Unique Oistrakh wonderfully supported
936484
Please excuse me if I re-post here virtually the same review I wrote for the companion recording of the Fourth and Fifth Concertos, but my reactions are much the same, as the recording location is the same as one of the two used by EMI a few months later for that recording with the same artists - although the sound is marginally warmer here than on CfP. Again, we have a Rondo bonus and the same irresistibly charismatic playing from one of the great 20C violin virtuosi.

As I write, these classic recordings from 1970 and 1971 are available on Marketplace for virtually nothing plus p&p. Take one the greatest violinists of the 20C directing indisputably the best orchestra of that era playing the of Mozart's violin concertos recorded in good, analogue stereo sound in first class locations, throw in a bonus Rondo and you have an irresistible, 76 minute package - especially when it is delivered to your door for close to free.

Oistrakh's deceptively relaxed manner is somewhat less brilliant than Grumiaux's, less adventurously indulgent than Mutter's and certainly more characterful than the recent disc I reviewed from Renaud Capuon. Oistrakh's sweetness of tone and generosity of phrasing are abundantly apparent in these unhurried accounts and are of course best appreciated in the adagios. I cannot agree with another reviewer that these performances are sentimental;indeed comparison with such as Pamela Frank reveals exactly what is missing in her dry playing. Oistrakh had already had a serious heart attack and died only four years after these recordings; pair this disc with his famous account of the "Sinfonia concertante" with son Igor and Klemperer conducting.
4831404
Drawn to the ideas of G. I. Gurdjieff some years ago, my real introduction was through "In Search of the Miraculous" by P. D. Ouspensky. As I read and reread that book, I could not understand how Mr. Ouspensky could choose to break with the source of what he clearly regarded as a remarkable teaching. William Patrick Patterson brings both a scholar's rigorousness and a deep background in the Gurdjieff tradition to the study of the question of Mr. Ousepensky's "break." He begins by exploring the relationship between Ouspensky and Gurdjieff, from development to apparent conclusion. The sub-text of all this is the relationship between teacher and student (also directly examined in two essays added to the second edition). The creation of a connection between the teacher/transmitter and the student/receiver inevitably will create a struggle within the receiver, between those aspects seeking transformation and those opposed to any change. When a student is of the high caliber of Mr. Ouspensky, the struggle becomes truly mythic.
Mr. Patterson also looks at the roles played by A. R. Orage and J. G. Bennett. They too were men, and students, of high caliber who offered great potential for stepping down and transmitting the teaching.
I found the historical presentation to be very interesting; the exegesis of the struggle to be illuminating, thought provoking, and moving.
3802049
My first encounter with the pianist Miki Aoki was on her 2012 debut recording of the piano music of Zoltan Kodaly. My only previous exposure to this music was on a barely listenable Antes disc. Ms. Aokis pristine interpretations quickly made her disc one of my favorite releases of the year! For her
third solo release, she has selected a program of works by the members of Les Six, a group of early 20th-century French composers comprising of Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Germaine Tailleferre and Poulenc, with the scales weighted highly in favor of Poulenc featuring his Three Novelettes; the set of eleven miniatures Les soires de Nazelles and the single movement Mlancolie.

Ms. Aoki demonstrates a clear understanding of the Poulencs deceptively simple idiom. The composer was said to have hated rubato, even while writing music that might, in lesser hands be milked for every sentiment and poignant chord change like a tipsy cocktail pianist, but Ms. Aoki approaches these elegant scores with a finely-tuned balance of classical detachment, baroque precision and just a touch of wistfulness. A particularly favorite moment is her glittering performance of the last movement of Les soires de Nazelles.

One outlier on this program focused on the music of Les Six are the Three Gymnopdies of the eccentric Erik Satie. While not an official member of Les Six, Saties non-conformist attitudes and life style, and above all, his demand that French composers should have a music of our own -- if possible, without any Sauerkraut made him a spiritual godfather to the younger composers.  Written a good 30 years prior to most of the other recorded here, Aoki approaches these over familiar miniatures with the same sense of classical detachment and poise that she displays on the rest of the program. The result is refreshingly clean, taking on the character of a ritual dance, as indeed, they SHOULD sound.

