Watch this first.
Carlos and Savion Glover’s performance inspires me to the core of my soul. Now, it is my privilege to present more on the artistic genius that is…CARLOS ANDRÉS GÓMEZ…
A Russell Simmons HBO Def Poet and International Poetry Slam Champion, Carlos Andrés Gómez is an actor, playwright and poet from New York City who co-starred in Spike Lee’s Inside Man alongside Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster and Clive Owen.
Formerly a social worker and a public school teacher, he has performed at over 100 colleges and universities and toured across North America, Europe, the Caribbean, and Africa. He has shared the stage with Wyclef Jean, Amiri Baraka, MC Lyte, Yosef Komunyakaa, Rosie Pérez, Ishmael Reed, Ntozake Shange, Quincy Troupe, David Banner, Pete Rock, Suzanne Vega, Saul Williams, Mos Def and the impressive list goes on…
The first time I met Carlos and experienced his artistry was in 2005 at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (of which he is a member of the Slam Team). I am still moved by the piece he performed that night, “Colombian/Amerikan”, and what he did with a four letter word poem. Oh man, you had to be there… LOL
Anyhow, I am so honored that today he is kind enough to grace The Love Spot with his presence.
Recently, I attended a New York City performance of Man Up, Carlos’ critically acclaimed one-man show that previously ran at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (the largest arts festival in the world) in Scotland, receiving five out of five stars from Hairline Magazine which called Man Up “the hidden jewel of the Fringe.”
More on Man Up in a bit. For now, I want you to get to know Carlos a little more…
Carlos Andrés Gómez
Born in Manhattan (NY Presbyterian),Carlos Andrés Gómez was raised by a father who worked for United Nations (often involved in human rights agendas) and a mother who is a linguist dedicated to agricultural work and indigenous rights. His family moved around a lot when he was growing up (Brazil, Israel, Switzerland, Connecticut, Providence Rhode Island to name a few places) and he eventually attended The University of Pennsylvania majoring in Sociology and Africana Studies. Carlos calls both Brooklyn and Los Angeles home now and travels the world gifting us with his art.
PMB: Tell us about your childhood. Who was Carlos, the kid?
CAG: (Laughs) I got kicked out of class a lot. I got kicked out of every high school I ever went to. For some reason I came into this world confident with my voice and my perspective and nobody could tell me shit.
Now, I’m a nice guy and compassionate and all that, but growing up? Man, I was trouble. I had no problem questioning anyone about anything.When I was in the 5th grade my teacher was picking on a girl in my class and I said, Mrs. Hawkins, you’re bullying her. I’d like you to apologize. Mrs. Hawkins said for me to go to the principals’ office. I shook my head. No. She insisted. I said, All I have to do is uncontrolled body movements, breathe and die, so, no Mrs. Hawkins, I’m not going to the principals office. The assistant principal was yelling at me from the door in no time. And so because of my strong will, my mother was nervous. She said she thought I could grow up to be a Ghandi… or a Hitler.
PMB: Well that explains your passion as an activist. Your convictions are so strong, one can’t help but be moved when you perform.
CAG: You know, I don’t consider myself an activist. I’m just a guy who has an opinion, like everyone else does, and I use art to convey what I feel. My girlfriend, Wendy, put it best. She said, It’s not that one person can make a difference, every person makes a difference. So I just live trying to figure out what kind of difference I’m gonna make, you know?
PMB: With your family being so “conscious” it was no wonder that you would be too, no?
CAG: No doubt. My sister advocates for women’s reproductive rights, working in Mexico and all over the world. I don’t know how any of us can stand not to be so-called socially conscious though. I feel like what makes the great artists is that the art is so much more than them. It’s not about them, it’s about what their art is saying. Like Savion Glover tap dancing. Like Miles Davis. Like so many of the greats. Sure, I’m traveling the world and people in Ireland are following my work and recognize me when I get there, but I still feel like a young puppy, like it will be forty more years before I’m where I’ll need to be.
