There Just Aren’t Enough Letters in the Alphabet to Describe Howl! Festival's Esteemed Guest Poets Susan Scutti, Amy Ouzoonian and Thomas Fucaloro

No two poets are alike, but we know three poets who have all, very recently, suffered comparable misfortune. Susan Scutti, Amy Ouzoonian and Thomas Fucaloro had their names misspelled on various Howl! Festival press materials and even on this blog. No doubt each of them will interpret the adversity with great individuality.  Hopefully, they will exploit the incident creatively and for all to enjoy, rather than internalize the pain and bear it alone, wordlessly.

Susan Scutti, Amy Ouzoonian and Thomas Fucaloro, among others, will be appearing at the Howl! Festival’s opening night reading of the Allen Ginsberg poem, “Howl,” in Tompkins Square Park on Friday, September 10^th, from 5-7PM.  Below is a little background information on these three fine rhymesters, as well as photos.

Once you know what they look like and how to spell their names, it might be nice to approach them at the festival and impart some empathy regarding this flagrant inaccuracy. Remind them that this exact, same faux pas happens daily to Allen Ginsberg, long after his physical suffering has ended.  Alan Ginsberg, Allan Ginsberg, Allen Ginzberg, Allen Ginsburg, Alan Ginzburg, Allan Ginsburg – it’s exasperating. 

It is, however, much easier to speak the one name Allen Ginsberg than it is to pronounce the three names Susan Scutti, Amy Ouzoonian and Thomas Fucaloro.

  

Susan Scutti writes poems, stories and novels. Her work has appeared in The  New York Quarterly,  Philadelphia  Poets, The Paterson  Literary Review, The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, Aloud: Nuyorican Poets Cafe Anthology and The Unbearables Anthologies. Three Rooms Press published her chapbook, We Are Related and she's also published two novels, Second Generation and A Kind of Sleep. Check her out at http://susanscutti.wordpress.com/

Susan Scutti

Amy Ouzoonian is a poet, yoga instructor, performance artist and editor of A Gathering of the Tribes magazine issue #13. She lives and creates in Manhattan.

Amy Ouzoonian

Thomas Fucaloro likes puppies, kittens and large monsters that haunt your dreams but leave in tact your spirit.  He has a book coming out next month through Three Rooms Press titled "Inheriting craziness is like a soft halo of light, everyone's got one but no one can see it."  Thomas thinks his legs look better with pumps rather than heels.  Thomas really really really likes Allen Ginsberg.

Ella Lounge Joins the Howl! Festival with a week of performances to benefit the Howl! H.E.L.P. Fund

Ella Lounge, the first and only place to bring the Hollywood glamour of the roaring 20s and 30s to Avenue A, has joined the Howl! Festival’s esteemed list of sponsoring venues.  The formidable line-up includes popular female jazz vocalists Teresa Mora, Baby Jane Dexter, Nanette Natal and Jahneen/Jeannine Otis, Melange, the inimitable singer/actor/Broadway veteran Larry Marshall, Laura Stilwell and Company featuring Ivan Rosenberg, Kimistry and The Living Museum and Wei Sheng Lin & Friends.

The confirmed schedule is as follows:

Monday,

September 13th                   8-10 PM          Teresa Mora, vocalist

A distinguished jazz musician, Teresa Mora’s amazing ensemble will begin Howl’s Jazz series.  A Detroit native, she has her own unique blend of jazz, soul, and blues.

                                                                                                                 

Tuesday,

September 14^th                    8-10 PM        Baby Jane Dexter, Larry Marshall, and

                                                                       Jahneen /Jeannine Otis

Reno Sweeney Diva Baby Jane Dexter, Broadway, jazz and soul singer Jeannine Otis and Broadway jazzman Larry Marshall (“The Color Purple,” “ Hair,” “The Full Monty,” to name a few), join voices in an outstanding night of sizzle, standards and sensational stylin’ !

Wednesday,

September 15th                   8-10 PM         Laura Stilwell and company featuring Ivan Rosenberg

Laura Stilwell is a fine vocalist as well as the award-winning choreographer/director of the smash hit  "This Joint Is  Jumpin'."

Thursday,

September 16th                   8-10 PM         Nanette Natal

Jazz vocal stylist Nanette Natal performs in the grand tradition of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.

Friday, September 17^th        8-10 PM         Melange

Haitian-born vocalist, Melange and her ensemble perform a unique blend of soul, rhythm and blues, and jazz. Melange is also very committed to the preservation traditional music of Haiti.

Saturday,  Sep 18th               8 -10 PM   Kimistry and The Living Museum

KIM KALESTI is a musician and composer whose music is spirit-filled, timeless and thoughtful. 

Sunday, Sep 19^th                   8-10 PM   Wei Sheng Lin & Friends

WEI SHENG LIN's music is an exciting blend of musical styles that reflects his love of jazz classics as well as rock, pop music and rhythm and blues. 

