Leisure Spot,
Maurizio Brancaleoni's blog. Reviews, interviews, and translations. Bilingual. Un blog di Maurizio Brancaleoni. Recensioni, interviste e traduzioni. Bilingue.
- Hai un testo da tradurre / revisionare? Need a Translator / Proofreader? Benötigen Sie eine Übersetzung / Korrektur?
- Tutti i contenuti del blog per categoria - All Blog Contents Sorted by Category
- Saggi e articoli - Essays and Articles
- Elenco delle pubblicazioni - List of Publications
- La mia arte - My Art
- La mia musica - My Music

giovedì 14 gennaio 2021
Scipione (Gino Bonichi)'s Art
Labels:
20th century italian art,
gino bonichi,
italian art,
mario mafai,
roman school,
scipione,
scipione bonichi,
scuola romana

giovedì 31 dicembre 2020
My Parody "Buzzard And Sky Reconsidered" in "A Surrealist Almanac - 2020"
I couldn't be prouder that my parody/pastiche/prophecy
"Buzzard and Sky Reconsidered, or the Day of the Last Ominous Omelette"
has been included together with a related illustration by yours truly in 'A Surrealist Almanac - 2020' edited by Tim White. ssp
Here's a brief extract:
[...] One evening, sitting at my table weak and weary, I had
the vision of a man with a breaded chicken steak in his hand, riflewise. His
failure to agitate the phlegmatic conundrum of my emotional state gradually
drove me into a trance-like stateliness. I was forever plummeting towards and
never reaching vast pastures of scrambled eggs. The girl next door, evidently
with chickenpox, smirkingly struck her favourite pose on the bend of my elbow [...]
Labels:
buzzard,
mock essay,
omelette,
parody,
pastiche,
surrealism,
surrealist almanac,
surrealist journals,
tim white

mercoledì 4 novembre 2020
My Music on Bandcamp
Come on, play me. There's a whole new listening experience waiting for you.
Click here to follow me and get updated on new releases:
Labels:
acoustic,
ambient,
concrete music,
cut up,
electric,
experimental music,
noise,
post-blues,
soundscapes

mercoledì 3 giugno 2020
Interview with Nancy Pontius
Thanks
for granting me this interview! First of all, I would like to ask you about the
beginning of your path as a musician. How and when did you start singing and
making music? What instrument(s) did you first pick up?
Hello Maurizio. Thank you for this opportunity.
I remember when I found you on Last.fm over a decade ago. We had a lot of fun
on there. There were a lot of independent musicians on there.

I should have stayed with piano because I could
actually read music for piano. Many years later when I took up guitar, I never
really learned to play well. It was mostly for putting songs together. My
friend John Munoz actually gave me my first guitar and gave me a little lesson
on basic chords so I could learn to put songs together. I had all these songs
in my head and in previous bands would have to sing them out while others put
them together with instruments.
Before all that, when I was a teen, I was in a
lot of musical theater plays. It was a group called the Southern Arizona Light
Opera Company. I was a late grower and often played people’s kid sisters
and such. I was learning a lot of dance then and took voice lessons from a
great teacher, Rosemary Henderson. She taught me operatic singing but also jazz
and blues. She really wanted me to go into music. I almost did go to Indiana
university for music, but ended up at UCLA for theater. Then a very tragic
event happened while I was there in Los Angeles. I won’t go into it but I
dropped out a while and lived in Venice Beach there. There I was in a band,
Cheshire Moon. The main musician was Kevin Maxwell but he had been changing his
name so many times that I am not sure what his name is now. He was a gifted
songwriter and he would help write out songs I had in my head. This was when I
was 19 or so.
Then I went back to school in Arizona in
Creative Writing. Around then was when my friend gave me the guitar. I started
to write some songs.
Later on in my 20s, early 90s, I joined Barely
Bipedal. It was a good time for independent musicians putting out cassette
tapes. They would get around. I still could not play guitar very well. I just
liked to put songs together. But also there were many songwriters in Barely
Bipedal and we sang in multiple harmonies. I heavily relied on other musicians
to fill out my own songs, in Barely Bipedal, and later Project Bluebird. People
were kind about it. I was primarily a vocalist but had these songs in my head. I
also used to be in a drum group. We used to play in the park and at street
fairs. For a time I also helped someone make ceramic drums. They have a very
nice sound.

