I Acted With Manny Fried

I Acted with Manny Fried

(this news item posted on October.15.2005)

Okay. Well, maybe not really so much. But sort of.

Manny Fried is an acting icon here in Buffalo. But he is so much more than that. He is a union activist for more than 6 decades, he's a playright and noted actor, an author, and so on. Most importantly, he is a person who has fought for us all, at enormous personal cost to himself. He has been hounded by the FBI, blacklisted as an actor during the McCarthy "red menace" scare era, and had his family, friends and neighbors harrassed by our government.

Subversive Theatre is a really awesome local theatre collective that performs mind blowing and thought provoking works of theatre. For this, they charge no money, they ask for donations. Now and again they have something called a "Left Lunch" where they gather people and hope for support, contributions of time, money, dkills, energy and what have you.

So I just attended said event and they held a staged reading of a historical drama called "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been..." where Many Fried reprised his role as Lionel Stander. And not all of their actors showed up so they needed a stand in. And, so...

I got to read one line in a staged reading with Manny Fried. Not many people can say they've had the opportunity to act with Many Fried, so I'm gonna say it a lot.

Peace & Love,
-Alex

Make any New Friends

Make any new friends?

(this news item posted on September.09.2005)

Yeah, so this still isn't the Opus Photojournal entry yet. I'm still running frantically trying to catch up to my life. Soon.

Yesterday...

"Did you meet any new friends today?" asked my relatively new friend Alyssa in an IM yesterday. Prompted I'm sure by my last journal entry. I hadn't. I tried to explain about the law of averages. I tried to explain about how the day had been talking to my old friends (because, y'know, what kind of friend would I be if I wasn't interested in talking to you just because I already know ya?). I really don't think I made any new friends the day before yesterday either.

That was then...

Okay. So. Today started off working a new job. I immediately made a new coworker friend. Troy. And he told me all kinds of useful things about how to do my job. And stuff about what music is good to listen to. And then he told me a whole lot of stuff about his car that maybe I wasn't all that interested in. Point is, he's a cool guy. Glad to know him.

Okay, and then just now. Anna Walsh and I went to a place called CEM where a senior citizen poetry group was holding an open reading and I made SIXTEEN new elder friends!

That is FAN-FRICKIN-TASTIC!

And we shared poetry, and my new friend Nancy talked to me about compulsive cleaning and the loss of a parent and art and surrogate mothers from the community and how great Anna Walsh is and living in a place that becomes your family and everything.

Happy.

-Alex

Writing: Relations 2 - Chapter 4. 90%
Cool: Tossing around 90 lb tires.
Fastest truckload so far: N/A
Newest friend: Nancy
Priorities: Forms for new job, Resource book, Opus photo journal, catch up on snail mail, writing my favorite book ever.

Stat!

Stat!

(this news item posted on September.03.2005)

Getting things back:
tuesday: driver's license - expired 9 months ago
wednesday: highs and lows - been wandering too long
thursday: employment - quit my job to go wandering, now I have a good shot at better one
friday: hot water - had been 5 months without hot water (whatever)
saturday: see below

Meeting New Friends
wednesday: Jaquelin - new hot chocolate friend
thursday: Marcia & two ladies who's names I don't recall - new food co-op friends
friday: David - new basketball friend; John & Jae: New friends at the Soap Making House
saturday: Lana & Jolene: see below

Unfortunate Computations:
Okay, so assuming:
I continue to make 2.25 friends per day
Buffalo's population (currently around 290,000) continues to decline about 2,000 per year
I have around 1200 friends here presently
It would take me about 102 years to make friends with everyone in Buffalo
No wonder I always feel like I don't have enough time and feel rushed.
Of course this is an unscientific computation, because, well, as people
came to be friends with me they would be less inclined to leave.
Not actually. There's been no real evidence of that. Quite the contrary.
But. IF I WERE ABLE TO FREEZE MYSELF FOR 140 YEARS THEN... THEN it would only take 10 years to get to know the 10,000 or so remaining people.
But then my 1200 current friends would probably all be dead.
Man, I'll just never get to be friends with everyone in Buffalo unless I REALLY step it up.

welcome to below:
So I'm going to try to let go of all the people I can't be friends with and focus on some of the people I do get to be friends with. It really seems like Buffalo has been making a conscious effort to provide me with the things that I had at Opus that made me happy. It can't always provide me with the exact same quality of Opus' version, but it's been at least trying to give me a little something in every category.

