Marcopocast: Literary Matters of Great Importance

Smoky Carson, a poem by Frank Marcopolos. The poem and performance are copyright (c) 2020 by Frank J. Marcopolos. The music is credited as follows: Shiro (Instrumental) by Aussens@iter (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/tobias_weber/56795 Ft: Hans Montgomery Atom

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Frank Marcopolos (1972- ) founded “The Whirligig” literary magazine in 1999, which has been called “a landmark, demonstrating the power of the literary underground.” One reviewer said that “you get this true lion-roaring sense that Editor Frank Marcopolos knows what he likes, and how to read, and how to publish, and he has guts, and eats insects on Wheaties with bleach.”

Frank’s long-form fiction has been reviewed with such praise as “thorough-goingly entertaining” and “highly readable…recalls the style of Michael Chabon or John Irving. A literary gem that should not be missed.”

A broadcasting-school graduate, Frank’s unique literary-audio work has been featured in movie trailers, scholastic environments, underground mixtapes, and on YouTube, with his audiobooks achieving over 1,000,000 “views” there.

He lives in Pittsburgh, PA, without a dog, and records at The Bookquarium Recording Studio.

***

https://frankmarcopolos.com

Alamo Drafthouse Movie Theaters have decided to start publishing books. Frank loves the idea, especially considering what kind of book they are publishing first. It’s Lit! News #2, with Sherry Thompson.

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Frank Marcopolos founded “The Whirligig” literary magazine in 1999, which has been called “a landmark, demonstrating the power of the literary underground.” One reviewer said that “you get this true lion-roaring sense that Editor Frank Marcopolos knows what he likes, and how to read, and how to publish, and he has guts, and eats insects on Wheaties with bleach.”

Frank’s long-form fiction has been reviewed with such praise as “thorough-goingly entertaining” and “highly readable…recalls the style of Michael Chabon or John Irving. A literary gem that should not be missed.”

A broadcasting-school graduate, Frank’s unique literary-audio work has been featured in movie trailers, scholastic environments, underground mixtapes, and on YouTube, with his audiobooks achieving over 1,000,000 “views” there. He lives in Pittsburgh, PA, without a dog, and records at The Bookquarium Recording Studio.

Child of Flatbush, a spoken word album by Frank Marcopolos. All poems copyright 2019 by Frank Marcopolos, except “Leda and the Swan” and “Dream-Land,” which are both in the public domain and written by W.B. Yeats and Edgar Allan Poe respectively. “Junkie Scarecrow” was written by Chris Dillon. All performances are copyright 2019 by Frank Marcopolos.

#album #spokenword #poetry

Music was provided by the following under the following licensing agreements:

On “Child of Flatbush” – “Improvisation on Sunday” by AlexBeroza and The 3AM Association, licensed under Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution (3.0) license. ccmixter.org/files/AlexBeroza/17112

On “MadiSugar” – “Sad Melodies of Autumn,” Copyright 2017 by Urbanistic, used under a royalty-free license agreement with The Bookquarium, LLC.

On “Love on Top of a Washing Machine” – “Moonlight Sonata (Shifting Sun Mix, featuring Snowflake)” by Speck, Copyright 2018, Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. dig.ccmixter.org/files/speck/57884. “Reverie (small theme, featuring Pitx)” by _ghost, Copyright 2010, Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. dig.ccmixter.org/files/_ghost/25389.

On “Dead Engine” – “The Stars Look Different (Ziggy Stardust Mix, featuring stefsax and Dimitri Artemenko)” by spinningmerkaba, Copyright 2016, Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. dig.ccmixter.org/files/jlbrock44/52765.

On “Junkie Scarecrow” – “F Song” by Zero Charisma and “Agony = Harmony” by Das Phrogge, directly licensed from the artists for commercial use by The Bookquarium, LLC.

All other music used was licensed via commercial license obtained through Producer Loops.

Sound effects:

nathanvladimirovich via freesound.org, Creative Commons 0 – Public Domain license.

GameAudio via freesound.org, Creative Commons 0 – Public Domain license.

Ferguido via freesound.org, Creative Commons 0 – Public Domain license.

rambler52 via freesound.org, Creative Commons 0 – Public Domain license.

