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TOUR DATES
Some early tour dates for 2012's huge Rubber Orchestras Tour have been announced, here are a few of them till March. There are quite a few more to come soon.
January 20, 2012 - Circolo Arci Biko, MILAN ---
MORE INFO, ORDERING AND EXCERPTS HERE : http://www.saltpublishing.com/books/smp/9781844718191.htm ---
A couple months ago Mojo magazine contacted us for a special project. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Rolling Stones' seminal 1971 album 'Sticky Fingers' they were asking contemporary soul (or soul influenced) artists to cover the entire album for their January 2012 issue.
Elsewhere in the same issue of the magazine, Lois Wilson gave our Rubber Orchestras album a resounding 4 star review, check :"...psychedelic jazz and voodoo funk...one of the most talented and engaging purveyors of the music right here and now. Joseph has been creating his mesmeric sounds that draw on Axis:Bold as love-era Hendrix, Marley, Gary Byrd and Coltrane since 2007 and with each record released he's getting stronger, stranger, bolder..."
Here's the review :
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www.radiogrenouille.com/uncategorized/hangtime-awards-2011-best-album ---
More info :
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=243006372418650
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To celebrate the release our my third album with the Spasm Band, here's a 1hr mix tape featuring some of the music that inspired the album. There's some good stuff in there, enjoy!!! The album's out NOW!!
Anthony Joseph - The Rubber Orchestras Paris DJs Mix Part 1: From the Plantation to the Revolution
(MP3 Podcast on www.ParisDJs.com) Heavenly Sweetness, 2011-09-10
A selection of sounds from Anthony Joseph to accompany the release of his third album with the Spasm Band, Rubbers Orchestras. "Featuring some vintage soca, calypso, steelpan, psychedelic funk, and voodoo jazz. Some surprises, some real rarities, some classics, some discoveries." says the British poet, novelist, musician and lecturer born in Trinidad. We had already invited Anthony Joseph for a guest mix on Paris DJs in december 2008, to announce his previous album Bird Head Son. The new one is even more amazing, this time produced by Malcom Catto, who doesn't need any better introduction than the psychedelic funk mix focusing on his works, which we published three years ago already. The album is out september 12th, and Anthony Joseph will be playing at the New Morning in Paris on september 15th.
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'She is the sea' is taken from the new album 'Rubber Orchestras' released on September 10 in France and Oct 10 in the UK. ---
Firstly, hurry up and get a free download of an exclusive track from the new Spasm Band album here : http://ecard.naive.fr/anthonyjoseph/build/DownloadLink.swf Secondly, I've put the entire audio book of Bird Head Son on Soundcloud. Listen to it here : Bird Head Son : The Audio Book by Anthony Joseph ---
Its summer, which means that I'm touring Europe with the Spasm Band. We have a new album released this August, so as we get ready for that, here are a few recent clips from my recent performances with and without the Spasm Band.
Firstly though, listen to an edit of the first release from the forthcoming album, this is 'Griot' a homage to all urban griots of past, present and future.
Anthony Joseph 'Griot' (Long Radio Edit) by heavenlysweetness
And here is part 1 of recent clip of a performance in Antwerp with Brazzvll.
Here's Pt 2. Finally, here's a recent performance from Rich Mix, London. The song is 'Generations'. The album version was produced by Gerry Dammers. ---
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Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band + Jerry Dammers Tue 14 Jun / 7.30pm / Bar / £7 adv / £10 door Book tickets online or call our Box Office on 020 7613 7498 Bar Book Online Now7:30 pm, Tuesday, June 14th One of the UK's most exciting and innovative voices, poet, musician, performance artist and novelist Anthony Joseph was born in Trinidad and has lived in the UK since 1989. He is the author of three poetry collections, Desafinado, Teragaton and Bird Head Son, and a critically acclaimed novel The African Origins of UFOs. Joseph is regarded as 'the leader of the black avant garde in Britain' and in 2004 he was selected by the Arts Council of England for the historic The Great Day photo as one of fifty Black and Asian writers who have made major contributions to contemporary British literature. He is the author of three poetry collections: Desafinado (1994), Teragaton (1998) and Bird Head Son (2009). His first novel, The African Origins of UFOs was published in 2006. He is well-known for performances accompanied by his band The Spasm Band with which he tours internationally. He has released two critically acclaimed albums with the band; both featuring lyrics from his collections; Leggo de Lion, 2007and Bird Head Son in 2009. The band’s third album, Rubber Orchestras will be published alongside his fourth poetry collection of the same name in 2011. He is a lecturer in Creative Writing at Birkbeck College, University of London. The Spasm Band : Anthony Joseph - Vocals & Percussion Andrew John - Bass Colin Webster - Saxophones & Flute Michel Castellenos - Drums Christian Arcucci - Guitar Oscar Martinez- Congas and Percussion http://www.richmix.org.uk/aandc_anthonyjosephthespasmband.htm ---
This is a slide show I did for a poem from my forthcoming Rubber Orchestras collection. Its a tribute to Philly Joe Jones, John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy.
