Book Talk Series, March 7

The Friends of the Albany Public Library hold a weekly event at the Washington Ave. Branch at noon which I frequently attend, that includes, in addition to coffee & cookies a review or a talk about book. The books are often non-fiction history, or biography, or political topics, sometimes a novel, even on occasion poetry. & on occasion an author will talk about her or his book. Today, Joseph Cardillo, PhD talked about his book Body Intelligence: Harness Your Body’s Energies for Your Best Life.

Self-help books are, shall I say, not my cup-of-tea & I rarely write about these noon-time book talks, but back in the late 1980s & early 1990s there was a poet & rock musician named Joe Cardillo whom I’d seen perform at local venues, including at the Reading Against the End of the World. He taught writing & was reputed to be a “poetry guru” to students at "Harvard-on-the-Hudson."  So I attended the Library talk today to see the re-branded Joe Cardillo, poet & rock star, as Joseph Cardillo, PhD, self-help guru.

It was pretty much as I had feared. Complete with a Power Point presentation, he talked about “mental flow” & "Energy" defined as "power/force" &/or "information," & about managing the “body intelligences.” There were insightful quotes such as “you are energy, your world is energy, & everything in your world is energy”, & “The key is drawing the right energy for the right task.” & of course there were charts (included in the book) to figure out Your Energy Needs, & another, bigger chart with an equally long title about “How Energy Affects You & How.”  There was the customary celebrity name-dropping, including former football player Michael Strahan, & morning talk-show hosts whose names I didn't recognize.

Joe Cardillo (r.) with Elaine McHenry, RAEW 1990

It made me think of the poet William Blake’s quote, “Energy is Eternal Delight.”

In looking for photos of Joe Cardillo from back in the day, I found a journal entry from March 1988 about an event organized by Tom Nattell at the QE2, “The Peoples’ Poetry Reading,” at which Joe was on the program with Paul Weinman & Judith Johnson. Joe performed his poems backed up with a guitar & a piano.  I noted in my write-up that he was “wrecked,” tossing around lots of “fucks” & other “rough language,” until chastised by a woman in the audience who shouted (interestingly enough, given his topic today), “watch the women’s energy, Joe.”

Anyway, it seems that it is all performance, whether poetry or rock'n'roll or motivational speaking,
but now Joe is selling many more of his self-help books than he did his poetry or his music CDs.