Carlos Andrés Gómez and Savion Glover after performing together oat The Town Hall on Broadway. Their performance, featured as part of the Nuyorican Poets Café’s “Aloud and Alive at 35” anniversary show, received a standing ovation from the sold-out audience.
PMB: You could have chosen a lot of other ways to convey your profound convictions in this life, Carlos. Why art?
CAG: That’s a really good question. Actually, I always thought I would go to school and be a civil rights attorney. But I went to college and—as a pre-law student—I realized that, to me, the whole culture of law was really pathetic. It was just so obvious that justice was not happening in the American judicial system. I’ve been a victim of police misconduct—I was unlawfully arrested in Philadelphia—and I won a lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia. But the whole thing was arbitrary. The only reason I won, and I know it, was because I had a kick-ass lawyer and I happened to have a pretty white face and green eyes. If I would have been a Black male, I would not have won that case.
So anyhow, my first job out of college was an HIV educator, a job I found on Craig’s List. I got $26000 a year–which felt like a shit load of money to me then–but more than anything it was a chance to do something that I cared about. I ended up being a substance abuse counselor. It was tough. The hardest thing about it though was the lack of support for the people trying to do the work. I don’t know how people can emotionally sustain themselves in that field. I honestly don’t…
So somehow along the way, I realized that in a world so complicated by obstruction and systemic barriers, the only anectdote that counteracts it all is art. That pure creative spirit is what truly moves people and can make a difference. It’s not about me trying to get famous, driving a drop top down Hollywood boulevard someday, it’s about me having moments with fellow people that can never be replicated. That is the magic that we look for as artists, what I want the rest of my life to be about.
I was a great social worker, had no problem going into crack houses—even knew and was cool with drug dealers and pimps and prostitutes—and I knew it. It was because I never looked down on them. I had love for them because they were human. At the end of the day we all are and art is what can connect us.
So, I try to be as generous as possible to the audience, totally stripping myself raw and being as honest as possible. It’s when Carlos disappears and there is nothing left but the art that the magic happens. There are a lot of artists who use the stage for ego. It’s not about me with my art, not at all.
Carlos performing "Man Up"
PMB: That’s beautiful. And now I understand even more why it is that you move people the way you do, why–during Man Up and even when you do your think poetically–people are affected by your work. When did you discover art/poetry?
CAG: Honestly, I didn’t learn how to read until I was like eight or nine years old. They thought I had some sort of brain disability. Maybe I did. I just had a very difficult time at first. My teachers would probably laugh if they found out I am a writer now. But when I was sixteen years old, I was attending a Quaker school in Rhode Island. I hated English, hated poetry… I just didn’t like any of it. I thought it was so corny.
Then a Nuyorican poet came to my high school named Martín Espada. He read from his book, Imagine the Angels of Bread and I was sitting there, a sixteen year old kid previously unmoved by anything dealing with poetry, and I am completely unable to imagine how beautiful that experience of listening to him was. I was so choked up, just so moved by this guy. He signed my book, “To Carlos, un poeta en el futuro,” [a poet in the future] and I never forgot it.
Martin Espada
PMB: So besides Espada, who have been your influences?
CAG: Besides Espada? Besides John Coltrane? Oh man, so many of the great artists… And so many of the great artists are so simple it’s ridiculous, their art is so pure and so not complex yet the overall that arrives at the end is so powerful. That’s what influences my art. When people feel like their purity is not enough, they feel insecure, like they have to pull out all the tricks and extra stuff. The great ones though? They never felt the need to do that.
Like Audre Lourde, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Pablo Neruda, Sharon Olds, “Che” Guevara, César Chávez, Mary Frances Berry, Ana Julia Cooper, Janis Joplin, Paulo Freire, Phyllis Wheatley, Terrance Hayes, Lucille Clifton, Mark Doty, June Jordan, Immortal Technique, Adrienne Rich, DMX…
Okay, so recently I had the pleasure, as I mentioned, of attending Carlos’ one-man play. Man Up is a truly inspired and moving one-act play. It is amazing, lines and moments that sometimes inspire your to shiver in inspired silence, lines such as “A real man realizes that every woman is a mother,” and “Men, what happened to us?” and “How can I not believe in God.”