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Here's a recent interview I did for Shelf Unbound Magazine in which I discuss influences, process and music. You can read the full interview here For more info on the forthcoming Rubber Orchestras collection see textology ---
Here's a sneak preview of the cover art for my forthcoming collection Rubber Orchestras, due October 2011 on Salt. ---
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Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band live in Nice, March 2010
Anthony Joseph performs Ghost Planet with Jerry Dammers Spatial AKA on Later...with Jools Holland, April 2010
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I'm performing on Later with Jools Holland Friday 23 April 2010 @ 23.50 - BBC 2! with Jerry Dammers Spatial AKA Orchestra + Rico!! Watch it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/later/ It will be on the BBC Iplayer for a week after, and on youtube after that. peace, anthony ---
I have some work included in this new anthology of Erotic Caribbean writing. Many years in the making. My contribution is called 'The RealTime Trajectory of Explicit Love'. A wide-ranging anthology of poetry, short fiction, and critical essays designed to generate thought about what is still a conflicted area of Caribbean literature and culture, this revealing, in-depth examination explores the many facets of the erotic in contemporary Caribbean literature—from desire; the psychology of abusive relationships; the role of fantasy; and issues of infidelity, lust, rape, self-respect, self-love, and child-birth. This anthology also discusses the Caribbean frameworks of sexuality as a cultural construct, from the role of machismo, homophobia, and Protestant-fundamentalist sexual ideologies as specific forms of denial and hostility to the open expression of sexual desire. The essays then extend the book’s scope beyond literature and consider the impact of the erotic upon other aspects of Caribbean life, ranging from song lyrics to the general issues of female empowerment in Caribbean societies. Featuring the work of well-known writers such as Nalo Hopkins, Colin Channer, Kwame Dawes and the work of many fresh new talents such as Obediah Michael Smith, Christian Campbell, and Tiphanie Yanique, this anthology aims to create a new framework in which the full spectrum of the erotic in Caribbean literature and life can be freely explored. Buy it from Peepal Tree : http://www.peepaltreepress.com/single_book_display.asp?isbn=9781845230890
I also have work included in the new anthology of contemporary British Poetry 'Identity Parade' (Bloodaxe) as well as in 'Red' the new anthology from Peepal Tree, both published this month.
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And now for something really special. This is a feature length film featuring international concert performances and backstage footage from the first 4 years of Anthony Joseph & the Spasm Band.
There is no time : Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band from anthony joseph on Vimeo. ---
This is the a poem from a new collection I'm working on, Rubber Orchestras. The collection will feature 100 poems, and will be published in early 2011 if all goes to plan. More soon.
Riff for Morton
Damper down both phallic and acquainted with African blues. The hips suggest good jazz )(i.e.sex)
Anita, 1900. the african fiction of whiteness is absolute. arcade saloons and dance halls gambling down like evil or false notes blue notes of white magic
Jelly roll morton at the cadillac cafe pimp or piano drunk and sick on the bricktops of vancouver
Ragtime Billy from Chicago a clarinetist at the Regent 1923 went southwest with the wrath of poseidon gambling down in terrific storms which broke down the pensacola kid at the Paradise gardens with the first three notes of Dead Man Blues and The Pearls
yes he left mamanita, yes he left yes he let his beard grow spat blood in the broom closet yes he let his beard grow
there were many diamonds she left many diamonds cash on cadillac cars duke ellington had swing bands basie and calloway had a cluster of tricks which in fact were as spikes at kingpin sessions and in the exact rooms of the kidworth hotel where days passed like clinic cards Morton left the sepia spot and took his body to the jungle inn on 126 North West
Red Peppers and the attack of alibi, restless priests listening to Pops Mabel at the church of intercourse Jelly you rascal you minstrel you lover you bone meat of the creole caribbean - vicious semen, Jelly bake ‘em brown and break a banjo across their backs jelly you blues talker 1930 the worried blues and the voodoo of your laughter stepping lean in stove pipes with the prestige of your father
to the very end. ---
New Year Greetings to everyone. 2009 was a creative and fulfilling year. In Feb Bird Head Son, the book and album were released simultaneously and I was on the road for most of the year, performing a multitude of gigs throughout Europe and beyond with the Spasm Band. Then later in the year doing a book tour of Germany and Austria.
JERRY DAMMERS’ SPATIAL A.K.A. ORCHESTRA are: ---
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From November 16 to 23 I will be embarking on a short German spoken word tour reading from my new 'Bird Head Son' collection. I will be mainly reading at universities, with a date in Austria on Nov 23. The last German tour, in 2007 was an incredible experience, so I'm really looking forward to this one.
