The Next Invasion

My article, "The Next Invasion," about up-and-coming UK musicians -- including Hurts, Ellie Goulding and Delphic (above) -- is now up at Soldout. Delphic is already becoming an underground fave in the US and I expect Ellie will make a splash here, too.

American Idol 9 - Dallas Auditions

More than 11,000 turned out to audition for “American Idol” in Dallas, and while the old saying that things are bigger in Texas is debatable, things are definitely gayer. Or more gay, if you want to get grammatically correct about it.

Actor, singer, out and proud Neil Patrick Harris was the celebrity guest just for most of the hour. The fake arguments between him and Simon set to “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” theme were cringe-worthy time wasters, as was Miss Ryan flirting with the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.

A Jonas Brother showed up for the last 20 minutes to look moody, flip his hair, flash his purity ring and say nothing.

Where are the winged monkeys when you need them? Julie Kevelighan auditioned during season one in Dallas alongside eventual winner Kelley Clarkson. Nine years ago, Julie was a delusional, chunky screech owl wearing too much make-up. Now, she’s a thinner, delusional screech owl wearing too much make-up. After a forced medley of “Black Velvet,” “Something to Talk About” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” she had to be escorted out of the room.

Finger licking good: Lloyd “Big and Sexy” Thomas grew up in the projects, works the docks and seemed like he was going to be a big train wreck. So, when he started singing “Overjoyed” in a smooth, soulful voice, I clocked him as the heir apparent to Ruben Studdard. After he received his golden ticket, he kept licking his fingers and saying, “taste what I taste right now. It’s delicious.” If the singing thing doesn’t work out, KFC will surely hire him as a pitchman.

Read the rest of the recap at Project Q Atlanta!

American Idol 9 - Los Angeles Auditions

The “American Idol” audition train pulled into Los Angeles tonight with not one, but two celebrity judges: gospel singer turned lesbian tourist, Katy Perry, and country singer turned skater boy masturbation fantasy, Avril Lavigne.

More than10,000 showed up at the Rose Bowl to audition, and after some obligatory flirting between Simon and Miss Seacrest, we got our first look at Avril, wearing her hoodie with horns and flipping her extensions like an emo princess. After checking Wikipedia, I see that Avril is Canadian. Why does she sound like an obnoxious Valley girl?

No reality: Neil Goldstein – looking like my lesbian aunt circa 1982 – said he was geeky, vulnerable, passionate and needed to let it all out. “Like, oh my god. He’s sweating like a maniac,” Avril said, sealing Neil’s fate. He tried to be butch for a minute, refusing to leave, but then Simon threatened to have security escort him out.

Doing it for Jesus: Pastor Jim Ranger sang an original song and had a decent country/rock voice, but Avril just sneered and said his wife and three kids would hold him back. She twisted her plastic bracelets and said no, but she was overruled by the other judges and put through to Hollywood.

Kung fu pacifist: Damien Lafavor is an avowed martial arts fan, and after some embarrassing scenes of him having a seizure on a rooftop, he flubbed the lines of “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” and sent himself home. Sorry, grasshopper.

Read the rest of the recap at Project Q Atlanta, and don't forget to leave some comments there!

Behind the poetry curtain

A post on friend and fellow poet Christine Swint's blog Balanced on the Edge and a phone conversation with BFF&P (that's best friend forever and poet) Cherryl Floyd-Miller last week has me thinking about the state of my own work -- and poetics in general.

If you've followed the blog or my Facebook page, you'll know that I have not abandoned poetry. As a matter of fact, I've got two readings coming up in Atlanta in February (check the sidebar of the blog for all the upcoming readings) and I'll be attending the Split This Rock Poetry Festival in March and sitting on a panel with Jericho Brown, Dan Vera, Francisco Aragón, Samiya Bashir, Reginald Harris and Joseph Ross. I've also been writing new poetry and made my first submissions of 2010 last weekend.

I'm continually asked if I've given up poetry for fiction now that Conquering Venus has been published and I'm working on the other two books in the trilogy. The answer is no. I was writing poetry long before plays, fiction,and American Idol recaps, so I have no plans to ever abandon poetry.

I have a completed manuscript that's about 60-odd pages long and I plan to submit it this year. Not to any contests, because I refuse to play that lottery anymore, but to presses with open reading periods and micro-presses looking for new manuscripts by established poets. Self-publishing remains a viable and increasingly attractive option. Nearly every poem in this collection has been previously published in both print and online journals. It's been vetted by editors I trust and who liked the work enough to publish it and nominate it for Best of the Web and Pushcarts.