For a while I thought I was imagining this, but it's really true. One thing that I was really missing about Opus was the ability to have a Polyamorous Identity Group and get together with other Poly people and talk about Polyamory and get to feel like I had some friends that could relate to me. And so, totally from out of the blue, someone on a POly website sent me an online message and told me to check the WNYPoly yahoo group and so I did and they were having a meetup. And we met up today and now I have two new Poly friends. Here in Buffalo. That's AMAZING!

So there can be no denying for me anymore that Buffalo's trying to give me everything I need to survive here. Today was a really good day to be here.

and finally for some stuff about water
So I wasn't really going to go to Summer Services at the UU church of Buffalo this year. But I wanted Birdie to get to see one so we went last week and saw one and it was cool.

I talked to the lady from the Social Justice Committee at UUCBuff for a minute and she asked me to come to church the following week (tomorrow) and wear blue and read a fact about water. This will be in advance of the Water Communion the following week (which I'll have to miss because I hope to be hanging out with Drew at the STLD Con).

So anyway, I was not thinking much of this whole reading a fact about water thing. Didn't seem to really fit in the grand scheme of things at the time. Then last night I went to dinner at the Soap Making house as I'm inclined to do some Friday nights. And Peter was there, as he often is on some Friday nights. And we talked a little but nothing much.

And THEN I ran into him again today at the food co-op and he looked upset. And so I stopped him and had him talk to me and he was TOTALLY PISSED OFF because the food co-op is still selling assloads of Evil Poland Springs water from the vile Nestle Corporation and they are not offering any alternatives even after as many letters as he's written and as many times as they've promissed they'll look into alternatives.

SO NOW IT ALL MADE SENSE. This whole thing is about how I'm supposed to take some time tonight and put in some more research about Nestle and Poland Springs so that the facts I deliver tomorrow at the UUCofBuff will have some really important things to say about water. And I will bring a lot of petitions with me so that we can get signatures and present a stack of them to the food co-op so that we can finally get some action on having those evil ass Nestle fuckers all over our co-op which SUPPOSEDLY aspires to embrace products that promote a friendly coexistence with the other citizens of the world. Yeah. So I need to go do that now.

Poland Springs = Perrier = Deer Park = San Pelligrino = Nestle = Evil ass exploiters of poor women everywhere = getting their asses sued by the state of Michigan for lowering the water tables = Nestle Suxs

My Writing... Is Like a Party.

My writing...is like a party.

(this news item posted on September.02.2005)

Bounceback Day:
Today (Thursday) was a bounceback day. Wednesday was not so hot; dreary and kinda sad. But today came roaring back.

I think that Jesse and I BOTH got really good jobs today. Yep, from 0 to 100% employment in one day for the Art Co-op. Time to start turning the ol place around.

Old friends, new friends, gold friends, blue friends:
It was nice to be back at the food co-op working some member hours. I'm running for the board again and I started my quiet campaign to any friends I ran into (and there were many). The food co-op is so cool. It's like "the Big Room" where you just go there and wait for your friends to show up, and are quite often surprised by which ones they are.

On Sunday there is a huge annual labor day activist gathering. And my friends Kevin and Emily are back in town for it and they breezed through the co-op today. Man, how I had missed them. And then I made at least two new friends working at the co-op today. People that I can't wait to talk to again.

Rawk!

Breakdance!:
At the co-op they play XM radio. Mildly pleasant. They were playing an 80s station. That song from the Breakin movie came on "Ain't no stoppin us... no one does it better" So I started breakdancing in the stock room. Maybe it's just the year that I was born, but I fail to see how people can refrain from breakdancing when this song comes on. To me it's automatic. I went out into the store to check to see if people were breakdancing. They weren't. I sang the song and did some breakdancing and nobody even looked my way. Like the Bee girl in the video except there was no field of bee people at the end. I need to get a copy of that song somehow.

Writing a really good book:
And the writing streak continues. In the last few years I wrote a book about my life. It's a great book and a book I still get excited about. But there's something about my novels, Relations, that's just even more exciting. If you read carefully and pay attention, these two books taken together, reveal much more about me than the book that I intentionally wrote to reveal everything about me. I am on book two of this two book series and today I tore into chapter four of this ten chapter book. I've written a bit less than half the chapter. It just keeps on taking me higher.