The dates are : For more info on the book see http://www.saltpublishing.com/books/smp/9781844714353.htm ---
Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band play 'Killer Joe' at the Vortex, London on Sep 10 09. ---
ANTHONY JOSEPH AND THE SPASM BAND @ THE VORTEX
Vortex Jazz Club
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=123145796106&ref=mf Few lecturers at London University can be as rowdily funky as Anthony Joseph. Backed by squawking free-jazz and supercharged percussion, the Trinidadian poet and academic struts, bawls and howls his way through his latest works – part Voodoo priest, part prize-fighter. While he incorporates magic-realism in his work, there is also something of the modern urban Rimbaud about Anthony Joseph, who has artfully injected a keen visionary energy into the band's latest album 'Bird Head Son'. '(Anthony Joseph)...comes across like a New Orleans preacher, loud, proud, rousing, over the sweat and the sin of the music. His delivery is somewhere between Martin Luther King Jnr and Jimi Hendrix, these incredibly vivid spiritual street stories that build and swell with the music' (Bob Baker Fish). This is a very rare London date for the band on their 'Bird Head Son' tour which has seen them crossing continents and sharing stages with the likes of Seun Kuti's Egypt 80, Sun Ra Arkestra, and George Clinton's Parliament/Funkadelic. Definitely not to be missed! ---
Yes, I know, its been an incredibly long time since I updated this site. Fact is, I've been busy. Been on the road with the Spasm Band in Europe, touring relentlessly. Its been hectic, moving from place to plane, eating weird shit and drinking copious amount of Martiniquan rum but also performing some heavy shows with the guys. This leg of the tour goes on till Aug 9 when we fly in from Reunion Island to play the Big Chill. There are more gigs in September, October, then in November : I tour Germany promoting my Bird Head Son book.
In terms of writing, I am working on 2 major texts. Firstly, my PHD project, a fictional biog of lord kitchener (not the English guy, the calypsonian), finally managing to get a rhythm going, getting through 1000 words a day, in 80 days I'll have a novel, well, at least a novel lenght thing. Wish me luck.
Secondly, a new collection I'm hoping will get published next year, its an abstract, experimental work-100 poems based on a surrealistic technique I think I might have invented. Its a secret. But the book will be called 'Rubber Orchestras' (Ted Joans describing Bob Kaufman's work). Its a strangely haunting work that will either be deeply profound (concerning the slippages and dark spaces of language) or deeply odd. Either way, I'm enjoying the process of discovery.
I've finished teaching for the summer : a great group of Birkbeck folks, amazing to see the transformation from beginner to writer by the end of the 22 week course. They even put together a booklet of their work as an end of course gift to me. Good stuff. Teaching resumes in September when I will be teaching a new Life Writing course. I designed the syllabus, looking forward to it.
So, to make up for the lost time, here's a vid from a recent New Morning, Paris performance.
And here's a new review of the Bird Head Son album from Cyclic Defrost
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June 3rd 2009
6 – 8pm
An eflyer is coming soon!
In the meantime please RSVP: events@renaissanceone.co.uk ---
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On Tuesday March 10 2009 I performed at the Barbican Center, London with Jerry Dammers' Spatial AKA, here are a couple backstage pics.
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Click the flyer for tickets.
My new book and album – both entitled ‘Bird Head Son’ were published simultaneously earlier this month. I'd like to invite you to the UK album launch, being held at Cargo, London on March 5th. Kartel are offering a good deal on in which you get a CD for £5. See below for details. Hope to see you there. ---
A new blog has just been set up to deal specifically with my work with the Spasm Band.Things were getting a bit crowded on my birdheadson blog so I will us that one for literary work and this for music : ---
This January/Feb sees the joint release of my new album and book, both entitled Bird Head Son. At the moment I am on tour with the Spasm band throughout Europe and beyond in support of the album which was released in France in January. It will be simulteanously released with the new book in the UK on Feb 7.
Album Launch gig & Party at Cargo: Kartel are offering a special deal on this show. For purchasing tickets you also get the chance to pre-order the new album ‘BIRD HEAD SON’, for the very special price of only £5! (normal price £9.99 in store)
Order your tickets from :
Kartel Box Office/Shop Bird Head Son the album is released on the 9th February 2009, along with the book of the same name. ---
Kartel are offering a special deal on this show. For purchasing tickets you also get the chance to pre-order the new album ‘BIRD HEAD SON’, for the very special price of only £5! (normal price £9.99 in store)
Order your tickets from :
Kartel Box Office/Shop Bird Head Son the album is released on the 9th February 2009, along with the book of the same name. ---
The Spasm Band are about to go on the road. Through most of 2009 we will be on tour promoting our new album Bird Head Son which is released on Naive/Heavenly Sweetness on Jan 20 in France/Europe and Feb 7 in the UK. Here are some of the dates, followed by a video of our concert at the Transmusicales Festival in Rennes last December. Enjoy.
