This Ain't the Rosedale Library

This Ain't the Rosedale Library, one of my favourite Toronto bookstores, has just announced the sad news that, after twenty-three years, they're closing their storefront on Church Street. The amazing news, though, is that they're opening a new store this May in KENSINGTON MARKET!!!

Online abyss

Paris' Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle has opened an exhibit showcasing flora and fauna of the deep ocean. Their online companion to ABYSSES is scroll 'n' click fact-filled eye candy. I feel a poem coming on...

soundweek

ahh, the week's offered a bouquet of structured improv events.

- found myself at somewhere there wednesday evening to catch quorum. the music proved quite generative for me, and i penned a few new poetic bitlets that should prove useful in the larger, ongoing manuscript. also had a few nice ideas for collaboration and sounding, which pleases.

- thursday evening kicked off with a conduction workshop lead by NYC writer/musician greg tate. great to have exposure to butch morris' conduction signals, and then to see them in action during burnt sugar's 10-piece performance later that evening at lula lounge. absolutely funky, rocktastic, soupy, and epiphanic.

- misha glouberman's terrible noises for beautiful people: the birthday edition filled friday's evening. i can't say enough positive things about what a fascinating journey it is to sound in groups of people. misha lead a larger group (started around 60 folks, i think) through a three-hour session of sound games. favourite moments include when a ten-year-old conducted ten adults (who gave wholehearted, uninhibited aural feedback) and, later, ebbs and flows of choral synchronicity.

- tonight, i'm looking forward to witnessing abattoir (kaeja d'dance).

sunday's a day of rest, and then poetry mayhem ensues next week with the tongue, stan dragland, and bpnichol celebration. the sounding returns on saturday to somewhere there with my new favourite: kidnextdoor (christine duncan, susanna hood, nilan perera).

Manuscript name-shift version 3.5

I'm thick into a writing project. The deeper I explore it, the more certain working titles resurface. It's such a different experience from Wide slumber for lepidopterists, as I had that title confirmed from the project's inception. I posted this last September about the many working titles that've affixed themselves to the current text mass, and now I'm considering a return to a working title of Environment Canada. We'll see how long this lasts. I have a feeling the eventual title for this project hasn't yet surfaced, and that the amassing titles are linked to other concepts not yet hatched.

Interactive audio

Jim Andrews offers this intriguing list of online sites focused on interactive audio.

I had little luck/patience with FLOU, and my computer refused to recognize or plug-in the necessary Shockwave for NEONLIGHT, LA COLONIE, and ACTIONIST RESPOKE. SOUNDGARDEN, though, worked. Despite its 90s grunge moniker, SOUNDGARDEN comes across as a simplistic walk in the eponymous garden, with pixellated flowers blooming to a chorus of a capella sopranos. Feels like MYST meets "The Pool" by Tori Amos.

Jörg Piringer's digital and interactive sound poems made me smile. The second one reminds me of the structure for a sound-to-page poem on which I'm currently working. I'm in love with Piringer's take on letters as living organisms in the fourth and the sixth sound poem.

DarwInstruments has a love-at-first-site (!) effect, as the graphics and sounds are slick and chic. I feel like I need to spend more time to understand how the hybridization works, and to figure out whether this is all show, or if there's a solid execution of the concept.

Chris Dupuis blogging

Toronto's interdisciplinary artist and arts writer Chris Dupuis has started a poignant, savvy, candid blog unpacking regional performance and arts politics.

Darwin Exhibit at the ROM

Has anyone been to the Darwin Exhibit at the ROM yet?

sigur rós' glósóli

why love.

Influency 4: A Toronto Poetry Salon

Margaret Christakos has invited me to participate in her much-praised evening course, Influency 4: A Toronto Poetry Salon. Registration for the ten-week course course ends soon. Details below.