During my six months off from writing I wrote a very detailed outline for this book. I had imagined that I knew exactly how it was going to go.

WRONG!

I keep finding out more and more about the future every day, and the people in it are full of surprises. It's quite exciting. I can't seem to get my characters to sit still. They're all about to lose control and I think I like it.

Have you read the first book yet?
http://www.amprosoft.com/books/Relations

Touch Base

Touch Base

(this news item posted on August.18.2005)

Back in Buffalo for a few moments. We'll be taking off again and heading to Boston in a few hours.

Last night I got to have Wednesday dinner at the housing co-op for the first time in a few weeks (missed it for the 2nd and 3rd time due to being away at Opus). Was fun to spend some kid time with Bakti (I missed there being kids at Opus this year a lot).

Walking around the Elmwood Village yesterday felt odd. Suddenly all the people of Opus were gone and all the people from before were back. The MAP community center burned up while I was away and now the whole community's figuring out what to do about it. It really sucks.

Slowly but surely we're getting the Art Activists of Buffalo Community Co-op up and running. We'll have hot water when we get back from Boston. I got used to hot showers in Pennsylvania & Iowa.

As of August I've started part 2 of Relations, my futurefiction novel. Chapter 1 is finished and is about as good as I could have hoped for. Hope to have chapter 2 done by the time I get back from Boston.

Not having to go to work has been nice this month. Still not totally sure what I'll be doing for income when I get back. Plenty of time to think about that.

Spending time with HeatherK, blissful as always. Seeing so many women that I adore and meeting more new ones at Opus was indescribably wonderful. Sad that next year is my last Opus.

Oh well. For now, life is good.

be Peace,
-Alex

ch-ch-ch-changes

ch-ch-ch-changes

(this news item posted on July.30.2005)

  In a little while I will put on the polyester suit one last time. Ride my bike 6 miles to work one last time. Work one last shift with my buddy Richard. And then I will be a security guard no more.

  Feels very liberating. At the same time, I have no assurances that I have a job when I get back from Opus. Scary enough.

  I thought Richard and I were working together last night but instead my friend/boss traded shifts with him and so we probably won't get as close to the end of my autobniography (which we're reading together) as I thought. We'll just do what we can I guess.

  And then... on monday I get to head toward Opus. I get to see HeatherK for the first time in a bazillion years (my own fault, really) and the whole Opus family. I can't even imagine what kind of wonderful things are going to happen this year, but it's fun to try.

  And here, on the home front... the most amazing things of all are happening. HeatherM (birdie) has come to visit and see about joining our Art Community. In the short time she's been here this house has changed so much. She has made this place --really the interactions between the humans (and kitties) in this place-- a thousand times better. We actually talk now. Do things together. She has brought us way out of her shell, not through any conscious action perhaps, but her presense has been very transforming.

  Tomorrow may be the day where we bring the Art Activists of Buffalo Community Cooperative into existance... no longer just an idea... suddenly a location, entity, feeling, presense.

  It is an exciting time to be alive here in this place. Here, there is limitless potential.

  Art like your life depends on it.

  be back in three weeks (or so)

be love,
-Alex

Feeling Humans

(this news item posted on July.24.2005)

So last year I wrote an eBook called How to Care About Humans. And this year I wrote a novel and I'm about to write a second part to that novel so I've been fairly well immersed in the characters, plot and promotion of that novel.

A few months ago I got a new coworker named Richard and we have lots of fun reading my books together. We really had some great discussions while reading the novel so after we were finished I was looking for something else to read and we started reading Humans (which is my autobiography).

It has been a really, really enjoyable experience. I hadn't read the book in about a year and I had forgotten how I much of it goes. Richard likes to form really strong opinions on everything so he's the ultimate reading partner. I only have one last week of working there (and we only work together two days a week) so we're trying to cram as much reading in as we can and discussing a little bit less. We're through chapter 14 out of 19 so this week we'll see how much of the rest (the Heather chapters) we can get through.

He's very adamant about what a wonderful person Dawn is. And she is. But it's odd because they've never met face to face (that I know of) and he feels so strongly about it all.

We've read a lot about our boss who's also been my friend since high school. That's probably a unique perspective to get about your boss.

