River City Writer

A few weeks ago, I entered a contest which I subsequently forgot about. The prize, as it were, is a pair of tickets to the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (ESO) on February 22, 2008.

But, that’s not all. The deal is that the winners will live blog the performance. I figured that River City Writer would be a perfect blog for this sort of thing.

Evidently, the ESO agreed, as I got a call a few minutes ago informing me that I’ve been chosen to be one of bloggers for this event.

This is very cool. I get free tickets to the symphony, free food and drinks while I’m at the show, an opportunity to meet conductor Bill Eddins (who will also be on piano for this performance), as well as some of the other musicians who’ll be involved.

On top of that, my review of the show will be featured on www.edmontonjournal.com.

As you can imagine, I’m pretty pumped about this. This is the sort of thing I want to be able to do with this blog. But, ticket prices often keep me away from events like this (plus, normally, you can’t blog during a performance).

So, keep your eye to River City Writer on the evening of Friday, February 22, and you’ll get as close to being at the symphony as you possibly can be (without actually being there, of course).

Just a brief round-up of some things that have happened, or will be happening soon, in the Edmonton literary scene.

• Raving Poets & CBC announce winner of the Raving Poets/CBC Face-off Contest: Wednesday night was the final night of the competition for a spot in CBC’s Edmonton Poetry Face-off. The winner does not win the Edmonton Poetry Face-off, but is guaranteed a spot in the competition. All of the competitors gave truly incredible performances, and I’m sure the judges had a tough time coming to a decision. Ultimately, Laurie MacFayden won the spot in the Face-off, so congratulations to Laurie.

• Mark Kozub launches The Uptown Browns: Edmonton literary icon and Raving Poets bassist, Mark Kozub, launched his new novel—The Uptown Browns—on Thursday night at Greenwoods’ Bookshoppe. Based on Mark’s reading at the launch, and the few short chapters I’ve read so far, it’s a damn fine novel. Having been privy to a good amount of Mark’s poetry, this doesn’t surprise me in the least.

• Anton Capri launches 2 physics books: Physicist and poet Anton (Tony) Z Capri will be launching 2 new books on Monday, December 10, 2007. Tony tells me that the books contain various anecdotes about famous physicists, as well as explanations—in layman’s terms—of what these men and women accomplished in their careers. As someone who is fascinated by all things scientific, but who often has trouble understanding higher level concepts, the notion behind these 2 books really appeals to me. The books—Quips, Quotes and Quanta: An Anecdotal History of Physics, and From Quanta to Quarks: More Anecdotal History of Physics—will be launched at the Stanley A Milner Library (7 Sir Winston Churchill Square) in the Centennial Room (downstairs) at 6:00pm on December 10.

• Raving Poets & Writers Guild of Alberta join forces for holiday poetry jam: The Raving Poets and the Writers Guild of Alberta are teaming up to throw a bit of a holiday party for the Edmonton literary community on Wednesday, December 12, 2007. The party will take place at Kasbar Lounge (10444 Whyte Avenue, downstairs), with readings from members of both the Writers Guild, and the Raving Poets (as much as one can be a “member” of the amorphous group that is the Raving Poets). The Writers Guild will be generously providing food from Yianni’s Taverna (upstairs from Kasbar) and, as usual, our good friend Travis will be pouring drinks.

The Raving Poets‘ latest series—Space Monkey: The Series—started last night. As I mentioned yesterday, this series will include a chance to win a rather grand prize.

I am now able to reveal exactly what the prize is.

According to Raving Poets Founding Father Thomas Trofimuk, the Raving Poets have teamed up with Canada’s national broadcaster.

On the table, a guaranteed spot in the 2008 CBC Poetry Face-off Edmonton.

The Raving Poets are going hard for the next six weeks….And we’ve done a deal with the Mother Corp. Up for grabs is a coveted, guaranteed spot in CBC’s 2008 Poetry Face Off Edmonton final. That’s right, come December 5th, one of our Raving Poets will be going to the “show.” Details will be forthcoming but round one, the first preliminary round, will be November 21st. Oh it’ll still be a 16-spot open stage, but the top three favourite poets (details on this will follow) will automatically get a spot in the December 5th final. On December 5th, we’ll run an abbreviated night of Raving Poets, and then brilliant poets will step up in the second half and duke it out for a guaranteed spot in the Edmonton round of the 2008 CBC Face Off. Stay tuned….for more details. In the meantime, if you’re in Edmonton, come on out tomorrow night….10444 - 82nd Ave. 7:30 p.m

Those are pretty big stakes, and that’s a pretty big prize. If you’re interested in winning it, or just watching a bunch of publicity-crazed poets duking it out, come down to Kasbar (10444 Whyte Avenue) every Wednesday until December 12.

