So the wife and I went to First Fridays tonight with our good buddies Danny and Ashley. They have some friends Nicholas and Angela Snyder who make these awesome found art robots called Nerdbots. They are amazingly adorable.



They are in a contest this month and I want them to win so go here and vote. It takes a little bit because you have to create a Login but it is so worth it.

Happy 50th Birthday Mom



Fruits of the Spirit

She is unconditional.
Agape with thick black hair;
Extending gracious embraces.

A laugh so infectious the night smiles.
Humoring through hardships with serious content,
Her strength so obvious.

Like a river, tumbling perfectly still.
Making treaties with her eyes,
Cultivating harmony with her soft hands.

An artist of longsuffering,
She knows time will come.
Waiting; her dreams dance with a divine tomorrow.

Even to strangers her warmth is magnetic.
Tenderly striving to remain without enemy,
Her words serve souls.

Her reputation precedes her.
Virtuous in every way; Proverbially.
Like all of creation, she is good.

Always is her way of life.
Steadfast like a pillar, never letting down.
Loyalty as staunch as armies.

Holding hands at her hero’s bedside
Hymns on her lips and in her face
Gently her spirit caresses the pain.

Denying self she follows Him.
Bearing cross daily; arduously effortless.
Composed, she forms fruitful family.

Hey all. I just wanted to let you in on a little project I have been working on. My buddy Greg Lafollettte wrote a concept album as his musical alter-ego from the Khrusty Brothers. It is called Khorky Custer Khrusty Presents The Klangs. He asked me to collaborate with him in writing a stage show / performance art piece to accompany the live concert. It is going to be super sweet. This is the promotional video we made. I ran the camera, Tony Droge is the dancer. Please share it with your friends.

I have never been in a band before since I am completely musically retarded so this is probably the closest I will ever come. I am also hype because my good buddy Nick is playing bass for The Klangs.

We have concerts coming up:

September 13 at the Bottleneck in Lawrence
September 19 at the Brick
September 20 at Crosstown Station

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Nelson for the event last night. I really enjoyed being a part of it. Much love to Glen North, Bob Holman, and Rebecca Ofiesh for putting this event together. For those of you who couldn't make it, here is the painting by Jess along with my ekphrastic poem. The title of both is Figure 2--A Field of Pumpkins Grown for Seed: Translation #11


In a field where pumpkins grow for seed
And rumpled rainbows hide in trees
There is a special kind of vine
That grows a pumpkin-man combined

One such rare phenomenon
Is Private Fredrick Ray Gourdman
His orange and vertically creviced face
Is the only sign of his pumpkin race

Partly pumpkin but mostly man
Fred sits on his father; his mother in hand
Staring at the creamy Autumn Sky
Contemplating days gone by

Fredrick Gourdman left this land
A prodigal sort of pumpkin man
Looking for fun and fortune and fame
He picked himself and hopped on a train

He took right to gambling, women and booze
And it seemed like the pumpkin man couldn’t lose
Soon he had squandered all he’d acquired
Burning through money like a bank vault on fire

Hopeless and Penniless Fred was alone
But had too much pride to try and go home
He met an Army recruiter in a local bar
And a couple drinks later he was headed for war

The war they were fighting required a lot
Of men on the frontlines where the battle was hot
So Private Fredrick Gourdman was stationed
In the trenches of a far off pumpkin-less nation

Although quite accustomed to living in dirt
The horrible violence, bloodshed and hurt
Weighed on the soul of the innocent squash
The vertical valleys of his face were awash

With blood, sweat and tears. As the battle raged on,
All he could think of was the stillness of dawn
And purplish morning soft on the rinds
Of his father and mother whom he’d left behind.

Growing for seed just wasn’t for Fred
But war was as empty and he’d end up as dead
So like the center of a palindrome
The battlefield started his journey back home

He hopped off a train in the pumpkin field
Under a velvet hat he concealed
His face but his father knew just who it was
And before Fred could explain all of his flaws

The old pumpkin tore lose from the vine
Rolling fast toward the railroad line
In a gesture of love uniquely Gourd-ish
He forced Fred to sit on his side in forgiveness

Reunited they sit a family again
In spite of a world of war and sin
In a country field growing for seed
Partly pumpkin but partly human indeed


I want to thank my beautiful and witty wife Melissa for coming up with the idea for this one. I tend to steal her ideas without giving her credit all the time and just wanted to set the record straight about this one.

Also The Pitch wrote a great article last may about the importance of this piece by Jess. Check it out for more info on the artist.

