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Venue A Televised Poetry Program
Originally published in Letter eX (February 1993)
Channel 21 6pm Wednesdays
Reviewed by David Gecic
Take a tiny cramped room, squeeze in a table and several chairs, put in two stationary cameras: one a camera on the two chairs and the other an overhead camera. To add life to the picture add a slightly surrealistic city background with the words "Now Appearing Marvin Tate Tonight" on a billboard. Put a number for callers to phone in. Get a host that is knowledgeable about the poetry scene and an interesting guest, and you have Venue.
Venue is the latest brainchild of Ida Jabianovec, one of the motivating forces behind the highly successful Stray Bullets. She began producing the show last July and has brought a talented group of people together as hosts including: Sandra Frank-Mosensen, Cathleen Schandelmeier, Marvin Tate, Silvia Gonzalez, Andrea Change, and Mark Ingebretsen.
I recently had the opportunity to view several shows which have been produced over the last couple of months. Being a fan of the poetry scene I was grateful for the opportunity to see such a wide variety of talent. One of the most impressive interviews I saw was with Marc Smith, host of the Green Mill and Fitzgerald's (an important fixture in Chicago poetry). Those who know Marc only through his stage presence may be surprised by the shy, humble Marc thay could have seen on Venue. Without a live audience Marc was not the showman that he normally is in public. He did not appear to be at home in a situation where it was just him, the host, and an impersonal TV monitor. Cathleen Schandelmeier was the host, and under her urging Marc became more comfortable with the situation. Aspects of Marc which you cannot see in his shows slowly emerged. When asked how the poetry scene has affected him he commented: "it was a vehicle for me to find out just exactly who I am. Just who Marc Smith is."
Marc comes from a middle class background and worked at one time as a construction estimator. He is proud of his background. "I'm a middle class citizen but after years and years of almost being ashamed of that, I'm proud I'm middle class." Marc looks at his show (the Poetry Slam) as a work of art. What happens to people between when they walk in and walk out of his shows is all part of his show. Marc is aware of the many criticisms which have been pointed at him and the Green Mill from some members of the poetry community. Venue gave him the ability to respond to some of these. Marc talked briefly about the early days of the Green Mill and the criticisms then. "I've always been the guy to stand up, and I've always been the guy to get knocked down." Marc tries at the Green Mill to let everyone "have a go at it," and it is embarrassing for him when someone goes up on stage and bombs, but he feels it is wrong to step in. He feels that the audience is in charge and poets blame him when they do not get a good reception. "A lot of poets in Chicago blame me for their inability to succeed in front of the Green Mill audience... I have very little to do with an audience of 200 people... The only thing is I turn them loose... to express themselves the way they want to."When Marc started the Poetry Slams people were used to an artificial system. The audience had no control. Marc tries to make the poet responsible to the audience. When the Poetry Slams started there was a great deal of criticism against the Slam. Concerning the criticisms today he is regretful. "Criticism now comes directly from people who benefitted greatly from what I've done... I get very few pats on the back."
As far as being responsible for the community of poets in Chicago Marc says, "I've been the pioneer at presenting poetry a different way... I'm more concerned about the audience than I am the poets... The people you perform to are more important than yourself." Marc does not feel responsible for creating a poetry community. "I make my art for the audience.. the artists will always be there."
When asked where he gets his influences from, Marc said that he heard Tom Waits on public radio and later saw him with a friend at Park West. He has also been heavily influenced by T.S. Eliot, Whitman, e.e. cummings, Wallace Stevens, and most recently Robert Frost and Ogden Nash. Marc has had over one thousand performances at the Green Mill and realizes that he has touched the lives of many people, and in some small way has been able to affect their lives. Marc feels that all the best performing poets are in Chicago, but what he likes the most is "when the nobody comes along that nobody knows about, walks up on stage, and boom, he's great."
I feel that it was important for Marc to make statements about what he feels his work is all about. There was a brief mention about The Get Me High, but I would have liked a little more depth concerning the early days of Chicago poetry.
The interview with Tony Fitzpatrick gave a good insight into what his life is today. I would have liked more information about how his poetry developed. This interview was made shortly before his book The Coming of Locusts was published by Sheba Publishing. It is a collection of his poetry and etchings. He performed two poems from the book, "Poem for Paige," a poem written in praise of Satchel Paige, the ballplayer, and "A Poem for My Wife While She Sleeps." Tony seemed slightly uncomfortable during the initial stages of the interview, but the perfomance of his poetry was flawless. I would have liked to see more.
