I've had a wonderful group of collaborators and accompanists over the years: Joel Schlemowitz co-composer and guitarist, Stephen B. Antonakos co-composer and guitarist (of Love Camp 7 and Dirty Water Dogs), Gary Lucas on guitar (of Gods and Monsters and formerly of Captain Beefheart), Rebecca Moore on various toy instruments (of Prevention of Blindness and Harvey Mars), Nao on guitar (of Nao's Superfortress), Bradford Reed on pencillina (from The Firefishers and Blue Man Group), Hiroshi Noguchi on guitar, Steve Wishnia on bass (formerly of False Prophets), Marc Sloan on bass and samples (of Gawk and formerly of False Prophets), Andrew Williams on Trombone, Samara on violin, Joe Trump on percussion, Drew Gardner on Drums, Tofu on Percussion, Prageeta Sharma on Drums, Eres on slide guitar, Andrea Urist on drums, Steve Metzgar on drums, Jonathan Moran on bass, Mike Doughty on samples, Christian X. Hunter on guitar, Adam Kendall on laptop and others.
“Wanda Phipps and band, a multi-instrument, blues, poetry, and rock ensemble - picture the Velvet Underground, Patti Smith, and Leadbelly thrown into a blender.”
– David Kirschenbaum, Editor & publisher of Boog City
MORE ABOUT MY POETRY & MUSIC
For over a decade Wanda Phipps has been mining the possibilities of music and poetry and her lucid experiments–both on CD and in performance–are never less than totally liberating.
– Lewis Warsh, author of
The Origin of the World
Uncompromising and relentless, poetry you can dance to. Wanda Phipps takes the experiment to heart and the heart always survives. A sublime poetry of emotion and wit. She never misses a beat.
–Michael Rothenberg, poet, editor of
several Penguin Poets Series books
and the internet arts journal Big Bridge
WHAT THEY HAVE SAID ABOUT MY RECENTLY RELEASED BOOK
FIELD OF WANTING:
POEMS OF DESIRE
Wanda Phipps’s poetry is so unexpected, it often startles me. In Field of Wanting, she uses devices I’ve seen before, but never this way. Her voice is as unique as her approach to the poems. And, as always, her honesty is refreshing and uniquely personal. It is, simply, poetry you will find nowhere else. Give it a chance and it will seduce you with its clarity and originality. More a voice singing in the rain than crying in the wilderness, even if the rain is sometimes blood red.
– Michael Lally, author of March 18, 2003: A Poem for Peace
Field of Wanting is a charged, radically honest book of poems by a writer/performer who intervenes on many fields of desire with zest and panache. She tells it like it is, with wit and a touch of irony.
–Anne Waldman, author of Fast Speaking Woman and Outrider: Essays, Poems, Interviews
PRAISE FOR MY BOOK
WAKE-UP CALLS:
66 MORNING POEMS
Wanda Phipps’s poems restored the world briefly into the unbearable longing and clarity of youth, and this old grump wept. Very tonic, very lovely, poetry, definitely.
– Andrei Codrescu, author of it was today: new poems
Reading this book is like getting a wake-up call from the beyond.
– Lewis Warsh, author of The Origin of the World
A truly beautiful and inspiring work.
– Gillian McCain, co-author of Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
Her poems keep us awake, supplying us with love, heartaches, the changing seasons, and the sights and sounds that evoke, surround and encapsulate our world(s).
– Steve Dalachinsky, Boog City
The refreshing feel about this collection comes from Phipps, fresh out of sleep, suddenly conscious, writing suddenly and honestly. There is no hesitation. This is a woman going forward into day through her art.
I am a writer/performer born in Washington, DC, now living in NYC. I write mostly poetry and collaborate with musicians combining my poetry with instrumental music and singing.
I received my B.A. in Theater from Barnard College of Columbia University, studied poetry with Bernadette Mayer, Allen Ginsberg and others at the Naropa Institute. I also studied theater and acting at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and coordinated several reading and performance series at the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church in NYC.
I'm the author of two full-length poetry collections. The newly released:
I'm a recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Poetry Fellowship, a Meet the Composer/International Creative Collaborations Program Grant, an Agni Journal Poetry Translation Award, a National Theater Translation Fund Grant, and several New York State Council on the Arts Translation Grants.
I am also a founding member of Yara Arts Group ( a resident theater company of La Mama, E.T.C. in NYC). I've worked as dramaturg and co-translator for over 15 years with Yara's artistic director Virlana Tkacz. Our work has been performed in the U.S., Ukraine, Buryatia and Kyrgyzstan and has been published extensively.
I have written a poetry book of peace called “Aspire Peace” and and will donate all proceeds from sales of the book to charity, please add the site (click on the picture below) for this book and pass the peace along...
