Showing posts with label Ian Thal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ian Thal. Show all posts
Sunday, May 17, 2026
Saturday, May 17, 2025
Friday, May 17, 2024
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Monday, May 17, 2021
Sunday, May 17, 2020
Happy Birthday Ian Thal
From the artist's Stone Soup Poetry feature on November 28, 2011 at the Out of The Blue in Cambridge Massachusetts. Arlecchino Am Ravenous is "a tale slapstick blasphemy and auto-canibalism" featuring Arlecchino, who before becoming a star of the commedia dell'arte and the inspiration for Harlequin, was a demonic figure of European folklore, even appearing as one of the "Evil-tails" in Dante's Inferno.
Thursday, August 08, 2019
#TBT
James Van Looy, Ian Thal and Bill Barnum. This comes from James' personal collection. I believe this was taken back in 2004. It's hard to fathom looking at Bill from this time and thinking that this is his "young" face.
Friday, May 17, 2019
Happy Birthday Ian Thal
I promise to find a video of my own by next year. I'll get on it when I get my new laptop.
Saturday, December 15, 2018
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.
Monday, May 21, 2018
Saturday, January 06, 2018
Friday, May 19, 2017
Friday, October 14, 2016
Remembering
Six years ago today, Jack Powers passed away. Reading a lot of what was written on Facebook at that time (thanks to Facebook's "On This Day" thing), particularly this post by Ian Thal, who documented his times with Stone Soup Poetry's founder. Reading the posts (along with the comments by Yuri Hospodar and others I missed at the time) has helped to spark my current project, which involves documenting a lot of Stone Soup related things. I wanted to get this done for Stone Soup's forty-fifth anniversary this past May, but it didn't work out. Hopefully, I'll be able to share it with you starting on May 1, 2017.
Sunday, May 22, 2016
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Monday, October 22, 2012
Ian Thal Lays The Smackdown on The Recent Amanda Palmer/Kickstart Controversy
This is no small thing, as Kickstarter continues and accountability becomes a growing concern. A must read for artists.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
My Work in Sounds of Wind
The anthology Sounds of Wind: New American Lyrics debuted as part of the Drini Poetik International Festival of Poetry in Prizren, Kosovo. Albanian poet Lediana Stillo, who has been attending school in Massachusetts, asked me and other American poets to contribute to this volume, including Ian Thal, Dave Brinks, Maggie Cleveland, John Sibley Williams and several others. I am honored to have of my poems appear here both in English and in Albanian as translated by Lediana. As of now, there is no way to obtain this book, but hopefully that will change soon and I will be able to make announcements.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Saturday, March 15, 2008
The Rich Mackin Non-Protest Article
To mark the birthday of Rich Mackin, I posted this previously unpublished article about Mackin's 1999 non-protest demonstration on my MySpace page (edit: now a page thankfully deleted). I posted it there partly because it's where Rich, a fellow MySpacer, would see it, and partly because I am trying to find ways to make both my Blogger and MySpace pages different from each other. I thought putting the article exclusively there was a step in the right direction.
Then Ian (who has a cameo in the article) asked me directly why I didn't post it on this blog as well.
Well, he got me there.
Here's the article.
Non-Protestors Prove That Nothing Works
Story (and photo) by Chad Parenteau
The best photo opportunity on Sunday, August 22, came when I watched protester—excuse me, non-protester—Alan Ezust, take his sign that said "JUST SAY NOthing" and turn it over to show a blank sign. He found it more appropriates. So did I. So did his fellow non-demonstrators facing the Park Street T station in the Boston Common that afternoon.
This non-protest started around one o'clock at the urging of local 'zine publisher and activist Reverend Richard J. Mackin, who was there leading the way with his small, unassuming sign, "This Is Not A Protest!"
Before and during this non-event, he offered the following written statement on a small flyer: "The week of 8/8/99 the cover story of US News & World Report was '1000 years ago'; Time and Newsweek both featured 'The Blair Witch Project'—No news is good news.
"The First Amendment guarantees our right to freedom of speech–even though we have nothing to say! Forcefully assert your apathy!"
Self-titled a "Consumer Defense Corporate Poet," Mackin actually spends a lot of time writing wry letters to popular business corporations. Most of the frightfully similar replies from various consumer representatives have the feel of what is called a found poem, defined in The Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms as "a piece of writing that was not intended as a poem, but is so declared by its 'finder.'"
