December 31 - Wax Poetic's Favorite Recordings of 2008

This year we step away from tradition and bring you a show packed with spoken word cherry-picked from our expansive personal spoken word libraries.
The weather here in Vancouver has been especially inclimate and we could not, in good conscience, ask a murder of poets to brave the elements without being able to compensate them for their services.
So this year we get to "wax poetic" about the past year, and give you the heads up on what's up for the new year, spoken word-wise in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Poetry we'll be featuring work from the brand-new CD from AURAL HEATHER called "Princess Nut". The project is Heather Haley, Roderick Shoolbraid (shown above) and 'a sublime fusion of song and spoken word.' Shoolbraid is a dazzling guitarist, composer, sound designer and DJ. Haley is a maverick; a poet, singer, author and media artist often found pushing boundaries and always on the vanguard. 'A Canadian national treasure,' Haley started writing verse in high school influenced by poets like bp Nichol, ee cummings and Susan Musgrave.
Critics call the CD: 'brawny, uncompromising language from a voice that demands to be reckoned with'.
Find out more about the CD and Aural Heather here at: http://www.heatherhaley.com/aural_heather and tune in this Wednesday to hear our favorite track from the CD as well as mucho spoken word for your listening pleasure.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

We're making Christmas Eve that much more special with an East Van holiday tradition, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", performed live in studio by the larger-than-life Angus Adair AKA The Svelte Ms. Spelt.

Snow Day. No Show

Starting Tuesday night, Vancouver got a heavy dump of snow and so, as beautiful as it was, it caused a lot of havock to those who needed to travel.
My day was a series of cancelations and re-scheduling. As much as we all enjoy doing the show, there are days when it has to fall by the wayside. It came down to just me agreeing to go in and do the broadcast, but unfortunately, my friend Kali and her brother Frank, who is running a temporary bookstore on the Drive, Ziggy Books (where i work one or two days a week), was having a hard time getting back to the store from her home in Richmond so it made more sense to help my friend make some money - and me too! - by keeping her business open.

I managed to make it a day that I didn't have to leave the Drive at all. I went home after they left and had a bit of time to myself before heading back into the store for a reading by the very talented poet Goh Poh Seng, his courageously honest son Kagan Goh, and the liltingly beautiful Marni Norwich, who recently launched her wonderful book of poetry called Wildflowers On My Doorstep.
Here are some pics from that event (with video to come). My camera ran out of juice so I couldn't get much video. Missed the venerable Mr. Goh's reading completely.













Our guest had similar problems getting down to our show anyway, so I made an executive decision to cancel the show. The upside to all this is that I do have a sampling of the guest we never had, Jocelyne Robinson, an Algonquin artist, reading a piece of her work. This was taken at Ziggys' on Sunday, December 14. Also in the video was Zophia Kiefer, an amazing woman who fell dramatically from wealth and glamour to the point where she ended up living in the illegal tent city down by Science World.



I'll end this post with an excerpt from a poem Marni Norwich included in her book:

from
Poh Seng and I

I tell him I write poetry
because it's short;
it fits in the small crevices
between rent and bills.
I hope to write a book, someday,
have wealth enough to glide, like a bird
on Spirit's wing.

Poe Seng understands the dilemma of the artist's life;
he wrote one page a day for thirty-five years
while serving as a doctor in Singapore.
He works in words for full days now,
parlays love into tight black scrawl.

We meet over keyboard and water tumblers,
in a room thousands of miles from where either of us began.
We dance in the liminal space of story;
History surrounding us
like gentle rain.

Diane Laloge Launches "I Am A War" @ Yaletown Gallery

With Michelle A. Richard

Cohost Diane Laloge launched her new book, "I Am A War" to a receptive audience at the Yaletown this summer. Joining her was the lovely and talented Michelle A. Richard and the equally spellbinding Peggy Wilson to offer up some musical entertainment.

