100 Thousand Poets for (spare) Change: The Unbearables Rollo Whitehead Memorial Reading (pt. 2)

Okay, here are more pictures from the Unbearables' Rollo Whitehead Memorial reading for the big poetry event of September 24, 2011, 100 Thousand Poets for Change. Was there any other big poetry events that day? Could be, but nobody told me about them.  And even if there were, neither I nor these people were there at that particular time, they were at A Gathering of the Tribes on East. 3rd St. in NYC, reading and in some cases shmoozing with other poets.

In addition to the reading in memory of  the much memorialized Rollo Whitehead, some people were also celebrating Steve Dalachinsky's birthday and the anniversary of his Bar-mitzvah, and they weren't willing to do it quietly. After all, it's only once a year that Steve has a birthday, so why be quiet?

Design

Anyway, there were a lot of poets there, they might have even outnumbered the number of people who were there to just listen. I wouldn't be surprised, since in the 21st Century poetry is no longer a popular medium except when it's in a rap or a pop song. I guess that's sort of sad, but that's the way things are. But just because an art form isn't popular doesn't mean it's not good. Popularity and quality are not synonyms. Just because it's not on the best-seller's list doesn't mean it's not good. It just means not as many people know about it.

 Anyway, there will be lots more photos coming over the next few days as I finish selecting and editing them. Check back often and you are sure to see something new.

And don't forget to check out the latest collection of unbearably good material from the Unbearables, The Unbearables Big Book of Sex, available from the publisher, Autonomedia as well as other places - such as the St. Mark's Bookshop, for those of you who are trying to help them do enough business to stay in business.

 

100 Thousand Poets for (spare) Change: The Unbearables Rollo Whitehead Memorial Reading (pt. 1)

Before I say anything else, I need to say that there are going to be a lot of photos to look at, and I'm going to post them in multiple entries, over the next couple of days. Please bear with me, and if I can figure out, at the end I will cross-link between them.

Saturday, September 24, 2011 was the 100 Thousand Poets for Change, global poetry reading - go to their web page for more information. When I heard about it from Ron Kolm, my reaction was "what change? Spare change? That would make sense." So, no matter how good the poetry or righteous the cause, in my mind, I kept seeing poets reading for spare change. Anyway, read they apparently did - all over the NYC, the state, the country, the continent, the world. I only got  to one event, The Unbearables' Rollo Whitehead Memorial Reading at A Gathering of the Tribes. This was only a couple of days after the official release of The Unbearables's Big Book of Sex, that massively useful instruction manual on how, when, where, why and what the hell sex is really all about. If you haven't already heard about it - well, now you have. If you haven't already bought a copy, then surely you are not the type of person who supports poets in need of spare change, your spare change.

It was late afternoon, it was the East Village - or is that the Lower East Side of Manhattan - and a good sized crowd was there. The gallery is small, and it was full. That was good. Jim Feast was master of ceremonies and Ron Kolm major domo, or whatever, but he helped keep it going. 

These photos were all taken during the social period that proceeds any of these events. People have to say hello to each other, even if they were reading together only an hour or two earlier. After all, they live on the edge, and people who live on the edge sometimes fall off, never to be heard from again, and you wouldn't want to have that happen to someone and not said goodbye, would you?

Despite anything else, there was a lot of good poetry read, and many of the poets are very good at delivering their words. If I had any spare change, I would've given it up right then.

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