I am outside academia, outside the current "movements," outside whatever Mary Oliver is writing. My poetry remains personal, confessional, sexual, profane. I still enjamb with "the". Now, more than ever, I have nothing to lose when it comes to poetry, and that is a very liberating feeling. I have achieved more than I ever thought possible with poetry. I've published a collection and two chapbooks I'm still quite proud of, flaws and all. I've had the opportunity to travel and read all over the country and abroad. I've had the pleasure to meet and befriend many of my poetry role models.

So, where does a poet like me go from here? Since I have no desire to teach, obtain an MFA or compromise my work so that maybe a big or well-regarded indie press will publish me, the only goal I have is to continue writing poetry that resonates with me and putting it out through any means possible so that it might resonate with others. I have been writing prose poetry, experimenting with form and drawing more and more of my inspiration from music, film and literature other than poetry.

I read a good bit of poetry – much of it doesn't move me. If it does, you'll see a review or mention on Modern Confessional. I'm not wasting my time -- or yours -- on books that I don't like or would never recommend. I still firmly believe that the notion of "good" and "bad" poetry is impossible to quantify, that it comes down to gut emotion and personal aesthetic. Many get practically weepy over the light verse of a Hallmark card, while others rhapsodize over Jorie Graham's "difficult" poetry.

I'm sure some of you have already read Patrick Gillespie's hotly debated blog post called Let Poetry Die, where he makes this bold statement:

The best thing that could happen to poetry is to drive it out of the universities with burning pitch forks. Starve the lavish grants. Strangle them all in a barrel of water. Cast them out. The current culture, in which poetry is written for and supported by poets has created a kind of state-sanctioned poetry that resists innovation. When and if poetry is ever made to answer to the broader public, then we may begin to see some great poetry again – the greatness that is the collaboration between audience and artist.

As to be expected, this has caused a howl among the academic set, but it's a spot-on summation of poetry today. Poetry is far from dead, nor is it on life-support. It's just been spirited away from public consciousness and into the halls of universities and MFA programs. It is, as I have stated on this blog more than once, become a big circle jerk.

There are dozens of comments on this essay -- many generated because Andrew Sullivan linked to the post -- and Patrick has done a grand job of responding to the often angry and indignant poets who hate when the curtain is pulled back on their Oz-like existence. In response to a comment about self-publishing and those who publish online, Patrick has this to say:

But there’s considerable contempt, if not hostility, directed at self-published poets and on-line poets. And my experience has been that most of this derision comes from poets and editors who are vested in the institutionalized venues I criticized. I can only speculate that their hostility is self-interested. Some of the better known poets have been quite successful in playing the game (and actually having to test their merit outside the system might not go too well). They’ve established themselves as tritons among minnows, so why spoil it?

I couldn't have said it better. My late new year's resolution is to continue running in the other direction from all of this. To embrace what the establishment pushes away, to appeal to readers outside the insular world of poetry, to help push the minnows upstream.

Weekend Music: Starry Eyed by Ellie Goulding

A brilliant slice of Brit pop.

American Idol 9 - Orlando Auditions

After Tuesday’s disastrous Chicago auditions, I wasn’t expecting much from Orlando. More than 10,000 auditioned, and 31 made it through to Hollywood, but we only saw a few of those.

Instead, we got shortchanged on the celebrity judge, since the hilarious Broadway and television actress Kristen Chenoweth (pictured) was only there for one day of auditions, and we saw a bunch of mostly middling singers. Sigh.

Queen of the Night: Theo Glinton sashay-shante’d into the auditions looking like a bird had crashed through his windshield and into his face. There was a feather stuck to the side of his head, lots of glitter and a flowing scarf. It was a little too Lady Gaga meets “Silence of the Lambs” for me, dawg. After shouting Pat Benatar’s “Heartbreaker” and being dismissed by the judges, Miss Ryan Seacrest helped Theo take off his glitter. Insert your own joke here.

Read the rest of the recap at Project Q Atlanta.

American Idol 9 - Chicago Auditions

The Chicago auditions for the ninth season of “American Idol” opened with an expletive-laced montage of rejects encouraging the competition to go fuck itself. Not a promising start.

