A little over a year ago I visited Justin Evans in Charlotte, North Carolina, for his residency showcase at Goodyear Arts. I originally got in touch with Justin after coming across his indescribable experimental podcast project Mystery Meat, and was blown away by the group performance he gave of shouted texts he’d worked on for his residency. Before the show, we met at the Goodyear Arts building and recorded a little echo chamber.
But who is Justin Evans? He is a poet and electrician from Marietta, GA. He’s pursuing an MFA from Queens University and is the co-author of many local plays in his current home, Charlotte, NC and in his last home, Asheville, NC. He’s the former co-editor of the local lit mag Vanilla Sex, and current poetry editor of the Queens lit mag QU.
I’m overjoyed listening back to our conversation over a year later. We talked about so many things that light up my imagination, and hopefully yours: the need for catharsis, and poetry/art as necessary tools for outlet. Anti-literariness (slam). His podcast Mystery Meat. The importance and rarity of quiet spaces. Hallucinations and rhythmic attunement (cf. the famous Aix-Marseilles bus hallucinations that led to Brion Gysin’s Dream Machine) How contemporary art tries to put form the shapeless blob that is our experience of the world.
Music/Audio featured in this two-part edition come exclusively from various Mystery Meat episodes.
Part 2 coming out soon.
Ed Williams 