Williamsburg Bridge - the poem (just submitted to the New Yorker)

I recently unearthed this poem I wrote back in 1996 entitled Williamsburg Bridge. I read it to Alexandra, and I wasn't too embarrassed about it actually! I have always wanted to submit my poems to the New Yorker, and so this is the first. I now get five more submissions (their rules) and so I'm gonna be diggin' through the cyberfile cabinet, and even working on a couple of new pieces.

Hope you dig this:

Williamsburg Bridge


Earth smothered under pavement.
Light racing under tunnels.
Exhausted coughs blowing sandstorms.
Newspapers stretched across telephone wires.

Laughter shoots across dividers,
filled with skateboarding bounty hunters.

Red beams swinging counter-clockwise,
screaming at criminals hopping fences.




Written By: Michael Mercer
(Recently recovered, originally written in 1996)

Vintage & Futuristic, Blitzen Trapper Captures a Fresh Sound

Have you heard of Blitzen Trapper? This band from the Pacific Northwest has truly forged a wonderful sound that is both classic and futuristic sounding at the same time. Their folky, alt-country, and straight up 60's-style mellow rock-n-roll all tossed into one big musical salad bowl!!

I recently reviewed their Black River Killer EP for my BuzzOfTheBay column on Bandsofthebay.com.

Please check out the review HERE + PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT!!

We got a nice cyber-conversation going on my last article there (the one covering the Tenenbaum court case - where this poor college student found himself owing $675,000 in copyright infringement fees for sharing music online). The link to my article there is also below - here on The Amplified Voice.

SEE Joy Division, the Documentary

just watched Joy Division, the Documentary again this evening.

Will report soon

very tired, very inspired

and much to say soon

but...

SEE IT, NOW

College Student Hit with $675,000 Fine for File Sharing!!

Have you seen the story of Joel Tenenbaum; a student at Boston University who was recently slammed with $675,000 in fines for sharing copyrighted material (in this case songs) online?

Check out my article for BuzzOfTheBay on Bandsofthebay.com for more details.

If you're spending countless hours online in the pursuit of Free music (plenty of it is actually given away legally you know) you need to see this. CRAZINESS!!

The labels have thrown down the gauntlet, and let the world know they ain't scared to target individual users.