I've been lucky enough over the years to have various people and organizations record some of my live spoken-word performances and give to me via CD and electronic files. I've decided to start collecting these various files from over the years and offering them here for free download here at my site.

There are a number of ways to listen to these files, depending on the age of your computer. People with newer computers should just be able to click on the link, at which point their computer will automatically open the appropriate software and launch the file. People on older computers, or those who would like to own a permanent copy of the file, should right-click on the link (Mac owners, Control-click) and choose either "Download to Disk..." or "Save Target As..." depending on whether they are on Explorer or Netscape. Once safely on your hard drive, you should be able to simply double-click on the icon to get it to play. Unless specifically noted, all sound files at my website are in .mp3 format and should be openable in just about every .mp3 player on the market.

2000 recordings

In summer 2000 my friend Kurt Heintz studio-produced an audio version of my poem Untitled (Time is a fucked-up concept) from his home in Chicago. The track features a number of interesting special effects, and was inspired by our mutual love of Laurie Anderson. The music you'll hear in the background is from the album Ride the Planet by Todd Levin (1993, Point Music). (2.7 mgs; click here to hear the file.)

2001 recordings

In March 2001 someone taped a recording of me reading my piece The Dome at the Chicago nightclub Joyblue. This piece is more narrative in nature and almost eight minutes in length, so please be forewarned before starting to listen to it. This piece was also saved in RealAudio format, so you will unfortunately need RealPlayer, a piece of proprietary software, to hear it. (880k; click here to hear the file. Thanks to Janet Kuypers for providing this recording.)

In April 2001 the same team who recorded "The Dome" came back to Joyblue and recorded my performance of An ode to the 'We Should Be Famous Club' on the occasion of Yammer's fourth anniversary. The piece was written in commemoration of "Yammer," an open mic run by Lisa Hemminger that's held every Wednesday at Joyblue; the title of the piece is a playful jab at Lisa's contention that one day all the readers at her open mic will be rich and famous. (1.7 mgs; click here to hear the file. Thanks to Janet Kuypers for providing this recording.)

In autumn 2001 this same team again recorded me at the Chicago nightclub Mad Bar, doing a 'cover' of one of my all-time favorite spoken-word pieces - "Does She Like Me," a hilarious poem by my friend Shappy Seasholtz. This piece was done in commemoration of Shappy's birthday, which was being celebrated that night at the open mic Mental Graffiti, hosted by Krystal Ashe and Anacron. (1.4 mgs; click here to hear the file. Thanks to Janet Kuypers for providing this recording, and to Shappy Seasholtz for allowing me to cover it in the first place.)

More audio files are being added here on a regular basis; make sure to check back occasionally for the latest.