Please visit the calendar at  www.howlfestival.com for updates and further details.  Ella Lounge is located at 9 Avenue A, between 1^st and Second Streets.  Admission for each show is $10 per person. For ticket information, please visit www.howlfestival.com

*The Howl Emergency Life Project (H.E.L.P.)

was created to provide emergency financial assistance and social service support to artists who have participated in the annual Howl Festival or who make their careers in New York City's East Village and Lower East Side arts community and whose work challenges the traditional boundaries of dance, theatre, music, multimedia and the spoken word.

Services include counseling and referrals for personal, family or work-related problems. Linkage to community resources for such needs as medical care, legal services, public benefits or elder care. Workshops are offered on a variety of topics and include: finding affordable housing, financial education as well as health insurance options.

Financial assistance is available for rent, utilities, mental health and medical care as well as other basic living expenses. Grants are approved on a case-by-case basis based on need.

////

The 7th Annual Howl! Festival Pays Tribute to 9/11 in Tompkins Square Park in NYC's East Village- All Events Are Free and Open to the Public

Performance artists, poets, musicians, and dance companies honor 9/11 at the 7^th Annual HOWL! Festival in Tompkins Square Park, (7th–10th Streets, between Avenues A & B), on the weekend of Sept. 10, 11 and 12.

Chanters, a free meditation zone, meditation walk, yoga classes for both children and adults, a calling of names station and performance art will grace the green at Tompkins Square Park on Saturday Sept 11, heralding the start of an uplifting program at Howl! Festival’s 7^th Annual weekend in Tompkins Square Park –September 10,11,12.

Featured September 11^th events include:

Finding Sukha Yoga

Finding Sukha Yoga  -The East Village’s newest Yoga Center will hold 30-minute classes for adults and children at 11AM, 1PM, 3PM and 6PM. You can “find” Finding Sukha in front of the brick Park Office, located at approximately 9^th Street between Avenues A and B.  Finding Sukha will provide a limited number of yoga mats.  Be prepared and bring your own.

Art Installation and Performance Piece by Artist Ujin Lee  - Unloading a truck load of 733 unique and individually wrapped 7x7x7 boxes, artist Ujin Lee will begin her 3 ½ hour performance art piece at 11AM in the center of Tompkins Square Park.  All boxes will be individually gift-wrapped in traditional Korean fabric.  The number 733 represents good luck and fortune. Once all boxes have been strategically placed, and the performance piece is ended, members of the public will be welcome to select a box and take one home.

Ujin Lee will also place 7 large sculptures around the park.  Each 10- foot tall and 6 ½ foot-wide piece will be a “pouch” created with the natural fiber ramie.  Each pouch will be filled with approximately 20-30 balloon-shaped balls, created in white paper and visible through the fabric.

Artist Ujin Lee at a past event

Art Around the Park – A 1500 foot-long canvas wrapped around 50% of the perimeter of Tompkins Square Park, beginning on Avenue A and 10^th Street, continuing 3 blocks south to 7^th Street and going east on 7^th Street to the midway point between Avenues A and B.  Over 140 adult artists and untold numbers of children are confirmed to participate.

Art Around The Park "Street Scene" - photo by Nicholas Bergery

Meditation Free Zone and Walk - Enjoy our oasis in Tompkins Square Park. Relax and rejuvenate.  Walk led by local artist / Buddhist practitioner Riki Colon.

Memorial Center – Contemplative time is offered at this special station where names can be called and a gong can be sounded.

Poetry – Poetry performances on the South Stage include poets Bill Kushner (1:40PM-1:50PM), Kristin Prevallet (1:50PM - 2PM), Eileen Myles (2:45PM-3PM) and Emmanuel Xavier (3:45PM- 3:55PM), Dottie Lasky (3:55PM – 4:04PM).

Theater/Dance  – Vangeline Theater performs MOSAIC, a resonant butoh dance piece to commemorate 9/11. On the South Stage,- two performances: 2:10PM-2:40PM and 5:45PM-6:15PM.

"Coco Model in Mosaic" -Vangeline Theater photo by Ali Smith

Music:

Open Music Ensemble - This pioneering cooperative of acoustic improv musicians will guide the heart and spirit in meditation, relaxing and healing with sounds both pure and contemplative.  The performance will take place on the South Stage at Tompkins Square Park, Avenue A at 7^th Street from 1PM-1:30PM.

Tyler Burba - An acoustic performance of songs written by Allen Ginsberg, on the South Stage 3:10PM-3:40PM.

Photo of Tyler Burba by Chris Verene

Timbila – Sassy, celestial vocals are highlighted in this performance of African rock with an East Village Edge.  On the South Stage from 4:25 PM-4:55PM.

Chris Rael – A sitar aficionado, this dynamic composer turns Indian and Western music into a mix of highly refined pop. On the South Stage – 5:05PM-5:35PM.

Arthur’s Landing-A Tribute to the Musical Genius of Arthur Russell – Musicians associated with the east village’s late Arthur Russell will perform a fusion of Western and Eastern musical traditions, driven by Russell’s engagement with Buddhist thought and practice. On the South Stage 6:30PM-7PM.