I also want to give some love to the winning poet named Lou. He won with a piece inspired by Alex Hay's sculpture Paper Bag, and it was awesome. He did it at a reading earlier this month and you can check it out on YouTube here.

I just landed another gig. This time I am doing thirty minutes of my own stuff. Sorry this blog is turning into a hype machine. I'll post more writing soon.

Hey Everybody I would now like to do some
shameless self promotion

Thursday, Jul 17, 2008

Poetry Slam and Jam
Sparks! Out Loud Alive with Poet Bob Holman
6 — 9 pm
Bloch Building and Atkins Auditorium
Free

Bob Holman, founder of Bowery Poetry Club in New York City, joins Glenn North, poet-in residence at the American Jazz Museum, and a host of Kansas City writers for a dynamic evening of spoken-word poetry inspired by works in the featured exhibition.

I was commissioned to be one of the "host of Kansas City writers" and will be doing a brand new work inspired by one of the paintings in this exhibition. It is a surprise so see if you can guess which one they assigned me. This is very exciting and I would love to see you all there. And bring your friends because it is free.

Last month Melissa and I were a part of the greatest music video extravaganza on the face of the earth. Or at least the greatest music video ever shot at the Hy-vee in Independence, MO; Buckets of Babes. Look close and you will see that both my wife and I are indeed babes. This song was written and preformed by my two bestest friends Nick and Dane. They recorded it in their house over the span of 3 months. The gang vocals at the end were captured after one Monday Night Dinner in their attic, and feature me among others singing in an angry falsetto. They named their band loversofthewomen because they are very much ladies men of the first order. Enjoy. Email it to your friends and maybe it will be the next viral video sensation.





If you do the facebook watch it here. Also check out the sweet pics of me on there. I make a pretty dang good looking woman.

So here's the deal. My cousin is a strong woman and she goes by the name of Mama Lou. She is an amazing street performer and has traveled the world doing her act. Currently she is in a YouTube Phonebook Ripping contest and she needs your help to win 10,000. Watch her video and vote for it and send it to your friends. She is currently in third place and the voting goes until the end of June so make it happen now.



I posted another one of her videos here. Here and here are some other write-ups about my cool cousins.

Somewhere West of Cabo
Living incommunicado
Is a member of the Belgian CIA
This bureaucratic killer
Lives on a beach front villa
With a parrot that happens to be gay

Dirk, as his friends call him
Loves to smoke and drink and swim
While Doc, the bird, likes to read Walt Whitman.
The two of them get rowdy
Since their official mission’s cloudy
But they are basically a pair of Flemish Hitmen

Dirk and Doc the duo
Went to the local postal depot
To pick up a top secret Belgian Order
The swimmer opened up the Fed-Ex
And read a detailed dialectic
On why they had to kill a news reporter

Never one to argue
Doc was ready for the kung-fu
Since gay parrots tend to lean toward violence
Being lazy more than cautious
Dirk thought it an odd office
To dispose of for Belguims royal highness

Still they traveled up the Baja
Over rocks that once were lava
To find the nearest local journalist
The breeze blew in off the pacific
And since their task was not specific
They meandered toward a store through the mist

The proprietor was stout
With his stomach hanging out
Of the front of his once white v-neck shirt
Doc flew onto the counter
And asked the 300 pounder
If he had any News reporter dirt

Ironically he knew one
So he said into Dirk's gun
He lived around the corner from his mom
The rotund one gave directions
To the pair of well armed Belgians
So they would know right where to place the bomb

Once they set the booby trap
And started to go back
They saw the newsman near the window in his kitchen
Dirk and Doc had in their day
Always killed and walked away
That's why they were the best two Belgian Hitmen

But the pure innocent face
Of the stranger in that place
Who'd done nothing to the King but write the news
Made the swimmer shed a tear
The bird then called him queer
And pushed the button to explode the public muse

Dirk drank a mocha java
While Doc munched a juicy guava
As the man and bird went back home to their beach
They sent a postcard to their boss
About the media's loss
Dirk smoked and drank and swam then went to sleep.

The moon shone in the skylight
As Doc pearched up for the night
Another blood stain on his parrot soul
Without that one reporter
Belguim may regain its order
But Flemish Freedom will always have its toll.

Meeting David Wilson

I saw a preview for this on Channel 1 today. Also check out David Wilson's site.



It is a documentary about the legacy of slavery in America. I am excited to illegally download it as soon as it airs on MSNBC on April 11th.