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On January
9, 2009, the Hoosier Dylan show resurrected and took place
at the Ricks Center for the Arts, Greenfield, Indiana.
Described as “gloriously ragged, like the Rolling Thunder
Revue” by one member of the audience and as “a religious
revival” by another, the show featured the same performers
as it did in Columbus and Danville, Indiana on Nov. 7 and 8,
2008. The Indiana Poet Laureate recited two blues poems with
backing by bluesman Gordon Bonham, two with backing by
folksinger Tim Grimm, and read two poems solo.
Photos will
be added here as they come in from people who saw the
performance, either from the audience or from backstage
revelers. The IPL, whose wife was sick, forgot his camera
and disappeared into his poems and the music that lifted
them to another level. He promises that next time around,
not a single poem will be allowed to come to the party
without the escort of music. The PBS series “Across Indiana”
sent a cameraman to film NK’s part of the program so they
would have some live footage to include in a possible IPL
feature. |
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On January
10, 2009, Greg Ziesemer and Kriss Luckett, who moved to Madison,
the historic Ohio River town, return to the Boulevard Place
Café, their favorite Indy performance venue for several years.
Norbert, who performed there several times with Monika Herzig,
read poems during the second set. |
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Greg solos during
a break. |
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Kriss sings a new song. |
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Chuck, the stage manager, and his young
assistant are happy to hear Greg and Kriss in their old home, the
Boulevard Place Café. |
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Greg and Kriss with Norbert, who was
delighted to read poems having to do with a mother and son and the
birth of a child during the second set. Greg and Kriss were the
first musicians Norbert collaborated with, at the 10/05 Indiana
Poetry Festival at the Indy Art Center. |
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Greg and Kriss, who are now man
and wife, open presents that anticipate the birth of their
coming child.
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While
in the Orlando, Florida area to visit Norbert’s sister,
on January 26, we visited the nearby Jack Kerouac House
in College Park, where Jack and his mother lived in 1957
when On the
Road
appeared and Jack was writing
The Dharma Bums.
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The Jack Kerouac House in Orlando,
seen from the back, where Jack and his mother lived in 1957. |
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Sign on the front door. Writers are
awarded residencies to do their work in the Kerouac House. |
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NK and fiction
writer Phil Deaver (Rollins College), a fellow graduate of St. Joseph’s College, Indiana, in
front of the house. |
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Jack’s bedroom. |
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Phil Deaver and
NK in Jack’s bedroom. |
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Jack at work. |
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Jack looks on. |
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With Phil Deaver at a favorite local
eatery, The College Park Café. |
On Feb. 28,
in the Basile Theatre of the Central Library Branch of the
Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library, IPL NK was one of
the judges for the Indiana finals of the Poetry Out Loud
competition begun by The National Endowment for the
Humanities, when poet Dana Gioia was the Director. This year
a dozen students from as many high schools competed for
first place and the chance to represent Indiana in the
national finals to take place in Washington, D.C.
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This year’s winner was
Derek Kaellner of Broad
Ripple High School, Indianapolis, in the blue shirt.
Lewis
Ricci, Director of the
Indiana Arts Commission, to the left of the winner, was the emcee.
Monika Herzig, far
left, provided musical interludes. |
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On March 8,
Norbert, Monika Herzig, and Peter Kienle performed jazz and
poetry at the Creative Arts Center in Bluffton, near Fort Wayne,
on the bank of the Wabash River. This event, part of “Series on
the Ouabache,” was organized by Maureen Butler. |
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The flooding Wabash outside the
Creative Arts Center. |
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Peter (baritone guitar) and Monika rehearse. |
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The audience gathers. |
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Set up to sell books and CDs,
Katherine reads the program. |
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Norbert recites a poem. |
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Peter and Monika perform an
instrumental. |
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With Monika and sculptor Norbert Ploetz,
a native of Göttingen, during reception. |
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On March
11, Norbert read at the Shepherd’s Center, a
senior citizen
group that meets at United North Methodist, Meridian and
38th Streets, Indianapolis . When he arrived to set
up in the room, a circle of about fifteen members, with one
playing banjo, were singing songs vigorously. As soon as the
reading and discussion were over, another speaker came in to
talk about the Indy Cultural Trail, and the book table was moved
out into the hall. The show must go on! |
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With Marian Kleinsasser Towne, the
fellow author who organized the event. |
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Marian’s memoir of
growing up on a farm in the
Hutterite Mennonite community of near
Freeman, South Dakota. |
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The reading and activities room at the
Shepherd’s Center. |
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Marian and two other members of the
audience, in the hall after the reading. |
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At the book and CD table after the reading. |
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On March 12,
artists, arts administrators, state representatives and
senators, and students of the arts from around the state
gathered in the Rotunda of the
Indiana Statehouse to voice their support of the arts as
essential to the economic, emotional, and spiritual well being
of all Hoosiers. Sally Gaskill of the Indiana Coalition for the
Arts organized the stimulating event. |
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A view of the Indiana Statehouse from
Monument Circle as Norbert and Katherine walked from Firehouse
Square to the Arts Advocacy Day celebration. |
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The Statehouse Rotunda before the program
began. |
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With
Sally Gaskill,
President of the Indiana Coalition for the Arts.