Artist support: https://patreon.com/frankmarcopolos

Artist home base: https://frankmarcopolos.com

TRACKS:

* SKIT – CARLA AND FRANK 1 [00:00]* CHILD OF FLATBUSH (MARCOPOLOS) [00:49]* MADISUGAR (MARCOPOLOS) [02:19]* LOVE ON TOP OF A WASHING MACHINE (MARCOPOLOS) [04:44]* DEAD ENGINE (MARCOPOLOS) [06:34]* SKIT – CARLA AND FRank 2 [09:03]* LEDA AND THE SWAN (YEATS) [09:40]* JUNKIE SCARECROW (DILLON) [11:38]* WARNING THE FLAME (MARCOPOLOS) [14:26]* SKIT – CARLA AND FRANK 3 [16:05]* RECRUITING (MARCOPOLOS) [16:49]* DREAM-LAND (POE) [18:07]

We’re on the verge of the 2020’s and that got me thinking back to 1999, when everyone was talking about the millenium and being on the verge of something totally new, something out of a science fiction story or a danceable Prince song. It was a cool year in the American cultural landscape. Movies that came out that year included American Beauty, Fight Club, Being John Malkovich, The Blair Witch Project, The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, and Eyes Wide Shut. Other cultural phenomena included Y2K, Pokemon, The Harry Potter Series, boy bands, and rap/metal pop, including new artists like Kid Rock and Eminem.

Aaaaaand it was within this American culture that my childhood

pal Chris Micha and I decided to move into a small, two-bedroom apartment on

Staten Island. The place smelled of ashy plaster, rust, and cigarette smoke,

and was within walking distance to the pigeon-shit-stained Ferry into

Manhattan. I was two years out of the Army and working sixty hours a week at

Morrell Fine Wine Auctions, while sending out short stories to magazines for

rejection. Chris was hustling graphic design jobs and gigging at night with his

band, Das Phrogge. I was 27 and Chris was 23.

We were artistic brothers, with our world view

shaped by Bill Hicks, Charles Bukowski, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and Nirvana.

That meant, basically, that our drinking and pot-smoking would be heavy, with

periods where other kinds of drug use would be called into the service of

artistic warfare. The Hicks monologue: “Drugs have done good things for us. If

you think they haven’t, go home and take all your albums and burn ‘em. Cuz all

the artists that made all the music that’s been a soundtrack to your life? They

were reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal fuckin’ high on drugs” – was our artistic call to

arms. The Bukowski quote: “Find what you love and let it kill you” was written

on my bedroom door. There was a kind of fervent belief in the altered mind that

was impressive in its depth, if only that. In the end, that belief cost Chris

his life.

I’ve often felt I escaped the same fate only because of fear.

Specifically, the fear of needles. My completely irrational fear of

needles—stemming from my childhood, when I had to get shot up a bunch of times

because of a variety of ailments—kept me off the hard stuff that eventually

took Chris’s life. And that was truly the only Rubicon I would not cross.

Everything else was fine, especially oceans of ale, but needles were an

automatic no-go.

Back to ’99, though. As Chris and the band were getting ready

to go into the studio to record what they envisioned as the first of many successful

indie-rock albums, Chris mentioned to me that Tower Records sold zines. I had

been talking about starting a literary magazine of some kind because I was

tired of getting rejected all the time, and Chris thought zines could serve as

a model for how to do a new kind of literary magazine. I didn’t know what a

zine was, though, so I went to the Tower in Greenwich Village one night and

bought a bunch.

So, Das Phrogge went into the studio with Ron Thal and

recorded “Body and Mind,” and I had myself an underground literary magazine. But

there is no Hollywood ending to this story. Neither Chris nor I went on to

reach the heights of artistic fame and fortune we had so colorfully dreamed of

in that creaky apartment on the Isle of Staten. And I know Chris held onto some

level of resentment about that, while I—on the other hand—had been conditioned

through the thousands of rejections I got from every magazine in America to

know better than to truly, 100% believe in my dreams.

