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!

And here’s this, too.

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.”

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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.

Thank you, Joe.

Listen to Joe Bussard’s Country Classics on iTunes.

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Sarah Bryan

We talk with Sarah Bryan about her life as an independent folklorist and Editor-In-Chief of The Old Time Herald, which often takes her on the Southern road in search of stories, 78 LPs, antique photographs and other phantoms. She stops, of course, from time to time. To play the fiddle and take her own photographs.

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.

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Dust-To-Digital's Never a Pal Like Mother: Vintage Songs & Photographs of the One Who's Always True

Abe Smith

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 two books. 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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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.

See everyone again in 2012!

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Get our 2011 Holiday Mixes.

Part two of our conversation with Brett includes some talk on Christmas music and a new song off his yet-to-be-released album! Also, two poems from Monica Fambrough! Also, Vick’s Vaporub™!

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Get our 2011 Holiday Mixes.

Brett Eugene Ralph

Louisville-raised Brett Eugene Ralph checks in from a colleague’s office at Hopkinsville Community College to regale us with stories honed from his days fronting hard core bands Malignant Growth and Fadin’ Out in the 80s to forming Rising Shotgun with, among others, Slint‘s David Pajo and Todd Brashear to his current musical outfit, Kentucky Chrome Revue, to writing poems, some recently gathered in Black Sabbatical, Brett lives a wild and colorful life that manifests in a singular style of storytelling. His tales, like his person, personality, voice and work, are big. So big, in fact, we have to spread them over two episodes. As Sam Cooke says, “ain’t that good news.”

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