Also not promising: Shania Twain (top photo) as tonight’s celebrity guest judge. Like many a ‘mo, I shook a tail feather to “Man! I Feel Like A Woman” and “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” back in 1999. That was her heyday.

She hasn’t had a hit since 2003, but a new album must be in the pipeline. Like the previous guest judges, Shania had nothing to add, but she did admit to peeing on herself during an audition. That’s sure to excite some of you.

Dramarama: First through to Hollywood was Katelyn Epperly, whose parents were going through a messy divorce, and she was auditioning to make her mom feel better. Her cover of Duffy’s “Syrup and Honey” was reed thin, but they put her through.

Angela Martin had auditioned twice before and made it to the top 50 last season, but a sick daughter, dead feather and pesky warrants for her arrest derailed her. Third time’s a charm, obviously, because they put her through. Hope she’s paid her fines.

Read the rest of the recap at Project Q Atlanta!

Weekend Update: Poetry, fiction, Haiti

Made my first poetry submissions of 2010 this afternoon to two literary journals. It would be a treat to be in either...or both. I have a few other poems that are nearly ready for submission, so I'm turning my attention to those this afternoon as well.

Work on the second book in the Conquering Venus trilogy continues, but I'm in a research phase right now. Several chapters take place in Calais and in Provence, so I'm familiarizing myself with these locales, as well as some additional history about Paris during World War II and the riots in 1968.

The devastation in Haiti following the earthquake has been hard to watch. I've made a couple of small donations this week -- to Yele Haiti and Médecins Sans Frontières. You can see a complete list of aid organizations at CNN that are in desperate need of monetary donations. Many are making it easy to donate online and by texting via cell phone.

American Idol 9 - Atlanta Auditions

Two more hours of "American Idol" auditions tonight, but with a decidedly familiar locale: Atlanta

Tonight’s audition show was only supposed to be an hour long, but the cancellation of Fox’s “Our Little Genius” before it even aired, allowed Idol to expand to 90 minutes. That’s 30 extra minutes of crazy and more of tonight’s celebrity guest judge Mary J. Blige. She didn’t have much to add, but she does have an album to promote.

Last June, a reported 10,000 wannabes descended on the Georgia Dome for season 9 auditions, and tonight we got to see a few of them. The lucky few who made it before the judges didn’t sing at the Dome but on the top floor of the W Hotel downtown for a dramatic city backdrop.

Soldiers of love: Mary J. couldn’t stop laughing at Dewone Robinson, who sang an original song called “We’re Not Together Anymore” that was meant for a duet, so he sang both parts – badly. Christy Agronow, who hosts some cable access show called “411,” but Mary J. looked like she wanted to dial 911 after Christy’s screeching “Love is a Battlefield.”

Costume drama: Every year, someone shows up in a horrible costume and is immediately dismissed by the judges. Holly Harden showed up dressed like a guitar singing Loretta Lynn’s “You Ain’t Woman Enough to Take My Man.” Mary J. looked like she was throwing up in her mouth a little and said “I don’t’ get it,” but the other three judges put her through. She won’t survive Hollywood.

Biggest slice of cornpone: “BFFs forever” Lauren and Carmen drove up from Baxley, Ga., and must have hit some rough patch of highway because their make-up looked like it had been applied with an asphalt spreader. Their accents were so thick you couldn’t cut them with a sling blade. The judges put Carmen through, although she couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, but not Lauren. The BFFs sobbed into each other’s necks, but Simon said they wouldn’t be separated for long. Snap!

A second slice: There ain’t much to do in Vanessa Wolfe’s little Tennessee town but to jump from bridges into creeks and shop at the dollar store. Her nasally version of “Wagon Wheel” was all twang and no torch. The judges all liked her, but she'd better enjoy the free buffet at the hotel in Hollywood before they put her back on the plane.

Biggest surprise: Bryan Walker was set up to look like a hick, douchebag cop from Tennessee, but his cover of “Superstar” was actually good. I could see him singing with a bar band, but, sadly, he wont’ survive the Hollywood cut.

Security Alert: Lamar Royal went in to the audition excited to meet Mary J. and hear constructive criticism. After his “torturous” (as Randy described it) cover of “Kiss From A Rose” – which sounded like he straining for a bowel movement – Lamar got angry and had to be escorted out by security. His parting words: “Fuck y’all. Mary J. can’t sing a fucking lick, so fuck her, too. I wish Paula was here.” So do I, Lamar, so do I.

