“Look What the Cat Dragged in Again is Whitman’s best ever cd, with packaging as funny and brilliant as what’s on the disc. Pure poetry like a bomb makes this a neighborhood favorite of impure bliss when the Neighborhood is the World.”
– Bob Holman, Poetry.About.com
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“Had fun rocking out to Whitman McGowan’s new cd “Look What the Cat Dragged in Again.” This is a well arranged disk that comes off like a great live show with lots of diversity in moods and effects. My personal favorite is the cut “Every Eight Seconds,” but “Middle Age Dub” is brilliant. And, as always, there are great pronouncements from his alter ego Trungpa Bumbleché who channels the Jura Lama. Two good ones from that set are “Be Nowhere Now and “Eleven Impression of the Jura Lama.” This disk is just a nice vacation from the seriousness of it all.”
– Mel C. Thompson, power slacker
“The cd as always is a fun and entertaining ride. “Middle Age Dub” is classic.”
– Don Campau, KKUP, Cupertino
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“I especially like Every Eight Seconds; It should be required listening for every citizen. Personal Bomb Threat rocks pretty good and Bumbleché is a delight.”
– Michael Monteleone, documentary filmmaker
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“That cd is remarkable! It is getting a lot of airplay in my car, about every eight seconds or so.”
– Steve Rubenstein, San Francisco journalist
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“There is a lot of polish to (Look What the Cat Dragged in Again). Good production values, a well-balanced recording. Middle Age Dub makes me wanna dance but my knee hurts so I won’t. I have several versions of the Tibetan Heckler Prayer and this one is by far the best. Same for Every Eight Seconds, you and Margery, molto simpatico. The music is perfect, the ambiance is great. Like you coaxed the audience to laugh in the perfect place, to titter and guffaw appropriately. Something makes me think of Ken Nordine. I followed you around for years because I think you are hilarious. Not everybody thinks so. They can go love themseves. You obviously like yourself.”
-Jimmy Bob Di Brigglio, The Crew
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“Wonderful, funny, wise poetry…”
-Terry Guitar, artist
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“Love the cd. A real journey. Fun too!”
-Julie Kelly, jazz singer
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“Look What the Cat Dragged in Again is awesome, really funny!”
– Cousin Mike McGowan
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“Thank you so much for your performances. I love all of your cd’s but felt especially honored to actually catch you live and in person (at the exclusive Hollywood cd release party for Look What the Cat Dragged in Again). Fab musical accompaniment… beautiful and the most fun.”
– Dianne Patrizzi, 2012 Pasadena Doo Dah Queen
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“A tough act to follow, much more a take-no-prisoners performer than I ever dream of being. Definitely a bard of the firelight and thunder school of poetry, and I deeply admire both (him) and the tradition in which (he is) working.”
– Michael Cadnum, poet and novelist
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“Whitman had the audience in uproarious laughter.”
– Oliah Kraft, producer, Final Fridays at J&D’s Back Room, Sutter Creek
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“I used to work at Nightbreak in San Francisco and
(“White Folks Was Wild Once, Too”)
was the most requested video that I ever played.”
– DJ/VJ GUS
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“”Caught in the Act” is a work of genius: Whitman McGowan at his most ungovernable! ‘White Folks Was Wild Once, Too’ remains my
favorite but several of the later works rival it for exuberance and originality. Each poem tells an outlandish story in the space of a few paragraphs electrified by McGowan’s distinctive wit. The accompaniments on exotic instruments are intriguing, complimentary but impressive on their own right.”
– Harriet Koskoff, public television producer
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“I acquired Caught in the Act a couple weeks ago, and I haven’t been able to rip it from my player since! Sir Whit, wordsmith par excellence, has whipped together a vastly entertaining, whirling sonic melange of spoken-word thrillery comprised of deviant advertising slogans, imagery both powerful and perverse, snippets of overheard conversations, tales of alien-inspired sex and large smart slabs of witty social comment on topics such as profanity, religion and beauty pageants. The musical accompaniment is mostly insane and totally perfect. High points to these ears include ‘Admen vs Madmen,’ ‘Deathstardiscosat,’ and a main McGowan faverave, ‘White Folks was Wild Once, Too.’ Proof positive of that last little factoid lay embedded throughout this terrific recording.”
– Dean T. Moody, Amazon.com
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“(Caught in the Act is) totally killer…
My fave is “Be Nowhere Now”… Totally cool cd !!!!!”
– Reverend Beat-Man Zeller, Bern, Switzerland
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“I love doing exercises to music and the other day, found myself doing some sit-ups, jogging on the spot, and press-ups to (“Caught in the Act”). When ‘What Kind of Lipstick’ came on and I heard the rousing chorus I found myself unable to finish doing the press-ups until the song had actually ended. The song had inspired me to get caught in some bizarre animalistic press-up loop/frenzy. I was powerless to defy it (As a result my abs lost out on some vital situps for that particular session). My girlfriend wants us to get married with that song playing as we walk up the aisle.”
– Graham Bendel, Editor, Fortune Teller Press, London
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“I just listened to “Caught in the Act” all the way through, magnificent!
This will go down in the annals of alien history!”
– Paul White, poetry impresario, Santa Fe, New Mexico
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“Frank O’Hara growing out of the neck of Ted Berrigan”
– Jack Hirschman, former SF Poet Laureate
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“Ooo-Wow!”
