Buddy’s intention is to “speak to a universal voice of reason which patiently waits to be put into practice by each of us; dissolving tragic ways of thinking and other fruitless holding patterns” and to ultimately “deliver the healing properties of equanimity, sustainable joy, and a deeper breath.”
Internationally acclaimed by the likes of Norman Lear, Don Beck, Ani DiFranco, HBO, the BBC, CBC and NPR, Buddy recently completed Gentleman Practice, his first book in four years (Write Bloody Publishing, March 2011; available for pre-order at buddywakefield.com). For this book tour, Buddy decided to go back to basics, doing it much the way he started: driving in his car from venue to venue and organizing all aspects of the tour himself. “I want to keep things personal this time,” Buddy says, adding that the return to his roots provides him an opportunity to reflect on his decade of life on the road.
In the spring of 2001, Buddy left his job as an executive assistant at a biomedical firm in Gig Harbor, WA and set out in his car for what would become a two-years-and-four-months performance tour of just about every poetry venue in North America. Since then he has gone on to share the stage with nearly every notable performance poet in the world, in venues ranging from House of Blues New Orleans and the Great Lawn in Central Park to Scotland’s Oran Mor and San Quentin State Penitentiary.
Buddy maintains that “any of the stints with Ani DiFranco and her band and crew and their grace could be called the highlight of my career thus far.” However, having shared the stage, and vans and tour buses with so many other internationally recognized artists over the years, including Utah Phillips, The Revival, Buck 65, Saul Williams, Sage Francis and Andrea Gibson, Buddy is excited to spend some one-on-one time with his fans. “I feel pretty blessed to get to live for a living,” he says. “Now it’s time to find a home that doesn’t roll, maybe write a larger-impacting work. A screenplay and a novel both resonate. Then again, so does being a blacksmith, or building a pergola, or keeping a blueberry garden. I wouldn’t mind reading a book on the front porch for a few months. I could sell cereal.”
Before Buddy starts slinging cereal, spend an evening cutting away the pretense, and experience the rich humor and heart of Buddy Wakefield on the 2011 Gentleman Practice National Tour!
For more information about his HSU performance contact: Lorena Boswell 826-5578, lb45@humboldt.edu