Barely Bipedal was originally Jon Mount and
James Jordan. They both had come out of punk bands and then were playing folk,
country and gospel with an experimental edge. Then I ran into Jon. I had been
away awhile. He and I knew each other back in grade school. He asked me to come
sing with them. Then others joined, Eric Baldoni, Eric Royer, Kira Geddes, and
a guy named Pig Boy. We did a lot of recordings on cassette tapes which were
distributed through Toxic Ranch Records. We played in laundry mats, soup
kitchens, fundraisers, peace fairs and a lot of backyard punk shows. There is a
recent recording now on Bandcamp with James and Jon, the original Barely
Bipedal actually [https://compactdiscrecords.bandcamp.com/album/all-summer-been-lightnin].
Project Bluebird partially started out on that
old site StumbleUpon. In the early years it was a great site, a good global
community. We felt a sense of bringing down the borders, at least
intellectually, for a little while there. And the algorithms were at first in
our hands, before they streamlined it and sold out to eBay and only gave the
algorithms to paying customers. But before that we could do a lot of activism,
and we could support independent artists. And it was a lot of sharing of
philosophy, art, music, inspiration, science, wonder, in a spirit of global
friendship, all this during the Bush era. But that changed quickly, as most
things do. But during that earlier time I was communicating with people around
the world and we wrote some songs together. I also got involved with some of
Mad Pride (Creatively Maladjusted here) and I wrote songs with people in Mad
Pride some. Then some friends added onto some songs. Again, the songs were a
lot better when people added on. I was very grateful for their help. Some songs
are solo but really they were better when others added on. And it was more
collaboration and a variety of styles. Also some musicians who were in Barely
Bipedal added on to some. There are many I don’t have online that I would have
liked to redo. For a while Project Bluebird got around the internet. Then when
I was not so well, I took it down offline numerous times and tried to change
the name. I am leaving what I have up now for good, sort of as back up because
I tend to lose things in this digital age. So there are some on YouTube [see
playlist below] and SoundCloud [https://soundcloud.com/user-361366447].
The name Project Bluebird came out of a series
of synchronicities. Also bluebirds are beautiful. But I like Earth Folk too
because all the writers are from all over the earth. And it is sort of folk
music and we are all folks.
I loved
your drum piece dedicated to Leonard Peltier I found on YouTube, simple and yet
so evocative! How does music connect with activism in your view?
I know
you think some music really has a ‘healing quality’. Does that apply to most
music as a general concept or do you think some kind of music might be
particularly helpful in the most difficult times?
Thank you about the drum piece. I really need to
work on staying with the basic heartbeat. That is actually the hardest one to
play with other drummers. I remember an elder drummer trying to teach me this
and I am still learning. I tend to like to fly off. But really I need to come
back to the earth heartbeat. Anyone in a drum group playing that beat has to
keep it all together. Well, it seems simple on the surface but it is really the
most challenging.
As for activism, Barely Bipedal was very
intertwined with activism. James wrote a song during the second Gulf War that
got around, “I’m Iraq in my mind (I just can’t Kuwait).
In the second generation Bush years many of us
in Project Bluebird had been writing in response. A lot of those songs I would
record very quickly and poorly and post them right away. A lot of them needed
to be re-recorded.
Now mostly what is left online are the better
recordings. And even then, some of my solo ones need some work. But I am just
leaving them there before I lose them all.
Yes about healing music. I do really benefit
from healers doing music. It can be all kinds of music and it can be protest at
the same time, and there many facets to healing, sometimes outrage, catharsis,
sometimes relaxing the limbic system so one can respond instead of reacting in
a way that is not helpful. Right now I am appreciating Esperanza Spalding, “12
Little Spells” you can hear most of this album on YouTube. Some try to compare
her to Bjork but really she is in her own category. There is a lot of jazz and
soul, poetry, and art that heals in her work, just beautiful. My words don’t do
her justice. She is a bass player. Also, well, Joy Harjo, our Poet Laureate
here, she was my professor in college and is still an inspiration. Her poetry
is wise guidance and she also puts poems to music and sings and plays
saxophone. She is a real healer. I think Poet laureates are more important than
politicians right now really. All the poets, musicians, artists...healers. Oh,
you know, I really like that healing tone music too, like singing bowls etc., there
is so much grief right now, we need the healing.
Well, thanks
again! Is there anything else you want to add?
I want to thank my friend Daniel Brudno for helping me with this music project. None of
this could have been accomplished without him. He is also a musician and has
studied flamenco. I was sick a lot and he helped me with everything, sort of as
my manager and helped with getting everything together. I am forever grateful
to Dan.
Earth Folk playlist
on YT (it looks like a single video, but it plays all the videos in a row):
Labels:
barely bipedal,
earth folk,
hoagy carmichael,
joan baez,
joy harjo,
leonard peltier,
nancy pontius,
project bluebird

