Sir Hanley, I'm Sorry.

Not gonna post my blog assignment for Tuesday on time. Maybe I'll have it for tomorrow. Was busy all weekend. Just got back from school right now. Then these fools at work got me working 7-10pm tonight and 6am-1pm tomorrow. P-p-p-please don't give me a ✔-...

It's like I missed a shot, it's like I dropped the ball...

Worst song ever?

Project Development... Updated.

        So, I have decided to change up my approach to this Project Development thing. As long as I don't change my mind again, I am most likely going to make an expansion on my YouTubing Whitman project. In that project, I edited a video, placed one of my songs underneath, and recited Whitman lines on top. Through that project, I tried to create a new lens in which to view Whitman's poetry by way of visual media. Now, I'd like to create a new lens to view the Whitman poetry by transforming Whitman's verse into rap verse, and use his own colors to create a new painting.. I'd like to go into the Calamus poems, dig up lines that I can transform, add to, and subtract from, and create a song. I will take creative liberties while I do, cuz, you know...
    
        I will extract the CONTENT from the poetics of Whitman's lines, and then place the content back into a different poetic form. Sometimes, I will rip the lines right out of the poem, and stick them straight into the song. I will post my lyrics side by side with the Calamus poems/lines I adapted them from, to show what meanings and sentiments I derive from his poetry. I will also post the audio of the song on my blog once I'm done as well. My friend has a ghetto studio with a real vocal microphone, i.e. one that doesn't blow up and distort whenever you say a word with the letter "P" in it. Hopefully I can get him to hook me up. Otherwise, it will be recorded on my really bad microphone. My bad.

        I don't rap, but just this once, I will. My voice doesn't have much range, so I will probably sound like something in between the monotone stylings of Guru (from Gang Starr) and Evidence (from Dilated Peoples). On these songs here, both of the rappers I named had the benefit of having my producer-hero DJ Premier lace them with a dope-ass beat and scratches. I won't have that luxury, but I hope it comes out decent, because I am picky as hell when it comes to my Hip-Hop, and I will hate myself if it comes out wack. Real talk.

Rest in Peace, Guru.

Microphone check, 1, 2.

Tweet-A-Week: Peter Doyle

Peter Doyle was this one dude that Whitman loved. According to Doyle, as documented in the Whitman Archive online, their first meeting was like this:

While a passenger one evening on Doyle's horsecar, the 45-year old Whitman met the 21-year old conductor. Doyle described their first encounter:

You ask where I first met him? It is a curious story. We felt to each other at once. I was a conductor. The night was very stormy,—he had been over to see Burroughs before he came down to take the car—the storm was awful. Walt had his blanket—it was thrown round his shoulders—he seemed like an old sea-captain. He was the only passenger, it was a lonely night, so I thought I would go in and talk with him. Something in me made me do it and something in him drew me that way. He used to say there was something in me had the same effect on him. Anyway, I went into the car. We were familiar at once—I put my hand on his knee—we understood. He did not get out at the end of the trip—in fact went all the way back with me. I think the year of this was 1866. From that time on we were the biggest sort of friends (Bucke, 23).

I wanted to make sure to read the Calamus poems before writing this entry, as I figured to relate Peter Doyle to Walt Whitman was to know what the Calamus poems were all about. Whitman's job was that he was a writer. As a writer, he was drawn towards the life of "roughs" especially. Peter Doyle was one of these roughs. Peter worked as Blacksmith's helper in a Navy Yard at a time in his life, as well as a conductor when Walt met him, among other things. Whitman could romanticize these 'roughs,' and Peter could be seen as the 'rough' who became Whitman's close companion, friend, muse, and romantic partner.

"For a time, Whitman had even taken up the carpenter's craft that his father had taught to Walt and the other Whitman boys." -Peter the Great: Biography of Peter Doyle by Martin G. Murray.


Though Whitman was a writer, Peter connected Whitman to this life of a rough, which Whitman seemed to want to be more of a part of (as he previously was through connection from his family and his own foray in the world of carpentry). This may have led to some initial attraction and some good conversation between the two men, but at the end of the day, they ended up becoming great friends and lovers. Some poems in the Calamus cluster bring up the image of the Calamus, a plant that has a part that looks like a ding-a-ling. Other poems explore manly love, especially in the form of physical, sexual love, speaking of bodies intertwined with each other as if it was the only way a man could be happy. Other poems sound like love songs you might hear anywhere on the radio, only they mention that the love is between two men (which is something you wouldn't hear much on the radio, unless you listen to a very, very alternative station). Those poems which only focus on the love are very romantic and sweet, speaking of a longing for a "friend," a best friend, whose companionship brings true happiness. For Walt Whitman, Peter Doyle was that friend.

When I typed 'ding-a-ling' in this post to describe the calamus, I remembered this song, which got heavy play on hip-hop radio back in 1998. I was 10 years old then. I had no business listening to this song. It's almost as freaky as Whitman. That hook is kinda classic though, no?

