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I've been recording in video some of my poems reading by me (in Spanish); first the reading and after the text. We'll see how it goes.
I'm a writer in Spanish so, my writings are in that language; sometimes I publish the translation to English, but sometimes not, it will be always an approximation to the original one.
Video of the poem "Hace tanto"
Hace tanto (Poema de y por Gustavo Thomas) from Gustavo Thomas on Vimeo.
Hace tanto
Possible translation:
It's been so long
It's been so long since I saw your breasts
uncovered when it dawns,
nor your smile when you see me
and those eyes closing again
I have lost your smell, or I mistake it,
but not your sound that moans,
nor your hands that touch,
and those warm lips that welcome me./
I have them here.../
You're not who walks at my side anymore,
nor who sweats when I ejaculate tired
Woman, you're not anymore
she who receives my embrace!/
I don't have you here!/
I also know of something that I miss from you:
your buttocks, your feet so cold
and your hair so long./
Gustavo Thomas © September 2011
(Translated by Tadeo Berjon © 2012)
Texts, photographs and videos in this Blog are all author's property, except when marked. All rights reserved by Gustavo Thomas.If you have any interest in using any text, photograph or video from this Blog, for commercial use or not, please contact Gustavo Thomas at gustavothomastheatre@gmail.com.
12 Şubat 2013 Salı
11 Şubat 2013 Pazartesi
Alternative At Home-Free Show at Lebanon Opera House
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As part of their Free at Home concert series, the Lebanon Opera House hosted Alternative At Home on Thursday night.
The featured band was Turkey Point Swim Club made up Vermont musicians Davis McGraw (of The Pilgrims), Caleb Thomas (of Thompson Gunner) and Ryan Hebert (of Giant Travel Avant Garde)
The guys played a good mix of originals and covers and appeared tight even after stating that they had practiced together three times.
The evening started with singer-songwriter actor Justin Goodrich.
From his website: He has independently released two official EP's, most notable for being acoustic guitar and vocals only though performed loudly and aggressively, and for their video-accompanied singles "Deeper Inside" and "Love You Still" shot by Disasterous Film. His music often lends itself to mid-tempo, minor key, broodish ballads with theatrical arrangements, dark, metaphorical lyrical content and Justins noticeably '60's crooner-esque vocal delivery.
Justin seldom performs live, describing his obsessive time spent in his home studio over the last year as there being "a much bigger sounding picture in store for my music, and I focus all of my attention on learning and painting it", but has made several appearances at small, notable local venues such as Hard Rock Cafe Boston and Coolidge Corner Theatre in February '12 where he joined The Betsi Feathers burlesque troop as a musical guest in front of a sold-out crowd.
In October '11 he performed the song 'In The Night' via Skype on the popular web-hosted video podcast NSFW, gaining his most popular selling song since 2005's "I Love You In Roses" made popular by it's performance in the Community Alliance for Teen Safety Battle of the Bands at Lowell Memorial Auditorium (during Justin's senior year of high school).
Justin had a small role as Undergrad #2 in the Disney film "The Surrogates" in 2009, and in 2010 was cast as the haunted boy in the SyFy original made-for-TV movie "The Haunted Boy: Secret Diary of The Exorcist", filmed at Rolling Hills Aslyum in E. Bethany, NY, which was featured in the first season of Ghost Hunters. October '12 see's Justin taking over writing, acting and directing duties via Diorama Records in the creation of the currently in-production short-film tentatively titled "The List" about a well-read man struggling with social inadequacies and a haunting past.
The Free At Home Concert Series is sponsored by Citizens Bank, Lebanon Rec Dept. and the Lebanon Opera House.
More images from the show: Photos By Nanci SmugMug
Alternative At Home 2013
Season Two
Turkey Point Swim Club with Justin Goodrich
Lebanon Opera House, Citizens Bank, Lebanon Rec Dept.