On this episode of the podcast, Frank is interviewed by It’s Lit! News, which is a show that Frank invented. Fun!

https://patreon.com/frankmarcopolos

https://twitter.com/frankmarcopolos

Buy Bookquarium Magazine – Volume 1 at the following places:

Audiobook: https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/bookquarium-magazine-volume-1-january-2020/id1490699879?mt=11

Ebook: https://www.amazon.com/Bookquarium-Magazine-1-January-2020-ebook/dp/B0818911H4

YouTube: https://youtu.be/eUja4u3QfHI

Podcast: https://frankmarcopolos.com/archives/4706

In this episode, Frank introduces a new literary mag, Bookquarium Magazine.

Pre-sales for the magazine are here: https://www.amazon.com/Bookquarium-Magazine-1-January-2020-ebook/dp/B0818911H4

Music was provided by the following under the following licensing agreements:

“Warm Vacuum Tube” by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2019 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/59533 Ft: starfrosch

“Improvisation on Sunday” by AlexBeroza via ccmixter.org and used via Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution (3.0) license. http://ccmixter.org/files/AlexBeroza/17112

“Sad Melodies of Autumn” Copyright 2017 by Urbanistic, used under a royalty-free commercial license agreement.

“Moonlight Sonata (Shifting Sun Mix)” by Speck (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/speck/57884 Ft: Snowflake

“Reverie (small theme)” by _ghost (c) copyright 2010 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/_ghost/25389 Ft: Pitx

“The Stars Look Different (Ziggy Stardust Mix)” by spinningmerkaba (c) copyright 2016 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/jlbrock44/52765 Ft: stefsax and Dimitri Artemenko

“Orbital Romance,” Copyright 2017 by Sir Cubworth and Licensed on a Creative Commons 0/Public Domain License via YouTube Music.

“Nostalgic Pull,” Copyright 2018 by Asher Fulero and licensed via Creative Commons 0/Public Domain License via YouTube Music.

“Bare Feet Scuff Wood,” Copyright 2018 by Foley and licensed via Creative Commons 0/Public Domain License via YouTube Music.

“Buzzing Fly” Copyright 2018 by Animals and licensed via Creative Commons 0/Public Domain License via YouTube Music.

“F Song” and “Agony = Harmony” licensed for commercial use with direct agreement with the artists, Zero Charisma and Das Phrogge.

“Junkie Scarecrow” by Christopher Dillon Micha originally appeared in “The Whirligig” magazine, Issue #1

******

Frank Marcopolos (1972- ) founded “The Whirligig” literary magazine in 1999, which has been called “a landmark, demonstrating the power of the literary underground.” One reviewer said that “you get this true lion-roaring sense that Editor Frank Marcopolos knows what he likes, and how to read, and how to publish, and he has guts, and eats insects on Wheaties with bleach.”

Frank’s long-form fiction has been reviewed with such praise as “thorough-goingly entertaining” and “highly readable…recalls the style of Michael Chabon or John Irving. A literary gem that should not be missed.”

A broadcasting-school graduate, Frank’s unique literary-audio work has been featured in movie trailers, scholastic environments, underground mixtapes, and on YouTube, with his audiobooks achieving over 1,000,000 “views” there. He lives in Pittsburgh, PA, without a dog, and records at The Bookquarium Recording Studio.

Audiobooks narrated by Frank Marcopolos can be accessed through the following locations:

Libraries!

In this episode, Frank shares why he is falling in love intellectually with a long-dead, mentally unstable genius. (Very healthy.) Also, how Virginia Woolf has influenced numerous generations of writers even to this day.

Monday or Tuesday by Virginia Woolf: https://www.scribd.com/audiobook/428512701/Monday-or-Tuesday-8-Stories-Plus-New-Introduction

Frank Marcopolos (1972- ) founded “The Whirligig” literary magazine in 1999, which has been called “a landmark, demonstrating the power of the literary underground.” One reviewer said that “you get this true lion-roaring sense that Editor Frank Marcopolos knows what he likes, and how to read, and how to publish, and he has guts, and eats insects on Wheaties with bleach.”

Frank’s long-form fiction has been reviewed with such praise as “thorough-goingly entertaining” and “highly readable…recalls the style of Michael Chabon or John Irving. A literary gem that should not be missed.”

