Page 10 The Evening Bulletin Wednesday, 28 September, 2005 CULTURE b POETRY TELEVISION Building The Archives Mrs. President PENN PROFESSORS BUILD A DIGITAL ARCHIVE OF POETRY PERFORMANCES AND READINGS GEENA DAVIS STARS AS FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT IN ABC’S ‘COMMANDER IN CHIEF’ Bernstein Hopes People Will Rethink Role Of Live Readings Awkward Series Could Find Its Footing Down The Line By DAVID BLUM By NICHOLAS GILEWICZ ously called “Mac,” “Ma’am,” and Writer Rod Lurie created last THE EVENING BULLETIN “Madam President”) served as a season’s quirky and terrific crime ith the arrival of member of Congress and the drama Line of Fire for ABC; he has lite universities have a rep- Commander in Chief on chancellor of a major university great storytelling talent, and an utation, often deserved, of WABC, the United States before Teddy Roosevelt Bridges ear for vivid and powerful dia- disengaging from the of America will have three presi- asked her to be his running mate; logue. Perhaps the pressure from E dencies to follow — the Jed communities that surround once she became vice president — ABC to develop another hit them. Poetry often has a similar Bartlet administration over on the first woman, and the first drama for the newly empowered reputation for being obtuse and NBC, the Bush White House in political independent, to reach Desperate Housewives network led disconnected. So, combining Washington, and now the Allen that level — we’re led to think him to make so many obvious the two might seem ill-advised. team taking over for recently President Bridges froze her out. choices here; it’s much harder to But the University of deceased President Bridges in When he lands in a hospital with a develop bold programming for a Pennsylvania’s new project, Rod Lurie’s well-meaning new bleeding aneurism, it’s expected successful network than a strug- PENNsound, has managed to drama about the first female to that the vice president will resign gling one, where innovation can engage the poetry community hold the nation’s highest office. to allow Nathan Templeton, the often prove the only solution to a on a global scale. Launched in There’s no question that speaker of the House, to assume ratings crisis. Let’s hope that if January of this year after eight- President Bush remains the most the presidency. We’re told that Commander in Chief finds an audi- een months of planning, dramatic and interesting one to Templeton’s politics more closely ence on Tuesday nights, Mr. Lurie PENNsound provides MP3 files follow; unlike his television coun- resemble those of Bridges, will find his footing soon after- of poetry, all free, all fully down- terparts, Martin Sheen and though we’re given little clue what ward, and a way to deliver an loadable and shareable, provid- Geena Davis, Mr. Bush manages those beliefs might be — an early ongoing series with more com- ELIZABETH TROST/University of Pennsylvania to bring to his daily duties a sense and significant failing of plexity and vision than the pilot. ed that they are used exclusively Poet Charles Bernstein, co-founder and executive editor of for personal or noncommercial of uncertainty and theater that Commander in Chief — in contrast He’s got the skill; now all he needs use. Buffalo’s Electronic Poetry Center, came to Philadelphia to teach makes a presidency realistic. His with the clearly liberal leanings of is the imperative. THE NEW YORK SUN at the University of Pennsylvania. Along with fellow professor Al human failings make Mr. Bush, if President Bartlet over on NBC. Under the direction of Penn nothing else, the most compelling professors Charles Bernstein Filreis, he is editor of PENNSound, a large archive of poetry Instead we get a taste of of the three; he may not be the Templeton’s snarky disposition; Quick Take: ‘Lost’ and Al Filreis, the project has readings and performances available for free on the Internet. most likable, but at least he does- assembled over half a terabyte of played with an unexpected lack of Last week’s season pre- rial culture — that is to say poet- tures some excellent young writ- n’t run his presidency to ensure subtlety by Donald Sutherland, a miere of Lost demonstrat- material on its servers — or in ry is of our times, not outside of ers like Steve Dalachinsky, that a network executive will pick iPod terms, the equivalent of future battle of wits seems less ed what we all knew before them. “I’m interested in poetry Brendan Downing and Jordan up his administration for more likely than a fight over who has the the second season even about 125,000 songs. Like as a material medium and how it Davis. episodes. music files, the live recordings superior haircut. (I’d vote for Mr. started — that the creative operates culturally. And so far, While many Penn students Still, I can’t deny that I like the Sutherland’s mane over Ms. minds behind ABC’s are broken down by poem into people have mostly neglected “singles,” so it isn’t necessary to work at the project through idea of a gorgeous president. Davis’s bob.) amazing show have more the performance of poetry — work-study programs, Geena Davis has been a stunning The