December 10 - Angus Mcleod

From Wax Poetic

This week's we take a bit of a detour from poetry and delve into Sci-Fi with our guest, Angus McLeod, who will be launching his released ebook - 2004 Daemon's Revenge - on Thursday, December 11 at A Small World Shop & Gallery.
See the press release here >>>

Emily Kendy

Part-time writer, full-time critic. Emily is a freelance writer and Music Editor of punk and metal magazine, Absolute Underground. She lives in Vancouver with no cats. Check out Emily's website at: www.emilykendy.com

She read from her new novel, What She Left Behind, about punk rock life in the Downtown Eastside.
Here's a little video of some of it:



Speaking of...
I left my camera in the studio and the boys from the next show, No Apologies Necessary, got their hands on it.

Too funny!

Michelle A. Richard

This show was double-bonus day for me having Diane back in the studio after her trip up North, and Michelle Richard, a marvelous and genuinely charming Francophone singer/songwriter who launched her CD at Timbre Restaurant on Commercial Drive on July 24th.

Randy lost out and took the afternoon off.

Michelle is making waves lately with her award-winning performances and her participation in the 2nd Annual DTES Fearless Festival as production coordinator for the day.

Check her out at her Myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/michellerichardsings
You can also see some fun video footage there I shot of Michelle singing at the Blues on White
in Edmonton, with Russell Jackson, a Vancouver Blues man on tour with Selwynn Cooper. This happened when we were on tour with Theatre In The Raw. Jackson actually made an appearance at her launch.

Call For Spoken Word Poetry Submissions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 7/2/2008

The Word On the Street Festival invites poets to read their work at
The
Poet's Corner,
Library Square, on Sunday, September 28, 2008.
Poets will be given a 7minute spot to perform in, between the hours of 12:00pm and
5:00pm.

Please send submissions to:
Poet's Corner c/o
442 Cardiff Way
Port Moody V3H 3T1
Include a SASE if you wish your material to be returned. Artists are also strongly encouraged to send a CD of their performance.
Or… via email at

rcarcee@yahoo.ca with a link to online recordings and/or videos of your work.

Deadline for entry is August 29, 2008*

* See us at the Wax Poetic/Coop Radio table at Summer Dreams (We’ll take submissions there too!)

Help us promote literacy and celebrate Canadian literary arts at Library
Square, downtown Vancouver.

The Word On The Street is an annual one-day festival celebrating literacy
and the written arts. Held in four cities across Canada simultaneously -
Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax - The Word On The Street
celebrates reading and writing with free exhibits, performances, readings
and hands-on activities every September.

Annually, Vancouver's The Word On The Street attracts tens of thousands of

visitors, and hundreds of participating exhibitors, authors, and performers
to Library Square for literary readings, cookbook demonstrations, music,
contests, panel discussions and much more.

We invite you to join us and become part of Vancouver's favorite annual
celebration of words and reading.
For more information, or to volunteer with organizing the Poet’s Corner, please call us at (604) 788-8340 or email srduncan@shaw.ca

http://www.thewordonthestreet.ca/vancouver.php

Poetry News: The House Where Al Purdy Lived Is On The Block

You can find his widow, Eurithe, on the roof, caring for the Eastern Ontario cabin in which her husband morphed from tortured writer to poetic icon, and where fellow wordsmiths Laurence and Ondaatje once sought sanctuary. But at 84, Eurithe knows the writing's on the wall. Patrick White reports from Ameliasburgh, Ont., on the almost-certain demolition of a Canadian treasure...

Read the full Globe and Mail story here>>

Clint "Father Goose" Wilson

Our guest on Wednesday at 2pm CFRO 102.7fm is Clint "Father Goose" Wilson. Clint calls himself...

... an otherworldly alien who was left here by the mother ship some 37 years ago. As he took the form of a man-child and learned the ways of the Earthlings he quickly realized that his two fortes were, rhyming and making people laugh. But beware, sometimes he gets tired of making them laugh and then simply goes into shocker mode and makes them, cry, scream, go yoik?, or simply run off towards the horizon with their eyes and ears bleeding, never to be seen again.

