For English majors and creative writers, poetry is a part of daily life. But even if the last time you read a poem was in your high school language arts class, tonight’s poetry reading at the John Natsoulas Gallery at 8 p.m. will offer the chance to rediscover this unique art form with some of today’s most promising young poets.

Tonight, the Poetry Night Reading Series will host some of the featured poets from independent poetry publishing house Flatmancrooked’s latest publications. These include Not About Vampires: An Anthology of New Fiction Concerning Everything Else and The Slim Anthology of Contemporary Poetics, both of which are due in 2010.

These poets are finalists of Flatmancrooked’s First Annual Poetry Prize and the 2009 Flatmancrooked Fiction Prize – writing contests that are open to amateurs.

At 9 p.m. following the reading, audience members will have the opportunity to read their own work in the open mic portion of the evening. Complimentary wine for guests of age and refreshments will also be offered.

UC Davis University Writing Program professor and poet Andy Jones will host the event. He said he expects the event to be unpredictable and entertaining, and plans to read some of his own poetry also featured in the Slim Anthology.

“Flatmancrooked publications are not tame or safe or conservative, but rather they are edgy and they take risks and they’re forward-thinking,” said Jones, who is also Flatmancrooked’s editor-at-large. “I expect the poetry to be edgy and interesting – and at times outrageous.”

In addition, the event offers the rare opportunity to enjoy poetry at an art gallery.

“Some people might associate poetry and art galleries with dry, high culture that’s removed from their immediate needs and concerns,” Jones said. “But the John Natsoulas Gallery makes a point of bringing lots of different, interesting performers into a gallery that has beautiful art on the walls.”

Chris “Whitey” Erickson, a graduate of the UC Davis Master’s in creative writing program, will read from his work featured in Not About Vampires. Jones said Erickson is a dynamic performer and sure to be a highlight of the performance.

“He’s an amazing performance poet,” Jones said. “He creates amazing characters and presents them in such a way that I find them to be funnier than, say, 90 percent of people I’ve seen in comedy shows.”

Julia Jackson is a Davis native and current graduate student at San Francisco State University. She will be reading her poem “For the Sun,” which was chosen as a finalist in the Flatmancrooked contest and will be featured in the Slim Anthology.

Jackson said “For the Sun” is one of the first poems she ever wrote – as a student at Davis High School.

“The concept was writing a poem to someone you admire,” Jackson said. “At the time I was in high school and didn’t have a crush on anyone, so I wrote it to the sun. It’s this impression of being outside and making the most of time outside.”

Jackson praised Flatmancrooked’s efforts to help aspiring writers engage in the literary community through contests and other outreach programs.

“To be starting a career in creative writing now is kind of scary,” she said. “But it’s really inspiring to see that really you just need to have an active and engaged community that you can bounce ideas off of and collaborate with, and as long as that’s a community of support, there’s a lot of excitement.”

Fellow San Francisco State graduate student and contest finalist Shideh Etaat will read her poem “Petrichor” at tonight’s performance.

“It’s written in a strange form that I’ve never really used. It’s about falling in love in a foreign country,” Etaat said.

Etaat said she is excited for the performance and the chance to perform in an art gallery. Although performing her own work can be nerve-wracking, she said the experience is gratifying.

“I get really nervous beforehand, but it’s a whole other side of writing,” she said. “Sometimes when you’re nervous and you get up there you just want to get off [the stage], but [the key is] allowing yourself the pleasure of being in that space and taking your time with it.”

ROBIN MIGDOL can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

Pianist Vladimir Feltsman will perform at the Mondavi Center’s Jackson Hall on Saturday, Apr. 24 at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $17.50 for students.

Feltsman will play Beethoven’s “Sonata No.8 in C Minor,” J.S. Bach’s “Parita No.1 in B-Flat Major” and “Four Ballads” by Frederic Chopin at Saturday’s show.

Born in Moscow in 1952, Feltsman currently lives in upstate New York. His musical history can be traced to his childhood, when Feltsman debuted with the Moscow Philharmonic at the age of 11. He studied music at prestigious schools such as Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory of Music and the Moscow and Leningrad Conservatries before he began touring and winning awards – one of which was the Grand Prix at the Marguerite Long International Piano Competition in Paris in 1971.

