Newfeet

Hi, I’m John. I’ve been a writer for a long time. My stuff has been published by a bunch of people, and I’ve published some of my own. I’ve collaborated with talented artists, poets, musicians, and cartoonists, beginning with Mike Stengl in the early 1980’s (maybe even earlier).

While writing for others, I also started illustrating mini comics, and published them as well as little poetry ‘chappies’ under the name NewFeet, and I continue to use that name today.

Later on, as the punch lines grew longer and longer, I started reading at open mics, then featured here and there. When Slam appeared, I became a slam poet (poof!), and was on the Portland Slam Team for three years, representing PDX in PDX, Austin, TX, and Middletown, CT. I’ve performed with spoken word and music ensembles, Prick, Like We’re Happy, Paper, and Hydropods.

Recently, I’ve produced “John Dooley: Oral Foibles,” and holiday EP, “Bough to Satanta and Other Jingles,” both solo music & poetry audio collections.

This site is for showing some old stuff, and promoting the new! Take a look around and enjoy your time here. This site is under construction, so let me know if there are any glitches.

A not-subtle placement of a bio/resume/cv thing:

John Dooley is a retired poetry slammer (three years on the Portland Nationals team), a former columnist, and features writer. He has ten spoken-word albums to his credit, and 40-some small press publications. Recent feature appearances: 40th Anniversary Mendocino Poetry Festival, John Natsoulas Gallery, Airstream Poetry Festival, Behrens Family Winery, Synapsis Nova, Mighty Mike McGee’s Comedy vs. Tragedy, Aqus Café, Big Legrowlski’s Neon Dreams 2, Sacramento Poetry Center, and opened for Hammel On Trial for three Pacific Northwest Performances in 2017. He is a two-time winner of Comedy Central’s @Midnight #HashtagWars, and lives among hummingbirds and eagles.

John's albums, Oral Foibles, and Oral Foibles II – The Jackening, are currently out of print. Oral Foibles III – Audio Jollities is available now. 
His ancillary audio adventures include: RhythmRunningRiver with Dan Roberts, Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Show (KDVS), Indiefeed Performance Poetry, RC Weslowski’s Oh No Not Another Podcast, and radio appearances on KHSU, KBOO, KMUD, and Poetica - ABC Australia, and more. Two-time winner Comedy Central’s @Midnight Hashtag Warrior.

You can learn more about him at JohnDooleyOralFoibles.com

"John Dooley somehow makes me simultaneously love and despair for humanity. In “Oral Foibles,” John’s first solo album, he reveals himself to be a cross between Salvador Dali and Charles Bukowski, but with a sharper-edged sense of humor than either. These tracks break-dance their way across our pop culture landscape and psychoses without a moment of mercy. Through John’s lens, human existence is just so freakishly absurd that laughing at it and enjoying the ride is probably our only valid option. He’s a joy and a wonder, and one of the most insightful performance artists working today. Listen and love. Listen and despair."
Wess Mongo Jolley, President, The Performance Poetry Preservation Project

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Spoken word

Award winning poet and freelance journalist John Dooley has toured in the poetry performance groups, PRICK, Hydropods, and Like We’re Happy, and is a three-time National Poetry Slam alum (Portland). He has written for Salon.com, Portland Mercury, Coast to Coast AM, and others. - See more at JohnDooleyOralFoibles.com.

Creator of Oral Foibles, and Oral Foibles II-The Jackening, and Oral Foibles III-Audio Jollities audio poetry collections.

Featured as Lytton Bell’s Editor’s Choice in c o n v e r g e n c e: An Online Journal of Poetry and Art.

Six full-length poetry albums by Hydropods, toured in spoken-word groups Prick (with Joe Cronin), DvS (with Brett The Truck), and Like We’re Happy (with David McKenzie), and Hydropods.

Lots more: JohnDooleyOralFoibles.com

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BIO:
John Dooley is a Portland poet & writer, retired Poetry Slammer (three years on the Portland Nationals team), former columnist and features writer for The Portland Mercury and other local and national publications, recorded six full-length albums with Hydropods, Two-time winner Comedy Central’s @Midnight Hashtag Warrior.

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JOHN DOOLEY "ORAL FOIBLES" 
REVIEW BY STEVE SANDER, poet, musician and founder of Portland's legendary poetry hub, CAFE LENA.

REVIEW:
"Oral Foibles," John Dooley's latest offering, celebrates the charming madness of an artist who roams the dark bars of his own smoky nights--an affectionate madness, but still a madness.

John Dooley's poetry recounts raunchy fables with a surprising tenderness (but don’t tell Dooley). You wonder if you should jump out of your seat and strangle the social incorrectness or fall out of your chair with laughter. On one hand, you want somebody to get the hook ready to yank him off the stage, but on the other hand, you want him to go on so you can see where he will go and how it will end.

John Dooley is hilarious, crude, poignant and riled up. The life behind his words is a struggle, rippling the air that ravages the room. A snarling wordsmith gets our attention, our ears perk, our minds focus to hear the raging wisdom and truth, now a bit more mellow after all these years--or more at peace--or subdued in defeat. Dooley's work is rife with poetic twists of the tongue, irony, rich metaphors clanging the alarm for us to wake up. And we do wake up. 

John Dooley's spoken word CD, for which he wrote all the music and beats, features a low driving bass, fleeting piano keys, jabs and punches of percussion making their way out of a brown paper bag holding something intoxicating,

And John’s rhythmic pronouncements on spiders, cancer, buttocks, the roundness of musical hammers and long playing records are reminiscent of Bukowski, George Carlin, spoken word punk music, clever wordy poetic souls of Portland’s legendary street poets, William Burroughs, etc. 

But don’t waste time trying to think of who John Dooley reminds you of. Just read and listen to this small gem by a writer who continues to dazzle and entertain us whether we’re sitting in some café for a night of poetry or at home listening to his work while smoking, drinking, laughing and raging against the machine. 

JOHN DOOLEY
PORTLAND, OREGON
JohnDooleyOralFoibles.com