Pointless, but funny audition: At age 62, General Larry Platt was 34 years over the Idol age limit, but the producers put him on for shits and giggles. He sang an original song encouraging young men to pull up their baggy pants called, appropriately, “Pants on the Ground,” Lyrical refrain: “Looking like a fool with ya pants on the ground.” The general was doing some break dancing moves that made me worry he was going to break a hip. Simon commented that he had a feeling the song could be a hit. Okay, it wasn’t THAT funny.

Ones to watch for in Hollywood: A tough call, because to be honest, I wasn’t in love with anybody tonight. Mallorie Haley, who sang “Piece of My Heart,” has a Carrie Underwood vibe, so she might do okay. Tisha Holland, shown in a montage singing Xtina’s “Impossible,” was called “one of the best” by Kara, but we only got to see 20 seconds. Jermaine Sellers’ churchified version of Joan Osborne’s “One of Us” was impressive, too.

At the end of the day, only 25 golden tickets were handed out. Next week, it’s on to Chicago.

Collin. Out.

You can also read the weekly recaps at Project Q Atlanta.

I'm a soldier of love...

The gorgeous song and video (directed by the great Sophie Muller) by the incomparable Sade. It's been 10 years since her last album and it was worth the wait. Wannabes take note -- this is how it's done.

I'm at the borderline of my faith, I'm in the hinterland of my devotion...

American Idol 9 - Boston Auditions

Just since my preview column published yesterday, Simon Cowell confirmed the rumors that he’s leaving American Idol after this season to concentrate on The X Factor, which, curiously, will also air on Fox in 2011.

Before Simon and his furry moobs move on to more financially lucrative pastures, we still have season 9 to deal with. The show kicked off tonight with a two-hour audition show in Boston.

Since our beloved hophead Paula Abdul departed at an awkward time and Ellen DeGeneres doesn’t join the panel until February, the producers decided to fill her seat with a series of “celebrity guest judges” for the audition rounds. First up: Victoria Beckham, aka Mrs. David Beckham, aka Posh Spice, aka praying mantis...

Read the rest of the recap at Project Q Atlanta -- the home of my Idol recaps for the rest of the season.

American Idol 9 - Season Preview

My season preview column for American Idol posted today at Project Q Atlanta. You'll be able to read my recaps there this season, starting with tomorrow night's premiere. I'll be posting links here once the recaps go live.

I'm sure by now you've heard that Simon Cowell has officially announced he is leaving Idol after this season and will exec-produce/judge the American version of The X-Factor in 2011. Is season nine Idol's finale? I kinda hope it is.

Ice, ice, baby

I wanted deep, pretty, fluffy snow, but we got ice in Atlanta instead. The dusting of snow (pictured above falling Thursday night in the courtyard of my building) quickly turned to ice and there were accidents galore and the city shut down. With temperatures still below freezing, it will probably stick around a few days. I went in to work for a few hours yesterday -- slipping and sliding up and down the side streets -- and decided to stay in today and get back to work on the Venus sequel. Irène and Martin are in Calais, France hot on the trail of Frederick, who might hold the answers to Irène's husband's death in 1968.

On the poetry front, I got a rejection from Barn Owl Review -- with a nice note from one of the editors -- so I will probably send out some poems tonight or tomorrow. I haven't sent much out lately, but I've been working on new poems, so I need to sift through and see what's viable for submission. I'm feeling the need to get the manuscript out of the file cabinet and send it out at some point this year. I need to add new poems and take out others and finally settle on a title (it was formerly called Wake).

My intro column for season 9 of American Idol appears tomorrow on the Project Q Atlanta website tomorrow and recaps begin Tuesday night. Here we go again...

Jazz hands!

Just got in from the party for Creative Loafing's 2010 Fiction Contest at eyedrum gallery. I was one of the judges this year and had the honor of introducing first place winner Lucas Church. His story, "Clothes Lines," about a high school janitor with a fetish for silky slips, was excellent. Creative Loafing also kindly wrote up a short piece on me and also had me select my favorite books of 2009. Many thanks to Debi Michaud and to Joeff Davis for the funny photo of me doing my best jazz hands that accompanied my judge's bio.