So in his own way, Mackin creates a relevant kind of poetry; and with this willful display of apathy, Mackin & co. created a more poignant statement than anyone else in the area of the common that day: The dog wash happening out on the grass; the small gathering around a wooden cross with two people talking about You Know Who; The family passing out cards asking people to pledge "Pure Love". None of them, I think, received the feedback this half-dozen or so did by holding signs that said anything from "Sarcastic People for Apathy," to "A-OK."
And where would a protest--even a non-protest--be without a few (a)political statements.
Ian Thal (fellow artist and activist): "You know, this country was founded to protect freedom of speech and expression and such that so we can have no opinion."
Mackin: "Just because we have freedom of speech doesn't mean we have something to say."
Chris Alighire (pirate radio disc-jockey): "Do not look at us. We are not here for you."
And then there was the chant: "Two, four, six, eight .... Two, four, six, eight ...."
Followed by: "What do we want?"
"Nothing!"
"When do we want it?"
"Whenever!"
Not a perfect delivery, mind you. They seemed to take long breaks between chants. Thal tried to inspire a singing of the Beatles' "Let It Be" with no real success. Another participant seemed to eat Goldfish crackers more than even hold a sign. But, of course, who there was going to criticize apathy protesters for lack of motivation?
Not Andrea Kulish, who kept alternating between holding her "A-OK" sign and photographing the gathering. She did have a disclaimer, though, written on her back: "I am not documenting a protest 'cos everything is O.K.!!"
The onlookers on trolleys and duck tours had the most fun, laughing and goading Mackin and the others to act as they passed by. One driver even communicated to them via his speaker. "Good job. Keep up the hard work."
The passersby on foot, however, were more reserved in comparison, many walking by quietly, though some did have questions and comments.
"I have nothing to say."
"You could be sitting down watching TV."
"It's an experiment, obviously."
"They let you out today, huh?"
An old man walked by shooting up his fist and shouting, "Hooray for our great democracy!" Hard to say if it was sarcastic or not, but it got the group chanting again.
There was more open praise than open condemnation. A woman with a child stopped long enough to say, "I love your cause."
"What cause?" said Thal.
"Your non-cause," the woman shot right back.
One of their best supporters was a hot dog vendor from afar, who fielded questions from kids wondering what Mackin and his friends were protesting. "It's not a protest," he told them, having seen enough in his day-to-day around the Common to be in on the joke.
One onlooker who gave me her name (which I've decided not to print) had the idea that because it was a non-protest, she wouldn't get in trouble if she stole one of their signs. She had O.K.ed it with an official looking man standing nearby (who was only an official for the green line subway who couldn't do anything anyway).
She did run off with a sign, with no one even thinking of running after her (it would have been out of character anyway, I guess). One or two of them, however did point out the humor in the fact that she was walking around the busy streets of Boston with a sign expressing apathy.
Though there were several punch lines throughout the day, the best one came when I overheard that Mackin hadn't even applied for a permit to gather. His reasoning, hard to disagree with, was that you couldn't really apply for something that's about nothing. True, no police were around for Mackin to test how safe they were, but neither did anyone complain enough for them to come, if at all.
In the past, I've seen demonstrators either ignored altogether or removed from areas because of the statements on their signs. If only they could have witnessed this. There might be a lesson to learn. Not a happy lesson, but a valuable one.
Sometimes, the less you say in public, the less you have to say in this country, the better off you are.
And if you still get hostility, you can remember the closing chant Mackin and the rest gave when they were packing up less than two hours later:
"Hell no, we're gonna go! Hell no, we're gonna go!"
Then Ian (who has a cameo in the article) asked me directly why I didn't post it on this blog as well.
Well, he got me there.
Here's the article.
Non-Protestors Prove That Nothing Works
Story (and photo) by Chad Parenteau
The best photo opportunity on Sunday, August 22, came when I watched protester—excuse me, non-protester—Alan Ezust, take his sign that said "JUST SAY NOthing" and turn it over to show a blank sign. He found it more appropriates. So did I. So did his fellow non-demonstrators facing the Park Street T station in the Boston Common that afternoon.
This non-protest started around one o'clock at the urging of local 'zine publisher and activist Reverend Richard J. Mackin, who was there leading the way with his small, unassuming sign, "This Is Not A Protest!"