There is no fourth wall in Man Up and with Carlos that is okay. Every one in the audience laughs with ease at appropriate moments and holds their breath simultaneously when it seems the words too beautifully heavy to endure.
And then Carlos makes eye contact–those impossibly amazing green eyes–and you feel at ease again in his care, actor to audience, receiving his gift.
PMB: I really, really enjoyed Man Up. What inspired you to write it?
CAG: I was so tired of the vilification of men of color. The way that men of color are presented is so destructive—that we are all deadbeat fathers, bad role models, misogynists, addicts or the down low—is so tiresome. These are all things that need to be talked about and addressed, I know, but at the same time no one is telling us that we’re beautiful. That kills me.
I’m the toughest [m-f-] on earth and I also have no problem telling a brother, you’re beautiful. That’s what Man Up is all about. We’re told we’re animals monsters, but I say to them you’re a God. I want to remind us that it’s okay to be more than what we are told we’re allowed to be. We are great.
PMB: This reminds me to ask you about the spiritual aspect of Man Up. You mention God–even question His existence in the show–can you expound on that?
CAG: Sure, sure… When you truly experience some things as an artist, no matter what your religion, you know that God exists.
But when you are a social worker, there are so many contradictions—you’re often angry at God or even question His existence—and you struggle with it.
Listen, I once had to handle two adolescent girls who were involved in commercial sex work, little small girls, not even teenagers yet, and they’d been beaten by their pimps so badly that they literally could not open either of their eyes. I saw things like this, things that are beyond horrifying.
We’re talking physical abuse, molestation, trafficking and the most horrific things you can imagine happening to children. It just kills you, you know. But then you see the beauty of these human beings despite everything they’ve gone through and you just know, you just know it. God exists. I don’t go to a traditional church but when I get on that stage it is church to me. And I want to find God there. And if He isn’t there, I don’t want to be there.
CARLOS_The Love Spot
PMB: Okay, Carlos, as is tradition at “The Love Spot,” What is love?
CAG: I say love is that moment when everything is stripped away and all the facade is removed and the core of our being becomes a blazing flood light that is beautiful. When you watch a great performer open up and it’s all raw, that is love.
PMB: Who or what do you love? Give us three things and tell us why…
CAG: I love people. There are all of these gorgeous details in every person in the world and it literally gets me choked up when I take time to observe people. A father with his child… A mother with her daughter… People are so beautiful, no matter how cynical we can be. We are gorgeous.
I love great art. It doesn’t matter if its music or poetry or a painting, I am so moved by great art. To me art is not about showing what the world is but about showing what it can be, all the possibilities. Art has been my greatest teacher about the possibilities within myself.
And lastly, I love exploration. The journey of life… People finding new things… I’m just excited to be alive each day. I have no regrets about my life. I’ve lived true to myself and fully and I’m appreciative of the trip of exploring. And I’m so grateful.
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I am so grateful, too. I am grateful that Carlos Andrés Gómez exists and that I have had the privilege of experiencing his work and of getting to know him better as a person. As for why The Love Spot loves Carlos, the first thing that comes to mind is his mastering of humility. He is not modest–the man knows his power–but he is humble in the sense that he doesn’t think his greatness makes him any better than even a pimp or a drug dealer.
During our talk, Carlos discussed the various reasons that he’s heard actors list for doing what they do, for striving in their chosen fields. Some are chasing awards, wealth and fame. Carlos, on the other hand, is a true artist. He performs because he has to, because it is his gift to humanity, his responsibility to activism.
And, as Carlos reminded me, to be a great artist, one must be active and present with what’s going on in the world.
Carlos, no tricks and extra stuff necessary, is simply great.
To follow Carlos and his upcoming performances, please be sure and bookmark his official Myspace page . He has a lot of exciting things coming up. Be sure and check him out.
P.S. Carlos, mi línea predilecta fue gracias hermano. Y digo que a usted. Usted es hermoso. 
xoxo…
PMB.