venerdì 10 aprile 2020
La mia poesia "Dubh Linn" nell'antologia "Il Viaggio"
“ Il Viaggio nasce da un'attenta selezione di
opere di autori contemporanei ed è frutto di esperienze ed emozioni singolari e
fortemente private. La necessità di intraprendere un percorso itinerante porta
gli autori alla ricerca di nuove forme di sentimento che rendono questa
raccolta l'esempio delle innumerevoli interpretazioni che l'animo umano può
regalare all'esperienza del viaggio. ”
La raccolta contiene la mia poesia “Dubh Linn”. apsv

martedì 24 marzo 2020
Dante Alighieri Has A Good Word For Everyone
On occasion of the Dantedì (a special day
dedicated to the “father of the Italian language”) on March 25, I wish to share
one of his best passages as an involontary stand-up comedian. As you’ll see, our
good old Dante has a good word for everybody!
De Vulgari Eloquentia, Dante Alighieri,
transl. by Steven Botterill, Cambridge University Press, 1996, Chs. XI-XIV [I
have made a few minimal edits].
Amid the cacophony of the many varieties of
Italian speech, let us hunt for the most respectable and illustrious vernacular
that exists in Italy [...]
Accordingly, since the Romans believe that they
should always receive preferential treatment, I shall begin […] with them; and
I do so by declaring that they should not be taken into account in any didactic
work about effective use of the vernacular. For what the Romans speak is not so
much a vernacular as a vile jargon, the ugliest of all the languages spoken in
Italy; and this should come as no surprise, for they also stand out among all
Italians for the ugliness of their manners and their outward appearance. They
say things like 'Messure, quinto dici?' [Sir, what do you say?]
After these let us prune away the inhabitants of
the Marches of Ancona, who say 'Chignamente state siate' [be as you are]; and
along with them we throw out the people of Spoleto. Nor should I fail to
mention that a number of poems have been composed in derision of these three
peoples; I have seen one of these, constructed in perfect accordance with the
rules, written by a Florentine of the name of Castra. It began like this: ‘Una
fermana scopai da Cascioli, cita cita se'n gìa'n grande aina’. [I met a woman
from Fermo near Cascioli; she hurried briskly away, in great haste]
After these let us root out the Milanese, the
people of Bergamo, and their neighbours; I recall that somebody has written a
derisive song about them too: ‘Enter l'ora del vesper, ciò fu del mes
d'ochiover’. [Around the hour of vespers, it was in the month of October]
After these let us pass through our sieve the
people of Aquileia and Istria, who belch forth 'Ces fas-to?' [What are you up
to?] with a brutal intonation. And along with theirs I reject all languages
spoken in the mountains and the countryside, by people like those of Casentino
and Fratta, whose pronounced accent is always at such odds with that of
city-dwellers. As for the Sardinians, who are not Italian but may be associated
with Italians for our purposes, out they must go, because they alone seem to
lack a vernacular of their own, instead imitating gramatica as apes do humans:
for they say 'domus nova' [new house] and 'dominus meus' [my master].
[…] let us [now] turn our attention to the
language of Sicily, since the Sicilian vernacular seems to hold itself in
higher regard than any other, first because all poetry written by Italians is
called 'Sicilian', and then because we do indeed find that many learned natives
of that island have written serious poetry [...] [However,] if by Sicilian
vernacular we mean what is spoken by the average inhabitants of the island [...] then this is far from
worthy of the honour of heading the list, because it cannot be pronounced
without a certain drawl, as in this case: ‘Tragemi d'este focora se t'este a
bolontate’. [Get me out of this fire, if you would be so kind] [...]
