4/24/08 (Milwaukee) Meeting Bob Watt, the greatest poet

Well, we are here in Milwaukee. Just spent the past two afternoons with my favorite living poet, Bob Watt. I first found his poetry about two years ago, a random article on the internet had one of his poems, I liked it, so I searched, and then found one of his books in the rare books section at the Columbia library in Manhattan. Then I found a few more at the rare books public library downtown. He is a funny poet. The best living poet I have read. Been planning to find him when we came to Milwaukee. It only took three people to get to his house. First I asked where River West was (where I found out he lives), got directions and went. Stopped at a coffee shop in the River West neighborhood, asked, ‘do you know Bob Watt?’, she said ‘I see his car around, red with a lot of junk glued on top’, I asked her where the nearest book store was. She said ‘on locust’.  So we went to the bookstore on locust (really awesome and full of rare and limited edition books for cheap: Woodland Pattern Book Center; 720 East Locust St.) and Carl, working at the desk, knew Bob Watt, in fact, he used to be his next door neighbor, so he gave us directions. We went right to his house. Couldn’t miss it, a sculpture garden out front and a red car with all sorts of stuff glued on top, including a sign that reads ‘fear no art’. Bob Watt was just getting out or in his car as we pulled up. I walked on over, said, ‘hi, are you Bob Watt?’ he said, ‘that’s what they say’ we shook hands, and from there on we were friends. He invited us into his house, FULL of paintings, and sculptures and papers and junk. The Bob Watt museum. He talks like his poetry and we got a poetic tour of his two story house filled with piles of paintings of indians and cows and naked women and more. Me and Forrest were entranced. It was surreal. Bob Watt started pulling out all sorts of poems and art books for us to take with us, and thus I began my collection of Bob Watt’s poetry and art, now far larger than the entire new york city public library system. His publisher, John Reilly, called while we were there, and Bob put me on the phone with him. John said he had a few of Bob’s books, and he’d come over. He ended up giving me the very first book of Bob’s poetry that had intrigued me at the Columbia library, ‘This Insults Women II’. Well, we hung out with those two for a good three hours, and Bob said we could stay the night. We ended up parking in front of his house and using his bathroom and sink our whole stay in Milwaukee. Bob Watt wrote a poem about us (bottom of the page). We watched a few films, read a lot of his poetry, bought a few paintings, and he piled even more art upon us, including pages and pages of poetry and collages, much unpublilshed. We ended our visit by tracking him down at McDonalds, the morning we left, where he meets his group of friends every morning to get the day started with chatting and newspaper reading and poetic musing about the funny world. We left feeling uplifted from Milwaukee and Bob Watt. Forrest said, ‘Bob Watt is the sun and all these planets of weird people revolve around him’. Well, we were drawn to the sun. Faith in Bejaypers and sure in Begora. If you are ever in Milwaukee, you should drop by and visit this wonderful man.

Bob Watt  
2469 N. Dousman, Miwaukee, WI
414-265-5556)
Druidbooks@gmail.com




Jamie and Forest
by Bob Watt

They blew into Milwaukee from NY
found us with three stops.
They are beautiful beyond reason;
Jamie modeling with us, Reilly, Dick Nelson here.

Musicians on a national tour
they liked the poetry and the paintings
came right out
said we are some of the best poets in America.

I see them,
like the pope and angels,
America needs them,
they should have wings
as the world evolves they will bring on these wings.

Thanks to The Falsies!

THE FALSIES (Charlottesville, VA) were so SWEET live! If you ever get the chance to see them, do! In fact, they will be playing with us at GOODBYE BLUE MONDAY on FRIDAY June 20th!!

The drummer Lance has multiple AWESOME costume changes! Peter the singer is a wonderfully sexy front-woman! Morgan plays bass like it is attached to her spine! Carter seems too polite to make such big rude sounds! They are one of the most enthusiastic and theatrical bands either of us have ever seen! It's gonna be a lot of fun to see them again.

Your neck will be sore for days from all the head-banging, no joke!