A broadcasting-school graduate, Frank’s unique literary-audio work has been featured in movie trailers, scholastic environments, underground mixtapes, and on YouTube, with one of his audiobooks achieving over 100,000 “views” there. He lives in Pittsburgh, PA, without a dog, and records at The Bookquarium Recording Studio.

Audiobooks narrated by Frank Marcopolos can be accessed through the following locations:

Libraries! (Ask your local friendly librarian)

Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/New-Gospel-Wealth-2019-Afterword/dp/B07VKQFNBY

Audible – https://www.audible.com/pd/The-New-Gospel-of-Wealth-Includes-2019-Afterword-Audiobook/B07VMBPRZ2

hibooks – https://hibooks.com

Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/search?q=frank+marcopolos

iTunes

Scribd – https://www.scribd.com/search?content_type=tops&page=1&query=frank%20marcopolos&language=1

Audiobooks.com

Audiobooks.NZ

24Symbols

Beek

Downpour

eStories

Hummingbird Digital Media

Instaread

Rakuten/Kobo

Libro.fm

Nextory

Nook

Playster

Storytel

3LeafGroup

EBSCO

Follet

Socials:

https://twitter.com/frankmarcopolos https://instagram.com/frankzmarcopolos https://medium.com/@frankmarcopolos https://frankmarcopolos.com https://facebook.com/authorfrankmarcopolos https://patreon.com/frankmarcopolos

https://youtube.com/brooklynfrank

Buy books by Frank Marcopolos:

https://www.amazon.com/Frank-Marcopolos/e/B005DMQW8O

Bitcoin Donations: 1BLHDEurp1CeYrfTGdYBaNyiprchmu9x1z

In this episode of the podcast, Frank reminisces about Googling himself and finding a surprising post on an old Internet forum. This somehow leads to an exploration of “short” literature and its potential for reader impact, including historicity and hermeneutics. Includes discussion of Hunter S. Thompson (The famous “Wave” passage from “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”), Dylan Thomas, and Henry Scott-Holland. [Mucho griefiness.]

End music is by and used by permission from Das Phrogge, formerly Das Phrogge Continuum. The “Continuum” was discontinued.

End poetry by Frank Marcopolos.

Public domain music and sound effects provided by angelwingsxx and roundbody34.

Socials for the antisocials, or find Frank here:

https://twitter.com/frankmarcopolos – Literary links, pics of gloomy Pittsburgh, links to fun products to purchase.

https://youtube.com/brooklynfrank – Audiobooks in handy, YouTube-video format. Good to listen to during the commute, while working out, while cleaning out bird cages, during intermittent fasting hours when your brain is non-functional, etc.

https://patreon.com/frankmarcopolos – Support indie lit, keep Frank motivated, receive much good karma, get some free books. Different sponsorship levels available.

Frank Marcopolos Bio (a.k.a., “Who is this schmendrick from Flatbush Avenue?”):

Frank Marcopolos (1972- ) founded “The Whirligig” literary magazine in 1999, which has been called “a landmark, demonstrating the power of the literary underground.” One reviewer said that “you get this true lion-roaring sense that Editor Frank Marcopolos knows what he likes, and how to read, and how to publish, and he has guts, and eats insects on Wheaties with bleach.” 

Frank’s long-form fiction has been reviewed with such praise as “thorough-goingly entertaining” and “highly readable…recalls the style of Michael Chabon or John Irving. A literary gem that should not be missed.” 

A broadcasting-school graduate, Frank’s unique literary-audio work has been featured in movie trailers, scholastic environments, underground mixtapes, and on YouTube, with lifetime listens of his YT audiobooks currently standing at over 1,000,000.

He lives in Pittsburgh, PA, without a dog, and records at The Bookquarium Recording Studio.

…

Copyright 2019 by The Bookquarium.

In this episode of the podcast, Frank discusses how you can help teachers fill their classrooms with needed supplies, and then he performs “Olalla” by Robert Louis Stevenson for over 2 hours. Fun!