This finally brings us to Les Six. In 1919/20 the group collaborated for a collection of piano pieces titled L'Album des Six. While little more than Feuillet d'album, these are delightful miniatures, full of charm and insouciance. Dureys Romance sans Paroles and Tailleferres are quite possibly the only works I have heard by these composers, are charming, if slight. Far an way, Poulencs manic little bitonal music box waltz is the standout from the set.

In addition to his contribution to L'Album des Six Milhaud is represented by the delightful jazz parody Caramel mou, coming off like a slightly better behaved version of Stravinskys Ragtime. The album closes with Honeggers Souvenir de Chopin, a haunting, evocative miniature, sounding like a distant cousin to Poulencs Mlancolie.

A well-thought out program, thoughtfully performed by a gifted young pianist destined for great things! Highly recommended!
530319
I was fortunate to actually visit this exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum just after it's opening a few weeks ago.....which was a very unique and stimulating experience. I collect art catalogues (Basquiat catalogues are of particular interest), so I had to have this one as well. Let me begin with a word of caution regarding this fascinating volume....if you are unfamiliar with Basquiat, this  is NOT a good introduction to his work by any stretch of the imagination. ( The Shafrazi gallery has an excellent catalogue of Basquiat pieces if this is your purpose). Both the exhibition and this catalogue have VERY few finished pieces as the focus is nearly entirely on an unbound set of composition books filled with the poetry, musings, rants, notes and doodles/sketches of Jean - Michel's everyday life. For people familiar with the work and legacy of this prolific artist, these pages are a rare treat to behold. You can see his creative process through these pages: razor sharp wit, stream - of - consciousness type word associations, and incredible insight. I felt ( as did some of the other people visiting the exhibit that day) that these pages took my appreciation of Basquiat to a new level. This catalogue represents the exhibit well and adds an additional layer of depth via essay and commentary. The layout is good and the book flows well. It is a great and unique addition to my collection and I highly recommend it.
2195726
If I do say so myself, Benjamin Blosser has written an outstanding work on a very specific area: Origen's doctrine of the soul, its origin, its operation, and state.  One thing that the author does very well is to cut through the misunderstandings of Origin as a proto-universalist and suspected heretic to show why these assumptions can be dismissed as speculative intellectual experiments, which the Church father carefully distinguished from Church teaching.  This enables Blosser to set aside common stumbling blocks that prevent the invaluable work of Origen from having ready access to a larger Christian audience.

Origen has been called the "first theologian of the Church," and is rightly respected by those who know him for his broad learning in the classical as well as biblical and theological traditions, not to mention his keen analytical ability and suggestive insights.  His careful development of a Christian doctrine of the soul in light of both biblical and classical philosophical traditions (specifically Middle Platonism) offer invaluable resources for contemporary Christian philosophical and theological anthropological reflection.  The work comes highly recommended, and I expect readers will find it reasonably accessible and even lively for a scholarly work of its kind.
1631527
Fanfare Magazine, Gavin Dixon

Roman Mints has been planning this recording for many years. It has been much delayed, which was no doubt frustrating, but allowed the violinist time to find mature and distinctive responses to each of these works. The program is deliberately arranged as a recital, based on recital programs he has given in the past. Mints omits the Sonata No. 0, which is juvenilia anyway and no great loss, but even so he provides probably the most comprehensive survey of Schnittkes violin and piano music available.

The ordering of the works is fascinating and provocative. The sonatas are presented in reverse order and interspersed with Schnittkes other violin and piano works. Those other works are mostly based on his film music, mostly tonal and light-hearted, and quite a contrast to the sonatas. The first disc begins with the Third Sonata, a confrontational opening. This is late Schnittke (from 1994), music at once brutally austere and searingly intense. Mints and Apekisheva give an unflinching account. They rarely go to dynamic extremes, but the control they exercise over timbre and intensity is fully in keeping with the musics spirit.

Switching between the sonatas and the lighter pieces is a clever idea. Every switch from one to the other brings a sense of shock, and in the Gratulationsrondo, Suite in the Old Style, and Polka we get a feeling of the sheer audacity of a composer who is capable of such intensity in his sonatas taking his music in a completely different direction. Suite in the Old Style is presented in an arrangement by Igor Boguslavsky for viola damore, harpsichord, and percussion. I confess that, unlike Mints himself, I prefer the violin and piano version, but this one has its own charm. As Mints discusses in the interview above, the range of tone colors here reflects the musics genesis in film music. In comparison, the violin and piano version can sound pious, which was certainly not Schnittkes intention. But I find the constant switch in colors, between the different tuned percussion instruments over-busy and often distracting. Its an excellent performance though, done with an ideal sense of lightness and humor by the ensemble.