The people of Apulia, to continue, whether
through their own native crudity or through the proximity of their neighbours
(the Romans and the people of the Marches), use many gross barbarisms: they say
‘Bòlzera che chiangesse lo quatraro’. [I would like the boy to cry] [...]
After this, we come to the Tuscans, who, rendered
senseless by some aberration of their own, seem to lay claim to the honour of
possessing the illustrious vernacular. [...] Now, since the Tuscans are the
most notorious victims of this mental intoxication, it seems both appropriate
and useful to examine the vernaculars of the cities of Tuscany one by one, and
thus to burst the bubble of their pride. When the Florentines speak, they say
things like: 'Manichiamo, introcque che noi non facciamo altro' [Let's eat,
since there's nothing else to do]. The Pisans: 'Bene andonno li fatti de
Fiorensa per Pisa' [The business at Florence went well for Pisa]. The people of
Lucca: 'Fo voto a Dio ke ingrassarra eie lo comuno de Lucca' [I swear to God,
the city of Lucca is really in the pink]. The Sienese: 'Onche renegata avess'io
Siena. Chée chesto?' [If only I'd left Siena for good! What's up now?]. The
people of Arezzo: 'Vuo' tu venire ovelle?' [Do you want to go somewhere?].
I have no intention of dealing with Perugia,
Orvieto, Viterbo, or Città di Castello, because of their inhabitants' affinity
with the Romans and the people of Spoleto. [...]
If there is anyone who thinks that what I have
just said about the Tuscans could not be applied to the Genoese, let him
consider only that if, through forgetfulness, the people of Genoa lost the use
of the letter z, they would either have to fall silent for ever or
invent a new language for themselves. For z forms the greater part of
their vernacular, and it is, of course, a letter that cannot be pronounced
without considerable harshness.
[…] [As for] the language of Romagna, […] I say
that in this part of Italy are found two vernaculars which stand in direct
opposition to each other because of certain contradictory features. One of them
is so womanish, because of the softness of its vocabulary and pronunciation,
that a man who speaks it, even if in a suitably virile manner, still ends up
being mistaken for a woman. This is spoken by everybody in Romagna, especially
the people of Forlì, whose city, despite being near the edge of the region,
none the less seems to be the focal point of the whole province: they say
'deuscì' [God, yes!] when they wish to say 'yes'; and to seduce someone they
say 'oclo meo' [My eye] and 'corada mea' [My heart]. […] There is also another
vernacular, as I said, so hirsute and shaggy in its vocabulary and accent that,
because of its brutal harshness, it not only destroys the femininity of any
woman who speaks it, but, reader, would make you think her a man.
This is the speech of all those who say 'magarà'
[If only], such as the citizens of Brescia, Verona and Vicenza; and the Paduans
also speak like this, when they cruelly cut short all the participles ending in
tus and the nouns in tas, saying 'mercò' [traded] and 'bontè' [goodness]. Along
with these I will mention the people of Treviso, who, like those of Brescia and
their neighbours, abbreviate their words by pronouncing consonantal u as f,
saying 'nof' for 'nove' [nine] and 'vif' for 'vivo' [alive]. This I denounce as
the height of barbarism.
Nor can the Venetians be considered worthy of the
honour due to the vernacular for which we are searching; and if any of them,
transfixed by error, be tempted to take pride in his speech, let him remember
if he ever said ‘Per le plaghe di Dio tu no verras’. [By God's wounds, you
won't come]
Labels:
dante alighieri,
dante alighieri de vulgari eloquentia,
dantedì,
italian dialects,
italian literature,
steven botterill translator,
the best of dante alighieri,
tuscan wit

