River City Writer

Ladies and gentlemen, Bill Eddins has left the stage. And he has returned with a microphone. With rock star panache, he does the whole, “How are you doing out there?” Weak applause are followed by what is essentially an, “I can’t hear you!” Louder applause…

Eddin’s between-song banter proves again the man’s sense of humour, and ability to make classical music accessible to everyone. (Note to the purists: Yes, I’m using “classical” as a broad-sweeping term to cover a wide array of “art music,” which is not necessarily classical music in the technical sense of the term. Deal with it.)

And now…a piece from what may be the quintessential American opera—Porgy and Bess.

I admit, I have absolutely no knowledge of this song. Hell, I has essentially no knowledge of opera. I respect it as an art form, but I often find that those who perform it almost have too much respect for the music. Rarely do they take risks with it. Rarely do they approach old operas from new angles.

There’s something to be said for purity in art, and I would never suggest that we abandon the traditional versions of our great works of art—opera, theatre, film, whatever—but as society changes and moves forward through history, it would be nice to see how our current sensibilities affect our approach to older forms of “high art” such as the opera.

Of course, having about as much knowledge of opera as the chair I’m sitting on, I has no way of knowing whether Eddins and the ESO are taking any risks with this performance. (I realize that this makes my whole tangent about taking risks with opera a bit ignorant, but I stand by it nonetheless.)

Suddenly, we hit a sequence that rings familiar in my ears. I have heard this song before…or at least something inspired by it (or which inspired it?). I can’t place it, but I’ve got Google and Wikipedia for after the show. I’ll inform myself as best I can and, if I figure it out, I’ll report back.

And with the end of that piece, we’ll call this “Dispatch #2.”

Afterthought: I’m hearing the word “musical” tossed about in blogger’s room. Is it a musical or an opera? Proof of my ignorance, I suppose.

The crowd shuffles in. A letter from the mayor regarding ESO conductor Bill Eddins’ tendency to shake his ass while conducting is read. It is, of course, a letter praising what Eddins has done for music in Edmonton (which is that he’s made it more vibrant that ever). Laughter ensues.

Eddins himself walks out. Applause. And we’re into the first piece of the evening.

West Side Story…complete with finger-snapping, but minus the highly-trained dancing gang members. I’ve got to say, I much prefer this symphonic version to the campy musical theatre version of the song, but it does feel weird to have no pirouetting Sharks and Jets stabbing each other with perfect choreography as the song reaches one of it’s dramatic peaks.

Suggestion: split the symphony in half. One side, the Sharks; the other side, the Jets. Knives replaced with cellos and trombones. It’d be a musical disaster, but it might do something to get Edmontonians more interested in the symphony.

Of course, I’m kidding. Despite what the cynics will tell you, Edmonton is an art’s city. From up here in the press box, I can see that most of the seats are filled. This city does love it’s symphony (a little too much, perhaps, given our inclination to every performance and standing ovation).

For those who’ve never seen or heard the ESO perform, the good things people tend to say about them are true. If you have any doubt about their ability to draw a crowd into the music, come to the Winspear and get a seat in one of the balconies. You’ll see the way people lean forward in their seats, even before the first piece is finished, to catch every note.

Even folks like me, who have a rather short attention span, will be completely enraptured and taken in my the quality of the performance (and the famous Winspear acoustics). Even as I try to write this blog entry, I find myself drawn into the music, distracted from the glowing screen in front of me. Given that I may have a minor case of “Internet addiction,” this is no small feat.

And, as this symphonic gang fight wraps up, let’s call that “Dispatch #1.”

Just a quick reminder that tonight is Blog Night @ the ESO. This means that journalist-bloggers Elizabeth Withey and Todd Babiak, as well as 3 random Edmonton bloggers—Eric Mulder, Darlene Hildebrandt, and me—will be blogging about tonight’s ESO performance. There was supposed to be a 4th person, but the Journal hasn’t linked to any other blogs at the time of writing this post, so I’m assuming that there won’t be a 4th citizen journalist type person after all.

So, if you’re not already going to be attending the tonight’s performance, and if you have nothing better to do on a Friday night that to live vicariously through other people’s blogs, please keep your eyes on the 5 blogs listed above.

If, on the other hand, you do have something better to do, feel free to go and do it. It’s absolutely beautiful outside, and these blogs things apparently get etched onto one of the tubes that make up the internet for all eternity. Basically, even if I delete this, you can still find it if you look hard enough (unless I manage to be faster than Google).

