Ghost in the Machine, September 24

This is the former "Vox" open mic series at the Fuze Box on Central Ave., now re-named "Ghost in the Machine: an Open Forum-Mice for All Performers & Artists" in order to capture a wider range of performances, some of which we sampled tonight. The host is Albany poet R.M. Englehardt.

The format was a 10 minute time limit for performers, with a 2 poem/10 minute time-limit for poets (so, poets, bring 2 long poems). With only a few performers the night moved right along. Rob also announced that there was a sheet for an "exquisite corpse" on the counter, that folks were encouraged to join in & the finished product would be read at the end of the night. When I looked at the sheet there was already a long entry by someone, but they hadn't folded over the sheet to hide the entry, so I wasn't sure what was going on.

Rob began with a poem by one of Baudelaire's contemporaries as an invocation, written on the back of an advertising poster for absinthe. The first open mic person seemed to have left the building, so the next was Danielle Moreau, who sang unaccompanied a couple songs she had written for a band she is in; I think they would have worked just fine read. I followed with my 2 new "Coyote" poems.

R.M. Engelhardt read "Procession," a somber, serious poem, that he said was in response to a poem Thom Francis had read here last month about papier mache poets (i.e., "Paper Messiah" I think), then a couple of older pieces, "Dedication" & "Evening."

 Next was the night's performance artist, "Barbie Claus," playing a toy guitar plugged into a keyboard & intoning completely unintelligible lines because of the bunny mask covering his face -- it might've been something good. Nicole Ryan, the night's "virgin" performer, read notebook jottings she described as "crap from inside my head."

The night's band was "Broken Glass & Cigarettes," fronted by Jonny Von, with Cody Bingham & Mic Cybulski. I'm no rock historian but I would characterize it as "poseur rock," sounding as near as I could tell a bit like the Psychedelic Furs. I picked up their demo CD & a collection of writings by Jonathan M. Heller (aka Jonny Von), "Dirty Semen Spectacles." At this point I had to bail out & left before the reading of the "exquisite corpse." Maybe Rob will post it on his website.

Every 4th Friday, starting about 8:30PM, at the Fuze Box, 13 Central Ave., Albany, NY.