"Closing Doors: Demise of a Small Record Store"

My friend Mike Johnston of The Northwoods Improvisers sent this my way. It's Tim O'Brien's wonderful and tragic documentary about the decline and death of independent record shops, featuring Mt. Pleasant's New Moon Records.

Closing Doors: Demise of a Small Record Store

Watch it. Heed its warning. And for god's sake, I beg you, stop shopping at the corporate mega-stores! So what if the local, independent folks have to charge a little more: it's a small amount to insure the survival of a true human culture. At Walmart and cronies, the product is you.

Interviewed on "Destination Out"

Mike Johnston, host of the great experimental jazz program "Destination Out" on WCMU Public Radio and bassist for Faruq Z. Bey & The Northwoods Improvisers, called me the other day for an interview and to have me read some poetry for his show.

The interview will air as part of his next broadcast, Sunday, November 16; 11:00 pm (Eastern Time).

If you are in mid- or northern Michigan or the Algoma District of Ontario, you can tune in on one of these stations:

89.5 Mt. Pleasant
90.1 Bay City
91.7 Alpena
95.7 Oscoda
96.9 Standish
98.3 Sault Ste. Marie
103.9 Harbor Springs

Otherwise, you can listen to it online here: http://wcmu.org/radio/listenlivepage.html

We discuss the link between jazz and poetry, current politics, and I read several pieces from both The Moon Cracks Open: A Field Guide to the Birds and Jihad bil Qalam: To Strive by Means of the Pen.