Lebanon Opera House, Lebanon NH February 7, 2013
Copyright ©2013 Nancy Nutile-McMenemy
www.photosbynanci.com
For the Lebanon Opera House
More images: http://photosbynanci.smugmug.com/LebanonOperaHouseShows
Follow Photos By Nanci at:
photosbynanci.com
Photos by Nanci Blog
SmugMug Galleries
YouTube
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The featured band was Turkey Point Swim Club made up Vermont musicians Davis McGraw (of The Pilgrims), Caleb Thomas (of Thompson Gunner) and Ryan Hebert (of Giant Travel Avant Garde)
The guys played a good mix of originals and covers and appeared tight even after stating that they had practiced together three times.The evening started with singer-songwriter actor Justin Goodrich.
From his website: He has independently released two official EP's, most notable for being acoustic guitar and vocals only though performed loudly and aggressively, and for their video-accompanied singles "Deeper Inside" and "Love You Still" shot by Disasterous Film. His music often lends itself to mid-tempo, minor key, broodish ballads with theatrical arrangements, dark, metaphorical lyrical content and Justins noticeably '60's crooner-esque vocal delivery.
Justin seldom performs live, describing his obsessive time spent in his home studio over the last year as there being "a much bigger sounding picture in store for my music, and I focus all of my attention on learning and painting it", but has made several appearances at small, notable local venues such as Hard Rock Cafe Boston and Coolidge Corner Theatre in February '12 where he joined The Betsi Feathers burlesque troop as a musical guest in front of a sold-out crowd.
In October '11 he performed the song 'In The Night' via Skype on the popular web-hosted video podcast NSFW, gaining his most popular selling song since 2005's "I Love You In Roses" made popular by it's performance in the Community Alliance for Teen Safety Battle of the Bands at Lowell Memorial Auditorium (during Justin's senior year of high school).
Justin had a small role as Undergrad #2 in the Disney film "The Surrogates" in 2009, and in 2010 was cast as the haunted boy in the SyFy original made-for-TV movie "The Haunted Boy: Secret Diary of The Exorcist", filmed at Rolling Hills Aslyum in E. Bethany, NY, which was featured in the first season of Ghost Hunters. October '12 see's Justin taking over writing, acting and directing duties via Diorama Records in the creation of the currently in-production short-film tentatively titled "The List" about a well-read man struggling with social inadequacies and a haunting past.The Free At Home Concert Series is sponsored by Citizens Bank, Lebanon Rec Dept. and the Lebanon Opera House.
More images from the show: Photos By Nanci SmugMug
Alternative At Home 2013
Season Two
Turkey Point Swim Club with Justin Goodrich
Lebanon Opera House, Citizens Bank, Lebanon Rec Dept.
Lebanon Opera House, Lebanon NH February 7, 2013
Copyright ©2013 Nancy Nutile-McMenemy
www.photosbynanci.com
For the Lebanon Opera House
More images: http://photosbynanci.smugmug.com/LebanonOperaHouseShows
Follow Photos By Nanci at:
photosbynanci.com
Photos by Nanci Blog
SmugMug Galleries
YouTube
Book Review: The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's: A Secret History of Jewish Punk by Steven Lee Beeber
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It's an odd bit of nomenclature, the difference in implication in theexpressions "Christian musician" and "Jewish musician." To call someonea Christian musician is taken to mean an artist whose material dealswith religious and spiritual matters. Christian music is a recognizedgenre, even with its own Billboardcharts. However, to call someone a Jewish musicians refers only totheir religious background but says nothing about content of theirsongs. To talk about Jewish musicians, the default assumption issecular music by people who happen to be Jewish.
All of which boils down to this: don't approach Steven Lee Beeber'sbook TheHeebie-Jeebies at CBGB's: A Secret History of Jewish Punkexpecting to learn about an unknown subgenre of punk featuring thelikes of a sped-up, angry version of "Kol Nidre," not that anyone isapt to make that mistake. Beeber even makes his outlookexplicit, examining what it means to be Jewish from a cultural ratherthan religious perspective, on par with being Italian, Irish or Indianrather than Catholic or Hindu. He may trot out anecdotes about barmitzvahs as evidence of Lou Reed's religious heritage, but Beeber ismuch more interested in Jews as an ethnic rather than religious group.And the big surprise is that the history of punk includes a lot of Jewsin crucial roles.
