31 December 2007

Happy New Year's Eve!

Hey. it's snowing again
in the merry Maritimes—
third storm since Thursday

The pic above isn't this morning
but one from earlier this month
still, let it snow, let it snow

I've been working in the Art Bank
over three calendar months already
Today is the last day this year

I'm working with three film projects
Published in three anthologies this autumn
Have at least three books in the works

Have three cold Faxe beer in fridge
Have a friend's birthday party
this snowy New Year's Eve(ning)
shirt: Newfoundland & Labrador: A World of Difference
loc: preartbankworkday
temp: - 6 C
sound: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers "Damn the Torpedos"

27 December 2007

Found photo du jour

Found 27 Dec, about 1:30 pm, on York Street, Fredericton, NB, out front of McAdam's Select Funeral Home.

Looks like it was taken in one of the near-the-wall aisles @ the W.W. Boyce Farmers Market, George Street, Fredericton.

T-shirt: Smooth Rock Falls • Canada
loc: preNor'easter
temp: -1° C
sound: Raising Sand by Robert Plant | Alison Krauss

New book: Imagination in Action

In the last mail I collected at Box 596 [no, I don't live there!] before Christmas was a thick bubble envelope from Carol Malyon. Finally opened it today, my first real day back in town.

Contained two copies of the Imagination in Action anthology edited by Carol Malyon and published by The Mercury Press in Toronto. [ISBN 978-1-55128-132-2, 220 pp, $19.95] The book was launched 13 Nov, in Toronto at a fall line launch by The Mercury Press.

The next event planned for this book will happen 7:30 pm, Wednesday, 30 Jan 2008 at the Cameron House (back room), 408 Queen St West, Toronto ON. [Wish I could be there but that's so not likely on my cash flow theses days.] Might be visuals projected or selected readings . . .? There will be a party with music and dancing . . .
"Folks, step this way. Yes, folks, see Canadian artists and writers dancing. Be amazed and astounded by this unlikely collection of human being all in one room. Buy a copy of the book and gain admittance. Step this way: Right. Right. Left. Right. Hop. Right. Twirl. (repreat). That's right, folks, don't be shy."
I'm one of 44 contributors—painters, sculptors, musicians, poets, novelists, teachers, actors . . . all artists of some stripe—who wrote down some of their thoughts on "creativity" . . . how we create art, how we choose its medium, or how we get chosen, what we do, how we live art.

T-shirt: Smooth Rock Falls • Canada
loc: preNor'easter
temp: -2° C
sound: Raising Sand by Robert Plant | Alison Krauss

26 December 2007

Holidays in a [new] box

Back from my parents' new-to-them house in West Chezzetcook, Nova Scotia. The village one of the old Acadien communities on the Eastern Shore. The Catholic church built with clay bricks made there in the community when the several brickworks still operated. There's still a Brick Point jutting out into the inlet.

When the orginal house was build is a good question. Certainly, it was in the time of hand-hewn beams and square nails obvious when in the basement. One this that is known is that the people living there were short. Far shorter than me or my parents. the upstairs room have cut-short doors and a framed shorter than necessary [but fixable, replacable]. It's worse than a case of possibly bumping my head if I didn't duck.

More recently, 29 July 1977 Bonita and Damnny tied the knot. One of them possibly a former resident in the house. Bonita might have been one of the daughters of the long-time resident family. Were are they now? Did they have kids (and grandkids)? Are they still married?

Totally unlelated to the house is this photo of a business' signs on Main Street, in Westphal, near the original Chris Brothers store and smokehouse. It's not a case of letters having fallen off the signand not being replaced. There's no spaces left for them.

