About C.C. Arshagra ... and so they say.
"The Quotes"
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"C.C. Arshagra is a Boston poet and songwriter,
one of the best in the nation."
---A quote from Jack Shea.
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| Jack Shea |
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UK filmmaker, artist, poet, songwriter, educator, activist and more ... Jack Shea spent near the last five years of his amazing life completing this very important work of art. The project was initially funded by the BBC. But, after a 50 stop tour of the United States where he gather over 200 hours of stock footage, the BBC cut the funding, abandoned the project, and left Jack to spend nearly 5 years shooting, editing, promoting, and screening it. He died before the film was ever picked up for distribution.It is a most important work for it carries home the soul of Jack Kerouac, Jan Kerouac (His, abandoned bloodline daughter) and the value of art's transcendence over avarice; greed; control; and possession; even after life is over with death" --C.C. Arshagra
For more info go to: http://www.whoownsjackkerouac.com
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"The hardest working man in poetry."
-- A quote from Jeff Robinson
"When it comes to the Open Mike, C.C. wrote the bible." *
-- A second quote from Jeff Robinson
* This second quote is in reference to Jeff witnessing C.C. live and read the work he published in his three part chapbook series The Open Mike Poems.
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| Jeff Robinson |
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"Jeff Robinson is a saxophonist, actor, radio host, event producer,
band leader, and free speech with jazz pioneer. Founder of the Jeff
Robinson Trio; The Poetry Jam @ the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge
Massachusetts. His spoken word music show can be caught live on the web
from WMBR 88.5FM at MIT. But you cannot thank Jeff without giving some
share of your heart to up base player Blake Newman, and drummer Joerome
Dupree, and not to forget the one time Dwight Heart; Jeffs' original
dummer in the trio. Jeff has not only pioneered a renaissance in live
jazz and poetry in New Engand, but he has also promoted and parented
its staying power via his dedication. Jeff's contribution to the arts reaches throughout the North East and across the US and even abroad. (And,
still I hope / there grows no ill / competing notes / between the Bird / and Miles
of words / and music.)" --C.C. Arshagra
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“C.C. Arshagra is the real McCoy. He is the real deal. He speaks his soul.”
--A quote from Brother Blue
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| Brother Blue |
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Brother Blue in an institution of love still walking this earth for all upon it. His life long love of storytelling is only trumped by his life long love for his wife Ruth. His age will fool you; his voice will tell you he is one. But this man has ceaselessly shown my life, through the example of his, that gratitude is bottomless and endless. I have stated many time before and I will again now: This man is “My Father of Humility.” --C.C. Arshagra
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"Boston's Open Mike Poet"
-- A quote from David "Doc" Coté, 1999
"I
have known C. C. Arshagra the better part of a generation and have
witnessed his poems -- his children -- grow and blossom in skill, in
kindness, in magnanimity. He is truly a romantic optimist whose work
should be known and read.
-- A second quote from David "Doc" Cote, 2006
(Ph.D Tufts, Doctor of Literature, 1973)
"Doc' Cote is a poet, author, educator, editor, and the Poetry Reading Event producer in the state of New Hampshire.
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David is a fine being who understand giving without taking from you (the poet) what you alone must give to and of your self. He also understand helping without the crutch of help . He understands he can not grow for you, face yourself for you, or be who you will become in the wake of your own deeds; literally. David is the man who literally taught me that my two greatest teachers in life are and will always be patience and humility. Furthermore, in truth I cannot say any fine words of the man, my friend, without acknowledging my heart's gratitude, love, and respect for his better half: Fran Keating Coté. --C.C. Arshagra
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"I don't know anyone who has done more for the Open Mike than C.C. Arshagra"
--- A quote from Jack Powers, 1999
Jack Powers is the Founder of the Stone Soup Poets. He is a poet, author, publisher, events producer, host, and a profoundly dedicated man of free speech culture.
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| Jack Powers |
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"Finally, I met a writer, C.C. Arshagra, who passed around a photograph of a poem he'd written at a construction site the day after 9-11 (Boston). Composed on a 12-foot-high sheet of plywood, the poem, entitled "Love is Not Afraid," mystified those that encountered it who felt they could do nothing.
Well, Arshagra did something. He stood in as the perfect representative for all those writers who wrote poetry in the days that followed 9-11 (or who unearthed poems and shared them with others in an act that can only be described as collective mourning)."
--- An excerpt from the eBlog 2006 of
Tamara Sellman
Tamara Sellman is a successful author, editor, and publisher in Bainbridge Island, Washington.
An insightful response to a Field's End Writers' Roundtable hosted at the Bainbridge Island Public Library.
The question, "How do we write meaningfully in the wake of disaster?"
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| Tamara Sellman |
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“I can recommend C.C. Arshagra as an asset to any poetry/artistic event." "His new song/poem The Jew Christian Muslim Song is catchy and timely for today’s world...”
--A quote from Mick Cusimano
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| Mick Cusimano |
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For those of you that do not already know, Mick Cusimano is one of the premier cartoon character sketch artist in the Boston area. Mick is always on hand to perform one of his insightful and witty signature performance poems on the street, or at a party in addition to his style of candid sketching. If you see Mick with a sketchpad and pen in hand, just ask to be sketched by Mick.