It's amusing the hushed tones with which we read about *gasp* porn/erotica.

As I'm rereading it, I become more fully aware of how much more Mikey and Jim are supposed to be in it. And Bryan. Seems like I've managed to underemphasize many of my major friendships.

Last night I read the portion that spoke of my mother's death. I had no idea how hard that was going to be. I don't read it often. It was just as hard to read as it was to write.

A lot has happened to me in my kookie little life span. I did a pretty good job of writing about it.

I'm impressed.

be Peace,
-Alex

Photojournal: Spearhead Show

me





the radiant ms Christina





Spearhead





Michael Franti











Carl





big summer classic little baby





We were drawing on the sidewalk with a cool newlywed lady that stopped by





Until security stopped us. They were trying to explain to us how the people in the office building were going to be harmed by the chalk picture I was drawing on the sidewalk that would have said "Hug like there's NO Tomorrow!" if I'd have gotten to finnish it. So we went down a ways and I drew one more quick one.



Photos by Alex & Christina

The Gifts You Give

The Gifts You Give...

I'm not sure what the athiest equivelent of blessed would be. I just seems like I give of myself as best I can and the world gives back.

My co-worker, Richard, gives me an eager, enthusiastic ear whenever I read my books to him. Right now we're half way through my autobiography. I told him I was leaving the job last night. He told me he was going to be depressed if I wasn't there. The all night reading/discussion sessions will be a memorable gift for us both.

My roommate, Jesse, gave me some money toward the rent. That gave me enough to get some food. Sweet.

My fellow Spearit, Kelly, from the Michael Franti and Spearhead website gave me two FREE tickets to go see Michael Franti and Spearhead!! UNREAL!

My homeboy, Jason, from the Mass Ave community center is giving me a ride to the show out there in Rochester in exchange for one of the tickets.

The kids at the basketball court behind the Mass Ave community center are giving me some good competition, in turn, giving me a strong healthy body and much joy.

The rotation of the Earth is giving me Opus again. Can't wait to feel Opus again. Can't wait to see Heather, and the other Heathers, and the other others. It's the most wonderful time of the year.

In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.

be Love,
-Alex

Premier Party

First theing that went wrong with our book premier party for Invisible Fire is that the books didn't arrive on time and so we had no copies of the books to sell. :o(

Second thing that went wrong is that I've had almost no time to put into promoting our book premier party.

First thing that went right with our book premier party is that Anna spent all kinds of time these last weeks promoting our book premier party. She's so sincerely authentic! She made up hand written leaflets on Chinese paper and distributed them all over.

Second thing that went right was that Anna and I have made friends that love us and a bunch of them showed up for our reading.

Third thing that went right is that the poetry in our book is so awesome that giving a good reading with the poetry that's there is as easy as falling off a truck.

Which lead to the fourth thing, that we have a lot of pre-orders for when the book comes in on Wednesday.

Yay!

-be Peace,
-Alex

Almost Famous

Yeah. So. I'm not a celebrity or anything. But I find it nice being "kind of" known.

I went on the radio last week to promote my new book that's coming out. And in order to make going on the radio easier, I always manage to convince myself that no one at all is listening. It always genuinely surprises me when someone says "I heard you on the radio." My initial internal reaction is always "But I thought no one was listening."

Then yesterday I went to go help Judy Einach collect petition signatures at the Thursday in the Square free-concert series that happens here in Buffalo. I wasn't doing a very good job of it and suddenly Maria Sebastian, a friend of mine from high school, was taking the stage and playing. I've seen her in concert a few times and she rocks so I stopped and went up front and watched. I went over to the merch table to get a copy of her CD single and while I was there, three adorable little girls ran up to me and asked if I was the guy that did that thing at Ralph Nader.

That was so cool. I am indeed the guy that did the thing at the Ralph Nader thing. And they told me that they thought it was really good. So that was my almost famous moment of the day, and that caught me completely off guard also.

be Peace,
-Alex

Pay me Later

Kinda neat how life just pretty much works out for me. About an hour ago I was figuring out how I was going to turn $2 or $3 into some food. I have to work tonight so I needed to get at least a little bit to eat at work.

The food co-op is one of the nerve centers of the Art Activists community here in Buffalo. Often when I go there I will manage to sell a copy of my book, so since I needed some money for food I was cautiously hopeful that I might sell a book there tonight.