T: Surf Joe Boards
loc: Loganberry Lane
temp: -2 C
sound: The Cars Greatest Hits

19 December 2007

Fresh hot book!!! S., a novel in [xxx] dreams by Lee D. Thompson


S., a novel in [xxx] dreams
by Lee D. Thompson

79 pp, 6x9, perfect bound tpb
December 2007
ISBN 978-1-55391-064-0
$19

Lee D. Thompson sprinkles magic realism . . .
Descant

[R]eminiscent of Borges, of Garcia Marquez, and of Hitchcock . . . beautifully disconcerting . . .
Atlantic Books Today

Lee D. Thompson writes fiction that has appeared in literary journals such as The New Quarterly, The Dalhousie Review, Lichen, and The New Orphic Review, as well as in anthologies such as Victory Meat: New Fiction from Atlantic Canada and The Vagrant Revue of New Fiction. He has received grants from ArtsNB and the Canada Council for the Arts. He dreams all of the time. Sometimes he makes experimental music in his apartment, in Moncton, New Brunswick, where he edits the fiction journal Galleon, when he’s not too busy dreaming. S., a novel in [xxx] dreams is his first book.

Book launch: 10 Jan 2008, Thursday, 8 pm @ Attic Owl Books, 115 Queen St, Moncton, NB. Tel 506 855.4913.
Pssssst!!! Just Released!!! Special
$20 (incl. GST & shipping)
prepaid, directly from:

Broken Jaw Press Inc.
Box 596 Stn A
Fredericton NB E3B 5A6
Canada


T-shirt: Raise a Reader
loc: Brokenreceiving
temp: -10 C
sound: Great Songs of Indifference: The Best of Bob Geldof & the Boomtown Rats

18 December 2007

APB, 18 Dec 2007

Ashes, Paper & Beans started with "The Natural State of Man" poem by Fortner Anderson.

Special guest tonight: Richard Lemm from Charlottetown, PEI.
[I've known him as a poet for something over a score of years; since 1980ish through Leslie Choyce of Pottersfield Press.] In the first half of the show, we had a lively discussion on the arts; the Banff Centre; and on the writing and publishing community of Prince Edward Island.

In the second half, we promoted his new collection of short fiction, Shape of Things to Come(Charlottetown: Acorn Press) and he read excerpts from two short stories in the collection. Richard will also be promoting the book at 7 pm, Thursday, 20 Dec @ Westminster Books on King St, Fredericton.

Show ended with the "Emergency" poem by Hugh Hazelton followed by a recorded PSA for "Unsilent Night" happening at 7 PM, Friday.
[Last live show by me this year. I'll be back live on New Year's Day 2008.]
shirts: RCMP T-shirt; black Arrow dress shirt
loc: innforthenight
temp: -14 C
sound: NCIS

17 December 2007

Unsilent Night, Fredericton

Motion Ensemble and Gallery Connexion are presenting a short FREE show Friday, Dec 21st at 7 pm with works by Michael Miller, Peter Sculthorpe and W.L. Altman followed by the cult mass-participation piece Unsilent Night by Phil Kline.

A beautiful, mobile piece of ambient public art, Unsilent Night can be compared to a holiday caroling party—except that participants don't sing. Instead, each carries an ordinary boom box playing a separate cassette or CD that becomes part of the piece.

In effect, the individual participants become single elements in a huge, moving sound system. Performed within the confines of city streets, Unsilent Night reverberates off the cars and buildings, resulting in a magnificent, drifting cloud of shimmering, echoing sound. The 43-minute piece includes sounds of chiming bells, choral voices and various electronic effects. (Kline cites Brian Eno and Charles Ives among his influences.) Kline has performed Unsilent Night in New York City every year since 1992. In San Francisco in 2006, some 400 people took part.

If you can't bring a portable music player, come along anyway and enjoy yourself!

CDs and cassettes will be provided; if you want to download an MP3 for free, go here: www.unsilentnight.com/download/

Let's see how many folks we can get in Fredericton!
Don't forget your batteries!
Kids are welcome!
Make sure to dress warmly!