When not writing humorous poetry, Father Goose can be found writing sci-fi and fantasy, writing automotive magazine articles, selling used auto parts at his wrecking business in Chilliwack, carving leather art for motorcycle seats, saddlebags and the like (or poetry championship belts), pinstriping and engraving, playing bass or drums in several different combos, or having fun with his three half-breed children... yes, Father Goose mated with an Earth girl and his sensible yet hilarious kids are the crossbred result. Check out the Goose at an open mic event near you!

Warren Dean Fulton

WARREN DEAN FULTON has been performing, publishing, & promoting poetry since the early 90ʼs. He has performed his words as a feature & at open mics in Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Kamloops, Vernon, Kelowna, Penticton, San Francisco, New York, & even New Westminster.
He has published now & then in little lit mags in Canada, the US, & the UK. he has published thru his micro poetry press Pooka Press the likes of GG award winners; George Bowering, Stephanie Bolster, John Pass, Patrick Lane & other such well known poets as, Robert Creeley, Susan Musgrave, Heather Haley, rob mclennan, Kate Braid, bill bissett, Marilyn Bowering, John B. Lee, jwcurry, Amanda Earl, Jeffrey Mackie, Todd Swift, Joe Blades, Shannon Rayne, Faust MacKenzie, the Svelt Ms Spelt, RC Weslowski, & SR Duncan, as well as dozens of others.
In addition to the readings & publishing, Warren has also made short videopoems, & literary (poetry) documentary films/videos, one short on THUNDERING WORD HEARD & the late T.Paul Ste. Marie, which played in The Hawaii International Film Festival in 2002.

Here are some links to some of those other poets:

Robert Creeley

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Creeley

George Bowering

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bowering

Stephanie Bolster

http://www.library.utoronto.ca/canpoetry/bolster/index.htm

John Pass

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Pass

Patrick Lane

http://www.patricklane.ca/

bill bissett

http://www.billbissett.com/

Susan Musgrave

http://www.susanmusgrave.com/

jwcurry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jwcurry

rob mclennan

http://www.robmclennan.blogspot.com/

Heather Haley

http://www.heatherhaley.com/

We Need An Archivist - No Experience Necessary

Our show, like the other shows on Coop, is done on a volunteer basis. I'm very excited about how the blog has been looking, but it is the result of a couple of hours work a week on my part, on top of all the other little jobs I have on my plate. I'm looking for someone who is interested in learning how to work with mp3, video, image and audio files, edit them, then upload them to www.poetryradio.blogspot.com on a weekly basis.
The position requires access to a fairly up-to-date computer system and high speed internet. It can be done from home at anytime. Or you can make arrangements to come into the station and use the computer here.
At first it might take about 3 - 4 hrs a week to learn what to do, but once you get the basics down you can reasonably do the job in less than 2 hrs.
All training and software (Adobe Photoshop, Blogger, Sound Forge) is provided and we'll even throw in a membership to Coop radio.
This is a great opportunity to learn new skills and sharpen the ones you already have - not to mention perform an important service to the Vancouver Spoken Word community!
You can also join us on air on Wednesdays and be part of the on-air experience, too.

For more information, feel free to contact me at srduncan@shaw.ca or give me a call at 604-788-8340.

Diane Tucker

Diane Tucker was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, where she got a B.F.A. from the University of B.C. in 1987. Her poetry appears regularly in journals in Canada and abroad. She works as an English tutor and freelance editor. Diane lives in Burnaby, BC with her husband, her teenage daughter and son and Doxa the spotty dog.

Awards
The Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, finalist, 1997

Selected Publications
God on His Haunches. (Nightwood Editions, 1996)
Bright Scarves of Hours (Palimpsest Press, 2007) ISBN: 0-9733952-7-3

Selected Anthologies
Line by Line (Ekstasis Editions Anthology, 2002) ISBN 1-896860-50-8
from this new world (Ten Dollar Words Publishing, 2003)
String to Bow (Leaf Press, 2005)
In Our Own Words VII (MW Enterprises, 2007)

Books in Print
Tucker, Diane
God on His Haunches. Nightwood Editions, 1996. ISBN: 0-88971-163-1
Bright Scarves of Hours (Palimpsest Press, 2007) ISBN: 0-9733952-7-3, $18.00

Brian M. Nelson

Our guest this Wednesday will be Brian Nelson, poet and performance artist.

