Eldorado
I wanted to start the CD off with something that most people wouldn't recognize as a Poe piece. When you mention Poe's name, it always brings to mind horror and the macabre. In fact, Poe had a wonderful sense of humor! You even find it in some of his most horrific pieces (like The Raven). This poem about a lost knight who spends his entire life looking for a city that doesn't exist (except in the mind) is given a wonderfully comic reading by the one and only Gahan Wilson, world famous cartoonist and writer. Those familiar with his cartoon work in Playboy, The New Yorker and National Lampoon (to name a few) I'm sure will be delighted by his presence on this CD. Gahan is quite the Poe scholar and I felt this package had to include him! Those not familiar with his work... just look at the design of the CD and liner notes... He donated all these wonderful Poe drawings! This piece was recorded on a hot July day in Gahan's Sag Harbor kitchen. I wish you could have been there to see all his wacky facial contortions and body language as he read the poem. It was a pure delight to watch (and he does it again for us later with The City in The Sea). As for the music? Joe and Paul are nothing less than brilliant! They've created wonderful audio visuals... mini-movies of the mind! You can just see this poor night galloping over hill and dale... searching in vain.
- Dennis Daniel
Read by: Gahan Wilson Voice-Over Produced by: Dennis Daniel in Gahan's Kitchen, Sag Harbor, New York Original Music Written, Produced and Performed by: Paul Bokaw-Joseph Refano (ASCAP) Published by: Julia John Music Audio Design by: Paul Brokaw |
Presented by:
Long Island Voice,
Topline,
Five Towns College
and Long Island Internet Headquarters