Paul Pines

Paul Pines was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Dr. Bernard Pines, immigrated from Stanislau, Poland at the age of 12. His mother, Charlotte Rachlin, of Russian Jewish descent, worked her way through law school playing gigs with her all-woman trio. Pines grew up near Ebbet's Field and passed the early 1960s on the Lower East Side of New York.

After graduating from Bard College, he shipped out as a Merchant Seaman, spending August 1965 to February 1966 in Vietnam. An aspiring writer and poet as well as a jazz fan, Pines traveled to San Francisco to meet the Beats, then returned to New York to take up residence in the East Village.

In 1973 he opened the Tin Palace, a jazz club on the corner of 2nd Street and Bowery, which provided the setting for his novel, The Tin Angel (W. Morrow, 1983) and many of his subsequent poetry collections which capture the diverse culture and music scene of the Lower East Side of that time.

Pines' travels in Mexico and Central America in the 1980s shaped his second novel, Redemption (Editions du Rocher, 1997), set against the Guatemalan Mayan genocide. His memoir, My Brother's Madness (Curbstone Press, 2007),{{cite journal|editor-last1=Geller |editor-first1=Jeffrey L.|title=All Points of View: Personal Accounts, 2007–2009|journal= Psychiatric Services|date=August 2010|volume= 61|issue= 8|pages= 847–850|doi=10.1176/ps.2010.61.8.847}}{{cite news|title=Nonfiction Book Review: My Brother's Madness: A Memoir|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-931896-34-4|accessdate=1 October 2016|publisher=Publishers Weekly|date=July 23, 2007}} explores the unfolding of his relationship with his late brother, Claude, and the nature of delusion.

Paul Pines received an MSW from University at Albany, SUNY and taught literature and creative writing at SUNY Adirondack until 2007. Since that time he remains a Jungian oriented psychotherapist.

He founded, programs and hosts Jazz at the Lake: Lake George Jazz Weekend, considered "One of the best-kept secrets on the Eastern jazz festival circuit, the Lake George Jazz Festival is a gem worth discovering."{{cite news|last1=Milkowski|first1=Bill|title=Lake George Jazz Fest Celebrates Women of Jazz in Idyllic Locale|url=http://downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=news&subsect=news_detail&nid=3490|accessdate=1 October 2016|publisher=Downbeat Magazine|date=September 26, 2016|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161002181350/http://downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=news&subsect=news_detail&nid=3490|archivedate=2 October 2016}}

Pines has published thirteen poetry collections including Onion (Mulch, 1971), Hotel Madden Poems (Contact II, 1991), Pines Songs (IKON chapbook), Last Call at the Tin Palace (Marsh Hawk, 2009), Fishing on the Pole Star (Dos Madres Press, 2014), Divine Madness,{{cite journal|last1=Muratori|first1=Fred|title=The Universe in a Hologram|journal=Notre Dame Review|volume=Winter/Spring 2016|issue=41|url=http://ndreview.nd.edu/assets/104999/muratori_review.pdf|accessdate=19 May 2016}} (The Notre Dame Review]) (Marsh Hawk Press 21012) and Charlotte Songs, (Marsh Hawk, 2015).

