Reports from the NYC "Marathon"

Credit: Postdlf at the English language Wikipedia

Family commitments kept me from the "1st Ever NYC Marathon-Style Reading" of M-D, but here are two post-mortems: one from the N.Y. Daily News, and another from the "online news magazine," Capital.

From these reports we get a glimpse of the effect of location on the character of a M-D marathon. It seems the NY event was more self-conscious (and celebrity-aware) than the New Bedford event, with audience members and readers (!) freely commenting peanut-gallery-style — something that is all but unthinkable at our marathon. This difference may be, as Lemuel posited in a previous post, a result of vestigial "Calvinist mind-habits" among New Englanders.

One striking detail: the NY audience felt free to bring cans of beer, and to open them audibly during the reading. I doubt the Whaling Museum staff, or audience, would tolerate such a breach of decorum. (I have heard that alcoholic grog was available at the New Bedford marathon in its early years, until too many locals began coming just for the "party.")

Organizers intend to make the NY reading an annual event. Next year's is scheduled for November 15-17.

Save the MDM

courtesy of Elizabeth Ellis

The Whaling Museum sent out a letter last week:

This year, due to the abrupt elimination of a major grant from the U.S. Department of Education which historically underwrote the costs of this event, we are seeking the support of past readers and MDM enthusiasts.

The live streaming, the PA system and audio techs, the maintenance staff who keep the place functioning through the night — it all costs money.

Even a few dollars will help. See the "Support" notice on the Museum's MDM17 page.

Prepare to Read at MDM17

Email or call Monday to reserve a spot on the list of readers for January's Marathon.

From the online event calendar at the New Bedford Whaling Museum:

Anyone interested in being a reader during the 2013 Moby Dick Marathon, to be held on January 5&6, can email or call at 12:01 am, Monday, November 12. The email address is mdmarathon@whalingmuseum.org. The phone number is (508) 717-6851.

For other information you can contact Robert Rocha (508) 717-6849.

drowned dreams, somnambulisms, reveries...

Overshadowed by "Howl"

Listening today to the podcast of BBC's Witness (the most consistently interesting nine minutes on radio and a sterling example of public broadcasting), I was reminded that Allen Ginsberg was not the only poet reading at the Six Gallery on October 7, 1955.

Michael McClure presented three poems, including For the Death of 100 Whales — way ahead of his time in environmental awareness. Listen to him read it at 6:35...

Text of the poem can be found here.

Google's Homage

Today's background image at google.com

Google today remembers the publication of M-D (in London, 161 years ago) with the above background image on its search page.

Another hat-tip to brother #3, T. (I've abandoned Google for duckduckgo.com!)

Moby-Dick Marathon in NYC!

If you can't wait for January's (preeminent) M-D marathon in New Bedford, there will be a "marathon-style" reading in New York City next month.

Broken into four sessions over the course of three days, it will start Friday, November 16 at 5 P.M. at Word bookstore in Brooklyn.

Details are being released on mobydickmarathonnyc.org.  It appears that readers ("crew" in this marathon's parlance) were recruited from NYC's community of writers and "book people." Sarah Vowell was the only name I recognized immediately (from her days on This American Life).  Searching on some of the more distinctive names revealed details:

• Anne Margaret Daniel - writer and teacher
• Ophira Eisenberg - comic, radio personality
• Rachel Fershleiser - author
• David Goodwillie - author
• Miles Klee - writer, critic, improviser
• Matthew Love - writer at Time Out New York
• Michelangelo Matos - author and contributor to Village Voice and others
• Said Sayrafiezadeh - playwright and author
• Joanna Smith-Rakoff - author and poet
• Simon Van Booy - author
• James Yeh - writer, editor, and occasional DJ

I'm interested to hear what these representatives of the literary world of NYC, arguably the world's current art omphalos, bring to our treasured text.

Hat-tip to brother #3, T.

Chapter-a-day audio streams

Prime yourself for MDM17 with a chapter-a-day streamed to your PC or downloaded to your MP3 player. (These readings are worth saving.)

The Moby Dick Big Read includes as readers some big names from British film and theater, such as Tilda Swinton, Simon Callow, Stephen Fry—and they're only up to Chapter 16!


Hat-tip to Henry Ferrini (filmmaker behind Polis is This, which interprets the work of Charles Olson).