Postcards from Gravelly Beach

Still in the corner garden, French symbolist (and hopeless romantic) Charles Baudelaire takes over from Joseph Conrad on the topics of ships, youth and beauty with a piece called "The Beautiful Ship" before giving way to a song by the Black Tories.

Listen to "Baudelaire Considers Ships, Youth & Beauty" (.mp3 6:10)

DaveO reads from Joseph Conrad's Youth: A Narrative from the community garden in the park with no name in Cambie-land, Vancouver and meanders on about riding trains, steamer ships, expansive seas and ertswhile adventures immersed in foreign culture.


Listen to Postcards from Gravelly Beach #31 (17:04)

Greetings from Gnomedex (snapshot by Jay AKA Unabonger)

P6300018
Originally uploaded by theunabonger.

Pay no mind to the code behind the curtain, the purpose is merely to claim My Odeo Channel (odeo/2fd53c86f51d586b) before my noble effort is hi-jacked by some malcontent.

Cheers, daveo

On a North Van hillside, DaveO reads a few choruses from Jack Kerouac's "San Francisco Blues" and talks about Ti Jean's writing life, including his dexterous style and notable substance - plus expresses affection for Vancouver and the joys of rediscovery.

Listen to Postcards from Gravelly Beach podcast #30 (.m4a, 10:12)
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more snapshots on Flickr

At Granville Island Market on a breezy spring day, DaveO talks about another influential writer, Czech/German/French writer Rainer Maria Rilke and reads Letter 10 from "Letters to a Young Poet," and offers discourse about the writing life, dealing with creatvie conditions and personal honesty - plus chats about the charming Market on Vancouver's False Creek waterfront.

Listen to Postcards from Gravelly Beach podcast #29 (.m4a, 7:30)
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"Enhanced" Postcard from the windy banks of the Columbia River with Walt Whitman's "To You" read by DaveO sitting under a weeping sage tree with barges, trains and Mt. Hood in the distance.

In volume 8 of Postcards from Gravelly Beach DaveO read from Lewis and Clark's journals as they lose horses on Sept 3rd, and Ed Abbey foretells the future and Uncle Weed (.pdf) tells a story to the kids.

originally posted 02 Sep 2005

In Volume 7 of Postcards from Gravelly Beach, Dave, chillaxing with sake some smoking jazz tracks, reads from Kerouac's "Lonesome Traveller," "Mexico City Blues" and "American Haiku" plus Gary Snyder from "The Backcountry" and haiku from masters Issa Kobayashi and Basho and original haiku (.pdf) and haibun (.pdf).

originally posted 31 Aug 2005

In Volume six of Postcards from Gravelly Beach, DaveO sits with ducks at Capitol Lake on a windy day and reads from Jean Jacques Rousseau's "Confessions" and offers a bit of discourse on transparency, plus reads two more original "Letters from Russia" (.pdf).

originally posted 30 Aug 2005

In Volume five of Postcards from Gravelly Beach, DaveO hangs out in the dark at Olympia's Seven Oars park and reads Part 2 of Uncle Weeds Red Rock Adventure (.pdf), chats about Edward Abbey, and reads from Ed's "Desert Solitaire" (scored fresh from Olympia's Last Word Books).


originally posted 25 Aug 2005

In Volume 4 of Postcards from Gravelly Beach, DaveO reads from his own "Letters from Russia," Leo Tolstoy's epic "War and Peace" and a bit of French poetry while fumbling with pronunciation and enjoying a Guinness in the nighttime garden.



Originally posted 24 Aug 2005

In volume 3 of Postcards from Gravelly Beach, DaveO reads from Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" and "Civil Disobedience" plus Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "100 Years of Solitude" and his own Portugal Snapshots.

originally posted 23 Aug 2005

First sampling (albeit rather raw) from the Shelter Crescent session featuring Brad Rees playing electric guitar while I talk and yodel my way around some free-verse - seems to be thinking about waiting for a red-headed girl in San Francisco while drinking.

This sixth (and possibly final) installment of the Woodshed Session again features Bill Lenker's guitar stylings and singing, and me comtemplating the edge of the Earth with Henry the Navigator.

Woodshed session extract number 5 choogles along with a free verse extravaganza with Bill Lenker playing on the guitar and singing inbetwixt as I spiel forth words, memories, ideas and rhyhmes - topics include George Washington bridge, Providence, postcards to friends, and going nowhere.

Another Woodshed session, ... Bill Lenker on guitar and singing, and me (DaveO) busting some narrative about items on a bookshelf and reminscing about Caye Caulker, Belize.

Rolling along with the Woodshed Sessions, here's number 3 ... again Bill Lenker's guitar and songwriting/singing skills along with my free verse and lyrical snippets - this time about lighthouses, aspen trees and an insinuated scandalous incident.

Part two of the Woodshed Session again features Bill Lenker on guitar and me with free verse and lyrical snippets. This time, observations from a rainy night in Vancouver is the tangible topic - the intanglibles are for you to determine.

At last a Postcard, ... this one (and the next few) from a woodshed session with Bill Lenker's guitar and vocals (see Postcard #13) dove-tailing with my orginal free verse and lyrical works - fortified with spontaneous wordification.

First up in this series combines Bill's song with me adding verses about riding trains through Cascadia.

Volume 2 of "Postcards from Gravelly Beach in which DaveO reads from Gary Snyder's "Left out in the Rain," Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" and from original short story, "I Remember Florida" (.pdf)


Originally Posted: 22 Aug 2005

"Postcards from Gravelly Beach" podcast volume 1. DaveO reads from his original "Uncle Weed's Red Rock Adventure" (.pdf) and a snippet from Richard Brautigan's "Trout Fishing in America." and introduces the show thusly:

"Postcards from Gravelly Beach" is an occasionally-brewed podshow featuring spoken word with bits of literary discourse and maybe some tunes from time to time. I'll read a little something of my own - a short story, essay, letters or maybe some free verse and also read something by someone else, likely a literary favorite from over the years - maybe even tying into a theme of some kind - or maybe not, we'll see what happens. Mostly Postcards from Gravelly Beach podcast is about chillaxing with a beverage, digging the view in front of you, and listening to something new."

Dave O reads a Utah writer variety pack featuring Françios Camoin, Levi Peterson (Alibris), and Ed Abbey (more Ed - interview and article in Canyon Country Zephyr) plus an original essay about Glen Canyon Dam (Dave's Damn the Dam .pdf).

Then, Lewis and Clark check in from their homestretch after scoring some whiskey, and Dave enlists the Jerry Garcia Band's help to send evocative empathy to the post-Katrina, Gulf Coast.

Originally recorded/posted, Sept. 4, 2005

A collection of short, haiku-type poems written by DaveO between Tottori, Japan and Olympia, Washington between 1992-2004, called "Hot Springs and Stubbed Toe."

Download Hot Springs and Stubbed Toe (.pdf)