In 1973, on the Bowery in New York's East Village, "poet Paul Pines opened another crucial jazz club at 310, a haven for loft musicians called the Tin Palace night club,"{{cite news|last1=Christgau|first1=Robert|title=Noise on Music Central|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/news/noise-on-music-central-6404591|accessdate=21 September 2016|publisher=Village Voice|date=February 22, 2005}} in a former speakeasy at 325 Bowery. Just up the block from Hilly Kristal's C.B.G.B., "jazz made a heady brew,"{{cite news|last1=Palmer|first1=Robert|title=A New Life for the Bowery|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/04/15/archives/new-jersey-weekly-a-new-life-for-the-bowery-the-bowery-the-bowery.html|accessdate=21 September 2016|work=New York Times|date=April 15, 1977}} giving much needed exposure to avant-garde jazz artists and poets. Pines booked the acts, presenting jazz from the classics and standards to cutting edge avant-garde,{{cite news|last1=Palmer|first1=Robert|title=CHICAGO JAZZMEN A HIT IN NEW YORK; Abrams, Pianist, Joins His Proteges at Tin Palace|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1976/07/20/92225523.html?pageNumber=39|accessdate=23 May 2016|work=The New York Times|date=July 20, 1976}}{{cite news|last1=Palmer|first1=Robert|title=Revolutionary Ensemble at a Club|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1977/01/16/75016533.html?pageNumber=47|accessdate=4 October 2016|work=New York Times|date=January 16, 1977}} spoken word and Afro-Brazilian artists. Sunday afternoons became known as "prime time for jazz listening."{{cite news|last1=Palmer|first1=Robert|title=Jazzmania and Tin Palace Offer Avant-Garde Chicago Ensembles|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1976/11/01/75642772.html?pageNumber=53|accessdate=23 May 2016|work=The New York Times|date=November 1, 1976}} The Tin Palace offered a step up from the small jazz loft scene. "Under the cloak of loft jazz some excellent young musicians and new jazz in general received a great deal of badly needed attention. But the musicians were always quick to point out that they did not play something called loft jazz, they played jazz and, since most night clubs and concert halls then were not receptive to their music, they played in lofts."{{cite news|last1=Palmer|first1=Robert|title=Loft Jazz Shifts to a Different Scene|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1979/01/26/111006280.html?pageNumber=57|accessdate=23 May 2016|work=The New York Times|date=January 26, 1979}}

Pines has been called the "poet of jazz."{{cite journal|last1=Miller|first1=James H.|title=Poet of Jazz: Paul Pines|journal=Lake George Mirror Magazine|date=September 15, 2011|url=http://www.lakegeorgemirrormagazine.com/tag/paul-pines/|accessdate=19 May 2016}} The club was an inspiration for Pines' poetry, a novel, The Tin Angel and an opera with composer Daniel Asia. The Tin Palace was commemorated{{cite news|last1=S.D.|first1=TRAV|title=Placards ballyhoo Bowery as birthplace, nexus|url=http://thevillager.com/2016/07/06/placards-ballyhoo-bowery-as-birthplace-nexus/|accessdate=21 September 2016|agency=NYC Community Media|publisher=The Villager|date=July 6, 2016}} with a placard by the Bowery Alliance of Neighbor's "Windows on the Bowery" exhibition in July 2016, marking 400 years of history on the Bowery.

Jazz at the Lake: Lake George Jazz Weekend, was founded by Pines, the artistic director and host, in 1984. Presented by The Lake George Arts Project, this free festival weekend of contemporary jazz features nationally acclaimed performers in upstate New York every September at Lake George Village's Shepard Park. "Credit Brooklyn-born jazz impresario Paul Pines—curator for all 33 of those festivals—with maintaining a consistently high level of artistry throughout those years. Former proprietor of Tin Palace, the renowned East Village jazz club he ran from 1970 to 1976, Pines is deeply invested in the music and is blessed with good ears and an open mind."{{cite news|last1=Milkowski|first1=Bill|title=Lake George Jazz Fest Celebrates Women of Jazz in Idyllic Locale|url=http://downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=news&subsect=news_detail&nid=3490|accessdate=30 September 2016|publisher=Downbeat Magazine|date=26 September 2016|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161002181350/http://downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=news&subsect=news_detail&nid=3490|archivedate=2 October 2016}}

Based on his night club The Tin Angel (Wm. Morrow, 1983; Berkeley Books, 1995){{cite news|title=NEW & NOTEWORTHY|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/26/books/new-noteworthy.html|accessdate=9 May 2016|work=The New York Times|date=26 May 1985}} was published in the US and UK, in France as the L'Ange du Jazz{{cite web|last1=Garcia|first1=Bob|title=TSF : Bob Garcia» Travelogue Entry » L'ange du jazz, de Paul Pines|url=http://www.tsfjazz.com/garcia-tsfblog/?p=10|website=www.tsfjazz.com|accessdate=9 May 2016}} (Editions de Rocher) and in Germany as Der Blechengel{{cite web|title=Der Blechengel. Übers. von Jürgen Behrens, Ullstein... - 9783548103433 - Buch|url=http://diebuchsuche.de/buch-isbn-9783548103433.html|website=diebuchsuche.de|accessdate=19 May 2016}} (Ullstein Krimi). Redemption was translated by Paul Couturiau & Emmanuel Scavee and published in France (Editions du Rocher, 1997). My Brother's Madness is Pines' memoir of his brother's psychotic breakdown (Curbstone Press, Northwestern University Press, 2007).