The Second and First Sonatas are more austere, even than on many other recordings, but there is plenty of life and interest in both. Mints often opts for a straight, quite narrow tone, and when he goes up to the highest registers in the First Sonata for sustained fortissimo passages, there is a tactile immediacy to his tone. In all of the sonatas, we feel an avoidance of sentimentality; there is plenty of feeling, but Mints never panders to the musics implied emotions. Fortunately, the results never feel too dry or unfeeling either. The roundness of the piano tone helps, for example in the isolated staccato G-Minor chords in the Second Sonata, which are suitably detached, but elegantly and warmly voiced too.

Roman Mints follows in the footsteps of many of Schnittkes previous interpreters, particularly Gidon Kremer, and like Kremer he brings a buoyant but often understated theatricality to each of Schnittkes many moods. But there is also a deep seriousness about Mintss approach, especially in the sonatas, which provides a depth to this music that is all his own. These accounts are gripping and intense. They are often harrowing tooexactly as they should be.
2829419
The Osho Zen Tarot, inspired by Osho and illustrated by Ma Deva Padma, is a transcendental take on Tarot.  The images are literally out of this work, combining styles from manga-like illustrations to computer-enhanced images.  This seemingly disjointed combination of styles works well for the diversity of messages expressed through the cards.  This deck is not for beginners, as even the most versed on tarot may have problems using it.  However, with the helpful companion book, this unique deck is a great source of inspiration for almost everyone to enjoy.

The imagery on these cards is too departed for comparison to most traditional tarots such as Visconti, Marseilles, RWS or even Thoth, but it does convey the message for the corresponding tarot card.  A white border interrupted at the bottom by a white outlined diamond frames the imagery of each card.  The diamond is color-coded within, and holds either a number or a symbol representing the card.  Each card is labeled in English at the bottom.

For the Major Arcana, a roman numeral and color purple is shown within the small diamond at the bottom.  The Fool and The Lovers retain their names, but all other Major Arcana has been relabeled to fit a Zen message:

The Magician -- Existence
The High Priestess -- Inner Voice
The Empress -- Creativity
The Emperor -- The Rebel
The Hierophant -- No-Thingness
The Chariot -- Awareness
Strength -- Courage
The Hermit -- Aloneness
Wheel of  Fortune -- Change
Justice -- Breakthrough
The Hanged Man -- New Vision
Death -- Transformation
Temperance -- Integration
The Devil -- Conditioning
The Tower -- Thunderbolt
The Star -- Silence
The Moon -- Past Lives
The Sun -- Innocence
Judgment -- Beyond Illusion
The World -- Completion

This deck also includes an extra Major Arcana, The Master.

The Minor Arcana are labeled according to a key word and their number is shown within the diamond.  The following shows the suits in this deck, their correspondence to traditional tarot, and color association:

Water - Cups - Blue
Fire - Wands - Red
Clouds - Swords - Grey
Rainbows -- -Pentacle - Rainbow

The Court Cards are also labeled according to a key word and a triangle pointing Up, Down, Right and Left shows within the diamond.  These correspond to King, Queen, Knight and Page, respectively.

This deck is not for beginners, if it is to be used as a tarot.  However, as a meditation tool, this deck is accessible for anyone.  This deck comes with a companion book.

Other deck by Ma Deva Padma:
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Tao-Oracle-An-Illuminated-New-Approach-to-the-I-Ching/dp/0312269986/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Tao Oracle: An Illuminated New Approach to the I Ching</a>
3487963
This is a beautiful book. The explanations are extremely clear and not much of a prior background is needed to work through it. Kauffman made fundamental contribution to the modern knot theory, and this is almost a first hand account/refelction of his drfit of thoughts. Very engaging and unique.