– Sandrine Ribeau, Bordeaux, France
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“”PO FU” hearkens back to the conventions of old-time radio theatre. The effect, when combined with his word-drunk associations, resembles hyperactive and horny compatriot of Ken Nordine or the spoken word equivalent of the musical duo, Ween. He repeatedly satirizes the male libido in a way that few stand up comedians can, not by using self-effacing humor but by gleefully presenting the irrational stream of conscious by which the id emerges from the uncharted depths of the unconscious into an internal monologue.a listen to Whitman McGowan is worth a chuckle and a smile.”
– Ian Thal, Ibbetson Street Press Update
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“Jeez, “PO FU” is a goddamn masterpiece…Every cut is a keeper.
Played ‘Epic Janitor’ three times on the way to work this morning,
and never again will I take a p*** on I-280 the same way after cut 4.”
– Steve Rubenstein, SF journalist
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Re: “Ghost Worker,” Banana cream. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. In Roman Numerals ’til the end of days.” And re: “PO FU” cd: “Funnyman, Poignantman, “PO FU” on the brain. Whitman’s in great form here (from “First On The Listening List For 2001″).”
– Bob Holman, Poetry.About.com
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“That (“PO FU” cd) is some good stuff.”
– T. Rat, KPOO, SF
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“He’s a spoken word performer, a declaimer- whose influences range from Lord Buckley to Screamin’ Jay Hawkins to the Wild Tchoupitoulas. At any given time he may be multi-channeling a blend of Dylan Thomas, Salvador Dali, Brion Gysin, Yma Sumac, Berthold Brecht, The Last Poets, and a thousand other exotic, seemingly unrelated personalities who have left their mark on him over the years.”
– Douglas Cruickshank, SF Examiner
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“You are into more bizarre shit! Whitman, you are weirder than three hippies.”
– Vampyre Mike Kassel, The Mysterious Ice Wyrms, SF
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“Whitman McGowan (has) been putting out poetry you can actually read.”
– David Lerner, The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry
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“Whitman himself is an endearing character with the humor
of Jack Benny and the stature of a defensive lineman – and
the oblique sensitivity of a truly inspired poet.”
– Leslie Crawford, SF Examiner
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“Your thing was crazy, wonderful, mesmerizing.”
– Frank Appleton, Smoke and Mirrors
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“Big and bright with words, simultaneously jovial and sinister… an extensive salvo of pornopoetics”
– Bea Noughtly, Crow magazine
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“A first rate phrase doctor and intergalactic word operator.”
– Einar Moos, Parisiana.com
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“Combining a cosmic heart with the mind of a rock and roll punster,
(he) is the self-proclaimed ‘Hitman From Amnesty International’.”
– Mel Thompson, Blue Beetle Press
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“He writes very well.”
– Mr. Arnold, Bishop, California H.S. English teacher
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“Now that Rice-A-Roni’s jumped ship, Whitman McGowan’s poetry may be the last treat left in San Francisco.”
– Wanda Felix, Fessenden Review
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“A popular San Francisco literary figure”
– Crawdad Nelson, The Steelhead Special
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“I cannot adequately express how much I have enjoyed reading your poems and – even for just one evening – hearing you read them in person. In particular I enjoy your knowledgeable irreverence, deft imagery, and intelligent wordplay… Reading his poems for the first time, one could get the impression that San Francisco poet Whitman McGowan is one wild and crazy guy. Wild he may be, but he’s crazy like a fox. He’s street smart, brilliant, and very funny in his innovative use of language, and is not afraid to speak frankly. Angelenos and others may bristle at some of his comments, but as Mehitabel says, ‘What the hell, Archy, what the ell.'”
– Vassar W. Smith, Editor-in-Chief, Zapizdat
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I never realized how much fun a poetry reading could be.”
– Tom Hays, About.com Pittsburgh guide
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“Whitman is a wonderful, warm, funny, intelligent poet and human being.”
– Tim Gibbard, About.com Museletter, Bristol correspondent
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“The pounding frustration of a keen observer claustrophobically
imprisoned hammers through in these coruscating rants
(in Contents May Have Shifted)…So much humanity, I could puke.”
– Willie Smith Seattle author/spoken word performer
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“”Contents May Have Shifted” is loads of lively fun… generous vocabulary…
He enjoys puns, as Shakespeare did enjoy puns.”
– David Castleman, Dusty Dog Review
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“Loved the book (“Contents May Have Shifted”). The cartoons work
very well with the poems. It’s very attractive in all aspects.”
– Christine F. Watson, Santa Cruz journalist
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“”Sounds Suspiciously Like…” is great! Funny and incisive and original.”
– Ian Ferrier, Canadian producer, Wired on Words
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“This one (cassette album “Sounds Suspiciously Like…”)
is fun… A lot of different stuff… really wacko, crunchy…”
– Eric Hausmann, Factsheet Five
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“Reading (Whitman McGowan) I always think that there is
some chance around to be able to appreciate life.”
– Daniel Hauser, relax art group, Zurich, Switzerland
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“Impossibly handsome and talented”
– Ted Gehrke, Camera Café, San Jose
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“As bluesmen bend notes, so Whitman McGowan bends language.”
– Bob Holman, Poetry.About.com
