Kwame Dawes - "Bob Marley and Mozart are one."
Now Playing: Who do you think?
Topic: readings
Well, he said someone would quote him on that, so I'm obliging.

Been a reggae-heavy weekend; I was in Wakefield at the Black Sheep Inn to see H2O on Friday night (a small crowd but a lot of fun; there's another whole review there) and I just got back from Kwame Dawes's talk at the Archives on Bob Marley. I had a vested interest in this talk; I've been a sort of Kwame groupie since I was in high school, when my big brother played bass in his reggae band Ujamaa, and I went to all their shows that counted as all ages and some that didn't. It wasn't until later that I started to figure out that Kwame was way more than a front man for a really tight reggae band; his poetry is powerful stuff, he's a major scholar, and now he's apparently written the first serious in-depth study of Bob Marley as a lyrical genius.

Of course, the thrust of his talk was pretty much preaching to the choir as far as I'm concerned - I really do agree that Bob Marley is a great lyricist, that his work is profound and considered, and that some of his songs are as great as anything else out there. But although I sort of knew about it, I hadn't thought about the way Marley consciously shaped his body of work - the way he would quote from himself, and re-release old songs so that they fit into a sort of thesis he was building. I also know, sadly, very little about Rastafarianism (aside from the basics I picked up as a reggae groupie ten years ago) and Kwame's reading of Marley through a larger rasta perspective was really interesting. (Okay, okay, so I already knew about 'Exodus,' but that one's a giveaway.) It was a thoughtful, all-encompassing talk, and Kwame is an extremely engaging speaker (helps that he has a lot of experience as a storyteller under his belt too.)

The question session was pretty lively too, and I just kicked myself that I didn't run home before the reading to pick up my copy of Ujamaa's first album Chokota so I could make Kwame sign it - again. . .

The weekend series also includes a writing workshop with Kwame tomorrow: I'm going, and heartily looking forward to it.

This whole weekend (officially titled "Telling Our Stories: Celebrating Ourselves: Voices in the African Diaspora") was organized by Souljam Connections and 3 Dreads and a Bald Head, the latter of which seem like a really interesting collective of four women whose origins as an organization seem to echo Dusty Owl's (it starts with having breakfast together on a regular basis, and ends with organizing cultural events, supporting communities, and generally working to Do Good. I like these women. I want to work with them on something.)

Dance card way too full
I wish I was a trinity.

Want to go hear Kwame Dawes at the Archives tomorrow.

Also want to go to Capital Slam at the Gap of Dunloe.

And have also been invited to go see H2O, who I met last weekend, out in Wakefield!

But just because I can't go to all three doesn't mean other people can't go to them and tell me how they were. How about it?

Stolen Sharpies and other Punkness
A friend picked me up a copy of Stolen Sharpie Revolution (by/edited by Alex Wrekk) at the Cut-N-Paste Fair in Toronto last weekend (and he paid for it in TTC tokens, which I think I'm going to make into a tradition.) I've been flipping through it. What a great little book. Small, all kind of sexy and bright red, and the inside a crazy mishmash of zine-style layout, typed and pasted text blocks, and great advice on everything from how to make your own silkscreens, to how to publish other people, to how to get into postal art circles, to how to run a zine distro. And a fine resource of (mostly American) distros and small presses and the like. I'm going to be poring over it cover to cover in the next little while. It makes you want to go find your Sharpie and start cutting and pasting.

Its main point seems to be that really, nothing can't be DIY-ed. You could pay a print shop $12 a shirt and a $60 setup fee to print your small press's promotional shirts, or you could go get some emulsion, a screen, and a bulk pack of Fruit Of the Looms and have fun for an afternoon for a lot cheaper. There are tips on copy machines, block printing, getting cheap paper that card shops are throwing out, spraypainting badges, writing to zinesters, getting published by someone else's zine, starting a zine library, and taking your zines on tour.

There's another whole meditation to be done here on why people who make tiny photocopied books that they give away or sell for a buck apiece even do this, but as far as I can tell, the reason is pretty simple - some people need to sing, some people need to perform, and some people need to produce printed matter. And finding other people with the same obsession is always exhilarating. I like the zine crowd - I think I tend towards a far more staid kind of layout in my own small press publishing, but the more zines I read, the more amazed I am at the culture.

And there's yet another possible meditation on the interface between a world full of webpages and a boom in zine publishing - both very ephemeral, cheap, widely-distributable ways of putting your thoughts/experiences/ideas/aesthetic out into the public forum. Casting a net for likeminded folks.

The website for the people who made this lovely little compendium of all things zine? www.microcosmpublishing.com.

Kwame Dawes is Coming to Town!
Now Playing: As It Happens
Thanks to John W Macdonald's blog, I got clued in to the fact that the National Archives is going to be host this weekend (the 10th, 11th, and 12th) to a series of readings and workshops by Kwame Dawes!

I'm particularly excited because I've known Kwame for more than a decade (off and on) - it's a little known fact that in the early 90's he was the front man for the Fredericton-based Juno-nominated reggae phenomenon Ujamaa, which also featured my big brother Kit on bass. I'm bringing my copy of their CD to the reading.

Kwame is a terrific poet. Get out and see him!

The Best Bag EVER
Now Playing: Wake the Dead; Celtic covers of Grateful Dead songs
Okay, I've been meaning to do this - last weekend I got a late Christmas present. It was a bag made by Sean Zio, commissioned for me by my friend Carolyn. It's the best bag ever - it's totally me. It fits a copy of the New Yorker, my writing book, wallet and CD player, and usually a paperback to boot. It has an inside pocket, it has front pockets that were initially part of the pants that the bag was made from, and a button pocket in the back. I LOVE this bag.