Arthur's Landing with guests Xavier and Zach Layton - photo by See-Ming Lee

Family Entertainment:

On the North Stage, Avenue A at 10^th Street, from 12:30PM until 7PM, The Lower East Side Girls Club presents a variety of children’s and family entertainment, including dance, poetry, music and a featured performance by Rosie O’Donnell’s Rosie’s Broadway Kids.  Also in the north park:  A solar-powered merry-go-round, a children’s yoga tent, a fortune telling monkey, robot pony, art and science programs, face painting, a photo booth and more.

In addition to the Howl! Festival events in Tompkins Square Park on September 10, 11 and 12, there will be 30 days of Poetry, Theater, Performance Art, Film, Comedy and Dance, September 1-30 at Theatre 80 on St. Mark’s Place, and events throughout the neighborhood at many other venues, including The Bowery Poetry Club, Ella Lounge, Bowery Electric, The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church and more.

The events in Tompkins Square Park are all free to the public.  All additional Howl! events will benefit Howl! H.E.L.P. (Howl Emergency Life Project), an emergency services and health fund administered by The Actors Fund.

For further information on the Howl! Festival and Howl H.E.L.P., please visit www.howlfestival.com

Google Request of the Day

Please google the word “howl.”  The top three results are currently:

1.           1.    A Wikipedia page devoted to Allen Ginsberg’s poem

2.           2.    Howlfestival.com

3.           3.   An IMDB listing of the movie, “Howl,” starring James Franco as Allen Ginsberg.

Now please click on # 2 , the link to howlfestival.com, and catch up on all the latest news…

BTW, did you ever notice that if you google the word “google,” you just keep going back to the same place and you can just endlessly google google?  Don’t bother trying it at home.  It’s an incredible waste of time.  Google “Howl Festival” instead. 

Or just go to www.howlfestival.com

Howl! Poetry Events at Theatre 80, St. Mark's Church and Tompkins Square Park

Monday Sept 6^th Theatre 80 St. Marks: 80 Saint Marks Place 4pm-6pm $10.00

SISTER SON/JI by Sonia Sanchez

In Sister Son/Ji, written by Sonia Sanchez, directed by SC2 and starring Jacqueline Gregg, poet/playwright Sanchez unflinchingly examines the paradoxical notions of liberation within in the Black Power Movement. Sonia Sanchez is a Poet. Mother. Professor. National and International lecturer on Black Culture and Literature, Women’s Liberation, Peace and Racial Justice, as well as an author of over 16 books... Sc2 is the founder & Artistic Director of BeBop Theatre Collective... Jacqueline Gregg, who has performed in countless plays, both classical and modern, also works extensively with various educational theatre organizations, bringing classical as well as contemporary theatre to schools in and around New York City. After the show we will present a Talk-Back with Ms. Sanchez. Door proceeds to benefit the Actors Fund for HOWL! HELP.

Advance Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124400

Tuesday Sept 7^th Theatre 80 St. Marks: 80 Saint Marks Place 8pm-10:30pm $10.00

THE BEAT LEGACY IN FILM, WORDS & MUSIC:

Ruth Du, Marc Thorman & Bob Holman

ALLEN GINSBERG, WILLIAM BURROUGHS and JOHN CAGE… their groundbreaking and experimental work in the Post War years still resonates and has influenced many of the current generation of artists living and working now in the East Village/Lower East Side. Tonight’s program celebrates that and features RUTH DU's short film 'SIX '55', an historical interpretation of the first night Allen Ginsberg recited 'Howl' in San Francisco, at the Six Gallery in 1955... 2 PIECES BY MARC THORMAN -- 'Writing through Howl (1986) For Allen Ginsberg on his Sixtieth Birthday' by John Cage, an example of Cage's 'writing through' process, which searches the poem 'Howl' sequentially for words that share letters with Allen Ginsberg's name resulting in what Cage called 'mesostic' poetry, his term derived from the word 'acrostic' and 'I Am Right, You Are Wrong,' music by Marc Thorman, text by William S. Burroughs featuring the recorded voice of Allen Ginsberg reading the text to two live improvised instrumental trios. With Marc Thorman: piano, Gregory Post: keyboards, Eric Cooper: cello, Sean Ormiston: string bass, and Patrick O'Reilly & Cory Bracken on percussion. Marc Thorman is a composer, pianist, author and teacher in New York City. His compositions include works for computer, live electronics, solo piano, voice, orchestra, and chamber ensembles, as well as mixed-media works that combine sounds, spoken word, and visual images. Marc earned a doctoral degree in music composition from the City University of New York in 2002 and has taught music theory and history in CUNY colleges citywide. In the 1990s He edited the legendary 'zine 'High Heel News'... So far as we know, BOB HOLMAN and his porkpie are the sole purveyors of the Lower East Side Poetry Hat Trick: he ran readings and was Project Coordinator at the St Mark's Poetry Project from1974-84, helped reopen and was the Original Slammaster of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe 1988-96, and founded and has been Artistic Director of the Bowery Poetry Club since 2002. For good measure, he was on the Board of A Gathering of the Tribes from 1994-2000. He teaches at Columbia and NYU, and recently helped found the Endangered Language Alliance, using poetry to illuminate the plight of vanishing languages and cultures. In his spare time he writes the poems; tonight he reads them to us. Door proceeds to benefit The Actors Fund for HOWL! HELP.

