Essays & Review — AGOTT

Posts in Essays and Reviews

TNC Eights Years in Power

TNC Eights Years in Power

Is it possible for the U.S. to transcend its racist history? The title of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ most recent book – We Were Eight Years in Power – suggests a lost moment, a fumbled opportunity encapsulated in Obama’s presidency. The book itself is more complex (and its criticism of the first black President more stringent) than some of its critics would suggest, but the unspoken message is that racism is an indelible stain, and that whatever dreams of racial harmony Obama might have engendered have been inevitably crushed under the mighty hammer of white supremacy.

Essays and ReviewsRob BryanMay 11, 2018TNC Eights Years in Power, Rob Bryan, Ste, a gathering of the tribes, Book Reviews, New York Reviewer, critique by New York writer

Review of Patrick E. Horrigan, Pennsylvania Station (Amherst, MA: Lethe Press, 2018)

Review of Patrick E. Horrigan, Pennsylvania Station (Amherst, MA: Lethe Press, 2018)

Patrick E. Horrigan, in his new book Pennsylvania Station, weaves together two, carefully articulated, grand themes, one of which would have been enough to tackle, more than enough, for your average novelist.

Patrick E. Horrigan, in his new book Pennsylvania Station, weaves together two, carefully articulated, grand themes, one of which would have been enough to tackle, more than enough, for your average novelist.

Essays and ReviewsJim FeastMay 10, 2018Steve Cannon, a gathering of the tribes, Book Review, Review of Patrick E. Horrigan, Pennsylvania Station (Amherst, MA: Lethe Press, 2018), Jim Feast, New York Writers, Book Reviews, Book Reviews 2018, Reviewers, New York Reviewers

If Kendrick Lamar keeps this up, he may just be this generation’s Duke Ellington.

If Kendrick Lamar keeps this up, he may just be this generation’s Duke Ellington.

Kendrick Lamar’s recent award of the Pulitzer Prize for his 2017 album Damn. is as much of a cultural watershed moment as Duke Ellington’s infamous Carnegie Hall debut in 1943. At this pivotal point in Ellington’s career, he had already cemented his status as one of the most accomplished and prolific musicians of his generation. With hits such as “Black and Tan Fantasy,” “Mood Indigo,” “It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing),” “Take the A Train,” and many others, Ellington was sonically redefining black music while serving as one of the central sirens of a burgeoning, modern black subjectivity.

Essays and Reviews, MusicEarl BrooksMay 4, 2018If Kendrick Lamar keeps this up, he may just be this generation’s Duke Ellington., Kendrick Lamar, Pulitzer Prize 2018, Damn, Album Damn, Duke Ellington, Steve Cannon, a gathering of the tribes, Carnegie Hall, African American Film Critics, Black American Artists, Black American Music, Black American Performers

Byron Allen Produced “Chappaquiddick” Breathes New Life Into Kennedy Scandal

Byron Allen Produced “Chappaquiddick” Breathes New Life Into Kennedy Scandal

There are scenes that speak to Sen. Kennedy’s inadequacies from being the brother of a former President and a popular politician. Sen. Kennedy also had a strained relationship with his father.

The reenactment of the car being pulled the car out of the river and the reaction of the diver and the town sheriff show the shock of the town and how political power and selfishness can collide with society.

Essays and Reviews, Film & TheatreMonica LinkMay 4, 2018Byron Allen Produced “Chappaquiddick” Breathes New Life Into Kennedy Scandal, Monica Link, Steve Cannon, a gathering of the tribes, Kennedy Scandal, Film Review, African American Writers, Byron Allen, Martha's Vineyard car accident with Sen, Ted Kennedy, Mary Jo Kopechne, Jason Clarke, Kate Mara

Danny Shot’s WORKS Works

Danny Shot’s WORKS Works

He retired, didn't quit his day job, one of the first second third generation immigrant youth pining for space, for more road, aspirations for a better life, "making it in America." The promised land, New Jersey, Springsteen, Patti Smith, WC Williams, Ginsberg, Eliot Katz & Jack Wiler, myriads more, all legends, where the ordinary is extra and the Average is Whitman's Divine Average.

Essays and ReviewsTribesMay 1, 2018Andy Clausen, Steve Cannon, a gathering of the tribes, Book Review, Book Reviews 2018, New York Writers, Danny Shot’s WORKS Works, Works, Poetry, American Writers, American Poets, New York Poets, Poetry Reviews, Poetry Book Review

Again...

Again...

It was 4:15 – fifteen minutes after I said I’d be there to pick her up, and I wasn’t even in my car yet. Geez! The phone rang. It was my sister. “Can’t talk now, I’ll need to call you back. Mom’s waiting and…”

“Uh, yeah! She’s called me three times wondering if you’d forgotten her at the church,” she said tersely.

