Poetry! Cake! Auction!

Congratulations to Pandora's Collective on their 10th anniversary.

About 65 people gathered at the Prophouse Cafe on Venables Street in Vancouver to celebrate Pandora's Collective, a writer's group that began with Bonnie Nish, Sita Carboni and Heather Neal.

These days Heather is on Vancouver Island, Sita is on a boat in North Vancouver and Bonnie is heading up the collective and board. 10 years goes by fast and in that rush you never know who you are going to impress upon and inspire. However with the stories told last night of inspiration and dedication it's easy to see how Pandora's DIY poetic grass roots activism has touched the lives of many people.

The show was a hoot. Jess Hill, CR Avery and Geoff Berner were the musical headliners while there was a list of guest readers about 20 people deep. 3 1/2 hours later everyone was smiling and reminising and enjoying the great vibes and energy. Personally it was great to see old friends Johnny Frem and SR Duncan get up and do their thing and I also really enjoyed Ruth Kozak's insights into Greek culture past and present. Ruth will be joining us on the airwaves in the next couple of weeks.

There was also an auction led by auctioneer SR Duncan and later on a chocolate Pandoras Box cake was brought out and eaten up while Geoff Berner sang about keeping the rent down low.

All in all a sweet night.

Coming up are a some key festivals...The Talking Stick Festival and the Poetry Gabriola Festival is happening this week through until Sunday with folks like George Bowering, Tanya Davis, Barbara Adler, CR Avery and Drek Daa participating. Congrats to Hilary Peach and her volunteers for another eclectic and excellent mix of programming.

Hello Again

Well it's taken quite a while but we're back up and running on the Wax Poetic blog. Thanks for your patience as we try and get your readership back.

First off I want to let you know that since last report Pam Bentley has joined me as co host of Wax Poetic now that SR and Dianne have retired from the show. We worked together for about 10 years and now the show shifts into a new era. I also wanted to thank Mark Steinberg for jumping on board as a co host for a few months last year. However Mark's acting career has skyrocketed and unfortunately he doesn't have enough time to dedicate to the show.

I want to also thank all the cool guests we've had over the past year including Christine Lowther, Wilhelmina Salmi, George Bowering, Sonja Littlejohn, Jillian Christmas, and Vancouver's latest poet laureate, Evelyn Lau.

We'll work to keep you up to date on poetry events happening here in Vancouver and around the Lower Mainland.

Along those lines I really want to let you know about a couple of cool events...The Pandora's Collective 10th anniversary show at the Prophouse Cafe. It happens on Thursday February 16th with performances by Jess Hill, CR Avery and Geoff Berner plus a whole slew of invited guests sharing stories and other words. 7pm. $10. The Prophouse is located on Venables Street across the road from The Uprising Breads bakery.

Also, this weekend, performance poet extraordinairre, Derrick Brown is performing at the Chutzpah Festival. Spoken word and dance mash it up. You can find out more behind this link.
Just google chutzpah festival to find out more.



As always go to http://www.vancouverpoetryhouse.com/ for more event info on select shows happening in the area.

Libby Davies Sounds Out Slam Poetry-Style

Our local NDP candidate Libby Davies does a pretty decent ode to East Vancouver and still manages to get the message across of how important voting is.  
By the way, did anyone get any good pics or video of the flash mob at Brit yesterday? If so, feel free to drop me a line at srduncan@shaw.ca and let me know.

