On January 15th 2010, Janet Kuypers had the feature performance New Year’s Unplugged at Regina’s Place (3608 West Wrightwood, Chicago), which is the neighborhood where Janet lived in Chicago (at one point, she even lived a block away from where this feature was performed!). This monthly open mic is hosted by Vittorio Carli (previous host at Mercury Cafe or Starbuck’s), and Kuypers was one of 4 features this evening (other features included Jenene Ravensloot, Jeff Helgeson and Dina Stuart).
This was scheduled to be an “unplugged” show, where Janet (and guitarist John) had acoustic guitars, Janet would use her rain stick (that she used back in the days of Mom’s Favorite Vase), and they would have candles lit for this unplugged, UNelectric show. However, because Kuypers suffered from a cold all of the previous week and was still recovering with a sore throat the night of this feature, she used a microphone, so people could hear her poetry readings during this show. (Hey, if they can use microphones in “MTV Unplugged,” then she could too and still call this an unplugged show...)
Because Vito suggested this even would have poetry related to the Near Year, Kuypers included not only poety about Christmas (which had just passed) but also New Year’s stories and poetry about travel for large events like New Year’s, and stories from noteworthy events.
...on to the poems:
(in the order they were read throughout the evening)
Have You Ever Had (with into talk)
read by Janet Kuypers, guitar by John and Janet Kuypers music: The First Noel
Order this track on CD 14 from the CD set Live
(an extensive 13 CD 2010 CD set)
(Because of the extensive size of this CD set, the easiest way to find the track in iTunes is to open iTunes, go to the iTunes store and search for Janet Kuypers and the title of the track, and it can find the track for you)
See YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers performing her poem “Have You Ever Had” (with Janet and John on guitar playing “The First Noel”) in her feature “New Year’sUnplugged” in Chicago 1/15/10 (at Regnia’s Place in Logan Square). This video also includes intro talk from her show.
Happy New Year, Janet
read by Janet Kuypers, guitar by John and Janet Kuypers music: fashioned from Waiting (reprise), by George Michael
Order this track on CD 14 from the CD set Live
(an extensive 13 CD 2010 CD set)
(Because of the extensive size of this CD set, the easiest way to find the track in iTunes is to open iTunes, go to the iTunes store and search for Janet Kuypers and the title of the track, and it can find the track for you)
See YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers performing her poem “Happy New Year, Janet” (with guitar by both John and Janet, fashioned from “Waiting (reprise)” by George Michael) in her feature “New Year’sUnplugged” in Chicago 1/15/10 (at Regnia’s Place in Logan Square).
Helping Men in Public Places
read by Janet Kuypers, guitar by John
with rain stick by Janet Kuypers music: fashioned from Mary Had a Little Lamb, by Stevie Ray Vaughn
Order this track on CD 14 from the CD set Live
(an extensive 13 CD 2010 CD set)
(Because of the extensive size of this CD set, the easiest way to find the track in iTunes is to open iTunes, go to the iTunes store and search for Janet Kuypers and the title of the track, and it can find the track for you)
See YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers performing her poem “Helping Men in Public Places” (with rain stick by Janet and guitar by John, music fashioned from “Mary Had a Little Lamb” by Stevie Ray Vaughn) in her feature “New Year’sUnplugged” in Chicago 1/15/10 (at Regnia’s Place in Logan Square).
The First Death of the New Millennium
read by Janet Kuypers, guitar by John music: fashioned from blues song by John Yotko
Order this track on CD 14 from the CD set Live
(an extensive 13 CD 2010 CD set)
(Because of the extensive size of this CD set, the easiest way to find the track in iTunes is to open iTunes, go to the iTunes store and search for Janet Kuypers and the title of the track, and it can find the track for you)
Though this news story poem was written in 2005, Kuypers only partially explained that reading this poem as a broadcast journalist was appropriate for this News/EditorialJournalism major, who previously has had regular articles in a newspaper as well as photography, but also even had weekly column. Currently “the boss lady’s editorials” appear semi-regularly in cc&d magazine, and her essays and editorials appear in books such as the Boss Lady’s Editorials or the Boss Lady’s Editorials (the 2005 Expanded Edition), and the upcoming book Adolph Hitler, O. J. Simpson and U.S. Politics.
Don’t Go To Denny’s
read by Janet Kuypers, guitar by John music: Victim of the Modern Times, by John Yotko
Order this track on CD 14 from the CD set Live
(an extensive 13 CD 2010 CD set)
(Because of the extensive size of this CD set, the easiest way to find the track in iTunes is to open iTunes, go to the iTunes store and search for Janet Kuypers and the title of the track, and it can find the track for you)
See YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers performing her poem “Don’t Go To Denny’s” (guitar by John from from his original song “Victim of the Modern Times”) in her feature “New Year’sUnplugged” in Chicago 1/15/10 (at Regnia’s Place in Logan Square).
Before Taking Over the Controls
read by Janet Kuypers, guitar by John music: fashioned from “Ojo”, by Leo Kottke
Order this track on CD 14 from the CD set Live
(an extensive 13 CD 2010 CD set)
(Because of the extensive size of this CD set, the easiest way to find the track in iTunes is to open iTunes, go to the iTunes store and search for Janet Kuypers and the title of the track, and it can find the track for you)
Like I Was Never There
read by Janet Kuypers, guitar by John music: fashioned from Dueling Banjos (“Feudin’ Banjos”, by Arthur Smith)
Order this track on CD 14 from the CD set Live
(an extensive 13 CD 2010 CD set)
(Because of the extensive size of this CD set, the easiest way to find the track in iTunes is to open iTunes, go to the iTunes store and search for Janet Kuypers and the title of the track, and it can find the track for you)
See YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers performing her poem “Like I Was Never There” (guitar by John, fashioned from Dueling Banjos (“Feudin’ Banjos”, by Arthur Smith) in her feature “New Year’sUnplugged” in Chicago 1/15/10 (at Regnia’s Place in Logan Square).
Don’t Forget to Write
read by Janet Kuypers, guitar by John and Janet Kuypers music: fashioned from “I Need You”, by the Eurythmics
Order this track on CD 14 from the CD set Live
(an extensive 13 CD 2010 CD set)
(Because of the extensive size of this CD set, the easiest way to find the track in iTunes is to open iTunes, go to the iTunes store and search for Janet Kuypers and the title of the track, and it can find the track for you)
See YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers performing her poem “Don’t Forget to Write” (guitar by John and Janet, fashioned from “I Need You”, by the Eurythmic) in her feature “New Year’sUnplugged” in Chicago 1/15/10 (at Regnia’s Place in Logan Square).
Janet Kuypers is a professional performance artist, a writer, photographer, and a literary magazine editor, while running Scars Publications, which hosts two literary magazines, publishes books and releases CDs. She has had 57 books published (as of 01/10, of poetry, prose, novels and art), has sung in 3 acoustic bands, and worked with 8 music groups (combining her poetry with music). Host of the weekly Chicago open mic at the Café, her CD releases (38 as of 01/10) appear at iTunes and other online vendors. She also produced a monthly iPodCast and an Internet radio station (2005-2009), found on line through http://scars.tv or http://www.janetkuypers.com.