“Gotta go.” The only reason I was stuck with this job was because my sister, Laura, was at home taking care of two sick kids. As I approached the intersection, a block from the church, I noticed an elderly woman in front of me. She was perfectly still.

Essays and ReviewsKarra Barber-WadaMay 1, 2018Steve Cannon, a gathering of the tribes, Karra Barber-Wada, Again..., New York Writers, Writers, short stories, Short Story

BRONZE AGE REDUX: On Debt, Clean Slates And What The Ancients Have To Teach Us

BRONZE AGE REDUX: On Debt, Clean Slates And What The Ancients Have To Teach Us

One of the most compelling sequences in the Oscar-winning Inside Job, Charles Ferguson’s indictment of Wall Street’s role in the 2008 global financial meltdown, involved not the banker culprits but their supporting cast. These were the Ivy League accomplices. Ferguson mightily skewered these economists for the cover they gave the sub-prime Hamptons dwelling wise guys whose rescue turned out to be a pretext for one of the largest reverse-Robin Hood wealth transfers in history.

Essays and ReviewsTribesApril 27, 2018Steve Cannon, a gathering of the tribes, BRONZE AGE REDUX: On Debt, Clean Slates And What The Ancients Have To Teach Us The Michael Hudson Interview

A Review of Michael Simanga's "No One Can Be at Peace Unless They Have Freedom"

A Review of Michael Simanga's "No One Can Be at Peace Unless They Have Freedom"

In the spirit of Marvin Gaye, one of several artists honored in No One Can Be at Peace Unless They Have Freedom, this volume is Michael Simanga’s What’s Going On book. It is an urgent and majestic mix of inner-city-blues-what’s-going-on-save-the-children--mercy-mercy-me-right-on-wholy-holy sensibilities remastered for our times.

David Bowie is... Exhibit Review

David Bowie is... Exhibit Review

The “David Bowie is” exhibit transforms the life of a music legend into a display of colorful
artistry set to the backdrop of the singers greatest hit music at the Brooklyn Museum. The Bowie
exhibit is unique in its style serving as a tribute to David Bowie and his diverse music.

Author Interview with KK Edin

Author Interview with KK Edin

As science continues to move humanity forward at a break-neck pace, a question from philosophers remains – just because we can, does it mean we should? What implications does man face as we continue to adopt new, and often questionable, technologies?

Debut author K.K. Edin seeks to address these questions, and many more, in his debut
science fiction epic, The Measurements of Decay, a riveting and profound tale that upends how we think about time, space, and humanity’s place in the universe.

Essays and Reviews, LiteratureChavisa WoodsApril 20, 2018Author Interview with KK Edin, KK Edin, Author Interview, Alessia Martino, Steve Cannon, a gathering of the tribes, The Measurements of Decay, Novels, Writer Interviews, New York Writers, New York Authors, K.K. Edin

Millennial on Millennium Approaches and Peroistrika

For many theatergoers this season’s revival of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Pareoistrika, now playing in repertory in a limited engagement at the Neil Simon Theatre, can seem like a veritable theatrical marathon. The two shows, which run for a total of 7.5 hours and can be seen in either one full day or split between two, takes about as much time as it does to fly to Europe or binge-watch an entire mini-series.

Not Our President: New Directions from the Pushed Out, the Others, and the Clear Majority in Trump’s Stolen America

Not Our President: New Directions from the Pushed Out, the Others, and the Clear Majority in Trump’s Stolen America

It is as we zoom past literal interpretation to arrive at a deeper truth that we appreciate the title Not Our President. It marks the profound disconnect between the aims and practices of the Trump regime and the aspirations of those who think like the forty-two artists, intellectuals, and cultural workers collected under the phrase.

Essays and ReviewsKeith GilyardApril 17, 2018a gathering of the tribes, Steve Cannon, Not Our President, Book Review, Trump, U.S. Politics, Book Reviews 2018, Keith Gilyard, Haki R. Madhubuti, Lasana D. Kazembe, Not Our President: New Directions from the Pushed Out, the Others, and the Clear Majority in Trump’s Stolen America, Chicago: Third World Press Foundation

Where Language Moves Like Paint: The In-Betweens of Randee Silv’s Wordslabs

Where Language Moves Like Paint: The In-Betweens of Randee Silv’s Wordslabs

Randee Silv’s new chapbook, Farnessity (dancing girl press 2018) introduces us to a classification-eluding language event that she calls wordslabs. A first read-through can feel both seductive and disorienting. The content and rhythm of the first sentence or two might seem, often enough, to signal narrative, perhaps even fiction, but very soon afterwards, the threads start shifting so much that one has to wonder just what this writer’s up to.

