The Collected Songs of Cactus Cooler is an (in-progress) exhibition of the Collected Songs of Cactus Cooler, the ghost of a youth, who roamed the northeastern states during the 1990s. All songs were improvised and recorded between 1996 and 1998, in Connecticut, Maine and New York. Cactus Cooler was the nom de guerre of artist and writer [and TSky Press author] Brandon Shimoda, and owed a life debt to close friends and fellow artists Eskimo Ron, Joey Blister (a.k.a. Joey Bluesplosion) and Seatbelt. You can also watch a film of Cactus Cooler's "Wrong Things" by TSky contributor Zachary Schomburg.
Evening will come, edited by TSky Press author Joshua Marie Wilkinson, is already in its third issue, which is new as of today, 1 March 2011, and features "This wor(l)d as an illusion" from Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, "Seven journal/notebook entries" from Lisa Fishman, and an interview with Hoa Nguyen. January and February issues include TSky editor Laynie Browne, C.D. Wright, Nathanaël, and Tyrone Williams.
The ever-stunning, if poor, Poor Claudia has published a dual chapbook, Digital Macrame / On Happier Lawns, from Paige Taggert and TSky peep Justin Marks. Hand-sewn do-si-do style, with hand-cut linen covers, Digital Macrame / On Happier Lawns comes in a numbered edition of one hundred and seventy five copies. Buy one, or be as bold as we are, and just subscribe to everything Poor Claudia makes for a year, for only $30. Do it. Do it for poor, Poor Claudia. Do it because they make freakin gorgeous books that don't even require electricity. You'll like them even more by candlelight.
Edited by TSky peeps Adam Clay and Matthew Henriksen, Typo #15 is live and not only features new work from TSky Press author G.C. Waldrep, Paige Ackerson-Kieley, Alex Lemon, Catherine Wagner--but also offers said work as four stunning broadsides made by artist Jeffrey Winkelmann Evergreen. We just bought two of them. Can you guess whose? We'll never tell.
Since 2007, Joshua Marie Wilkinson has been recording Rabbit Light Movies: videos of poets reading their own work. He began by recording himself and Julie Doxsee on the eve of AWP in Atlanta, in an effort to promote their work in Octopus 8. "It didn't become an internet journal until the fourth or fifth episode," Wilkinson notes, "when the wastefulness and costs caught up with me."
When asked about the process of gathering material, Wilkinson said "The process is varied: sometimes I contact writers and ask them to read something; sometimes they send me audio, and I find footage to suit it--without trying to illustrate the work or distract from it; sometimes it's a way to meet new writers; and sometimes it's a way to work with my friends." Forrest Gander (linked below) submitted the audio for his video, which includes music and his voice. Wilkinson added the film.
When asked about whether or not he had ever sent anyone a camera, Wilkinson responded he hasn't, "but I wouldn't be opposed to it."
"Recently folks have sent--at my request--their own videos. And then Joel Craig lets me film at Danny's in Chicago sometimes. And Mathias and Julia Cohen made some for me this last time, too. Each episode something changes. So, it happens in various ways."
Who would have thought February could be so hot? Well, for publication opportunities, anyway. Har har. But it's also a short month, and right now you have precisely half of it left to submit a little bit of work to the next issue of Tarpaulin Sky, and to submit your magnum opus to the 2011 Fence Modern Poets Series. Both reading periods come but once a year. Like Elvis said, "It's now or never."
TSky Peeps in the News
Should reading periods and contests and Valentine's Day and concepts like "acceptance" and "rejection" give you the willies, fear not: TSky's own living patron saint, Rebecca Brown, writes about "failure" in a recent issue of Seattle's (only) newspaper The Stranger, invoking those writers forever synonymous with failure, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, as well as sketching their obvious parallels with The Flaming Lips and Korean ceramic artist Young Sook Park. Writes Rebecca:
If you haven't already checked out Rebecca's latest, American Romances, please do.
If you were sad to see Joyelle McSweeney go, you can take comfort that not only is The Constant Critic back in action, but that's it's being helmed by Karla Kelsey--who, it so happens, is also a new Poetry Editor at Tarpaulin Sky.
More good news: reviewers Jordan Davis and Ray McDaniel remain on staff, and are now joined by Christina Mengert and Vanessa Place. Does it get any better than that?
as well as by Jason Pettus, here, and Derek White, here.
TSky Editor Sandy Florian and TSky Press author Joshua Marie Wilkinson both have new books coming out--which may not shock you, given that, like the Beastie Boys' Paul Revere, they are in demand--but what you may not know is this: their books mark the first single-author titles from the publishers of the online & print magnificence that is Sidebrow, and is now also Sidebrow Books.
Also: the books are full-color. Also: Florian's On Wonderland & Waste features collages by Alexis Anne Mackenzie, and Wilkinson's Selenography features polaroids by Califone's Tim Rutili.
Yeah. That's we're talking about. But that's also why we'll shut up now and just embed some previews, for your perusing pleasure:
Both books are available now for preorder at a special discounted rate of $30 for the pair (25% off the cover price), and are also available separately for $18 (10% off).
Factory School announces the publication of Heretical Texts, Volume 5: TOWN, by Kate Schapira; Green-Wood, by Allison Cobb; Underground National, by Sueyeun Juliette Lee; House Envy of All the World, by Simone White; and The City Real & Imagined, by CAConrad & Frank Sherlock.
And speaking of big announcements (& Valentines)
Kevin Sampsell is not just fab author and publisher. Not just a champion of small presses all around. Not just the guy who--bless him--buys our books for Powell's. Though he may bill himself as a "common pornographer," he is, in fact, a big ol' Romantic, an absolute sap:
Edited by the dynamic duo of Zachary Schomburg & Mathias Svalina, the tenth issue of Octopus Magazine is online. And it's bloody huge. TSky Press authors Sandy Florian, GC Waldrep, and Joshua Marie Wilkinson (interviewing Dorothea Lasky) represent, as do TSky Journal contributors Claire Becker, Hillary Gravendyk, Steve Langan, Ada Limon, Laura Sims, and Bethany Wright. This list hardly scratches the surface, however; you'll find about 70 other folks in there as well. No kidding.
