WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.720 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:02.220 align:middle line:90% I'd like to read-- 00:00:02.220 --> 00:00:04.500 align:middle line:84% the last time I read here in '72, 00:00:04.500 --> 00:00:07.260 align:middle line:84% actually, I hadn't published 1933, I don't think. 00:00:07.260 --> 00:00:09.730 align:middle line:84% And I hadn't published this book, The Names of the Lost. 00:00:09.730 --> 00:00:11.820 align:middle line:84% So I'll read a couple of poems from this one 00:00:11.820 --> 00:00:16.140 align:middle line:84% that I haven't read, that I didn't read over 00:00:16.140 --> 00:00:19.560 align:middle line:90% at Pima or lately. 00:00:19.560 --> 00:00:39.590 align:middle line:90% 00:00:39.590 --> 00:00:41.750 align:middle line:84% When I grew up, I grew up in Detroit. 00:00:41.750 --> 00:00:44.090 align:middle line:84% And the music that I liked the most was jazz. 00:00:44.090 --> 00:00:48.500 align:middle line:84% And-- because you could get a lot of it on the radio. 00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:51.210 align:middle line:90% And I just liked it. 00:00:51.210 --> 00:00:58.023 align:middle line:84% And once I went to see Art Tatum play with Erroll Garner. 00:00:58.023 --> 00:00:59.690 align:middle line:84% I was going to put up with Erroll Garner 00:00:59.690 --> 00:01:02.460 align:middle line:90% to hear Art Tatum. 00:01:02.460 --> 00:01:04.849 align:middle line:90% Erroll Garner isn't bad if-- 00:01:04.849 --> 00:01:06.560 align:middle line:84% for three, or five minutes, or something. 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:08.450 align:middle line:90% But Art Tatum was late. 00:01:08.450 --> 00:01:09.430 align:middle line:90% His plane was held up. 00:01:09.430 --> 00:01:11.263 align:middle line:84% And we had to sit there and listen to Erroll 00:01:11.263 --> 00:01:13.220 align:middle line:90% Garner for about three hours. 00:01:13.220 --> 00:01:15.440 align:middle line:84% And he plays everything the same way. 00:01:15.440 --> 00:01:16.370 align:middle line:90% He can't read music. 00:01:16.370 --> 00:01:19.760 align:middle line:84% And he has about 14 chords that he just runs 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:21.680 align:middle line:90% up and down the thing. 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:24.050 align:middle line:90% And then Tatum came late. 00:01:24.050 --> 00:01:25.970 align:middle line:90% And then everybody stayed. 00:01:25.970 --> 00:01:27.920 align:middle line:90% Because they were all nuts. 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:32.570 align:middle line:90% And Art Tatum was blind. 00:01:32.570 --> 00:01:37.810 align:middle line:84% And he was probably a couple of years before he died. 00:01:37.810 --> 00:01:39.560 align:middle line:84% And he was very touched that everybody had 00:01:39.560 --> 00:01:43.847 align:middle line:90% stayed, maybe 800,000 people. 00:01:43.847 --> 00:01:44.930 align:middle line:90% And he played a long time. 00:01:44.930 --> 00:01:46.610 align:middle line:84% He played to about 4:00 in the morning, 00:01:46.610 --> 00:01:49.310 align:middle line:84% from about 11:30 to 4:00 in the morning. 00:01:49.310 --> 00:01:53.390 align:middle line:90% And he was extraordinary. 00:01:53.390 --> 00:01:55.880 align:middle line:84% Bud Powell, another great jazz pianist, 00:01:55.880 --> 00:01:58.460 align:middle line:84% once said, the problem with art was 00:01:58.460 --> 00:02:01.400 align:middle line:84% there weren't enough keys on the piano. 00:02:01.400 --> 00:02:06.170 align:middle line:84% He just had more technique than he could show. 00:02:06.170 --> 00:02:08.780 align:middle line:90% The next day or two days later-- 00:02:08.780 --> 00:02:11.150 align:middle line:84% I'm not sure-- I was walking down the street at night. 