ANN ARBOR—Five performance poets from Ann Arbor, Chicago and New York City and a dozen musicians will blend music and the spoken word in “Border Crossings: A Festival of New Jazz/Rock & Poetry” on Oct. 9.

The free performances, beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the University of Michigan’s Rackham Auditorium, will provide a background for poet and U-M English Prof. Richard Tillinghast‘s release of his first poetry/music CD, “My Only Friends were the Wolves.” Donations will be accepted for the Great Lakes Literary Alliance.

Tillinghast and Poignant Plecostomus create “an incendiary blend of poetry and free form fusion music that includes rock, jazz, Middle Eastern, Eastern European and classical influences.” He has written six books of poetry. The most recent is “Today in the Cafe Trieste,” a collection of new and selected poems. His work has appeared online on Slate Magazine and Poetry Daily and has been featured on Garrison Keilor’s “Writer’s Almanac” on NPR. Tillinghast has been a member of the U-M’s MFA program since its inception in 1984 and teaches a popular multimedia course on the Beat Generation. In addition, he has been a book reviewer and essayist for the Wall Street Journal and, for the past 20 years, he has reviewed new poetry for the New York Times Book Review and done travel writing for the Times.

Arwulf Arwulf, a poet, performance poet, writer and Ann Arbor radio personality will be performing in collaboration with the Sonnelicht Project. Arwulf has been a columnist for AGENDA, Ann Arbor’s alternative news monthly, for six years. In addition, he has been the host of “Face the Music” on WCBN—88.3 FM for the past 20 years, and has hosted “Sunday Best” on WEMU—89.1 FM for the past 10.

Arwulf is working with the Sonnelicht project, which includes musicians from the popular jazz fusion band “Transmission,” some of whose members are graduates of the U-M School of Music. Drawing upon the traditions of jazz, collective improvisation and the Schoenberg/Webern school of experimentation, Arwulf and the Sonnelicht Project are currently recording their first poetry/music CD “Reproductive Rights For All Women.”

Brenda Cardenas presents interlingual English/Chicana poetry backed by Poignant Plecostomus, a fusion band from Ann Arbor whose music has been described as “jazz fusion with a Captain Beefheart-Frank Zappa strangeness and a rock ‘n’ roll kick.” Cardenas earned an MFA in creative writing from U-M in 1995 and has taught at Wayne State University and U-M. A Chicago resident, she is implementing a creative writing program at the Yollocalli Youth Initiative and serves as performing arts assistant at the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum. Her artistic collaborations include works with visual artists, composers and dancers. Among these collaborations is “Oh Goya! Goya,” presented at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, England.

M.L. Liebler & the Magic Poetry Band’s eclectic mix of poetry and music is “poetry we can dance to” and incorporates serious consciousness raising. He has released several albums including the recent CD, “The Gift Outright.” In addition, he recently returned from a reading tour which included performances in New York; Washington, D.C.; Chicago and several Western states. He is director of the YMCA National Writer’s Voice Project in Detroit, hosts the “Vision of Words” poetry program on Detroit’s WDTR-FM and is recognized nationally for activities supporting development of programs that have expanded the poetic scene in Detroit. Liebler is the author of 10 books of poetry including the newly released “Brooding the Heartlands.” Since 1980, he has also been a full-time faculty member of the Department of English at Wayne State University.

Recognized as a pioneer in the field of blending poetry and jazz, Barry Wallenstein’s work is notable for its roots in ’50s soul music and ’60s jazz, its hybrid diction and loose-limbed urban rhythms. He has made three recordings including the recently released CD “In Case You Missed It” with Arthur Blythe and John Hicks. A poet and performance poet from New York City, he is the author of several books including “Short Life of the Five Minute Dancer” and “Love & Crush.” He is a professor at the City College of New York and director of the Poetry Outreach Center there, as well as an editor of the American Book Review and coordinator of the city-wide annual Spring Poetry Festival at City College. His new poetry collection, “A Measure of Conduct,” will be published in 1999.

Border Crossings is coordinated as part of the 1998-99Visiting Writers Series and is sponsored by the U-M Office of the Provost, the Department of English, the Rackham School of Graduate Studies, the School of Music, Shaman Drum Bookshop, and WEMU—89.1 FM.

For general information call (734) 764-6296.

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U-M News and Information Services University of Michigan

Richard TillinghastMFAWCBN—88.3 FMVisiting Writers SeriesU-M News and Information ServicesUniversity of Michigan