Advance tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/123728

Thursday Sept 9^th Theatre 80 St. Marks: 80 Saint Marks Place 8pm-9:30pm $10.00

FILM: JERRY ARONSON'S 'THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALLEN GINSBERG'

The re-release of Jerry Aronson's biopic, The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg, timed to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of 'Howl,' suits this wonderful documentary and proves Ginsberg central to all radical artistic and political movements of the past 60 years. The feature-length film, segmented by decade, provides ample footage of Ginsberg's life; but extras added into this package, including footage of his memorial and 35 interviews with artists inspired by the visionary poet--from Beck to Lawrence Ferlinghetti--solidify Ginsberg as an American cultural icon. The film unravels Ginsberg's obsession for life and death around his mother's nervous breakdown and his father's affinity for poetry. Interviews with Ginsberg from each decade, both amongst his Beat friends like Burroughs and Huncke, and later with talk show hosts William Buckley and Dick Cavett, show the author's progression from sexual politics in the '40s and '50s to the 'politics of ecstasy' in the '60s and '70s, when he founded the Flower Power movement with Tim Leary, and later, Naropa Univeristy. Ample footage of Ginsberg's stepmother provides a sensitive outsider's opinion on how he blossomed into one of the most spontaneous minds of the century. The film transcends simple Ginsberg descriptions by framing his life with historical happenings to contextualize the author's words and actions. The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg reminds the viewer that there is no better example of an artist devoted to a life of letters, activism, and idealism than the original beatnik... Following the screening, there will be a talk-back with director Jerry Aronson...Door proceeds to benefit The Actors Fund for HOWL! HELP.

Advance Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124543

Friday Sept 10^th Tompkins Square Park South Stage 5pm to 7pm FREE !

The HOWL ! Festival in the Park begins with the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Reading: featuring poets Anne Waldman with Ambrose Bye, John Giorno, hosted by Bob Holman with readings by Betsy Andrews, Jennifer Blowdryer, Ana Bozicevic, Guillermo Castro,  Steve Dalachinsky, Thomas Fucaloro, Daniel Gallant, Alan Gilbert, Amy King, Mariposa, Douglas A. Martin, Angelo Nikolopoulos, Amy Ouzoonian, Meghann Plunkett,  Jon Sands, Susan Scutti, Jean Ann Verlee, Michael Warr, Chavisa Woods, Advocate of Wordz, Ra ARA ya and a group reading of Allen Ginsberg’s poem HOWL.

Saturday Sept 11^th Tompkins Square Park Stage 11am to 7pm FREE !

Poets in the Park : Poets Bill Kushner, Kristin Prevallet, Eileen Myles, Emanuel Xavier, and Dorothy Lasky will read throughout the day.

Tyler Burba’s band: Visit, a band greatly inspired by Allen Ginsberg's life and works, will be paying tribute to Ginsberg's lesser-known musical side by performing songs off his album First Blues as well as songs featured on the boxset Holy Soul Jelly Roll ("Airplane Blues," "Vomit Express," "Gospel Noble Truths"). The band will perform songs of William Blake's that Ginsberg tuned ("Infant Joy," "The Echoing Green," "The Sick Rose"), as well as original songs that were inspired by Ginsberg's work.

More info:  www.visit-music.net

Go to www.howlfestival.com see the calendar for complete schedule of days events.

Saturday Sept 11^th and Sunday Sept 12^th Theatre 80 St. Marks:

80 Saint Marks Place: 8pm to 9:30pm $10.00

All-Male OEDIPUS REX

A vibrant rendition of the ancient Greek classic, The Faux-Real Theatre Company in conjunction with Verse Theater Manhattan presents an all-male OEDIPUS REX, 'exactly as Sophocles intended it!' With a cast of 12 utilizing the performance techniques of the ancient Greeks, Faux-Real presents a 'traditional' rendition of Sophocles’ OEDIPUS REX that says 'what was considered traditional 2400 years ago is off-the-hook today.' Incorporating the colorful aesthetic of these ancient performances and utilizing a broad physical style of acting powered by live music, songs and dancing, ALL-MALE OEDIPUS REX looks beyond the 'fate versus free will' interpretations of this classic, to explore the alluring underbelly of this primal text. Their heightened approach reveals what is terrifying and vital in this most tragic of tragedies, enhancing the story’s power to roil our subconscious and awaken the heroes within. Founding Artistic Director of The Faux-Real Theatre Company, Mark Greenfield has created such shows as FUNBOX Times Square, William Shakespeare’s Haunted House and Htebcam (A Backwards Re-working of Macbeth). In addition to his work with Faux-Real, Mark was a writer for the Drew Barrymore film Whip It, and the lead actor in the Amir Naderi film VEGAS: Based on a True Story (to be released this fall). Greenfield toured the country for two-years with IMAGO the Theatre Mask Ensemble, and he played Arlecchino for five-years with the Southern Italian Commedia dell’Arte company I Giullari Di Piazza. Door proceeds to benefit The Actors Fund for HOWL! HELP.

