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

Roz Spafford on San Francisco Open Mic Poetry TV

John Rhodes — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:45:10 GMT

This is John Rhodes' San Francisco Mystic Babylon Open Mic Poetry Podcast TV. This is my higher resolution podcast which expands well on large TV sets. To find a list of all my podcasts go to: http://rhodespoetry.com The poet reading today is Roz Spafford. Below is a little bit about Roz and her writings. Roz Spafford’s new book of poems is Requiem, winner of the 2008 Gell Poetry Prize, with a foreword by Carl Dennis: “All the poems in Requiem may be read as attempts to confront the presence of death in our lives . . .What is remarkable about this steady focus, which offers no easy consolations, is that it leads to a book that is more challenging than it is querulous or elegiac. . .a book that confronts our limitations in a way that makes us feel larger rather than diminished.” Roz Spafford has been a writer, teacher, and activist for the last three decades. She wrote book reviews and a newspaper column of media and cultural criticism called “Mediations” for much of that time. Her poetry and fiction have been widely published in literary magazines.

Cynthia Kraman on San Francisco Open Mic Poetry Podcast TV

John Rhodes — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:59:07 GMT

Welcome to San Francisco’s Open Mic Poetry Podcast/TV show and welcome to Moe’s Bookstore in Berkeley. This is a Poetry Flash magazine poetry reading taking place there at Moe’s. Cynthia Kraman is reading. Cynthia’s fourth book of Poems is out which is “The Touch”. Cynthia’s life has faced some extremes. She, began a Punk Rock Group called “China’s Comidas” which roughly translates as Chinese Food. On the other side of her life she has a P.H.D. in Medieval Literature. Richard Silberg of Poetry Flash has said that those extremes can be found in her poetry. Quoting Richard, he said, “At the same time as Cynthia has ‘elan, she has formalism and structure too.” He further said that her impetuosity helps define her strict form. I, John Rhodes will close the show with a poem or two from one of my books. The public access station no longer has a studio to record in but fortunately I have some Professional camcorders and the show is continuing. Please be understanding in the sense that I am still getting used to the new set up. The sound is the hardest. You might notice some improvements too. I am giving up the fake Bluescreen backdrops for regular backdrops which will increase the resolution on large TV screens. I also have a new web site I created specifically for “Poetry Flash” at www.poetryflashvideos.blip.tv, so please check that out if you can. I guess that is about it. I’ll fade out of this and the poetry segment will start shortly.

San Francisco Open Mic Poetry Podcast TV: Foley and Weiss

John Rhodes — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:59:50 GMT

Jack and Adelle Foley, and Lenore Weiss read: This is the San Francisco Open Mic Poetry Podcast TV Show hosted by me, John Rhodes. Today we are having on Jack and Adelle Foley, and Lenore Weiss. Jack Foley is an innovative, widely-published poet and critic who, with his wife, Adelle, performs poetry frequently in the San Francisco Bay Area: together, they perform choral pieces, duets. Jack has published a number of books of both poetry and criticism. For more than twenty years, he has hosted a show of interviews and poetry presentations on Berkeley radio station KPFA. His show, Cover to Cover airs Wednesdays at 3. Adelle Foley is a haiku poet, a financial analyst, a newspaper columnist, and an Oakland arts activist. Both Michael McClure and Dana Gioia have praised her book, Along the Bloodline. Lenore Weiss is a well-known Bay Area Poet. Lenore’s latest publication is “Sh'ma Yis'rael” from Pudding House Publications.

San Francisco Open Mic Poetry Podcast TV: Joyce Jenkins and Phillip T Nails

John Rhodes — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:02:30 GMT

Hello. This is John Rhodes’ San Francisco Open Mic Poetry Podcast/TV. I was talking with Joyce Jenkins of Poetry Flash Magazine about possibly working with Poetry Flash to create some videos for them. If you don’t know who Poetry Flash is it is a very prominent West Coast Poetry Magazine. The conversation with Joyce was positive in the extent that we got far enough to prepare this video for her. This video is taken from the Berkeley Poetry Festival where Joyce Jenkins got an honorary award given to her by a Berkeley Councilman. I will read at the end a poem of mine dedicated to Jan Kerouac who I knew in Yelapa, Mexico.

