Happy Birthday, Ryan "Rat" Travis

 

 

A Friend's Tribute to Jeff Taylor

Glad to provide a photo for Ryan "Rat" Travis' tribute to Jeff Taylor. Thanks to him, and thanks to you for reading Oddball Magazine on this somber day. 

Tonight: The Contro-Verse Open Mic at Urban Media Arts in Malden with Ryan "Rat" Travis

From 7:00 to 8:00 PM. Doors open at 6:30 PM. Hosted by Jeff Taylor and Anna Geoffroy. Click here for more information.

 

Monday: The Contro-Verse Open Mic at Urban Media Arts in Malden with Ryan "Rat" Travis

From 7:00 to 8:00 PM. Doors open at 6:30 PM. Hosted by Jeff Taylor and Anna Geoffroy. Click here for more information.

 

Happy Birthday, Ryan "Rat" Travis

 

 

Happy Birthday, Ryan "Rat" Travis

 

 

Happy Belated Birthday, Ryan "Rat" Travis

 

Happy Birthday, Holly Catlady

A poetry widow who rises again and again to the occasion. 

Thirty Days of Stone Soup Stuff

 

 

A never-before posted photo of Ryan "Rat" Travis on the open mic before Lee Litif and Chris Robbins' final feature at the Fifth and Sixth Horsemen, which I'm looking into before I post my next Lee Litif post.

Thirty Days of Stone Soup Stuff

I finally rediscovered Ryan "Rat" Travis' "No Penguins" segment of his 2018 Stone Soup performance. 

 

 

Fun fact: I remember seeing this little musical ditty performed years ago (probably 2003) when Travis and John "Buddah" Pirolli hosted Stone Soup one Monday night at the Out of the Blue Art Gallery when it was still located on Prospect Street in Cambridge. 

Happy Birthday, Ryan "Rat" Travis

 

Happy Birthday Ryan "Rat" Travis

The State of Stone Soup, 1-13-19

Last year in August, the Stone Soup Podium, which has been with us over several locations for at least two decades, was turned over to Ryan "Ratt" Travis, who said he would give it a much-needed makeover.

Stone Soup Croutons, 8-29-19, Trump in Mar-a-Lago

Stone Soup Croutons is a weekly poem I write using lines and impressions picked up from poems overheard from Stone Soup's open mic readers and features. I figure out a title (and sometimes the rest of the poem) later. You can read the other ones I've done since 2015 here. To paraphrase Lorne Michaels, this poem doesn't go up because it's ready, it goes up because it's Friday morning.

Last night was the last open mic in St. Paul's with feature Ryan "Ratt" Travis. Starting September 11, we move to our new location at the Assemblage Gallery. I will miss the Thursday night routine a little, but I won't miss having to bang out a Trump poem on a Friday monring after a week's worth of exhaustion.

Based on my last two poems over the last two weeks, I wanted to do a trinity of Trump based poems. Is that too manipulative of what should be an organic process? Maybe. But seeing this news piece before the open mic started made me want to try. Special nod to Gawaine Ross for reciting this Gregory Corso poem. It helped me get to the end.

All in all,, a nice way to close out an era. Just the other day, my girlfriend asked me, "Is one year really an era?" In poetry, I'd say yes. Just ask me about the month long Yarrow era at Out of The Blue sometime. Thanks for reading.


Trump in Mar-a-Lago

He prays Avril Lavigne lyrics
in place of scripture.
Let his head be enough
to keep land above water.

Last Night Outside St. Paul's

Yesterday, I was waiting for Ryan Travis to pick up the podium, as he and his wife Holly will be giving it a new coat of paint. I ended up leaning on it little the same way I do during Stone Soup. A musician walking by was walking by and hollered, "Hey! Three-card Monte? How much?"

Yeah someone walked by alater nd asked if I was preaching, but I liked that guy's comment better Sadly, I had no deck of cards to pull otu and no clever reply.

The Last Night

See you in a short while for Stone Soup's last gathering in St. Paul's Cathedral with Ryan "Rat" Travis. Then in two weeks, we start in our new location.

The State of Stone Soup, 8-26-19

TL;DR: Stone Soup's FINAL gathering at the Cathedral of Saint Paul will be this Thursday on August 29. 

Stone Soup gatherings will start up  again every WEDNESDAY starting on September 11 from 6:30 to 8:30 at the Assemblage Gallery at 70(a) Sleeper Street, a part of the Fort Point Arts Community. Email me if you want to be a part of that first day.

It has been over a year since any "official" report on Stone Soup Poetry. I haven't had much I've wanted to share. Until today.

Here We Go

Our first holiday piece comes from Ryan "Rat" Travis with a photo collaboration by Mark Blickley and Amy Bassin.Welcome to a different Monday at Oddball Magazine.

Stone Soup Croutons, 5-25-18, The Reveal

Stone Soup Croutons is a weekly poem I write using lines and impressions picked up from poems overheard from Stone Soup's open mic readers and features. I figure out a title (and sometimes the rest of the poem) later. You can read the other ones I've done since 2015 here. To paraphrase Lorne Michaels, this poem doesn't go up because it's ready, it goes up because it's Saturday morning.

It's good to be back. Ryan Travis and Ethan Mackler brought down the house for Stone Soup's last Friday gig in a while. As reported earlier, Stone Soup will stay at St. Paul's Cathedral from 6:30 to 8:30 PM but go back to Thursdays nights. Stone Soup finished its Friday cycle in style, with a very haiku-heavy open mic due to Ryan's "Haiku of Horror"feature. Haiku even got into my poem more than a little, both intentionally and unintentionally. Thanks for reading.


The Reveal

Dippy trippy rhyme scheme,
country band can't find
rhyme for America.

Oranges are as
American as America
in American poetry,

Good to be Going Back

I've been away from Stone Soup for two weeks. I'm back tonight, just in time to host Ryan Travis and Ethan Mackler.