The event will be held rain or shine 7 pm at Gallery Connexion, 453 Queen St–Justice Building Annex. Tel 454.1433.

For more information on Unsilent Night, see these fine sites:
www.myspace.com/unsilentnight
www.motionensemble.com
www.galleryconnexion.ca

T: CHSR Highland Radio 2002
loc: postwerkhétfõ
temp: -8, wind chill of 16
sound: Patti Smith Horses

12 December 2007

joeblades.com

thought about it for years
but never acted upon it
even talked about it
and was urged by others
but i'm not on to fall
easily under peer pressure
but the desire was there
to separate self from broken
and that began years ago
before its incorporation
and now the web has hived
and I'm wandering a little
further afield solo alone
without "miss you" thoughts
and i've build nothing
fancy dancer or flashy
just a basic inukshuk
to mark the people's passage
from tangible through ether
to wherever I end up
and most all that i do
en route to that point

T: NSCAD, "I will not make boring art"—John Baldessari
loc: postbikewalkto334storage
temp: -5 C, chill like -12 C
sound: Killing Joke Pandemonium

11 December 2007

Ashes, Paper & Beans, 11dec2007

Tonight's Ashes, Paper & Beans: Fredericton's Writing & Art Show episode on CHSR 97.9 FM featured a live-from-the-Fishbowl interview with performing songwriter Eric Gale of Fredericton—a BlackTop MotorCycle Gang member—live with guitar! Show started with the CD version of the song "Maybe Tomorrow". The interview included live renditions of "Home", "Close-up (The Tattoo Song)", "Little Man", "My Heartache, My Highway", a cover of "Oops! . . . I Did it Again", and "Sign". Show ended with Eric's CD version of "Close-up (The Tattoo Song)" followed by Drek Daa's poem "In In-Between".

T-shirt: International Terrorist Bush
loc: postwerkwork
temp: -6, light snow
sound: NCIS

07 December 2007

Snowbots Last Night

T'was the night before another Friday
and all along George Street, Fredericton,
residents were pulled from their slumber
and some, myself included, lept from beds
to see the noise and lights in the night

A pack of yellow snowbots aflashing
and peebing as they bullied snowbanks
away from sidewalks and coffer-loving
parking meters stiffly standing guard
onto the road in front of the big grader

Later to arrive on the scene, the hungry,
rotating maw of a giant snowblower
and a waitstaff line of empty trucks
long as the street getting filled
and rushing the snow away from here
Fourth night in a row that I was disturbed from my sleep. Every night since diring the Monday-Tuesday snowstorm. Awoke at 2:40 AM this morning, bit it was after 4:30 before they were done. Wednesday night they were on York, @ the front of the building, capturing snowbanks there. Tuesday night they were pushing those same snowbanks back from the street and clearing sidewalks not done during Monday night or Tuesday day. I've no snap today. Woke feeling drugged like après surgery . . . but it's nothing serious—this night surgery—having my snowbanks removed. Yesterday morning was far more productive. Today I changed an image drum and am now told my toner is empty . . .

T-shirt: Mojo Club, Senta
loc: postsnowbots
temp: -12 C
sound: Canciones y Legendas: Songs and Legends for Bassoon and Guitar by Yvonne Kershaw, bassoon, and Steven Peacock, classical guitar

06 December 2007

too . . . whatever!

Too busy, too tired, très occupié, too . . . whatever!

I've not been blogging near of late as I was earlier this year. Looks a little sad to mostly see reports on the weekly episodes of Ashes, Paper & Beans—not that I'm disapointed the the radio show. Far from it. I've been very, very happy with the quantity and quality of interview guests that I've had this autumn.

I've been busy with the ongoing Film & Television Certificate workshop series; with the Art Bank day job; with my own book projects (solo and anthologies) in the works; with a ficton mess I'm writing and hopefully wrangling them into linked short stories or possibly a novel. Ambitious, but eventually doable. Am also busy working to get a Broken Jaw Press book through the printing process before the holidays settle upon us like the snowstorm of early this week; with League tasks; with BlackTop MotorCycle Gang readings activities; with my various other arts interests and activities.