Edward Mycue on San Francisco Open Mic Poetry Podcast TV

John Rhodes — Mon, 25 May 2009 22:09:18 GMT

Hello. This is John Rhodes with his San Francisco Mystic Babylon Open Mic Poetry Podcast TV Show. Today we have on Edward Mycue. San Francisco poet Edward Mycue was born in Niagara Falls, New York, and raised in Texas from age eleven. He has been a Teaching Fellow at North Texas State, a Lowell Fellow at Boston University, a WGBH-TV Boston intern, a Macdowell Colony Fellow, a Peace Corps teacher in Ghana; spent three wanderyears in Europe--a shipyard in Rotterdam, wine, vegetable, chestnut harvests in southern France, teaching about American literature in Denmark, delivering refrigerators and washing machines in the then West Berlin. Edward now lives in the San Francisco Bay area. Some of Ed’s books are: DAMAGE WITHIN THE COMMUNITY published by Panjandrum Press, San Francisco, 1973 and ROOT ROUTE & RANGE THE SONG RETURNS from Paper Castle in Melbourne, Australia . In the next decade came THE SINGING MAN MY FATHER GAVE ME from Menard Press in London, England and THE TORN STAR, EDWARD and the chapbooks NO ONE FOR FREE, GRATE COUNTRY , IDOLINO, NEXT YEARS' WORDS and THE SINGING SURGEON. in the 1990's came PINK GARDENS BROWN TREES and BECAUSE WE SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE (both of those from England) and the chapbook LIFE IS BUILT FROM THE INSIDE OUT. In 2000 came NIGHTBOATS and most recently MINDWALKING NEW & SELECTED POEMS 1937-2007.

San Francisco Open Mic Poetry Podcast TV: Albert Flynn DeSilver

John Rhodes — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:51:15 GMT

Hello. This is John Rhodes poetry special known as Mystic Babylon on the Internet. Today we are having on the poet laureate of Marin county. Albert Flynn DeSilver has recently begun his tenure as Marin County California's first poet laureate. He is the author, most recently of "Letters to Early Street," published Spring 2007 from La Alameda/University of New Mexico Press, and "Walking Tooth & Cloud," published January 2007 from French Connection Press in Paris. Andrei Codrescu has said about "Letters to Early Street:" "This is one of our poets and we stand behind him (or to his side) in any fight, physical or literary, he might be involved in. Except maybe the situation he describes thus: "A stuffed moose has just capsized in my bed." Albert has published more than one hundred poems in literary journals worldwide including Zyzzyva, New American Writing, Jubilat, Jacket from Australia), Poetry Kanto from Japan, Van Gogh¹s Ear from France, Hanging Loose, Exquisite Corpse, and many others. Some of his letters in correspondence with the poet Paul Hoover will be featured in the new book "Letters to Poets" just out from Saturnalia Books. A visual poem of his will be featured in a public art work in collaboration with the artist Paul Kos, and built on the banks of the Sacramento River in late 2009.

San Francisco Poetry Podcast TV No. 65: 23rd Street Poets

John Rhodes — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:19:19 GMT

Hello. This is John Rhodes with a new Open Mic Poetry Show. This is San Francisco Mystic Babylon Open Mic Poetry Podcast/TV. Today we have on the 23rd Street Poets. The 23rd street poets put out an anthology of there poems. This anthology includes: Eileen Malone, Alice Rogoff, Sally Frye, Cesar Love, and Tressa Berman. Eileen Malone has published prolifically in journals and anthologies, and has earned prestigious prizes. She is the author of The Complete Guide to Writers Groups, Conferences and Workshops, and her award winning chapbook Letters with Taloned Claws. Eileen currently chairs the Soul-Making Literary Competition and hosts Pen Women Presents where she interviews creative people talking about creativity for San Francisco Access Channel 29. Eileen has a web site at: www.eileenmalone.us Alice Elizabeth Rogoff has been published in many literary magazines and community newspapers, plus she is editor of the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal and also edited anthologies for the Noe Valley Poets Workshop. Her poetry book Mural was a 2004 winner in the Blue Light Press Book Award. She won in Poets 11 in San Francisco in 2007. She is a member of the Northern California Media Workers Guild, and the Bay Area Labor Heritage Chorus. Cesar Love is a Latino poet influenced by the Chinese masters, Li Po and Tu Fu. His favorite poet is Pablo Neruda, although Cesar says his own work is nothing like Neruda's. Tressa Berman, an 'anthro-poetica,' writes non-fiction, essays, short stories and poems. The poems collected in the 23rd Street Poets express a moment in time witnessed with four other poets, and the life events marked within that shared time. In addition to various publications, Tressa recently returned from the Vermont Studio Center where she was a writer-in-residence in the snowy Green Mountains. Sally Frye has lived in San Francisco’s Mission District for nearly two decades. Her poetry has been published a few times and she has done many readings over the years. Her love for poetry is very strong. Her philosophy of social change is characterized by egalitarianism. She has worked as a typist and secretary for many years, including in medical settings, and has done freelance work from home, including a book about the Dalai Lama.

