Happy Birthday, Colorado T. Sky

 

Photography by Bill Perrault

Happy Birthday, Felipe Victor Martinez

I knew you when.

Thirty Days of Stone Soup Stuff

 

A photo of the late Walter Howard (with Jack Powers watching) from my early days hosting at Stone Soup. Taken by Bill Perrault sometime in (I think) 2007. Stone Soup's fiftieth anniversary is poorer for not having him on the open mic.

Thirty Days of Stone Soup Stuff

 

I owe a debt to Bill Perrault for documenting Stone Soup Poetry those first couple of years I didn't own a digital camera (or steal my Mom's). Otherwise I would have no documentation of Jade Sylvan's first ever feature at Stone Soup Poetry.

Jade's first poetry collection, The Crossing, had just come out. If you think Jade took time to become a big deal in the poetry scene, you'd be wrong. The audience in attendance that night was the largest I've ever seen. So crowded that someone in the audience fainted shortly after Jade opened up with an acoustic cover of Bob Dylan's "Tangled Up in Blue."

Thirty Days of Stone Soup Stuff

Looks like I'll have to post twice today to keep up. 

Another Bill Perrault photo of the late Charles Shivley, a gay rights activist who read at Stone Soup a couple of times (with the help of Jpeole im Dunn, standing to the right of Jack Powers watching on). 

Shivley's Alzheimer’s illness was in effect during this time, so I never got to really speak with him, though he could still read a poem after all those years in between all the stories he still kept in his head. 

 I hope I can uncover some video of Shivley reading. It would be great to share after all this time. 

Happy Anniversary, Jack Powers

To help mark Stone Soup Poetry's fiftieth year, here is an unearthed poem by Jack Powers, with photography by one-time Stone Soup videographer, Bill Perrault. Thanks to James Van Looy for unearthing this poem, and thank to you you for reading Oddball Magazine today.

Happy Anniversary, Stone Soup Poetry! Thank You Jack Powers!

 

Photo of Jack Powers by Bill Perrault

 

I hope you're all on the Zoom pen mic later today at 3:00 PM.

Happy Belated Birthday Daniel Cantor, aka Raffi Woolf

Photo by Bill Perrault

Happy Birthday Felipe Victor Martinez

Photo by Bill Perrault.

Stone Soup Poetry Presents Da Butcha 'shoppe

Filmed by Bill Perrault on May 1, 2011. DA Boucher and Ethan Mackler performed for Stone Soup Poetry's fortieth anniversary at the International Community Church. It also served as a wake for Stone Soup's founder Jack Powers, who passed away on October 14, 2010.

Stone Soup Poetry Presents Lee Litif

Filmed by Bill Perrault on May 1, 2011. Lee Litif performed for Stone Soup Poetry's fortieth anniversary at the International Community Church. It also served as a wake for Stone Soup's founder Jack Powers, who passed away on October 14, 2010.

Happy Birthday Janaka Stucky

Here's a photo from Janaka's first Stone Soup Poetry feature on November 21, 2005, with Jack Powers in the background.

Photo by Bill Perrault.

Happy Birthday Bill Perrault

Happy Forty-Eighth Anniversary Stone Soup Poetry

Photo by Bill Perrault

Remembering Lynne Sticklor (1970-2018)

Lynne and Ian Thal from Lynne's feature on January 11, 2011.

 

I first met Lynne during a barbecue/fundraising party for the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at their second-to-last location in Cambridge on Prospect Street. Lynne was one of the few present in the afternoon, so we talked for a good amount of the time. We exchanged numbers, and we later arranged a time to go to a Poetribe reading in Brockton.

Happy Birthday Jack Powers

Photo by  Bill Perrault.

Happy Birthday Bill Perrault

Stone Soup's not the same. 

RIP Walter Howard

Walter at the Out of The Blue's prior location at 106 Prospect Street, Cambridge. 

Many of us have received news from Joan Kimball that Walter Howard passed away on Sunday at eighty six years old. he had been placed in a rehab-nursing home since a fall in his apartment some time ago, suffering from a number of maladies including vertigo. It was back in 2016 that Joan sought out previously published poems from Walter (apparently his personal papers were discarded once he was removed from his apartment). These poems have finally been placed a book coming out soon from Wilderness House.

Walter was a presence in my life since I started hosting Stone Soup over a decade ago. Even in my early uncomfortable days if the open mic was sparse or filled with people going into business for themselves and making the audience uncomfortable, I could always count on Walter to bring sanity and class back to the proceedings, sprinkled with his own brand of humor. His take on whatever was happening always helped put me right.

I appreciated both his presence and his smooth and wryly stable tone whether it was at Stone Soup, in Plymouth goofing around before and after the Poetry Showcase, or at the National Poetry Month festival at the Copley Library (where he once met and most likely baffled both my parents). I called him the open micer's open micer for a reason, and no one will hold that title ever again.

One of the nicest pictures I ever grabbed of Walter at the old OOTB.

I regret not making it to see him in the last few months. I wanted to feature Walter's book soon and had perhaps unrealistic hopes that he could have been at Stone Soup one more time this year. His book will now have to be featured posthumously with someone else brave enough to try and substitute for Howard's soft yet booming voice.  I thank Joan Kimball for at least allowing that possibility to happen. If it wasn't for her hard work, Walter's work may have been lost to us over time.

Walter with Bill Perrault and Felipe Victor Martinez from 2010.

I am thankful I was able to share as much video of his work as I did these past few years. I urge you to find them all on YouTube, but the one I'll share today is of a moment that's grown increasingly dear to me over time. It's a 2012 video of the time I foolishly held Stone Soup the day after Christmas. Walter, dedicated to a fault coming every week from Natick with his suspect car, was the only attendee. I recorded his entire reading on the mic.

People I Want to See Tonight at Stone Soup

Lee Litif

 

Photo by Bill Perrault

On second thought, I can wait one more week.

 Tom Tipton

Tom's a busy man in and out of the Out of The Blue, but he has a lot to do with Stone Soup Poetry's continued existance. wasn't in the background much during last week's reading. He likes when a slam is going on. Maybe he'll stick around tonight.

Happy Birthday, Bill Perrault

It's not the same without you.