new president also has to entertainment value to download an entire 40-minute not ‘performance poetry,’ but performance to sample a poet’s Mustazza says that the sheer Hollywood presence ever since contend with the question of what offer than the producers of the live reading of poems — as volume of material they have is she turned up in Dustin to do with her husband, Rod Threshold, Invasion, and work. PENNsound’s technical primary text.” director Chris Mustazza says daunting. “It’s not so much like Hoffman’s dressing room in Calloway, who had previously Surface combined. It’s still that people are downloading The claim that live readings there’s a flow of material. It’s Tootsie, wearing nothing but a been her chief of staff. Scenes of the best show on network about 13 gigabytes of poetry are as important an aspect of the more like a mountain that keeps negligee and a toothy smile. With the new first gentleman (Kyle television. Contrary to its every day — enough poetry to poem as the written version is growing, even though we’re that broad, expressive face, she Secor) touring the White House producers’ promises, fill the new high-end iPod Nano one that some poets would hotly always chipping away at it.” The brings to this righteous role a kitchen and bemoaning the pink “Down the Hatch” (or more than three times over. contest, yet at PENNsound, amount of recordings forces dimension that expands on Mr. furniture of his predecessor’s whatever the episode was “Although weirdly, our peak use many of the performances do Bernstein and Filreis to be dis- Lurie’s script — she’s tough, deci- office seemed out of place in the actually called) answered is Fridays at 3 a.m.,” he laughs. something all too rare in poetry criminating in what they post. sive, and even a little nasty when pilot, where time could have been no questions at all. It “Nobody can figure out why.” readings: enhance the written They look at a box of tapes, and necessary. But she can’t escape the better spent fleshing out more merely raised a whole new word, and make the poems feel quickly label them I (for making earnestness that pervades this Digital rights of course are a provocative matters of policy. set of them — deepening more complete. Charles Olson’s them available ASAP), II (for enterprise; everything in Among other things, Commander the mystery and adding concern — but PENNsound has “Maximus Poems,” for exam- loading on the server and getting Commander in Chief is designed to permission from every writer, in Chief appears to be struggling layers of complexity to the ple, are regarded as dense, tough the rights and the recording live get our vote, and the result feels for a proper tone; The balance show’s mystical mytholo- estate, or publisher for each reads. But his virile 1957 per- when I is done), and III (to store less like a drama than a paid polit- poem archived on the site. between humor and portent gy. My personal favorite formance of selections from until I and II are done). “It’s a ical message.The conflicts raised seemed off in the first episode. So new mysteries: Why was Bernstein says that although he “Maximus” gives the poems a practical way of testing what we before one commercial break are believes “[the major] publishers did the presentation of the new the “Quarantine” sign on clarity they don’t necessarily value,” Filreis asserts. resolved by the next, and by the president’s family life, with her the inside of the hatch don’t act in the interest of poetry possess on the page. pilot episode’s end, all is right with or the public,” there haven’t “Universities generally treat three children coping in pre- door? And why does Fed by live reading series and writing as visual and textual — the world. Why should I tune in dictable ways to their mother’s Desmond seem partial to been any major issues with next week — to watch her fix rights. In stark contrast to digi- donated recordings from PENNsound adds sound” to the new role. (“You’ll be John-John the music of Mama Cass? I around the country, Bernstein’s mix, says Filreis. And in fact, he more of the nation’s problems in and I’ll be Patti Davis,” says Allen’s can’t wait for Wednesday tal music, the lack of a commer- 42 minutes? cial market for poetry record- own vast archive (in his office, sees PENNsound as an out- eldest daughter to her brother at night. ings, and poetry in general for one wall is nearly covered with growth of the ideas behind the Mackenzie Allen (she’s vari- one point.) that matter, is precisely what lets audio recordings), and the regu- Kelly Writers House, where pro- PENNsound exist. Filreis says lar readings at the Kelly Writers grams are free and open to the “It’s a wonderful rejoinder to the House on Penn’s campus, public. “The Writers House was proprietary values that music PENNsound has a remarkable founded outside of the curricu- people have.” And it’s surprising diversity of work, including lum, using university resources MUSIC what you can get when you ask: work by well known poets like to make programs available to PENNsound has just posted a Kenneth Koch, June Jordan, both the university and commu- live performance of “Helen in