Special Event: George Bowering and Sasha Langford

Press Release
Thursday January 6th 2010           
Features: George Bowering & Sasha Langford
1st and 3rd Thursday of every month
Pandora's Collective Presents
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Share in an evening of literary surprises while wrapped in a warm and encouraging environment. Connect, read and enjoy. In the spirit of Vancouver all are welcome.
Suggested Donation: $5.00 at the door.
January Features: George Bowering & Sasha Langford
Hosts: Bonnie Nish, Sita Carboni and Warren Dean Fulton.
Time: 7pm-10pm
Location: The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Street
Vancouver , BCContact: blinsh_pandoras@yahoo.ca
www.pandorascollective.com
 


George Bowering, Canada’s first Poet Laureate, was born in the Okanagan Valley .
After serving as an aerial photographer in the Royal Canadian Air Force, Bowering earned a BA in English and an MA in History at the University of British Columbia, where he became one of the co-founders of the avant-garde poetry magazine TISH. He has taught literature at the University of Calgary , the University of Western Ontario and Simon Fraser University , and he continues to act as a Canadian literary ambassador at international conferences and readings.
A distinguished novelist, poet, editor, professor, historian and tireless supporter of fellow writers, Bowering has authored more than eighty books, including works of poetry, fiction, autobiography, biography and youth fiction. His writing has also been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German, Chinese and Romanian. In 2002, Bowering was recognized by the Vancouver Sun as one of the most influential people in British Columbia .
.  
 
Sasha Langford was just 18 years old when she was one of five poets selected to represent Vancouver at the 2008 CBC Poetry Face-Off. Since then, she has served as a Canadian representative at the 2009 Women of the World Poetry Slam in Detroit , and recently won a coveted spot on the Vancouver Poetry Slam Team. A trained improviser and musician, Langford uses her passion for storytelling to offer moving and humorous character narratives by way of performance poetry.
 
 
Press Release  
Thursday January 20th 2010
Features: Dennis E. Bolen and Soressa Gardner 
1st and 3rd Thursday of every month
Pandora's Collective Presents
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Share in an evening of literary surprises while wrapped in a warm and encouraging environment. Connect, read and enjoy. In the spirit of Vancouver all are welcome.
Suggested Donation: $5.00 at the door.
January Features: Dennis E. Bolen and Soressa Gardner 
Hosts: Bonnie Nish, Sita Carboni and Warren Dean Fulton.
Time: 7pm-10pm
Location: The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Street
Vancouver , BCContact: blinsh_pandoras@yahoo.ca
www.pandorascollective.com
 
 Dennis E. Bolen is a novelist, editor, teacher and journalist, first published in 1975 (Canadian Fiction Magazine). He holds a BA in Creative Writing from the University of Victoria (1977) and an MFA (Writing) from the University of British Columbia (1989), and taught introductory Creative Writing at UBC from 1995 to 1997.
 
In 1989 Mr. Bolen helped establish the international literary journal sub-TERRAIN, and served there as fiction editor for ten years. He has acted as a community editorial board member of The Vancouver Sun newspaper, and on the boards of a literacy advocacy organization, a literary collective and a theatre company and has written criticism, social commentary, arts advocacy and editorial opinion for numerous journals and newspapers in Canada .
 
Major Publications: Kaspoit!, novel, Anvil Press, Vancouver , 2009.
Toy Gun, novel, Anvil Press, Vancouver, 2005. Gas Tank and Other Stories, short fiction, Anvil Press, Vancouver, 1998.Krekshuns,  novel, Random House, Toronto , 1997. Stand In Hell, novel, Random House, Toronto , 1995. Stupid Crimes (revised), novel, Vintage, Toronto , 1995. Stupid Crimes, novel, Anvil Press, Vancouver, 1992.
 

 
Soressa Gardner is a vocalist, improviser, songwriter and electronic music composer who strives to expose the soul of any given project. She holds a music degree and diploma in classical voice from Vancouver Community College . Her collaborations with writers seek out darkness and humour, and her improvisation skills and sense of movement bring ease and grace to her collaborations with dancers. Soressa’s collaborations with Canadian authors include Dennis E. Bolen and Evie Christie. In movement and voice, she has worked with Mascall Dance, Voxy Vocal Lab (with singers Kate Hammett-Vaughan and Carol Sawyer), Bugs Black Blood (under the direction of Coat Cooke) and others. Her compositions have been showcased at Video Inn’s Signal and Noise Festival, the Western Front, and on independent radio. She has studied with composer Peter Hannan, extended technique vocalists Richard Armstrong, Katherine Duncanson and DB Boyco, and classical vocalist Marisa
 Gaetanne. 
www.soressa.com
http://www.playhut.bandcamp.com
http://www.myspace.com/soressagardner
http://soressa.bandcamp.com
http://gyrebc.bandcamp.com/album/4-25-10






