Tony Seymour’s literary career spans over 30 years, encompassing poetry writing, journalism, academic research and public performances. His collection of over 1,200 poems has many inspirations, particularly the search for truth, political events, the pursuit of love, world history and the various lives a soul experiences in a lifetime. Rather than being a "stream of consciousness", Tony’s rapid delivery of his poetry has been described as a "scream of consciousness", or a "Zap Rap" featuring intrasyllable rhyming, the use of onomatopoeia and alliteration, and a vocabulary that has sent readers and listeners reaching for a Thesaurus. A self confessed "refugee from Detroit", Tony developed the foundations of a literary career at the University of New Mexico, with studies in speech communication, poetry, and Buddhism (under Charlene McDermott). Along with the study of "traditional" works by Edgar Allan Poe and TS Eliot, Tony had the opportunity to study with Beat Poet Gregory Corso and with Gene Frumkin. Later in San Francisco, he embarked on a 5-year study of the 1950’s Beat Generation. In 1976, while working in the Publicity Department of City Lights bookstore (on "Insights and Poems" by Huey Newton and Ericka Huggins), Tony met the late Jazz Poet Bob Kaufman (1925-1986), an archetypal figure of the Beat movement. For the next 3 years, Tony took the opportunity to study and work with Kaufman, who has been an inspiring influence on Tony’s collected works. During the mid 1970’s to mid 1980’s Tony combined freelance journalism with his poetry writing and research, including a stint at Rolling Stone Magazine (1976-78). His 1976 publicity wave for Kaufman, resulted in publications in the California Living magazine, the Tribal Messenger, The Berkeley Barb, Players Magazine and the Black Panther Party newspaper. He has had articles published in issues of "Beatitudes" (Ginsberg and Kaufmans’ beatnik journal), and has conducted interviews with jazz guru Sun Ra, Richie Havens and Baba Ram Dass. As Tony’s subject matter has assumed an historical significance, several of his works are held in academic libraries, particularly the following:   "Millennium Warriors" (1975), about Huey Newton and Ericka Huggins, is held in both the Allen Ginsberg and the Dr Huey P Newton Collections at Stanford University Library. The Ginsberg Collection also includes early samples of Tony’s poems, such as "sTop Secret Document" and "If Faith Was" (which are featured on this album). "No gods to guide, no herds to follow: Bob Kaufman's Street-bop- zen!!" (1976), includes an introduction by author Ken Kesey and interviews with Kesey, Kaufman, Ferlinghetti, Corso, Hirschman, and Kunugh Stiles. A copy is held in the African-American Writers collection, in the Rare Book Room, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. "Poems for Another Time – Evolution of a Soul, The Collected Works of Tony Seymour" is also held in the Rare Book Room.   In addition, Tony’s articles on Kaufman, Newton, and BB King are held in the Black Writers Collection at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York. As Tony’s writing developed, so too did the diversity of his countless activities. His work in the poetry community includes organizing a collaborative performance by Kesey, Kaufman and Charles Lloyd, and producing and arranging the highly successful "Bob Kaufman Day Proclamation & Presentation" at San Francisco City Hall (April 13,1987), featuring Richie Havens, and renowned local poets. He has performed in hundreds of poetry readings, including readings with Martin Matz, Ferlinghetti, Edie Kerouac-Parker, George Tsongas, Jack Hirschman, QR Hand, and the late Jack Micheline, at venues such as Wolfgangs and Vesuvios in San Francisco, and Speakeasy in New York. Tony also performed his poetry in "Kerouac: Essence of Jack" with Vince Balestri, in Detroit and at the Organic Theatre in Chicago (1985/86). His diversity extends to extra parts in movies and TV series. Occasionally, Tony had performed poetry to live music, including with Huey Lewis’ band Clover on Union Street (1974/75). As a next step, he recorded some of his poems to jazz in Richie Haven’s New York studio. The album "Shotgun Jazz" was released in 1988 and was performed at National Poetry Week in San Francisco, with musician Mitchell Holman, on the same bill as Senator Eugene McCarthy. It was a conversation with Spiritual leader Baba Ram Dass (in 1975), which inspired Tony to "Imagine the collected works of Tony Seymour". In 1994, he began to sort through his steamer trunk containing three decades of notes, envelopes and cocktail napkins, and finally in 1998, "Poems for Another Time – Evolution of a Soul, The Collected Works of Tony Seymour", was published. Tony uses the power of poetry as a vehicle to speculate on what is suppressed and censored in our society, notably on "sTop Secret Document" and "World War Four Manifesto". His belief in the necessity and responsibility for him as a writer to pursue the truth, is highlighted in the poem "America (1492-1992) The Flipside", which reverses White and Black History in America, resulting in the President residing in "The Black House". It was a means of articulating to White people what Black people were experiencing, and is one of the most frequently requested of his poems to be read in public. Tony currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area and performs regularly at local poetry readings. ALTONE Home