We send National Poetry Month out like a lamb on the walk of shame with a third installment of The Poetry & Cruelty Hotline, featuring Betsy Wheeler, Dara Wier, Jane Lewty, Andrew Durbin, Sandra Lim, Nate Slawson, Dora Malech, Daniel Khalastchi, Jacob Saenz, Louise Mathias, John Gallaher, and Matt Zambito. We had a GarageBand crash and lost seven of these guests. We were able to retake six of them. Sadly, we couldn’t get Ben Fama back in to the studio in time. Our apologies to him, and the others who had to hear our voices a second time. Look for more from Ben Fama in the future, though. We’ll be running this feature again next April, but stick around for more of our irregularly scheduled program the rest of the year. Spread the word!
After a brief remembrance for Levon Helm, we open the lines back up for more poetry & cruelty! This installment features Lily Brown, Joesph Mains, Donald Dunbar, Brian Foley, Dorothea Lasky, Ashley Toliver, Stephen Danos, Claire Becker, Dolly Lemke, and Lisa Ciccarello. We hope you like pee stories. Levon sings us home.
*Note: Dorothea Lasky’s poem first appeared in Tin House. All journals where poems on our show first appeared, to the best of our knowledge, are linked on the side under “Sites.”
In honor of National Poetry Month, we decided to open the Poetry & Cruelty Hotline. Poets call in, read us a poem, and then tell us the cruelest thing they’ve ever done or had done to them. We originally thought NaPoMo was in April because of the first line of T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” but we were wrong. That’s ok. We’re wrong often.
But we’re right about hearing poems and cruelties from Elisa Gabbert, Eric Baus, Andrea Rexilius, Kelly Forsythe, Bill Carty, Hafizah Geter, Catherine Pierce, Camille Rankine, and Arda Collins.
This is the first installment. There are two cruel weeks left. More poems and cruelty coming!
We’re back in the saddle again! On this brief episode we pitch a new television channel. It’s a bit of an inverse Comedy Central. It’s called Tragedy Central. Melvyn Brown sings us a classic from the deep, glistening cave that is Glen Frey‘s oeuvre. Not enough for you, dear listeners? Well, don’t worry. Pookahontas sews it all up with a gem from a little band called Sugar Ray. But that’s not all. Sadly, our Aging Cheerleader, Marcus Villano, recently sent his stereo receiver to the other side. There’s more, of course, as there always is when he digs into his sonic memory chest. Take a listen. And get comfortable. We’re back at you with regularity, here to stroke you softly to a place of ease you never before thought existed. As they say, “tune in, turn on, tune in again.”
As you probably know from our previous post, it’s long been a dream of ours to meet Joe Bussard and hang out in his basement, which houses, among many other treasures, 15-16,00 rare 78rpm records. From Robert Johnson’s famed “Crossroad Blues” to rare recordings of authentic Cuban music to radio skits, Joe has it all. He also has the most Black Patti records of anyone in the world. As for the trip, well, it’s just about all here in this episode. Once you descend the stairs to the basement and Joe hits play, time stops. It’s disorienting in the best sense of the word. On the ride back to Jay’s house, it took us over an hour before we could communicate with each other again. We hope that comes through in this episode. Aside from letting us hear music that could have been lost forever, Joe had us in stitches with his stories of record hunting, pirate radioing, playing shows with the likes of Bill Monroe, and, well, we’ll save the rest for the episode. We had a helluva lot of fun, and hope you do, too.
As for the music you hear, well, it’s quite hard to keep track of what’s spinning, be it the record or your head. Joe drops the needle, the song ends, and he’s gone in a flash to grab the next, bringing you a soundtrack purely by association from record to record, all of which are categorized in a way only he knows. It’s not alphabetical, that much we know. How he does it we’ll never know. Still, we’ve done our best to put together a rough track list of what you hear as it’s played.
“Gospel Plow” by Patrick’s niece Abby
Theme song
“California Desert Blues” by Lane Hardin
“Crossroad Blues” by Robert Johnson
“The Wagoner’s Lad” by Buell Kazee
“A Mountain Boy Makes his First Record” by Buell Kazee
“Election Day in Kentucky” by Goods Box Whittlers (Buell Kazee and others)
A selection of songs from Joe’s record label Fonotone Records.