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Indiana Coalition for the Arts placard
on the front of the lectern. |
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Norbert speaking with
Lewis Ricci, guitarist,
songwriter, and Executive Director of the Indiana Arts Commission. |
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With
April Blevins and
Laura Frank, staff
members at IAC. |
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With
Stephanie Young, theatre specialist for the
Wells County Arts
Council, and Kit Miracle
, director of
Jasper Community Arts, in Norbert’s hometown. |
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Young student arts lovers gave the
gathering energy and hope. |
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Jazz vocalist
Wendy Reed and husband
Jeff. |
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Jeanne Miro of
Fort Wayne , board member of the IAC, received the Arts
Volunteer Award. |
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Norbert read two poems, “The
Forefather Arrives,” which he insisted includes a family of
eight maternal ancestors who support the arts, and “Back in
Indiana ,” the second part of which is etched into a
stained-glass panel by Martin
Donlin at Gate 22 of the new
Indianapolis
International Airport .
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Sally Gaskill presented the Arts
Advocate Award to Indiana State Representative
Sheila Klinker of
West Lafayette . To the far left is Tina
Mahern, Pres. of the
Indiana Coalition for the Arts Foundation. Sheila sang part of “Back
Home in Indiana ” to celebrate Norbert’s return in 2004 to
his native state. |
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On March 14,
Norbert read from Bloodroot,
The Ripest Moments,
and Invisible Presence
at the
new Village Lights Bookshop in historic Madison, on the
Ohio River. Formerly professional dancers, Nathan Montoya and Ann Vestuto
restored the interior of their nineteenth-century building for
two years before opening in November, 2008. Friends and Madison
residents Greg Ziesemer and
Kriss
Luckett -Ziesemer performed two sets of songs while Norbert
signed books after two reading segments. |
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The sign on the front of the
Main Street building. |
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A one-author
display window. |
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A
sign in the window
near copies of a coffee-table book of Indiana photos and poems.
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A familiar woman at the counter near a display
of familiar recent books. |
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A display of familiar CDs. |
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In one room, below a Clemens/Twain print,
stands an 1880s
Steinway piano. |
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Beneath the
Steinway, a cat
named Oscar Wilde
cavorts on a
patterned carpet. |
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People seated up front are ready to
listen. |
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Nathan and Ann sell books. |
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Norbert reads while Greg looks on.
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Mr.
Clemens
listens. |
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Greg and
Kriss perform while Norbert signs books. |
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Greg and
Kriss from the side. |
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Norbert signs books in the Kiddy
Corner while Greg and Kriss sing. |
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People enjoy refreshments.
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People who bought books receive a coupon giving them a free beer or
dessert at the nearby 605 Grille,
operated by Tom and Sherry Moore. |
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Friends around the table at 605
Grille. |
On Sunday,
March 22, Norbert, Monika Herzig (piano), Peter Kienle
(bass), and Carolyn Dutton (violin) gave a poetry and jazz
performance at 2:00 p.m. in the Indy Artsgarden (Circle
Centre Mall, over Washington and Illinois Streets),
sponsored by the Arts Council of Indianapolis. The
performance included tributes to the Hampton Sisters, who
gave their last performance in 2006 in the same venue, Kurt
Vonnegut, whose mother and father had their wedding
reception across the street, and Indy poet Etheridge Knight,
as well as newer material that included “What Kind of Wind,”
a response to Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and “Come
with Me (into the Woods),” for which Monika wrote a new
composition.
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The Artsgarden from the walkway-balcony in the
back, as the musicians set up. |
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A view of the stairway and balcony-walkway from
the front. |
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A banner behind
the stage/performance area. |
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Monika and Carolyn work out some
details before the show begins. |
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Monika points out some aspects of her
two new compositions to Carolyn. |
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The resourceful Peter takes care of a
technical problem. |
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Carolyn stokes up on energy food before the performance begins. She
usually wins the Best Shoes of Any Performer Award. |
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We lead off the
jazz and poetry with “Lazybones Wannabe,” a response to a Hoagy
Carmichael song. |
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The give and take with Carolyn is
always fun. |
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Monika and Norbert perform their
Kurt Vonnegut tribute, “A Pilgrim Unstuck in Time,” included in
Bloodroot: Indiana Poems,
as are the tributes to the Hampton Sisters and Etheridge Knight.
For the Vonnegut poem, Monika arranged a medley of a German
folksong, “Die Gedanken Sind Frei (“Thoughts are Free”), the
“Ode to Joy” from the choral movement of Beethoven’s Ninth
Symphony, and “Can’t Get Indiana Off My Mind.”
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The audience, as
well as Peter, with his daughters Melody and Jasmin, and Carolyn
listen to the Vonnegut tribute. |
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Norbert and Katherine’s son Daniel and
his girlfriend Alexandria enjoyed the performance. |
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At 6:00 p.m.
on Sunday, March 23,
Stella and Jane (with
Jeff Foster) gave a house concert in the Home Fields
Advantage series. Norbert observed his custom of giving a short
reading of poems, keyed to the songs of the performers, to open
the second set of the evening. The past three years, Norbert
and Monika gave the April performance in the series, in honor of
National Poetry and Jazz Appreciation Month; but this year,
after being scheduled again for April, they gave up their slot
because Norbert will be in
Rhode Island with other state poet laureates giving
readings around that state. |
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Jeff Foster, Jane (Bobbie Jane
Lancaster), and Stella (Suzette Weakley) sing. |
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Jeff and Bobbie in action. |
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Jeff and Norbert in the kitchen during
the break. [IMG2104] |
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Bobbie, Cyndi, who hosts the
series, and Mrs. IPL during the break. [IMG2110]
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Norbert reading, as seen from the back
of the room. [2114] |
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Norbert reading, from up close. |
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Suzie, Norbert, and Bobbie at the end
of the evening, ready to buy a bus and take the show on the Hoosier
road. Norbert met the Stella and Jane group as part of the Hoosier
Dylan show, organized by Tim Grimm , another regular in the Home
Fields Advantage series. |