Feltsman carries a background of triumphs and successes, as well as artistic restriction and exile. A hero fighting in the name of artistic freedom, Feltsman was banned from performing in Russia after applying for a Visa to escape the Soviet Union’s restrictions on musical creativity. He spent eight years in exile before he was finally able to escape to the United States. Upon arriving in 1987, he performed his first North American recital to a receptive crowd at the Reagan White House. Feltsman soon made a name for himself as a major pianist in both North America and around the world.

“[Feltsman has] a very interesting personal story, as far as a pianist immigrating to this country and being virtually kicked out of Russia because of his artistic choices,” said Philip Daley, events manager for the Department of Music. “For him to come to the U.S. and to be able to do the kinds of performances he’s always wanted to do, that’s a big deal. People who have stories like his will always give fantastic performances because the music matters to them so much.”

Assistant professor of music Sandra Graham also commented on Feltsman’s success and the symbolic effect his emigration has had on countering limitations.

“I heard Vladimir Feltsman play Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” in Reading, PA, shortly after he came to the U.S. in 1987,” Graham said in an e-mail interview. “It was a small theater in a fairly small town, but a huge performance: muscular, delicate, sensitive, exciting. Afterward, the mayor presented him with a key to the city – a gesture that perhaps held more meaning than usual given Feltsman’s long struggle.”

One of Feltsman’s recent projects includes a series of concerts presenting the music of J.S. Bach, built off his lifelong loyalty to the composer. The series ran for four seasons between 1992 and 1996 at the 92nd Street Y in New York.

More recently in January 2003, Feltsman not only served as Artistic Director for Masterpieces of the Russian Underground, but also performed in most of their pieces. Put on by Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the project emphasized Russian contemporary music through the piano and chamber works of 14 different composers. Feltsman now educates piano students at Mannes College of Music in New York City.

“It’s interesting to think how quickly Feltsman became successful when he moved here,” said Don Roth, executive director at the Mondavi Center. “He became an immediate sensation when he played for President Reagan at the White House, and his career has just kept going since then. Feltsman just has this quality about him; of looking very serious at the piano, but what comes out is incredibly beautiful and moving.”

Roth added that this is Feltsman’s first time in Jackson Hall and that the Mondavi staff keenly awaits his arrival. He also noted that Feltsman would be leading a class on Friday for piano performance students in the music department.

“I’m very pleased about this,” Daley said. “I just have to thank the Mondavi Center for arranging [it]. It’s great when people like this come to perform at the Mondavi and they’re also able to give some artistic input to our own students.”

Students may also find that the venue in itself is reason enough to attend, Don said.

“Jackson Hall in the Mondavi Center is an amazing venue for a solo piano recital,” Roth said. “If I were a student I would come over to the Mondavi Center, find a really good buy on a ticket, and sit down, close my eyes and let all the worries of everyday college life slip away!”

ELENI STEPHANIDES can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

In an all-too-familiar move last week, the state of Georgia passed a budget that will potentially eliminate the Georgia Council for the Arts. Thousands rallied at the Georgia capitol to protest the budget on Monday, addressing the overwhelming sentiment that arts are almost always first on the chopping block.

As whimsical as it may sound, it’s truly unfortunate that the arts are generally first to go when it comes to budget cuts. And I don’t mean to simply whine – it’s unfortunate because arts and culture are inextricably connected to a country’s economics and social well-being.

Georgia’s art elimination is just a recent example. In the midst of the 2009-2010 school year budget cuts here at UC Davis, the Textiles and Clothing division nearly got the axe when an Academic Prioritization Committee report found the division too small “in context of the college’s current financial woes,” according to an Aggie article published in November. There’s probably an arguable reason for the administrations “priorities” with regard to staffing and funding. The reason is that we, in America, often assume that arts aren’t worth keeping around.

I say “in America” because many other countries seemingly don’t subscribe to this mode of thinking. Chicago-based music website Pitchfork.com recently published an article about financial support for artists in Sweden, Canada and Norway. Much of their support comes, not from CD sales or live performances, but from taxpayers.

