Record-listening and writing go hand in hand for me. It’s the throughline of my life. Heaven, if it exists, will consist of a room with a stereo, where for eternity I will put favorite vinyl records on a turntable, sit back, and listen. A cup of coffee or cocktail may be involved, as well as cleaning, organizing, alphabetizing, writing notes, or poem-editing.
Maybe I am preaching to the choir here, talking about the benefits of listening to records and writing, although I know a lot of writers who prefer to write in silence or in a cafe. I’m not embarrassed to say that a good chunk of my life has been spent in chairs and on rugs, listening to discs of vinyl. And, while I wouldn’t say I am a record collector per se, I do own a few shelves’ worth.
This week, I’d like to share specific selections from my collection: poetry records and spoken word records.
First up: Black/Angeles, a 1988 recording that features performances from two poets, one on each side: Michèlle T. Clinton on side A, and Wanda Coleman on side B. I got this record maybe 15 years ago, going by the price tag. I was unfamiliar with Clinton’s work when I picked this record up, but was jarred and rocked by the poems—they’re raw, punk, fiery. “Anti Apart Hate Art” is a favorite. At the time I picked this record up, the main draw was hearing Wanda Coleman’s performances, and they do not disappoint.
An interesting detail is that the label that released this and other Wanda Coleman recordings, New Alliance Records, was founded in 1980 by Minutemen members D. Boon and Mike Watt, along with a friend from San Pedro High School, Martin Tamburovich. I recognize the label on records from my old Hüsker Dü and Descendents records.
Last year, the mighty Black Sparrow Press released Wicked Enchantment, a beautiful collection that covers Coleman’s career, edited by Terence Hayes. It’s a terrific introduction to Coleman’s work. Coleman who passed away in 2013, presented herself as largely existing outside the poetry establishment. With Wicked Enchantment, Coleman’s work is receiving a new look from that establishment, although it is a bit awkward to read largely white critics circle around and try to provide a critical framework for a poetry is both entirely straightforward and transformational and future-seeking. Wanda Coleman’s work on record deserves a second look as well, possibly even a box set of some sort.
That prospect of a box set or even some reissues seems unlikely. Joshua Bodwell, the current publisher of Black Sparrow Press, informs me that the New Alliance label was consumed by the SST record label, an essential punk label that is also quite, well, terrible at working with its catalog and its artists. "I'm not sure those Wanda recordings will ever see the light of day again," Bodwell tells me over email.
"Wanda had such interesting overlap with the LA punk scene for a little while," Bodwell writes. "I was a huge SST fan before I ever read Wanda, so when I first learned about that overlap I was kinda stunned." Bodwell was kind enough to send a long a print of a photo by Suzan Carson he recently acquired of a very young Henry Rollins, who must have just taken as lead singer of Black Flag, and Wanda Coleman. (Google it; there is at least one thumbnail online.) To be a fly on the wall when that was taken!
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