Working primarily in animation, Mick’s web site has one of the highest visitor traffic numbers of any local homemade sites by local artist that I’m aware of: where in addition to his animation works, cartooning works, Mick create the monthly strip for Imagine; a film industry magazine.” –-C.C. Arshagra
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“C.C. Arshagra has been the back bone of The Buddah & Barnum Poetry Circus since its inception”
--A quote from "The Buddah Man”
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| "The Buddah Man" |
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Co-Founder (In addition to being head poet in charge of chaos and other matters of the cosmic giggle) Buddah is the Barnum and Buddah Poetry Circus, main organizer featuring it's co-founder, William "Billy" Barnum. Buddah (Not Buddha) is also know as the Rev. John Paul Pirolli, The Buddah Man is well known as a poetic entity throughout the beat community nation wide. The Buddah Man's role in the documenary Who Owns Jack Kerouac (by the dearly missed filmmaker, the late Jack Shea) stands tall for the poet in us all. He stood courageously against the greed and corruption of the soul of the arts, and still stonger against all avarice natures inhuman. His presence is as large and his character is deep. He is filled with information that moves stars and all the hopes of underdogs. --C.C. Arshagra
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| Richard Wilhelm |
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"We need to be as compassionate towards others and ourselves as Arshagra is toward those who approach the Open Mike."
--a quote (excerpted from his book review of the Open Mike Poems series) by
Richard Wilhelm
Richard Wilhelm is a poet, illustrator, artist, and activist in Boston, Massachusetts.
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Bill Perrault
“ C.C. and I have been friends for a decade at least. He gave me a great gift. …in a few short sessions, showed my how to be a producer. Thanks to him I was named Producer of the Year in 2006 for channel 8 in Lowell Massachusetts (Lowell Telecommunication Center)… you gave me my start.” "He is definitely a dedicate poet who loves poetry and writes it.
…a leading poet of his generation.
I especially admire his songs.”
Bill Perrault is possibly one of the greatest archivists of the Open Microphone Culture in America. And someone should do something to help him preserve these raw footage archives of public free speech media into a state of long-term storage. I know what it takes to produce a weekly show; and Bill, whom I admire as a fine human being, who is one of the most patient, and one of the most humble beings I have ever met, has far surpassed my producing years of dedication by at lest three of four times the number of recorded events; and I have about 150 two-hour plus tapes. Billy Perrault, with his stellar humility, and graceful egoless nerve, is possibly the most dedicated person the Stone Soup Poets should eternally honor --besides of course its founder Jack Powers. And this does not diminish the fact he is also the official Photographer of New England Poets and there's more to Bill still.. One of the finest common sense poets in all New England, He writes in both French and English. In addition to being a drug and alcohol counselor, he is a teacher. --C.C. Arshagra
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| Koré |
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" I always rejoiced in life
even more so whenever I heard
C.C.'s poetic tones, intonations, poems, and stories ... a pretty easy going
guy who seems to touch everyone everso wonderfully
with his rhymes and lines"
A Quote from
Laetitia Aby
(Koré Van Baldwin)
... we never got bored or tired of simply be poetic, musical, and emotionally alive. It has always been a pleasure and a blessing to have C.C. as a friend in life. Besides th great and amazing writer-artist-Poet and more that he is, he is a much cooler freind and a treasure to cherish. Now Koré Van Balbwin! She's just Special; As-in just good- people, but something rare is also going on. Someone paying the price of life and earning it along the way. For some 20 years, most of which I spent in Cambridge, MA, going from poetry venue to poetry venue, one cafe then another. Local arts scene. New and older now-renewed talent music clubs, restaurants and art galleries, art spaces, Church basements, and The Dance Complex of course. Here, I could easily say I met thousands of Artist; Activist musicians, singers/songwriters, dancers, painters sculptors, writers, actors, directors, healers, movement artists and producers. And through this time. say ... every two-three years. there was always wave of new young talent. Usually a range of 18 to 25. With always a younger phenom or two. The kids (if I may) came from All over. Mass., New England, and the Northwest mostly. of course from around the world too. The Funny thing is not how amazingly talented some were right from the Get-Go, but more how many got eaten by their own egos over time, slowly starting out as artist, then slowly becoming entertainers vying for some social position of artistic pain or the whatever suffering or rebellion is in vogue. Then If they're too smart they start to realize it is a political jungle of egos. so, step-aside art and entertainment here come the politicians. Yes it can happen in the arts to. God save the activists. But after some years and cycles of this, I started to notice amongst this as this wave upon wave of self importance, there were the real deals. People actually living and dying to become their art form. Its not like these relatively unique individuals were the greatest stand-outs. Actually they're more the genuinely flawed, the perfectly broken and the divinely damaged, yet the found the art and the arts found them. Kore, She's just Special. And Special walks the walk, Falls and fals and falls and then gets really good at growing-up. Actually learning to always, always fall true. Koré! Whom I once called Laetcia "La Tee Cee Ah" I liked the name it took me a while to get it right. And names are an artist right to shape as they will. --C.C. Arshagra _____________________________________
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