Archive for category Writing
Gertrude Stein’s Oakland
What exactly did renowned U.S. writer and art collector Gertrude Stein mean when she said “there is no there there” about Oakland, California? In honor of Gertrude Stein’s 138th birthday today, I explored the meaning of this oft-quoted phrase on the Inside Google Books blog. Read the full post here:
http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2012/02/gertrude-stein-puts-there-back-in.html
How researching Gertrude Stein got me tear gassed
Gertrude Stein. Courtesy of the Oakland History Room, Oakland Public Library
Little did I know that researching for an article on “Gertrude Stein’s Oakland” would put me on a collision course with Occupy Oakland and get me tear gassed today (Jan. 28, 2012).
Read the full story on Oakland Local: http://oaklandlocal.com/posts/2012/01/how-researching-gertrude-stein-got-me-tear-gassed-community-voices
Oakland in Popular Memory Kickstarter Campaign a Success!
My Kickstarter Project Oakland in Popular Memory was successfully funded!
Learn more at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mattwerner/oakland-in-popular-memory-book-project/posts/157495
Oakland in Popular Memory book project
Learn more about Oakland in Popular Memory, my collection of interviews with artists from Oakland and artists who’ve influenced musicians from Oakland, by going to my Kickstarter page and Thought Publishing.
Oakland in Popular Memory Kickstarter is launched!
Today I launched a Kickstarter project to fund my next book of artist interviews titled Oakland in Popular Memory:
My visit to Occupy Oakland
I went to Occupy Oakland as a spectator on Friday night, October 28, 2011. Here’s the blog post I wrote about my experience published on Oakland Local’s Community Voices today: http://oaklandlocal.com/posts/2011/10/my-visit-occupy-oakland-oct-282011-community-voices
Working from India’s Silicon Valley
I worked the last week of September in Hyderabad (HITEC City) and Bangalore (Silicon Valley of India). Both areas have very interesting cultures with the intersection of IT. Read about my trip to India on my travel blog.
Interview with Ise Lyfe published on theRumpus.net
My interview with Oakland hip hop artist, playwright, and community educator Ise Lyfe was published on the literary website the Rumpus last month. Click here for the interview.
Google Books blog post about Jorge Luis Borges Doodle
Today I published a blog post on the Google Books blog honoring Jorge Luis Borges’s 112th birthday, to correspond with the doodle honoring Borges at http://www.google.com.
Read the post here: http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2011/08/peering-into-jorge-luis-borgess.html
Self-Publishing: How I did it
I spoke at Google this week on my experiences with self-publishing. I’ve also written a series of blog posts titled Memoirs of the Self-Published, which describe my self-publishing process. Here’s the video of me speaking at Google:
Papers for the Suppression of Reality to be published on March 1, 2011
Matt Werner’s first book of short stories, Papers for the Suppression of Reality, co-authored with Dr. Shaka Freeman will hit bookstores on March 1, 2011. The book is being published by Thought Publishing. You can pre-order a copy of the book here: http://thoughtpublishing.org/purchase/
Interview with Playwright Chinaka Hodge
My interview with Oakland poet and playwright Chinaka Hodge was published on the literary website the Rumpus today. Click here for the interview.
Chinaka is known for her Def Poetry Jam appearances and play Mirrors in Every Corner. But her writing and artistic talents are wide-ranging, and include some pretty dope tracks with the Getback Crew:
Transcript for Talib Kweli Interview
Talib Kweli Interview
with DJ Matt Werner on Fresh Air: The Alternative
http://freshair.org.uk, http://mattswriting.com
Phone interview recorded on March 3, 2009, show aired on March 10, 2009.
The full hour-long interview and feature can be downloaded here.
A PDF of this interview transcript can be downloaded here.
DJ MATT WERNER: This is DJ Matt Werner on Fresh Air: The Alternative. We’re coming at you from Edinburgh, Scotland, and we have Talib Kweli with us on a phone interview. And so Talib, you’ve been very active this last year, and I’ve read most of the interviews you’ve conducted this last year online: on everything from your song about Lauren Hill, J Dilla, MCEO, and other projects, so I don’t want to repeat questions that’ve already been asked in these other interviews. But my listeners here in Scotland have had two main questions for you. One is on…
TALIB KWELI: Black Star?
DJ MATT WERNER: Yeah, Black Star.
TALIB KWELI: [laughs]
Interview transcript with Saul Williams
Saul Williams Interview
with DJ Matt Werner on Fresh Air: The Alternative
http://freshair.org.uk, http://mattswriting.com
Phone interview recorded on November 21, 2008, show aired on December 9, 2008.
Transcript by Korin McGinty, edited by DJ Matt Werner
This transcript can be downloaded as a PDF by clicking here
The audio of DJ Matt Werner’s interview with Saul Williams can be found here
DJ MATT WERNER: Saul, I was wondering if you could come on the line now and discuss a little bit about your latest album Niggy Tardust.
SAUL WILLIAMS: Sure, well the name of the album is The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust! And it’s a concept album where I am essentially exploring the idea and reality of liberation, of freedom, and what it means in the face of, or under the context of our existing definition of race, and how that relates to music and identity, and what have you.
It’s essentially a very danceable dialogue, you know, self-exploration, and the need to step beyond the boundaries imposed by society as far as what people come to expect of someone when they assume that they’re from a particular place or look a particular way or talk a particular way, or what have you. So yeah it’s basically me finding the freedom to just break out of my shell and make the music that I want to make regardless of the executive who says, “Well this doesn’t actually fit the formulaic mold of what we’re expecting from you, of what we would need in order to get this to these people over here.” It’s about just breaking those boundaries.
DJ MATT WERNER: How was it collaborating with Trent Reznor on the album?
Welcome to Mattswriting.com
DJ Matt Werner’s Site is currently under construction. This is the future home of DJ Matt Werner’s artistic endeavors.
In the future, this site will host podcasts of DJ Matt Werner’s exclusive interviews on Fresh Air: The Alternative with a great array of artists, ranging from hip hop artists Ise Lyfe and Talib Kweli, to rock artist Dave Smallen, spoken-word artists George Watsky and Dahlak Brathwaite, beatboxer Kid Beyond, and modern symphony composer Fr. Bruno Clifton.
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