Colin McEnroe Show: Jam With Connecticut's State Troubadour And Poet
Chuck Costa and Dick Allen join us in studio.
Published: Apr 27, 2011
Slideshow
Chuck Costa
Photo:Chion Wolf
Dick Allen
Photo:Chion Wolf
Audio Playlist
Colin McEnroe Show: Jam With Connecticut's State Troubadour And Poet
Connecticut, unique among all states, has both a state poet laureate and a state troubadour. The first state poet laureate was James Merrill, appointed in the mid-1980s. Merrill graciously accepted the honor but said it was unlikely he would be writing poems for state occasions like, he said, the governor's birthday. Boy, was that an understatement.
At that point in his celebrated career, Merrill's energies had been taken up by a 560-page apocalyptic epic poem based on esoteric transmissions from a ouija board. He wasn't going to be banging out any doggerel about Bill O'Neill's birthday.
Subsequent poets laureate -- and there have not been very many -- have shown more engagement with the life of the state, as have the many troubadours.
It may all seem a little silly, but I think it's healthy to have the arts formally engaged to our public life.
Leave your comments below, e-mail colin@wnpr.org or Tweet us @wnprcolin.
***This episode originally broadcast on March 2, 2011***
Send to friend
Printer-friendly version
Comments
Next?
I nominate Chion Wolf as next official State Troubadour!
CT song.
Hi Lonny! Sorry I didn't respond sooner. I didn't notice this post until today.
Here's a link to the song I submitted for the Troubadour position: www.cttroubadour.tumblr.com
It's called "When the City Comes"
I agree. We do need more great CT songs. I'm working on a bunch of songs as we speak. Hope be posting more in the coming months. And hopefully they'll be good :)
Also, I'm working on a catalogue of songs written by CT kids about CT subjects too. I'm hoping to release it next year.
Thanks for your interest in this! -ce
Where are the CT songs?
One of the requirements to be a CT state troubadour is that you have at least one song about CT. Why didn't we get to hear Chuck's CT song? I'm a big fan of the state and I've always found it disappointing that most state troubadours don't have many good songs about CT. Not to disparage the musical ability of Chuck or any of the other troubadours but we haven't had a good songs-about-Connecticut troubadour since Mike Kachuba.
Chuck Costa
Chuck's music is lovely. It's wonderful that he's been chosen as our state troubadour! That's about the best news I've had in ages. I also appreciated hearing about the work he's doing with young people. What an awesome human being.
Chuck!
Chuck's fantastic... very cool you invited him in for the show!
E-mail from Veronica
I nominate the Guilford Town Green for a visit by the state troubadour - but maybe accompanied by the state poet laureate. What a great program that would be!
Thanks.
E-mail from Sara
My 11 year old son has been invited to participate in a poetry slam-I love that poetry is becoming the new break dance. It's just plain cool Snaps to you all
Post new comment