Zio (who is a one-man Prada-demolition force - everyone should have a Zio bag) sells his bags at craft sales around town, in particular the Ladyfest sales and Ravenswing. Here are a couple of shots of my bag. You can't have it, it's mine. But you could email him and beg him to make you a bag too.

Well, hell.
Now Playing: Dave Lauzon's Dusty Owl concert; really should be making dinner now
Like it says in the title - well, hell.

I was looking for information on Q the Romantic Revolutionary for the Dusty Owl site (she's featuring in February, check it out) and I skipped through the Capital Slam website. And there it is: a link to this site (to my review of the opening reading this year.)

Just when I'd sort of figured no one even knew this site existed, and I'd pretty much stopped posting. Hm. Just goes to show. Someone is reading this. Or somebody was vanity-googling. C'mon, guys, fess up...

And yes, I really am listening to Dave Lauzon's Chocolate House show from December's Dusty Owl. Great stuff. Want to hear it? Last I saw, it was available on the Sanctuary website.

Ottawa Craft Resources Online
This is a great link for local craft sales and events. Just found it!

http://www.debbiesdabbles.ca/

Ravenswing Christmas Edition
Topic: craft and zine fairs
Yesterday, while a couple of friends took most of the Dusty Owl inventory out to Montreal for ExpoZine, I packed up the Gandalf's Granddaughter stuff and headed out to Ravenswing.

Best Ravenswing yet, at least for me. I made more sales than I've done yet at Ravenswing (in fact so did Carolyn and Cathy,) and there seemed to be a lot of traffic. I think an event needs to be around for about six months before it really kicks off, and I'm thinking/hoping that Ravenswing is hitting a stride. Sure, we're off for two months because of Christmas, but it seems like Zio's idea for creating an open, accessible space for crafters and zinesters and indie publishers to get together and put their work out for sale is starting to click. There was a good mix of different crafts, four different zine tables, and a knitting workshop (free craft workshops are now going to be offered at the sales, which might pull in a few more people.) Really looking forward to seeing where this fair goes in the New Year.

By the way, if you want to get involved, or you just want to see what's going on, you can check out the Ravenswing Yahoo! group - it's an online forum for all the participants and other Ravenswing groupies/junkies/minions. And you can join if you'd like!

Oh, and at ExpoZine in Montreal . . . Dusty Owl Press sold more than $100 worth of stuff! Hooray for Montreal. What a town.

Come to Ravenswing!
Now Playing: As It Happens
Topic: craft and zine fairs
This Saturday, 1:30-5:00, is the Ravenswing Craft and Zine fair at the Jack Purcell Community Centre. Come on out! Cool crafts, an open mike, zines, vegan food, art. Christmas shopping at craft fairs is way cooler than Christmas shopping in a mall.

Sean Zio Reports from the land of the Streeteaters
Missives from expeditions beyond Ottawa - my friend Sean just went up to Montreal for the weekend to hang out with Paula Belina, who's with the Streeteaters zine/collective. Here's what he said:


I have just barely landed from the excitement of Montreal and of the Streeteaters.

The highlight of the weekend was, of course, the reading at Casa Del Popolo on Sun, Nov 20th. The night was called "Who is Sounding," named after an Anne Waldman workshop. The mc/organizer Paula Belina wanted the evening to include all that is 'sounding,' like spoken word, music, and, well ... sound. The concept sounded more dramatic coming from Paula.

The show featured nine performers and had four open mic performers. You would not believe the talent that graced the stage, One artist, Luna Allison, is someone to watch out for. She has a cd coming out in Dec. There were zinesters, spoken word artists, singers, and writers.

The best part about the show was the audience. They were actively listening - nodding and saying things like "Nice" or "Yes" when they heard something that resonated within them. While performing, I truly felt like I was in dialogue with each audience member.

And my performance --- I actually ended up on stage three times. Yes, I am a spotlight queen. First, I joined Paula Belina and Raphy (a oet/musician/artist) in a dance performance of Anne Waldman's "An Open Letter to Jesse James." It was so awesome. We wore these great masks Raphy made that day and we played out both the sound and content of the poem. It was so Montreal .. like, who the hell would take a contemporary dance performance to a spoken word poem seriously in Ottawa?!?!? lol

Following the intermission, I went on stage again with Paula Belina. I had collaborated with her on one of her poems and we performed it together. The poem was called "The Magic Poem" and that is what it was, magic. At the end of it, Paula got the audience to say, in three sections, "ma" - "gi" - "c." While they were playing out the three syllables, Paula was interspersing phrases like, "You are" -- "Life is" -- "The Day is" --- You would not believe how incredible it felt to hear and to be a part of that.

After the magic performance, I walked up to the mic. I performed "To Julian of Norwich," "Love Your Pain," "A Theory of Angels," and "Come to Gethsemane." I only messed up about two or three times and I was able to improv my way out of each one. Overall, the actual performance went very well. While performing, I feel most comfortable in my skin and Sunday night was no exception.

At the end of the night, I received some great compliments and I sold a chapbook and traded another. Later that night, Paula sincerely complimented me when she said my show was "tight" - meaning well-put together and seamless. I felt validated by her comment.

The best part of it all was that I was paid! I'm a real poet! They even contributed to my bus ticket. I had the time of my life and I made a few bucks. Life cannot get any sweeter than that, for me.

The rest of the weekend was a blur of joy, hanging out with poets and artists and going to great little spots where eccentric people eat vegan food, drink coffee + smoke.