Report #14 - 11 May 2009

[First of all, I want to thank whomever left the comment at the Report from the Mountains website for correcting my math. At the top of each episode, I told you that the winds of the poem were coming to you at 340 miles per second when what I meant was METERS per second, or the speed of sound. Furthermore, if you’re talking about the speed of the radio waves moving from transmitter to receiver, it would be 186,000 miles per second; although I was more thinking of the sound coming from your speakers to your ears. I could say a fifth of a mile per second or use meters, but none of this has the right ring to it, so I’m bagging the whole thing.]

This week's poem is "My Bones (Haliaeetus Leucocephalus)." The parenthetical part of the title is the Latin name for Bald Eagle, which is the bird that came to me in a dream one morning -- A vivid dream that's described in this poem. Dreaming of an eagle is a gift I don't take lightly, and it affected me such that I quite literally felt it, and do feel it, in my bones. Often, a poem is the after-image, the residue, of the experience of the Poem. This one is a good example of that. ... The Shroud of Turin School of Poetics.

The background music during the vignette is Mike Johnston's "Pre-Text I." I think it works better with a slice o' nature than continuing Dolphy's "Hat and Beard." We'll try it for a while and see if it sticks. In the meantime, check out Mike's band here: http://www.northwoodsimprovisers.com/

The music in this episode is the first track off Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane, "Ruby, My Dear." In addition to Monk (on piano) and Trane (on tenor sax), the album features Coleman Hawkins (tenor sax), Ray Copeland (trumpet), Gigi Gryce (alto sax), Wilber Ware (bass), and Art Blakey and Shadow Wilson (drums). If this version is just a little too soft and smooth for you, you can check out Hawkins taking the lead on it on Monk's Music, which has the same band except for the inclusion of Wilson.

*Note: If you listen closely to this week's episode, you can hear Banshee making her recording debut. Here's her official press photo:


Listen to the Episode here:
reportfromthemountains14.mp3