Samm Bennett Tokyo Live Schedule : April 2024
Hello friends, Samm Bennett here, extending a warm invitation to join one or more of these upcoming live music events. Support live music! It's good for you!
FRI 4/5 : King Cake Baby at Hikari no Uma (Okubo)
Below: video directions to Hikari no Uma
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We do indeed enjoy playing at this little venue with its vintage "snack" vibe. And they have an actual piano, which is always good for us. Hope you'll come partake of the New Orleans party time sounds! We'll be dishing up tunes made famous by NOLA luminaries such as Professor Longhair, the Meters, Dr John, Fats Domino and many more, and also putting a bit of that second line spin on tunes by Little Feat, the Beatles, and others. Plus a few originals here and there. King Cake Baby! Hoo nah NAY!
Open 19:00 - Start 19:30
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SAT 4/6 : as part of "Beat Attitude" at La Cabina at La Cabina, Bakuro Yokoyamacho
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Beat Attitude is an evening of work inspired by the Beat Poetry scene of the late 50s/early 60s, with readings/performances from Tokyo-based poets and wordsmiths that somehow take the Beat aesthetic and run with it. What promises to be the fascinating centerpiece of the evening is author Stevan Weine, who'll be introducing and talking about his new book Best Minds. Please read the description below to learn more about what it's all about, and don't miss this opportunity to learn something new about one of the great figures of 20th century poetry and American literature, Allen Ginsberg.
And note: OPEN MIC from 9PM, come early to sign on for a slot! open - 18:30 - start - 19:00
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Aaron Anstett is the author of nine volumes of poems, including recently This Way to the Grand As-Is: New and Selected Poems, Late Stage Everything, and the brand-new What Now, a long poem in handy pocket-size format. He's been reading Allen Ginsberg since 13, his favorite beat poets are Gregory Corso and Diane di Prima, and organizing and hosting a read-through of 'Howl' on the 50th anniversary of its publication led to him meeting his wife, Lesley.
Jeffrey Johnson, a native of St Paul Minnesota, has resided across far-flung swathes of the globe including Arizona, Washingtron state, Utah and various locales within Spain and Japan. He currently resides in Tokyo, where he is active on the poetry/literary scene as a frequent performer and as a co-founder and editor of Tokyo Poetry Journal. His most recent collection of poetry is entitled Conjurers Dream of Voyage, published in 2021.
Samm Bennett is a singer and songwriter with an intense focus on lyrics, residing in Tokyo since 1996. Since the early 1980s his music has carried him across distant shores to perform throughout Europe, the USA, Canada and Japan. He has released several CDs over the years including Life of Crime, The Big Off, History of the last Five Minutes, Songs About Time and Your Uncle, As Luck Would Have It, and others. He is a constant fixture on the Tokyo live music scene, and is co-founder and co-host of the long-running monthly poetry event Drunk Poets See God.
Dr. Stevan M. Weine is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, where he is also Director of Global Medicine and Director of the Center for Global Health. He is the author of two books: When History is a Nightmare: Lives and Memories of Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Testimony and Catastrophe: Narrating the Traumas of Political Violence. And now to celebrate the publishing of his book about Allen Ginsberg, he'll be making this lecture appearance here in Tokyo. About his book, Best Minds - Allen Ginsberg’s 1956 poem “Howl” opens with one of the most resonant phrases in modern poetry: “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness.” Thirty years later, Ginsberg entrusted a Columbia University medical student with materials not shared with anyone else, including psychiatric records which documented how he and his mother, Naomi Ginsberg, struggled with mental illness.
In Best Minds, psychiatrist, researcher, and scholar Stevan M. Weine, M.D., who was that medical student, examines how Allen Ginsberg took his visions and psychiatric hospitalization, his mother’s devastating illness, confinement, and lobotomy, and the social upheavals of the post-war world and imaginatively transformed them.
Though madness is often linked with hardship and suffering, Ginsberg’s showed how it could also lead to profound and redemptive aesthetic, spiritual, and social changes. Through his revolutionary poetry and social advocacy, Ginsberg dedicated himself to leading others toward new ways of being human and easing pain. Throughout his celebrated career Ginsberg made us feel as though we knew everything there was to know about him. However, much has been left out about his experiences growing up with a mentally ill mother, his visions, and his psychiatric hospitalization. In Best Minds, with a forty-year career studying and addressing trauma, Weine provides a groundbreaking exploration of the poet and his creative process especially in relation to madness.
Best Minds examines the complex relationships between mental illness, psychiatry, trauma, poetry, and prophecy—using the access Ginsberg generously shared to offer new, lively, and indispensable insights into an American icon. Weine also provides new understandings of the paternalism, treatment failures, ethical lapses, and limitations of American psychiatry of the 1940s and 1950s.
In light of these new discoveries, the challenges Ginsberg faced appear starker and his achievements, both as a poet and an advocate, are even more remarkable.
Jeffrey Johnson, a native of St Paul Minnesota, has resided across far-flung swathes of the globe including Arizona, Washingtron state, Utah and various locales within Spain and Japan. He currently resides in Tokyo, where he is active on the poetry/literary scene as a frequent performer and as a co-founder and editor of Tokyo Poetry Journal. His most recent collection of poetry is entitled Conjurers Dream of Voyage, published in 2021.
