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Monterey County’s Robert Marchand to represent California in Poetry Out Loud nationals

Mark Reifenheiser from Contra Costa County took second, and Phebe Hong from Sonoma County was third in an extremely close competition

© Brian Baer | California Arts Council

Finalists for the 2011 California Poetry Out Loud recitation contest line up onstage in Sacramento

© Brian Baer | California Arts Council

Robert Marchand, a senior at Pacific Grove High

• To read the original California Arts Council dispatch, click here
• Flickr photostream of California’s Poetry Out Loud 2011

Robert Marchand from Monterey County (a senior at Pacific Grove High School — age 18) took first place and will represent California in the national Poetry Out Loud finals in Washington, DC in April. Taking second was Mark Reifenheiser from Contra Costa County (a senior at Mt. Diablo High School, age 18), and Phebe Hong from Sonoma County (a junior at Santa Rosa High School, age 16) placed third.

Malissa Feruzzi Shriver, Chair of the California Arts Council, found this year’s competition extremely hard to judge because of the overwhelming amount of talent. “I gave out so many perfect scores this year I’m surprised we could even find a winner,” said Feruzzi Shriver. “Any of these county champions could have represented California in Washington. We look forward to having Robert Marchand represent our great state in April.”

Al Young, former California Poet Laureate and also a judge in this year’s competition, was impressed with the 2011 California county champions — not only in the recitations, but also with their backgrounds and beliefs explained during the biographies portion of the event dinner on Sunday, March 20, 2011. “Given the energy, passion and intelligence of this year’s Poetry Out Loud performers, I have total faith that our future is in good hands,” said Young. “The shortsightedness of the world today may be overcome by young people like these.”

Being a judge in this year’s event cemented Young’s opinion that the arts are essential in the educational process. “If arts education and access to the arts were made available to children at younger grades, there would be fewer prisoners, fewer gangs and less anxiety and depression in our youth. The arts allow children and youth to express themselves, their lives, and their creativity — outlets that not only increase self confidence and societal interaction, but improve interest in learning and help form the productive and intelligent adults of tomorrow.”

Photo: Josie Talamantez

Al Young and Malissa Feruzzi Shriver, two of five judges for California’s Poetry Out Loud 2011, photographed March 20 at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento, where Round One of this year’s recitation competition took place.

Feruzzi Shriver noted the impact that Poetry Out Loud can have on students. “Programs like this can have a lasting impact on a young person,” said Feruzzi Shriver. “We have participants who come from group homes, from at-risk youth programs, or who hadn’t found a place until they found this program. I saw such pride in the parents and teachers today. I’m very proud that the California Arts Council works so hard to make this program work for thousands of high school students.”

“I would gladly write poems all year long for this year’s crop of participants to memorize and perform,” said Young. “They would be delivered with elegant accuracy by every single one.”

This year marks the sixth time the California Arts Council has produced the annual competition — the largest of its kind in the nation, with over 40,000 students in approximately 34 California counties participating. The program encourages high school students to learn about poetry through memorization, performance, and competition. The California state finals is the culminating competition between county winners who have shown their merit in the classroom, school, district, and county (a pyramid competition structure similar to the spelling bee).

Marchand, as the California Poetry Out Loud champion, receives $200 from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). He will go on to compete in Washington, DC in April, and his school will receive $500 for books. Reifenheiser, as the runner-up, receives $100 from the NEA, and $200 for books at his school.

The state’s Poetry Out Loud program is directed by the California Arts Council, and was initiated by the NEA and the Poetry Foundation. Local arts agencies and school districts conduct the program on the county level. The California Arts Council would like to thank the Target Corporation for sponsoring the state’s program and helping bring California Poetry Out Loud to as many California high school students as possible.

The agency is also indebted to the hardworking staff at the California Channel who allow the program to be broadcast and webcast, and to the California Department of Education and State Superintendent Tom Torlakson for their sponsorship of the event space on March 21, 2011, at the East End Complex Auditorium.

Interested in seeing the poems the students recited during Rounds One and Two? The California Arts Council posted them online?

Go to the California Arts Council original to see listings for Round Two — and more

© Brian Baer | California Arts Council

Kristin Margolis, manager of California’s Poetry Out Loud and Poet Laureate programs, readies this year’s eager county finalists for Round Two of the recitations.

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Listen

Courtesy Paul Roth’s Music Liner Notes

The George Shearing Quintet at Birdland, circa 1952: Shearing, piano; Don Elliott, vibraphone; Chuck Wayne, guitar, John Levy, bass; Denzel DeCosta Best, drums. At one point, Shearing invited vibist Milt Jackson to join the group. Jackson declined when Shearing asked him to silence the instrument’s sustain pedal. (Terry Gibbs’ vibes are set up and good to go, but Gibbs himself is missing).

Listen to the quintet play drummer Denzel DeCosta Best’s “Move,” now a bebop classic

Archival photos

The same Shearing Quintet with vibist Marjorie Hyams. Was the very look of Shearing’s combo ahead of its time, or what?