*I recommend not clicking on the song. I got off home from work at 1am, have yet to sleep, and my mind is lacking its best judgement, I'm sure.*

Project Development

I kinda wanted to look at some more of Whitman's peers, but at the same time, I didn't. Then I also wanted to look at more examples of Whitman in Mass Media, but at the same time, I didn't. I was wondering if I could do a project that in a way combines elements from those two projects (but at the same time, is a bit different)? What I had in mind is looking for a few of Whitman's peers, not in terms of time/place/artform, but in terms of an artist who directly claims Whitman as a heavy influence and creates art as a 'peer' of Whitman in terms of his 'realm of style' (and I wouldn't dwell on any of the poets/artists who are involved in our teaching project). After finding a few artists who state they are directly influenced, I wanted to look at what exactly they took from Whitman's influence (free-form? romantic aspects? ideas of interconnectedness? language? democratic ideals?) I wanted to build on the other 'Whitman's Peers' post by showing Whitman influence that is direct and stated, and this idea comes from the fact that one of my 'Whitman In Mass Media' entries directly stated Whitman as an influence. What I really hope to find is a few artists I don't know much about, and examining their art to find what they borrow from Whitman, which might also show me what certain things people notice the most about Whitman.

"B*tches in Bookstores"

1:23- "Watch me spit, classic lit, epic poems that don't rhyme."

She's obviously talking about Whitman, yo.
 
(She's actually talking about The Iliad, but you can tell she wanted to say Leaves of Grass.)

I'm J.K. Rowling

Tweet-A-Week: Martin F. Tupper

        Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810-1889) was a dude. He wrote poetry, and notably wrote Proverbial Philosophy, A Book of Thoughts and Arguments, which was a book about thoughts and arguments. He dropped knowledge over the pages, while other authors just clumsily spilled knowledge (I stole that one from Immortal Technique). Why do I say he dropped knowledge instead of spilled? He wrote the book in prose, but not necessarily sticking to any traditional poetry form either. He wrote in what would today be called free-verse, which is what Whitman liked to do as we've seen in Leaves of Grass. He was a bit of a pioneer in that sense and no doubt influenced writers of the future.(Whitman called him "a rare man of our time.")

        In a contemporary review of Whitman's 1860/1861 version of Leaves of Grass, one reviewer notes:

Can it be possible that Mr. Tupper's "Proverbial Philosophy" has inspired Mr. Walt Whitman with the idea of his Leaves? We have most of us probably heard and read of persons who solved mathematical problems or composed poetry while asleep; and we think it just possible that the author of "Proverbial Philosophy" may unconsciously, while suffering from a fit of the nightmare, have had something to do with the composition of these American Leaves. At least we trace in them some wild fantastic resemblance to his style; such as to make us pretty sure that Mr. Whitman has occasionally "tasted the simple store and rested one soothing hour" with the English poetaster whose words we quote.

        The reviewer notes how similar the writing styles are, and finishes the review by saying that "Sense, grammar, and metre are but very minor parts in the composition of poetry; but nevertheless, pace Walt Whitman, poetry cannot exist without this humble triad."

He's basically saying poetry needs sense, grammar, and meter in order to exist.

Walt and Martin's response?:

You know which one Whitman be!

Specimen Days: Home-Made Music

        In this entry, Whitman speaks not of an event, but of an experience. The setting of his journal entry is one where he is spending the night among the wounded soldiers. He hears singing, and decides to leave the side of the soldier he was accompanying for a moment, as he was asleep anyway. He gets closer to the music, and takes a seat by another wounded soldier, a Brooklyn friend. As he sits there watching the singers, and making sure his wounded friend can also see the singers, he has a beautiful experience. He realizes that even though these singers don't sing as great as the pro singers in the New York opera house, and weren't performing complex musical compositions, he enjoyed himself as much as if he were in the opera house watching the most grand of performances. He notices the way the wounded soldiers watched in silence, and how their attitudes changed upon witnessing the performance, and that the whole thing "was a sight to look around upon again and again."
        Whitman knows what he's talking about. Life is about experience. It's not about how much money you spend for the experience or where the experience is. What matters is what you take from the experiences life gives you. Lots of times, the experiences we remember most are not remembered solely for an event, but everything that accompanied the event, like the smells, sights, emotions, and company. Not every single thing has to be perfect for everything to be perfect... if that makes sense.
        Whitman could hang with the high-culture cats and the low-culture cats. Here, he is down with the low-culture, enjoying some pure entertainment in good company. He could have paid little attention to the whole experience though. A lot of times, the experience you have can just depend on your attitude towards things. I could listen to a CD of my favorite music and get lost in the sounds, but in the same way, I can also listen to my favorite vinyl records and get lost in the music as well. Beyond the hiss, cracks, and static you hear on a vinyl record, a very beautiful experience is to be had. Once, I was making some music, sampling off an old record, and my old roommate told me that he liked what I was making, but that I should get rid of "all the static" because he didn't think it sounded good. I realized he had a completely different perception of that static than me. Whenever I hear static on a record, I never hear imperfections, I hear history. And to me, it is as important of a piece of the experience as any other.
        When Whitman writes about the people, places, and experiences in Leaves of Grass, he often lifts them up from their perceived normality into a state of beauty. He can write about a farmer and treat the subject as if he were majestic. Like I said. Whitman knows what he's talking about. Whitman could pierce into the souls of things and find the beauty underneath any rough surface. Even in my music tastes, my favorite singers all have the roughest voices. I still think Eric Burdon from The Animals is one of the best singers ever. He laid some beautiful soul on those tracks. Doesn't matter how rough the voice was, it was beautiful. I can't even listen to the radio. Everything sounds too clean. I'm stuck on singers from the 60s. There's realness in the rough. Whitman saw that. I love to look for it. It's finding lessons in mistakes. It's finding character in scars. It's knowing that the girl with some imperfections is actually way more attractive than the one that looks like a supermodel. It's knowing that the wrinkles in your clothes just means you actually did some shit while you were wearing them. It's knowing that an amateur musical performance in a room full of wounded soldiers can actually be the most breathtaking experience. You know.

beautiful.