One complain: it seems that not much of effort had been spent in (i) consolidating the notes and papers into a book form; they remain largely sparesed out materials, albeit easy to read and inspiring and (ii) Formatting is very heterogenous and a bit non-professional. It is silly to judge this gem from this angle however, but the book can probably be used more widely otherwise, and it can extend its reach and benefit many more students.
3540059
I am an English PhD student working on this period of American poetry, and to my mind this is one of the best works on these poets. One thing that makes it so refreshing is that Blasing cuts through the tired raw/cooked divide that tends to separate supposedly avant-garde from "confessional" poets of this period. Blasing's grasp of these poets is nevertheless thoroughly historical; she effectively locates the ability of these poets to jettison foundational and organicist claims for their work, and especially style, in favor of a "rhetorical" embrace of various open and set poetic forms, in the postwar totality that has come to be thought of as postmodern. If you are wary of the foundationalist claims of an Olson, or moreover a Pound, and don't want to merely get stuck affirming one camp of postwar poets against another, Blasing's precise and illuminating intro, and often beautiful readings of poems, is a must-read. It feels like this book inhabits a unique moment, as Blasing's more recent work seems to attempt to locate the powers of poetry in some sort of fundamental relation between body and words- precisely the kind of organicism she so refreshingly argues against here. This book offers much needed tonic for American poetics.
2656385
This book allowed me to finally put together much of the complex history of Western thought. Its concentration on the Plato/Aristotle axis works great to give an x-ray vision into what is often a very confusing, abstruse subject for non-professional philosophy enthusiasts. That the professionals would find fault with it is unavoidable, and understandable; that's their job. However, I know enough about the different subjects treated, to find new inspiration for deeper investigations through this wonderfully woven narrative. Starting out with the School of Athens is just up my alley as a professional artist. I recommend it for artists, students and thinkers alike. In fact, I have recommended it to my art students.
121090
I have admired this deck for a long time, looking at the images online. Over many years I have collected many tarot decks for the art, and thought that my day of wanting another deck just wouldn't happen.

I do my readings with a traditional Rider deck, but when I saw this deck I was immediately drawn in. Emily's adaptations are beautiful, and profound; but I honestly felt that the Fae were calling me to work with them! and I don't say that lightly. The imagery and the colors are strong and compelling.

Yes, you could do traditional readings with these cards, but I felt a meditative, almost sacredness coming off these cards. I have never said that about any other deck before! My college age daughter sat thoughtfully, going through each card carefully, totally mesmerized by what was presented. She doesn't read tarot, but knew that these cards were special as well.

They will be my 'private' deck - to work with in a meditative way. I intuitively felt that I was given an invitation to come and learn.

If any reader here, has read Karen Marie Moning's "Fever" trilogy about the Fae, you will definitely connect to these cards.
They are big, which is needed to fully appreciate the artwork, and they are sturdy.
What more can I say? Emily has given the world a very unique and magical deck!
3461742
At first I was skeptical of this product--the title made me wonder if it was just a popular "translation" rehashing older interpretations. I did not know when I bought this book that Stephen Karcher is one of the foremost scholars of the Book of Changes. I was pleasantly surprised to find ways of reading this ancient text that I had not considered previously.

Total I Ching: Myths for Change is definitely intended to be used for divination. This book is unique in that it doesn't rely on a close literal reading of the text to describe each hexagram, but neither does it rely on affective interpretation. Karcher uses the rigorous research he has done on the I Ching (see his other works) to inform this "poetic" translation. In the introduction he says he is aware of the benefits of close scholarly literalism, but he has also become aware of its limitations. He balances the tension between scholarship and reverence in a format that is clear, intuitive and simple. He shines light on the hexagrams in a unique fashion, without being obscure or decadently speculative. I highly recommend this edition for anyone new to the I Ching as well as to the seasoned student.
4735771
I have just found my favorite Russian novel.

I've previously read some works by Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, and to be honest: the Russian authors can be challenging--lots of characters which are difficult to keep straight (owing in part to their foreign and often similar names), a very different cultural milieu, and sometimes an almost overly intense psychological investigation (stretched out over many hundreds of pages).

This novel was superb. It features a very small cast (maybe 5 main characters) and is an incredibly in-depth character study of the title figure, Oblomov.

I read this book because it was referenced as an archetype in a book on personality types (the enneagram tool, a Type 9 personality, which is my type). As a result, I may have enjoyed this book more than some other readers: I found so much truth and perspective about my own natural proclivities, foibles, and perspectives in the presentation, thoughts, and circumstances of Oblomov. I so appreciated the character of his friends, who reach out to him and try to deliver him from his self-imposed lifelessness.

