13 September 2008

joe’s going west

Joe Blades will be participating in a Fall Literary Extravaganza, 18-25 September 2008, in Grande Prairie, Alberta along with related activities in Dawson Creek, BC (about 1.5 hrs drive west of Grande Prairie). Alongside Jenna Butler & Dymphny Dronyk, on 19 Sept, Joe will be giving reading–workshop presentations to high school students at South Peace Senior Secondary School and 7 pm reading at the Dawson Creek Art Gallery that evening.

“Joe does a thing where he sets up his typewriter, an old manual typewriter he’s got, and he sets it up on a desk either in the entrance or in the window,” See explained. “He’ll (then) spend some time composing poetry kind of on-the-fly while people are coming by, while he’s watching the streets.”
—Henry See, The Rabbit Hole Bookstore, quoted in "Small Press Fair going down the Rabbit Hole" by Nick Kuhl, Encore!
Writing in the Window Residency
@ at the Rabbit Hole Bookstore
10020-100 Avenue, Grande Prairie, Alberta

September 18th, 19th, 22nd, 23rd: afternoons

featuring Joe Blades: poet, artist, publisher
poetry inspired by Main Street, Boomtown, Alberta

watch words at work
“Books By Hand”, hand-sewn chapbook making workshopled by Joe Blades. Chapbooks are a really creative, unique way to create small collections of poems or short fiction. September 23, 7-9:30, $40 per person, minimum 6 participants. For info: Centre for Creative Arts, Grande Prairie, info@creativecentre.ca 780-814-6080.
The Peace Country’s First Annual Small Press Book Fair

Celebrating small and independent presses!

Location: Rabbit Hole Bookstore
10020 100 Avenue, Grande Prairie AB T8V 0V3

Date: Sunday, September 21, 2008

Time: Fair - 1 PM to 5 PM
(Fair Set-up starts at noon.)

Display space: $10 (send cheque or money order c/o Rabbit Hole or pay at set-up time)

Contact: Harrison or Henry c/o Rabbit Hole Bookstore

Phone: 780-539-7999 or fax 780-832-0141

Email: rabbithole@telus.net
T: STOMP
loc: 'tween crew shifts
temp: 13
sound: Captain Tractor Land

12 September 2008

Excerpt du jour

One day a poet appeared before the leader of a country and gave him a puzzling problem, saying that if he could not solve it satisfactorily, his country would be destroyed.

Joe Blades
from the book that doesn’t close . . . (forthcoming)

T: Cerveza
loc: pre-HJAB work
temp: 12 C
sound R.E.M. "The One I love"

10 September 2008

Found photo du jour

Found 10 AM-ish, today, beside the sidewalk at the top of York Street, Fredericton, between Jobs Unlimited and the Priestman Street school. Pretty obvious who is in this cut-up photo ID card.

Also found on this morning's great circle trek to the eye doc's and Blue Cross were a silver hoop earring and a large wine goblet.

shirt: WindRiver Outfitters cabining shirt
loc: computerstn
temp: 14 C
sound: Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik

04 September 2008

Join Popstart if the shoe fits

NEWSLETTER: SEPTEMBER 2008

Welcome to the September, "Back To School" edition of the Popstart / RAIQ monthly Newsletter!

Check out www.popstart.ca and http://www.artsinterdisciplinaires.org for complete news and notices postings.

New items appear weekly.


A Few Words From Our Team
The RAIQ welcomes our new General Manager

Dear friends, members of the RAIQ and interdisciplinary artists at large,

I am pleased to announce that as of September, the RAIQ has a new General Manager, Lise Gagnon. Lise's tremendously varied background clearly demonstrates her passion for artistic hybridity and experimentation.

As Director of the new media centre Studio XX from 1999 to 2004, she was instrumental in the organisation's development and growth. Lise holds a B.A. in Dance, a Masters in Art Studies, and is currently the Director of the prestigious Cahiers de théâtre Jeu.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to give Lise a very warm welcome--we look forward to working with you!

Lise is replacing the RAIQ's fantastic outgoing Coordinator-Director Virginie Belhumeur, who has run off to join the circus! She is now at En Piste (Québec's Regroupment for Circus arts), but is planning to join the board!