Space Monkey: The Series runs every Wednesday until December 12, 2007 at Kasbar Lounge (10444 Whyte Avenue) below Yianni’s Taverna. Sign-up for the open mic is at 7:30pm; show starts at 8pm.

For full details about the CBC Poetry Face-off Prize, visit: http://ravingpoets.com.

The Raving Poets‘ latest series—Space Monkey: The Series—starts tonight.

Kasbar Lounge (10444 Whyte Avenue) will once again be home to the mix of spoken word poetry and improvised musical accompaniment.

There is a pretty big prize that will be given away as part of this series, which I’m not at liberty to reveal quite yet. (If you read the site earlier today, you already know what it is.)

While I can’t tell you what the prize is, I can tell you this: it’s huge. It’s probably the biggest prize ever awarded at the Raving Poets.

Of course, even without a prize, the Raving Poets stage is still the best place in the city to see high energy spoken word poetry.

If you’re interested in performing, or just watching a bunch of booze-fuelled poets spit verse, come down to Kasbar every Wednesday until December 12.

Space Monkey: The Series runs every Wednesday until December 12, 2007 at Kasbar Lounge (10444 Whyte Avenue) below Yianni’s Taverna. Sign-up for the open mic is at 7:30pm; show starts at 8pm.

It’s a tough life, being the editor of a semi-legitimate Internet publication. Sometimes, you receive a press release at 8pm on a Friday night. When you’re the editor and sole writer for a semi-legitimate Internet publication, this means that you’ve got to put down the vodka and get some work done.

But, this isn’t supposed to be about me, is it? As you may have guessed from the title, this post is supposed to be about Amber Hayward’s reading at Laurie Greenwood’s Volume II on Monday, October 29 at 7:30pm.

Amber is a sci-fi/fantasy writer who lives and writes in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. Her latest novel, Darkness of the God, is in bookstores now, and she’s doing a reading here in Edmonton to help promote it.

According to the press release, Darkness of the God involves psychic powers, religious cults, and murder:

He had the jungle, now he wants the world…

In front of the television cameras, international cult leader Caldos Moriera is all goodness and light - a man in white who “heals” the people of the world. But behind the scenes he is a dark and despicable man who will do anything to anyone to get what he wants.

But Ana and her handicapped uncle know the truth.

To them Caldos Moriera is a murderer, the one who killed Ana’s father, and the one responsible for brutally butchering Ana’s mother! In fear for their own lives, Ana and her uncle flee their Brazilian home to hide in the safety of the vast Sonoran Desert. But Caldos is greater threat than they first imagined. He has learned of Ana’s own psychic healing abilities, and realizes that she may be the path to his ultimate power.

Ana, realizing that she is the only one strong enough to confront his dark force, vows to do whatever it takes to stop him; and begins to prepare for the spectacular and deadly psychic battle that is about to take place.

While I’m not really a huge sci-fi or fantasy fan myself, this actually sounds like it might be an interesting novel. If you’re into fantasy, you should check out the reading. If you like what you hear, consider picking up a copy of the book. It’s important to support Canadian artists if they’re doing something worthwhile.

Is Amber Hayward doing something worthwhile? I don’t know, I haven’t read the book. You’ll have to check it out for yourself to find out.

Amber Hayward is an internationally published author and poet. Somehow she finds time to write despite the demands of managing the Black Cat Guest Ranch in the beautiful foothills of the Canadian Rockies.

Darkness of the God is the second novel in the “Children of the Panther” trilogy. The first in the series, The Healer, was published in 2002. Amber is now hard at work on Stolen Children, the third and final novel.

Amber Hayward will be reading from her novel, Darkness of the God, at Laurie Greenwood’s Volume II (12433-102 Avenue) on Monday, October 29 @ 7:30pm. For more information about Amber and her books, visit http://www.edgewebsite.com/.

It’s almost Halloween, and, for a lot of people, that means Halloween parties. Since Halloween is next Wednesday, most of these parties will be happening this weekend. While the kiddies will still be hitting the streets on Wednesday, Saturday will be the big night of costumed revelry among adults.

There are more than 100 Halloween-related events happening in River City this year, so I can’t list them all here. Instead, I’m going to put it to you, the reader, to list what you think are going to be the best Halloween parties in Edmonton.

I’ll start this list with 2 events. The first is the always famous Halloween Howler, put on by the Bear. The Howler is probably the most well-known Halloween party in Edmonton. It’s apparently a blast, although I’ve never been.