Samm Bennett is a singer and songwriter with an intense focus on lyrics, residing in Tokyo since 1996. Since the early 1980s his music has carried him across distant shores to perform throughout Europe, the USA, Canada and Japan. He has released several CDs over the years including Life of Crime, The Big Off, History of the last Five Minutes, Songs About Time and Your Uncle, As Luck Would Have It, and others. He is a constant fixture on the Tokyo live music scene, and is co-founder and co-host of the long-running monthly poetry event Drunk Poets See God.
Dr. Stevan M. Weine is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, where he is also Director of Global Medicine and Director of the Center for Global Health. He is the author of two books: When History is a Nightmare: Lives and Memories of Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Testimony and Catastrophe: Narrating the Traumas of Political Violence. And now to celebrate the publishing of his book about Allen Ginsberg, he'll be making this lecture appearance here in Tokyo. About his book, Best Minds - Allen Ginsberg’s 1956 poem “Howl” opens with one of the most resonant phrases in modern poetry: “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness.” Thirty years later, Ginsberg entrusted a Columbia University medical student with materials not shared with anyone else, including psychiatric records which documented how he and his mother, Naomi Ginsberg, struggled with mental illness.
In Best Minds, psychiatrist, researcher, and scholar Stevan M. Weine, M.D., who was that medical student, examines how Allen Ginsberg took his visions and psychiatric hospitalization, his mother’s devastating illness, confinement, and lobotomy, and the social upheavals of the post-war world and imaginatively transformed them.
Though madness is often linked with hardship and suffering, Ginsberg’s showed how it could also lead to profound and redemptive aesthetic, spiritual, and social changes. Through his revolutionary poetry and social advocacy, Ginsberg dedicated himself to leading others toward new ways of being human and easing pain. Throughout his celebrated career Ginsberg made us feel as though we knew everything there was to know about him. However, much has been left out about his experiences growing up with a mentally ill mother, his visions, and his psychiatric hospitalization. In Best Minds, with a forty-year career studying and addressing trauma, Weine provides a groundbreaking exploration of the poet and his creative process especially in relation to madness.
Best Minds examines the complex relationships between mental illness, psychiatry, trauma, poetry, and prophecy—using the access Ginsberg generously shared to offer new, lively, and indispensable insights into an American icon. Weine also provides new understandings of the paternalism, treatment failures, ethical lapses, and limitations of American psychiatry of the 1940s and 1950s.
In light of these new discoveries, the challenges Ginsberg faced appear starker and his achievements, both as a poet and an advocate, are even more remarkable.
FRI 4/19 : "Global Peace Party" at Kouendori Classics (Shibuya)
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I'll be joining bassist Jyoji Sawada, drummer Marcos Fernandes and guitarist Fumihiko Nakanishi (I'll be on the KORG WaveDrum) for an evening of improvisations, with an emphasis on rhythm and groove, I do believe. These are all stellar musicians, and I'm very much looking forward to the show
19:00 open / 19:30 start
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SUN 4/21 : King Cake Baby at Catfish (Kamata)
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This will be the first time for KCB to play this venue, so I can't say yet whether I'm good, bad or indifferent on the joint! But we'll be bringing you that second line thing, as always, friends. Two other bands on the bill, and don't know them either, but they've both apparently got a New Orleans slant. All will be revealed on the night!
open - 17:30 - start - 18:00
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THU 4/25 : Samm Bennett SOLO + Hachi Kasuga & AIGOZ at LOWN (Shimokitazawa)
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Delighted to be opening up the evening for the legendary "Hachi" Kasuga and his band, AIGOZ. On this night I'll be playing a selection of originals and covers, using the three string guitar and stomp boxes for percussive accompaniment. As always with my solo shows, there will be brand new material brought to the stage, as well as some time-honored classics!
AIGOZ is the punchy rock trio of veteran guitarist and singer/songwriter Hirofumi "Hachi" Kasuga, noted for his work with legendary pioneering bands of Japanese rock that incorporated Asian musical elements, from Korean and Okinawan music, especially, such as Tokyo Bibimbap Club and Carmen Maki & OZ. He's bringing some of his classic tunes from those days and breathing new life into them with Aigoz, as well as developing fresh new repertoire. Hachi's very tasty guitar work is at the forefront of the band, with solid bass and drums backing him up in joyful forays into energetic and Nihon-soulful groove.
open - 19:00 - start - 19:30
entry: 3000 yen + 1 drink LOWN website
Google map to Lown
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SUN 4/28 : Bennett-Moreau DUO at What the Dickens (Ebisu)
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This will be the third public outing for this new duo, and we're happy to have a full evening to stretch out at everybody's famous English-style pub, What the Dickens. We'll be doing a mix of my originals and cover tunes, so come on down for pints and pub food, should be a merry occasion!
music from 20:30 onward...
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MON 4/29 : Samm Bennett SOLO & others at Crossing (Shindaita)
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Four count 'em FOUR singer/songwriter acts on hand for this one folks, organized by my friend and very talented singer/songwriter Diego Davidenko. We'll each do a 30-minute set. Should be an interesting mixed bag.
Schedule:
19:00〜19:30 ヤハタトシキ 19:40〜20:10 Samm Bennett 20:20〜20:50 The Tea Colors 21:00〜21:30 Diego Davidenko open 18:30 - start 19:00
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