France Inter
Le Confort Moderne
La Vapeur - Génériq festival
Sonsdhiver
Festival
Le Cylindre - Génériq festival Besançon
Colpitts -
Spoken Word
Bird Head Son
Cully Jazz Festival
The Drum
Bol De
Funk Festival Marseille
New Morning
Chabada Angers,
Pays de la Loire
Nuits Zebrees/Nova Nantes, Pays de la Loire
Run ar Puns Brest,
Bretagne
Jazz sous les Pommiers Coutances, Basse-Normandie
Le Hangar
fête de
la Musique Clermont Ferrand
Festival Esperanza Belgium
Le Bout Du Monde
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This is the full poem:
Conductors of his Mystery
The day my father came back from the sea
In his bachelor's room in El Socorro that year
Shop he say he build by Goose Lane junction.
Shack he say he build same cross-cut lumber.
That night I spent there,
His small hands ---
and...drumroll/./././ And now mesdames et messieurs : The Spasm Band, high powered version :
So, its been a busy start to autum, went to Cape Town with the band, was deep. Came back, went to Paris, played the Cigale, spiritual, heading back to Paris this weekend, still with very little French in my throat. And in between all of this, lecturing and teaching, academic stuff. More soon... ---
PAN AFRICAN SPACE STATION, CAPE TOWN
The Pan African Space Station (PASS) See www.panafricanspacestation.org.za for more info on the festival
NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO CHANNEL
I am pleased to announce that we now have a dedicated video channel on youtube where you can find videos of the Spasm Band live and Anthony's spoken word performances. Check back regularly as new videos are being added weekly. The url is http://uk.youtube.com/user/ajosephspasmband
and finally,
River breakin biche is a poem from my forthcoming collection 'Bird Head Son'(Salt 2008).
The poem speaks of 'breakin biche' or 'playing truant'. (Biche = fr -Bush) - So we left school and went to the river bush...it speaks of these adventures along the banks of the San Juan River...from San Juan Government Secondary. ---
Black Dada(for Ted Joans) Band Intro & Buddha More videos at http://uk.youtube.com/ajosephspasmband ---
Raw video from the experimental Open Sauce project, June 08, London with Kiss Akabusi/Infinite Livez on the soundscapes. ---
The Spasm Band live at the Sines Festival, Portugal
OBRIGARDO SINES ---
WORKSHOPS
Here are infos on a couple workhops I'm facilitating this July. Book early, spaces are limited.
Sounds of Poetry
Music and poetry course to commemorate the Windrush Anniversary.
The King Died, the Queen Died: Understanding Plot with Anthony Joseph
Plot at times takes on a mysterious quality. This workshop aims to dispel the myths and to show the universality of plotting in storytelling. Participants will work individually and in groups, examining the relationship of characterisation to plot, generating stories and taking part in writing exercises which will develop suspense and tension in their fiction. To book and for more info : http://www.thesouth.org.uk/workshops.html#event8 ---
Here's some info on a course I'm facilitating for Spread The Word in July. Space on the course is limited so book early.
Sounds of Poetry Music and poetry course to commemorate the Windrush Anniversary. ---
This is the cover art for the New Spasm Band 12" - 'La Diablesse' released June 2008 on parisian label Heavenly Sweetness, the first single from our forthcoming album 'Bird Head Son'. The tracks are : ---
Have a look at a work in progress video, filmed 'live in the studio' in Meudon, Paris, with Keziah Jones, working on the track 'Bamboo saxophone' for the forthcoming album by AJ & The Spasm Band 'Bird Head Son'. We are on about 2/3 through the show. Its in French.Enjoy. ---
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Early next week The Spasm Band go to Paris to play at the Banlieues Bleues Festival. The next day we go into a sky lit studio on the outskirts of Paris to record our new album with a 10 piece band which includes Joseph Bowie, Keziah Jones, Adrian 'Sun Blooz'Owusu and Jamika Ajalon. The legendary sophomore album blues is upon us but we are blessed by the weight of heavy music and liquid textology. ---
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The Time's recently published thier Top ten literary stars of 2008. I was honoured to be included. ---
"Anthony Joseph might be the Ishmael Reed of our region and our generation. The poet, whose first novel, The African Origins of UFOs, was released in 2006 by Salt Publishing of the UK, has turned a corner with this latest effort. Part memoir, part sci-fi story and part poem, this book is a delightful but difficult treat for readers who aren’t afraid of a little excitement." For the full review see
Caribbean Beat Magazine
(Issue 89) ---
Streaming video of the recent Numoon festival where I performed alongside Ursula Rucker, Dwight Trible, Joseph Bowie, Mark De Clive Lowe, Bembe Segue, Kain and the Numoon Orchestra, all of whom are on the video. Beauteous vibrations. Recommended viewing, Kain invoked the deeply dark.