His essays have appeared in journals such as The Notre Dame Review,{{cite journal|last1=Pines|first1=Paul|title=What The Shadow Knows|journal=Notre Dame Review|volume=Winter/Spring 2016|issue=Passages, Issue 41|url=http://ndreview.nd.edu/assets/189247/pines_review.pdf|accessdate=19 May 2016}} Golden Handcuffs Review,{{cite web|title=The Death of Posterity, Reflections in a Nutshell|url=https://paul-pines.squarespace.com/the-death-of-posterity-reflections-in-a-nutshell|website=Paul Pines|accessdate=9 May 2016}} Numero Cinq,{{cite journal|last1=Pines|first1=Paul|title=Constellating The Net: A Quantum Fairytale—Paul Pines|journal=Numéro Cinq|date=February 2, 2016|volume= VII| issue = 2|url=http://numerocinqmagazine.com/2016/02/02/trolling-with-the-fisher-king-chapter-three-constellating-the-net-a-quantum-fairytale-paul-pines|accessdate=19 May 2016}} American Book Review, and Exquisite Corpse; and anthologized in The Future of (High) Culture in America,{{cite web|title=Cambridge Scholars Publishing. The Future of (High) Culture in America|url=http://www.cambridgescholars.com/the-future-of-high-culture-in-america|website=www.cambridgescholars.com|accessdate=9 May 2016}} (Cambridge Scholars, 2015)], The Body of This Life: Reading William Bronk (Talisman, 2001) and Why We're Here, (Colgate University Press, 2010).

Editor of Dark Times Full of Light,{{cite journal|title=Tribute to Juan Gelman|website=www.thecafereview.com|date=July 14, 2009|issue=Summer 2009|url=http://www.thecafereview.com/?p=129|accessdate=19 May 2016}} the Juan Gelman tribute issue of The Cafe Review (summer, 2009), and Dark Times Full of Light, The Selected Poetry of Juan Gelman by Open Letters Press; he has also worked as a translator including contributions to Small Hours of the Night, Selected Poems of Roque Dalton (Curbstone, 1996);{{cite journal|title=Fiction Book Review: Small Hours of the Night: Selected Poems of Roque Dalton by Roque Dalton|website=PublishersWeekly.com|date=September 2, 1996|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-880684-35-1|accessdate=19 May 2016}} Pyramids of Glass, (Corona 95); Nicanor Parra, and Antipoems: New and Selected, (New Directions,1986). His poetry has been set by composer Daniel Asia on five CD's, Songs From The Page of Swords, Pines Songs I & II, Breath In A Ram's Horn and, Purer Than Purest Pure (BBC Singers) on the Summit label. Asia's 5th Symphony, premiered by the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, 2008, and recorded by the Pilsen Symphony Orchestra as Of Songs & Psalms, 2011, features poems by Pines and Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai. Asia also scored Pines' libretto for the Tin Angel Opera.

Pines has conducted workshops for the National Writers Voice program; lectured on writing and culture,{{cite web|title=U Arizona Center for American Culture and Ideas to Hold First Arts and Culture Conference {{!}} National Association of Scholars|url=https://www.nas.org/articles/u_arizona_center_for_american_culture_and_ideas_to_hold_arts_conference|website=www.nas.org|accessdate=9 May 2016}}{{cite web|title=Paul Pines to Give Lecture on Aztec and Mayan Cultures|url=http://www.fmcc.edu/2012/11/20/paul-pines-to-give-lecture-on-aztec-and-mayan-cultures/|website=Fulton-Montgomery Community College|accessdate=9 May 2016|date=20 November 2012}} and his lectures have been anthologized.{{cite web|title=Cambridge Scholars Publishing. The Future of (High) Culture in America|url=http://www.cambridgescholars.com/the-future-of-high-culture-in-america|website=www.cambridgescholars.com|accessdate=9 May 2016}} He has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, Ossabaw Foundation, and Virginia Center, as well as a recipient of an Artists' Fellowship, N.Y.S. Foundation for the Arts, 1984 and a CAPS Fellow, Poetry, 1976.

