Saul Williams
Saul Williams possesses the theatrical flair of an actor, the
literary arsenal of a Beat poet and the soul of a trip-hop musician.
These talents first came together when he co-wrote and starred in the
1998 movie "Slam," playing a small-time-drug-dealer-turned-slam-poet.
With life imitating art, Williams has carved out a career exploring the
intersection of poetry and music, alternating between publishing books
and releasing LPs that explore themes of inequality and transformation.
Saul Williams
This
exploration of identity reached its peak when Williams adopted a glam
alter ego for his 2007 album, "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of
Niggy Tardust," channeling David Bowie. His latest album, "Volcanic
Sunlight," peels back the layers of artifice, beautiful as they were. In
the first few seconds of opening track "Look to the Sun," Williams
declares, "The labels that I claimed as me / were no more than a skin / I
wrapped around my consciousness / as if it had an end." The words roll
off his tongue with precision and speed yet land on the ear with an
inviting ease. "Girls on Saturn" riffs on Cyndi Lauper's pop anthem
"Girls Just Want to Have Fun," and "Explain My Heart" coats
philosophical ruminations in punchy riffs.
"Volcanic Sunlight"
marks a musical catharsis for Williams. It may not have the complexity
of his previous works, but some thoughts are best expressed simply.
Chris Gonzalez
Chris Gonzalez is a 20 year old performance poet, musician, and director
from Northampton, Massachusetts. He has recently started performing all
over the state from colleges, to bars, to cafe's to libraries to living
rooms. He has just self published a book of his own poetry entitled
"Some Poems", a piece that explores the rhythmic undercurrents of
consciousness during meditation, intoxication, anxiety, pride,
promiscuity, or while walking barely sentient among the flower beds of
his city. His primary influences are The Notorious BIG, Sylvia Plath,
Walt Whitman, Andre 3000, and Allen Ginsberg. He has recently begun
performing Ginsberg's epic "Howl", which he has memorized in its
entirety and adapted with his own perspective for a new synthesis, a new
vision, of Beat/Hip Hop/Performance poetry for this generation as he
see's it. Listen to Chris.
Click Poster For Tix
No comments:
Post a Comment