The point is this: I will be blogging live from the ESO tonight, as will 4 other people. If you’ve got nothing better to do, read our reports as they come in. If you do have better things to do, well, read our reports later. Either way, read our reports. We writers are a sensitive lot and it makes us feel sad when no one bothers to read the dreck we publish.

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).

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.

This post isn’t about Edmonton, per se, but it could be of use to Edmonton musicians. I know there are a lot of talented acts in this city, and most of them are unsigned and/or unknown outside of River City. The 4am is a podcast mixed by Warren Ellis. In Ellis’ own words:

The 4am is a mixtape file containing nothing but music donated directly by new and/or unsigned acts. The 4am is of no set length and is released on no set schedule. The 4am is mixed down to 128 of the kbps. The 4am is not afraid of your nipples. The 4am is imflammable.

If you’re a new or unsigned act, who wants to get some exposure (international exposure, no less), then you may want to consider sending your mp3s to Warren Ellis. If he likes what you’re doing, you might make it onto an episode of The 4am.

On Sunday night, Brother Ali played the Velvet Underground. It was the best show I’ve been to in a long time. In fact, it was one of the best shows I have ever been to. It’s definitely up in my top 3, hip hop or otherwise.

The crowd was rocking the entire time. Even the opening act—Toki Wright (music page)—got people moving. That’s a rare feat, but Toki has the kind of talent that it takes. In addition to being a damn good emcee, he’s one of the best hype-men I’ve ever seen.

Blueprint, as always, was amazing. He’s definitely a party-rapper. He knows how to make people move, and he’s got songs that are perfect for partying. He seems to have written a lot of political stuff, since I last saw him perform, though.

While he was still partying, and putting on a great show, his newer songs seemed to have a lot more darkness and political cynicism to them. Given the times we’re living in, I suppose that’s to be expected, especially coming from an American artist, who deals with it much more directly than we do here in Canada.

Brother Ali gave one of the most intense performances I’ve ever witnessed. In a weird sort of way, it almost resembled a testimony, or some sort of religious evangelism. The fact that Ali’s music has a definite spiritual aspect to it probably didn’t hurt.

I honestly don’t even know what to say about the experience. It was truly one of those things that you have to experience to understand. Luckily, the Champion will probably be back soon. He said that he plans to come back at least once or twice a year from now on. He also seemed to hint that he’s going to try and put out new material more often (the time between The Undisputed Truth—the album that this tour is promoting—and the previous album was nearly 5 years).

If you didn’t experience Brother Ali this time, I highly recommend that you check him out the next time he’s in Edmonton.

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.

River City Writer was in Calgary on Saturday, doing a reading at the first of the Slarkz Saturday Showcases. I’ve got to say that they’ve got a cool thing going with this six week series of concerts/poetry readings. I had a great time doing my reading (though, I have to admit, it was definitely not my best performance ever), and the bands that I saw were pretty kickin’, so you should definitely check it out if you have a chance.

In fact, Lara T told me that she’s looking for more poets and spoken word artists to perform at the festival, and asked me to spread the word among the Edmonton scene. The whole thing has a very punk rock vibe about it, so I think the ass-kicking rebels from the Raving Poets will be the ones who’ll fit in best with the rest of the performers. If you’re interested, send Lara an email.

If you do decide to read, keep in mind that it’s an outdoor venue, in a public park. There will be children and families present, so the language has to be “family friendly.” I, unthinkingly, violated this unspoken rule within about 10 seconds of taking the stage, and let slip a few more even after the rule had moved from unspoken to, well, spoken. It wasn’t exactly a huge controversy, but swearing in your poems should be avoided as much as possible while performing at the Saturday Showcases.

Having participated in the festival series, and having poked around the Slakrz’s website, I’ve found myself inspired to get more involved in the scene here in Edmonton. I’ve been reading for a few years now, and I’ve had a minor role in organizing the Roar, but I’d like to do more.

I’d like to make realties of some of the things that have been on the back of my mind. I’ve actually already done a lot of thinking about a charity poetry slam idea that came up during a conversation with some of my poetic peers a while back. And, I’d like to organize some sort of regularly occurring poetry sweatshop type deal. I’m not sure where or when these things will happen, yet, but I really want to make them real. Stay tuned to River City Writer for more details.