Check out his work and upcoming shows at www.creativebuzzevents.blogspot.com

Maxine Gadd

Maxine Gadd, way back when. Photo Elaine Briere.

Our guest was long time Vancouver Poet, Maxine Gadd. I came across a great article on the Tyee website by Grant Shilling that features a quote from New Star Publisher Rolf Maurer about labelling Maxine's poetry:

I like her humour, and the fact that her poetic experiments, the arrangement of text on the page, her made-up words and her play with sounds (of words) were all related to something beyond just poetics: they were related to her desire to document, describe, write about her world in a way that might be recognizable by others.

"Maxine's work represents a poetic tradition that tends to be (subtly) disparaged, both by the more conservative lyric poets who until quite recently dominated the writing about Canadian poetry as well as the prize lists (and juries), but also by the more theoretically inclined, Euro-American-influenced poets that include the motorcycle gang also known as the Kootenay School of Writing, which is where my own tastes were forged.

"'Hippie poet.' 'Street/urban poet.' She's actually a damned good poet, whose 'hippie,' 'gritty urban' poems have actually been influenced by a very broad range of writers. Maxine, I discovered not just from her writing but her attendance at many readings over the years and her genuine interest in all kinds of other writers, including many not very much like her at all, allowed a lot of influences in. Her style is unmistakably her own, but her wide reading has given her the licence, or courage or madness or whatever, to push what she's doing, so that her work tends to stretch whatever category she's working in."

Read the whole Tyee article here...

Audio from the show to follow.

Robbie Burns aka Todd Wong

With CelticFest and St. Paddy's day on the 17th, we decided a tribute to the Scotch and Irish would be appropriate, so we are raising the dead for this show and bringing in Robbie Burns to help celebrate.
Burns (really Todd Wong of Gung Haggis Fat Choy-fame) will be going head-to-head with Dylan Thomas and William Butler Yeats in a unique literary event this year on Thursday, March 13: The Battle of the Bards Literary Pub Crawl, a combination pub crawl/poetry slam where the legendary poets go from pub to pub downtown performing their works and being judged by members of the audience armed with scorecards. The event culminates in a Jack Karaoke-style match at Ceili's Pub, where they must do their pieces accompanied by a DJ (All Purpose's Michael Louw) and fiddler Elise Boeur. Once the contest is over much drinking and dancing is done into the wee hours. Click on the image below for more details.

Here are some pics taken at the studio:


Note to future guests: We like guests who bring Guiness!



Video of the show to follow.
Audio of the show to follow.
Ed. Note:
The "Battle of the Bards" event was a great success and fortuitously for us, Burns/Wong won the event, walking away with the heavy weight belt with a less than 3 point lead on the other two bards.

Check out pictures from Edgewater Casino CelticFest 2008 here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9057324@N08/sets/72157604144696435

Or see the sideshow here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9057324@N08/sets/72157604144696435/show/

It was a big week for Wong who was also honoured by Premier Gordon Campbell for making an outstanding contribution to his community.
Read the full story here!

Rachel Flood

Rachael Flood, organizer of the grrl-friendly Sistahood Celebration, was our guest this week. It was interesting to hear her work and find out more about how this festival has grown and evolved over the past few years.

Listen to her work on Myspace...

Audio from the show to follow.
Video from the show to follow.

A Gaggle of Young Poets

We had a great time on today's show with our 12 & 13 year-old guests, Clara Sarnelli, Hadley Meikle, and Natasha Agabob.

They read some really beautiful, profound poetry and all seemed very relaxed in front of the mic. I think Diane's pre-show radio horror stories helped to put them at ease.