San Francisco Open Mic Poetry Podcast TV: Janell Moon

John Rhodes — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:28:27 GMT

Janell Moon reads. This is John Rhodes' San Francisco Open Mic Poetry Podcast TV Show. Just below I have a description of some of Janell Moon's works. Main Street Rag selected Janell Moon's latest book, Riding Free in the Blue Studebaker, for publication as a winner in its National Main Street Rag Poetry Contest. In 2006, RAW ArT PRESS, published her book, Beyond Midnight. Janell's other poetry books include The Mouth of Home, published by Arctos Press. Chestnut Hills Press awarded her The Stonewall Prize and published her fourth chapbook. She also won the Salt Hill National Prize from Syracuse University in New York. She is a reader with the Bay Area Poets for Peace Project and has been published in many literary journals including Americas, Runes, Calyz, and The Michigan Review. "Janell Moon’s poetry unwraps the mysteries of the ordinary. It is at once familiar, and full of surprises.. She shows us, again and again, that indeed we can get there from here." -- Diane di Prima, author of Memoirs of a Beatnik and Loba To purchase Riding Free in the Blue Studebaker, please email Janell at janellmoon@gmail.com. Her other books may be purchased at amazon.com. Note: If you want to watch my last 20 or so TV shows etc. on your iPod, I advise you download my feed in iTunes entitled: "San Francisco Poetry: iPod Version". It's icon is pretty much the same as the Mystic Babylon one, but, as I said, the title is different. You can also stream them from the side-bar here and also at: http://sanfranciscopoetry.blip.tv . Those files are much quicker to download than the ones on this site (Also lower resolution which isn't needed for iPod downloads).

San Francisco Open Mic Poetry Podcast TV: Carolyn Kleefeld

John Rhodes — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 16:48:54 GMT

Carolyn Kleefeld reads: Hello. This is John Rhodes with my monthly Open Mic Poetry Special. Today we are going to have on a poet named Carolyn Kleefeld from Big Sur. Carolyn, has been a close friend to Laura Huxley the late wife of Aldous Huxley who is most well known for his books, Brave New World, and also Doors of Perception. Carolyn is a Big Sur artist, philosopher and evolutionary thinker whose innovative visual art and writing have been used for over twenty years in the fields of human consciousness and creativity. Carolyn has at least 9 books out. Some of those are: Satan Sleeps with the Holy: Word Paintings, Soul Seeds: Revelations and Drawings, and Alchemy of Possibility: Reinventing your Mythology. I will put Carolyn’s paintings in back of her as she reads. If you would like to find out more about Carolyn go to: http://www.carolynmarykleefeld.com .

Mystic Babylon Open Mic Poetry Podcast TV: Cable Access 29: Emmanuel Williams Reads

John Rhodes — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 02:23:11 GMT

Emmanuel Williams reads: Hello. This is John Rhodes with my monthly open mic poetry special. Today we have on Emmanuel Williams. I met Emmanuel Williams at a reading he had at Bird and Beckett Books here in San Francisco Emmanuel Williams is from England, and has lived and worked as a teacher all over the world. He has a BA in French and Art History, and an MA in Teaching of Writing. He's a member of, California Poets In the Schools. His poems and stories have been published in Pennwood Review, Penthouse, Penumbra, Toyan, Sacred Fire, Resurgence, The Countryman, Snowy Egret, and featured on BBC and NPR. He has recently published, Loving, a book about the spiritual aspects of sex, and is working on, Several Circles, a multi-media presentation featuring original poems about paintings, projections, dance, music and shadow puppets. Today Emmanuel will read poems about the natural world. His web site is at: www.emmanuelwilliams.com .

