mike throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Sometimes I get gems, but at the least I get people who have an intellectual bent, and want to entertain.
Please consider sending me some of your work in audio or video for posting on my site. Try to send it formatted so I don’t have to edit it any. You can use a program like they have at: http://www.yousendit.com , that allows you to send large files. Email me at info@rhodespoetry.com for more info. I get no money from producing this podcast, so please consider buying my book of poetry: “Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence”. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
Today we have three poets who read at the, “Sacred Grounds Coffee Shop” in the Haight Street Area. These three poets in order as they read are, Joel Fallon, Robert Tricaro, and Marsha Campbell. Joel Fallon has a web site at: http://www.poetrymatters.150m.com/ .
I have included two poems of mine. I hope you enjoy this podcast. Like I said, please consider submitting some works. I can’t say for sure I will post it, but don’t turn very many people down.

Hello. This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast broadcasting from near the Haight. Today we are having 3 poets besides me for this audio podcast that I record every two weeks. Reading will be Jason Robinson, Aaron DeWall, and Nancy Wakeman.
Jason and Aaron have a beautifully illustrated book called “Alas”, which you can purchase by sending an email to: randones2003@yahoo.com, or a letter to P.O. Box 60 Occidentat, CA 95465.
Nancy Wakeman is a poet/writer who has a web site at: http://www.delicious13.com . If you go there you will see how to buy her books.
I just wanted to share a little info with you about my podcast. Apparently you people really like my podcast. I get maybe 50-70,000 downloads a year, but surprisingly you don’t seem to buy my book. I know some of you people must like my poetry or you wouldn’t listen. I don’t want to lay a guilt trip on you, but when you listen in, think about buying my book, “Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence”, to put on your bookshelf. It’s important to have a hidebound version. Eventually I’m going to delete all of these poems from my podcast and you won’t have a copy. Think about a copy for Christmas or something. Oh, and by the way…today, Nov. 12th is my birthday. I’m poor and I’m 54. Now please consider sending me enough money for my books so when I’m 64 I can live on the Isle of Wight like the Beatle song. The painting above is by Aaron DeWall Peace!

Hello! This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast broadcasting from near the Haight. Today I am experimenting with vodcasting (Video Podcasting). Today I have recorded some poetry by me, and also I have a poet named Stephen Berry who you can see here reading at The Gallery Cafe Open Mike near the Cable Car Museum. I am still going to hopefully run one audio poetry podcast every two weeks.
The picture above is a picture of the Gallery Cafe'.
Please if you can, buy my book, "Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence". As I have said it is very hard to survive eating printing paper. Ruffage doesn't taste very good...chomp, chomp.

Hello! This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast broadcasting from near the Haight in San Francisco. Today, as usual, we are having two poets besides me. They are Clara Hsu and Al Averbach. Clara usually reads at the Sacred Grounds Coffee Shop and Al Averbach is usually seen at the Gallery Café Open Mike. Clara is an Oriental as you will be able to tell by her voice and has a web site with some marvelous videos there at: http://www.clarahsu.com. Al Averbach is well known in the open mikes and you can email him for his chapbook at: alkermit@aol.com . May I remind you to buy our books. My book, “Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence” is available from Amazon.com, or most any main internet bookstore.
The picture above is of Clara.

who prefers to be called, Eugene David.
Marvin Hiemstra is most well-known in connection with the local Literary Magazine, Bay Area Poets Seasonal Review. He is also a poet who has been nominated for a Pulitzer prize in poetry. If you would like to contact him about his magazine or purchasing any of his works contact him at: drollmarv@aol.com .
David Eugene Partch is a prolific poet of the Bay Area who has many chapbooks out. His chapbooks are available through his web site, and can be mail ordered from him personally through the address listed there. His web site is: http://www.thesighting.com .
Both poets will go into more detail about themselves when they read.
I, as usual, will read 3 of my poems from my book , “Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence”. Please, also, if you can, buy the author’s books.
The picture above is of Marvin Hiemstra.
I am shortly going to be experimenting with having video poetry podcasts. I will still have audio ones, but am trying to figure out a way to also have video poetry readings, so stay tuned.
Let me add a note. I accidentally loaded the poetry to the internet without me, the first time, so this version has me, John Rhodes in it. Sorry about that.