Homofuturism Deferred

Homofuturism Deferred

Walking into Galerie Bucholz one sun-soaked Saturday afternoon in January, the effect was in equal turns overwhelming and energizing. Crammed so full with artworks and historical objects, the gallery resembled something closer to a kitsch-filled antiques store than a typical art show, tasteful as it was.

Essays and Reviews, On our mindsNicholas ZurkoApril 10, 2018Steve Cannon, a gathering of the tribes, Essasys, Homofuturism Deferred, LGBTQ Writers, LGBTQ Essays, homofuturism deferred, Reynaldo Anderson, Jose Esteban Munoz, Cruising Utopia, Queer Writers, Galerie Bucholz, Cosmic Communities, Coming Out, Coming Out Into Outer Space, Applied Psychedelia & Magic Connectivity, Diedrichsen, Muller, Stefan George, Henry Jahnn, Douglas Crimp, Marc Siegal, Utopia, Black to the future, Drery, Black Queer Afrofuturism, Samuel Delaney's Dhalgren, Pedro Bell, Hans Kayser, La Monte Young, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Gottfried Benn, Wagner, Nietzsche, French Symbolism, Blatter fur die Kuns, Krone Maximilian, The Seventh Ring, Marcus Behmer, Hesse, Karl Wolfskehl, Friedrich Gundolf, Stuaffenberg brothers, Franz Buse

AGAINST WRITING

AGAINST WRITING

In Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, there is a poignant exchange between the nameless master of the novel’s title, and the everyman-poet Ivan Bezdomny:

“What, don't you like my poetry?” asked Ivan with some curiosity.
“I hate it.”
“Which poems have you read?”

Nijinsky

Nijinsky

The National Ballet of Canadian performance of John Neumeier’s Nijinsky opened last Tuesday April 3 for its short run at the S.F. Opera House, through Sunday April 8, at 2:00, and it’s not to be missed. While I love ballet, I don’t go that often. Yet I followed my intuition and bought balcony tickets for the premiere and I have never been so grateful for my 6th sense as I stood with the crowd calling bravo as the curtains billowed and the dancers made their final bows.

Essays and Reviews, Film & TheatreHilary MaslonApril 4, 2018ballet performance review, Ballet, Canadian Ballet, National Ballet of Canadian Performance, a gathering of the tribes, Steve Cannon, Hilary Maslon, Ballet critics, New York Ballet performance, 2018 Review, Classical dancers, Dancers

feast long day - Review of Jim Feast, Long Day, Counting Tomorrow (Brooklyn: Autnomedia, 2017)

feast long day - Review of Jim Feast, Long Day, Counting Tomorrow (Brooklyn: Autnomedia, 2017)

I must praised Feast for his depiction of me or, at least a character modeled on that wayward waif, Steve Dalachinsky. At that time, I had not fully acquainted myself with the book and find that the Steve character doesn’t have much of a role in the story.

An End to Repetitions: the violence of the breaking of the ice Review of The Death of Stalin

An End to Repetitions: the violence of the breaking of the ice Review of The Death of Stalin

The Death of Stalin, the tremendous new film directed by Armando Iannucci and based on the comic book of the same title by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin, begins in Moscow with a performance of a Mozart piano concerto, performed superbly by the pianist Maria Veniaminovna Yudina (Olga Kurylenko), conducted by Spartak Sokolov (Justin Edwards) and transmitted through the radio by two highly
competent sound engineers (Paddy Considine and Tom Brooke).

Essays and Reviews, Film & TheatreDaniel Erickson April 3, 2018Film Reviews, Daniel Erickson, Steve Cannon, a gathering of the tribes, The Death of Stalin, Film Critics, New York Critics, New York Film Critics, Latest Film Reviews, Stalin movie, 2018, Film reviewers

Temping

Temping

I’m sitting inside a storage closet. There is no office chatter coming from the hallway. Its Good Friday. This room houses a surplus of desk chairs piled high and paper products for the pantry kitchen around the corner that I have to restock.

Essays and ReviewsPhoebe HalkowichMarch 31, 2018phoebe halkowich, Steve Cannon, a gathering of the tribes, Essay, Column, New York Writers, Writers, Young writers, Women writers

Black Panther is Not An American Hero

Black Panther is Not An American Hero

Ryan Coogler and Michael B Jordan are the only men in film who are making movies about and for black boys. Their latest installment in this campaign, Black Panther, is a psychedelic adventure tragedy.

Essays and Reviews, Film & TheatreChavisa WoodsMarch 31, 2018Black Panther Film Review, Film Review, African American Films, Black Panther is Not An American Hero, Steve Cannon, Alex Ivey, a gathering of the tribes, African American Contributions, African American Film Critics, Film Reviews, Black Community, Black History Month, Black Writers