T-shirt: Guinness (under black Arrow dress shirt)
loc: postDJPurdy's
temp: -11 C
sound: Brian Eno Ambient 1: Music for Airports

05 December 2007

APB, 4dec2007

Majority of tonight's Ashes, Paper & Beans: Fredericton's Writing & Art Show was part one of my recording of a roundtable on Endangered Languages at the 2007 Side by Side Festival of Literary Translation / Côte à Côte festival de traduction littéraire with festival coordinator Jo-Anne Elder, emcee Roger Moore and panelists Nela Rio, Mark Abley, Elizabet Rafos and Carlos Gomes. Also on the show was "Big Sky Alberta" by Sheri-D Wilson and Russell Broom, and "Exploding Head Man" by Ian Ferrier.

T: Quod nos non necate, etam maxime laedit
loc: humpdayweekend
temp: -6 C
sound: Counting Crows "Recovering the Satellites"

04 December 2007

a haiku

three crabapple trees
two cedars against brick wall
enrobed in new snow
       

27 November 2007

APB, 27 Nov 2007

An FM-free broadcast tonight; internet only. Live guest Eric Gale postponed until CHSR is back on the airwaves.

Ashes, Paper & Beans show tonight started with "episode 3" of the WrimoRadio podcast project of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) even though we're in the fourth week and I've still not heard from the media liason for the 18 registered Fredericton participant writers: a 50,000 word novel to be written this month!

It was followed by John B. Lee's poem "Jimi Hendrix in the Company of Cows" (because today is/was Jimi's birthday); a 1997 reading by Toronto author Carol Malyon and "The Dogs" by Jean Smith. Mixed in was news on readings, craft sales and a play in Fredericton in the coming week.

shirt: Ethnic Blue "Henley"
loc: fredpostshow
temp: 2 C
sound: Jimi Hendrix Live at the Fillmore East (Disc 2)

24 November 2007

Buy Nothing Day report

I failed, not miserably at all, but I did buy something on 23 Nov 2007. Buy Nothing Day is yet another USA tradition protest or consciousness-raising imported to places were it really means less. First Friday after their Thanksgiving Day. The big day for Macy's and now USA-wide Christmas excess shopping.

My only purchases were (1) three happy hour Timberhog Stout (Picaroon's) @ Wilsers while socializing with Beth and Phil and a few peeps they knew, (2) a slice of "works" pizza @ Luna, (3) a bottle of cheap red @ anbl.

No gift purchases.
No major electronics or entertainment systems.
No shop till I drop.
No thanks!

shirt: Harvest Jazz & Blues Fest 2007 volunteer
loc: Brokennumbersdesk
temp: -8 C (windchill: -14 C)
sound: Tatjana Simonović piano

20 November 2007

APB, 20nov2007

Sheri-D Wilson & Russell Broom with "Snap Shot". Guest: author M. T. Dohaney discussed her latest novel, The Flannigans (Penneywell Books). Drek Daa with "Isles of Grass", "Omaha Poetry", "There and Then". WriMo Radio 2007, episode 1, from National Novel Writing Month. Sheri-D Wilson with "I am a Closet New Yorker".

T: Cerveza
loc: postlongwerkdaze
temp: 0 C
sound: The Beastie Boys Root Down

16 November 2007

Connexion Exhibition & Fundraiser

Gallery Connexion presents

GIVE US YOUR BEST SHOT (2)

Expose your art, expose yourself, and help support Fredericton’s only artist-run center!

Gallery Connexion, as part of a fundraising event, is asking members of the art community to donate photographs to our “Give Us Your Best Shot” fundraising campaign.

We are asking all members of the community to donate photographs 8” x 10” or larger. Your choice of subject matter is welcome, framed to your liking (or we will display it in an 8" x 10" clip frame).