--Miriam Ginestier, President of the RAIQ


The RAIQ's AGM is just around the corner… On the menu: coffee, bagels, chat, games, and, (of course) elections!

Dear members and friends of the RAIQ,

I am extremely happy to find myself among you. Having just started this new position I am currently preparing for the AGM, in collaboration with our Board of Directors. Our annual meeting will take place on Friday September 19, 10am, at the Studio 303. I will soon be sending out more info, but I invite you to mark this date on your calendars right away! We hope that the AGM will be a fruitful encounter and plan for it as an opportunity to exchange ideas, set a list of current priorities, and discuss our involvement in responding to the Harper cuts. Please don't hesitate to invite potential members. And a reminder: memberships can be renewed at this time as well. Looking forward to meeting you soon!

--Lise Gagnon, General Manager of the RAIQ


And More: RAIQ & Popstart

First off, thanks to all those came out to the demo on August 27 in protest against the Harper government cuts to arts and culture. According to Culture Montréal, we were 2500 strong, filling up the large main space inside the SAT and spilling out into the park and surrounding street outside. Demos this week in Quebec City and Toronto will continue to rally support for our cause. To read the Culture Montréal press release, and to download and sign an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, please visit
http://www.culturemontreal.ca/cult_mtl/culture_eng.htm

On the Popstart front, we are actively recruiting new members to join our network of Interdisciplinary artists and presenters, so if you know anyone who should know about us, and who should join, please send them our way!

And finally… coming soon: our new Newsletter look. Stay tuned for the snazzy re-make of our monthly bulletin.

--Victoria Stanton, Popstart Coordinator


News & Notices Highlights
CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS & PARTICIPATION

• Bénévoles recherchés, Les Escales Improbables de Montréal – Montreal, QC: Sept. 11 – 14, 2008
http://popstart.ca/en/notices/b%C3%A9n%C3%A9voles-recherch%C3%A9s-les-escales-improbables-de-montr%C3%A9al-eim

• DARE-DARE: call for submissions – Montreal, QC: deadline Sept. 12, 2008
http://popstart.ca/en/actualites/daredare-appel-de-dossiers

• The Lab Sessions 4.0 "Deconstructing Hip" – Toronto, ON: deadline Sept. 19, 2008
http://popstart.ca/en/notices/lab-sessions-40-%E2%80%9Cdeconstructing-hip%E2%80%9D

• International Videoperformance Festival of Mexico City – Mexico City, Mexico: deadline Sept. 26, 2008
http://popstart.ca/en/actualites/international-videoperformance-festival-mexico-city

• RAIQ AGM election time – Montréal, QC: Sept. 19, 2008
Submit your candidacy for the RAIQ's new Board of Directors!
http://popstart.ca/fr/notices/raiq-annual-general-meeting

EVENTS ANNOUNCEMENTS

• QUEBEC CITY: Folie/Culture Presents Cinéma en plein air
http://popstart.ca/en/actualites/cin%C3%A9ma-en-plein-air

• TORONTO: A Space Presents Pilgrimage of Wanderers
http://popstart.ca/en/notices/space-gallery-presents-pilgrimage-wanderers

• MONTREAL (1): Factory Project
http://popstart.ca/en/actualites/factory-project

• MONTREAL (2): The RAIQ holds its AGM
http://popstart.ca/fr/notices/raiq-annual-general-meeting

Topics & Sites of Interest

"-empyre- soft_skinned_space"

-empyre- is a non-hierarchical, online community, based in Australia. Founded in 2002, the site facilitates critical perspectives on contemporary cross-disciplinary issues, practices and events in networked media by inviting guests -key new media artists, curators, theorists, producers and others to participate in thematic discussions.

http://www.subtle.net/empyre/


Popstart / RAIQ Listings

Just a reminder: If you are registered with the Popstart or RAIQ site, you can post your news independently. Notices go through an approval process, so please post AT LEAST ONE WEEK IN ADVANCE. If you haven't logged in yet, please do! Many profile pages could still use updating. Let us know if you're having trouble getting logged in.

