Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

Oh what a great project this was! We only got 4 shows finished and broadcast but I had dozens of mp3s which were created and submitted by many Studio8 poets and musicians in the pipeline ready to be broadcast for future shows!

I was reminiscing the other night listening to these 4 shows and I’m telling you, we were really setting the fricking internet on fire back then! This was such a fantastic project!

What happened? I don’t know. I didn’t continue it. Something happened and I don’t remember what and the Radio8 show was abandoned. By me. Life got in the way of my dreams I suppose…,

Anyway..,, if you missed it or you’d like to reminisce and listen again, here’s the link! Enjoy!

https://www.studioeight.tv/radio8/radio8.html

Full shows on the left hand column…. About an hour each. Individual pieces on the right. Enjoy!

“Just look what we have done! Two heads are thicker than one, two heads!”

wow...so cool ....Thank You ... thank you...I started off with Judih, and You and Theda Spracklin ( Hester Prynne ) and the 3 of you brightened my morning.....a great start to the day...I will come back later for more...have some chores to do, but boosted by these gems...

Awesome! Yay! Glad you’re enjoying it, Steve!

Amazing stuff. I had the pleasure and privilege of seeing Theda sing on a live radio broadcast in Astoria, OR at the local radio station in the summer of 2004. There were little kids dancing in the studio as she sang. I also met Jim Furnish on that trip.

Seven months later, I visited Theda's place again and met Glorious Amok, who was staying with Hester/Theda. Then I gave Glorious/Kari a ride to downtown Seattle! Ah, those Litkicks and early S8 days... I'll definitely check out more of these pieces when I have time.

Mnaz— I’m so glad you got the opportunity to meet them! I met Kari and her brother in NYC when we went up there to read poetry 2002 maybe? I can’t remember the year. Would have loved to have met Theda and Jim Furnish. Jim’s gone now, you know.

I see Theda and Kari on Facebook regularly.

Every piece in Radio8 was performed by someone in our writing community here on Studio8. I’m glad you’re taking the time to listen to some of them.

Absolutely. This is remembrance and rediscovery. It's hard for me to articulate the full extent of what Litkicks meant to me after I happened onto it 22 years ago after googling Jack Kerouac on the then still-kinda-new internet, and I knew right away that I had to join the place and try to hold my own with its artists and poets and I had no experience in that kind of world at that point.

The LitKicks discussion boards were open for three and a half years, running from January 2001 to July 2004.

We opened here right after they closed… July 2004. So, Studio8 has been online for 21 years— will be 22 years in July. That’s a long time!

It’s no wonder those 3-1/2 years meant so much to you. Those were special times to me too. They were so brief and fleeting!

Seriously though, it was fun while it lasted. Too bad it didn’t have any endurance or longevity.

Ok here are some photos … this one was in NYC with the Litkicks gang

And these are from 2018 when SAW ( Steve Weaver) and Creativesoul (Jana Livingston) both met me in Herndon Virginia for lunch, a drink, and an art show

mnaz wrote: ↑

December 18th, 2025, 4:29 am

Absolutely. This is remembrance and rediscovery. It's hard for me to articulate the full extent of what Litkicks meant to me after I happened onto it 22 years ago after googling Jack Kerouac on the then still-kinda-new internet, and I knew right away that I had to join the place and try to hold my own with its artists and poets and I had no experience in that kind of world at that point.

I think it’s sad that it was thrown away like that. I guess he had no choice. I don’t know. All I know was that the open threaded software was so dynamic and inspiring, we all became so tightly woven and connected and then out of the clear blue sky, it was shut down without a warning. Without even a day to think about it. Just gone.

I guess I’m still mourning the loss but at the same time, he didn’t think of it at all the way we thought of it. He said it was only “part of my blog.” To him, it was a blog. To us, it was a meaningful life, connected to each other.

At any rate, it was like finding out how little to nothing you mean to someone after living with them for 3 years. Yes, a breakup. Bring dropped like a pin when you move to another room.

We picked it up, invited everyone here… we planned this (Clay and I) anyway…. But when it was gone overnight, we launched immediately when we weren’t quite ready… just to be able to offer a spot for words. But it was never the same of course. It was different. The software was different.

Oh well, we had a good run for a while. I miss the custom design with the rotating art show banners. I miss the Word Jams.

Ok, I have nothing else to say about it.

I met a lot of people in person through the years. The Cabaradio show was a blast!

Wish I had met you too.

Well said Doreen! Everything you said. I also couldn't believe how suddenly the plug was pulled after the 24 hour poem in July 2004, no warning, nothing. For a month or so I thought Levi was kidding and the forums would return. But, alas.

And btw I hope we can still meet. I'm retiring from my office sentence, so I'll have more time in the nearer future to travel, I suppose.

I like these look(s) back. I'll never forget how excited Kari was to see the Cascade Mountains when we passed the Kent valley on the way to Seattle. Something I'd always taken for granted. Zlatko was amazing too. A fine human being. I think he was drawn to my Nevada writings in part because he once was a professor at the University of Nevada. Yes, the Litkicks boards were powerful (and too short-lived).

It pisses me off that all of us were thrown away like that. So, I stopped caring about that site. It’s impossible to navigate the archives. It’s just a blink of an eye. Poof!

After all, there have been many other sites on the web. I created one. I also participated in others like Poetry in Baltimore, Arcanum Cafe, Algonquin’s Table, and a few more. So did you.

I’m sure you have some fond memories of some of the other sites, too, right? You invested much more time in the other ones!

And now there’s social media. For over 20 years I’ve written on Facebook. There’s Instagram and TikTok and Substack. Huge platforms for your work!

It’s fun to reminisce but it’s more exciting to look forward, I think. How shall we use the technology and tools available to be creators? What’s next?

Oh and cool that you’re retiring soon! Congrats! Steve lives in Baltimore. I’m in Virginia. If you come out this way, let us know! It would be great to finally meet you.

I will.

As I recall it, Levi was concerned about bully trolls trying to take down his boards. I guess the boards were a lot of work, and I can understand his surrender, an axe dropped on his attempt at an open evolution to the masses but cut short. But bless the people who try to keep that sort of evolution alive, even if we don't always get it right.