These photos will be displayed from December 11th through to the 13th with the silent auction held on December 13th.

Please mail or drop your donations off at Gallery Connexion anytime between now and December 8th.

PO Box 696
Fredericton NB E3B 5B4
Tel: (506) 4541433
email: connex@nbnet.nb.ca

13 November 2007

APB, 13 Nov 2007

Had to SOCAN log tonight's show even though I thought that Ashes, Paper & Beans only rebroadcasts once during the next SOCAN monitoring @ CHSR: 21-24 November. Whatever.

First half of show was my recording of Elizabeth Hay reading from Late Nights on Air (Harper Canada)—last week's announced winner of the 2007 Scotiabank Giller Prize. Second half was part one from my recording of the Side by Side Festival of Literary Translation / Côte à Côte festival de traduction littéraire Roundtable / table rounde on /sur Endangered Languages. End piece was the short "The Green" by Dasez Scott from the Word Up spoken word CD (Virgin/EMI, 1995).

T: 100 Mile House, B.C.
loc: intoanotherdžoweekend
temp: 1 C, 94% humidity freezing on sidewalks and cold cars
sound: Steve Earl Guitar Town

12 November 2007

Found Photo du Jour: 12 Nov 2007

Found 11:50 AM in the nave of the deconsecrated St John Anglican Church on Highway 105, Whites Cove, NB.

T: Steamworks Heroic Oatmeal Stout
loc: statutoryevening
temp: -3
sound Prison Break

Found Photo du Jour: 11 Nov 2007

More than just a found photo this time, I found a wallet with driver's licence, business cards, receipts, Blockbuster card and more . . . but no money.

Found on Rememberance Day, Sunday, 11 November 2007 at 11:50 AM under a bush, a shrubbery, outside the home of Ross Leckie at the intersection of St John Street with Churchill Row, Fredericton, NB while I on on my venue-confused walkabout route to the noon screening at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre of documentary films in the Silver Wave Film Festival.

En route to Silver Wave's 7 pm Gala Closing screening @ the Tilley Hall Auditorium, I went by the nearby Church Street address on the driver's licence and George was still living there (with his wife and children). He was very grateful. Had had the wallet stolen from his truck on Thursday night and, long weekend and all, hadn't yet started replacing his ID. Good timing on my part.

T: Che
loc: postfestivalmorningprelocreconroadtrip
temp: -3
sound: Don MacLean American Pie

06 November 2007

Ashes, Paper & Beans, 6 Nov 2007

Ashes, Paper & Beans: Fredericton's Writing & Art Show with host Joe Blades. CHSR 97.9 FM, Fredericton, NB. Tonight's show started with "Martin Scorcese (PG-13)" by King Missile. The feature was a lively interview-discussion with two guests: NB filmmakers Bunthivy Nou and Dennis Poirier, both on the board of the New Brunswick Filmmakers’ Cooperative and involved in several film productions screening in the 2007 Silver Wave Film Festival that opens Thursday, 8 Nov at 7 pm at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre Auditorium. Show ended with "The X is Black (Spike Lie)" by Amiri Baraka.

shirt: brown
loc: postshowfogneoweekend
temp: 6 C
sound: Depeche Mode Playing the Angel

05 November 2007

“day of the dead 2007” poem

day of the dead 2007
by Joe Blades © 2007

too right for the passing poet
the northeastern christian college
woman teacher or student showing
ankles between long skirt and shoes
who smiled a ripe late summer smile
at faded green man this morning

three deer earlier along the trail
the one on the right side visible
two on the left in the small wedge
of trees between trail and gibson
watch convenience store old man
pick up the halloween garbage

in mountain streams above
reka drina the plastic bottles
attract sand to their open mouths
their one use for beer juice water
long past and they were discarded
plentiful as the streambed rocks