--

Popstart
Connecting Canadian Interdisciplinary Artists
Le réseau des artistes interdisciplinaires du Canada
http://www.popstart.ca
info@popstart.ca

26 August 2008

APB, 26 Aug 2008

Tree ear found on the path outside the UNB–STU Student Union Building on my way into the building, marked-up to commemorate the show.

Started the program with a set from the CD Snake in the Heart (Tia Chucha Press, 1994) by Chicago spoken word artists: "Malcom is 'bout more than wearing a hat" by Michael Warr; "Schoolyard of Broken Dreams" by Marvin Tate + D'Settlement; "Undertaker" by Patricia Smith; "Liquid Thoughts" by David Hernandez + Street Sound.

I then played tracks 1-18 from Canadian writer Paulo da Costa's CD Notas de rodapé in Portugese.

After show outro I played the song "Cockroach" by BronweN.

Walked out of the building into a sprinkle of rain and this . . .

T: . . . etiam maxime laedit
loc: postAPB
temp: 22 C
sound: Gang of Four Return the Gift

APB, 19 Aug 2008

Show started with Splendor and Death of Porfirio Rubirosa—an original voiceplay by Chris Baskous. Second half of the show featured cuts from Aural Heather's Princess Nut CD: "Window Seat", "Habitat", "My Mountain", "Appleton", "Sechelt", Poetess", & "Princess Nut".

T: Quod nos non necat . . .
loc: pre-APB
temp: 16 c
sound: Violent Femmes Violent Femmes,

22 August 2008

5 min in Oxford

waiting for the other bus to arrive
waiting for the exchange of drivers

some passengers exit the bus
for pop and chips
scottsburn ice cream
cigarette break

not me, i'm writing . . .
writing another georg section
of the larger work-in-progress
fiction supported by artsnb's
creation grant of last year

must get back to it
and post this before
we move and travel
breaks the temporary
connection here enjoyed

T: NB Highland Games & Scottish Festival
loc Oxford bus stop
temp: here (unknown), [ Fredericton: 30 C]
sound: Milaposka Youheed

21 August 2008

found photo + du jour

Found 5:40 pm, Thursday, 21 August 2008, on the customer self-service counter at the York Credit Union on Queen Street, Fredericton, NB. Guess that "Mom" was more interested in the cheque.

T: Bagad Kelc'h Keltieg Kombrid
loc: postpasta
temp: 24 C, partly cloudy
sound: Radio Goethe presents German Bands, Vol. III

12 August 2008

ashes, papier & beans, 12 aug 2008

Tonight's show, the first live in three weeks, was a reaction to rhubarb: Started with Bob Holman's "Lounge Chair", R.C. Weslowski's "i've been thinking / it's about time", "Bridges" by Utah Phillips & ami difranco, and "longstoryshort" by Sekou Sundiata. Continues with "Intro to Smoke (A Novel)" by R. Murray Schafer, Go Now (chapters 1 & 2) by Richard Hell, "Vive le (for Henri Chopin)" by Paul Dutton, and ended with « Pandore » par Mitsiko Miller.

shirt: black, short-sleeve Vintage Silk
loc: postroadshow
temp: 17 C
sound: BronweN Silent Victim

08 August 2008

BTMG celebrates 8:08, 08/08/08

Tonight:
Wilmot Park gazebo/bandstand, by the wading pool
(please, no eating the children)

8:08

Everyone is invited to read ... your own work, other's work

Weirdness welcome

Madness welcome

If you can't make it, send something to read, it will be read
(especially if it's weird)



T: yellow
loc: designdesk
temp: 18
sound Little Feat Waiting for Columbus

31 July 2008

Peace Country’s First Annual Small Press Book Fair

Celebrating small and independent presses!

Register as a participating publisher or come and explore what the world of small, independent, micro and mini presses has to offer.