Lester Young’s “Jumpin’ with Symphony Sid” performed by the 1950 Shearing Quintet
||| Den? där har jag också – George Shearing var väldigt bra under 40- och 50-talet – sedan? blev det lite väl mycket easylistening. |||

© Bettmann/CORBIS

George Shearing at rehearsal with the Hollywood Symphony, 1958

Courtesy GeorgeShearing.net

Sir George Shearing

Courtesy photo

Sir George and wife Ellie Lee in Massachusetts

Excerpt from Lee Mergner’s JazzTimes obituary

Jazz Pianist George Shearing Dies

English-born pianist and composer of “Lullaby of Birdland” was 91 years old

By Lee Mergner

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click cover to view contents

Onnesha Roychoudhuri | Photo courtesy www.ourstories.us

© 2010 by Onnesha Roychoudhuri; excerpted from Boston Review (Nov./Dec. 2010)

Books After Amazon

By Onnesha Roychoudhuri

The man sitting next to me takes out his new Kindle. “How do you like that thing?” I ask. He instantly becomes animated, angling the Kindle toward me so that I can better see its face. “It’s great,” he says. “I can download tons of different books and magazines.” Then, eyeing my hefty, hardback of John Dos Passos’s USA trilogy, he adds, “Cheaper than that, too. $9.99.” There, our conversation ends. I am unsure of where I fall on the Luddite spectrum, but I’ll admit to inhaling the odor of leather-bound volumes. Having moved over a dozen times, though, I’ve also found occasion to curse their weight.

So, too, has Jeff Bezos. Bezos calls the Kindle a response to “the failings of a physical book.” He told attendees of a technology conference in New York: “I’m grumpy when I’m forced to read a physical book because it’s not as convenient. Turning the pages … the book is always flopping itself shut at the wrong moment.” His conclusion? “It’s had a great five-hundred-year run … but it’s time to change.”

To read Onnesha Roychoudhuri’s eye-opening, investigative essay in its Boston Review entirety, click here

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Subscribe to Boston Review • click here

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Onnesha.com

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The application for California Poet Laureate is now open. The submission deadline is February 1, 2011.

http://www.cac.ca.gov/poetlaureate/main.php

California’s poets are absolutely among the most prestigious in the nation. The California Poet Laureate is a Governor’s appointee. We now have a new Governor, and it is also time to begin the selection process for the next California Poet Laureate. The mission of the California Poet Laureate is to spread the art of poetry from classrooms to boardrooms across the state, to inspire an emerging generation of literary artists, and to educate all Californians about the many poets and authors who have influenced our great state through creative literary expression.

Kristin Margolis

Literary Arts Specialist
California Arts Council

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did you get your arts plate yet?
no? then go to: WWW.CAC.CA.GOV
and support arts programming for kids & communities

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Current California Poet Laureate

Luis Sinko/L.A. Times

Carol Muske-Dukes

• Slouching Toward a Brief Literary History of Southern California
Carol Muske-Dukes

Watch

• Poet First, Novelist Second: Carol Muske-Duke reads a chapter from her novel, Saving St. Germ, and selected poetry from Red Trousseau.

Past California Poet Laureate

Mary Beth Barber

Al Young

• Biography | FAQ

Listen

• California Poet Laureate Al Young’s ‘Blues’ | Renée Montaigne in conversation with Al Young at NPR’s Morning Edition (April 2008)

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About the Position

The position of Poet Laureate was established in 2001 with the passage of AB 113 authored by Assemblymember Fran Pavly. Through that bill, the California Arts Council is designated to recommend individuals to the Governor for the position of Poet Laureate. The Governor chooses the Poet Laureate, and Senate approves the appointment.

Over the course of a two-year term, the Poet Laureate provides six public readings in urban and rural locations across the state, educates civic and state leaders about the value of poetry and creative expression, and undertakes a significant cultural project. One of the goals of the project must be to bring the poetic arts to students who might otherwise have little opportunity to be exposed to poetry.

History of California Poets Laureate

The concept of a Poet Laureate originated in England in the 1600s. The laureate description refers to the ancient Greek tradition of placing a laurel wreath or crown as recognition for significant achievements, from military accomplishments to literary triumphs.

Early lawmakers in California recognized the importance of a statewide Poet Laureate at the beginning of the twentieth century. Ina Donna Coolbrith was appointed the first honorary California Poet Laureate by Governor Hiram Warren Johnson on June 30, 1915. Ms. Coolbrith was later recognized by the California State Senate as the “Loved Laurel Crowned Poet of California” by a resolution in 1919, and she retained the title until her death in 1928. More details on Ms. Coolbrith can be found from the California Association of Teachers of English, and the University of California has an extensive online archive of her work.