Bonnie Nish
Executive Director
Pandora's Collective
"Promoting The Arts That Inspire The World To Take Notice Of Itself"
www.pandorascollective.com

Craig Spence, President Fed. of BC Writers in Studio

Craig Spence current president of the Federation of BC Writers joins us in studio. He talks about different services and initiatives the Federation offers in the wake of massive BC Arts cuts. Currently, Craig is working on a fiction work called Stained Glass. In this work, a church in Barkerville, BC needs new stained glass windows, but cannot afford them. Things get hairy when the town's prostitutes offer to pay for the windows. For more information about Craig visit his website here.

Craig also offers a unique stance on art, suggesting that artist organizations should do more to partner with corporations, and not rely solely on the government. He states that there is a place for business-minded people in arts to help manage organizations better; where sometimes artists themselves aren't the best managers. In addition, our guest criticizes superficial festivals the BC government has substituted for long term support of artists.

More info about Federation about BC Writers here. 

Click below to list to the show.

Poetry and Music with your hosts RC Weslowski & Mark Steinberg

Today's show featured recordings:

Shauntay Grant is a writer, spoken word performer, broadcast journalist and musician. She is Halifax's third Poet Laureate (2009/10), and she has shared her blend of poetry and music internationally at festivals and events. Read more: http://www.myspace.com/shauntaygrant#ixzz12aTZtUif

Kevin Fortnum has been part of the Toronto poetry scene for close to five years. He has featured at most local series and currently runs his own, She Rusty Sleep, in Hamilton. He recently released his first novel, Defamation of a Scoundrel.

Colleen Costello has been involved in music her whole life, playing and recording for the public since 1996, and touring Canada since 1999. The primary focus being writing and recording original music, performing live and touring. In 2003 she branched out into adapting music for the theatre environment, especially Children’s Theatre, having a special affinity for writing catchy and melodic tunes. Promoting her latest CD led to designing music for soundtracks and TV placement requests. 


Susan Cormier "is the Queen of Crows, a master of vivid and macabre poetry and performance. She pulls back the veil on violence, and the scars and bruises left when the darkness won’t stay inside."
~C.J. Leon, The East Vancouver Network of Love. Read more: http://www.myspace.com/queenofcrowsmusic#ixzz12aVHesPO

Lisa B (Lisa Baird^[1]) is a political spoken word poet based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Since 2001, she has performed spoken-word poetry at shows around B.C. and in Oregon. She describes herself as a queer woman and an incest and violence survivor.^[2]

Poetry and Music with host SR Duncan

Featured recordings from:

Dirk Michener and Travis Catsull started playing New York City style experimental country music in 2002 on a balcony in Denton, TX. Naming themselves after the Pacific Northwest's most famous poet, Charles Potts, seemed to make perfect sense. After playing tons of campfires, house parties, mexican food restaurants and then a W. Coast tour the Windmill Band brought in new members and instruments. Now, their multi-harmonics are a blissed out spectacle of working man's country that never cease to intrigue and entertain. Funny, thought provoking and blatantly honest, their audience includes bikers, poets, folk enthusiasts, old people, indie rock fags and screaming drunk girls.

Read more: http://www.myspace.com/charlespottsmagicwindmillband#ixzz12aXKEh00

SR Duncan is a Vancouver based poet and host of Wax Poetic. He was involved in the emerging slam poetry scene in the 90s in Vancouver.