neo decorations adorn trees bushes
and fence posts this day of the dead
not halloween treats abandoned
these plastic grocery bags reused
these hand outline instruction bags
—how to pick up your dog’s shit

deer and coyotes move to the city
despite the traffic and the people
walking dogs and whooping night
deer move in to avoid the hunters
in orange brighter than any leaf
coyotes have some crow in them

a coyote who writes poems of rural
and the farm life passed through town
poems of driving before dawn to be
there before sun kissed the river
bait and her lines at the ready
—no rock and tree nature poet

rather like a caddisfly in its
built home of twigs and sand
resting on the stream bottom
or the hermit crab moved in
to its new seashell home
after its builder passed on

shirt: OAKLEY, Hfx NS, Guaranteed to blow your socks off!
loc: prejobshadowwing
temp: -3 C
sound: Bombay Dub Orchestra

01 November 2007

Post 600: Elizabeth Hay an(o)( au)th(e)(o)r reading

Alumni Lounge venue became East Gallery, UNB Art Centre, but upon arrival it was evident the the new "east" was West. I set up my mic and recording deck in semi-darkness afore Marie arrive to jig the lights. Late Nights On Air (Harper Canada) is essentially a story of the small crew-community within a small radio station in Yellowknife. One somewhat based upon some of the author's personal experience in the North and in radio and so much more. Read a great party scene against a backdrop of art by Fredericton painter Angel Gómes from his exhibition Andadura: New Work / Retrospective scheduled to open at 5 pm this coming Friday, 9 November.

T: CHSR 97.9 FM (2007 shirt: black cloud & lightning o're the tower)
loc: postreadingdesk
temp: 8 C
sound: Morphine

30 October 2007

APB, 30 Oct 2007

Ashes, Paper & Beans: Fredericton's Writing & Art Show with host Joe Blades. CHSR 97.9 FM, Fredericton, NB. Tonight's show started with "memoreeeee" by bill bissett.

The feature was a lively interview-discussion with three for-the-most-part simultaneous guests: NB filmmaker Joel Thompson [top left], writer, director, producer of They Didn't Make It (Timeline Pictures); Whitney Illsley, actor; Jim Lavoie [bottom right], publicist for the Silver Wave Film Festival.

Show ended with "The Night Is Executing Its Wishes" by Drek Daa and "Vive le (for Henri Chopin)" by Paul Dutton.

shirt: black
loc: neoweekend
temp: 3 C
sound: Mr. Something Something Mr. Something Something

29 October 2007

wonder of autumn

Autumn leaves, their colours, their brilliance in death, are a wonder. They cause wondering. New Brunswick has been especially colourful this autumn. Belong are several photos I took Saturday morning on George St, Fredericton, en route to the Farmer's Market before the filmmaking workshop.

The splash of wet, yellow leaves under this tree caught my eye.


With Halloween falling on aWednesday & reggae night this year, the parties started last Friday. They continue through to at least this coming Friday's Zombie Walk. At least one party animal has already burntout and has fallen by the side, beyond sleep. RIP

shirt: black & black
loc: brokendesk
temp: -1 C
sound: Apocalyptica Plays Metallica by Four Cellos

23 October 2007

APB, 23 Oct 2007

Last night, they gave a poetry reading in the Alumni Lounge of UNB Fredericton. Tonight, Alex Boyd and Dani Couture, both living in Toronto, were live from the CHSR 97.9 FM "fishbowl" on Ashes, Paper & Beans. First half of the show was an interview with them including discussion of their Northern Poetry Review and the reading of poems, both new and from their books:
Alex Boyd's Making Bones Walk (Luna Publications)
Dani Couture's good meat (Pedlar Press)
The 2nd half of the show started with my afternoon recording of the launch of the Nov 2007 Silver Wave Film Festival. It was followed by Fredericton readings news; Drek Daa's "Pod of Granite Whales"; and bill bissett's "wuns I saw it raining frogs".

shirt: Marc Edwards black linen+rayon short sleeve
loc: post show, post reading
temp: 17 C
sound: House

16 October 2007

APB, 16 Oct 2007

Of late, Tuesdays have become my Fridays thanx to intensive filmmaking workshops on the normal weekends and the Art Bank day job on Mon-Tues. Means that I've been ending my work week with this radio show. Tonight, I started it with a piece recorded during revue ellipse mag's 2007 Side by Side Festival of Literary Translation / Côte à Côte festival de traduction littéraire.