Featuring readings by renowned authors
Joe Blades (Fredericton, NB)
Jenna Butler (Edmonton, AB)
Vivian Demuth (New York)
and Karen Bass (Hythe, AB)

Location: Rabbit Hole Bookstore, Grande Prairie, Alberta

Date: Sunday, September 21, 2008

Time: 1 PM to 5 PM

Display Space: $10

Contact: Harrison or Henry
c/o Rabbit Hole Bookstore
10020 100 Avenue, Grande Prairie, AB T8V 0V3
Phone: 780-539-7999
Email: rabbithole@telus.net



shirt: black Marc Edwards linen short sleeve
loc: preartopening
temp: 24 C (humidex 30 C)
sound: Gang of Four Return the Gift

26 July 2008

Scotch Music

Two hours tonight of me spinning CDs and playing tapes for Highland Radio on CHSR 97.9 FM. Yeah. It went by so fast. I know I could have done more hours (& I will!) I'm the on-air host on the games site [51 Woodstock Rd, Fredericton, NB] as of 9 am tomorrow, Sunday, 27 July. What I played tonight is listed below. It's a real lively great mix (if I say so myself) of trad and non-trad Scotish and Celtic music, plus some Celtic-inspired folk or folk-rock and poetry.

"Scotch Music" Howie MacDonald
"Tandoori Mustache" Taxi Chain
"James Brown Ate My Bagpipe" Taxi Chain
"Road Rage" Tartan Amoebas
"New Pipe Order" Tartan Amoebas
"Weddings, Wakes & Funerals" The Rankins
"Stepdance Medley" Buddy MacMaster
"Sunburn" Gordie Sampson
"Speed the Plough" Horselips
"Signal Hill" Damhait Doyle
"The Old Sod" Spirit of the West
"An Ode" (poem) Hamish MacDonald
"Sandra: In all innocence" (poem) Janet Paisley
"Flick it up and Catch it" Jim Sutherland
"The Pipe Tunes" Shooglenifty
"Horo Ghoid Thu Nigeau (Stepping Song)" Mary Jane Lamond
"Bog Down In the Valleyo" Othodox Celts
"All For Me Grog" Othodox Celts
"Space Ceilidh" Nathalie MacMaster
"Northwest Passage" Stan Rogers
4/4 Marches: "Scotland the Brave", "Rowan Tree", "Wings" Heatherbell Girls Pipes & Drums
"Fairy (including Tullochgorum)" Ashley MacIssac
"North" Afrocelt Sound System
"Treasure of the Heart" Solstice
"The Celts" Enya
"Crantara" MacKeel

T: Highland Radio 2005 / Radio Chieftain
loc: homegame
temp: 18 C
sound: The Best of Blondie

24 July 2008

found one!

afterwards, i spent longer walking about downtown looking for one of the posters . . . not that i want to trade landtoads . . . [sorry, oh, noble toads of the east, i don't mean to slight you, so maybe i should say, "sandturds"] but i was looking for some of the other somewhat catchy marketing campaign's info. So: 1 plunger = $100 [off a year's rent. WAhOOOO!!!]; 50 = a month's rent [what's that? $12-15 per plunger (smells like and evangelical sandturd w/ baptism by . . . )]; but 500 of these fetish objects = a year's rent [dog love the compartment!] as if anyone (singular or collective) so actually find that meny of this plungers in fredtown . . .

a few week back . . . in the same spot [beside the recyclable plastic bag bins outside the stuporstore and anbl express] i found a pet rock by, or named, "billy bob". i took it too. was it a set up, a test, a trap . . . ? i doubt it . . . if only i could find one of guy's "peanut butter cookies" [too late] or meredith's "pinkies". meet billy bob:

t:
loc: postbikeride
temp: 24 C feeli' 34 C
sound: Elvis Costello Cruel Smile's "Almost Blue"

22 July 2008

Ashes, Papier et Beans, 22 July 2008

Tonight's show featured one Canadian poetry CD in its entirety: Shaking Hands with the Night (Pendas Productions by Katerina Fretwell.

shirt: "basket weave" Denver Hayes short sleeved shirt
loc: footsorepostartbankpostradio
temp: 22 C
sound: Kate Bush Never for Ever

17 July 2008

Ashes, Paper & Beans, 15 July 2008

Ultraeye by Richard RathwellThe first half of the show featured Ultraeye (Blue Orange Publishing) by Richard Rathwell.

Second half of the show featured writer members of Fredericton's BlackTop MotorCycle Gang: Biff Mitchell, emcee; Joe Blades; Todd Arsenault; Vivian Unger; Yolande House; & Biffy himself.

shirt: ratty black
loc: brokendesigndept
temp: 18 C
sound: Monty Python Sings

12 July 2008

Found photo du jour

Found 10:48 AM, 12 July 2008 in the ground floor hallway of the Charlotte Street Arts Centre, 732 Charlotte St, Fredericton, NB before the opening of the Fredericton Small Press Fair–:Summer Edition.

