Video from mind Gravy Reading thanks to a friend

    My hat's off to Leslie C. Gilroy for video from two of the poems from "Places and Times" I read last Wednesday at Mind Gravy, at the Drip in Columbia, South Carolina! She was taping the music, and also performed as a vocalist with someone.

     The picture is what inspired the second poem, "Espanola Valley Morning".

     I really appreciate her not only doing this, but sharing it with me, so I can put this out to the world.  Thanks, Leslie!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arthur-Turfa-Poems-of-Times-and-Places-Reflected/293732337470677

What a Connection! On Steve Young and Proto- Country Rock

     Sometimes I am simply amazed at how various strands of an artistic movement, a plot of a novel, an historical era, or my own life weave together in a way that no one could have predicted. Artistically at least, I have enjoyed the results.

     This week I listened to a double CD "Dylan, Cash and the Nashville Cats- A New Music City" , which is an excellent compilation of artists and music. Steve Young's version of "Seven Bridges Road" caught my attention immediately.
 
     Originally I had heard the Eagles' cover, which is faster-paced. Young's rendition of his song is superb, especially the way he stretches out certain words. I began to find out more information about Young. Songwriters are to music that character actors are to acting. They do not usually occupy center stage, but many of them are simply brilliant. A singer-songwriter like Young might be a notch higher, but people usually go for the more commercially-successful cover, just as they watch a movie for the star, not the supporting cast.

    Young was a pioneer of country rock, being a member of the extremely short-lived psychedelic country band "Stone Country", who released only one album. Afterwards, Young had a solo career and helped establish Outlaw Country, writing "Lonesome, On'ry, and Mean:, immortalized by Waylon Jennings. I actually remember seeing the 1969 "Rock Salt and Nails" album that contained "Seven Bridges Road", but passed it by for something else. Philadelphia FM stations were not playing it, as I recall, and without satellite radio. there was not much exposure. A few years later I became aware of Southern Rock as personified by the Allmans and Marshall Tucker, but much later saw, or heard, the connections.

    Maybe it has something to do with living in the South , first for three years in Virginia, and now for ten years and counting in South Carolina.

Here is a song from the 1968 album (that's when the Byrds released "Sweetheart of the Rodeo"):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaxR_mTCU4g

And "Seven Bridges Road":


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpV83ovYAyY

Fantastic Reading at Mind Gravy, Columbia South Carolina

     Taken by fellow poet and friend John Starino at last night's Mind Gravy reading. The organizer of this poetry and music event is another fellow poet and friend, Al Black. the event is on Wednesday's 8-10 PM at the Drip, 721 Saluda Street in the Five Points section of Columbia, SC. Thanks to all who came! Everyone was very supportive and I look forward to returning in the future.

    What a wonderful evening this was! Everything ran smoothly, as it has for the five years of Mind Gravy's existence. I varied my list slightly from last week in Charleston, and read two new poems in public for the first time. Both were well-received. 

    If you are in this part of the world on a Wednesday night, come down to Mind Gravy. There are plenty of option of places to go before or afterward if you want. This is where lots of University of South Carolina students relax, and also hip folks who are older. 

Tell the Truth, Tell it Slant

     The title for this series of workshops comes from Emily Dickinson's poem. The Richland County Public Library allows those who sign up to sit with Ed Madden, Poet Laureate of Columbia, SC, for up to four week (to include and Open Mike) and learn together.

     Ed is also a professor of Creative Writing at the University of South Carolina's excellent English Department. He and i have been trying to get in touch with one another, and finally did. I also connected with two other poets there and expect great things from the friendship and artistic sharing.

     No matter where one is as a writer, he or she can always benefit from these associations and sessions. I am glad to be part of it!

http://www.richlandlibrary.com/event/tell-truth-tell-it-slant

Repeat of a Summer Poem!

   
     Now that the temperatures have dropped back to the seasonal 90-degree range ( 30 for the Celsius world ), we can enjoy Summer in the Midlands.

     Today I repost something from Places and Times, that was inspired by a trip my wife and I took to a local historical site. James Bonham' birthplace has been restored. He was a boyhood friend of another Saluda County (then actually Edgefield County) native, William Travis. Years later they reconnected in Texas. Travis relied on Bonham as one of his couriers at the Alamo. Bonham actually returned with Sam Houston's final message that no assistance was coming. Speculation is that Bonham returned personally to bring the bad news to his friend even if it meant sharing his fate.

    This was a poem I read in Charleston last week, and will most likely read it in Columbia later this week. I will include some another picture from scenic Saluda County, and also links to the historical site.

     The Languor of a Summer Afternoon- Bonham Homestead

The languor of a summer afternoon,

a glimpse into hazy eternity:

sun striking even into shaded roads

extending slowly away from the lake,

ending either at shore or in the woods;

a sense of completion or finality,

depending on your perspective or mood

framed by white clouds and deeply-blue sky.

Time enough to seek a dogtrot homestead

restored to rustic grace along old road,

or meander a spider’s web of lanes

half-hidden behind scenery flashing

by as we accelerate though our lives,

yearning to slow the pace as we hurry.

Arthur Turfa, © 2015

http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/saluda/S10817741001/

http://saludacountyhistoricalsociety.org/alamo-bonham-house.html

Fare thee well!

     I've been listening a lot to SirusXM's Grateful Dead channel lately, and I remembered seeing them on UHF ages ago on Hugh Hefner's "Playboy After Dark". Hef asks Jerry if they can "do a number", and they oblige with two of the most lyrical pieces they ever produced. Jerry in his serape, Hef in tux and pipe, but it was good exposure and where else did you see the Dead on TV in 1969? Was that Barbi Benton with Hef? He tried to promote her as a country singer a few years later.

     Except for the very first album, I bought them through "American Beauty". I was not a Deadhead who hit the pause button on life to follow a tour, and I was not enamored of 45-minute jams in the middle of songs. Their longevity was amazing considering all that they did to themselves over the years. 

     Recently I read an opinion that said their 1980's resurgence served as a counterpoint to the Reagan Years. That may well be so; interesting since the band came out of the time when Reagan was governor of California. 

     It will indeed be an end of an era when the surviving band members bring the curtain down with dignity this weekend. The Stones roll on, even with personnel changes, half of the Who is gone, but there are tours. But it is all about the music, anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx6OAfvlxTs

Columbia, South Carolina reading next week!

https://www.facebook.com/events/713018995492446/

If you are near Columbia, South Carolina, come to the Five Points section and hear me at Mind Gravy, created by my friend Al Black!