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Just played an amazing festival in Rotterdam. The Numoon Festival, with Ursula Rucker, Joseph Bowie (defunkt), Bembe Segue, Mark de Clive Lowe, Kain the Poet. Collective improvisation with the Numoon Orchestra conducted by Hanyo van Oosterom. ---
The Spasm Band's 2007 'Leggo de lion' tour ended with a marathon 3 encore show at New Morning in Paris on Nov 13. After a hectic year that's taken us from Greece, Amsterdam, Morocco to all over France etc we are taking time out now to write material for our next album. I've added lots of photos of the band on tour and new photos in all the other categories. ---
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Footprints
All you hipsters, so-called blak dada intellegenics, performance poet dons having portraits taken leaning against brutal doorways, all you post modern poem writers suffering sick in attics waiting for something new, here it is. This is mouth music for your mind, shifting paradigms with the blistering texture of words and abstract Jazz feeling. It MUST be heard.
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Returning home
Photographs from my recent trip to Trinidad are now ready to view. Have a LOOK ---
Well, the MA is finished. Getting ready to teach this term, still missing Trinidad, new work added to the New and Uncollected section of Textology, have a read. ---
Back from the curious island of my dream I call hoMe. More photos soon, but first I must crack the seal on that flask of puncheon.
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I have been away a while. Touring. Played the North Sea Jazz a couple weeks ago, saw Sly, which was sad, Snoop, who was great. ---
Next week the Spasm Band head to Morroco for the legendary Jazz au Chella Festival in Morrocco. Its the latest leg in our ongoing Leggo de Lion tour thats taken us so far to Lyon, Dijon, Marseille, Amsterdam, Paris, Manchester and Bristol. They've all been amazing performances. On June 21st we play the only London date of the tour at soon to be poncified Spitz in Whitechappel.(see below) After London we head to Greece, France and the Netherlands for the North Sea Jazz Festival. See www.myspace.com/adjoseph for more gig infos. Hope to see you at one of our gigs, come up and say Bright Moments!
ANTHONY JOSEPH & THE SPASM BAND To celebrate the launch of his new album Leggo de Lion (Kindred Spirits), acclaimed poet and performer Anthony Joseph brings his five-piece band to East London for the only London date of The Leggo de Lion tour - a night of ‘Wild Island Jazz’. The Spasm Band create a sound infused with Trinidadian Spiritual Baptist rhythms, deep, hypnotic basslines, free Jazz sax and heavy hand percussion – this is music made to cause possession spasms… 'Pure African spiritual Jazz brilliance!' Fly.co.uk
‘The spoken word revelation of the year’ Vibrations Magazine
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I am in the middle of a 7 city reading tour of Germany taking me to Bamberg, Heidelberg, Jena, Dresden, Dortmund, Leipzig and Chemitz. The readings include performances at literature conferances and Universities. Lots of great, attentive audiences and strong food. Always a pleasure to be in Germany. ---
Tracklist
"Lyrically this is an intense album which requires your full attention. Daydream for a second and you'll be lost, then you're back to the rewind button, to start again. Driving in whilst listening to this became rather fun and games because I must have listened to this four times over. The jazz soundtrack by The Spasm Band is just perfect, with a real feel of the 70s and Strata-East or Impulse classics, to ensure this is essential for your collection." To hear samples of all tracks and for more info see : www.kindredpirits.nl/anthony And www.myspace.com/adjoseph You can order the CD online now. UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
CRITICAL ESSAY
WILL ALEXANDER
I was in New York recently reading at the Bowery and at Rutgers University. I met a deep brother from LA there, a spellbinding and radical poet called Will Alexander. Radical in the sense that his work challenges the reader in a way not often encountered. It creates its own self sufficient universe, what my friend James Oscar used to call 'the metaphysics of another world', a world in which the nomenclature of scientific fact and poetic possibility and resonance co-exist within the same strope. It is a difficult work which in places reminds me of some of Nathaniel Mackey's work - 'Splay Anthem' - it does not give up its secrets easily, yet anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough. Brother Will from Los Angeles, his poetics bringing to mind what Mingus said about Raashan Roland Kirk, that those who think he's all about a gimmick should just listen to him with their eyes closed. And this, reference to Alexanders' Canticles, with the back cover blur by Eliot Weinberger who says 'His erudition and vocabulary, like MacDiarmid's are vast:read Alexander with a dictionary and you'll see how precise he is.'
yes From Will Alexander's The Stratospheric Canticles. ---
THE SPASM BAND ON TOUR I have been on tour with the Spasm Band for much of March, playing dates in Lyon, Marseille, Paris in readiness for the release of our album on April 24. I even managed to catch a long weekend in New York to read at Rutgers University and the legendary Bowery Poetry Club. Here are a few pics from the Spasm Band - leggo de lion tour, which continues in May with dates in Amsterdam and Dijon.  