giovedì 20 febbraio 2020
Intervista ad Alessandro Lanucara
Ciao Alessandro, grazie per l’intervista e
complimenti per aver vinto il primo premio del concorso "Stanza
Svelata" organizzato da Leisure Spot! Come ti è venuta in mente l'idea per
la poesia “Mondo” ?
Ma grazie a chi ha
apprezzato il mio spartito! Ultimamente rifletto spesso sul ruolo del poeta. E
poi, sul poeta che slitta su un mondo che, imperterrito, gira e lo rigira. E
ancora, sulle mie spudorate solitudini. E ricordo bene che un giorno mi trovavo
nella sala d’attesa del mio dentista ed evidentemente lo stato d’apprensione e
titubanza, che mi portavo dietro in quegli interminabili minuti che precedevano
il mio turno di martirio, ha assecondato a dovere la mia frizzante vena (tutta
bollicine). Credo, inoltre, d’aver piluccato alcune briciole di Platone, nei
giorni precedenti la devastante estrazione dentale, e un paio di sassetti della
caverna del suo mito devono essermi rimasti addosso, tra i fili del maglione o
nel risvolto d’un calzino, o chissà dove. Comunque conservo alcuni dei miei
foglietti volanti e credo d’aver qui con me anche quello incriminato,
contenente la cellula impazzita da cui è nata la mia memorabile prima
classificata…il tempo di scovarlo…eccolo! Ci ritrovo una manciata di tratti confusi:
la parola “mondo”, campeggiante su in alto e ripetuta più e più volte, il
termine “isolotto”, qualche caverna sparsa qua e là (con scriventi annessi), da
ognuna delle quali emana diffusa invidia per il vicinato e, in coda, il ricordo
del mondo, “grande e tondeggiante”. Insomma, per farla breve, generalmente
butto giù un paio di frasette, piuttosto sconnesse (lo faccio in tram, dal
fruttivendolo, in trincea, dappertutto!) e poi cerco, pazientemente (nei
successivi giorni, anni o secoli), d’attutirne l’impudica oscenità.
In quale misura la tua formazione classica ha
influito sulla tua scrittura?
Credo, ahimè, poco o niente. Ricordo gli anni dei
miei studi con tormento, fragile, insicuro, distratto, disadattato, passivo
com’ero (e come sono?). Ciò che apprendevo lo traducevo in quel tanto che
bastasse a “sbrigar la pratica”, senza amore per l’apprendimento, per la
lettura, per l’arte, per la vita. Le mie indocili passioni le ho sviluppate
solo in seguito, per mio conto, forse per scampare alle mie noie abissali e
alimentare le mie voluttuose fantasie.
Quanto contano l’ispirazione e il lavoro di
limatura nelle tue opere?

Ci sono autori contemporanei o meno che hanno
inciso significativamente sulla tua scrittura?
Tutto ciò che leggo probabilmente incide, dal
“compagno di banco”, che sbircio su un’antologia o in rete, al “classico”, che
assaporo stravaccato in poltrona. Amo attaccarmi a un’immagine, o anche a una
sola parola, letta qua e là, e farci proliferare attorno un mio nuovo
scioglilingua: è uno dei miei passatempi preferiti. Ma, se parliamo d’influssi
significativi, non posso che citare De André e Garcia Lorca, Bob Dylan e
Baudelaire, Vasco e Leopardi, Paolo Conte e Pessoa. Fino ad arrivare, di coppia
in coppia, a quella che mi sta facendo compagnia in quest’ultimo tratto, formata
da Gaber e Whitman. La prossima sarà
magari composta da un rapper e un aedo ventenne, chissà!
Puoi raccontarci come sono nati i libri di poesia
che hai pubblicato finora?

Non ho link, siti web, canali sociali, pagine
promozionali da inserire: vivo tuttora sul mio isolotto, in caverna (la prima a
sinistra), a cellulare moribondo, invidioso di tutto e tutti.
Labels:
alessandro lanucara,
alessandro lanucara intervista,
alessandro lanucara poeta,
concorso stanza svelata,
platone caverna,
poesia italiana contemporanea

Iscriviti a:
Post (Atom)