More Information: http://www.fauxreal.org

Advance Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124635

Monday, Sep 13 Theatre 80 St. Marks: 80 Saint Marks Place 8pm -10:30pm $10.00

Regie Cabico’s “that bird looks like 2 mustaches kissing”

A queer multidisciplinary exploration of love, marriage and gender, curated and hosted by spoken word pioneer and comedian Regie Cabico. With film director and monologuist Silas Howard, performance artist Heather Arc and others... Regie Cabico is a spoken word pioneer having won the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam and is the first openly queer and Asian American performer to take top prizes in the National Poetry Slam. Television credits include 2 seasons of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. He is the recipient of three New York Innovative Theater Award Nominations for his work in the New York Company of TOO MUCH LIGHT MAKES THE BABY GO BLIND, with an award for Best Performance Art Production. The Kenyon Review recently named him 'The Lady Gaga of Poetry' and Bust Magazine named him in the 100 Men We Love... Door proceeds to benefit The Actors Fund for HOWL! HELP.

Advance Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124644

Thursday, Sep 16  Saint Marks Church In-The-Bowery,

131 East 10th Street (at Second Avenue) 8 pm - 10 pm $8.00

The Howl! Arts Project 2010 Presents: POETRY TURN ON !

Poets Thomas Fucaloro, Meghann Plunkett, Jon Sands, Jeanann Verlee, Michael Warr of The Bowery Poetry Club, poets Steve Cannon , Steve Dalachinsky, Amy Ouzoonian, Susan Scutti, Chavisa Woods, RA ARA ya of A Gathering of the Tribes, poets Daniel Gallant, Vanessa Hidary, Mariposa, Advocate of Wordz of Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and poets Julian Brolaski, Joanna Fuhrman, Paolo Javier, Dorothea Lasky of The Poetry Project come together one night only to share their poems with you... Hosted by Nathaniel Siegel to benefit HOWL! H.E.L.P.

Advance Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124975

Saturday, Sept 18th and Sunday Sept 19th  Theatre 80 St. Marks:

80 Saint Marks Place  2pm - 3:15pm $5.00

URBAN WORD: VERBAL FIRE 

Photo: Urban Word Live at The Apollo Theater

Urban Word mentor Regie Cabico and Executive Director Michael Cirelli curate and host a spoken word showcase by New York’s young poets and their mentors who have taken top prizes at Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam competition, Speak Green at Sundance Film Festival, and the National Poetry Slam. See why they are the current reigning champions on HBO’s Brave New Voices documentary... Regie Cabico is a spoken word pioneer having won the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam and is the first openly queer and Asian American performer to take top prizes in the National Poetry Slam. Television credits include 2 seasons of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. He is the recipient of three New York Innovative Theater Award Nominations for his work in the New York Company of TOO MUCH LIGHT MAKES THE BABY GO BLIND, with an award for Best Performance Art Production. The Kenyon Review recently named him 'The Lady Gaga of Poetry' and Bust Magazine named him in the 100 Men We Love... Michael Cirelli is the Executive Director of Urban Word NYC, a grassroots non-profit organization that provides free, safe, uncensored and ongoing writing and performance opportunities for NYC teens. He is also the director of the Annual Spoken Word & Hip-Hop Teacher & Community Leader Training Institute at the University of Wisconsin that won the 2007 North American Association of Summer Sessions 'Creative and Innovative Program Award.' He is the author of the award-winning teaching guide, 'Hip-Hop Poetry & the Classics' (Milk Mug, 2004), a standards-based curriculum that explores the relationship between hip-hop lyrics and 'classic' poems. He is currently working on two other curricula utilizing hip-hop to engage students. His collection of poetry, 'Lobster with Ol’ Dirty Bastard' (Hanging Loose, 2008) was a NY Times Book Review independent press best seller, and his next book, 'Vacations on the Black Star Line' (Hanging Loose, 2009) is forthcoming. Along with teaching writing workshops and performing across the country, he was previously the director of PEN Center West’s 'Poet in the Classroom Program.' He was featured on season 5 of Russell Simmons' Def Poetry... Founded on the belief that teenagers can and must speak for themselves, Urban Word NYC™ (UW) has been at the forefront of the youth spoken word, poetry and hip-hop movements in New York City since 1999. Door proceeds to benefit The Actors Fund for HOWL! HELP.

