THE TRACKS ON MY PAGE: Mother's Nature (produced by Emil Brikha of Sweden), Blue and Utter Confusion (produced by Raymond Jones of Random Mystiks in Santa Cruz, California)
For the people that told me "A poet? Are you nuts? tha's a hobby at best; not a fuckin' career! get a REAL JOB!"
For the women that giggled and patted my back when I said "I'm gonna make it someday" It hurt when they left with the GQ wanna be, but they did me a favor. For the ex that said I'd always be a crackhead and junkie, and drunk...
And for my Mom; who told me to "Do whatever-the-fuck you want...and fuck ANYBODY that says you can't do it... in the end it's YOU who's gonna laugh!"
Influences
Dr. Andrea Greene (Senior Professor at Union County College) who told me, "The difference between A WORD and THE RIGHT word is like the difference between a LIGHTNING BUG and LIGHTNING!", Rage Against The Machine, Nina Simone, Edgar Alan Poe, Anne Sexton, Audrey Lourde, Marty McConnell, Roger Bonair-Agard, Jon Sands, Oveous Maximus, Rachel McKibbens, Tshaka, Sunni Patterson, Patricia Smith, RUMI, Abena Koomson, Miguel Pinero, Pietri, Adrienne Rich, Etheridge Knight, Angelou, Toni Morrison, Hendrix, Lennon, Saul Williams, Whitman, Baldwin, Mark Twain, Audioslave, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Temple of the Dog, Metallica, Dave Mustane, Langston Hughes, Raulph Ellison, Assata Shakur, Pac, Evenessence, The Prodigy, Crystal Method, Oscar Wilde, Mos Def, James McBride, Eminem, Samuel L Jackson, Oprah, Mumia, Obama, and so, so many more!
Sounds Like
The debut CD, "Leap From The Cliff" was produced by Raymond Jones of Santa Cruz, Ca and Chi-town!!! Also; Tai of "Vice Lounge" in Brooklyn, and Elim of Sweden!!! These men are geniuses; nuff said!!!
"Mama Said" is the 2nd CD and has been produced by Mad Monkie Productions of Richmond Va
“John “Survivor” Blake enters a place in his writing that few others I know dare to. With a pristine voice of epic magnitude, Blake’s words pull the reader or listener into the heart of his raw, fragmented truth of unshakeable power. He understands the incredible responsibility of being an artist; as much as anyone I have ever known.”
- Carlos Andrés Gómez
What if someone pointed out a homeless vagrant to you and said, "that's going to be a well-known poet and biographer, and he'll change lives around the world"? Would you laugh; raise an eyebrow and inquire as to their usage of narcotics; check them for a fever?
Imagine a man against all odds; born dopesick, poverty-stricken, expected to fail... then a poem saves his life! MADMONKIE PRODUCTIONS introduces the story of John "Survivor" Blake!
Once upon a time, in a land known as the Lower East Side of a sometimes bitter apple, there was a miracle. A black man and white woman defied their families and fell in love. SHE became pregnant with their 9th child. After 6 months, while driving home from eating out, on a January night, they were run off the road and beaten nearly to death for "making half-nigger kids!" SHE was thrown into the East River, and HE was left for dead on the FDR Drive...January 1970... Mother, father (a coma for nearly 2 months), and Baby SURVIVED...
Born "The youngest of nine experiments in a two bedroom cage" as he put it (Poem; titled, "Mother's Nature"), John Stanley "Survivor" Blake cut through the earth like a razor, escaping the hell of two parents addicted to dope and booze, with siblings lost; casualties to the war at home...
By the time he was 13, He had his own drug habit. He was 14 when he watched his oldest brother, Benny, shunned at home for contracting the AIDS Virus. Locked out of the house; Benny died of hyperthermia within 7 days of homelessness; winter of '84, discovered sitting upright in an abandoned car near Coney Island.
By the time John was 16, his mother was sentenced to 15 years in prison for manslaughter.
meanwhile his father contracted HIV... At 25 he buried his father, another brother, and a sister from the deadly AIDS virus as well. Another brother passed on, murdered in a project stairwell, another overdosed, another sister; shot while attempting armed robbery... At 33, John's mother came home from prison sick with Osteo miolitis ( a severe infection of the bone marrow)... Two years later, she died... John was all that remained.
while preparing to overdose, someone asked him to watch Def Poetry. Needle in arm, Blood cells running for cover."Survivor" stopped when he heard "Do not let this universe regret you!" (a line in a Marty McConnell poem)... Someone inserted a videotaped recording of Def Poetry and hit play. Someone told John, "all that stuff you've been writing on bar napkins; there's a show all about it! Check this out."
He began writing...seriously
In 2007, "Survivor" was a proud member of the Louder Arts slam team that placed 3rd in the nation! Joined by Rachel Mc Kibbens (slam team coach), Jon Sands, Oveous Maximus (Ove), and Roger Bonair-Agard! A 2007 finalist at the Urbana 2007 Grand Slam (at The Bowery Poetry Club) and a 4x semi-finalist in 2006 (his first year of slamming) at the Nuyorican Poets' Cafe, NYC.
