An audio recording of my August 3, 2016 Open Secret feature performance at Le Bistrot des Artistes in Paris…
The original recording was very hard to hear. Many thanks to master sound engineer Paul Priest for getting this track in decent shape!
What a great time I had featuring with Didier Cornelian at last Wednesday’s Open Secret. The event was held at the Bistrot des Artistes in the 5th arrondissement (the Latin Quarter) in Paris. A brief version of the invite can be found on the Spoken Word Paris website.
A longer draft from Open Secret promoter David Leo Sirois’s Facebook invite follows…
Open Secret! Wednesdays @ Le Bistrot des Artistes, 6 rue des Anglais (a passageway that passionately kisses Boulevard Saint Germain & rue Lagrange) 75005 Paris. 8:30 open mic sign-up, 9pm show. Métro Maubert-Mutualité (line 10) or Saint-Michel (line 4). Experiments in writing, song, comedy, performance art, theater, & dance, eeeeeven – whatever you got cookin’!
’Sup? David Leo Screw-Up Idealist Blew Up His To-Do List Threw Up Both Hands While Dancin’ Sirois reporting…’Member the time when the Open Secret theme was “Freedom is dancing with both hands in the air?” Well, that holy badass 😉 Buddha said that – just as radical as Jesus or Madame Blavatsky or Lao-Tzu or Amma, the “hugging saint,” who gave me an electric embrace I’ll never forget)…yet sometimes in the exercise of my freewill I make more than a few blunders, & muddle up either my own life or tread on the toes of others.
I was always taught that we are free to do whatever we choose, as long as it doesn’t infringe upon others’ freedom. Thusly, in honor of Wednesday’s special guest artist James Berg’s brilliant song, “Trouble,” this week’s theme shall forthwith be: “I’m in trubble now!” Has a parent ever called out to you by your full, long & complicated name? What did that mean? 😉 Have you ever felt like everyone was mad at you? What did that feel like? Well, “I’m in trubble now!”
We actually have a double feature this Wednesday (for a double-date @ the drive-in movie): James Berg has been charming & moving & grooving audiences on both sides of the Atlantic for years (hear his SoundCloud here: http://www.soundcloud.com/jamesfromtheusa)…but we will also have the great good fortune to witness Didier Cornevin’s reinvention of radical (not just for its time) French verse into vibrant song: the works of Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine – as well as his strong original songs & dramatic recitations. Wowie Kazowie!
James’ bio:
Dividing his time between the United States and France, James Berg performs as a poet, storyteller and musician. Often collaborative, his songwriting has been performed and recorded by American folk/rock musicians and was included on Old Shoe’s CD, Family, named by WXRT as best Chicago album of 2013. James’s poetry was most recently published last month in While You Were Waiting by Poems While You Wait in Chicago. His past and upcoming poetry, essays and short fiction are available in Paris at Shakespeare & Company bookshop through Spoken Word Paris and Paris Lit Up publications. Visit jamesfromtheusa.com for more info.
See ya @ the Bistrot for our Wednesday soirée!!
I performed an original song, “Trouble,” last week at Paris Lit Up’s open mic at Culture Rapide in Belleville and a few days later at Spoken Word Paris’s event at Au Chat Noir in the 11th arrondissement.
These recordings were made with an iPhone in my pocket. The sound quality is surprisingly good, not at all sophisticated but clear enough to capture the music and to represent the vibe at these weekly events.
This was a big week for me as a musician. I registered Monday with BMI as a songwriter/composer to ensure copyright protection on two songs I cowrote with Paul Priest for his new album, The Acme Hotel, which was released Tuesday for ‘early bird’ purchase online at priestunes.com. I also formed a band, Central Steel & Wire, and was paid (first time ever) last night to play with Michael “Hollywood” Corcoran at the Roots Room in Chicago.
Here’s the flyer from last night’s show…
james berg 