Before and during this non-event, he offered the following written statement on a small flyer: "The week of 8/8/99 the cover story of US News & World Report was '1000 years ago'; Time and Newsweek both featured 'The Blair Witch Project'—No news is good news.
"The First Amendment guarantees our right to freedom of speech–even though we have nothing to say! Forcefully assert your apathy!"
Self-titled a "Consumer Defense Corporate Poet," Mackin actually spends a lot of time writing wry letters to popular business corporations. Most of the frightfully similar replies from various consumer representatives have the feel of what is called a found poem, defined in The Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms as "a piece of writing that was not intended as a poem, but is so declared by its 'finder.'"
So in his own way, Mackin creates a relevant kind of poetry; and with this willful display of apathy, Mackin & co. created a more poignant statement than anyone else in the area of the common that day: The dog wash happening out on the grass; the small gathering around a wooden cross with two people talking about You Know Who; The family passing out cards asking people to pledge "Pure Love". None of them, I think, received the feedback this half-dozen or so did by holding signs that said anything from "Sarcastic People for Apathy," to "A-OK."
And where would a protest--even a non-protest--be without a few (a)political statements.
Ian Thal (fellow artist and activist): "You know, this country was founded to protect freedom of speech and expression and such that so we can have no opinion."
Mackin: "Just because we have freedom of speech doesn't mean we have something to say."
Chris Alighire (pirate radio disc-jockey): "Do not look at us. We are not here for you."
And then there was the chant: "Two, four, six, eight .... Two, four, six, eight ...."
Followed by: "What do we want?"
"Nothing!"
"When do we want it?"
"Whenever!"
Not a perfect delivery, mind you. They seemed to take long breaks between chants. Thal tried to inspire a singing of the Beatles' "Let It Be" with no real success. Another participant seemed to eat Goldfish crackers more than even hold a sign. But, of course, who there was going to criticize apathy protesters for lack of motivation?
Not Andrea Kulish, who kept alternating between holding her "A-OK" sign and photographing the gathering. She did have a disclaimer, though, written on her back: "I am not documenting a protest 'cos everything is O.K.!!"
The onlookers on trolleys and duck tours had the most fun, laughing and goading Mackin and the others to act as they passed by. One driver even communicated to them via his speaker. "Good job. Keep up the hard work."
The passersby on foot, however, were more reserved in comparison, many walking by quietly, though some did have questions and comments.
"I have nothing to say."
"You could be sitting down watching TV."
"It's an experiment, obviously."
"They let you out today, huh?"
An old man walked by shooting up his fist and shouting, "Hooray for our great democracy!" Hard to say if it was sarcastic or not, but it got the group chanting again.
There was more open praise than open condemnation. A woman with a child stopped long enough to say, "I love your cause."
"What cause?" said Thal.
"Your non-cause," the woman shot right back.
One of their best supporters was a hot dog vendor from afar, who fielded questions from kids wondering what Mackin and his friends were protesting. "It's not a protest," he told them, having seen enough in his day-to-day around the Common to be in on the joke.
One onlooker who gave me her name (which I've decided not to print) had the idea that because it was a non-protest, she wouldn't get in trouble if she stole one of their signs. She had O.K.ed it with an official looking man standing nearby (who was only an official for the green line subway who couldn't do anything anyway).
She did run off with a sign, with no one even thinking of running after her (it would have been out of character anyway, I guess). One or two of them, however did point out the humor in the fact that she was walking around the busy streets of Boston with a sign expressing apathy.
Though there were several punch lines throughout the day, the best one came when I overheard that Mackin hadn't even applied for a permit to gather. His reasoning, hard to disagree with, was that you couldn't really apply for something that's about nothing. True, no police were around for Mackin to test how safe they were, but neither did anyone complain enough for them to come, if at all.
In the past, I've seen demonstrators either ignored altogether or removed from areas because of the statements on their signs. If only they could have witnessed this. There might be a lesson to learn. Not a happy lesson, but a valuable one.
Sometimes, the less you say in public, the less you have to say in this country, the better off you are.
And if you still get hostility, you can remember the closing chant Mackin and the rest gave when they were packing up less than two hours later:
"Hell no, we're gonna go! Hell no, we're gonna go!"
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