Even better though, I ran into my friend Helene who I'd given a book to on a Pay-me-Later basis. I've been so eager to have the book read that I've got a lot of books out there that way. And it just seems like those people run into me and pay me when I really need it most. It's kinda neat.

And the same thing is happening at a somewhat slower pace with loaned books for people to read. People are starting to return them and talk about how much they've enjoyed the book.

So I really appreciate my community that actually does pay me later and will read a book and give it back.

I'm gonna go eat now.

Book... boook... booook... GOOSE!

Alright. So I've been enjoying some not-quite-so-stressful time. Been spending time with really good friends, including ones I haven't seen in quite a while. Been selling quite a few books (which is a good thing because I ordered a lot for my book reading and so I have a lot left over still). Been working on getting the websites I've designed back up to their potential.

Oh, yeah. And one other thing...

Been workin on A NEW BOOK!

Yeah. Still think of the current book as my new book, but actually Anna Walsh and I are very close to having a NEW new book. Called The Poetry of Anna Walsh and Alex Mead: Invisible Fire. I have been reading it a LOT as I've been working on it and I have to say I am just all kinds of proud of us. Our stuff is awesome.

It will be nice to have a less intimidating book to sell. People look at the thickness of my novel and think of how busy they are and shy away. Our little poetry book will be nice, thin, inviting, POWERFUL.

Can't wait!

be Peace,
-Alex

T'was a pretty good event...

My first booksigning ever. Went pretty well. Had an old 716BBser show up, then a few activist friends, and some people I didn't really know and a few more activist friends and it was a good group. Too bad it was so hot yesterday. Overall, the event could'a been better, could'a been worse. Had some fun reading and talking about the book and talking a little bit about the next book.

However, I bought a lot of copies for this book event and I didn't happen to sell a lot of copies... so... Let's talk. What do I gotta do to get you to buy a book. Or just read the book? You need a discounted copy? They're all already signed and numbered, but I'll write a special inscription to whomever you like. And draw on it. Whatever you like. I'll call you on the phone and read it to you in person. You think I won't? You live in biking distance? I'll bring it to your house.

And seriously. For my Opus people. My UUYANs. What can I do to get more of you to get my book and to read my book? I'm grateful to the three of four OpusFolks that have bought my book, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting a bit more than that. There's a whole OpusLike Chapter in the book.



How many other sci-fi books will you ever have a chance to read that have you in it? I promise you. If you read chapters 1 through 7, and then you get to chapter eight, chapter eight will be like pure joy. Easily worth the cost in terms of entertainment, information and enjoyment. The book's got a chalice as a focal point on the cover --for YOU.

Anyone who just wants to read it, I can give you a supercheap eBook version (online access), and if anyone wants to borrow a copy library style, lets just figure out the shipping. I have copies laying around that will take a while to sell through.

In all honesty I will be a very sad person if the first day of Opus rolls around and Hether is the only one who's read my book. Do you want me to be sad? Seriously.

Let me know how we can make it happen.



-Alex

Tomorrow Night...

Okay, this is it. Tomorrow night is my first in-store book event. I've talked it up on the radio, I've put leaflets on cars, hung flyers on bulletin boards, Talking Leaves bookstore has put up notices all over the store and in the ArtVoice local indie weekly. So, all that's left is to show up and read tomorrow.

It's been a good week of selling the book. I had hit a slump and then all of a sudden I sold a couple at dinner co-op last week. Then the next day I went out to visit a book club on Grand Island and read my book to a really cool group of ladies (retired school teachers and nurses and such) and we had a really good time with the book. Then I had a few people hand me money that owed me money for the book (kind of like a pay me when you have it kind of deal and they happened to have it). Then I sold a copy at work. It's been a really nice week like that.

But best of all has been reading the book to my new coworker Richard. He's an older Italian guy and the book has been prompting these really amazing discussions. And we got to the part in the book with the Eric Davis speech and he was moved nearly to tears, and I hadn't even read it as passionately as I usually do, but he was really very affected by it.

Anyway, I love this book. I love reading it to people. Hopefully, tomorrow, I will get to read it to a lot of people.

Buy my Book

be Peace,
-Alex

All night source code sessions

All night source code sessions

(this news item posted on June.02.2005)

Well, I was right. This week had no choice but to get better. This has been a pretty good week. Performing at MAP Open Mic was pretty fun. Community dinners have had really cool people to talk to this week. Work hasn't even been so bad lately. But the best news of all has been...