More Information: http://www.urbanwordnyc.org/uwnyc/index.php?q=About

Advance Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124662

For further information, please visit www.howlfestival.com

Howl! Spotlight -Howl! Festival's Traditional Opening Night Reading of Allen Ginsberg's Poem, "Howl," in Tompkins Square Park- September 10th, 2010, 5-7PM

Bob Holman

The 7th Annual Howl! Festival, the East Village Festival of the Arts, will begin Friday night, September 10th, 5 to 7 PM, with the festival’s traditional reading of the iconic Allen Ginsberg poem, “Howl.”  Taking place on the South Stage, (Avenue A and 7th Street), the reading will feature an amalgam of the East Village’s finest poets, including featured poets John Giorno and Anne Waldman w/ Ambrose Bye.  The reading will be led by poet Bob Holman, proprietor of The Bowery Poetry Club, founding member of Howl! Festival and East Village luminary.

Each poet will do a short reading of their original work, followed by a group reading of “Howl.” Poets scheduled to appear include: Betsy Andrews, Jennifer Blowdryer, Ana Bozicevic, Guillermo Castro, Steve Dalachinsky, Thomas Fucaloro, Greg Fuchs, Daniel Gallant, Alan Gilbert, Amy King, Mariposa, Douglas A. Martin, Angelo Nikolopoulos, Amy Ouzoonian, Meghann Plunkett, Jon Sands, Susan Scutti, Jean Ann Verlee, Michael Warr, Chavisa Woods, Advocate of Wordz, Ra Ara ya. Host and MC Bob Holman.

For further information, please visit www.howlfestival.com

John Giorno

Anne Waldman photo by Greg Fuchs

Ambrose Bye photo by Nathaniel Siegel

Howl! Spotlight -Personal Appearance by Filmmaker Jerry Aronson to Screen and Discuss...

JERRY ARONSON'S 'THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALLEN GINSBERG'

In-person appearance by the filmmaker Jerry Aronson with Q and A and DVD signing.

A New York Exclusive screening.  One night only -  to benefit the HOWL ! H.E.L.P. Fund !

Thursday, Sep 9  8 PM - 9:30 PM

$10.00

Theatre 80 St. Marks, 80 St. Marks Place 212-388-0388

The re-release of Jerry Aronson's biopic, The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg, timed to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of 'Howl,' suits this wonderful documentary and proves Ginsberg central to all radical artistic and political movements of the past 60 years. The feature-length film, segmented by decade, provides ample footage of Ginsberg's life; but extras added into this package, including footage of his memorial and 35 interviews with artists inspired by the visionary poet--from Beck to Lawrence Ferlinghetti--solidify Ginsberg as an American cultural icon. The film unravels Ginsberg's obsession for life and death around his mother's nervous breakdown and his father's affinity for poetry. Interviews with Ginsberg from each decade, both amongst his Beat friends like Burroughs and Huncke, and later with talk show hosts William Buckley and Dick Cavett, show the author's progression from sexual politics in the '40s and '50s to the 'politics of ecstasy' in the '60s and '70s, when he founded the Flower Power movement with Tim Leary, and later, Naropa Univeristy. Ample footage of Ginsberg's stepmother provides a sensitive outsider's opinion on how he blossomed into one of the most spontaneous minds of the century. The film transcends simple Ginsberg descriptions by framing his life with historical happenings to contextualize the author's words and actions. The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg reminds the viewer that there is no better example of an artist devoted to a life of letters, activism, and idealism than the original beatnik.

Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124543

For further information, please visit www.howlfestival.com

Howl! Spotlight - LOW LIFE 4: BEAT GIRL Sunday, September 12th from 5PM-7PM at the Howl! Festival in Tompkins Square Park

On September 12, JACKIE FACTORY producers CHI CHI VALENTI and JOHNNY DYNELL will present their fourth annual LOW LIFE to crown the 2010 HOWL! FESTIVAL. LOW LIFE is the free and fabulous Sunday evening climax to HOWL! - a two hour spectacular inspired by East Village decades past. Each year's theme is served up in a lavishly costumed production starring dozens of downtown's finest. This year's LOW LIFE 4: BEAT GIRL pays homage to homegrown fifties beatnik culture and the BOWERY BEATS - the rebel painters, poets and performers drifting east from Greenwich Village. The show also sheds light on the Women of the Beat Generation, often overlooked, and their influence on 50's Burlesque.

The BEAT theme of LOW LIFE 4 will be interpreted by multiple dance companies, in vocal and musical performances, burlesque and drag renderings and of course - spoken word! The bill includes international drag icons JOEY ARIAS and SHERRY VINE, Burlesque Queen DIRTY MARTINI and Boylesque King TIGGER, butoh company VANGELINE THEATER, spoken word icons PAUL SKIFF and BOBBY MILLER, sensationalist AMBER RAY, chanteuse HEATHER LITTEER and the Low Life debuts of BROWN GIRLS BURLESQUE and the RACHEL KLEIN THEATER. As in years past, LOW LIFE features two MCs - recording artist PAUL ALEXANDER (of THE ONES and JACKIE 60) with EMPRESS CHI CHI VALENTI, the show's co-producer.