00:02:11.150 --> 00:02:12.530 align:middle line:90% It was at night. 00:02:12.530 --> 00:02:14.300 align:middle line:90% And I saw Art Tatum. 00:02:14.300 --> 00:02:17.075 align:middle line:84% And he was he was being guided by the bass player. 00:02:17.075 --> 00:02:19.695 align:middle line:90% 00:02:19.695 --> 00:02:21.320 align:middle line:84% And I wanted to go out and tell him how 00:02:21.320 --> 00:02:22.850 align:middle line:90% moved I was by his performance. 00:02:22.850 --> 00:02:25.820 align:middle line:84% But as I got close, I thought he would be talking 00:02:25.820 --> 00:02:29.630 align:middle line:90% about Bud Powell or Mozart. 00:02:29.630 --> 00:02:31.430 align:middle line:90% I don't know who. 00:02:31.430 --> 00:02:36.290 align:middle line:84% He was talking about baseball, but with such energy 00:02:36.290 --> 00:02:39.980 align:middle line:90% and excitement. 00:02:39.980 --> 00:02:43.610 align:middle line:84% Thou-- a blind man going crazy for baseball was-- it 00:02:43.610 --> 00:02:45.410 align:middle line:90% blew me away. 00:02:45.410 --> 00:02:47.660 align:middle line:84% And this problem is really-- it's one of the few poems 00:02:47.660 --> 00:02:51.038 align:middle line:84% that I've ever written is based on anything that ever happened. 00:02:51.038 --> 00:02:54.124 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:54.124 --> 00:02:54.624 align:middle line:90% Here. 00:02:54.624 --> 00:02:55.124 align:middle line:90% Let me. 00:02:55.124 --> 00:02:58.040 align:middle line:90% It's called "On the Corner." 00:02:58.040 --> 00:03:01.610 align:middle line:84% "Standing on the corner until Tatum passed, 00:03:01.610 --> 00:03:04.250 align:middle line:84% blind as the sea, heavy, tottering 00:03:04.250 --> 00:03:05.870 align:middle line:84% on the arm of the young bass player 00:03:05.870 --> 00:03:08.780 align:middle line:84% and they both talking Jackie Robinson. 00:03:08.780 --> 00:03:11.270 align:middle line:90% It was cold, late. 00:03:11.270 --> 00:03:14.330 align:middle line:84% And the Flames Show Bar was crashing for the night, even 00:03:14.330 --> 00:03:17.510 align:middle line:90% Johnny Ray calling it quits. 00:03:17.510 --> 00:03:22.880 align:middle line:84% Tatum said, I can't believe how fast he is to first. 00:03:22.880 --> 00:03:26.390 align:middle line:84% Wait till you see Mays, the bass player said. 00:03:26.390 --> 00:03:28.880 align:middle line:84% Women in white fur spilled out of the bars 00:03:28.880 --> 00:03:31.640 align:middle line:84% and trickled toward the parking lot. 00:03:31.640 --> 00:03:35.360 align:middle line:84% Now it could rain coming straight down. 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:38.060 align:middle line:84% The man in the brown hat never turned his head up. 00:03:38.060 --> 00:03:40.400 align:middle line:84% The gutters swirled their heavy waters. 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:44.600 align:middle line:84% The streets reflected the sky, which was nothing. 00:03:44.600 --> 00:03:49.370 align:middle line:84% Tatum stamped on toward the bland hotel, a wet newspaper 00:03:49.370 --> 00:03:51.980 align:middle line:90% stuck to his mouth-- 00:03:51.980 --> 00:03:53.727 align:middle line:90% to his shoe, excuse me. 00:03:53.727 --> 00:03:56.649 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:03:56.649 --> 00:04:06.900 align:middle line:90% 00:04:06.900 --> 00:04:07.670 align:middle line:90% It's a misprint. 00:04:07.670 --> 00:04:10.160 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:04:10.160 --> 00:04:11.030 align:middle line:90% 00:04:11.030 --> 00:04:11.950 align:middle line:90% They actually didn't. 00:04:11.950 --> 00:04:12.950 align:middle line:90% It had the name. 00:04:12.950 --> 00:04:14.870 align:middle line:90% It's a cheap, shit publisher. 