To the extent that  “Plastic Alto” is a memoir of the concert series I produced in Palo Alto, 1994-2001, I am influenced by Danny Goldberg’s “Bumping into Geniuses”. He says he’s kinda smart but had a talent for surrounding himself with true geniuses and bumping into them (as opposed to bumping them off, which would be in a famous book about radio payola). Meanwhile I am recalling taking a course on modern poetry at Dartmouth fall, 1985 with Tom Sleigh and reading Adrienne Rich “Fact of a Doorframe” which says something about having something to hold onto as you bang your head again and again, like a Sysyphus or Prometheus. I think my paper or classroom report must have been barely passable. I recall not knowing what “makeba” meant. I think I did better, somehow, with Elizabeth Bishop “the Fish”.

Here are two links to the main texts. I should probably link to Marian Makeba, who came alive to me in the film about Ali in Zaire (and I admit I rooted for George Foreman at the time).

(I would have seen this in a different edition, of course)

I may still have my edition on my shelves,  although I did recently deaccession about 1,000 cd’s and 300 books, most to last-man-standing indie shop but one-tenth to public library sale — I wish I had given it all. Here is the relevant Makeba line:

as Makeba sings
a courage-song for warriors
music is suffering made powerful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-VrfadKbco