#Chris Stroffolino

[aaronmcmillan]

Silver Jews - ‘American Water‘

[mitjalovse]

Yes, it's weird to compare David Berman with Leonard Cohen, since I mostly post the instrumental songs by Silver Jews. I agree you cannot get Berman's lyricism from them, although they do give you a hint about it. I once called him an idealist mugged by reality, which seems too reductive for his words. While you may find some traces of romanticism with him, they're mostly half-hearted. Still, he's not a cynic, he does care despite his propensity for constant disappointments. Actually, we could see him as Sancho Pansa that is looking for his Quixote. I am not sure who could it be, yet I think Malkmus and Cohen appear to be feasible candidates for that position. Then again, Bermanmay have been the type who gave up searching for them.

[lmmendez]

“Lost in Space” - Chris Stroffolino with Dean and Britta 

Luna cover. Piano Van.

directed by Jeff Feuerzeig

[therumpus]

I was hooked by Danez Smith the first time I read him: “I come to you out of ink, of breath, of patience, & almost emptied of any belief that there is anything in this country that doesn’t seek to end me, keep me and my black & brown loved ones from living lives that are not designed around your comfort and benefit,” he wrote in “Open Letter To White Poets,” an impassioned plea to white writers to speak to other whites that he “cannot reach because what I make is degraded… for its label of black art.” Indeed, as long as white poets are trained in a world of segregated anthologies, canons, and reading lists that will include the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets but not the Black Arts Movement (except perhaps a Baraka that is 90% Le Roi Jones), as long as these institutions are not changed (and not with the tokenism of a minority scholarship for a talented 1/10th), this will remain the case, even if the mere fact that I became aware of him through a piece called “Open Letter To White Poets” may be seen as evidence of Smith’s “crossover success.”

The Rumpus Review of [insert] Boy by Danez Smith by Chris Stroffolino.

[craigswanson]

The story of Chris Stroffolino, who describes his journey from academia—writing Cliffs Notes to Shakespeare, teaching Creative Writing at NYU—to the downtown poetry scene of the 90s, to playing in the Silver Jews on their great 1998 album American Water, to a bicycle accident and eventual self-enforced homelessness – where he currently lives in a 1983 Ford Econoline van retrofitted with a piano in the back, performing for pedestrians.

[piano-van]

Chris Stroffolino - Griffith Park (Broken Horse) CD/DL

CD album with 12 page booklet.

Produced by Jeff Feuerzeig (Sundance Award winning director of The Devil and Daniel Johnston).

Liner notes by John Petkovic (Cobra Verde/Death of Samantha/Guided by Voices/Sweet Apple)

12 original songs plus a cover of Richard Hell’s “Time”

Griffith Park will be an introduction for most people to a great new songwriting talent and a serious contender for 2014’s end of year polls. It’s a stripped down effort, featuring only Stroffolino’s voice and piano (with one exception), recorded with stunning clarity and intimacy by Feuerzeig.

These remarkable recordings call  attention to the way Stroffolino weds simple, infectious melodies, with highly emotional, yet carefully placed, lyrics that become more powerful with repeated listening. From the unrequited love of “Wherever it’s Gray” and “It’s Not A Matter Just Of Me,” to the giddy exuberance of the album’s most tightly constructed pop song, “Fire Side Of Me,” Griffith Park features some of the most compelling and poetic lyrics in recent years.

Direct mail-order in the US: $11 + Shipping and Handling

Direct mail-order in the UK and Europe: http://www.brokenhorse.co.uk/brokenhorse2.html

Chris Stroffolino - I'm Not Going Astray (Munster Records) 3 song 7" single

Chris makes his Munster debut with these three tracks from his recent "Griffith Park" sessions, recorded inside the van where he lives. A former collaborator of Steve Malkmus and David Berman on the Silver Jews album "American Water", he recorded these tracks with Sundance award-winning director Jeff Feuerzeig (The Devil and Daniel Johnston) handling the production.  Includes the non-album tracks "Mess My Mind Up" and a cover of Alice Cooper's "I Never Cry" featuring former Luna members Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips.