Press Release -Howl! Festival 2010 Schedule

Howl! Festival Celebrates its Seventh Anniversary

with a Vibrant Schedule of Events

Tompkins Square Park -NYC’s East Village

September 10th, 11th and 12^th

The 7th Annual Howl! Festival, the East Village Festival of the Arts,  will begin Friday night, September 10th, 5 to 7 PM, with the festival’s traditional reading of the iconic Allen Ginsberg poem, “Howl.”  Taking place on the South stage, ( Avenue A and 7th Street), the reading will feature an amalgam of the East Village’s finest poets, including John Giorno and Anne Waldman and will be led by poet Bob Holman, proprietor of The Bowery Poetry Club, founding member of Howl! Festival and East Village luminary.

Opening with a program sensitive to the memory of 9/11, Tompkins Square Park will resound with Buddhist gongs, chanting monks, chamber music, yoga practice, poets and musicians, coupled with additional quiet and tranquil activities.

On both Saturday, September 11th and Sunday, September 12th, The Lower East Side Girls Club will present The East Village Earth Circus, including live performances, art and science projects, pony rides (!), and numerous other interactive activities for children.

For adults, both Saturday and Sunday will be filled with surprises, as well as HOWL’s long-established events such as the fun-filled, innovative and entertaining Hip Hop Howl, House of Howl and Low Life.

The full park schedule is below.  For further information, please visit www.howlfestival.com^.

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10th

SOUTH STAGE:   Avenue A at 7th Street

5:00 – 7:00p   Annual reading of the Allen Ginsberg poem, “Howl,” to commemorate the opening of the Howl! Festival, featuring: Anne Waldman w/Ambrose Bye, John Giorno, Betsy Andrews,  Jennifer Blowdryer, Ana Bozicevic, Guillermo Castro, Steve Dalachinsky, Thomas Fucaluro, Greg Fuchs, Daniel Gallant, Alan Gilbert, Amy King, Mariposa, Douglas A. Martin, Angelo Nikolopoulos, Amy Ouzunian, Meghann Plunkett, Jon Sands, Susan Scotti, Jean Ann Verlee, Michael Warr, Chavisa Woods, Advocate of Wordz, Ra Ara ya. Host and MC Bob Holman.

Suffer (Art Gallery

616 East 9^th Street between Avenues B and C

8:00 – 9:00p         Theresa Byrnes’  -“The Measure of Man” – A Howl! Festival Special Event: Perfomance Art Through A Storefront Window in One Hour. Byrnes challenges the assertion of the centrality of the human soul in the order of creation, as dictated by Leonardo DaVinci ‘s’ The Vitruvian Man’.

SATURDAY 9/11

Between Avenues A and B  in front of the Park Office

Finding Sukah Yoga

11:00a - throughout the day: Finding Sukah Yoga, the East Village’s newest Yoga center, will welcome both adults and children.  Bring your yoga mat or borrow one. 

SOUTH STAGE   Avenue A at 7^th Street           

1:00 - 1:30p          Open Music Ensemble - Awakening the senses, with sounds both pure and                     contemplative, this pioneering cooperative of acoustic improv musicians guides the heart and spirit in meditation, relaxation and healing.

1:40 - 2:00p          Poetry –Bill Kushner + Poet TBA 

2:10 - 2:40p         Vangeline Theater - performing " Mosaic", a resonant butoh dance piece to commemorate 9/11. 

         

2:45 - 3:00p         Poetry –Eileen Myles 

       

3:10 - 3:40p         Tyler Burba’s “Visit,” Tyler, as a solo artist, will be paying tribute to Allen Ginsberg’s lesser-known musical side, performing Allen Ginsberg songs. 

         

3:45 – 4:15p         Poetry –Emmanuel Xavier + 2 Poets TBA

4:25 - 4:55p         Timbila - Ecstatic African rock with an East Village edge, Timbila soars with stinging guitar riffs and sassy celestial vocals.

           

5:05 - 5:35p         Chris Rael – Sitar afficionado, this dynamic composer turns Indian and Western music into  a mix of highly refined pop. 

          

5:45 - 6:15p         Vangeline Theater - performing " Mosaic", a resonant butoh dance piece to commemorate 9/11. 

          

6:30- 7:00p         Arthur’s Landing - Arthur’s Landing is a group of musicians, all of whom worked at various times in various contexts with the late Arthur Russell, a cellist and composer from Iowa who lived on the Lower East Side for most of the later part of his too-short life. Russell brought together the worlds of dance, pop, and folk with that of downtown’s “new music,” and fused Western and Eastern musical traditions, driven by his engagement with Buddhist thought and practice. He collaborated often with Allen Ginsberg and Phillip Glass was also an early mentor. Arthur’s Landing (songs by Arthur Russell) features Mustafa Ahmed (percussion) ,Joyce Bowden (voice) Ernie Brooks (voice, bass),Steven Hall (voice, guitar), ), Bill Ruyle(drums, hammered dulcimer), John Scherman (lead guitar), Peter Zummo and special guest Nomi Ruiz

SUNDAY, Sept . 12

Between Avenues A and B  in front of the Park Office

11:00a and throughout the day:

 Finding Sukah Yoga, the East Village’s newest Yoga center, will welcome both adults and children.  Bring your yoga mat or borrow one. 