Robert Creeley, Yusef nity and the community at large, 30 Years Later, Big Star Returns With ‘In Space’ Egypt” by Hilda Doolittle, who Komunyakaa and others. which is why I think it has been Listening to Ted Berrigan’s first successful as an educational tool By MAX WATMAN sad music about teenagers, with and they are wonderful songs that is better known by her famous soaring harmonies and chiming get better with each listen. Track modernist moniker H.D. performance of his “Sonnets” — and community resource. I’m experimental takes on the form interested in an open pedagogy. he first Big Star record in 30 guitars. This was troubled love, 4, “Turn My Back on the Sun” is a Bernstein, perhaps best — is a rewarding experience as And what Writers House does years, In Space, opens with troubled self, troubled youth: grower — starting with a wonder- known for his involvement with well, both for the poems and the for Philadelphia, PENNsound Tfive seconds of the coolest boredom and loathing. Not ideal- fully hackish, sloppy version of poetry’s L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E marginalia of Berrigan’s com- does for everyone.” music I’ve ever heard. Two guitars ized, not romanticized, just there. the intro to the Beach Boys’ movement (and for co-founding mentary as he wends his way shimmer in, one in each speaker, Singer-guitarist Alex Chilton “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” At first, I and editing the eponymous through his work. PENNSound is located at and someone in the background had been in the Box Tops as a high thought it was a dull song, but magazine), has a reputation as yells “Oh!” The guitars are school kid — that’s him singing soon I found myself singing something of an obscurantist in Younger poets get a fair shake http://www.writing.upenn.edu/p on PENNsound too, which isn’t ennsound/. The Kelly Writers chimey, jangling, and pulsing, “Gimme a ticket for an aero- along. This is where this record the artistic sense. But he says and even before the crash cymbal, plane” in “The Letter” at 16. He begins to reveal its true character: that both his own work and his always the case in the poetry House is located at 3805 Locust community. Susan Brennan’s Walk. For more information about it is clear Big Star is back. was no stranger to soul music and raw, weird, funny. interest in the intersection of The song brings a smile to my the Memphis sound, but Chilton And it doesn’t get rawer, weird- poetry and technology evolve “Poetic Brooklyn,” one of the PENNSound, or the Kelly Writers contributed reading series, fea- House, please call 215-573-WRIT. face every time: It’s just right. I turned his attentions across the er, or funnier than “Love from looking at poetry as mate- don’t mean that it sounds as if pond and began singing with a Revolution,” a flat-out disco funk nothing has changed, and I don’t clipped voice in a high register. riff on Andre Bell and the Drells. mean that it sounds like Big Star This was one of Big Star’s major “February’s Quiet,” on the other A&E Viewers Flock To ABC imitating itself. But that “Oh!” contributions. Along with Lou hand, sounds like the Jayhawks at By DAVID BAUDER sounds honest. The band, it Reed, Chilton handed this nasal their best (which is just the UPN’s Everybody Hates Chris seems, is just as excited as we are. ULLETIN had a terrific first week. It beat Joey American Englishness to a whole Jayhawks sounding Big Star, after B New York —Viewers flocked head-to-head with 7.8 million Big Star certainly went into the generation of rockers — funny, all), brilliant in its simplicity. The to old favorites CSI: Crime Scene viewers, numbers almost unheard studio with a lot to live up to. Big since the Brits had been pretend- lyrical hook is one of the most Star is the kind of band that made ing to be Southern and emotive, pleasing things I’ve heard in a year. Investigation and Desperate of for UPN. AP Bacon, Buscemi Housewives and tried out new fare its fans start bands (The and now all these Southerners The band is going to get a bit of My Name is Earl and Everybody Replacements, R.E.M.), and the were pretending to be English grief for some of the R &B on this Go To Woodstock Hates Chris in the first week of tele- This week’s top ten group is credited with inventing and affectless. album, but I think it’s the impor- Woodstock, N.Y. — vision’s new season. power pop, wherein the guitars are Ardent/Stax blew it big time tant stuff. “Mine Exclusively,” a big but the songs are pretty. It is with the Big Star records — many cover of an Olympics song, Kevin Bacon will talk music Intense interest in Desperate Here are the ratings for the top 10 Housewives (28.4 million viewers) prime-time television shows for consistently referred to as the sec- albums never even made it to the absolutely leaps out of the speak- and Steve Buscemi will be Sept. 19 to Sept. 25. ond most influential rock band stores. Even if people had wanted ers. The backup vocals, the inces- honored as a maverick at the and Lost (23.5 million) led ABC to its best first-week performance in Network • Share • Millions of people ever after the Velvet Underground. to purchase #1 Record or Radio sant riffs, the tambourine: This is Woodstock Film Festival. 