...Programming.

Well, what can I say? I'm a programmer. Or at least that what that college degree things says. I haven't had a really good programming week or constructed anything particularly compicated since... since... I guess the last one would be when I wrote the Shared Calendar Project software. And that wasn't quite as complex as what I've been writing.

For the last week (when I haven't been asleep from being really ill) I have been burried in source code and programming manuals. I've been furiously scrawling notes on papers and humming to myself while I've tackled complex logic problems. The end result is that I have finally engineered the software that will help many of the local non-profits and social justice organizations to update their own websites. The software that in some cases I promissed them one and two years ago. The software that I started writing as soon as I was done writing the shared calendar project and which has, in all honesty, been at the top of my priority list that whole time --Hey, can I help it if I'm kinda flighty and scattered and sometimes I have to drop everything and write a couple books or organize stuff or join roving bands of performance poets? I mean there are a bajillion things that we have to do to fight the power and I find that I usually have to do all of them.

But I digress. Or if I haven't digressed, I'm sure I meant to at some point. Okay, so I was talking about the fact that I'm finally finishing. I had promissed the directory of the WNY Peace Center that it was all but done (yet again) more than a month ago. And it was. And I got clobbered with sidetrackitis again. But finally I had some software ready to roll yesterday. So I got really excited. And called him. And he's out of town doing some peace stuff or something. D'oh! But PaxChristiWNY and a few others are having it rolled out to them this morning.

So, trust me, this is very exciting software. I can't show it to you or you'd be able to change everybody's websites. But the even better news is that so much of this code can be dropped directly into so many of the other programs I need to write. Like how about that upgrade of BBS software that I've been promissing on 716BBS.com for four years for example? So, yeah, lots of my websites are about to get a lot better. And I'm enjoying being a programmer again for a while.

be Peace,
-Alex

Wellness...

(this news item posted on May.27.2005)

First things first:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYAN!!!
My good friend Bryan (Drake) is more than 30 today *sniffle* they grow up so fast.

In other news... man do I feel crappy. I've spent 36 of the last 48 hours asleep. When I did try to get up and walk around I almost passed out. I worked all week long to get to my "weekend" (thursday and friday) and then I spent most of it asleep. And there were important things that I was hoping to get to on my days off. I wanted to get work done on the poetry book I'm working on with Anna Walsh. And I wanted to get a lot of work done on the software I'm writing to allow all of my clients to FINALLY be able to update their websites. (I did actually get a lot of work done on that in the last four hours despite my feeling so under the weather.)

Before this week I was really feeling like I was on a roll. All of my performances were going well and I was starting to catch up to things. That Malcolm X dance party thing last week went..well...bad, and I've taken a lot of time out this week to work on my house and my cats and...well...sleeping in near delierium.

So next week can't help but be better no?

be Peace
-Alex

Upcoming Appearances...

and other difficult-to-spell words.

(this news item posted on May.16.2005)

So I had someone tell me that I was frustrating them by only posting about events that were over with. So, by popular (well not really "popular" per se, but let's pretend) demand, here are some upcomming events -- Before they happen even! If you're in Western New York, mark these in your day planner.:

On Friday May 20th, the Buffalo War Resisters' League will be celebrating the national shut down of recruiting stations for ethics training. Here in Buffalo there will be a celebration from 4 to 6pm and yours truly will be rappin and doing my thing.

On Saturday, May 21st, I will forego sleep entirely in order to make it to the Malcolm X dance part for Hip Hop week. There will be awesome DJ Mark Webb spinning tunes, there will be live recordings of Malcolm X playing all through the night, and you'll want to show up on time because I will be break dancing for the cause before heading off to work that night. See the calendar for more details (time & location)

And don't forget that early next month I have an in-store book event at Talking Leaves Main Street for Relations: McEmpire. That's on June 9th and should be a great time.

Okay. So I'm already really tired and now it's time for me to go to work. Such is life.

Youth for Youth

(this news item posted on May.13.2005)

Last night I performed at the Youth for Youth benefit. The young kids at Nichols High School threw a fund raiser for the Mass Ave Project and the Compass House emergency youth shelter, and I did a bunch of rapping and some break dancing while my friend Kirk did some beatboxing.