John survivor Blake is now required reading for many spoken word programs in numerous universities as well as english and modern poetry programs nationwide, and his writing has been added to the required readings of OSU's upper class graduate program.
He's performed with Saul Williams, Amiri Baraka, Patricia Smith, Taylor Mali, Rachel McKibbens, Shadokat, Mahogany L. Browne, Jive Poetic, Ed Mabrey, Roger Bonair-Agard, Carlos Andres Gomez, Tara Betts, Marty McConnell, Suheir Hammad, Aja-Monet, and Malcolm Jamal Warner. At 37 years of age, "Survivor" just finished touring the US for the second time.
John is now transplanted himself in Richmond, VA and is now curating for SlamRichmond; booking feature performers and now conducting writing workshops open to the public every Saturday afternoon.
He's featured in Denver, Vegas, San Jose, Fresno, San Diego, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Reedley, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Santa Cruz, Miami, Tampa, Ft Lauderdale, Orlando, Jacksonville, Del Ray Beach, Ft Worth, College Station, Little Rock, Wilmington, Newark Delaware, Phoenix, Flagstaff, Scottsdale, Mesa, Tempe, Tucson, Lawton, Tulsa, Richmond, Stafford, Frewdricksburg, Albequerque, Silver City, Loudesburg, Boston, Cambridge, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, Red Bank, Trenton, Jersey City, and New York City. Survivor's also begun speaking in rehabilitation centers (Phoenix House in AZ), universities (Virginia Tech, Columbia University, Westchester Community College,) and organizing poetry workshops in high schools (Cab Calloway School for the performing arts in DE, Lourdsburg HS in NM,), sharing his experiences with chemical dependency, grief, struggle, family, and the miracle of living; through writing. winning poetry slams in NYC, NJ, Philly, Pa, VA, TX, IL, DE (In both Newark and Wilmington), California (Berkeley, Oakland, San Diego, and San Jose). John hasn't looked back at the hell he came from, with the exception to reflect never forgetting...and measuring the distance he's flown so far!!! John has also begun conducting private literacy lessons for adults. This year, he is the slam coach and team memeber for SlamRichmond's slam team accompanied by Megan Rickman, Narrator, and Sabrina Gilbert. Expect his autobiographical accounts of struggle in stores summer 08, and feel free to to ADD his other myspace page on top friends; that has "The Greyhound Series", experiences while on tour, and "Low Tide" his daily journal about staying clean. Ask him what he does for a living and he'll point to his journal and say, "This!"
John Survivor Blake
We had a great interview w/ 'Bruce Hornsby' at 'The National' (RVA) this month ... You can check out our entire interview at: www.richmondmusicforum.com
Get your copy of ARC AND HUE at Willow Books Poetry and Aquarius Press online at 20% off before 9/1/09. Available on Amazon soon.
ARC AND HUE will be available at the NYC book party on Sunday, Sept. 20, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, New York, NY 10012. Between Houston & Bleecker, near the F & 6 trains.
MOVIE PREMIERES AUGUST 15TH @ THE MAJESTIC IN FALLS CHURCH, VA. Drinks & Meet starts @ 4pm. Showing starts at 5.30 with special performance by MadeMen (Bizzle Boy Affiliates) following the premiere. DONT MISS IT! MAJESTIC RESTAURANT-2922 Annandale Road, Falls Church VA 22042 Drug Related (Official Trailer 2009)
holy shit. When we shared a stage last, it was YOUR birthday, wasn't it? Planned, for you to be In town for the night? Damn lol ... Well, collective poetic soul ceases to surprise me anymore. I dont even have to see ya to still feel like the salty probability of certain self-existent repeat split occurance came into the mouth of it's own rare reality... yet again -anyways. That didn't make sense, did it? but that's alright, doesn't have to.
Poetstock 2009! Never before has this been done, and hopefully it will be successfully repeated after this all over the world, again and again….
Our aim is to bring together poets from all over, who produce all genres of poetry for a night of mingling, poetry, shameless self promotion…. Each poet will have the poetry to read their work on stage, sell their work to those who would like to buy, and mingle with the best poets of our generation.
It will be held on Saturday, July 11, 2009 at 9 PM at STUDIO PARK; 1519 Carroll Dr Atlanta, GA 30318-3605
And the owner of STUDIO PARK in Atlanta has been gracious enough to open his doors to us without charging us ANYTHING!!!
Guys, you seriously CAN’T miss this~you HAVE to be there! It is the chance of the lifetime, and the bigger we make it, the more attention we poets will get.
Poetry is NOT dead~let’s show the world that it is living and breathing~
Don’t forget to bring your Books, CDs and/or original artwork to sell!
***BTW~we are looking for a talented DJ to spin between reads~so if you have what it takes or know someone who does, please email me. ****ALL are welcome! Whether you are a poet, or love poetry, we hope you will all come, tell your friends about it, and your friends’ friends-blog it, bulletin it, email it, scream about it from the rooftops~Whatever it takes!!!
Hello, it's me, Ruby Jane.To those who don't know me, I am a 14 year old fiddler, songwriter. I have some songs posted that are fresh out of the studio. Let me know if you like the new songs..be one of the first to hear, even before they are released!Thanks! new videos too! Ruby Jane