Cathleen also interviewed a poet/playwrite named Paul Peditto. He has gone from writing poetry exclusively to being a successsful playwright. He was in town for the production of his play "Columbus in the Age of Gold" at Cafe Voltaire and "BUK: The Life and Times of Charles Bukowski" at Live Bait Theater. He has been in contact with Bukowski for several years. "BUK" is based on Bukowski's life and it has had his input in its writing. Paul read an entertaining letter from Bukowski that he had recently received and discussed the history and process that went into the creation of his work. Paul read three poems, including "Heritage," which described the seedier side of New York. Paul was really at home in this format. His work was interesting and very well performed.
The final show which I was able to see was hosted by Sandra Frank-Mosenesen, who hosts another cable TV show called Earth Day Chicago. This interview featured three poets: Chuck Kramer, Susen James, and E. Donald Two-Rivers, all three solid performance poets.
Chuck Kramer was discussing his book Step Into The Light. This is a collection of 32 poems by 23 different poets, that deals with recovery from addictions. Chuck Kramer is the publisher of Great Lakes Poetry Press. Chuck read two works from this book, "Emma" deals with the despair of the elderly and the sad death of a woman plagued by addiction. He also read the work of another author. Chuck also read a poem called "Weatherman," about a sixties radical who he has known. The format and atmosphere seemed to agree very well with Chuck. The reading he gave of these works was among the best I have seen him do. However, many of us are familiar with Step Into The Light and did not need this commercial about the book. I would have enjoyed hearing more about the inner workings of Chuck Kramer or The Great Lakes Poetry Press.
Susen James was one of the editors of Stray Bullets and a frequent contributor to Strong Coffee. Susen is a nurse who has a position where she can see health issues from the health care workers' side. She talked about the AIDS problem. She tries to work out a lot of her ideas and feelings in her work. She said, "Getting it down on paper makes it approachable." She read three poems. The first was called "AIDS Poem" and it was a highly personal account of the AIDS problem. She looked through the eyes of an AIDS patient and was able to identify with her while still maintaining the objectivity of a health care worker. She read a poem called "Reconnecting With An Old Poem" in which she uses the image of a bridge to represent her trip into the creative process. She interwove images to grab the attention of the listener and she was able to show the strength of her work. Susen also read a poem called "Former AIDS Collage With Current Worries," which is about a health worker who had to have an AIDS test due to an accident in a hospital. She captured this fear and communicated it very successfully. Listening to these three poems was a pleasure.
The last poet on this program was E. Donald Two-Rivers. Mr Two-Rivers was born on an Indian reservation in Ontario Canada, where he lived until he was sixteen years old. He has lived in Chicago for a great deal of time over the last twenty years. He has written an excellent poetry book called A Dozen Cold Ones published by MARCH/Abrazo Press. He is currently preparing for a second printing of his book. Mr. Two-Rivers is currently teaching at The Audobon School in a program called Writing From The Source, which is associated with Northeastern Illinois University. He is the author of a series of short plays called Breifcase Warriors which had a staged reading at Beacon Street Gallery. He has since rewritten much of the series. The first part, a comedy called "Act Dead Indian," will be completed soon, the second part, "Bless Me, Bless My Soul," will be completed in the near future. He read three poems. The first, "Deep in My Machinist Soul," captured the pride of being a blue collar worker. It describes life in the shop so well anyone who hears it will understand what it's like to spend a day laboring at a machine and coming home smelling like the shop. Mr. Two-Rivers is a machinist by trade and this gives him a vision that can cut across class boundries. It gives him a voice that is more universal. He also did a poem dealing with homelessness and a poem called "Jungle of Death," which dealt with environmental issues. During the program Mr. Two-Rivers asked for public support to protest a comment from a radio talk show host about Ben Nighthorse Campbell, the senator from Colorado. The radio station has since made a public apology. Mr. Two-Rivers had the opportunity to talk about his book during the program but had little opportuinty to talk about his playwriting experiences. He was able to announce his Tribute to Sharing at the Hot House.
Venue is an excellent resource for anyone connected to the Chicago Poetry Scene, however, fans of poetry itself or people who want to learn more about poetry will not enjoy Venue. It is a look into the Chicago Poetry Scene by poets that have been on the scene. This program should be watched by poets on the scene and there is a number that people can call in on. There were few phone calls to the program in the shows I have seen. Does anyone from the poetry scene watch this program? Does anyone care? They only way to prevent this venue from going by the wayside is to give it support. Let's give them some support.
Venue will also be putting out a magazine. If you wish to submit, their address is Venue Magazine, 1608 N. Milwaukee, Suite 511, Chiacgo IL 60647.