Yes – taxpayers. According to the article, Swedish electronic duo The Knife received the equivalent of $6,327 from the Swedish Arts Council in 2001 and another $11,248 in 2006, coinciding with the release of their album Silent Shout. Funding even goes toward road performances in the U.S., at events like South by Southwest (SXSW).

It does seem a bit weird to funnel tax dollars toward musicians when we are used to watching our tax dollars fund more traditional recipients and projects such as roads, wars and insolvent banks.

But look at the result: Countries like Sweden provide artists with resources they’d most likely never otherwise find. It helps to promote culture abroad – competing with American dominance in the music industry with a valuable musical “export.” Proponents for such funding go so far as to say funding for music and culture is itself a health care support system, improving the living standards of citizens. Universal health care in these countries props up bands in need of the coverage, who would otherwise have to find their own plans in countries like the U.S.

I’m not going to go as far as to say America should adopt a similar model. Upon first glance, it’s easy to assume most people would be opposed to taxpayer dollars for, say, a band like Yeasayer. As quick as someone might think, “Hey, free money,” the next guy will think, “Not from my paycheck, you god damn Socialists.”

What we need is, at the very least, a simple acknowledgement that art and cultural institutions carry enormous links to the “real” world. Georgia’s budget passed last week met such dismay not only because of the lost cultural connection, but also because it impacts jobs across the state. The near phase-out of the UC Davis TXC division could have impacted a leader in the state textile and research industry solely because the department was too small to remain sustainable.

When it’s common knowledge that album sales are no longer a revenue generator, and art in general isn’t profitable, a new industry model is absolutely necessary.

JUSTIN T. HO wants to remind you that the Search Party submission deadline is approaching, and that KDVS 90.3 FM’s annual fundraiser is currently underway. Visit fundraiser.kdvs.org for more information, or e-mail him at arts@theaggie.org.

E-40

Revenue Retrievin’: Day Shift and Night Shift

Heavy On Grind Entertainment

Rating: 5

On Mar. 30, Vallejo’s very own E-40 released Revenue Retrievin,’ which features two separate albums whose songs relate through their titles and cover shots. The first album, Day Shift, contains a plethora of interesting sounds to cruise or dance to, while Night Shift is more club-oriented and relaxed. E-40 is well-known for his ‘hyphy’ Bay Area music, involving lyrics that speak mainly about the urban lifestyle. These albums only add to his incredible reputation, featuring artists such as Snoop Dogg, Gucci Mane, B-Legit, Too $hort, The Mob Figaz, Mistah F.A.B. and more.

All of the songs in these two albums are good in their own respects. At the same time, some are more eccentric or wild in a musical and lyrical sense than others. Make sure to check it out the next time you’re hungry for some urban enlightenment.

Give these tracks a listen: “Lightweight Jammin”, “Power Up”

For fans of: Too $hort, Messy Marv

– Lea Murillo

Artist: Erykah Badu

Album: New Amerykah Part 2 (Return of the Ankh)

Universal Motown

Rating: 4

An album dedicated to misery and emotional stasis isn’t what we’d expect to see from an artist like Erykah Badu, whose repertoire is founded on a persona of a self-empowered neo-soul earth mother. In New Amerykah Part 2 (Return of the Ankh), Badu all but abandoned the politics and revolutionary drive of Part 1 and opts instead for a sound that is atmospheric and intimate – dripping with pathos and melancholy.

Buoyed by jazzy production from the likes of Madlib and Karriem Riggins, Part 2 drifts seamlessly from track to track, creating a feeling that is weightless but heartfelt. Though Badu’s soulful voice perfectly juxtaposes the album’s bluesy ambiance, it feels constrained. “But I want you to want me/Need you to miss me/I need your attention” she croons on lead single “Window Seat.” She sounds defeated and painfully self-pitying, a huge departure from the persona she built over her previous albums. But if New Amerykah Part 1 establishes Badu as a politically conscious and eccentric revolutionary, Part 2 certainly presents a different side of her – a side that is vulnerable, unanimated and painfully human.

