Report #41

This week's poem is by Simon Ortiz from his collection Woven Stone (University of Arizona Press, 1992). The poem, "The Wisconsin Horse," includes this explanatory note: "It is late at night, lying drunk on the floor, hearing a church bell across the street, remembering that Wisconsin Horse this Spring."

The music for this week's episode is the title piece from Duke Ellington's Suite The River, here performed by the Tony Overwater Trio with the Calefax Reed Quintet. I was lucky enough to see this piece performed by the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra as my first introduction to it. I was stunned and completely taken by the music. Another moment of realizing the wonderful gift mid-Michigan had in the late SBSO conductor Patrick Flynn.

Click below to listen:
Report #41

Report #40

This week's poem, "Winter Window," is by Gina Myers from her new book A Model Year (Coconut Books, 2009). You can read my review of this book at IndieBookMan, and Matthew Falk's review at 360 Main Street. Also, check out Gina's blog A Sad Day for Sad Birds.

The music for you this week is "St. Thomas" from Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. This is one of those "must-have" CDs. Trust me. The album features Rollins on tenor sax, Tommy Flanagan on piano, Doug Watkins on bass, and Max Roach on drums.

Click below to listen to the full episode:
Report #40

In other news, I've joined that ridiculously named Twitter. I'll be posting updates on Report from the Mountains, my performance schedule, publications and related news, as well as the kind of observations a poet/anarchist/mountebank makes living in a cabin in the Montana wildlands. Click below to follow me.



~Marc

Report #39

This week's poem came from a trip to Michigan's Mackinaw Island -- a beautiful, magical place (once you get out of the town there and away from the fudge and the "fudgies"). The single most thing that keeps this sacred island from becoming a tourist hell is the prohibition of cars.

The poem is called "Messenger (Bubo Virginianus)" and recounts an experience I had there; a visitation by a great horned owl. The stone I mention in this poem is still one of my most important possessions.

You can find this poem in The Moon Cracks Open: A Field Guide to the Birds and Other Poems.

Music for this episode is from the album Jazz Sahib by Sahib Shihab. The song "Ba-Dut-Du-Dat," written by Melba Liston, features Shihab on baritone sax, Benny Golson on tenor sax, Phil Woods on alto sax, Bill Evans on piano, Oscar Pettiford on bass, and Art Taylor on drums.

Listen to the episode by clicking below:
Report #39

Report #38

This week's poem is by Jim Harrison, another Michigan poet who found his way here to Paradise Valley. The poem, "The Idea of Balance is to be Found in Herons and Loons," is from his collection The Shape of the Journey (Copper Canyon Press, 1998). The poem was originally found in The Theory and Practice of Rivers (1985).

The music heard in this week's episode is from a little gem from 1959 called Red in Blues Ville by Red Garland. The song, "Trouble in Mind," features Garland on piano, Sam Jones (the song's author) on bass, and Art Taylor on drums.

Listen to the episode here:

Report #38