Beeber goes far beyond the mere curiosity "outing" Jewish punks. Sure,you know that Joey Ramone was Jewish, but did you guess that TommyRamone is, too? The author even questions his own motivation whenRichard Hell (né Meyers) asks Beeber his point in writingthe book. Beeber examines the common cultural forces that influencedthis set of people. Some manifestations are overt, such as the Ramones'exhortation to eat Kosher salami. Others are more subtle, such as thestatus of Jews as outsiders in American society and rebellion againstparental desires to assimilate via respectable high-paying professions.
The author trips up when he lacks primary sources. Most notably in thechapters on Lou Reed and the reclusive Jonathan Richman, he strugglesto interpret their inspiration through their lyrics and other pressclippings. In doing so, his analysis gets stretched too thin and hiswriting becomes repetitive. In other instances, he worked around hisinability to interview his subjects by drawing on other sources.Richard Hell was suspicious of Beeber's angle and refused to beinterviewed, but Beeber researched Hell's archival materials at NYU forinsights. Joey Ramone died before Beeber began to work on the book, butthose close to Joey were clearly forthcoming about him.
The book's greatest strength is in examining early punk's obsessionwith Nazi Germany. The Ramone's brought it to the forefront with one oftheir most political songs, "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg." But before that,many in the scene used Nazi iconography in their work or collected itprivately. Beeber teases this out, observing the place of thisgeneration of Jews in history. For many, they were just young enough tohave not been directly affected by the Holocaust but just old enough togrow up around those who were. Drawing on Susan Sontag's work in Notes on "Camp," hetheorizes that the obsession is a manifestation of an ultimatepsychology victory over the Nazis.
Many ethnic groups take justifiable pride in the accomplishments of itsmembers in various fields. But in chronicling the impact of people suchas band managers Danny Fields and Malcolm McLaren, CBGB's founder HillyKristal, Chris Stein of Blondie and Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Groupas well as lesser lights in the punk spectrum, Beeber assembles acompelling argument. The Jewish experience provided a unique influenceon this group of people, and without this cluster of Jews, punk as weknow it would not exist.
All of which boils down to this: don't approach Steven Lee Beeber'sbook TheHeebie-Jeebies at CBGB's: A Secret History of Jewish Punkexpecting to learn about an unknown subgenre of punk featuring thelikes of a sped-up, angry version of "Kol Nidre," not that anyone isapt to make that mistake. Beeber even makes his outlookexplicit, examining what it means to be Jewish from a cultural ratherthan religious perspective, on par with being Italian, Irish or Indianrather than Catholic or Hindu. He may trot out anecdotes about barmitzvahs as evidence of Lou Reed's religious heritage, but Beeber ismuch more interested in Jews as an ethnic rather than religious group.And the big surprise is that the history of punk includes a lot of Jewsin crucial roles.
Beeber goes far beyond the mere curiosity "outing" Jewish punks. Sure,you know that Joey Ramone was Jewish, but did you guess that TommyRamone is, too? The author even questions his own motivation whenRichard Hell (né Meyers) asks Beeber his point in writingthe book. Beeber examines the common cultural forces that influencedthis set of people. Some manifestations are overt, such as the Ramones'exhortation to eat Kosher salami. Others are more subtle, such as thestatus of Jews as outsiders in American society and rebellion againstparental desires to assimilate via respectable high-paying professions.
The author trips up when he lacks primary sources. Most notably in thechapters on Lou Reed and the reclusive Jonathan Richman, he strugglesto interpret their inspiration through their lyrics and other pressclippings. In doing so, his analysis gets stretched too thin and hiswriting becomes repetitive. In other instances, he worked around hisinability to interview his subjects by drawing on other sources.Richard Hell was suspicious of Beeber's angle and refused to beinterviewed, but Beeber researched Hell's archival materials at NYU forinsights. Joey Ramone died before Beeber began to work on the book, butthose close to Joey were clearly forthcoming about him.