                                               

SOUTH STAGE:  Avenue A at 7^th Street           

                       

Noon - 12:30p            Rosie's Broadway Kids, performing a cabaret- style show. RBKids’ most senior students will take the stage singing Broadway classics. 

      

12:35  - 12:55p            Lower East Side Boys Choir -straight off the stage from their triumphant performance at Lincoln Center, the choir from The Boys Club of New York on Avenue A and 10^th Street bring their beautiful harmonies to their first appearance at the Howl! Festival.

      

1:00  -  2:15p            Hip Hop Howl – A massive live mixtape showcase featuring the hottest up and coming artists in the country.

3:00  -  4:30p            House of Howl - A flurry of color, costume and cavortin' Riki Colon's House of Howl is a vivacious variety show featuring voguers, vocalists, dancers and trendy fashion designers.    “In Search Of a Dream,” marries mixed media performance -dance, song, fashion and art - in a dizzying display of high-energy house pop and contemporary couture. Features performances by House of Ninja dancers Javier, Edwin and Star Ninja and dancer Akiko Tokuoka.  Fashions by the hot NYC Hemma Collection with live musical performance by Yoshi, music written and composed by Ev Price.

5:00  - 7:00p            Low Life 4: BEAT GIRL   Chi Chi Valenti, Johnny Dynell and a cast of colorful downtown characters pay homage to homegrown fifties beatnik culture and the BOWERY BEATS – the rebel painters, poets and performers drifting east from Greenwich Village.  The show also sheds light on the Women of the Beat Generation, often overlooked, and their influence on 50s burlesque. The bill includes international drag icons JOEY ARIAS and SHERRY VINE, Burlesque Queen DIRTY MARTINI and Boylesque King TIGGER, butoh company VANGELINE THEATER, spoken word icons PAUL SKIFF and BOBBY MILLER, sensationalist AMBER RAY, chanteuse HEATHER LITTEER and the Low Life debuts of BROWN GIRLS BURLESQUE and the RACHEL KLEIN THEATER. As in years past, LOW LIFE features two MCs - recording artist PAUL ALEXANDER (of THE ONES and JACKIE 60) with EMPRESS CHI CHI VALENTI, the show's co-producer.

(Children’s) NORTH STAGE  -  Avenue A at 10^th Street

HOWL! Festival presents The Lower Eastside Girls Club’s

East Village Earth Circus

SATURDAY, 9/11

12:30PM- Middle Jamboree

1 PM  Brady Rymer

2 PM- Rosie’s Broadway Kids

3 PM  Girls Club Flamenco Dancers

3:15 PM Rod Rogers Youth Dance Company

4 PM Taikoza Japanese Drummers

5 PM Youth Poets

6 PM Free Art Society: The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party

Saturday Only:

Main Events:

Al Gori’s Solar Powered Merry-go-Round

The Bio-Bus (filled with microscopes and cool science stuff)

The Federation of Black Cowboys- Pony Rides (1-3 PM)

In the Yoga Tent:  demonstration classes for all ages taught by Trish from Bikram Yoga and Elena from Vira Yoga (noon – 3pm)

Saturday and Sunday

On the Midway

Fortune Telling Monkey

Robot Pony

Hula Hoop lessons

Face Painting (LES Girls Club)

Photo Booth

Museum of LES Icons (paper mache heads)

Girlzilla (the 14 foot tall girl robot)

Popcorn and Cotton Candy

Art Programs and Activities for Kids

!Splash! mural painting on canvas and mask making by AAI

Recycled Paper Flower Workshops (LES Girls Club)/ Cindy Ruskin Arts

Double Dutch Demonstrations/Nicolina’s Hearts of the World Mural Project

Environmental / Community Organizations with info booths:

•The EVCC- East Village Community Coalition- Biking and Alternative             Transportation.

•CHEJ (Center for Environmental Justice) Anti PVC Campaign (Sunday only)

350.org - Organizing around climate change issues and for 10/10/10 day of action

•Girls Gone Green (LESGC) - air quality and household cleaning products education

•FAB - 4^th Arts Block- promotion and outreach, community theaters

•Middle Collegiate Church (Sat. only)

•POP - Power of Peace Youth Booth

•Peoples Garden NYC - organizing for community gardens

•Voto Latino - voter registration materials

•East Village X - new community website

(Children’s) NORTH STAGE   Avenue A at 10^th Street

SUNDAY Sept 12

noon:             Opening Parade through park with the Youth Arts Marching Band.

12:30p              The Youth Arts Marching Band

1:00p                         Jerry Joy Music and the Louie Band

2:00p                         Ben Rudnick and Friends Band

3:00p                         Art- Farm / Circus for a Fragile Planet

4:30p                         Solar Punch- a solar powered band

Center Ring:

House of Yes- Direct from Brooklyn and the Mermaid Parade: performing Aerial Acts

On the Midway: Roaming performers…

Circus Amok with jugglers, unicyclists, stilt walkers, clowns and more

Annie Hickman’s The Lizard Lady costume act

Free Arts Society- wild and wacky costumes and musicians