CHORUS AT HOTEL CAFE

CHORUS, the “literary mix tape,”

I have edited with Saul Williams and Aja Monet was released Sept. 4th! The book is now available onAmazon and at Barnes & Noble on-line and in stores.

Saul has been touring and came to Los Angeles Sept. 22nd for a one-night engagement at the Hotel Cafe. Unlike any spoken word tour (or spoken word artist) I’ve seen, Saul shared the stage with not only myself and contributors Beau Sia (pictured at right with myself and Saul) and Eden Jeffries who were in the house, but with any poet who wanted to read.

This is the point of CHORUS— many poets, one voice. Saul also read new work and took questions. It was an amazing night for all those who were lucky enough to attend. The book and the tour have been a major success already and I am so honored to be a part of it.

Click HERE for a quick video of the night in case you missed it.

Only two more appearances on the tour (New Orleans and Atlanta) for info on those shows click HERE.

So I come to Prague and I’m here for about a week, writing 5 hours a DAY for the first time in my life and making HUGE progress when I get an invitation to see a friend in a play. At Divadlo Na Pradle. In Prague. Just across the river from my new apartment.

I am in Prague, CZ until September finishing my memoir. I have come here because I’m so distracted by Los Angeles. If Los Angeles were a man, he would be a very bad boy, but spiritually aware, and you know, working  on it. Essentially just my type. Hard to work with all that energy flying around. I decide that a little Shakespeare might inspire me so I walk across the bridge to the theatre and the play is Venus and Adonis. We have just, the entire planet, endured the first stages of Venus in retrograde, which will last through September so I figure it’s appropriate. It’s fittin’ as Mama would say. And there is my friend, my Act Now client, in all her glory wearing black stockings and a corset and whipping a red ribbon around and that’s not at all distracting.

I decide to just go with it, because that is what I am all about right now. That is what Venus is about. That is what art is about. And my friend, a fellow actress and “Angelina” does inspire me with her rapture. She is so excited to be in Prague, to be in the Fringe Festival, to be here with her castmates and to be a young artist tasting success. So I made this little video to share. Because I thought it might inspire others as well. So here it is (below). Enjoy. And then back to work!!!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD VIDEO: Myself and Misha Bouvion “hamming it up” in Prague!

Over the last 12 months I’ve been working withSaul Williams on an anthology of both well-known spoken word poets and some young and previously unpublished writers as well. The collection we have assembled, CHORUS will be available Sept. 4th 2012 from MTV books. As Saul has said, “My goal is to create an important book that connects varied voices into a cohesive work of art that stands out as a generational testament of our times.”I’m honored and grateful to be a part of this project and to have had the chance to collaborate with Saul and our assistant editor Aja Monet Bacquie. 

You may remember Saul from the Cannes hit SLAM, or may have seen him on “Girlfriends,” or in the films K-PAX or LACKAWANNA BLUES. Saul and I have a similar point of view as actors who write, or writers who act. For me the process is equally satisfying in each craft. I am a vessel in either case, for the creativity that comes through my voice, my body, and my pen. And in CHORUS, having had the opportunity to help usher in a new generation of poets, I have found new joy in the arduous role of editor.

Saul’s previous books, “said the shotgun to the head” and “The Dead Emcee Scrolls” have burned his name into the annals of spoken word literature. A true renaissance man, Saul has put out two albums and has performed with with progressive hip-hop acts like KRS-One and The Roots and punk rockers Rage Against The Machine. He brought his own band all the way from Paris to the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles recently for a unique blowout show.  If you missed this one, be sure to catch him next time around, or, if you can’t wait, check out some clips at his website! 

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Goodbye (for now)

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