So here's an occasional series I will do on this here blog.
This series will be about other writings that I've done as I have existed on this rock that we all share.
Let's start with my first self-published work.
The first thing I self-published was The Season of Passage. It is a poetry chapbook. Did this back in the 90s.
The Season of Passage is an epic poem. It was written in an older style and was meant to feel like a timeless sort of Poe piece.
The story concerns a couple with very troubled pasts who meet and fall in love. They get married and have a child who dies. The couple's lives disintegrate. It's a very gothic maudlin long form poem.
Some of it was written in graveyards and some of the characters' names came from headstones. Other parts were written by candlelight or lantern.
It was all handwritten then compiled and edited on a computer.
The photography for the book was by the late amazing TG Yearwood. TG had a fantastic eye for photography. We went to a graveyard in Revere (where I wrote some of the book), and spent an afternoon shooting some of the intricate tombs, sculptures, and headstones. TG my friend, I miss you all the time and your work was fantastic. Thank you.
TG also did a few calligraphy pieces with text from the book which I then washed in stale coffee and dried. It gave the paper an amazing weathered look. We put them up for sale at Gargoyles Grotesque and Chimeras on Newbury St. in Boston. A store that is sadly long gone.
A series of readings to promote the book were staged in a few spaces.
At the Bookcellar Cafe (an excellent bookstore/performance space that is sadly long gone) in Cambridge Bob Ross (from the legendary jazz group Debris) and Rob Migliaccio played an improv set while I read a short chunk of the book. Thanks Rob and Bob!
Bob also played with me at Tower Records in Cambridge. He played acoustic guitar and he was really fun and amazing. At one point I couldn't stop laughing when he repeated everything, I said into the sound hole of the guitar. Bob you rock!
Al Finn also played guitar along with me at the Tower Records in Burlington. Al did a fabulous job playing improvised guitar parts. Thanks Al!
One other promotional thing that I tried was handing out flyers for the book before Nine Inch Nails infamous show at the old Boston Garden (that show deserves its only blog entry). It actually helped as sales at the various places I was selling the book picked up a bit after the show.
The funny part of this story is... anyone going to concerts in and around Boston from the later 80s through the 90s will probably remember the "Repent You're Going to Hell" guy who used to stand around outside shows with his sandwich board trying to get everyone to repent. Because the flyer I had featured a picture of a stone angel from the graveyard, he somehow thought I was there to help him. I politely corrected him and he wandered off.
The talented actor/singer Doug Thoms read some of the book at a poetry reading one night. Sadly, I didn't make it to the event. If you're reading this Doug, sorry I didn't make it. I'm sure you made whatever you read out of the book more amazing than it was on the page. One time I saw Doug play Judas in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar in a performance space in Boston. Doug's performance was astounding. His singing voice cut through the hall so powerfully that I was almost knocked out of my seat.
A friend gave a copy to Robert Smith from the Cure and I gave a couple of copies to Metallica. No, I never heard what any of them thought of it. They probably went into the trash. Who knows.
It should also be mentioned that there was an electronic version done of the book, on floppy disc! It basically was the text moving on the screen with the photos. Nothing too fancy now but back then it was cutting edge. Might even be the first e-book but who knows.
You might ask, where can I get a copy of the Season of Passage?
Honestly, I only have 1-2 copies left myself so, the answer is I don't know.
I don't have any plans to re-print it. Just thought it would be fun to blog about the memories around it which are probably far better than the book itself.
Yours in chapbooks,
Count Robot
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