Many thanks to all of you who voted for Conquering Venus in the Preditors & Editors Poll at the Critters Workshop site. The deadline to vote is Jan. 14, but you can only vote once, so if you haven't already, I really would appreciate it.

The Lambda Literary Foundation released its long list of nominees and Conquering Venus is there for debut fiction. Fingers crossed that it becomes a finalist. The announcement will be made by March 15.

New Year's Weekend

I spent the weekend watching movies and working on the sequel to Conquering Venus. I'd hoped to knock out 50 pages during the holidays, but managed 20. Although I didn't meet the page count goal, I'd been dithering over the 200 pages I have for months -- rewriting, reorganizing -- so now the plot is moving forward.

Speaking of Conquering Venus, it's a nominee for best mystery of the year at Critters Writing Workshop, a well-known website for writers. If you follow this link you can vote for Venus by just leaving your name and an email address. The deadline to vote Jan. 14. I would appreciate it.

I spent New Year's Eve with BFF Malory having a tasty dinner at Longhorn (why, yes, I do love a Flo's Filet) and then went to Karen and Colin's house for a small party. JC Reilly, Bob Wood, Cleo Creech and some other fine writers were there, too. It was nice to ring in the New Year with friends. New Year's Day was for recovery, writing and watching David Tennant's final episode of Doctor Who, which, as I predicted, left me verklempt. Series 5 begins in the spring with Matt Smith as the Doctor and the teaser trailer (you can watch it here) looks exciting.

On Saturday afternoon I went with Cleo to see It's Complicated starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. I'd expected a fluffy, light rom-com, but it was unexpectedly hilarious. The bit where Streep and Martin get stoned and then go to her son's graduation party had the whole theater howling.

The Sound of 2010

I love introducing people to new music, and these three acts are set to be big in 2010, especially in the UK. I have a feeling at least one of them (I'm looking at you, Ellie Goulding) will make a splash in the US at some point later in the year. Listen, enjoy, comment.


Hurts

Hailing from Manchester, this duo has definitely been listening to Pet Shop Boys, Tears for Fears and Human League for this 80s inspired tune.

Ellie Goulding

The BBC has compared her to Kate Bush AND Stevie Nicks, but I don't think she sounds like either one of them. However, this is some hooky pop and a shimmering vocal performance from the 21-year-old Hereford lass. And there's lots of glitter. Okay, so she does have that in common with Kate.

Delphic

Electronica meets guitars and the music just pulses along. (It seems this version of the video was pulled and now I can't embed it. You can watch the clip at YouTube at this link.)

Best of the Decade - Books

Falling Man - Don DeLillo (2007) The image of a man who jumped from the North Tower of the World Trade Center becomes the albatross around the neck of a man whose life is shattered by Sept. 11 despite his own survival. The grief, humanity and angst of that terrible day and the weeks and months that followed are stunningly captured by DeLillo in one of his finest novels.

The Powerbook - Jeanette Winterson (2000) At the start of the decade, Winterson had already foreseen a future where we reinvent ourselves online. Beautiful, transcendent writing.

Specimen Days - Michael Cunningham (2005) Three stories all linked by reincarnated characters and the spirit of Walt Whitman. Just as good, if not better in some places, than The Hours.

If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things - John McGregor (2002) A day of memory, reflection and unexpected accidents for the residents of a London street are made not only remarkable but extraordinary in this lyrical, poetic novel.

The Diagnosis - Alan Lightman (2000) A businessman loses his memory and sets of on a journey across Boston trying to re-find himself.

Black Swan Green - David Mitchell (2006) The British author just keeps getting better and better and his year-in-the-life tale of young Jason Taylor growing up in the early 80s is dazzling.

The Road - Cormac McCarthy (2006) In a hellish, post-apocalyptic future, the bond between a father and son traveling the wasteland is endlessly put to the test. Deservedly won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

White Teeth - Zadie Smith (2000) A tough call between this one and Smith's more recent On Beauty, but this impressive debut about two warring, London families is not only one of the best books of the past decade, but any decade.

The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood (2000) Part historical romance, part sci-fi thriller, Atwood was firing on all thrusters when she penned this brilliant, Booker Prize-winning novel.

Atonement - Ian McEwan (2001) A young girl's deceit destroys the lives of two would-be lovers.

The day is almost upon us...

David Tennant's final adventure as the Doctor airs tonight in the UK and tomorrow in the US. I'm already verklempt.