Basically, because he said it better, I'm going to quote rob mclennan's quoting of Roland Prevost's plea: and add my own. In a universe far far away, where things make sense, teachers are paid six figures and the army holds bake sales to buy bombers, and patrons take on people whose contributions to art are as important, and as hard to explain to the general population or god help us our current government, as jwcurry's, and they feed and house them, and let them continue to chronicle the development of our collective souls and generally exist for the expansion of our minds and the continued forward trajectory of thought.
So, think about it. Buy something from jwcurry. Or donate. Or subscribe. Or something. The government won't support him. Joe Six-Pack wouldn't understand him. Lots of people would shrug and tell him to get a job. But he's GOT one. It's just not one that our society's set up to support him for, and he needs the help of the artist community every so often.
An urgent note from Roland Prevost: save jwcurry & Room 302 Books!
john curry, certainly a world class poet living in our community, is presently facing almost certain eviction.Stephen Brockwell alerted me of this precarious situation, by phone, and asked if I would get the word out, most recently at the TREE Reading Series on September 22, where we were able to scare up enough to cover one of his 5 months’ owed rent & save his telephone service.
curry’s been in constant production of his own and hundreds of others’ work since 1979. he’s mainly ineligible for grants. His bookstore is mainly an unused resource. His archive documenting the growth of avant-garde writing in Canada is one of the key collections in the country. Nicky Drumbolis has said: “curry and his work are the best-kept secret in Canada.”
Since time is of the essence, if curry’s to avoid eviction, there are a few ways you can help:
Start to use his goddamn store!I would like to encourage you to donate something so as to keep this excellent bookstore, publisher, archive and artist alive, and at the same time help prevent curry’s eviction from his apartment. For those who’d like to purchase bookstore IOU’s, I’d ask you to write (#302-880 Somerset Street West, Ottawa Canada K1R 6R7) or call him at (613) 233 0417. Please contribute as you can.
Room 302 Books is the only bookstore in Canada ever to focus specifically on the avant-garde and “overlooked outsiders,” specializing in concrete/visual/sound poetries (mainly Canadian) with a stock of over 20,000 mainly rare titles, including “elusive ephemera,” and probably the only source of most of jwcurry’s various imprints and titles (which number in the thousands). curry’s current lists finally focus on his own work as artist & publisher, virtually the first time everything that’s (still) available has been made commonly available. You can purchase bookstore IOUs (or set up an account) today in any amount for those who’d like to do that.
Subscribe to Curvd H&z, curry’s serial imprint. “donor” subscriptions (please indicate) of $100 or more get ½ the stash in a sampling of available titles from various of his imprints immediately, the remaining ½ put on account for forthcoming titles.
Donate outright.
Roland Prevost (with collusions with curry)