Join other poetry aficionados for this flow-chart series of prepared talks by Toronto poets becoming fluent in the work of some of our contemporaries, combined with dynamic poetry readings and discussion. Eight accomplished Toronto-based poets working in distinctive contemporary styles will appear both as guest critics and featured poets in this unique learning experience. By including poets from many of the micro-communities in the city's literary scene, we create the opportunity for social and critical interaction among them, and build our own informed enjoyment of contemporary poetry in general. Over the ten-week course, registrants will accumulate a more nuanced and engaged critical vocabulary for discussing and writing responsively about many styles of contemporary poetry.

Schedule:

April 2 Introduction by Margaret Christakos, and books distributed.
April 9 Rachel Zolf on Rachel Vigier
Book: The Book of Skeletons
April 16 Rachel Vigier on Kevin Connolly
Book: drift
April 23 Karen Connelly on Allan Briesmaster
Book: Interstellar
April 30 Kevin Connolly on Dennis Lee
Book: yesno
May 7 Gary Barwin on Rachel Zolf
Book: Human Resources
May 14 Dennis Lee on a.rawlings
Book: Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists
May 21 a.rawlings on Karen Connelly
Book: This Border Surrounds Us
May 28 Allan Briesmaster on Gary Barwin
Book: Raising Eyebrows
June 4 Registrants' Intertexts and closing party

Why: To celebrate and explore Toronto’s diverse poetry scene. To build appreciation and understanding for contemporary poetry.

How Much: $199 plus $100 course materials (8 books of poetry) for 10-week course.

Register online for course number SCS 1777 by going to http://learn.utoronto.ca.

Susanna Hood in Akureyri

Susanna's blogged about her creation/development trip to Akureyri, Iceland -- generous and contemplative posts, heaped with eloquence.

Vocable at Queen's University

Ciara Adams and I are en route to Kingston this weekend, where we'll facilitate a three-hour Vocable workshop on sound and text for Queen's University students. We had a fantastic, fast Vocable last weekend with participants from Trent University and the Peterborough area (with a mainly literary focus) and are looking forward to what magic we can weave with theatre practitioners in Kingston.

Reading: Canadian Writers in Person

If you're around York University this evening, please pop by Canadian Writers in Person, a course offered through Atkinson College. I'll be reading and answering questions.

Iceland in Toronto

And, of course, there's a festival celebrating Icelandic culture this week in Tdot. This festival's promoting the recent Open Skies agreement, which has enabled direct flights between Toronto/Halifax and Keflavík. Festival will feature a free concert by Ghostigital and a screening of Sigur Rós' Heima.

Iceland in Belgium

I've been invited to participate in the ZAOEM Festival of Contemporary Poetry this April, and am starting to research assorted activities in the area during my adventure (recommendations welcome!).

There's a large multi-month festival taking place in Brussels, celebrating Icelandic arts and culture. Looks quite promising, with activities by Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl, Erna Ómarsdóttir, Örvar Smárason, Mugison, Amiina, and a host more. "Iceland on Edge" has officially been added to my list of possibilities.

Live with Reykjavík!

Conor and I had an excellent weekend, celebrating a birthday and marveling over the snowstorm with Reykjavík!. They played two concerts while in Tdot. Cdot and I were honoured to join them onstage for their first song at Kathedral last night. Here's the bootleg!

If you're in NYC or Austin this week, do catch their shows (details here).

Review of Trent's poetry symposium

There's an all-encompassing review/report posted online of last weekend's Doing It in Public: Trent University's Performance Poetry Symposium. It includes a goofy/lovely image of Ciara and me hoosh-haaaing.

Reykjavík! in Toronto!

Conor and I are pleased to host Reykjavík!, visiting Toronto for Canadian Music Week. Catch them at the Rivoli (Saturday, 2am) or Kathedral (Saturday, 11pm).

pescisomniac

...sleeps with the fishes?

Feature on ditch,

John Goodman's ditch, a poetry resource and online magazine run out of Newfoundland, has featured my work for the month of March 2008.