The only thing I can really tell you about the Halloween Howler is that there are a lot of prizes for the costume contest, and that Cheap Trick once stopped their set after only 2 or 3 songs, because some jackass threw a full bottle of beer at Robin Zander.

The other event I’ll tell you about is the one that I’ll be attending: the Voodoo Cruise on the Edmonton Queen. While I was a bit wary about being stuck on a boat in the middle of the river all night long, I got tickets to this event, at the prodding of a friend of mine.

It turns out that the boat will be docked most of the night, except for a cruise at 9pm (weather and water level permitting). The cruise will only be about an hour long, so people will be able to get off the boat and leave early, should they be ready to go before the 2am end-time.

Costumes are mandatory for this party, as they will be for most Halloween parties in the city. There will be a costume contest, 50/50 draw, and drink specials. Music will be provided by West of Winnipeg.

I’ve never heard of West of Winnipeg before, nor can I seem to find anything about them online, so I can’t say whether they’re good or not. I imagine, given the nature of the party, that they’re probably a cover band, who might throw in 1 or 2 original tunes throughout the night.

I think it should be a good party, once I manage to figure out what I’m going to do for a costume. I bought a “bleeding skeleton” costume from Value Village last night, but it’s missing a bunch of pieces, so I have to return it. I think I’m going to end up going as an old-timey journalist—trench coat, fedora, press pass in the hat, cheap cigar, etc.

And now, I turn the floor over to you, dear readers. What are you going to be doing for Halloween this year, and what will your costume be?

Help Kill Art - Poetry Slam

Saturday, October 27, 2007
8:30pm - 11:30pm
City Arts Centre 10943-84 Ave. Edmonton
(behind the Safeway on Whyte, by the tennis courts)

Top prize: $200. Any read or spoken word is welcome, if you think you can be the town’s hottest. To sign-up email submitblood@gmail.com or just show up. Full rules at http://www.ualberta.ca/~jekerr/rules.html/. Suggested donation for entrance is $5.

An online friend of mine, who has recently moved to Edmonton, requested that I write more about the music/concert scene here in River City. I told him that I would try to do so.

Hopefully, most of my music-related posts will be about Edmonton-based musicians, but this particular post isn’t. This post is about Minneapolis, Minnesota’s Brother Ali.

Brother Ali is coming to Edmonton on Sunday, October 07 at the Velvet Underground (downstairs at the Starlite Room). Because the show is in the Velvet Underground (formerly the Victory Lounge), Starlite Room membership is not required to get in.

If you’re a fan of hip hop, Ali is one of the best emcees out there right now. His style and lyrics are heavily influenced by the Golden Age of hip hop. KRS-One, Rakim, and Public Enemy are some of his most obvious influences.

If you’re into lyrics that are both smart and witty, with beats that are completely rocking, I highly recommend checking out Brother Ali.

He is one of the most passionate performers I’ve ever heard on a record. The amount of passion that comes through the records can’t be faked. Despite that, something tends to get lost in the studio, so I suspect that he’ll be even more intense live than he is on disc.

Brother Ali plays the Velvet Underground (10030-102 Street) on October 07, 2007 @ 8:00pm. Tickets are $16 ($18 at the door), and are available at Megatunes, Blackbyrd, Foosh, and Soular.

Just a quick post to let you know that I will be live twittering all night from the Roar. If, for some reason, you can’t make it out to the Festival, you can still keep track of what’s happening by following my Twitter stream, either on the side bar of my personal blog, on my Facebook profile, or my Twitter page.

If you have a Twitter account and a cell phone, you can set it up so that you get messages sent directly to your phone.

Facebook and the blog seem to be the best places to keep track of the messages. I’ve noticed that messages sent from my cell phone sometimes don’t appear on my Twitter page, but still show up on the blog and on Facebook.

If you can’t make it to the Roar, be sure to keep up to speed by watching my Twitter feed.

Tomorrow night is the Roar. It’s gonna be an ass-kicker. Because I’m shameless, I’m pimping the shows that I’m involved in. Check out the Fabulous Leprechaun Burlesque (details above), where I’ll be tearing up the stage with Michael Appleby, Nicole Pakan, and Patrick Pilarski. It will be a barn-burner, a pants-dropper, and a mind-blower.

Immediately following that event will be Night Moves, a show that I’m hosting at the same venue. Night Moves features Corine Demas, Laurie MacFayden, and Lisa Pruden. These women know how to rock it. They will blow your mind. Confessions and confusions about sexuality, identity, nostalgia, femininity, and the journeys in between. It’s not to be missed. I’m left breathless whenever I hear one of them read, and I’m proud to be able to present them to the festival with this show.

For complete event listings and show times, check out the Roar schedule.