When I was four years old and living in Colorado, my lovely, creative, bohemian mother taught me to read and bought me a set of twelve books for Christmas ranging from “one, two, buckle my shoe” all the way to Proust and Kropotkin in the twelfth volume. Then my parents separated. My brother and I became latch-key kids who were soon captured by an almost sinister foster system where we were held hostage from grade school to the end of high school. The books went into storage and were never seen again.

Because Mom looked like a gypsy to the sour social workers who had placed us in the strictest of fundamentalist homes, we were not allowed to see her. Well, we did see her once. But when it was time to go, they had to pry us, sobbing, from her comforting arms. She was all joie de vivre, curls piled in an upsweep, glorious dangling earrings, peasant blouses, and flowering circle skirts. Her red lips and high, high heels must’ve made others feel stunted and misshapen. And … she smoked. A cardinal sin. The agency labeled her the devil and barred her from visiting.

In foster so-call “care,” I learned the meaning of shame, blame, and corporal punishment. I was forbidden to speak in my own defense or for any other reason. I wore silence like a heavy sackcloth. At school I kept to myself, as no invitation to play or go to another’s home could be accepted. There would be no birthday parties. Ever. Anything beautiful, interesting, or fun was deemed a sin. I lived in a cultural desert devoid of company, conversation, or gaiety. Outside of school the only book I saw was the bible.

Upon graduation, the institutional gates swung open. My adoring and adorable mother drove from her home in Montana to present me with a guitar-the per­fect gift! I began to express myself like mad through songs and songwriting. My partner and I came up with a couple of tunes recorded by Linda Ronstadt (on The Stone Poneys), Taj Mahal (on The Rising Sons), and Carolyn Hester, among others. Ultimately, I went to a songwriting workshop where I was informed that I “didn’t fit the mold.” I left, remembering Jean Cocteau’s dictum, “Do what they hate. It’s YOU!”

Kicking out the last slats of conformity, my offerings became a kind of art which I took up and down the coast and all over town from the Lhasa Club and other venues to the John Anson Ford and LA TC, and well as to London and Edinburgh. Invited to read the text of my performances at One World Poetry Festival in Amsterdam, I was honored to receive an enthusiastic review of my poems from Harold Norse in Poetry Flash. It was as though I’d been freed from a grim tutelage of silence. At last! I was permitted to speak!
And that’s how I became a writer.
-Linda J. Albertano

LINDA J. ALBERTANO, VENICE, CALIFORNIA

MAJESTIC LANDFILL

In order to cut carbon, they’ll soon be serving grubs and mealworms on intercontinental flights.
If insects can’t out-crawl, out-skitter or outrun extinction, can birds or bipeds be far behind?
At least we’ve halted salting the sea with plastic straws.
But some of the juices that feed our Teslas are wrung from fire-breathing plants.
And not the kind of greenery squeezed from the flaming orange orb that incrementally boils us in our own sweat, either.
0, diminutive human beings … are we the only species stuck on self-destruct?
Lemmings lunge after their leaders over cliffs. Yet lemmings abound. Hope in a storm of despair?
A modern bard foretold this catastrophe when he sang, “It’s the Slow Consumption killing us by degrees.”
Sing, people! Sing! Whilst our stumpy legs carry us to the eternal landfill in the sky.
Sing!

New Book: ON THE LIFE OF LINDA J . ALBERTANO

On The Life of Linda Albertano

Available At Beyond Baroque Bookstore and Gallery, now open
Tuesday – Thursday, 2:00-6:00 by appointment
Friday – Saturday, 12:00 – 6:00 open
681 N. Venice Blvd. Ph: 310-822-3006 http://www.beyondbaroque.org

CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR LINDA J. ALBERTANO

LAUREL ANN BOGEN
Founding Member of Nearly Fatal Women, poet, and author
Linda Albertano, a force of nature, a woman of integrity, a singular voice of unimpeachable honesty. A goddess who rose from childhood trauma and created art that left audiences breathless. She was my friend. Always.

S.A. GRIFFIN
Poet, actor, and Dadaist Supreme
A deeply compassionate and transformative performance artist and poet­writer, Linda J. Albertano was without peer. It is impossible not to be touched by the magic of her boundless humanity and love for all.

QUENTIN RING
Director, Beyond Baroque
Whether you knew Linda from her utterly original performance art, or from her Kora playing, or from hearing her read, or from simply spending time with her in conversation, she was always truly a poet. She breathed life into language, and expanded our sense of what is possible. She has left her poems as a gift to us all, and for that I am truly thankful. They will continue to transform the imaginations of all of us who encounter them.

PRINCE DIABATE
Kora Master, Guinea, West Africa (Translated from the French by Frank Lutz) For my Big Sister Linda J. Albertano, my advisor, my student, she was a Grand Lady, very special in my life. I am composing your song, my sister Linda’s song in the Zone of the Spirit and with us. Thank you very much, my Linda, from my heart, and with gratitude. Your Kora instructor since 1999.

ANNA HOMLER
Poet and performance artist
She was an awe-inspiring presence, performance poet and film maker. Linda was a great soul, larger than life and utterly brilliant. She was infinitely kind and utterly brilliant. life will never be the same without her. Dearest Linda, in your own words, “I will worship at your shrine, forever.”

PETER CARLAFTES & KAT GEORGES
Poets, publishers and leaders in the Dada art movement
Linda Albertano was a one-of-a-kind artist and human being. Her poetry and performance art was so earth-shatteringly original, it made us all aspire to raise the stakes of our own work. But an artist is more than their art, and Linda was equally defined by her kindness, her humor, and her indefatigable sup­port of other creators. For many years, Linda has been a beloved member of our worldwide Dada family, performing with us in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New Orleans, with original work, in a staged reading, embodying New York Dada legend Baroness Elsa von Freytag Loringhoven, and more. We miss her daily, and thrive on the memory of our time together.

TAJ MAHAL Great Blues Artist
If there ever was a Creative, Very Feminine, Amazon Goddess of the sweetest nature & temperament that this or any other world has ever seen or known, it has to have been my dear musical friend, the late Linda “Albert” Albertano. Always smiling and happy, so much so
even her laughter sparkled with musical notes! Moving with the ancient grace of a gazelle, I never once saw her compromise her glorious height with no man, woman, child or musician!
I was recently able to play one of my all time favorite songs of Linda’s, called “2:10 Train”
This concert, which featured The Taj Mahal Quartet and a very lovely friend from both our pasts named Pamela Poland!
The combination of the quartet, Pamela’s strong performance, warm and soothing voice & vocal, mesmerized the sold out audience! They responded with thunderous applause! Thrilled doesn’t even come close to how it felt! We KNOW SHE heard us!!:)) Peace & Beauty (Rest In Power)

On The Life of Linda Albertano