LA Letters
Mike Sonksen aka Mike the Poet celebrates bright moments from literary Los Angeles with spoken and written word.
LA Letters:
The "dog days of summer" may be here, but Los Angeles is exploding with literary events, live concerts, art shows and city tours. Mike the Poet examines the writers, artists, musicians and venues keeping summer spirit alive in Los Angeles.
LA Letters:
Hollywood is a loaded word with many meanings. There's Hollywood the district of Los Angeles, Hollywood the movie industry, some use Hollywood to describe all of Southern California, some use the word to describe someone who's become too "Hollywood." I'm not the first to say this.
LA Letters:
At the newly opened Grand Park in downtown L.A., City Hall's architectural majesty is akin to the Washington Monument. Plus two great summer reads involving gangsters and hair metal.
LA Letters:
This ode to the underground art movement shares a list of artists deeply embedded in the city's fabric: stellar individuals teaching love and working with urgency, going places and making it better.
LA Letters:
Los Angeles is home to a countless number of poetry ambassadors -- and Billy Burgos honors them in a series of beautifully painted portraits.
LA Letters:
From Charlie Chaplin to Phil Spector, Black Dahlia to the Hillside Strangler, the dark allure of L.A. noir lives on.
LA Letters:
From Stockton to Portland, Africa, Israel, New York and back to L.A., it's all the same -- geography and the built environment form the landscape of our dreams.
LA Letters:
Besskepp's celebration of the rich history and racial diversity of his hometown of Stockton stands in stark contrast to Forbes Magazine's declaration as one of America's "most miserable cities."
LA Letters:
Breakbeat maestro David Axelrod successfully merged music with poetry in his adaptations of William Blake's poems.
LA Letters:
I've written dozens of poems about the river. The poem recorded here is a culmination.
LA Letters:
Mike the Poet pays homage to the artists and poets who are transforming the city with their art and community service.
LA Letters:
What does it mean to be alive in Los Angeles?
LA Letters:
21st Century Los Angeles shares the same energy and passion that fueled the Harlem Renaissance, the Beat Generation, the Black Arts movement, and the birth of Punk Rock.
LA Letters:
The city's energy after the 1992 Riots created a fertile landscape for music and art, including backyard jam sessions and hip hop in Chinatown.
LA Letters:
Many relevant poets and musicians have been left out of the discussion of post-L.A.Riots literature and art, including authors from Leimert Park and South L.A.
LA Letters:
I learned early that Los Angeles is a city of binary oppositions -- the neighborhoods blend like a DJ mixing records. The tension between the differences is addressed in "L.A. Love & War."
LA Letters:
As National Poetry Month nears the end, Mike the Poet celebrates more poets and poetry spaces of Los Angeles.
LA Letters:
Los Angeles artists Amde Hamilton, Hines Buchanan, Blackbird, and Cut Chemist deliver new tracks.
LA Letters:
For National Poetry Month, Mike the Poet celebrates the poets and poetry spaces of Los Angeles.
LA Letters:
Mike the Poets celebrates Boyle Heights, one of the rawest artistic enclaves in the city.
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