NEW REVIEW OF THE AFRICAN ORIGINS OF UFOS: "...his book is unlike anything else I have read in a very long time and I believe it demands to be noted and discussed in Cordite for its arrival on the contemporary Anglophone poetry scene."
The Melbourne-based poet and writer Ali Alizadeh has written an informed and incisive review of The African Origins Of UFOS for Cordite.org.au 'The book’s formal quirks and innovations – including comics-style ink drawings and adequately strange poetic endnotes –complement its discursive and thematic playfulness and complexities. Its general argumentative drive traverses the imaginary domains between a historical past and a fictional future. Towards the concluding sections these domains overlap and produce a philosophical contemplation on the themes of belonging and identity, culminating in the iconography of the UFO as a symbol of dislocation; of being “lost in space, drifting from place to place, still trying find where they come from”.Read the full review here. ---
SPASM BAND LIVE - LISTEN! On Saturday 24 Feb 2007 The Spasm Band played a sweaty gig at Kungadread's Rooted Music night in Hoxton, London. I am trying to create a podcast of the gig, however some people have pointed out that my attempts have been unsuccesful so far. In the meatime you can download and listen to it by right clicking and saving as on the link below.(It should also stream).It shouldn't take longer than a few mins. to download and is well worth hearing. (Spasm Band shook dem till dey drum skin bust)
Spasm Band live at Rooted Music.mp3 (41.2 MB)
NEW BLOG
I'm not great at daily updating but I've been trying to update this site and my myspace page with so much going on at the moment. I am also currently blogging at
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Ok, so things are a bit hectic at the moment, been hardly able to sit still, caught like a whirl in the wind thing. Just a couple vibrations while I have the time. Things are in fervour motion for the Spasm Band album release. The album, Leggo de Lion is out on April 24. In the meantime you can have a peek listen on the Kindred Spirits website. www.kindred-spirits.nl . Look in the 'Label' and 'Artists' sections. I've just started a blog at www.birdheadson.blogspot.com . There's not much there yet but there will be. I'll be putting new/as yet unpublished work there so please post your comments. ---
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I'm currently working on a one man African Origins of UFOs show which will be touring the UK during the new year. I'm also going to be touring the US in 2007, taking the mothership to the big sky country. The Spasm Band Spirit Lash 12" continues to gain attention, check out this review by Gerry Hectic on Fly.co.uk. In the meantime, in South-East London, beginning to get that spirit feel, something in those yuletide tunes. muchlove, a. ---
The new and first Spasm Band 12" single Spirit Lash is out this week on Heavenly Sweetness. This is a review from Rush Hour Dist. in the Netherlands
Spirit Lash is the first 12" of the Spasm band and its leader/poet Anthony Joseph. A cult figure of the spoken word scene in the UK, Anthony has just released this month an acclaimed poetic novel 'the African origins of UFOs''. His music is a deep afro-carribean funky trance influenced by the rhythms of his nativeland Trinidad and the deep spirited jazz of the 70S. You will hear echoes of dub poets, Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Fela, Sun Ra cosmic visions, but the Spasm band has definitely a sound of its own . Tip! ---
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KINDRED SPIRITS HEAVENLY SWEETNESS
Also, to everyone who has bought a copy of my latest book 'The African Origins of UFOs' : a huge and generous THANK YOU. Hope you enjoy it.
Bo Nuggy.
On All Saints Day
November the first was my grandmother's birthday. All saints day and she would light candles all round. On each beam of stair, on the bannisters, the window sills, even in the harsh concrete corners of the yard, candles on the gate posts and the wall. White candles. For as many souls and saints as she could feed, till the house glowed with flickering flames where sandflies and mosquitoes would lose their wings in the wax. ---
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My friends, My book The African Origins of UFOs, a book with one of the longest gestation times known to modern literature, is sitting in my hand. It's like a new born child, beauty-full. Postman woke me up yesterday with my copies. It's in the shops from Monday 2nd Oct. Hasn't sunk in yet.... Peace, anthony ---
The African Origins of UFOs Tour 2006-2007
To coincide with the publication of my new book The African Origins of UFOs in October, I'll be going on a UK/European starting in London at the 2nd La Langoustine est morte then to Brighton on Oct 2nd, then moving through the UK including a performance at the Ilkley Fest. On to Vienna, to France (dates TBC), then back to the UK. More dates will be added when they are confirmed. At a couple of the dates I'll be joined by the Spasm Band. Have a look at the list of upcoming shows for details.
The Spasm Band also have their debut 12" "Spirit Lash" released by Parisian label Heavenly Sweetness in late October, so there will be more Spasm Band dates to coincide with this. More soon.
