Posted by pancho from pool0041.cvx20-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net (209.179.250.41) on Friday, November 29, 2002 at 8:31AM :
In Reply to: ninos aho & yosip bet-yosip posted by Jeff from d53-106-196.try.wideopenwest.com (64.53.196.106) on Friday, November 29, 2002 at 6:27AM :
All is true.
However let's consider the waters these poets must swim in. If either of them had risen from their seats at the poetry reading recently held in San Jose and said something like..."Look, Jackie and Alphonse...these good people didn't come here tonight to hear your long-winded introduction of us and how marvelous the poetry you wont let us get to is. They came to hear our poetry...so if it's all that wonderful that we're here...sit down and shut up and stop taking advantage of us and our work to remind people who made it all possible"...if either of them had said such a thing, followed by throwing a shoe at Alphonse when he read his idiotic poemlette at the end, they would have struck a blow for the freedom of the artist from this sort of grandstanding that so annoys us all.
But then they would be deemed "ungrateful"..."troublemakers"....."who do they think they are"...and "why should we volunteers who work SO hard to do this for YOU be treated like this...where is OUR payoff?"
Without any kind of a "pay-off" , such as money OR a genuine desire to merely present the art in a way that doesn't contradict or undermine the very essence and soul of the Art...which a pro considers enough...our volunteers hog the limelight, interrupt and inject themselves AND use the artist and the Art to MAKE it pay in ego gratification and headline grabbing. That's what is ultimately counterproductive in having volunteers at these levels...let Jackie serve the tea and Alphonse hold the door...let their real satisfaction come from promoting the art for its own sake, and for ours...as it stands now everything has to be for their sakes first...and that sours the entire event and keeps attendance and interest down.
Jackie and Alphonse want to ride in on the coatails of these people...they use them to enhance their own prestige...if that's what it is. The real point of the evening was not the poetry...you know that because these people interject themselves every chance they get. The point is to let us know they make poetry possible...at least as far as our ability to see and hear these people. They want credit...just a mention wont do...they have to be in your face at the beginning and the end...the first word and the last one has to be theirs...if there was a way, they'd get in the middle too.
But our poets and artists can't say that. That's why we have hardly any audience for these things...because we are sick and tired of the way these things are run...with no consideration for the audience or the artists...we're used, both of us...and people don't like that feeling...they also don't dare do anything about it.
I ran into the same thing with Nimrod and Jackie. They could care about the work...their whole obsession is how they can put it to work promoting themselves.
Real respect for these artists of our will come when these same dismal leeders go away and are replaced by people who sincerely mean it when they say..."I wont keep you waiting any longer".
These people say..."hold on a second will you...I'm not finished yet"!
-- pancho
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