3 Guys from Albany is the performance poetry group made up of Charlie Rossiter, Dan Wilcox and Tom Nattell that uses homemade musical instruments, multi-voice presentation, audience participation, props and unusual soundscapes to present their personal and politically committed poetry.

3 Guys from Albany first met at poetry events around the Albany, NY area where they all lived. Before becoming 3 Guys from Albany they attended the 1992 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in New Jersey. There, late one night in their shared hotel room, while considering how much they really wished they were on the program Charlie suggested they develop a unique performance poetry group as a way to create more compelling ways of presenting poems and 3 Guys from Albany was born. Later in the conversation, the idea of performing in all of the Albanys in the United States arose. The concept was based on the vision of a tour t-shirt, rather like those hawked by bands at concerts in which the entire tour is listed with the single word ALBANY at the top and all of the different states listed below. Being PR savvy, the guys also knew that any journalist worth his salt would notice that 3 guys touring the country to get to all the Albanys is worthy of newspaper mention.

Since forming in 1993, they have performed their work around the country at major venues such as the Bowery Poetry Club, New York City (NYC); The Green Mill, Chicago; Nuyorican Poets Cafe, NYC; Newport Beach Arts Center, Oregon; and in Albanys in 11 states.

As of January 2006, they have performed in Albanys in NY, VT, WI, IL, IN, KY, OH, PA, NH, OR and MN with Albanys in GA, LA, CA, WY, TX, OK and MO yet to go. Their work has been featured on National Public Radio's "Poet and the Poem" as well as countless state-wide public radio networks. Their ultimate goal is to perform their poetry in all 18 Albanys in the U.S.

You can hear 3 Guys from Albany on the audio poetry website www.poetrypoetry.com. Just go to the vault and look among the past features for them. There you can listen to any or all of their one-hour professionally-produced recording that includes both studio and live performances.

The Guys

Charlie Rossiter is an NEA fellowship recipient and Pushcart Prize Nominee. He has performed his poetry at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, the Chicago Blues Festival, and also covers the Chicago area and the Midwest as half of the performance poetry duo, AvantRetro. He is co-founder and host of poetrypoetry.com. He and his techmeister buddy, Bill DuPree recently co-founded poetryworldradio.com

Dan Wilcox is a much-published poet-activist who regularly organizes poetic events for peace and justice. He is an expert on the role of poetry in the community and has given talks on that subject at libraries and universities. As a photographer, he has accumulated the world's largest collection of photographs of unknown poets.

Tom Nattell (1953-2005) was a poet-activist who worked tirelessly for peace and justice issues. His flamboyant stage presence and his use of assorted found object musical instruments along with props and theatrical costumes pleased audiences coast to coast. He organized, and for 10 years hosted Albany (NY) "Reading Against the End of the World" a 24-hour performance marathon that gathered poets from all along the Hudson Valley and other areas of upstate NY. He performed his poems in front of the White House and at Los Alamos Atomic Labs.

3 Guys from Albany Road Tales

On their first major tour to perform in Albanys (IL, IN, WI) in Oct 1995, the staff closed and locked the town hall in Albany, Illinois so they could come hear 3 Guys perform at the pavilion in the park by the Mississippi River. They still proudly wear their souvenir t-shirts from the 1995 "Miss Flame" festival, given them by admiring fans.

Albany, New Hampshire was particularly fun. On a bright, clear autumn day they performed for 13 people and 2 dogs at the roadside under a new hand-carved sign the town had just acquired. Several members of the town council were also in attendance.

In Albany, Oregon, before a benefit performance for the regional museum, they were treated to a VIP tour of the city on the town's tourist trolley, complete with period-costumed guide and accompanied by the mayor.

In Albany, Kentucky, only one person showed up for their performance at the community center, but later the sheriff bought them lunch after they dropped by his office to return the community center key. He did it by recommending a place for lunch. After they finished eating the cashier said, "Your money's no good here, the sheriff is picking up the tab." Then she added "Would you like to really stick it to him and get a box of chocolates to go." (Despite lack of audience they video-taped the ill-attended performance to document it for their archives.)

In Albany, Ohio they had the thrill of doing a whole-school poetry assembly in the school gym. The local press heralded the event, commenting on the fact that community people had attended, and that a representative from the Ohio Arts Council had come down from Columbus, Ohio to see the show. They performed from the jump circle at center court. In their travels they also performed for assemblies in high schools in Albany, Oregon and Albany, Wisconsin.

In Ann Arbor, Michigan they were given cookies in exchange for performing a poem in the local deli.

In Albany, Wisconsin they received free lunch for performing poems at a downtown diner.

In Albany, Indiana several bike riding kids dropped by the impromptu reading on a street corner under the only traffic light in the town. One sneered, "where's poetry going to get you." To which the road warriors replied "well it got us here to Albany, Indiana to meet you." Needless to say the kid was speechless.

With 8 Albanys yet to go, Tom Nattell died of throat cancer in January of 2005. Charlie and Dan decided to continue the project and in November of that year they toured the Upper Midwest to reach Albany, Minnesota. There at the public library their performance was attended by 30 people, and was covered by a journalist-photographer from the Albany Avon. They were also interviewed and read their poems on Albany's 1150 AM - KASM, "the farm information station."

External links

http://www.poetrypoetry.com

[1445]