00:04:14.870 --> 00:04:16.790 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:04:16.790 --> 00:04:18.450 align:middle line:90% Well, anyway, I'll go back. 00:04:18.450 --> 00:04:18.950 align:middle line:90% All right. 00:04:18.950 --> 00:04:21.860 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:04:21.860 --> 00:04:24.290 align:middle line:90% 00:04:24.290 --> 00:04:26.840 align:middle line:84% Once in Davenport, Iowa, I gave a worse reading, so. 00:04:26.840 --> 00:04:27.714 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:04:27.714 --> 00:04:28.552 align:middle line:90% All right. 00:04:28.552 --> 00:04:29.510 align:middle line:90% There was nobody there. 00:04:29.510 --> 00:04:30.343 align:middle line:90% So it didn't matter. 00:04:30.343 --> 00:04:31.650 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:04:31.650 --> 00:04:32.150 align:middle line:90% All right. 00:04:32.150 --> 00:04:32.692 align:middle line:90% I'll go back. 00:04:32.692 --> 00:04:34.460 align:middle line:84% The gutters swirled their heavy waters. 00:04:34.460 --> 00:04:36.035 align:middle line:90% The streets-- hi, honey. 00:04:36.035 --> 00:04:37.296 align:middle line:90% The streets are-- 00:04:37.296 --> 00:04:40.212 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:04:40.212 --> 00:04:43.820 align:middle line:90% 00:04:43.820 --> 00:04:45.860 align:middle line:84% You want to read the poem by the fucking book. 00:04:45.860 --> 00:04:48.860 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:04:48.860 --> 00:04:52.860 align:middle line:90% 00:04:52.860 --> 00:04:55.860 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:04:55.860 --> 00:04:58.020 align:middle line:90% 00:04:58.020 --> 00:04:58.780 align:middle line:90% Oh, well. 00:04:58.780 --> 00:05:01.606 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:05:01.606 --> 00:05:02.550 align:middle line:90% 00:05:02.550 --> 00:05:04.020 align:middle line:90% I can only go up, right? 00:05:04.020 --> 00:05:06.942 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:05:06.942 --> 00:05:11.330 align:middle line:90% 00:05:11.330 --> 00:05:12.850 align:middle line:90% You didn't miss nothing. 00:05:12.850 --> 00:05:15.500 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:16.190 align:middle line:90% Honest to god. 00:05:16.190 --> 00:05:17.295 align:middle line:84% There was another guy here reading. 00:05:17.295 --> 00:05:18.295 align:middle line:90% He was worse than I am." 00:05:18.295 --> 00:05:21.062 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:05:21.062 --> 00:05:25.360 align:middle line:90% 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:28.990 align:middle line:84% The other day, I was reading on it, Pima there. 00:05:28.990 --> 00:05:32.030 align:middle line:84% And I told a joke that just came, popped [INAUDIBLE],, 00:05:32.030 --> 00:05:33.353 align:middle line:90% and so funny. 00:05:33.353 --> 00:05:35.770 align:middle line:84% I'm not going to tell you that I couldn't read after that. 00:05:35.770 --> 00:05:36.978 align:middle line:90% I kept thinking of that joke. 00:05:36.978 --> 00:05:38.635 align:middle line:84% And it ruined all the poems for me. 00:05:38.635 --> 00:05:39.760 align:middle line:90% The audience didn't notice. 00:05:39.760 --> 00:05:41.890 align:middle line:84% Because I was fighting against it. 00:05:41.890 --> 00:05:44.117 align:middle line:84% And I just didn't want to think of that joke. 00:05:44.117 --> 00:05:45.700 align:middle line:84% But I didn't want to forget it either. 00:05:45.700 --> 00:05:48.750 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:05:48.750 --> 00:05:52.000 align:middle line:90%