We can't wait to see those guys in Brooklyn- Steve at Goodbye Blue Monday has the best club in all of NYC- ...

Above, we've thrown up a few pics or two that Lance of The Falsies so kindly snapped.

Batter Recharger is front page news!

Clintwood native Forrest Gray, now of Brooklyn, N.Y., and his girlfriend, Jamie Matson, make up the band Batter Recharger. The two visited Dickenson County last week while playing in nearby eastern Kentucky as part of a four-month nationwide tour. (PHOTO BY TERESA MULLINS)

By: Theresa Mullins

Forrest Gray has spent most of his 30 years pursuing his passion for music.

Now the Clintwood native and his girlfriend, Jamie Matson, who make up the two-member band Batter Recharger, are embarking on a four-month nationwide tour.

Gray was glad to spend a few days last week back in Dickenson County, while he played music in nearby Kentucky as part of his tour.

Gray looks the part of a musician. Large black-rimmed glasses frame intelligent eyes, a look reminiscent of rock legend Buddy Holly. A denim jacket over a black t-shirt completes the casual look of 50s rocker.

But it isn’t oldies rock that Batter Recharger plays. Gray describes his music as an eclectic mix. “We play experimental rock, with punk rock, blues and a little bit of jazz influence,” he said.

Gray, who is a 1995 graduate of Clintwood High School, is the son of Gerald and Denise Gray of Clintwood. His interest in music began when he was a fourth grader at Clintwood Elementary School. He began playing drums for the school band and continued playing through high school. Like many teenage musicians, Gray was a member of a heavy metal rock band in high school.

After graduation, Gray attended Antioch College near Dayton, Ohio. There he studied audio, video and written communications. He also continued playing music, and even thought about leaving school to pursue a music career full-time. But he ultimately decided to earn a degree, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 2000.

During his senior year in college, Gray began working on a documentary highlighting the need for logging regulations to preserve water quality, a cause he is passionate about.

The work on his documentary, which included showing the film to various groups across the southeast, consumed him for a year and a half, leaving no time for his music. When he was through, though, Gray said he realized that for the first time since he was a boy, he hadn’t been playing music.

So he called two of the men he played music with in college, who were then living in Chicago. They weren’t as interested in pursuing music as Gray, so he contacted another former band mate in New York. That friend was looking for a drummer, so Gray agreed to relocate to New York if the band’s focus on music was serious.

He made the move in 2000 and served as drummer for a five-piece band called Ofay. Gray describes the band as “country-tinged and folk, with lots of harmonies, waltzes and acoustic guitar.”

The band stayed together until around 2006. Then Gray began doing solo work. Besides the drums, he can play bass, guitar, keyboards, and he also sings. He had a small recording studio where he did his own work, and recorded for close friends.

Gray met Matson, who was then singing back-up vocals in a band, and the two became friends. After playing music together for six or eight months, Gray said romance blossomed from their friendship. The two formed a band and named it Batter Recharger as a play on the phrase “battery charger.”

“We have solid fans. If people like what we do, they really like us. We’re kind of quirky. We’re not a MTV or top 40 type of band by any means,” Gray said of Batter Recharger.

In addition to their music, the couple paints to supplement their income. Gray does flat painting and Matson does faux painting. Matson also makes and sells clothing and earrings.

The duo also work as art handlers, packaging, moving and installing artwork for galleries, personal collections and art fairs.

But right now the couple is focused on their music. While already well known in the Brooklyn area, Gray said he hopes this four-month tour will cultivate fans across the United States.

“We’re doing what we want to continue doing,” Gray said.

WoW! too busy playing to BLog!

We have been all over the place- Philly (PA), Baltimore (MD), Charlottesville (VA), Whitesburg (KY), Yellow Springs (OH), Bloomington and INdianapolis...it's about time we blogged.  Well, here goes... 

Hey this is our new blog and we are corny

"Just wait till we are on tour, you'll be around me all the time with no excuses to get away-", said Jamie to Forrest.

Then Forrest said to the crowd, "We are a band from Brooklyn and we are planning our 1st tour around the USA."

Let's play a rock and roll show