Give these tracks a listen: “Gone Baby, Don’t Be Long,” “Love”

For Fans of: Madlib, Shafiq Husayn, Raphael Saadiq, Lauryn Hill 

– Amber Yan

Pretty Lights

Making Up a Changing Mind

Pretty Lights Music

Rating: 5

In the massive move toward computer-based sound, it is easy for soul to escape most electronic music. Yet there is something incredibly raw, affecting and organic about Pretty Lights.

Pretty Lights is producer Derek Vincent Smith, and his new EP continues and furthers his use of complex sampling but includes a more defined, funky edge. Whereas musicians like Girl Talk and the Hood Internet make mash ups out of just a few songs, Smith layers many different individual music samples and voice clips to create a whole new sound.

The result is a fusion of hip-hop production, dubstep and electronic beats and excerpts of old school jams and horn solos that deliver true soul. It’s not quite trip-hop, and it’s not a mere mix of moog synth and beats. It’s the funk that hooks you and the obvious planning and intelligence behind each five-minute song that commands awe.

Did I mention Smith hands out his tunes for free on PrettyLightsMusic.com? Oh yeah.

Give these tracks a listen: “I Can See It In Your Face,” “Future Blind”

For fans of: The Glitch Mob, Sound Tribe Sector 9

– Janelle Bitker

Tallest Man on Earth

The Wild Hunt

Dead Oceans

Rating: 4

Kristian Matsson, better known as the Tallest Man on Earth, has released a second full-length album that has garnered him comparisons to the legendary Bob Dylan. The Wild Hunt features elements of ragged melodies and engaging lyricism that highlight the striking similarities.

Matsson’s voice, by itself or in tandem with his nostalgia-drenched acoustic guitar, is pure folk brilliance without apologies or insinuations. In the album’s opener, “The Wild Hunt,” Matsson sings about accepting and believing in life’s qualities, rather than battling against them. In the ballad-like track, “Kids on the Run,” he drops the guitar and pairs his raspy voice with the piano instead. The song channels his ability to produce a more current sound of the American South.

This album contains all the austerity that you’d expect from an evocative Swedish-rooted musician – mingled into a pleasing hybrid form of colorful and melodic folk.

Give these tracks a listen: “The Wild Hunt” and “The Drying of the Lawns”

For fans of: Bob Dylan, Wilco

– Vanna Le

Stu Cook, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer for his bass playing with Creedence Clearwater Revival, turns 65 this Saturday. And he’s still rocking.

Cook and fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Doug “Cosmo” Clifford are on tour with Creedence Clearwater Revisited – the original band’s reincarnation project. The Aggie had a chance to chat with Cook before the band plays in Dixon on Saturday, May 8.

So how did Creedence Clearwater Revisited come to be?

Well, Revisited sort of happened by accident. When we decided to put this band together, Doug and I didn’t really know what to expect. We had no idea how our fans would receive it, we sort of had an idea of how the critics would look at it. But we thought it was a pretty good band, and we were proud enough of it to find some places where we could play. We originally thought we’d just play for private parties, but instead we started playing public concerts from the very beginning. And the reception was overwhelming. The fans embraced us quite enthusiastically. I think the first year we played six shows, the next year we played 106 shows. We’ve since cut back to about 75 shows on average a year, which is more manageable. It leaves us more time at home to enjoy the rest of our lives. But we look forward to playing those 75 shows. The careers have been fairly unscripted; it sort of just evolved based on the spread of our reputation as a good band that was really honoring and celebrating the music of CCR. Plus we had two original members, so it added Creedence with one E.

What are the main differences between Creedence Clearwater Revisited shows and the old CCR shows?

We have some different personalities. We have the original members Clifford and myself, and we have John Tristao on lead vocals/rhythm guitar, Tal Morris on lead guitar and Steve Gunner on percussion/harmonica/keyboards/acoustic guitar. So we have a different lineup than the original band.

I’d say the production might be one of the most noticeable differences. This show is a 21st century show. It’s got great lights, great sound and the production values are extremely high. That’s probably the way it differs the most from the shows in the ’60s when there frankly wasn’t much of a rock production value. It was sort of just set up and play back in those days. We’ve chosen to incorporate as much modern technology as we can so that our shows look as good as any artists that are performing in today’s industry.