I can already tell that this will be a book that I will re-read (rare for me), fully worth the investment of enjoying its nearly 500 pages again and again.

I understand that Goncharov's other works are fairly unimpressive, but with Oblomov, I have enjoyed the finest Russian fare and would highly recommend it to any reader who appreciates classic literature...or who is a Type 9 enneagram personality.

Thoroughly enjoyed.
3409247
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) was an innovative composer who sought a happy balance between the modernist styles of Debussy and Ravel with Romantic, Rennaissance, and Greco-Roman styles.  This album is a good example of his original style performed here to perfection by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

'The Birds' is a lyrical piece expressing images of various birds.  The lightness of the piece makes one feel like their flying and the pieces try to create an image of the birds with instruments plucking to imitate the motions of a chicken for example.  The Ancient 'Airs and Dances' is simply a transcription of Italian Rennaissance dances performed with modern and romantic styles.  The 'Three Botticelli Pictures' is also a lyrical arrangement trying to represent the scenes depicted on the paintings.  'The Spring' of course tries to conjure an image of nymphs and zephyrs moving about in pastoral joy.  The work 'The Adoration of the Magi' depicts the nativity scene and is a very measured piece.  It is slow and melodic and the inclusion of Greco-Roman styles adds to the sense of mystery and distance somewhere in the East.  The last piece, 'The Birth of Venus' depicts the godess Venus rising from her shell and coming to to the gentle shore.  The vascillating strings give the impression of water rippling on the shore.  The harp adds a sensation of divinity, grace, and beauty.  All of these are wonderful pieces are very light and joyful to the ear.

The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra performs these works to absolute perfection and I can find nothing bad to say about either this performance or the recording.  The sound quality is simply amazing in its clarity and volume.  This is a great album for anyone's collection.
3259002
In a relatively short period of time, I've managed to very nearly become a Mark O'Connor "compleatist," grabbing up virtually everything he's released on disc. This new release - "The American Seasons" - goes to the top of my O'Connor short list, along with "Heroes" (O'Connor fiddling duet-style with virtually all of the other greats of the instrument), "Fanfare for the Volunteer" (O'Connor's alternately thrilling, moving and heartfelt violin concerto of a few years back), "Midnight on the Water" (O'Connor as triple-threat Paganini, on violin, guitar and mandolin), and "Telluride Sessions" (in which O'Connor teamed up with Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer, Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas to form the Strength in Numbers group on the most essential "Newgrass" release ever produced).

This time around, it's "all strings, all the time," with the excellent Boston-based Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra providing the orchestra backdrop.

The title piece is a four-movement Concerto for Fiddle and Strings, representing the seasons of an American musical life (part O'Connor and part archetypal as he writes in the notes), with at least a sideways glance at Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" for the same instrumentation. But there's absolutely no risk of confusing O'Connor and Vivaldi in this work. Three of the four movements are each in two major sections, for a total of seven major themes meant to suggest the stages of life, along the lines of Shakespeare's "seven ages of man" from "As You Like It."

So much for the background. What is the work like? It's of course typical O'Connor in the sense of extending the reaches of the instrument, but yet new and different from his earlier Fiddle Concerto and "Fanfare for the Volunteer." Where those two works have their glances back at earlier musical eras (the romantic violin concerto era in the case of the Fiddle Concerto and the early 20th century of Copland, Hanson and Harris in the case of "Fanfare for the Volunteer"), this work is thoroughly grounded in more current musical idioms. Like all of O'Connor's major compositions, it is a high-wire balancing act of touchingly sweet lyricism and absolutely mind-bending pyrotechnics. The extended 4th movement cadenza is - as are so many of his solos - something that I think only he will be able to perform in the foreseeable future; it is that challenging. Listen carefully to this cadenza, particularly its closing measures, in which he achieves some spiccato ("bouncing bow") effects using both fundamentals and harmonics. This is one of those "Do not attempt this at home" challenges which I can't imagine any concert violinist attempting anytime soon; it's downright scary in its difficulty.

