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.
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.
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.
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!
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:
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).
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.
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
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
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