San Francisco Open Mic Poetry Podcast TV: Becky Foust

John Rhodes — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:14:53 GMT

Rebecca Foust Reads: Hello. This is John Rhodes San Francisco Open Mic Poetry Podcast TV Show. The featured reader is Becky Foust. Ahead is her bio. Rebecca Foust’s books Dark Card and Mom’s Canoe won the 2007 and 2008 Robert Phillips Poetry Chapbook Prizes and her full length book was short listed for Poetry’s Emily Dickinson First Book Award. Nominated for two 2008 Pushcart Prizes, her recent poetry is widely published in small print journals including Atlanta Review, Nimrod, North American Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, Women’s Review of Books and others. Dark Card is about raising a son with Asperger’s Syndrome, the Autism Spectrum Disorder featured in films like “Rain Man” and bestselling books such as Look Me in the Eye (John Elder Robison) and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (Mark Haddon). I hope you enjoy this TV show!

San Francisco Open Mic Poetry Podcast TV: Robert Arthur

John Rhodes — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:40:01 GMT

Robert Arthur Reads: Hello. This is John Rhodes Open Mic Poetry Podcast/TV Show. Today we are going to have on a well-known poet of Virginia named Robert Arthur. Robert P. Arthur is the author of twenty books as well as numerous poem/plays, including the award-winning Hymn to the Chesapeake, which was produced in New York and St. Petersburg, Russia. Robert was a finalist as Poet Laureate of Virginia in 2008 and his new book of poetry, Vija's War, is nominated for the Library of Virginia Award. He has won top honors in Virginia both for poetry and fiction for the last two years. Thought to be the finest poet of the Chesapeake Bay and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, he has been awarded fourteen grants in the last two years. He is currently a writer-in-residence at Wilkes University in Pa. and the owner of San Francisco Bay Press and the literary journal Lady Jane Miscellany, as well as the Spoken Word Theatre at 40th Street Stage in Norfolk, Virginia. I hope you enjoy this special. Enjoy.

San Francisco Poetry Podcast TV No. 59: Martha Meltzer

John Rhodes — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:31:06 GMT

Martha Meltzer Reads: Today we have Martha Meltzer. I met her at a Poetry get-together at Mclaren Park run by a close poet friend named Clara Hsu, who was on my first show almost a year ago. Martha Meltzer is a native Californian and an East Bay Poet. Currently she is in the second year of a two year term as Poet Laureate of Pleasanton. She has been seriously writing for about five years and has been published in California Quarterly, Song of the San Jacquin, Tipton Poetry Journal, and the SF Street Sheet. She pulls inspiration for her work from everyday life, especially nature. It has been said of her work that she only writes about bears and trees. "Not true," she replies, "I once wrote a poem about a chicken."She can be reached at her myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/marthameltzer . John Rhodes of http://mysticbabylon.podomatic.com is the poet/videographer of this video.

San Francisco Poetry Podcast TV No. 58: Herman Berlandt

John Rhodes — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:23:15 GMT

Hello. This is John Rhodes’ San Francisco Open Mic Poetry Special known on the web as “Mystic Babylon Podcast/TV” located at: http://mysticbabylon.podomatic.com . Today we have the prolific poet on, Herman Berlandt. Herman has for a long time been planning an international poetry museum here in San Francisco. He has also produced many poetry festivals, as both spoken word and film. Herman is the author of 15 poetry selections. One, which is still available, is “Peace or Perish: A Crisis Anthology”. You can find him on the web at: http://www.internationalpoetrymuseum.org . He is also the editor and publisher of Mother Earth International Journal. In the introduction, hopefully I will be able to ask him some questions about his poetry and about his efforts to produce a poetry museum here in San Francisco. From what I have heard he already has an extensive library of poetry videos. I talk with Herman, he will read some of his poetry, and then, at the end of the show, I will read a one long poem from my up and coming book: “Mystic Babylon Revisited”.