"On Anne Szumigalski" discussion by Mark Abley & Elsabet Rafòls @ Side by Side Festival.

Poems from On Glassy Wings (Coteau, 1997) by Anne Szumigalski, read by the author:
• Classification
• Skeps in the Orchard
• Want of P, Want of Ð
• Annfwn
• Aunt's Story
• A Game of Angels

"eating filet mignon" by bill bissett.
"he sings" by Fortner Anderson + tape/head.
David's Father by Robert Munsch.
"Pod of Granite Whales" by Drek Daa.

During the walk home, I treed a raccoon on Carleton Street.

shirt: knit sweater
loc: somenearweekend
temp: 9 C
sound: Men at Work Business as Usual

15 October 2007

T'other two wrkshps

All day Friday I was one of a dozen peeps in Gallery Connexion learning something from Jiro Yonezawa about weaving with bamboo (aye, fellow SCAdians, bamboo does have uses other than for thumping people as swords and pole arms). Jiro in action, tightening in "weaver" strips and making sure all the right-angled weft strips were on the outside.

Specifically, we made hexagon-random weave baskets. This is the base of my basket with three interlocking hexagons underneath the flat bamboo plate.

a view across Connexion with my finished basket in the foreground.

Jiro with students and NBCCD peeps at the closing reception.

Saturday and Sunday I was an workshop that picked up from the Sony Betacam stuff of a score of years back @ NSCAD and the Centre for Art Tapes with the newer 900 series of Sony HD cameras. First day was history and technical including more lighting and an ever-increasing understanding of just how much control the DOP and camera crew have over set lighting and the look of the final film-movie production.

Jeff talking as he demos the camera's features.

Extras needed: Džo, cast as tarbender, w/ a barfly John.
Another barfly Jon . . . showing his claws.

Instructor and cameraman/DOP, George Hosek, instructing the actors and crew on set of the workshop version of Diplomatic Relations, episode #4, "Back in Your Arms".

shirt: Deliciously dark [Hobgoblin]
loc: reportcounter
temp: 8 C
sound: Alice Cooper Greatest Hits

12 October 2007

Workshop Triartathon

After last week's double festival, two days of work, and a two-day workshop I was exhausted to the point of being sick through Thanksgiving. Thankfully, Tuesday was a short workweek and I started eating again that afternoon in prep for this week's workshop triartathon.

Started last night in the basement of the New Brunswick Filmmakers’ Cooperative, Fredericton with the art-side of Paul Angers--former long-time St John Ambulance member. I was the first one hit and I looked in bad shape:

Bruises, burns--first and second degree, scrapes, cuts, shock and peeling-skin zombies . . . all appeared before our learning hands. Suitable for stage, Halloween or low-budgie movies, and well on the way toward more advanced techniqies.

Thanks, Paul! [Look for an article by Doug in next week's Brunswickan.]

Today, I'll be a textiles artist (again :-) in taking an all-day Random-Weave Basket workshop with Japanese Master Bamboo Basketry Artist--Jiro Jiro Yonezawa on the last day of his artist residency at Gallery Connexion. Closing reception afterward in the NBCCD Gallery [meaning there will be at least two or three BlackToppers in the room . . .]