I'm still working on the audio for this program, but hope to have the video before the end of the weekend.

Check the below for video from the show.


Natasha Agabob.

Clara Sarnelli

Clara and Diane, whom Clara says is one of her biggest inspirations. That's Clara's mom with the camera behind her.


Hadley Meikle waxes poetic for us. Her mom watches from outside the control room.


Natasha Agabob reads while Hadley Meikle looks on.

Wakefield Brewster

This week Wakefield Brewster joined us in studio and rocked the mic. It was amazing writing! Really dynamic! Now he's on to Victoria and then finally home again next week. Great to have the Lyrical Pitbull on board.



Performing in a musical capacity since age six and writing for the past 12 years, Wakefield has made his dynamic presence on the scene known with no uncertain terms. Writing in a political yet lyrical voice and performing with an audaciousness yet unseen, he has blasted onto over 100 spoken word stages across Toronto throughout the past year and can be experienced regularly at Poetica Reading Series, The Art Bar Reading Series and at the Oasis Open Stage Night. Wakefield's powerful poetry and captivating prose have been featured in a number of publications; both on the Internet and in print and has appeared on local radio programs. Constantly rotating between feature and open mike performances Wakefield has just returned from a hectic four-day gig at the Shambhala Festival in British Columbia where he performed for an audience of 6500 - 8,000. He has been scheduled to return to the festival next year. Most recently, Wakefield performed in the biggest Toronto poetry event without a headlining feature, "When Brothers Speak" produced by Up From The Roots. One of the city's most renowned Black poets, Wakefield is in the midst of a book project and is currently planning an Australian tour by the request of the internationally acclaimed Aussie poet, Ian McBryde. He is also planning a trip to New Zealand to attend the Outspoken 2000 Festival and has been invited by British spoken word performer Jem Rolls to bring his craft to England. Wakefield has also started his own monthly reading series entitled "Pitbull Poetry Reading Series", shows based out of The Oasis on the College Street Strip of downtown Toronto.

"Earth Birth" by wakefield brewster EN Conflict
(no comments)

"Frozen" by wakefield brewster EN Other
(no comments)

"Luna Her-Story" by wakefield brewster EN Other
(1 comments)

Listen to the whole show here>>>

Jeffrey Armstrong

If you tuned in to the show, you will know that I wasn't there this week, and have had a lot of work not related to the show to deal with, so live photos or video this week, I'm afraid.

Our guest this week for our Valentine's Day special was mystical love poet, Jeffrey Armstrong.

Jeffrey, also known as Kavindra, has been writing poetry since he was 13 and to date he has a collection of over 1,400 poems on various subjects in many different styles. These particular poems literally “drop down” within a few minutes… he hardly can write as fast as they come out. They require no editing other than spelling and are truly a gift from the Divine!

Mystical poetry seeks to reproduce very subtle states of spiritual perception. In India, the Bhakti and Tantric schools of mystical poetry speak in a voice that longs for intimacy with the Divine Beloved. They attempt to reveal the emotions exchanged in the relationship between the soul and the Eternal Lover or Beloved God.

As an initiate of those ancient teachings, Kavindra embodies and is able to pass on the sublime fruits of those sacred traditions. This initiates the listener directly into the ecstatic emotional states of spiritual bliss. His poems are literally windows into the Divine realm that are revealed to him during profound states of meditation.

Jeffrey is also a sought-after motivational speaker.

Check out his website at www.jeffreyarmstrong.com

Listen to the show here.

The Return of Diane

Today's show was a laid-back affair. No in-studio guest, but we are excited that co-host and founder of Wax Poetic, Diane Laloge returned! Randy dug into his personal spoken word collections and pulling out some big guns. William Shatner rocked with a piece called "You've Got Time" with music by Ben Folds! Plus pieces by Truth Is, Broken Arms from Victoria, and Kimberly Dark!

Scruffmouth

It was a real pleasure to have Kevan Cameron (AKA Scruffmouth) on the show with us. As he admits in our interview with him that his work is somewhat reminiscent of RC's poetry. I agree. Very fun to listen to.
Watch his performance on our show or listen to the whole interview at the links at the bottom of this post.