Mystic Babylon Open Mic Poetry Podcast/TV: No. 57

John Rhodes — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:47:03 GMT

Hello. This is John Rhodes and this is my monthly “Open Mic Poetry” show. To find out it’s semi-irregular monthly scheduling you must go to the San Francisco Public Access TV web page: http://accessf.org/guide/schedule . Be aware of the spelling of that because the accessf.org part of the URL has only two s’s. In the schedule itself the show is listed as: “Open Mic Poetry”, with the month added after ‘Open Mic Poetry”. If by any chance you have the new AT&T U-verse and get the PEG 99 channel, you can also get a lower resolution version of this show in many parts of the nation on AT&T 99. On my web site: http://rhodespoetry.com I have a youtube video on the main page that describes how to use the channel 99 channel of AT&T. I don’t want to go on too long, so I’ll cut to the chase and tell which wonderful poet we have on today. Today we have Ivan Arguelles on who was born a twin of a Mexican Artist father named Enrique. His mother was named Ethel Meyers Arguelles. Ivan’s twin brother is named Jose. Early on in Ivan’s life, in the 11th grade, Ivan received a national award for one of his poems, which I imagine helped inspire him. In the 60’s he continued to write sporadically experimenting with prose, sort of after the style of James Joyce and William Burroughs. In the 70’s he tried much harder at writing, and developed more thoroughly his surrealistic style, it being tinted with his Mexican background. His first poetic collection was “Instamatic Reconditioning”, followed by “The Invention of Spain”. Following this, Ivan was widely published in small presses and poetry journals. According to the “Directory of Small Press Publishers”, in 1984 he was ranked 4th most published poet in the country. In 1989 Ivan won the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. In 1990 he ceased writing the daily poem and turned to writing long epic poems. Ivan Arguelles has published approximately 25 books. I know one of his collaborators in writing, who helped with, I think two of his books. This was Jack Foley of KPFA radio. I have some audio of Jack and his wife Adelle on my “Mystic Babylon” web site. He is on podcast ten. Enjoy.

Mystic Babylon Open Mic Poetry Podcast/TV: No. 56

John Rhodes — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:05:38 GMT

This show is showing about a week earlier than it does on Channel 29 Comcast, so you you can aware to look for it when it shows. Hello. This is John Rhodes’ monthly Open Mic Poetry Special broadcasted from San Francisco’s Public Access TV Station and also distributed on the Internet through my Mystic Babylon Poetry Podcast at http://mysticbabylon.podomatic.com . Hopefully it will also be distributed elsewhere. Today we are going to have the poet Neeli Cherkovski on. Neeli Cherkovski is a longtime contributor to the West Coast literary scene. Emerging from the Los Angeles underground of the Sixties, Cherkovski, now in mid-career, has surfaced as an applauded poet, critic and literary biographer. He has written nine books of poetry, including Elegy for Bob Kaufman, and Animal; two acclaimed biographies, Bukowski: A Life and Ferlinghetti: A Biography; his book, Whitman's Wild Children (a collection of critical memoirs), has become an underground classic. In the late 1960s Cherkovski co-edited the poetry anthology Laugh Literary and Man the Humping Guns with Charles Bukowski. Since 1975, Neeli has lived and worked in San Francisco. He was for awhile Writer-In-Residence at New College of California, where he taught literature and philosophy. Neeli has many books still in print from his long literary life.You can find more information about one book of his, “Leaning Against Time”, and also the original version of the bio I just used by going to http://www.rlcrow.com . Wikipedia on the Internet is also a good source of info. I will read as usual two poems from my works. I’m going to read one poem from my in print book, “Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence”, and I’m going to read one poem from my newest poetry book, yet to come out. That book will be entitled, “Mystic Babylon Revisited”. After this introductory clip here I am going to ask Neeli a few short questions about his life and works. After that he will read for almost 20 minutes, then I’ll read my poems, and then I’ll sign off. We’ll get started now, and hope you enjoy the show. Please go to: http://accessf.org/guide/schedule, to find out when my shows show, and also visit my free novel podcast, ‘Little Bird Told Me”,at http://littlebirdtoldme.podomatic.com . All the chapters are posted. Please also remember to come back in a month and watch my next show. Thanks, and goodbye.

Mystic Babylon Open Mic Poetry Podcast TV no. 55: Cable Access 29 -San Francisco

John Rhodes — Sat, 03 May 2008 02:54:34 GMT

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 San 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.

Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast TV: No. 54

John Rhodes — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:52:17 GMT

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.

Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast TV: No. 53

John Rhodes — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:52:23 GMT

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.

Mystic Babylon Open Mic Poetry Podcast No. 52 : A Repost

John Rhodes — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:25:01 GMT

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.

Mystic Babylon Open Mic Poetry Podcast TV: Cable Access 29: Podcast 51-remastered

John Rhodes — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:31:24 GMT

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

Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast: No. 50

John Rhodes — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 01:44:23 GMT

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.

Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast TV: No. 49

John Rhodes — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 15:37:36 GMT

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.

Mystic Babylon Open Mic Poetry Podcast: No. 48

John Rhodes — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 16:36:23 GMT

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.

Mystic Babylon Open Mike Poetry Podcast: No. 47

John Rhodes — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 20:53:32 GMT

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!