We know that we heard “Big Legged Mama” and “Tennessee Drag” by Ted Kreh (who plays under the name Milo Way sometimes)
We also heard songs from Jolly Joe’s Jugband, Bluegrass Travelers, and more.
Many of these songs were gathered in this box set.
Joe’s “Ethnic Stuff”
Joe takes us out by playing his Martin guitar, using a screwdriver as a slide.
Marcus’ next installment of Aging Cheerleader, which begins with John Jeremiah Sullivan, John Fahey, and Jack Rose, sets him off on a chase for his own musical phantoms before returning him to Jack Rose’s resting place.
Pookahontas looks deep into his trunk of wonders and pulls out a Cadillac.
Episode One: Concussed by a Peach What better way to kick off a new season of Talus, Or Scree than chatting with Abe Smith? Maybe he reads us a new poem, one not in either of his first twobooks. Not enough? Well, he tranced us with a little bit of Hank, too. Get on board, folks. In addition to the poems we talk a good bit of music. And we sure as heck ain’t entering this terrifying new year without the Aging Cheerleader (nee Marcus Villano) by our sides. In fact, we’d prefer it if he would just take us by the hand and lead us to the promised land. Isn’t that a song lyric? Anyway, he doesn’t talk about that in this newest piece. He does, however, talk about the sweet sounds of Cloudbirds. Just follow that link for songs (and check out the videos, too!) and catch them live if you can. Pookahontas reaches deep into Bruce Springsteen’s back pocket and, after giving him a soft pinch on the rear, pulls out a tune. Oh, and Jay wore his cousin Eddie hat during most of the recording.
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Within a few years of Jay and Patrick meeting in Wilmington, NC, they soon, after JohnJeremiahSullivan suggested they check out the AmericanPrimitive albums, embarked on a shared fascination with and discovery of old recordings of all manner of American musics that continues to this day (there is so much!).
Any trip down this rabbit hole will no doubt lead you to Joe Bussard, whose obsession with hunting for old 78s has helped save much of this music from falling silent. Luckily for us, he has opened his vaults a number of times, in collaboration with Dust-to-Digital, and made much of this music available in sets like Goodbye, Babylon and a set from the label he started in his basement, Fonotone Records. Check out Desperate Man Blues, too.
What’s even better? Joe now records a weekly podcast, again in collaboration with Dust-to-Digital, called Joe Bussard’s Country Classics, which is available on iTunes or, if you’re lucky enough, live on WREK in Atlanta on Fridays from 5-6 pm.
We reached out to Joe to share our gratitude for all he’s done and continues to do for the world of good, hard-to-find music. Needless to say, we were tickled when he mentioned us on an episode of Country Classics! No joke! Go listen to the episode from 12/16/11, @ the 13 minute mark. Then, do yourself a favor and listen to the back catalog and the episodes yet-to-come.
Thanks, Joe. Not only for giving us a shout out and playing our request, but for opening up so many musical worlds to us.
Here’s to hoping we can get him to come on Talus, Or Scree. Or, better yet, that we can meet the man and his library of 78s in person sometime soon!
On the season finale of Talus, Or Scree, the Aging Cheerleader contemplates Christmas tunes under the mistletoe, Jay and Patrick diagnose John Madden with a candy-related injury, our special guest Stephen Usery delivers an essay on his love of Christmas music, Pookahontas pulls deep into his sleigh and delivers a cover of the Big Star classic “Jesus Christ,” Jay gifts us an essay about his love for Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” and we have not one but two special surprises at the end. Even if you get a lump of coal in your stocking, you’ve at least got Talus, Or Scree.
We send National Poetry Month out like a lamb on the walk of shame with a third installment of The Poetry & Cruelty Hotline, featuring Betsy Wheeler, Dara Wier, Jane Lewty, Andrew Durbin, Sandra Lim, Nate Slawson, Dora Malech, Daniel Khalastchi, Jacob Saenz, Louise Mathias, John Gallaher, and Matt Zambito. We had a GarageBand crash and lost seven of these guests. We were able to retake six of them. Sadly, we couldn’t get Ben Fama back in to the studio in time. Our apologies to him, and the others who had to hear our voices a second time. Look for more from Ben Fama in the future, though. We’ll be running this feature again next April, but stick around for more of our irregularly scheduled program the rest of the year. Spread the word!