Scruffmouth a.k.a. Kevan Cameron is a scribe, poet, and a performer. He was a member of the 2007 Vancouver Poetry Slam team and has been slamming, since 2004. In addition to slam poetry and spoken word, Scruffmouth is an avid writer, thinker, and dub poet. When he is not playing the beautiful game or involved in revolutionary activities, he may be working in the film industry or trying to find new ways to achieve creative freedom. Kevan Cameron graduated from Simon Fraser University in 2003 with a Bachelor’s Degree of General Studies. He turned down a lucrative offer to flip fries for a living in order to be a poet. It seems to be working out for him so far.
Watch his performance:



Listen to the whole show here:

WP_Jan30_08_Scruffmouthmp3.mp3
Free File Hosting

Tameem Barakat

Co-0p listeners will recognize this week's guest as one of the hosts of "No Apologies Necessary" - the show that follows right after Wax Poetic on Wednesday afternoons at 2:30pm.

Tameem Barakat is also front man for indy cult group Threat From Outer Space, with fellow band members Dennis Chan, Ryan Cranston, Matt Creed, Kristian Naso).

Listen to the whole interview here.

Threat From Outer Space is a Vancouver-based 5 piece which has evolved over 10 years into being one of Vancouver’s most hyped and unwavering live outfits, playing in every venue in its hometown, and crushing the Canadian hinterland with legendary nights to remember. Having criss-crossed the country more than Terry Fox, TFOS have got the grass roots infected like zombies. Their live show is a barn burning dance floor graveyard, the style mash up so groove-ridden, so Friday Night Lights, that there is actually no room for benchwarming. Its game time, baby, and those that sit, get hit. A decade deep, with music that has always straddled the genre divide, these boys bring the noise with a heavy blurring of hip hop, rock, jazz and funk. Its rock’n’roll with a melodic horn section, rugged breakbeats, razor lyrics and room shaking grooves. With a past body of work that has always pushed a consciousness and a message based approach, TFOS has refined its handiwork and brought forth their strongest songwriting to date.

Check out their MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/threatfromouterspace

Max Tell

Our guest this week was children's entertainer Max Tell, who talked about his participation in the upcoming 16th annual Vancouver Storyfest. (see below for festival details.

MAX TELL (Vancouver) is a writer of stories, singer of songs, and educator who has been performing his own stories and songs since 1986. He has performed at many festivals including The Vancouver International Children’s Festival, The Surrey Children’s Festival, The Vancouver Storytelling Festival, Bumbershoot (the Seattle Arts Festival) as well as storytelling festivals in Singapore, Australia, and Malaysia. He has a number of CDs and audio books to his credit. Max is also highly in demand as a storyteller and workshop leader in schools. www.maxtell.ca



Watch a video clip from the show here:

Listen to the show in its entirety here:

WP_Jan16_08_MaxTell.mp3

Vancouver Society of Storytelling
presents
STORYFEAST 2008
16th Annual Vancouver International Storytelling Festival
February 1-3, 2008
Heritage Hall (Main St. @ W. 15th)
Tickets at www.ticketstonight.ca or 604-231-7535
www.vancouverstorytelling.org

The Vancouver International Storytelling Festival celebrates its 16th year with “a feast of tales and tales of feasts”…a three-day-long cornucopia of performances by professional storytellers, on the theme of food for mind, body and soul. Local favourites like Pepe Danza, Melanie Ray and Lucia Frangione join international stars such as Theresa Amoon (France) and Licia Perea (US) to bring us stories told through words, music and dance. The festival’s new management team (artistic director Tim Perez and producer SG Lee) have put together a dynamic programme that features tellers from the Latin American community, and includes concerts and a cabaret, workshops for storytellers of all ages, special kids’ events and exciting story jams. Prepare to be surprised! Media contact: Melanie Thompson, 604-224-6201 or melaniethompson@shaw.ca