The tour dates confirmed so far :
Creative Writing courses at South Thames College, London with Tutor Anthony Joseph
For anyone interested in Creative Writing courses, I am teaching two
12 week courses at South Thames College in Wandsworth and Tooting.
This is my 4th year lecturing at South Thames College. Both courses
cover poetry as well as fiction and are open to all levels of
ability. We work on writing short fiction, Haikus, Sonnets,
autobiographical writing, developing characters, plotting fiction,
dialogue, surrealism and lots more. Classes follow a workshop format
and involve discussion, exercises and weekly assignments. ---
The Spasm Band were in the studio, mid august, recording the 2nd Spasm Band album, tentatively titled 'Leggo de lion' We had planned on doing 5 tracks, ended up with over 70mins of music. Is so it go sometimes. You can have a listen to one of the tracks, 'Blackdadamasonsong' on my myspace page or on the Spasm Band page of this site. ---
Poetry Web International
Straight No Chaser article
Harlem Studio Museum
The Spasm Band The Spasm Band are eagerly outgrowing their page so I will be doing some re-arranging later this week. Last weekend we played the Standon Calling Festival in Hertfordshire. We played a shocking set, as far-out as you imagine, the sax bleeding sideways and the bass well plump. I'll be writing more about this later. In August we return to the studio to record several new tracks. Then, in October our debut 12" 'Spirit Lash' is released on the Paris based Heavenly Sweetness label.
La Langoustine myspace
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Soca Warriors in Kaiserslautern
Spasm Band 12" ---
There's finally some live footage of the Spasm Band in the multimedia section.Performances of Bo Nuggy & Buddha recorded at The Oval House Theatre, London in April. ---
Myspace I've finally joined the Myspace community. My page will feature exclusive music from the Spasm Band, readings, itinearies, a blog and all the usual myspace bachanalia. Expect content to change regularly. www.myspace.com/adjoseph Also, check out the new Spasm Band live video in the multimedia section. Recorded at The Oval House Theatre, London last April. ---
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On Saturday 22nd I drove up to Cambridge to hear Nathaniel Mackey read at The Cambridge Conference on Contemporary Poetry. I have corresponded with Prof. Mackey since 2005 when I submitted some work for his journal Hambone. He accepted 4 of my pieces which will be published in Hambone 18, this autumn. He has also kindly agreed to contribute a 'back cover blurb' to my forthcoming book The African Origins of UFOs. ---
On April 8th 2006 I presented a paper at the Black British Aesthetics Today conference at Howard University in Washington. My paper was titled 'The Continous Diaspora: Experimental Practices in contemporary Black British poetry. In the paper I tried to answer the question of why there wasn't an identifiable avant garde within Black British poetry, I put forward some ideas. I also focussed on my evolution as an experimental poet. I was part of a panel that included (l to r) Tony Medina (moderator), Su Andi and Prof Lauri Ramey. ---
My web tech brother Jacob Sam La Rose has contructed a new engine for me. Now you're able to view my itenieray or read my periodical journal/news entries. It may take a while for things to shank and settle, is so new engine stay. muchlove, anthony ---
The African Origins Of UFOs First, some good news for everyone who's ever asked me " Yes but when will this book be out? " : The African Origins Of UFOs will be published this autumn by Salt Publishing. My friend and mentor Kamau Brathwaite has kindly offered to write the Introduction to the book. Much more info to come soon. In the meantime you can read excerpts in the Textology section.