Direct mail-order in the UK and Europe: http://www.vampisoul.com/en/label/munster/product/i-m-not-going-astray

Direct mail-order in the US: $5 + Shipping and Handling

Direct mail-order in the US for both the CD and single: $16 + Shipping and Handling

[craigz]

piano van/chris stroffolino w/dean and britta - lost in space (luna)

(source: Chris Stroffolino, via a head full of wishes)

[bibliomancyoracle]

The things you want to hear have been talking

to the things you don't want to hear for some time

*

from “Monday Nite Garbage” by Chris Stroffolino

[asuddenline]

Alienation Sestina

The “frozen junebug” image could mean something like “alienation” Without using the word. Maybe the image could also be A sign of love. What is a sign of love? Not practical Like stop, yield, or even merge. Therefore, art like a postcard Of Philadelphia. The world would not be a better place if love signs Were placed like speed limits on purple heart highways or “Sorry we’re open” Signs on stores or private residences whose doors you can open Without ringing a bell. But I’ll skip the image and jump into “alienation” As if it’s a theme or argument I’ll cling to until the feeling signs Its name and is finished off by thought—for how can you truly be Alienated when most everyone you know plays that card Like hearts on their sleeves which would be highly practical If cops wrote you love tickets for speeding through the practical In hopes of getting it out of the way, out into the open Where the image of love is left in the honky-tonk where they card You for the privilege of drinking yourself out of it. So maybe alienation Is closer to true love than all the drunkenness that makes you think you can be All that you can be, in the army arms of one, according to the advertising signs But you can’t even tell what they’re selling anymore. Someone signs His life away, another her dreams, and why? Because the practical Speaks softly and carries a big stick. Pragmatism, baby! Go on, be A possum. You can pretend the foundation’s solid, the earth won’t open And swallow you up, and leave you ecstatic, transcendent. Ah, but alienation Is what they’ll call it, because to them you can’t live in reality without a card So the fear of transcendence or alienation could be that social security card Like in that long-haired early-1970s Jesus-rock song that protests against signs. That guy who sings it is wild and free and doesn’t struggle with alienation.  He’s so fun-loving as he mocks private property, it might even seem a practical Alternative to what The Clash would call “the clampdown” to the kid who’s open And searching for some kind of better way; who just can’t resign himself to be Like his parents. It’s possible! Yes! But the god of sky and rock and roll may be Jealous as well; dammit! And besides, after a while Jesus will have to produce a card Or at least some miracles to prove he can be in but not of “this world,” which is open,  But only for business, alas, unless we can prove that the guy who wrote “Signs” In his early 20s managed not to get crucified and eked out a modest, practical,  Existence, on faith, and if so, why couldn’t one 30 years younger embrace alienation As if it’s (junebug) love or (frozen) fun or a get out of jail free card? Could it be That times have changed so much? If you look at the practical signs, sure;  But if you’re alienated from an already alien nation, that leaves it more open, no?

Chris Stroffolino

[therumpus]

Anne Boyer’s Garments Against Women is a deeply intellectual book with purpose; it widens the boundaries of poetry and memoir as we know them, in ways that can be especially useful for people who distrust these genres.  Boyer begins with a quote by Mary Wollstonecraft about a woman for whom reading, and more importantly, writing is “the only resource to escape from sorrow,” especially if she can create writing that “might perhaps instruct her daughter, and shield her from the misery, the tyranny her mother knew not how to avoid.” Can writing do this?

Chris Stroffolino reviews Garments Against Women by Anne Boyer.

[therumpus]

I remember very clearly writing a couple songs, or the genesis of a couple songs coming on swing sets, as I am swinging for exercise. Before I became more of a cripple it was a great form of exercise and anger management for me to sneak on the swings at McCarren Park if the kids weren’t there, to sneak on the swings at Prospect Park when I lived in Brooklyn, and ride the swings and have the Walkman with me. Occasionally these melodies would come because my body was feeling freer and physical, moving up and down on a swing set like a pendulum. It liberated the music and then I’d go back later on and sit there and try to shape them into a song.

The Rumpus Interview with Chris Stroffolino, of Silver Jews, by Rob Rubsam. Stroffolino has a new solo album, Griffith Park.

[bibliomancyoracle]

Hatred comes in the guise of the victim to whom

hatred comes, as if you have no soul but situations

against which, allegedly in order to live, you dig

a shelter in which there's no room for error

because there's no holes for air

* 

from "Monday Nite Garbage" by Chris Stroffolino