Bout 150 people in the crowd. Lots of young kids. They really dig the rap music.

Full Gallery = http://www.amprosoft.com/Gallery/misc/May13

be Peace,
-Alex

Back In The Dayz

(this news item posted on May.11.2005)

Hello again,

This'll be a very nostalgic entry. I've been doing a lot of things that have to do with archiving the past lately:

Back in the 1990s I used to burn the midnight oil calling BBSs. It was sort of like the internet before the internet (and it was a bit more local). There was a kind of primitive artistry back on the BBSs called ANSi art and I had written some software to help create ANSi art and it was pretty popular. Earlier today I placed a bunch of my old ANSi art in a gallery on my website. It's kind of fun to look at the old modem speeds and capabilities and such. Click here to check it out.

While I was at it I also added a gallery of Ray Tracing art and a gallery with some of my drawings.

And I've updated the AiV page on my website to include a lot more of my websites. There's plenty of fun stuff to poke around.

And then I also found a bunch of old posts and I used them to extend my journal on AMProSoft.com back a little further into the past.

So that there's plenty of nostalgia for now. I'm glad to finally have gotten to my weekend (Thursday and Friday are my days off from work), and hopefully I can get caught up on some of my work backlog on my days off from work.

be Peace,
-Alex

Can't Stop the Bumrush!

(this news item posted on May.05.2005)

Finally: Out from behind them damn glasses

Took me about 6 months of saving up, but I finally got some new contact lenses. Really nice to be able to see people again. And things. Yeah. Havin fun looking at people and things now that I can see.

McEmpire eBook

My latest Novel is now available as an online book! Click the PayPal button that's half way down this page and join the paperless society. Read my book for just $9.00 online.

More Performing

I spoke too soon about being done with performing for a while. Check the Calendar if you're here in Western New York. I'll be doing some fun stuff in the days ahead.

Oh! And that reminds me... Talking Leaves Books on main street is going to be having an in-store event featuring ME on June 9th at 7pm. I feel so authorly now. Talking Leaves' Main Street location also has copies of the new version of the book. The latest edition of McEmpire has larger type so it won't give you eye strain. Each copy of the book in your local book store is signed and numbered (and if you wanna know a secret, Rust Belt Books has some copies with some REALLY low numbers, sure to be a collectors item some day since they were the first to start selling it).

Mass Ave

The Mass Ave Project open mic was all kinds of fun last night. We're still trying to find that balance. April had too many performers and not enough audience and I felt like I barely got a chance to perform. This month there was lots of audience and not many performers so I ended up performing too much. We're gonna get it together. First wednesdays' open mics at Mass Ave are not to be missed. Start making plans now for June.

And at the Mass Ave Co-op community dinner tonight I got a lot of basketball in. I feel like I am in really good shape. Running around is fun. Aside from all the poverty, and not getting to see Heather much, life is really good I must say.

be Peace,
-Alex

Run Judy! Run!

(this news item posted on May.02.2005)

Let me start off by saying congratulations to my friend Judy Einach who is running for mayor here in Buffalo, New York. The media likes to minimize and marginalize her candidacy, but Channel 7 news and WKBW radio both included her name in their web polls last Friday, and --Surprise! Surprise!-- Judy won both polls. In honor of our exciting poll results, I've added a Judy4Mayor button here on the AMProSoft website.

Last Thursday, me and ice9 performed at something called Poets Against Discrimination. I was breathing a sigh of relief and thinking that I don't have any performances lined up for quite a while, but actually, looking at the AMPro calendar, I see that I have another performance coming up in a couple fridays. Not to mention that the MAP Open Mic is a couple days away.

A new version of my new novel Relations: McEmpire just came out. It's available online by clicking the link and it's available here locally at Talking Leaves books on Main Street. AND...speaking of which... I have an in store book reading event coming up at Talking Leaves on Main Street on June 9th, 2005. AND, I hope to have copies of my previous book, How to Care About Humans, available on paper for the first time at that event. (Thus far it's only been available as an online book.)

be Peace,
-Alex

Meeting Chuck D!

Meeting Chuck D!

