Learning to open the box in your throat

So, something a little different today. What I'm posting here is not music, per se. It is poetry, something I've become increasingly interested in over the last year or so. But, I find myself fairly unmoved by the older poetry of a Keats or Blake or what have you. Modern stuff is where it's at. Performance poetry, to be exact, which is spoken word performed on a stage, in front of an audience.

Obviously, from this description, you can assume that the way to properly appreciate this art form is to see it live and in person. But, recordings make a reasonable facsimile. A growing number of poets are bridging the gap between music and poetry and releasing CDs, which is nice for us.

3 tracks today. The first one comes from a gentleman by the name of Buddy Wakefield. "Convenience Stores" is off his 2006 album, Run On Anything, and it's a simple tale of a convenience store clerk and a trucker set to a gentle piano melody. The lyrics (or poem, should I say), are a knockout.

Buddy Wakefield-Convenience Stores

The next two tracks come to us courtesy of Bernard Dolan. B. Dolan is a spoken word guy turned rapper. These two tracks come off his 2008 debut, The Failure. "The Skycycle Blues" is a mediation on Evel Knievel and the act of going into direct competition against Death, while "Kate" speaks of a young man struggling to make sense of an evil world, and hoping that those touched can come through it untouched. Incredibly cathartic stuff. Enjoy.

B. Dolan-The Skycycle Blues
B. Dolan-Kate

Note: Both Wakefield and Dolan are signed to Strange Famous Records, possibly the best Rap label going today. In fact, Dolan is a co-founder of the label. More artists from Strange Famous will definitely be touched on at some point.