William Stobb

A few months ago, I was invited by contributing editor and awesome guy Max Greenstreet to submit a movie to a new poetry site called The Volta .  I'd never made a movie, but I like movies.  I shot some footage and connected it with fragments from Absentia , built some sounds / music around it, and am pleased to say that it debuts today on The Volta : http://www.thevolta.org/medium-mainpage.html It's ambient and, I think, kind of captivating.  I hope you'll check it out and like it.

Friday, 4/27, 6:00 PM at The Root Note, downtown La Crosse: In March and April, I've done a half dozen events around the region in support of Absentia , my new poetry collection in the Penguin Poets series.  This coming Friday night, I'll close up my spring "tour" at The Root Note, with my friends in the band 1, 2, 3 Walrus!   I'll read poems from the book and new work, like "The Dream of the Perfect Pants" and "Failing Science Lullaby," and then I'll clear off the stage and make way for the horn section.  Should be a fun night.  Come on out!

In a recent conversation about favorite movies,  David Lynch's Mulholland Drive came up.  For me, this film embodies all the psychological and imagistic depth of Lynch's best work while continuing to be comprehensible as a narrative (albeit a complex, fragmented narrative that features several suspensions and diversions).  In this scene, our two protagonists--Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) and Rita (Laura Harring)--arrive at a mysterious theater called Club Silencio, where they view a moving performance of "Llorando," the Spanish-language version of Roy Orbison's "Crying," sung a capella in the film by Latina recording artist Rebekah Del Rio.  Just as the performance reaches its apex (honestly, it gives me chills every time I watch it), the singer collapses , and we understand the horrific false-ness of the moment--the singer is a propped up corpse, somehow animated.  So many things about the scene are amazing.  ...