Hello again, This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast broadcasting from near the Haight in San Francisco. Today we are having two poets besides me. They are James Frame and J.R. Jimmy Hammond. James Frame grew up in Sonoma California, lived in San Francisco most of his adult life, and was a Combat Medic in the Vietnam War. He was influenced by the beat poets, and Robinson Jeffers as a young man. He remembers reading in open mikes way back in the 70’s, in North Beach and in the Haight at the “Blue Unicorn”. The 70’s doesn’t sound that far back, but I guess to this generation it is.
J. R. Jimmy Hammond is a big fixture in the San Francisco open mikes, and was a district winner in the Poets Eleven Contest in San Francisco, which is to a large extent run by the poet laureate of San Francisco, Jack Hirschman. He was influenced by Bukowski.
These two poets I connected up with at the 3300 Club at 30th and Mission.
I will as usual read 3 of my poems from my book, "Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence” .
I hope you like the little icon banner I posted above this intro. Enjoy the open mic poetry. The photo of Jimmy Hammond is courtesy of Clara Hsu.

This is John Rhodes, and this is the Seventeenth recording of Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast, recording San Francisco poetry, from all over the Bay Area. Today we are having only one poet besides me. He is Steven Gray. A couple of his poems really attached themselves to me, which was the one about x-rays, and the one he would have liked with music in the background, like they do at the Club Deluxe Open Mike in the Haight. His web site is: http://www.telepoetic.com. I need not remind you to buy books of the authors. It is good to have free things, but it's also good when you "give away" money to somebody. My latest book which I read from is, "Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence". There is a comment in the podcast about me putting out an audio book much like a person I know named Scott Sigler did as a podcast. Stay tuned for it. It is called, "Little Bird Told Me". Enjoy.

This John Rhodes, and this is the 16th recording of the Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast. I am having two other poets besides me read. They are Jim Nawrocki, and Marci Scileppi. Jim writes poetry and fiction. He has been published in Japan and in the U.S.A in many newspapers, and magazines, like for example in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Marci writes in French and English, and also lived in France for 20 years on a ranch, in the Alsace Lorraine region. She is working on a true crime genre book besides her poetry. At the moment she is taking poetry courses in school.
Please leave comments on my podcast site if you can and buy the author’s books. My book that I read from is: Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence. Please forgive the ocean sound in the background of the podcast. I went through 3 bad batteries with my condenser microphone in 2 weeks. If it helps any, try to imagine yourself at the ocean, if it is at all possible. The picture above is of Marci.

This is the 14th segment of the Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast.
Today we have the head of the Word Beat Poetry series that runs from the Mediterraneum Cafe in Berkeley, and one of her creative children with some of his poems. He sometimes helps host. This is none other than Debra Khattab and Jeremy Morris Siegel. Debra also runs a very nice web site at: http://www.angelfire.com/poetry/wordbeat/ which anyone in the Bay Area who is a poet should know about. Might I remind you to buy the poet's books. Debra is in an Anthology: "An Eye For An Eye Makes The Whole World Blind: Poets on 9/11", and my book is: "Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence". You can buy Debra's book at Amazon.com and there is a link to where to buy my book on this site. The promo on the podcast of Little Red's Writing Hood Poetry Podcast, is in connection with http://www.lrwh.us . The above picture is of the Cafe where the Word Beat Poetry series is held.

This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast from near the Haight in San Francisco. We are having two poets besides me today. One is Eileen Malone and the other is Andrena Zawinski. Eileen is a writer/poet/TV Show host, and, runs a poetry contest at http://www.soulmakingcontest.us . The TV show she is part of, is on Channel 29 Cable, San Francisco. She also has a web site at: http://www.eileenmalone.us .
Andrena Zawinski has the impressive job of feature editor with http://www.poetrymagazine.com and is a poet herself, with published works. She has a numerous books but I think her most prominent one is