I stumbled across this video of Dave Berman (frontman for the band The Silver Jews and fomer C’ville resident) reading from his notebook while paying a visit to Juan’s Basement in Brooklyn, NY.  This one is called “Top Ten Redneck Moments” and orginally aired on Pitchfork.tv.  This reading served as the afternoon’s introduction and was followed by a number of live performances of material from the Silver Jews’ latest album Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea.  The album was released on June 17 by Drag City Records. 

If you’re hoping to see the Silver Jews perform live this summer, you’re going to have to hit the road for the band’s scheduled show on September 10 at the Black Cat in Washington, D.C.  Also be on the “lookout” for the DVD release of the documentary Silver Jew which follows the band on their first-ever world tour back in 2006.  Shot by filmmaker Michael Tully, the DVD hits stores on September 23. 

Enjoy the video reading.  It’s Berman at his most original and offbeat best.

[photo by Bobbi Fabian]

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Popularity: 42% [?]

This just happened to me on my way home from work. 10 minutes ago.

I was reading a play by this German romanticist playwright and listened to Albert Ayler on my IPod, in short being my pretentious self, as this toothless construction worker starts talking to me. He was sweating beer, or at least I smelled something that I felt had to be beer, and looked pretty shaken by heat, work and what must have been a tough life.

I thought he had asked me if the trolley had come by yet. So I took out my earphones and politely asked him to repeat his question. In fact he had wondered if I was reading poetry. Now, I get that a lot. People ask me what I read, I tell them its something German and then they tell me all about their feelings about Germany, their ancestors, their food preference and how Germany makes good beer but plays lousy soccer these days (in fact they did today…bummer). So my initial reaction was a sigh and I answered that I was not reading poetry but a play by Schiller. To my surprise he said he didn’t like Schiller much but he was a fan of Brecht and Rilke. I cannot imagine there are many construction workers in Charlottesville that even know that these guys are poets, let alone know how to pronounce their names. I was impressed, but still didn’t feel like sitting next to him on the bus.

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Popularity: 38% [?]

This is sort of an offshoot from our cvilleMUSE Mix Tape series (which if you haven’t been following along, has been a real blast!  Check em out!).  Byard, one of our faithful MUSE readers, suggested this little idea in the midst of our last Mix Tape.  So we’re going to give it a shot.

Instead of creating a mix of songs, let’s see if we can create a mix of poems.  The rules are still the same.  I’ll start with a YouTube posting to kick things off and then you guys chime in with your own poems.  We’ll post on a first come, first serve basis.  Again please try and include a video URL with your suggested poem.  We’ll take the first 10 poems submitted.  I don’t know if this is going to work or not, but here goes… »Read More

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Up until a few weeks ago I had never heard of Hypocrite Press.  But as someone much wiser than I once said:  “It’s always better late, than never”.  As it turns out the small, independent press has been around in Charlottesville for well over fifteen years.  Founded in 1991, Hypocrite Press states as its mission statement:

…to promote awareness of, and a healthy critical stance toward, the underground subculture of downtown Charlottesville by printing and distributing the works of young local authors who choose to write about their lives in Charlottesville.

To date, Hypocrite Press lists eleven books currently available in print through Lulu, the online retailer and print on demand self-publishing website.  Many of Hypocrite’s early works including The Noble Salvage:  A Song of the South, Laughing Friends Deride, and Fandango depict the Boho-scene of Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall in the early to mid 1990’s and serve as important historical and cultural snapshots into the lives of Charlottesville’s twenty-somethings before the “boom” of the past decade. »Read More

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