AvantRetro CD
review by Ed Vincent
The CD being released by Charlie Rossiter and Al DeGenova entitled: "AvantRetro" is fitting its title. The compilations are fun and entertaining. The mix of instruments and spoken words is evocative
of an earlier time with beatniks and coffee houses.
There are still plenty of coffee houses, or at least places with lots of coffee, smoking of both legal and illegal substances is on the decline,
but you wouldn't know from this new CD.
Charlie Rossiter's beginning selection called, "Night Life" has
a wonderful feeling inside, a feeling of a warm night in the big city,
late at night. It is one selection in a nice group of read and
performed pieces. Charlie Rossiter has his son Jack helping with
some of the percussion on this CD, and Jack does a nice job.
Al DeGenova is the other half of the team and does a fine
job working along side Charlie. Each of the men has their own
writings and beats to accompany them. Charlie also has a
poetry group that meets in the Pilgrim church once a month
and this month is the last until next years start.
His new CD is available from the link below and his website is
also listed. The CD is a nice example of free form poetry with
some classy elements of music to complement it.
AvantRetro Performance Poetry Duo Perform at Maze June 21
AvantRetro, the Oak Park-based performance poetry duo of Charlie Rossiter and Al DeGenova will host an AvantRetro CD and Book Release Performance/Party on Wednesday, June 21, at 7:30 p.m. at the Maze Branch Library, 845 S. Gunderson. Copies of their new CD of performance poetry and the new second edition of their book, Back Beat, will be for sale. The program is free and open to the public.
AvantRetro uses a variety of techniques and tools including store-bought and home-made musical instruments, audience participation, and unorthodox vocalizations to present their original poetry that gets at the essence of what it means to be human. Al's major instrument is saxophone; he also plays flute. Charlie plays conga and other hand percussion instruments.
Since joining poetic forces in 1998, they have been featured performers at Printers Row Book Fair; Around the Coyote Arts Festival; the Detroit Opera House; and major poetry venues around Chicago and the Midwest. They are frequent guests on Rick Kogan's Sunday morning program on WGN radio. Back Beat, their co-authored book of memoir and poetry, has been praised by such poets as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jimmy Santiago Baca and Maria Gillan. They were among the handful of poets selected to be featured at the 2005 Chicago Blues Festival. AvantRetro also performed at the 2003 LACONI Best of the Best Showcase for library programmers in northern Illinois public libraries.
Charlie Rossiter is known for his dynamic poetry performances at places like the Dodge Poetry Festival in NJ; Bowery Poetry Club and NuyoricanPoets Cafe, NYC; the Green Mill, Chicago; the Newport Beach Literary Series, in Oregon and NPR's "The Poet and the Poem." He also hosts theaudio website, poetrypoetry.com, is a co-founder of Poetry World Radio, a web-based 24/7 poetry radio station, and has organized numerous poetry readings for peace and justice.
Al DeGenova has performed widely as a poet and as lead saxophonist for
the Chicago-based blues group, The Seven Sons. His years as an editor at Downbeat inform his blues-based poetry. Al is also the co-founder andeditor of After Hours, a bi-annual literary magazine of Chicago literature and art, now in its fifth year of publication.
Contact A/R Hotline: 708-660-9376
avantmail: charlie.rossiter@poetrypoetry.org
retromail: AvantRetro c/o C. Rossiter, 705 S. Gunderson Ave. Oak Park, IL
60304
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email: Charlie.Rossiter@poetrypoetry.org
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RECENT PUBLICATIONS & PRODUCTIONS
Around the House: 15 Years of Poems from the Journal of Poetry Therapy,
Pudding Press, 2005
The Night We Danced with the Raelettes. One-act solo poetry theatre
performance at Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago, June, 13-29,
2003.
Charles Rossiter's Greatest Hits: 1975-2001, Johnstown, OH: Pudding
Press, 2002.
Giving Sorrow Words, (co-ed with Karen vanMeenen) Washington, DC: NationalAssociation for Poetry Therapy Federation, 2002.
Back Beat (poetry/memoir with Albert DeGenova) Ellison Bay, WI: Cross
Roads Press, 2001.
What Men Talk About, Johnstown, OH:, Pudding Press, 2000. (1st Red Wheel Barrow Award)
Poems also appear in anthologies published by Penguin, Milkweed Editions,New World Library, Kent State U. Press, and others as well as in literaryperiodicals such as Paterson Literary Review, Green Fuse, After Hours,Whetstone, LIPS, The Little Magazine, Poets and Writers, Maryland Poetry Review, Thema, Heaven Bone, Wisconsin Poetry Review, Lip Service, ArtTimes, Elk River Review, Journal of Poetry Therapy, and more.
RECENT LITERARY PROGRAMS, HONORS & GRANTS
--Profiled in Contemporary Authors, Vol 212 / Contemporary Authors online,2003.
--Pushcart Prize nominations for poetry, 1999; 2002.
--Resident poet/advisor to staging of poetry theatre productions for Smoke& MirrorProductions, Chicago, (2002--)
--Co-founder & host for www.poetrypoetry.com, audio poetry website (2000--)
--Book Review Editor for Journal of Poetry Therapy (1997--)
--Selected for Artstour Artists Roster, Illinois Arts Council, (1999-2001)
--Project Director, "Music and Literature" grant from Illinois HumanitiesCouncil, 1998.
--National Endowment for the Arts, Creative Writing Fellowship for Poetry,1997.
--TV Series. NY State Council on the Arts Grants to produce, host and
distribute Poetry Motel tv program. Produced and hosted 124,
half-hour programs, (1990-1996).
SELECTED FEATURED POETRY READINGS
Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, Hillsborough, NJ NPR/PRI--Grace Cavalieri's "The Poet & the Poem" Chicago Blues Festival; Printers Row Bookfair; Around the Coyote Festival;Green Mill; Chicago Bowery Poetry Club; Nuyorican Poets Cafe, NYC; Detroit Opera House KPFA radio, Berkeley, CA (Kenneth Rexroth's old show, now hosted by Jack Foley) Newport Beach Literary Series, OR
Connecticut Poetry Festival, Middletown, CT Small Press Traffic Literary Arts Center, San Francisco Athens State University Literary Festival, Athens, Alabama
CR bio
Charles Rossiter, NEA Fellowship recipient and two-time Pushcart Prize
nominee, hosts the audio website poetrypoetry.com as well as the 3rd
Saturday Coffeehouse in Oak Park. His work has been featured on NPR andnumerous statewide public radio networks. During the ‘90s he hosted thePoetry Motel TV program, still seen on cable stations in some parts of theNortheast. Now, as resident poet for Chicago's Smoke & Mirror Productions, he is working with the company to develop poetry theatre as a genre. His chapbook, What Men Talk About, won the first Red Wheel Barrow Prize from Pudding House Press. He recently performed at the Geraldine R. DodgePoetry Festival in NJ; the Chicago Blues Festival; at the Nuyorican Cafeand Bowery Poetry Club, NYC; the Detroit Opera House; and the Green Mill,and Printers Row Bookfair, Chicago.
Charles Rossiter has worked as a poet in the schools in Paterson, NJ; Milwaukee, WI; Albany, NY and many other places.
Other publications include Back Beat, CR's Greatest Hits 1975-2003 and
Cold Mountain 2000: Han Shan in the City.
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poetrypoetry.com
http://cdbaby.com/cd/avantretro
© Oak Park Journal
published by Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc.
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