(this news item posted on April.28.2005)

   
    It wasn't until I actually got to Buffalo State that I realized I had forgotten my camera. Damn! I left it on the recharging stand. I had rushed to get there just in case it was going to sell out or something. I was plenty early, it didn't sell out and I'd have had plenty of time to double check to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything if I'd have been thinking. Oh well. I forgot it, that's life. I got my ticket, I saw Baba Simba and so I went to go talk to him for a while and I ended up giving him a copy of Relations (that's my new novel).

    Chuck D spoke for a long time. He's a marathoner. He spoke a lot about many of the things that are in his latest T-Dome. He said "I can talk all day," and it was obvious from watching the audience that we could listen all day. So that's what we did. Chuck ended up staying until late in the evening. And then he took questions (for quite a while). And then when he was done he just sat down on the front of the stage and started talking to people and taking pictures and such.

    I guess I'm just echoing what I've heard from anyone I know who's ever met him, but he really is a fine example of humanity's potential. If I ever acheive any level of notariety, it is my hope that I comport myself in much the same way.


    If I would have remembered my camera I would have had him hold a copy of my book and start a gallery of famous people holding my book or something (I got a picture of Nader holding my book when I opened for Patti Smith and Ralph Nader a couple weeks ago) but since I'd forgotten my camera I just stood around and connected with a lot of the people that I hadn't seen in a while. There were a whole lot of people there who had been influenced by the Public Enemy phenominon. (Quick shout and some linkage to DeepThinkaRecords who sat on the front row across the aisle from me). There were dozens of people who seemed like they really needed to talk to him. And while I wanted to talk to him if it seemed like there's be time at the end, I was content to defer to the people that seemed like they needed to talk to him. But then as the night was winding down Baba Simba was making everyone he knew pose with Chuck D for a picture. And so he instructed me to go stand next to Chuck D so he could take my pictures. Who am I to argue with the elders right? Baba says go stand next to Chuck D, you go stand next to Chuck D. So I introduced myself and told him about when I was a freshman at Buff State in 1988 and what P.E. had meant to us all. I told him that I was GreenEarthAl on the EnemyBoard and that I had been one of the first to wish him a happy fortieth some years back. I told him about my book and offered him a copy. He seemed interested in it and so I bookmarked the page that mentions Public Enemy (with a BrainRap.com flyer) and he told me that he would read it and that I should contact him to go on his Air America weekend radio show that's coming up this spring. So, um, yeah. I will definately do that if that opportunity is there. So, yeah, that was pretty memorable. And Simba has a picture of it somewhere.


    In other news, I've had a really productive morning. I got BrainRap.com back online after months of absense from the web. I got a new edition of my book completed and up online ready to be ordered by folks. With the new, bigger type it's much easier to read. And now, I have about 4 hours to get ready and head on over to the Langston Hughes because I have to do some rapping of my own at "Poets Against Descrimination."


be Peace,
-Alex

Conquering Fear in a Year

(this news item posted on April.25.2005)

Here in Buffalo, NY there are two really cool poets, Celia White and Joe Todaro, and they organize an event called Urban Epiphany. Urban Epiphany is a gathering of poets (of all different levels of experience) and gives them each two minutes to read. It is an awesome event and has a lot of really good energy.

One year ago I went to Urban Epiphany to see my friend Anna Walsh read (we have a book of poetry coming out soon, keep a look out for it). And it was a lot of fun to watch and I so wanted to go up and read. I wasn't signed up to read, but it was possible to go up to Celia and Joe and get an open reader slot. I spent a couple hours trying to work up the courage to talk to them about getting a slot and I wasn't able to do it. I had one poem of mine memorized well enough that I could recite it, but I was afraid I would freeze or forget the words. Any time I thought about approaching the sign up sheet my heart would start pounding in my chest. Eventually I had to run and do some activist stuff and I had not signed up or read.

Oh what a difference a year makes. I have bunches of things memorized because I perform quite often to pretty big audiences. This year I was really excited to see Anna read again, but also about half of the poets there were poets that I know and like and have enjoyed seeing in the past. And the performance poetry group that has recently welcomed me in, ice9, was there and we read as a block (somewhat coincidentally) and we really rule.

I performed "Ugly American" and "Be Peace" again not only because those are the ones I've needed to perform lately, but also because they seemed right for this audience. And the audience really liked it.

Also, my buddy Mikey didn't like it that you couldn't find the lyrics to the things I was performing in the galleries on the AMProSoft website here, so I have started adding some lyrics here and there. Here's Ugly American