Wondermachine

Millay Project

Thought I'd share the results of the Millay Project, a local poetic photo project that I helped put together the last few weeks.

The portraits turned out rather great.

More at the VRZHU blog here.

Whaddaya think?

Song Share: You Deserve My Friend

Hey there.  Long time no post.  First of all, I wanted to thank everyone for the very kind messages about my first song-share.   It was gratifying to say the very least.  Yesterday I got a call from my friend Aubie.  He was calling to tell me he'd just listened to "Perfect Song" and while I won't say everything he said about it, let's just say it was extremely kind and made my day yesterday.  Anyway, it felt great to put the song out there and share it with folks near and far.  That song, if you're just now joining us, is here.

I was talking with my old friend Denise (who now has a BLOG even!!).  We were in grad school together and she was among the folks who were at those coffeehouse gigs of mine.  My conversation with her and the experience of putting a song together brought back a lot of memories and made me pull out and (literally) dust off my old song book.  I figured I'd record one of these songs from the past.  First up for your (hopefully) listening pleasure is a song called "You Deserve My Friend."  The reason I decided to start with this song was because the song I wrote last week for Pete has been a pleasurable ear worm of late.  I keep hearing the tune.  I think it might have something to do with it being Spring and everything being in full bloom and feeling really in love with Pete.  A combination of the song and the season and just life in general at the moment.  I could  concentrate on the plenty of stuff that has me worried or upset (the elections, climate, poetry concerns) but then there are these moments of unadulterated swoon.  Don't we all sort of live for the swoon? 

ANYWAY...."You Deserve My Friend" was written over ten years ago now and it's one of the simple songs I'm proud of.  It also has an ear-wormy goodness to it.  I'm not exactly sure who I wrote it for.  There were a lot of friends that I was thinking about when I wrote it.  As I listen to it now years later I do hear echoes of Carole King's "You Need A Friend" but there's a line in the second verse that still sort of makes me well up.  I think I remember that I wrote it for a dear friend who was in a horrible relationship and I was wanting him to snap out of it and know that he deserved better.  But then there are elements of it that make me think of another friend who was trying to find her own voice.  Anyway, the song is its own thing now.  I guess all I can say about it is that it's a song for a friend who needs encouragement.  It's my trying to put into words and music what I want to tell a friend when they're going through really difficult times and it leaves me speechless.  Here it is for your whatever:

"You Deserve My Friend".mp3 by Dan Vera

Song Share: Perfect Song

So, not many folks know that I used to write and play music once upon a time.  Whoa.  More than ten years ago now.  It was back when I was in grad school and I played in coffee houses in Denver.  I wasn't very good at it.  Actually my singing was fine, but my guitar playing was really bad.  I started writing my own music and performed with a friend for a short time under the name of...... umm.. on second thought, I won't share that name.  Too embarrassing and precious in hindsight.  Anyway, my friend decided to go back to medical school and I decided to continue doing it.  I had about two or three gigs a month and I daresay those first three months solo were GAROOOLING for my very patient and supportive friends who came to support me as I went about the arduous task of filling up a repetoire of songs that could fill two sets.  The worst part I'm sure was the guitar work -- which as I mentioned was not my forte. 

Well, I got better and did gigs in Colorado and in New Mexico and it was fun for what it was.  I really loved the process of writing music.  Of actually coming up with an idea and having it come together.   I wrote virtually no poetry during this period.  It was almost as if when one valve was open the other one closed up.  Then I moved from Denver and I pretty much put the guitar and mic and mixing board away and never looked back.  Sure, I'd occasionally pull out my music and noodle through some of my favorites, but didn't write music much anymore.

So, this morning, I'm outside hanging up a new finch feeder in the garden (hope springs eternal...and it is Spring after all) when this little verse pops in my head.  It's a song for Peter.  The first line falls in place and then the second and the third.  It's a silly little love song for Pete and I decided to record it on to his answering machine.  Once done I wanted to play it for folks so I decided to make a proper recording and upload it.  My voice is kind of low at the beginning, but it progresses a pace (with some bad guitar flubs in the second verse).  The nicest part of the track is the birdsong in the background.  They're just going crazy.  My friend Michael said it was somewhere between John Gorka and .... what was the other thing he compared it to?  Anyway, here's a song to listen to.  If the muses hit me again I'll comply.

May the birdsong fill your weekend!

"Perfect Song".mp3 by Dan Vera

Waterballoon Slo-Mo

I saw these posted over on Sullivan's blog.  Just amazing stop-action photography.  Beautiful visuals in both.  I especially loved the sack of water suspended in mid air, just mesmerizing:

And then this one...

What else do we miss with speed?  Even the non-explosion reveals stunning wonders:

And announcing a special widget from Salon:

Amistad & Goldrush

I'm happy to announce that another poem of mine has been published.  My oddball soothsaying poem "The Goldrush of Comparisons" was accepted for the special "Ars Poetica" issue of Howard University's literary journal The Amistad.  I was delighted to be included in this issue along with such literary luminaries as Kim Roberts and Patricia Smith (who are both interviewed in this issue).

"Goldrush" is one of my futuristic what-if poems that I've been known to write from time to time.  I certainly enjoy reading it in  public and it's always nice to see a poem you enjoy in print.  You can read it online on the Howard University website.  Just click on the "Ars Poetica Issue."  Many thanks to the editors and to Abdul Ali, the editor who's marshalled the Amistad these many years.  He's graduating from Howard and I look forward to seeing where he goes from here.  He's certainly made an impact in the community through his reviving of this venerable publication.