The second major work of the album - "Strings & Threads" - is O'Connor's "take" on the history of American vernacular fiddling in a 13-movement suite of brief reflections on styles, covering Scots-Irish fiddling from the pre-Revolutionary days through blues, ragtime, Texas-style "flat" fiddling, swing, into the present era. It should come as no surprise to anyone who has listened to his "Heroes" album that he has every one of these styles nailed.

The concluding work is an arrangement for string orchestra of his deservedly famous "Appalachia Waltz" (of the Yo-Yo Ma/Edgar Meyer/Mark O'Connor album of the same name). It was this album which first brought O'Connor to my own attention. Here, he and Edgar Meyer have arranged this famous work for string orchestra, and the Metamorphosen perform it with the achingly lyrical beauty that it deserves.

The recording - made in the warm and intimate acoustic of Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA (which served as the architectural model for Symphony Hall in Boston) - is a model of clarity and presence. Sony has captured the sound of O'Connor and the Metamorphosen perfectly.

Too bad about that 5-star limitation, though. I really wish I could have given Mark at least a few more.

Bob Zeidler
3894152
Peter Oresick's Warhol-o-rama is one of those volumes of poetry that make you laugh, make you think, and occasionally make you shudder with the beauty or sadness of the words.  Published to coincide with the 80th anniversary of Warhol's birth, and by a press in Warhol's hometown, Oresick's collection is a wonderful tribute to the guy who put the Pop in art.

Oresick describes his collection as a "serial portrait of the serial portrait pioneer," and several of his poems spoof that seriality by repeating lines over and over ("Andy Warhol for Beginners" is the cleverest example).  Intrigued by the postmortem commodification of Warhol, Oresick explores in his verse aspects of Warhol's life and work that have become iconic and big-moneyed.  In the process, he invites the reader to consider the different consumer-camps who've bought a piece of Warhol:  urban legend fans, journalists, artists, intellectuals, the establishment, religious types, students, pundits, and Pittsburgians.  It's an irony that Warhol himself would've appreciated:  Oresick writes serial poems about the cultural serialization of the great serializer.  I love it.

Some of my favorites in the volume:  "Andy Warhol for Believers"; "Andy Warhol for the FBI"; "Andy Warhol for Chimps"; "Andy Warhol for Warholniks at a Loss for Words"; "Andy Warhol for the Heaven of Byzantine Saints"; and "Warhol, Andy for Indexers."  But perhaps my very favorite is the haunting "Andy Warhol for the Widow of Andy Warhol": a "memo," with Andy's name scrawled on the appropriate blank line, which purports to have been sent to "Dear Mrs. Warhol" by "The New York Hospital," telling her to pick up the belongings of her deceased spouse.

It would be most helpful to us
if you would contact me by either
telephone or mail at your earliest
convenience concerning your wishes

regarding disposition of these
effects.  We appreciate your
attention to these matters at what
we know is a difficult time for you.

In death, Warhol has surpassed himself to become a cultural artifact.  Oresick's Warhol-o-rama explores that artifact, and in so doing helps us catch a glimpse of the "prankster and provocateur" who's virtually disappeared inside the artifact.  His verse also invites us to reflect on our own mania to commodify everything--which is precisely the tendency that so tickled and repulsed Warhol.  Highly recommended
2526885
Before reading his poetry in this volume, I was aware of Larry Fike as an extraordinarily well-read philosopher with a keen and incisive intellect and insight into human issues.  I knew he had a creative and compelling way of expressing his thoughts in papers and in discussion.
I was delighted to find the same care and depth in his poetry as expressed in Obstinate Air.
Mr. Fike is not afraid to express himself on topics regarding the darker side of human nature.  I found his poetry passionate and compelling.
As one of those priviledged to have witnessed public performances by Mr. Fike of his poetry, I can confidently attest that he is personable, inclusive, and touches a very broad audience on many levels.
If you are an experienced poetry enthusiast, I believe you will enjoy the depth of expression in Mr. Fike's work.  If you've never been exposed to poetry, I believe this is an excellent entree into the genre.  If you have an opportunity to catch one of his performances, avail yourself.  If you have a venue in the Pacific Northwest that would benefit from a performance by a skilled and accessible performance artist, I suggest you contact Mr. Fike by email as, based on my observations, I would highly recommend him as a performance artist.
Mr. Fike exemplifies the best of practitioners in both philosophy and poetry.  I have given this volume as a gift several times, and unfailingly get amazingly positive responses.