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She swam in heaven All this month I've been editing a short film/slide show, The film uses original photographs of Trinidad and my recording of the poem 'She swam in heaven' with The Spasm Band. I am indebted to my friend and fellow trini poet Vanessa Richards for the in/spiration. A few years ago she made a beautiful and truly moving short film 'Travelling Light' which explored the same themes; exile and longing, the pull of family, the muscle of islands...I am attempting something similiar here. Have a look in the multimedia section for my most recent edit. brightmoments, aj ---
Christmas means my grandmother busy cooking on Christmas eve, pulling out jars of rum soaked raisins, currants, citrus peel for black fruit cake, sponge cake, sweetbread. In rum since July. She would bake all Christmas eve and into Christmas morning, way past midnight mass, roast a pork’s leg pickered with carrot darts and garlic, black roast, boil ham with cloves, shell sorrel, twisting her small knife around its frizzle head, brew ginger beer, set it in the sun, next to the pepper sauce, on the wall, cut neck and season chicken, duck, shell pigeon peas, sweeten mauby, grate coconut. She did all this by herself. By Christmas eve as she sang around her kitchen all 4 burners blazed. I tried to stay up with her, offered to help, to pinch the hot bread, but I’d always fall asleep, enticed by the promise of morning. My grandfather, he’d be bringing in the stocks that whole xmas week; the beer, the malt, the Johnnie Walker, white label, whisky, whiteways peardrax and Bristol cream, the chasers, the cider, sweet drink, fat Solo bottles, a case of coca cola, the pastelle and payme pies his friends gave him on his rounds round town, corn meal wrapped in fig leaf with raisins or minced meat. I wonder how many of these his mistress cooked. He would paint the front stairs a deep signal red, paint the front gate a sparkling, sticky silver. But he would move through the rooms like a lumberjack, without a smile. On christmas morning new curtains would be sewn and hung in the drawing room, the couch and chairs dusted, clear scent and gleaming pine, the smell of cinnamon and mint through the house, carols on the radio and frosty on the TV, ham and eggs and homemade bread. We were happy at Xmas; it was the sweet release from the year’s grind. Our reward. Tin and rubber cars with rugged wheels, sweet 70s plastic. And we were so Xmas, all we needed was snow. Late xmas morning my grandfathers friends would pull up in their wide cars. They’d sit out in the yard, stretched in the wooden chairs drinking rum and whisky and eating slices of salted ham with hot sauce and mustard. My grandfather would pull out his old sparrow albums and play them on the grammophone. He'd lay his ladder on the coconut tree; pick the youngest bunch of green coconuts to chase with white rum. Why does the past become beautiful? Each December I also remember 1984. We all have a special year, for me it's the year when Prince did Purple Rain. I was in love with love, with life, poetry and music, going up to Macoya, liming with the guys on the block, watching them breakdance. In Trinidad, that year, I was working in Carenage as a stores clerk on a building site, my uncle arranged it, by the sea, the fisheries, my holiday hustle. I remember the workers made fish broth everyday, hauled from that morning’s catch of kingfish or carrite. And the weekend before Christmas at Kirpalani's mall in Barataria with my brother and best friend how I blew my wage on new Ac/Dc and Iron Maiden albums, new shoes, cologne, jeans and pizza. We had a ball that day. And cried in the cinema on Boxing day, when Prince played the first chords of Purple Rain. ---
brightmoments, a. ---
As the year rolls to a close, much work to be done/image gifts of plastic arts & surrealist dreamscapes that need to be materialised, hills and mechanics, wide sloping vistas of ragged valleys, cliffs and gulleys...but more on this later
speak soon, anthony
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Just got back today from Chicago in time to catch the Trinidad v Bahrain world cup qualifier. I snuck a jerky live feed from Israeli TV and saw the warriors win this historic match. We are only the 4th Caribbean nation to qualify for the finals, after Cuba in 1938, Haiti in 1974 and Jamaica in 1998, and after many nearly years and tears. On the streets of my country tonight there'll be proper bachanal, plenty liqour and heavy music till dawn and beyond. Of course, I long to be there, but I'll drink my rum here. I'm hoping that this eruption of joy and national pride helps to derail some of the crime/stress we've been suffering lately.
peace, aj
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Europe is literally the creation of the Third World - Frantz Fanon
...Morning rises slowly, the sun cuts spires off center...It's my birthday and I'm on the 17th floor, Hotel Allegro, West Randolph Street, Chicago,drinking warm coffee and listening to the Fifth Dimension sing...i'd like to place/a long distance call/to a number in west/LA...I'm here to read tomorrow at the Chicago Humanities Festival, most likely my last public performance this year. But today i'm off to hunt books and music, the worlds largest blues and jazz record shop is just a long walk across the river. And then hopefullly to catch the Trinidad v Bahrain game. What a day it'll be if we win, what a carnival...Soca Warriors comin' down!
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Why do we write? What it is? so many reasons. for me the original impulse seemed to be about recording moments of lucidity, to map the adventure of consciousness. But then also, to create song, as fruit is the song of trees.
New Link added for London Surrealist Group. At their reading last week at Treadwells in London,I felt something within shift and lurch, it began to move forward, and i came home to write..
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I'm sure many people can relate to this, developing a new website is like decorating a new house. You do it bit by bit until it's just right, then rearrange again. But welcome. Everyone.To the space. All the sections are now functional; photos, audio in the multimedia section, Spasm Band etc. enjoy, and do send your comments.
Plenty thanks is due to Jacob Sam La Rose, who made it work well.
This is an ongoing project, not a static site so over the coming weeks I'll be adding more content and updates. ---
Constuction continues. More updates to the textology section which now includes essays and an interview.the spasm band section is also 90% functional.Some news just in that 4 excerpts from The African Origins Of UFOs will be anthologised in the fortcoming journal Hambone. Hambone is a prestigious,legendary journal edited by Nathaniel Mackey and published annually.Its truly an honour to be included.
For the history of sources we should substitute the history of figures: the origin of the work is not the first influence, it is the first posture: one copies a role, then, by metonymy, an art: I begin producing by reproducing the person I want to be.
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Spasm Band at Cargo March 2008, pic by Lexxie. 
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