Byron Biggers Band is performing for free public event

Hi everyone,

Yesterday I rehearsed with fellow members of Byron Biggers Band — CHRIS CRAIG and GALE CLITHERO. We are prepared to play ten pieces this Thursday evening (April 11) in Springfield at Kentwood Hall on St. Louis Street. This is part of Missouri State University’s “Kentwood Series” and is sponsored/hosted by The Meyer Library.

Portraits from Fall photo days, September 4, 2019. Visual Media/Missouri State University

I’ll start the event by reading/talking for twenty to twenty-five minutes. Then the band will play. All of our pieces are poems of mine that Chris has arranged as songs with guitar and percussion accompaniment. I especially love “Monday,” “Worms,” and “Teacher Has Eyes in the Back of Her Head.” We have such a good time! The evening is free and open to the public. Families with children are encouraged to attend. It should be a pleasant hour of entertainment. Lots of free parking available not far from the door.

The Legends Project

Hi everyone,

For some time now a group has been working toward producing several of my books in Braille. To help increase public awareness of the Legends Project, there will be a free, public program in the Kentwood Arms at 7:00 p.m. on April 11. For more information, here’s a link. https://libnotes.missouristate.edu/2024/03/kentwood-series-continues-april-11-david-harrison-and-chris-craig/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_source_platform=mailpoet

I’ll speak for 20-25 minutes and Byron Biggers Band (= Chris Craig, Gale Clithero, David Harrison) will perform some of my poems that Chris set to music. These will include some of the numbers that we recently recorded. I hope we’ll have a good turnout. There’s plenty of free parking.

It depends on how you see it

Hi everyone,

This isn’t my HUG poem for January, I haven’t written one yet, it’s an old favorite that I’ve shared before. “Love” first appeared in Easy Poetry Lessons that Dazzle and Delight, co-written with BERNICE CULLINAN and published in 1998 by Scholastic. It has been used many times since then, most notably in the repertoire of my poems set to music and performed by Byron Biggers Band. Earlier this year the group recorded it on a CD.

I like the poem because it’s a good example of how written words can sometimes be interpreted in more than one way. I first read it as a gentle little love song. The other two members of the group, CHRIS CRAIG and GALE CLITHERO, begin to hoot and make fun of my rendition and urge me to try again, this time as a rap, which I do. I’m a terrible rapper but the audience gets the idea. See what you think.

Love

Said the green-eyed beetle

To his honey doodlebug,

“You’re sweeter than a rose

And I want a little hug.”



So they hugged and they giggled

And a little later on

They had a thousand kids named

Green-Eyed Beetle

And Honey Doodlebug,



And they all lived together

In a snug little rug.

(c) 1998 David L Harrison, from Easy Poetry Lessons that Dazzle and Delight, Scholastic

A reading exercise

Hi everyone,

This afternoon I’ll pick up a copy of the CD of BYRON BIGGERS BAND. I’ve been to the studio to hear the results of our recent recording sessions and I have a copy on my computer of each of the nine numbers individually plus three poems I read solo, but the CD will be a finished program with all the numbers joined into one album.

One number is called “Love.” It’s a brief poem of two stanzas. When I was writing this one, the words sang to me. It was a love song about the happy union of Green-eyed Beetle and a Honey Doodlebug. On the CD, I sing the poem as I felt it. The other guys in the trio make fun of my rendering and urge me to get with it. They insist that I don my dark glasses, snap my fingers, and rap the poem. If there were a contest for World’s Worst Rapper, I would take home the trophy, but I give it my best shot.

So now it’s your turn. Here’s the poem. See if you can read/sing it as a sweet ballad about two lovestruck insects. Then give it your best version of a rap. You’ll probably do better than I, but the point of the exercise, other than having fun, is to remind us as poets that readers see, read, and feel our work according to their own background and experience. Sometimes the differences can be profound.

LOVE

Said the green-eyed beetle
To his honey doodlebug,
“You’re sweeter than a rose
And I want a little hug.”

So they hugged and they giggled
And a little later on
They had a thousand kids named
Green-Eyed Beetle
And Honey Doodlebug,
And they all lived together
In a snug little rug.

(c) David L. Harrison, from Easy Poetry Lessons That Dazzle and Delight, Scholastic Professional Books, 1999, all rights reserved

It’s almost Byron Biggers time

Hi everyone,

We’re getting closer to making a recording of Byron Biggers Band. We haven’t determined yet what the final format will be. Few people can play a CD these days so we may wind up with an electronic edition, but we’ll soon make that determination. Tomorrow afternoon is the second of at least four rehearsal dates. There will be three recording sessions in Ellis Hall on the MSU campus. Each will focus on three numbers, so the finished product will include nine of my poems set to music by CHRIS CRAIG and performed by Chris, GALE CLITHERO, and me. Chris and Gale do the heavy lifting. I read the poems, sometimes sort of sing-songy. We’ve talked about adding one or two musicians, perhaps some vocals behind us, maybe some original musical accompaniment. For now they’re just ideas in the mix. I’ll let you know what works out on the 25th when we have our first recording session.

We chose seven pieces from or repertoire of ten and I provided Chris with some additional poems from which he chose two to make our final 9-count. One is “Monday” from SOMEBODY CATCH MY HOMEWORK and the other is “Earthworm” from THE DIRT BOOK. This is how Chris describes what he did with them. “For the last set, we’ll have Monday, which is a killer blues tune, and then Earthworm, during which we can add in creepy sounds, but will be to a catchy marimba beat, with a cha-cha-cha ending.” I can’t wait to rehearse these two new ones!

Sound like fun? I think so. I put away my trombone sixty years ago, but a small part of me still feels like a musician. And I love being with those who are still out there doing it and making their own music.