Mystic Babylon: S.F. Open Mic Poetry Podcast/TV

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 called: "Traveling in Reflected Light" by Pig Iron Press. The poems she will read today will be available at her web page at poetrymagazine.com . The URL for the Promo of Slam Idol in the podcast is http://slamidol.tripod.com . Slam Idol just added the ability to use www. in his URL so you can get to there with or without www. . The picture is Andrena Zawinski

Hi there! This is Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast, from near the Haight in San Francisco. This Sunday we are having among other poets, Katherine Hastings, who can be found at: http://www.wordtemple.com. That is her picture just above. We are also having David Bromige read who is a very prolific writer of poetry, and one other poet Rychard Denner who can be found at Dpress: http://www.sonic.net/~rychard, or simpler at http://www.dpress.net. Those two male poets are reading together. All these poets are from the North Bay area. This open mic poetry podcast, poetry reading, has just joined the Association of Poetry Podcasting which can be found at http://www.poetrypodcasting.org . We share banners on our poetry web sites, so try clicking on the banner ads to go to other poetry podcast sites. Please post a comment, buy the author's books, and visit my textual web site at: http://www.rhodespoetry.com . Don't forget, the title of my book is , "Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence" and can be bought most anywhere on the net. Note: This version of this podcast is the austere version with no background music. The photos are from the left: Katherine H. David Bromige, and Richard Denner

This is Mystic Babylon's Open Mike Poetry Podcast's 11th full length recording. Today besides me, we have the elder Paul Watsky, and the younger George Watsky. Their web sites are: http://www.paulwatskypoetry.com , http://www.georgewatsky.com , and http://www.youthspeaks.org . Please post comments if you can and buy the author's books if you can. Need I remind you that my textual web site is: http://www.rhodespoetry.com and my book is: "Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence". I hope you enjoy this podcast!

This is “Mystic Babylon” Open Mike Poetry Podcast located near the Haight in San Francisco. I am very proud of this podcast today. We have 3 other poets besides me. Jack and Adelle Foley will read, and also Sharon Doubiago. They are some of the more well known Bay Area poets. Jack works for KPFA in Berkeley. and his web site is at http://www.kpfa.org . All three of them have many volumes of poetry out in print, in book form. Post comments if you can, and, Podomatic now has email without having to post an audio file, so email me if you want, especially if you want to be on my podcast, are copyrighted, and live in the Bay Area. Buy the books of the reading authors if you can. My personal textual web site is at http://www.rhodespoetry.com . Check the links section on the podcast web page to find pages about the reading authors. From left to right above is Sharon D., Jack F. and Adelle F.

This is "Mystic Babylon" Open Mike Poetry Podcast. We have two poets reading on this near Memorial Day Podcast. These two poets are James Tracy and Jeanne Lupton. You can buy one of Jeanne's chapbooks by writing her at : Jeany98@aol.com . James tracy's web site is at: http://www.molotovmouths.com/ , and Jeane Lupton's website is at: http://www.jeannelupton.com.
This Podcast came out a combination love/war podcast, this time. Note my tongue in cheek comment/pun at the end. I do respect the lives lost in war though, even though I am pacifist, but since all the poets in this podcast do feel the way we do feel, I feel, that I, as a creator of this podcast,shouldn't also, wear a piece of tape over my mouth. Peace to all humans, and if you can, believe in the abrieviation, BOB, (Buy Our Books). The book above is James Tracy's and the photo is Jeanne Lupton

This is Mystic Babylon's 8th recording from near the Haight. Today we have 2 other poets on this Mother's Day, Jehanah Wedgwood, and Judy Jones. May I remind you to support my site by buying works from the poets here. Let me mention that my book of poetry is buyable, at almost any main Internet bookstore, and its title is: "Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence". My full name is John F. Rhodes. Judy's web site is at: http://ontheroadwithjudy.com . Please come back in aproximately two weeks (I record on the 26th, not the 28th next time).