The state Senate honored another California poet, English professor Dr. Henry Meade Bland, with the Laureate title in 1929, and he served for two years until his death in 1931. In 1933 lawmakers recognized through resolution another California literary artist: John Steven McGroarty, a poet, playwright, historian, Los Angeles Times writer, presidential candidate, and member of Congress from southern California between 1935 and 1939. More information is available from the Journal of San Diego History article on McGroatry.

The next writer to be honored officially by the state was Gordon W. Norris, appointed by the Legislature in 1953. He served until his death on December 18, 1961. Norris was followed by Charles Garrigus, a member of the California legislature and recognized by his colleagues in 1966, who served until the year 2000. Both of these appointments were made from the state Legislature through resolutions. An informative article on the history of the honorary Poets Laureate of California can be found from Metro Active, a Silicon Valley weekly.

After Garrigus’ death, lawmakers opted to change the state’s approach to the role of California Poet Laureate and make it an official appointed position rather than an honorary title. On September 1, 2001, Governor Gray Davis signed AB 113 by Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, establishing the position of “California Poet Laureate” as a permanent part of the California Government Code. Under this new law, the Poet Laureate would no longer hold the title for life, but would instead serve a two-year term (time determined from the date of confirmation by the Senate) and would be limited to two terms.

On June 11, 2002, Governor Gray Davis appointed Quincy T. Troupe as California’s first official Poet Laureate. Mr. Troupe briefly served without Senate confirmation. In 2005, Al Young was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and confirmed by the senate in March of 2006. He left office in October of 2008.

California’s poets are among the most prestigious in the nation. They have received numerous significant awards including Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award and some have served as United States’ Poets Laureate, like Robert Haas, a San Francisco native, and Robert Pinsky who attended Stanford University. California’s poets also come from every ethnic, religious, and geographic region of the state, and have provided a great source of inspiration to their communities, students, and the people of California.

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• A message from Linda Moody
• The official James Moody website

James Moody (1925-2010)

James and Linda Moody

Fantasy/Prestige/Milestone

Arne Domnérus, James Moody, Thorne Swanerud (Stockholm 1950)

Listen ||| James Moody, Sonny Stitt, Dizzy Gillespie

Watch James Moody himself tell how he came to create his enduring masterpiece

James Moody discographies

Forthcoming: Photo credits, plus Al Young’s “Moody’s Mood for Love,” the author’s prose-poetic tribute to James Moody, selected from Drowning in the Sea of Love (Musical Memoirs), 1996

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A jazz giant passes: James Moody, 1925-2010

The San Diego saxophonist influenced and inspired several generations of fans and fellow musicians, including Quincy Jones, who hails Moody as “a national treasure”

By George Varga

© 2010 George Varga | San Diego Union-Tribune
Originally published December 9, 2010 at 2:36 p.m.; updated December 9, 2010 at 9:34 p.m.

Photo: K.C. Alfred

James Moody, an international jazz star since 1949 and a San Diego resident since 1989, has played his last refrain. An acclaimed saxophonist, flutist, composer and band leader for 60 of his 85 years, Mr. Moody died Thursday at 1:07 p.m. at the San Diego Hospice, according to his wife, San Diego Realtor Linda McGowan Moody, who was by his side. His death came after a 10-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

“He couldn’t have gone more peacefully,” said Mrs. Moody, who on Monday had her husband moved from their San Carlos home to the San Diego Hospice.

Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis hailed Mr. Moody, with whom he had often collaborated at New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center, as “a titan of our music.” He also praised Mr. Moody as “just impeccable, his musicianship, his soul, his humor.”

Mr. Moody first achieved prominence in 1946 as a member of bebop trumpet icon Dizzy Gillespie’s all-star big band. Noted for his ebullient stage persona and his ability to inject warmth and joy into even his most intricate compositions, Mr. Moody leaves behind one of the longest and most distinguished jazz careers in memory.

He recorded his best-known hit, “Moody’s Mood for Love,” in 1949. An ingenious interpretation of the 1935 ballad “I’m in the Mood for Love,” the title under which Mr. Moody’s recording was initially released, it features one of the most acclaimed saxophone solos in jazz history. It became a global vocal hit in 1954 for singer King Pleasure, who sang lyrics that were written for the song in 1952 by noted jazz vocalist Eddie Jefferson. Mr. Moody subsequently began singing it himself and performed it as his theme song at each of his concerts.

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clickables

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“Moody’s Mood for Love” was elected into the Grammy Awards’ Hall of Fame in 2001 and has been recorded by such diverse artists as Aretha Franklin, Van Morrison, Amy Winehouse, Rod Stewart, Queen Latifah, Tito Puente and 2006 “American Idol” contestant Elliott Yamin.

“ ‘Moody’s Mood for Love’ is a national anthem,” said longtime Moody fan and confidante Bill Cosby, who in the 1980s sang a duet of the song with jazz vocal star Nancy Wilson in an episode of “The Cosby Show,” his hit TV series. Cosby also prominently featured the song in his 2004 feature film, “Fat Albert,” which came as a surprise to Mr. and Mrs. Moody when Cosby had them attend the film’s premiere.

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