Robert Louis Stevenson (13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist and travel writer, most noted for Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and A Child’s Garden of Verses. Born and educated in Edinburgh, Stevenson suffered from serious bronchial trouble for much of his life, but continued to write prolifically and travel widely in defiance of his poor health. As a young man, he mixed in London literary circles, receiving encouragement from Andrew Lang, Edmund Gosse, Leslie Stephen and W. E. Henley, the last of whom may have provided the model for Long John Silver in Treasure Island. Stevenson spent several years in search of a location suited to his health, before finally settling in Samoa, where he died. A celebrity in his lifetime, Stevenson attracted a more negative critical response for much of the 20th century, though his reputation has been largely restored. He is currently ranked as the 26th most translated author in the world. (Source: Wikipedia)

Frank Marcopolos (September 1972 – ) founded “The Whirligig” literary magazine in 1999, which has been called “a landmark, demonstrating the power of the literary underground.” One reviewer said that “you get this true lion-roaring sense that Editor Frank Marcopolos knows what he likes, and how to read, and how to publish, and he has guts, and eats insects on Wheaties with bleach.”

Frank’s long-form fiction has been reviewed with such praise as “thorough-goingly entertaining” and “highly readable…recalls the style of Michael Chabon or John Irving. A literary gem that should not be missed.”

A broadcasting-school graduate, Frank’s unique literary-audio work has been featured in movie trailers, scholastic environments, underground mixtapes, and on YouTube, with one of his audiobooks achieving over 100,000 “views” there. He lives in Pittsburgh, PA, without a dog, and records at The Bookquarium Recording Studio.

Audiobooks narrated by Frank Marcopolos can be accessed through the following locations:

Libraries! (Ask your local friendly librarian) Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/New-Gospel-Wealth-2019-Afterword/dp/B07VKQFNBY Audible – https://www.audible.com/pd/The-New-Gospel-of-Wealth-Includes-2019-Afterword-Audiobook/B07VMBPRZ2 hibooks – https://hibooks.com Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/search?q=frank+marcopolos iTunes Scribd – https://www.scribd.com/search?

In this episode, Frank compares two different microphones and talks about audio equipment in a way that only audiophile geeks are likely to appreciate.

Audiobooks narrated by Frank Marcopolos can be accessed through the following locations:

Libraries! (Ask your local friendly librarian) Amazon Audible hibooks – https://hibooks.com Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/search?q=frank+marcopolos iTunes Scribd – https://www.scribd.com/search?content_type=tops&page=1&query=frank%20marcopolos&language=1 Audiobooks.com Audiobooks.NZ 24Symbols Beek Downpour eStories Hummingbird Digital Media Instaread Rakuten/Kobo Libro.fm Nextory Nook Playster Storytel 3LeafGroup EBSCO Follet

Socials:

https://twitter.com/frankmarcopolos https://instagram.com/frankzmarcopolos https://medium.com/@frankmarcopolos https://frankmarcopolos.com https://facebook.com/authorfrankmarcopolos https://patreon.com/frankmarcopolos

https://youtube.com/brooklynfrank

Buy books by Frank Marcopolos: https://www.amazon.com/Frank-Marcopolos/e/B005DMQW8O

Bitcoin Donations: 1BLHDEurp1CeYrfTGdYBaNyiprchmu9x1z

Frank’s Literary Bio: Frank Marcopolos founded “The Whirligig” literary magazine in 1999, which has been called “a landmark, demonstrating the power of the literary underground.” One reviewer said that “you get this true lion-roaring sense that Editor Frank Marcopolos knows what he likes, and how to read, and how to publish, and he has guts, and eats insects on Wheaties with bleach.”

Frank’s long-form fiction has been reviewed with such praise as “thorough-goingly entertaining” and “highly readable…recalls the style of Michael Chabon or John Irving. A literary gem that should not be missed.”

A broadcasting-school graduate, Frank’s unique literary-audio work has been featured in movie trailers, scholastic environments, underground mixtapes, and on YouTube, with one of his audiobooks achieving over 100,000 “views” there. He lives in Pittsburgh, PA, without a dog, and records at The Bookquarium Recording Studio.

Rig (non-sponsored): CAD E100S microphone, pop filter, XLR cable, Neewer 45-volt phantom power supply, into a Zoom H5 handy recorder with SD card with the gain set at 3.5 to record 44.1/16 WAV files. Post: Adobe Audition for mixing, Windows Movie Maker to convert to MP4 for YouTube. Listen-back: Sennheiser HD 4.50 bluetooth wireless headphones.