This is Mystic Babylon's 7th open mike poetry podcast. Today, besides me, I have 2 poets from Big Sur on, both friends of Laura Huxley, and both published traditionally. Their names are Carolyn Kleefeld, and David Dunn. Just above is a picture of Carolyn K.. Please visit their web site at, http://www.carolynmarykleefeld.com. Need I remind you to please buy a book even though art is for art sake. Thank-you

This is "Mystic Babylon" open mike poetry podcast's 6th recording. Today we have two poets besides myself. Firstly, we have Stephen Kopel, who hosts audio broadcasts of poetry from the, "The Lighthouse for the Blind" located at: http://www.lighthouse-sf.org/ , and is traditionally published. One of his book covers is posted above. The other poet is the honorable Carl Weiner. He has two chapbooks he is going to read from. Please support these San Francisco artists and buy their books. If you are copyrighted, published, and would like to read, send me an email. Maybe we can work something out. Post a comment below if it pleases you and please buy my book of poetry that I read from here called: "Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence". Enjoy!!

This is the 5th Open Mike Poetry Podcast of "Mystic Babylon" broadcasting from the Haight. Today we have three poets reading besides me. They all have their personal connection rooted in reading together at the: "All Poets Welcome Reading Series", held the first Monday of the month, at 7pm at the Gallery Cafe. The three readers are, Robin Demers, the host of the aformentioned reading series, Ken Saffran, and Kit Kennedy. By the way, the photo above is of Kit Kennedy. Enjoy this collection of San Francisco poetry. I think we have a very good podcast this time.

This bi-monthly San Francisco open mike poetry podcast broadcasting form the Haight is this time hosting two poets plus me, John Rhodes. One of them is Ruby R. Muran de Assereto, and the other is Christopher Bernard. I have posted Chris's picture above. Chris's web site is: http://www.caveat-lector.org/ .Chris I met up with at the Gallery Cafe open mike, and Ruby is one of his friends. In the recording they also mention about their chapbooks, books, etc., and where to buy them. I also list where to buy my books. I hope you enjoy it. Leave a comment if you can.

This is Mystic Babylon's 3rd open mike poetry recording from San Francisco in the Haight. It is a mixed bag of poetry from the Bay Area this time. Some of it is from someone whose alias is Dr. Concrescence, who reads in the Fillmore district, known mainly for its music, and also I returned to Berkeley to get one poet from there named David Gollub. The web site associated with him is http://www.angelfire.com/poetry/wordbeat/ . I hope you enjoy this open mic poetry. It takes a lot of work to get it. I bought some new sound equipment so hopefully my sound will be improving once I tweak it. I, John R., posted the cover of my book above. It has 12 illustrated poems in it similar to the cover and is 8x11. The photo above is David Gollub.

My name is John Rhodes. This is the first podcast of Mystic Babylon from the Haight in San Francisco. I read first and am accompanied by poets, Don Brennan, Peter Sherburn-Zimmer, and Dan Brady. These are all poets from the Sacred Grounds Cafe near the Haight. Come back to visit other open mics across the Bay Area. Dan Brady's web site is http://www.creativeideasforyou.com . Above is a drawing by Kahlil Gibran my favorite poet. I hope you enjoy my poetry podcast! My other web site is at http://www.rhodespoetry.com. Click on the play button to listen.

This is this open mic poetry podcast's introductory recording and only a sample of what's to come. I , John Rhodes am located in the Haight Street area and will be recording poets from the San Francisco Bay Area. I will include in each Mystic Babylon podcast a couple of my poems from my mystic poetry book, "Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence", which can be purchased at, http://www.rhodespoetry.com, or at any bookstore on the net. I hope to record a complete 15-20 minute session Feb. 5th. Email me your poetry via Podmail and I might post it! Enjoy our poetry slam! Email me at info@rhodespoetry.com . .By the way, the photo above is me, John Rhodes. Click on play button to hear my preliminary recording. The picture above is a picture of Yelapa, Mexico, where one of the poems takes place that I read.

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