The Tin Palace, which Pines founded and operated, was commemorated with a placard by the Bowery Alliance of Neighbor's Windows on the Bowery,{{cite web|last1=S.D.|first1=Trav|title=Placards ballyhoo Bowery as birthplace, nexus|url=http://thevillager.com/2016/07/06/placards-ballyhoo-bowery-as-birthplace-nexus/|website=The Villager|publisher=NYC Community Media LLC|accessdate=6 September 2016|date=2016-07-07}} in July 2016 to celebrate 400 years of Bowery history to mark its listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The annual Lost Jazz Shrines series at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center{{cite web|title=Tribeca Performing Arts Center|url=http://tribecapac.org/|website=tribecapac.org|accessdate=11 May 2016}} honored the "Tin Palace, bringing yet another legendary NYC venue temporarily back into the consciousness of the jazz world with a thorough remembrance and examination." in 2007.{{cite journal|title=Jazz news: The Tribeca Performing Arts Center's Lost Jazz Shrines Celebrates Tin Palace|journal=All About Jazz|date=May 5, 2007|url=http://news.allaboutjazz.com/the-tribeca-performing-arts-centers-lost-jazz-shrines-celebrates-tin-palace.php|accessdate=19 May 2016}}

Pines is a two time Pushcart Prize nominee for Pines Songs in 1993 and Hotel Madden Poems in 1991. He is the recipient of the Adirondack Center for Writing Award for Fishing on the Pole Star, Best Book of Poetry in 2014;{{cite web|author=Editorial Staff|title=Best Adirondack Books of 2014 Honored -|url=http://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2015/06/best-adirondack-books-of-2014-honored.html|website=The Adirondack Almanack|accessdate=9 May 2016|language=en-US|date=2 June 2015}} New Orleans Variations & Paris Ouroboros, Best Book of Poetry in 2013;{{cite web|author=Editorial Staff|title=Best Adirondack Books of 2013 Honored -|url=http://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2014/06/best-adirondack-books-of-2013-honored.html|website=The Adirondack Almanack|accessdate=9 May 2016|language=en-US|date=8 June 2014}} Reflections in a Smoking Mirror, Best Book of Poetry in 2012;{{cite web|author=Editorial Staff|title=Adirondack Literary Award Winners Announced -|url=http://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2012/06/adirondack-literary-award-winners-announced.html|website=The Adirondack Almanack|accessdate=9 May 2016|language=en-US|date=12 June 2012}} My Brother's Madness, Best Memoir 2007 and the Best Poetry Book of an Artists' Fellowship, New York State Foundation for the Arts, 1984. Last Call at the Tin Palace was cited by Bob Holman in "Poetry Picks — The Best Books of 2009." He was also honored by the Friends of the Albany Public Library,{{cite web|title=Writer Paul Pines at Albany Public Library, November 8|url=http://blog.timesunion.com/rogergreen/writer-paul-pines-at-albany-public-library-november-9/4684/|website=Information Without The Bun|accessdate=9 May 2016|language=en-US|date=5 October 2014}} November 2014

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.pw.org/content/paul_pines_2 Poets & Writers Directory listing]
• [http://www.paulpines.com Official website http://www.paulpines.com]
• [http://www.lakegeorgearts.org/lakegeorge-jazz.htm Jazz at the Lake, the Lake George Jazz Weekend]
• [http://homeslicemag.com/outside-tim-palace-photograph-1976/ Outside the Tin Palace: A photograph, 1976 by Patricia Spears Jones]
• [http://www.furious.com/perfect/lostnycvenues.html Lost Music Venues of Manhattan by Andy Schwartz]
• [http://www.furious.com/perfect/tinpalace.html The Tin Palace by Andy Schwartz]

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Category:American male poets

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Category:1941 births