I Sing Walt Whitman!

 

Walt Whitman hosting the KMET Acoustic Flashback benefit for Pat "Paraquat" Kelley at The Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, CA.Using a great author’s own words in the tradition of “Mark Twain Tonight” and Emily Dickinson in “Belle of Amherst,” actor/singer John Slade embodies another titan in American literature, Walt Whitman. Twain was the funniest; Dickinson the wittiest; but Whitman was the most inspiring. His times were more divided than our own, but he never lost his faith in America, in life, and the possibility of things getting better.

He’s back to sing, chant, and rap his amazingly modern worldview, preaching from the Gospel According to Walt.


 Official entrant, 57th Grammy® Awards for
“Best Spoken Word Album”
John Slade
I SING WALT WHITMAN!


Refreshingly free of the cynicism of our postmodern age, Whitman believed that “even a mouse is a miracle,” that love is the binding force of the Universe, and that human consciousness is “surely headed somewhere” and will only continue to evolve and awaken. Walt Whitman Sings! is part lecture and part Chautauqua-tent revival meeting, and one of the unique features of this one-man concert play is that John has set Whitman’s rolling verses to gospel, folk and hip-hop music!

“Actor John Slade channels the boundless spirit of Walt Whitman in new one-man show” – Wallace Baine, Santa Cruz Sentinel

A century before Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, evolutionary evangelist Michael Dowd, and futurist Barbara Marx-Hubbard, Walt Whitman was already teaching us to see the world through “evolutionary eyes.”


ACTOR FINDS AMERICAN BARD’S ETERNAL RELEVANCE:
Ojai Quarterly – Uncle Walt’s Ghost


Below:  Walt Whitman’s poem “O Captain, My Captain” performed live by John Slade at Ojai Underground Exchange in Ojai, CA.


MEET WHITMAN AGAIN, FOR THE FIRST TIME:
Brochure – Walt Whitman Sings


Above:  Walt Whitman asks “Who Learns My Lesson Complete?“ at the Integral Life spiritual conference in Boulder, CO.


THE POET & THE PHILOSOPHER:
Ojai Quarterly – Walt Whitman review


Below:  Walt Whitman points out “This is the female form…” in Divine Nimbus (track 7) from the album I Sing Walt Whitman!


Below:  John teaches high school kids to sing Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing”. (He captured the kids on video and added the musical accompaniment later to create the song.)

The complete show runs about 80 minutes. John also performs edited versions for occasions such as President’s Day, Independence Day, society meetings, spiritual conferences, and poetry festivals … wherever Whitman’s clarion voice is needed.

To book or inquire, contact Shantel
Dow Artists, Inc.,
tel. (641) 203-4100

Before you check out the new website, WhitmanSings.com, see below what people are saying about “I Sing Walt Whitman!” and offer some feedback of your own!

24 Responses to I Sing Walt Whitman!

Leave a Reply to Laura Raynor Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *