Feb 2022 sonnet piano improvisatiion aids
tom curtis was an acquaintance of mine in the late 80s. he never told me he had AIDS but i knew and he knew that i knew but we never discussed it. he used to go somewhere on weekends but never told me where, he just asked me if i would watch his house and feed his cat when he was away, so it became my routine to go over there on saturday afternons with a bag of video tapes, and watch movies until he returned on sundaym and id leave the movies for him to watch during the week. then there came a time when he no longer went away on weekends. i didnt hear from him for several months, one day i received a calll from him telling me he was going on a long vacation and could he borrow my box set of Berlin Alexanderplatz, Fassbinder's 15 hour film of Alfred Doblin's novel.i brought it over to him, we made some small talk before saying goodbye. that was the last time i saw him. i dont know if he ever watched the movie, he just wanted to say goodbye..
i wrote this lyric in the form of a sonnet and recited it in the guise of a message left on a telephones answering machine while improvising on the piano,
hi bill, it's curtis. i must have missed you.
i guess you left already for the show..
im sure you'll be great wish i were there too.
i dont get out much these days, as you know
sorry i missed you. i just have to say
how sincerely i do appreciate
your feeding my birds while i was away,
receivng treatments that wont change my fate.
one more favor i ask of you, my friend,
keeping silent on my situation.
please visit me before tomorrow ends
and i leave on a lenghthy vacation.
could you bring me the fassbinder box set?
i started but have not finished it yet.
@berni1954 Mar 2022
Another great evocation of a human being I never knew, but whose fate has left me feeling sad. Isn't that one of the true powers of poetry/lyrics - to make us care about someone who we never knew and would never meet. Choked up here. THUMBS UP
@natalie Feb 2022
This is a very touching story. I'm really glad you shared it. The way you deliver the sonnet is also intriguing ~ poetic yet conversational, lifting something as mundane as an answering machine message into the realm of something more poignant. Nice!
@katestantonsings Feb 2022
Bill's book of poetry and prose. When will it come out? Powerful stuff here. Love the piano.
@nadine Feb 2022
What a heavy story o.
_O How did you ever get over this weird situation? I love the mood you created. I could even hear the birds.
@ttg105 Feb 2022
Really sad and evocative. I love the spoken word juxtaposed against the offbeat electric piano. One gets the idea that "a lengthy vacation" means something far more serious. A real mood piece!
@sph Feb 2022
Your presentation, sonnet on an answering machine accompanied by piano, is brilliant, Like an aural farewell letter.
Mentioning Fassbinder made me remember Laurie Anderson's White Lily https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZuABUh9UoI
@elesimo Feb 2022
This is so poignant, Bill. The piano track makes it feel like a distant memory. Really beautiful.
@jonmeta Feb 2022
This is very moving, Bill. I love the Rhodes sound and jazz chords, of course, and also how the birdsong has snuck into the track about feeding birds (and even some distant sounds of what sound like children playing). This is a very human, humane, heartfelt tribute to a friend who was going through pain and wanted to spare his friends.
It’s hard for people who were absent or unconcious or uncaring in the 80s to understand the horror of AIDS. My wife was a home health care nurse in Chicago and Denver during that decade. What sticks in my mind, though, are the stories of compassion: of families, lovers, and partners who cared for the sick and dying. You’ve captured a slice of that compassion in your memorial to your friend.
@roddy Feb 2022
This is a very fine track. So creative. The spoken voice is so very touching. The piano is very impressive.
@owl Feb 2022
This is really powerful and reminds me a lot of Thom Gunn’s poetry (he was a professor of mine in college)—do you know his stuff? The formal poetic structure that flows so naturally, juxtaposed with the personal losses of the AIDS epidemic. Very moving, and you’ve structured it in such a perfectly low-key way.
@lowhum Feb 2022
Your piano playing is ambiguously elusive. Puts me in some limbo between the words reassuring some ending to the form
@emkaydeebee Feb 2022
I came back to listen, yes - still very moving. Love the interweaving and the way the instruments roam behind it all.
@mikeskliar Feb 2022
wow. this is emotional and really brilliant. That piano backing works so well with the spoken word, and the whole thing is really moving. Here's to Curtis...
@emkaydeebee Feb 2022
Oh Bill, this is so moving… I’m at work and can’t listen right now, but the story and the lyrics have brought tears to my eyes. I will return and listen when I can, though I may need my tissues ready at that point.