I noticed many of your shows coming up are at casinos and resorts. Is there a reason for that?

Well that’s where a lot of our audience likes to go for their entertainment, as it turns out. Let me start by saying that we have a very broad audience. We have preteens up to people in their 70s or even in their 80s. The audience is an extremely broad demographic. But the folks with extra money that they can allocate toward entertainment like to go to smaller environments: 1,000 to 3,000 seat venues, which most casinos have. They quite often like to go out for gaming as well. For us, these venues offer tremendous production in terms of lights, sound, good seating and good visibility for people in the audience. They’re really nice places to see a show – any kind of show. Casinos used to be something that artists of my generation turned their noses up at, but practically every artist that is touring today will play a casino. It doesn’t have the stigma that it used to. We find them to be a lot of fun. I mean, from the artist’s side, they have nice hotels, nice restaurants, wonderful fitness rooms and health spas. When we get to a casino to play one or two nights, we always have a great time!

Are you looking forward to playing the more county-fair type of setting, like in Dixon in May?

That’s the other side of our touring schedule. Sure, we love playing the county and state fairs and other civic events; it brings out a much broader audience. You can see three generations of families that come to these events together to enjoy Creedence music. We’ve played the Dixon fair before, so we know how much fun that fair is. I’m from Northern California originally – I’m from the East Bay – so I’m very familiar with every mile between Berkeley and Sacramento on I-80.

Ha, the Nasty Nimitz!

Well you know it used to just be a two-lane road. San Pablo Avenue was how you got from the East Bay to Sacramento many, many years ago. I used to race cars in Vacaville, we used to have a drag strip there. We used to stop at the Nut Tree back when it was the big restaurant on the way. Yes, it was a long time ago.

How do you think Creedence songs have been able to maintain popularity over all of these years?

I think the simplicity, the straight-forwardness and the honesty of Creedence music makes it really accessible. It makes it really easy for other musicians to learn to play these songs, so they are being played nightly across the country. We are fortunate enough to find a place where it works for everybody.

Do you ever get tired of playing the same songs? It has been many years.

Well we played them for three and half years when we were the original band from ’68 to ’72, and we didn’t play them again until 1995. So this is our 16th year of the Revisited project, and I have to say no, we don’t get tired of playing them. Every night is an opportunity to play them in front of a new audience and an opportunity to try to play them better.

What does the future look like for the Revisited band? Do you think you’ll keep playing for the next few years?

Yes, I do. We are all still in excellent health and we are enjoying our work more than ever. We started playing in March this year and the shows have been at least at the level of where we left off last year in terms of precision, musicality and excitement. We’re looking forward to having a great year this year. We just take it one year at a time – we don’t really have a grand plan except to try to go places we haven’t been. This year we are going to Hong Kong and Australia, and we are also going back to South America for our sixth or seventh time. Creedence is popular all over the world. We’ve been to Europe half a dozen times. We play the U.S., Canada and Mexico every year. We’ve played about 30 countries.

I’m curious as to some of the legends you’ve met over the years; I’m sure there are tons.

Well we’ve met the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Moody Blues, Led Zeppelin, Santana – we used to play lots of shows with Carlos. Well, too many to even think of, really. We have met a lot of great people. We’ve had the opportunity to share the stage with some absolutely incredible talent over the past 40-plus years.

And I have just one last question: What can Willy and the Poor Boys possibly play with a harp, a kazoo, a washboard, a gut bass and a Kalamazoo? For just a nickel?

Hahaha. We’ll find a groove to that. We’ve actually played those instruments. If you look at the cover of the Willy and the Poor Boys album, we were actually jamming on this street corner in downtown Oakland. Well not downtown, more like the “hood” of Oakland, where that photo session was taking place. We just played for about an hour and a half. You had me on the gut bass, Cosmo on the washboard, John on the harmonica and Tom on the Kalamazoo guitar. It’s really about making rhythmic noise and throwing in a little bit of melody. We had a good time with it.

Creedence Clearwater Revisted will be at the Dixon May Fair on May 8. Tickets range from $34-39 and are available through Ticketmaster.

JANELLE BITKER can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.