1. CSI (P) Armed with the knowledge City, they couldn’t find a copy. But when I started to think that per- The sixth annual festival, five years. It was the first time since 1995 that ABC won the first week CBS • 24 29.0 that their fans refer to them as even this obscurity couldn’t tar- haps this is an astonishing album. which runs today through 2. Desperate Housewives (P) “groundbreaking” and “inven- nish the band’s ascending reputa- Some of the new music — Sunday, includes Winter among the 18-to-49-year-old 28.4 demographic. ABC • 22 tive,” the group’s members had to tion. Big Star was the band people think the Blues Brothers without Passing, starring Zooey 3. Lost (P) come up with a record knowing traded tapes of. They were collec- the virtuosity of Steve Cropper — Deschanel, Will Ferrell and ABC had five of the week’s 10 ABC • 20 23.5 tor’s items, badges of connois- most popular programs. that if they broke any new ground, might rub folks the wrong way. Ed Harris; Atom Egoyan’s 4. Criminal Minds Preview (SP) everyone would hate them for not seurship. The Replacements even The first time I heard them do it, I Where the Truth Lies, starring CBS is still the top network but, CBS • 18 19.6 sounding like they used to. And if cut a song called “Alex Chilton.” sat back and uttered a “What the Bacon and Colin Firth; like NBC, its household ratings 5. CSI Miami (P) they sounded like their old selves, 19.2 Now, original Big Star mem- ...” It’s white for one thing, it’s def- Lonesome Jim, directed by were down 7 percent compared to CBS • 17 they’d fail if only because they’re bers Chilton and Jody Stephens initely blue-eyed soul, but hot, Buscemi and starring Casey the first week last year. CBS’ 6. Grey’s Anatomy (P) not drunken 20-year-olds any- ABC • 17 19.0 (drums) have been joined by gui- and rough, and infectious. Affleck and Liv Tyler; and Monday lineup lost potency with more — and everyone would say tarist Jon Auer and bassist Ken Motown harmonies on the back- Fateless, a historical drama the end of Everybody Loves 7.Survivor: Guatemala (P) CBS • 15 17.0 they lacked imagination. But all Stringfellow of the Posies (who up singing, tambourines. Where about Hungarian Jews dur- Raymond, while Survivor hasn’t you can legitimately ask for is that also tours with R.E.M.). This iter- bluesy funk rockers like Mooney ing the Holocaust. started out as strong as usual. 8. Law and Order; SVU (P) NBC • 16 16.8 the band not forget the phrasing ation of Big Star, although only Suzuki and John Spencer have Bacon will appear on a NBC’s My Name is Earl was a and the choices that made us love now releasing its first record, has turned to Hendrix for their inspi- bright spot, the most popular sit- 9. Invasion (P) movie music panel. Buscemi ABC • 15 16.4 Big Star in the first place. And on clocked far more hours together ration, this is more along the lines will receive the Maverick com of the week. But the network 10. Extreme Makeover; Home ED (P) that, this record delivers. It’s also than the original band, which of the Muscle Shoals band, or Award for creativity and had a disastrous Thursday — the ABC • 13 16.4 got some very weird — perhaps began falling apart when Chris Booker T: laid back, controlled, independent vision. night its “must-see TV” lineup One rating point represents 1,096,000 even groundbreaking — Bell left after the first record, and and pumping. It will eventually While countless regional once dominated — with Friends TV households. The share is the moments. was dissolved by 1975 (when the prove to be the most forward- film festivals have cropped spinoff Joey, The Apprentice and ER percentage of in-use televisions tuned The band is so popular right third album came out in 1978, looking stuff on the record. showing erosion. to a given show. up in recent years, (P) Premiere (S) Special now that the cognoscenti will there wasn’t even a band to sup- Just like the first Big Star Woodstock has managed to It was a tough week for Martha (R) Rerun (C) Complex* repudiate them momentarily — port it).This foursome has been records, this sound is going to leverage its countercultural Stewart. Not only did her NBC *Includes multi-segment programs that’s what you get for having one playing shows for over a decade. make people want to start bands. cachet and proximity to New version of The Apprentice debut to a Overall Network Ratings of your songs become the theme But no record, until now. Garage soul: Can’t you see it? The York City to continued suc- tiny audience of a little more than 7 for That ‘70s Show. But back in the And what an album it is. The Supremes with loud electric gui- cess. million, but fewer than 7.5 million 1970s, Big Star was honest, vivid, first three tracks of In Space tars? Sam and Dave with crash AP were curious enough to see CBS’s 8.3 8.0 6.6 4.1 and heartbreaking. The band’s (Rykodisc), which comes out cymbals? Where else could we be movie dramatization Martha first two records were desperate, today, really sound like Big Star, headed? THE NEW YORK SUN Behind Bars. SOURCE: Nielsen Media Research AP