Author: hankkalet

My column on the recent elections is up at The Progressive Populist.

Louis Kimmel director of New Labor, a New Brunswick-based organization that assists low-income workers, offers an explanation of the relationships among major corporations, distribution firms and temp agencies and where responsibilities for the temp economy lie.

You can read the full Instagram essay on wage theft here, at NJ Spotlight.

I bought the new Adele album Friday and, having now spent the weekend with it, offer some thoughts. I decided to tweet them out in what is an incremental music review. It’s a bit of an experiment — I’m curious to see what readers think, both about the use of individual tweets and the compilation of them at the end.

My basic take on “25” is that it is a nice pop record with some excellent songs, but lacks what makes her first two records so good. Let me know what you think.

#twitterreview #adele25 1. Adele, as my friend Bill sd, can sing the phone book & make it listenable.

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 2. That hasn’t changed on “25,” even after throat issues & a baby.

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 3. The voice remains 1 of most distinctive instruments in pop.

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 4. & 25 is solid pop work (see “Send My Love”). But it’s not as good as “19” or “21,” her 1st 2 records.

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 5. There’s a sameness 2 many songs — in tempo, theme & arrangement.

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 6. That makes it feel more formulaic than albums 1 & 2

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 7. & too much of it is vocal pyrotechnics — big singing atop big production.

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 8. That’s what the pop audience wants & expects.

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 9. It’s what made Whitney Houston & Mariah Carey stars.

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 10. Adele has vocal chops 2 compete in this kind of pop climate.

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 11. But what has made her unique is the restraint, the moments she turns soft,

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 12. when the arrangements grow sparse, or the tempo shifts.

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 13. & those r the moments on “25” that work best.

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 14. Like on “A Million Years Ago,” w/its '60s vibe

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 15. Or the rock feel of “Sweetest Devotion”

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 16. & easy piano pop of “All I Ask”

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 17. It's during these moments — which close “25” —

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 18. Too much of “25” has been layered with big sound, which works on the single “Hello” & “I Miss You”

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 19. But leaves much of the record feeling cold and distant.

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 20. The production – & song choice – lead to a notable absence of soul.

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 21. Adele was never Al Green or Aretha, but there r moments on “19” & '“21”' that swing.

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 22. This isn't just about tempo. A song like “Take it All” on “21” catches a groove

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 23. As do “Crazy for You” & “Melt My Heart to Stone” on “19”

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 24. that recalls, if not Stax, then some of the best melancholy blues of the '60s.

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

#twitterreview #adele25 25. In the end, her delivery is different. Gone is the jazz phrasing; in its place is an unmoored & often icy voice.

— Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) November 23, 2015

Send me an e-mail.

Not a poem. Not an essay. Just a rant.

#notapoem Again. Or is it still? A continuing thing, blood flowing into blood into blood. Across borders. Beirut. Paris. Mali. Belgium on high alert. Syria in chaos. Jews stabbed on Tel Aviv streets. Palestinian homes bulldozed and bombed. Iraq & Afghanistan. Libya. Ferguson. Baltimore. Michael Brown & Eric Garner. Sandra Bland. Tanisha Anderson. Tamar Rice. White supremacists target blacks, Jews, Muslims. Shoot up churches, mistake Sikhs for Muslims, assault them on the streets. Presidential hopefuls stoke fear; xenophobes call for closed borders. Trump channels Goebbels, calls for Muslims to register with government, backs away. Media doesn’t blink, rides the tide, stokes the fire. Bombs level buildings. Bombs fall from planes. It’s simple, a friend writes. Life’s simple. They want to kill us, she says, ask the mother of someone who died on 9/11. Ask the mother of the Syrian child found dead on a Turkish beach. Or the 11-year-old Iraqi orphan. Ask. Ask. Ask. #instagramessay

A photo posted by Hank Kalet (@newspoet41) on Nov 22, 2015 at 8:17am PST

Send me an e-mail.