GPS Kratz, Poetry

G. P. Skratz, Summer Brenner and Michael Bybel
with Smooth Toad, Arundo and Others

	WHAT’S IN THIS STORY Hey, can you tell me what’s in this story. Rats dancing in the street. Chocolate gliders. Flying TVs. Cats chasing dinosaurs. Joe Palooka. Here’s a pink slip: you’re fired! Laying on Honolulu. Yellow bikinis. Mars attacks slime. Japanese bras. Star burst runs up the Sphinx. Indians war dancing. Cranberry juices reading books. What’s next? Hand sanitizer bomb. Rich people. Superman came from a glass of wine. --Michael Bybel, Oakland / 01/31/10	Whats in the story audio Michael Bybel Reading with Ms Bob Davis Phil Loarie G.P. Skratz
	STRAWBERRY CREEK (G. P. Skratz / Michael Bybel) G strawberry creek D runs beneath our feet C runs beneath the street G beneath the pavement C G the road so cold temescal creek runs beneath our feet runs beneath the street beneath the pavement the road so cold the river styx runs beneath our walking sticks beneath the bricks beneath the pavement the road so cold natural gas runs beneath the as- phalt morass beneath the pavement the road so cold we think we have it tamed we don’t have it tamed tho it seems restrained beneath the pavement the road so cold * one of these days it’s gonna go up in flames & we’ll all sail away beneath the pavement the road so cold & we’ll all sail away beneath the pavement the road so cold	Strawberry Creek audio G. P. Skratz: vocals, guitar Michael Bybel: dumbek Words & music: G. P. Skratz & Michael Bybel

	DOORWAYMAN O ye wealthy of nations, when I am become DOORWAYMAN, when I seize the power to invade your mirrors, then shall ye know me! & you will be on your knees amid your shattered glass pleading for mercy! O you'll search for yourself reflected & see only DOORWAYMAN, decaying image in the mirrors of the mighty, spitting teeth in your eyes & screaming, "TOOTH IN THE EYE! TOOTH IN THE EYE! SELL, SELL, SELL! BUY, BUY, BUY!" Yes: DOORWAYMAN, forever before you & talking, nay SCREAMING, nonstop to himself & disgusting one & all for the glorious will of the people & the accumulation of useless knowledge! & maybe a little spare change or a ciggie or two. A bouquet of poppies will do, for DOORWAYMAN is not without his gentle side unlike the powersuited captains & dominatrixes of fiscal trickery. O how sorry, sorry, sorry you will be when you pop open your little vanities to adjust a hair or two & see the loathsome face of DOORWAYMAN spitting teeth in your eyes & screaming, "TOOTH IN THE EYE! TOOTH IN THE EYE! SELL, SELL, SELL! BUY, BUY, BUY!" O how mad you will go, how haggard you will grow till you too come to know & live the ways & life of DOORWAYMAN, loathsome loser of the light spitting teeth in the eyes of the night & screaming, "TOOTH IN THE EYE! TOOTH IN THE EYE! SELL, SELL, SELL! BUY, BUY, BUY!"	Doorway Man audio Performed by the Serfs G. P. Skratz: vocals Hal Hughes: fiddle Bob Ernst: vocal, blues harp Kevin Moore: lead guitar Andy Dinsmoor: bass Geoff Pond: trap set


	PANCAKE BEGUINE (words: Darrell Gray & GPS / music: GPS) A i'll cook the pancakes, i'll cook the pancakes, F#m you watch the northern lights. A i'll cook the pancakes, i'll cook the pancakes, E you watch the northern lights. C#m pretending is so easy, you A E tell me day from night. some of us escape & some of us escape & some of us reform-- some of us escape & some of us escape & some of us reform-- through the pearly gate, go back to the same old storm. stars fall & reassemble, they fall & reassemble, they lighten up the dew. stars fall & reassemble, they fall & reassemble, they lighten up the dew. riverruns off the mountain, runs right into you. i'll cook the pancakes, i'll cook the pancakes, you watch the northern lights. i'll cook the pancakes, i'll cook the pancakes, you watch the northern lights. pretending is so easy, except for when yr right. i'll cook the pancakes, i'll cook the pancakes, you watch the northern lights. i'll cook the pancakes, i'll cook the pancakes, you watch the northern lights. pretendin is so easy, except for when you're right.	Pancake audio Performed by Smooth Toad G. P. Skratz: vocals, guitar Hal Hughes: whistling & percussion Bob Ernst: whistling & percussion Words: Darrell Gray & G. P. Skratz Music: G. P. Skratz

	ARUNDO HIGH COO full moon forest fire hanging from a tree * digging dahlias big as turnips putting them to bed monster children * spent time the skin of it washed up on shore * tough red chiseled seams plunge toward alluvial chasm or is it away? * high coo low moan bed springs * giant bronchial fans fluted in mud branch and flare open to the sun * transformation what burns grows wings * jet noise fills spaces between raindrops as they tinkle on roof * moon over oakland moon over easy with fries * rain bursts out like fickle spring drowning oboe d'amore and bassoon * turning on hudson: down the street, between oak trees: moon gone dark, a ghost. * poems flit like shadows too quick to catch bats at night birds by day --Summer Brenner & G. P. Skratz	Hight Coo audio Performed by Arundo Summer Brenner: vocals G. P. Skratz: vocals & tanpura Andy Dinsmoor: sitar Words: Summer Brenner & G. P. Skratz Music: Andy Dinsmoor



	GOTTA GO C E the early worm rides the bird Am F to the promised land, or so i’ve heard G Em gettin out the door, it’s a long hard ride, F & ya ain’t got nowhere but the wrong damn side. C G chor: gotta go, just can’t stay--get C outa the way you can dream a lot of sinnin, windowshoppin w/yrself, butcha ain’t really sinnin till ya do it w/someone else cap’n wants action by the end of the day i ain’t got started, but i’m a-plottin my escape. nothin is forever, but it all comes back beaten & broken by the railroad track cd be better, cd be worse cd be ridin in the back of a hearse	Gotta Go audio Performed by Smooth Toad: G. P. Skratz: vocals, guitar Bob Ernst: vocals, percussion Hal Hughes: fiddle Words: G. P. Skratz & Andy Dinsmoor Music: G. P. Skratz & Hal Hughes

G.P. Skratz (left) and Michael Bybel

G.P. Skratz, author of the poetry collection, Fun, the prose-poem collection, The Gates of Disappearance, & ghostwriter of the 3 Stooges bio, Larry, the Stooge in the Middle, has performed with Summer Brenner & Andy Dinsmoor in the poetry & music group, Arundo, & currently plays with Bob Ernst & Hal Hughes in the band, Smooth Toad. Smooth Toad's latest CD, Drunken Dumbshow, is available on iTunes, Amazon, & wherever you might least expect it...

Michael Bybel attends Peralta Elementary School in the under-rated urban paradise of Oakland, CA.

ARUNDO collaborators include:

Summer Brenner is the author of many books of poetry and fiction, including Dancer and the Dance, and, most recently, the novels, I-5 & My Life in Clothes.

Andy Dinsmoor, G. P. Skratz’s life-long lead guitarist/sitarist since 1968, also recently played guitar for Wylie Trass’s Oaktown Blues Machine & the legendary soul group, The Ballads, &, with Barney Jones, composed the score for Bob Ernst’s Catherine’s Care.

SMOOTH TOAD collaborators include:

Darrell Gray (1945-1986) is the storied author of the poetry collections, Something Swims Out, Scattered Brains, Haloes of Debris, & Poltroon Press’s forthcoming collaboration with G. P. Skratz, Everything Else.

Hal Hughes was a founding member of the Blue Dolphin, a collectively run venue for improvised music in San Francisco, & has worked in music, dance, & theater with Tumbleweed, Overtone Theater, Subterranean Shakespeare, & Nightletter Theater.

Bob Ernst co-founded the Blake Street Hawkeyes, out of which theatrical luminaries such as Whoopi Goldberg emerged, & beat the Guinness World Record for longest solo dramatic performance at over 24 hours.

Andy Dinsmoor, “Toad Emeritus” since his 2007 departure for Connecticut, nonetheless manages to get his “2 cents” in on recent songs, as in the recent “Gotta Go.”

Ms Bob Davis is happy in her accompanying role.

Phil Loarie seems to be attracted to things that move & glow.