Tomorrow and Sunday, 13-14 Oct, I'll be in the New Brunswick Filmmakers’ Cooperative Certificate in Film and Television workshop: HD CAMERA @ the Crowne Plaza Fredericton Lord Beaverbrook hotel with instructors George Hosek and Jeff Wheaton.

Throw in being on-call for art bank emergencies today, a two-author reading @ UNB, the weekend's Art Trek 2007 & its opening Frinight . . . and that's my artathon this week.

t: reebarofemit
loc: predawnshop
temp: 11
sound: crows and sirens out there

10 October 2007

BlackTop MotorCycle Gang reading 21 Oct

The closest thing to an official reading for these troublesome writers . . .

BlackTop MotorCycle Gang rolls down Queen Street to Molly's @ 554 (opposite Officer's Square). Rumour has it new poems and new gang members will be presented . . . possibly a new Tread or two . . .

Rent your seat with beer, tea, coffee, or some of Molly's home style cooking . . . but be there and hear!!!



shirt: SFRJ 29.IX.1943
loc: tiredwednesevening
temp; 12 C
sound: The Best of Tom Waits

09 October 2007

APB, 9 Oct 2007


Tonight's show started with Montreal poet Paula Belina's mini-CD A Morsel: "turtle backs (p.e.i.)", "us two giants", "un morceau du milles-pattes", "the magicians", "dziag". "Go to the Sea" and " The Viking Ship" by PEI Poet Laureate Frank Ledwell. George Featherling reading poetry at Frye Jam 2007. "Sometimes I think" by Fortner Anderson. Fredericton arts news. "The love song of roy g biv" and "play" by Kevin Matthews.

shirt black Cherokee
loc: postAPB
temp: 6 C
sound: computer fans and keyboard

07 October 2007

Acquisitions Program of the NB Art Bank

Le français suit :

Acquisitions Program of the NB Art Bank

The deadline for submissions by New Brunswick visual artists to the 2007-2008 Acquisitions Program of the New Brunswick Art Bank has been extended to October 26, 2007.

The Acquisitions Program purchases contemporary works of art by New Brunswick visual artists for display in government buildings. Every two years, a jury of artists and art professionals selects artwork to be purchased based on the acquisitions budget of $20,000.

Artists who are Canadian citizens or landed immigrants who have resided in New Brunswick for 12 consecutive months prior to the application deadline are eligible to apply for the program. Artwork must have been produced during the past two years (between October 2005 and October 2007) and must be suitable for display in government buildings.

Submission forms and more information about the Acquisitions Program is available at http://www.gnb.ca/0131/art_bank-e.asp#1

Art Bank
Wellness, Culture and Sport
Box 6000
Fredericton NB E3B 5H1

Office:
Place 2000 - 4th Floor
250 King Street
Fredericton NB
Tel 506 453-2555
Fax 506 453-2416



Veuillez trouver l’information ci-jointe et au-dessous :

La date limite pour la proposition d’œuvres d’art visuel dans le cadre du Programme des acquisitions de la Banque d’œuvres d’art du Nouveau-Brunswick 2007-2008 a été reportée au 26 octobre.

Le Programme des acquisitions permet l’achat d’œuvres d’art contemporaines d’artistes de la province aux fins d’exposition dans les immeubles du gouvernement. Tous les deux ans, un jury composé d’artistes et de professionnels du domaine artistique procède à la sélection des œuvres à acheter.

Sont admissibles les artistes visuels qui ont la citoyenneté canadienne ou qui sont des immigrants reçus et qui demeuraient au Nouveau-Brunswick depuis douze mois à la date limite de présentation des propositions. Les œuvres d’art doivent avoir été créées au cours des deux dernières années, c’est-à-dire entre octobre 2005 et octobre 2007, et bien se prêter à l’exposition dans les bâtiments du gouvernement.

Les formulaires nécessaires et des précisions sur le programme sont affichés sur le site Web suivant : http://www.gnb.ca/0131/art_bank-f.asp#1
L’affiche des acquisitions (pdf)