The book's greatest strength is in examining early punk's obsessionwith Nazi Germany. The Ramone's brought it to the forefront with one oftheir most political songs, "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg." But before that,many in the scene used Nazi iconography in their work or collected itprivately. Beeber teases this out, observing the place of thisgeneration of Jews in history. For many, they were just young enough tohave not been directly affected by the Holocaust but just old enough togrow up around those who were. Drawing on Susan Sontag's work in Notes on "Camp," hetheorizes that the obsession is a manifestation of an ultimatepsychology victory over the Nazis.
Many ethnic groups take justifiable pride in the accomplishments of itsmembers in various fields. But in chronicling the impact of people suchas band managers Danny Fields and Malcolm McLaren, CBGB's founder HillyKristal, Chris Stein of Blondie and Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Groupas well as lesser lights in the punk spectrum, Beeber assembles acompelling argument. The Jewish experience provided a unique influenceon this group of people, and without this cluster of Jews, punk as weknow it would not exist.
Kickin' It Real Old School
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My blog was dormant for two months because I'm back in school, pursuinga masters in music at Tufts, which has left me with little time to seeshows or even blog. My first major paper was on a historic music textin one of Tufts' special collections, A General History of Musicby Charles Burney. It was one of the first two comprehensive historiesof music published in England. Burney released his first volume inJanuary, 1776 but didn't finish the four-volume series until 1789. Hisrival Sir John Hawkins released his history 10 months later in itsentirety. The rivalry was immediate and has persisted for 200 years.Hawkins's strength was in his coverage of ancient music, but that'sabout the only advantage he held. Burney's writing style wasaccessible, and the clear structure of the work made it a usefulresearch tool, whereas Hawkins's style was detached and the work is sodisorganized that it is difficult to find a particular subject withinthe text. While Hawkins intentionally excluded contemporary music,viewing it as worthless, Burney embraced it; it is largely because ofhis extensive coverage of his contemporaries that he is still citedtoday. Besides being an antiquarian, Hawkins was also a curmudgeon,while Burney's social skills allowed him to travel in more prestigiouscircles than his middle class background might have limited him to. Thestory has the makings of a great screenplay.
As I gingerly leafed through Burney's and Hawkins's books, it occurredto me that I doubt I've ever touched anything that old other than abuilding. And as I synthesized my research materials, I started to feelkinship with Burney. I have immersed myself in the world ofcontemporary music but struggle to make sense of music of the distantpast, and until now my knowledge of music history has been throughself-study and interaction with musicians. I'd like to think that mywriting is accessible, but I am humble enough to seriously doubt thatanyone will be quoting me 200 years from now.
As I gingerly leafed through Burney's and Hawkins's books, it occurredto me that I doubt I've ever touched anything that old other than abuilding. And as I synthesized my research materials, I started to feelkinship with Burney. I have immersed myself in the world ofcontemporary music but struggle to make sense of music of the distantpast, and until now my knowledge of music history has been throughself-study and interaction with musicians. I'd like to think that mywriting is accessible, but I am humble enough to seriously doubt thatanyone will be quoting me 200 years from now.
Concert Review: The English Beat, Johnny D's, Somerville, January 4
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The English Beat are better than you remember. Off the top of yourhead, you can only recall "Mirror in the Bathroom" and their cool logo.But they have more songs that make you go, "Oh, yeah, this isreally good," than you realized. And they can get a party going on acold Tuesday night in January like nobody's business.
"How Can You Stand There?" was the unofficial theme song for the night.It was probably about political apathy, but it applied to the audienceat a more literal level to the few hold-outs in the audience. Most ofthe sold-out crowd at Johnny D's was on their feet and dancing. Evenpeople with seats at tables on the edges of the crowded room were upand moving. Dave Wakeling could taunt someone up front for standingstill with arms folded only because it was a rarity. Even moreimpressive about "How Can You Stand There?" is that it was a new song,not yet recorded, but it fit in so easily with their repertoire of hitsthat the audience never slowed down.