Photo was taken at, or with stuff from, Gulfport Casino, City of Gulfport, Florida, USA.

T:
loc: postsmallpressfair
temp: 26 C
sound: (Nir)vana Gold

09 July 2008

Ashes, Paper & Beans, 8 July 2008

Ashes, Paper & Beans last night featured three Canadian spoken word or poetry CDs.

The first feature was Bowen Island's Heather Haley's new "spoken word songs" CD Princess Nut (RPW Records) under the moniker Aural Heather with the tracks: "How to Remain", "Whore in the
Eddy", "Three Blocks West of Wonderland", "Window Seat", and "Habit".

Second feature was the soon-to-be-released poetry and jazz Global Warming CD collaboration by Toronto poet Sharon Singer and musician Bob Mover: "Becalmed", "Global warming", "carny Boy", "Rock-a-Bye Baby", "Degrees of Closeness", and "Sea Creatures".

Third was a sound poetry and music collaboration. SoundSpoke: Anne Anglin, Bill Gilliam, Penn Kemp, Rick Sacks CD The Late Nite Lingue Lounge, Distillery Jazz Festival, Toronto, May 2004 (Pendas Productions, 2004) with "from Bone Poem", "Side Kicks", "The Shadow", "Side Show", and "Declination".

Show ended with the short poem "When Summer Comes" by Lem Snow from Tall are the Tales: Newfoundland Stories and Recitations (Pigeon Inlet Productions).

T:
loc: postsunnyday
temp: 28 C, humidex 37 C
sound: NIN pretty hate machine

02 July 2008

Fredericton Small Press Fair: 12 July 2008

12 July, Saturday, 12-5 pm

General public admission is free.

This location is not yet wheelchair accessible.

The Summer fair has been co-ordinated to coincide with the revived Maritime Writers' Workshop, 6--12 July. For MWW info, contact: UNB College of Extended Learning, ph (506) 452-6360, ahowells@unb.ca MWW registration: ph (506) 453-4646.

Location: Charlotte Street Arts Centre Auditorium, 732 Charlotte St, Fredericton:
Google map.

Organizers revue ellipse mag and Maritimes Arts Projects Productions.

Exhibitor fees (including HST): tables $15 (full tables only). Contact (506) 454-5127, joeblades@nb.aibn.com to reserve tables and readings. Payable, preferably in advance, to: Maritimes Arts Projects Productions, Box 596 Stn A, Fredericton NB E3B 5A6.

Free things (info, publication, calls for submissions, etc) can be mailed to the same address for distribution @ the fair. The fair itself will not undertake to sell anything for folks who can't make it, but if you can arrange for someone to represent you @ the fair that would be great!

01 July 2008

Ashes, Paper & Beans, 1 July 2008

The Canada Day episode of Ashes, Paper & Beans started with Biff Naked's "Canadians" and ended with Verbomotorhead's "Fat Summer". The bulk of the show was a live interview-riff with Biff Mitchell on the upcoming Maritime Writers' Workshop, 6-12 July, and on things writing and arts related.

shirt: CHSR
loc: post-APB
temp: 26 C
sound: The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed

odd stuff

A real sign found loose, no longer posted, in one of the schools used to film DTTW II this past weekend. I'm afraid it says more about the elementary school's (lack of adequate) facilities than it does about the boys attending the school. Minds me of the saying in my hotel room in the Battery, in St John's, Nfld. the previous weekend.

Every room had a Newfoundland place name on the door and a Newfoundland saying on a wall with one of these large maps. Very colourful and fun; educational for peeps not exposed to Newfoundland before.

How's this one? The roadside sign for the section of the roadside motel snoring I was put up on Friday night in Saint John, NB during filming of DTTW II.

A posey of four- and five-leaf clovers found on the montel's lawn after I'd picked and eaten wild strawberries also found there.

T: CHSR
loc: MAPP catch-up
temp: 28 C
sound: Elvis Costello Cruel Smile