Epistolary Rex

Poems, prose, correspondence, emails, rantings, manifestos, observations, songs, and soliloquies by singer-songwriter, troubadour, and proto-punk Peter Case and writer, music journalist, educator, folklorist, and drummer David Ensminger. EPISTOLARY REX comprised of correspondence between friends and colleagues Houston beat/punk David Ensminger and California troubadour Peter Case, inspired by hero Allen Ginsberg’s letters with his peers, and other documents of the once-upon-a-time counter-culture, in this day (and night) of materialist madness and right wing surges world-wide, while the people of the earth suffer. Visions, dreams, childhood memories, tales of the street, surrealist echoes of the horrors and bliss of the daily quotidian, along with off-the-cuff songs, word pictures of forgotten people and places, whispers of deep long- ings and other candid revelations ... knocked out in less than three weeks, over a space of two thousand miles, in odd moments and breaks in the days and nights of work, love, and survival.

David Ensminger is an educator, music journalist, writer, poet, musician, photographer, and folklorist whose work has been published by Artcore, MaximumRocknRoll, Trust, Postmodern Culture, University Press of Mississippi, Houston Press, M/C Journal, Popmatters, Journal of Popular Music Studies and other publishers. Peter Case is a twice Grammy nominated singer-songwriter, musicologist, writer, and proto-punk whose bands The Nerves, Breakaways, and Plimsouls garnered much critical attention for their lean mix of black musical terrain, punk urgency, and distinctly compressed lyrical verve. Over three decades, he has released albums for Geffen, Vanguard, Yep Roc, Alive Naturalsound, New Rose, Varese, and others. He songs have been covered by Alejandro Escovedo, Robert Earl Keen, Tom Russell, Dave Alvin, Joe Ely, and many others.