And the major and minor hits kept coming: "Hands Off She's Mine," "IConfess," "Best Friend," "Twist and Crawl," "Save It For Later" (Seewhat I said about more good songs than you remember?) They brought outthe covers that they put their own stamp on, "Tears of a Clown," "Can'tGet Used to Losing You" and "I'll Take You There." Guitarist and singerDave Wakeling is the only original member still with the band; thecurrent keyboard player probably wasn't even born when the RankingRoger was bobbing around in videos in the early days of MTV. But theline-up in tight, ably delivering the material that made the band theepitome of the early '80s ska revival.
No, the evening wasn't perfect. While it was impressive that theyplayed more than two hours, the energy in the room sagged at around the1 hour 45 mark; they could have trimmed a few songs and still kept theaudience more than satisfied. And it's hard to fully endorse a group soclearly trading on nostalgia. But it's also hard to fault a band thatgenerates so much fun.
"How Can You Stand There?" was the unofficial theme song for the night.It was probably about political apathy, but it applied to the audienceat a more literal level to the few hold-outs in the audience. Most ofthe sold-out crowd at Johnny D's was on their feet and dancing. Evenpeople with seats at tables on the edges of the crowded room were upand moving. Dave Wakeling could taunt someone up front for standingstill with arms folded only because it was a rarity. Even moreimpressive about "How Can You Stand There?" is that it was a new song,not yet recorded, but it fit in so easily with their repertoire of hitsthat the audience never slowed down.
And the major and minor hits kept coming: "Hands Off She's Mine," "IConfess," "Best Friend," "Twist and Crawl," "Save It For Later" (Seewhat I said about more good songs than you remember?) They brought outthe covers that they put their own stamp on, "Tears of a Clown," "Can'tGet Used to Losing You" and "I'll Take You There." Guitarist and singerDave Wakeling is the only original member still with the band; thecurrent keyboard player probably wasn't even born when the RankingRoger was bobbing around in videos in the early days of MTV. But theline-up in tight, ably delivering the material that made the band theepitome of the early '80s ska revival.
No, the evening wasn't perfect. While it was impressive that theyplayed more than two hours, the energy in the room sagged at around the1 hour 45 mark; they could have trimmed a few songs and still kept theaudience more than satisfied. And it's hard to fully endorse a group soclearly trading on nostalgia. But it's also hard to fault a band thatgenerates so much fun.
Why I'm Not Reviewing Ida Maria's New Album
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I loved Ida Maria's debut album, Fortress 'Round My Heart. It's one of my favorite albums of the last five years, so I jumped at the chance to review Katla, her recent follow-up. But my primary outlet for album reviews these days is CD Hotlist, an online publication aimed at people who buy music recordings for libraries. And that's the hitch. Katla is part of a growing trend of albums that are only available as digital downloads, not in physical form. To make a long story short, because of standard end-user license agreements, libraries can't buy digital downloads for their borrowers to use. My colleague D. J. Hoek has written about this issue in greater detail. So there is no point in CD Hotlist running a review of an album that libraries can't buy.I'm hoping the situation will change. In the short run, I hope Ida Maria's label will view Katla as enough of a priority to issue it on CD. In the long run, I hope the copyright laws will change or vendors will change their restrictions so that libraries can collect, preserve and allow access to digital-only recordings. I've got a review of the album ready to go. The short version is that it's awesome.
7 Şubat 2013 Perşembe
A Children's Tale Tree (Digital Painting By Gustavo Thomas. 2012)
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(Digital Painting. Gustavo Thomas © 2012. All Rights Reserved.)
To tell stories for children, either by writing or playing, you need a fantastic tree full of colour and simplicity.
There will be time to start writing them ...
Texts, photographs and videos in this Blog are all author's property, except when marked. All rights reserved by Gustavo Thomas.If you have any interest in using any text, photograph or video from this Blog, for commercial use or not, please contact Gustavo Thomas at gustavothomastheatre@gmail.com.
 |
| A Children's Tale Tree |
To tell stories for children, either by writing or playing, you need a fantastic tree full of colour and simplicity.
There will be time to start writing them ...
Texts, photographs and videos in this Blog are all author's property, except when marked. All rights reserved by Gustavo Thomas.If you have any interest in using any text, photograph or video from this Blog, for commercial use or not, please contact Gustavo Thomas at gustavothomastheatre@gmail.com.
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