I'm reposting something that came through the Capital Poetry Collective. . . I find this really hard to believe. Not only is Ottawa, the city that hosted the first ever Canadian Festival or Spoken Word, and which has a stellar, active, vocal, diverse, and prolific literary community, not represented in the 2009 list of participating cities for the Poetry Faceoff, but there isn't a single city from Quebec represented. Yet Nova Scotia gets two? The hey? Is Cape Breton now a distinct society and the Quebecois not? I have nothing against Nova Scotia, but I'm really confused here.

This is the notice from CPC.... who are now starting to make noise about hosting a "CPC Poetry Faceoff" in response:

"I post this message with much disappointment. CBC, the Canadian
Broadcast Corporation, has just announced the line-up of cities taking part in the 2009 Poetry Face-Off and Ottawa has been left off the list? For some reason, the NATION'S CAPITAL has mysterious been excluded from a NATIONAL poetry competiton? Hmm...

Lets look at the facts:

Ottawa has upwards of five monthly reading series, Capital Slam has sold out nearly all of its shows this month, the 2008 Ottawa Slam Team placed 3rd at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word and the CBC Poetry Face-Off sells out at the NAC 4th stage every year it happens. They definitely aren't hurting for writers. Did I mention the Capital Poetry Collective has invited CBC personalities to host the Slam Finals and countless other events? So why would they deny Ottawa in 2009? Who made this call and what were their reasons for doing so?

This is not just about the city losing a cool event, we'll survive, this is about CBC denying five Ottawa poets the opportunity to be on regional and national radio as well as receiving payment for their work. How can they claim to support Canadian arts and culture and then deny artists an chance to get paid and have their work broadcast?

No reason has been given for Ottawa's exclusion.

This type of subtle censorship is hugely disappointing from those that claim to supply Canadian content to the Canadian people. I don't have any answers, but if you'd like some answers, ask CBC for yourself."

The list of cities participating can be found here:
http://www.cbc.ca/poetryfaceoff/

Posted by Kathryn Hunt at 1:53 PM EST

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I wish I could actually convey some sense of what the tribute to Steve Sauve was like tonight, but I don't think anything would do it justice. I was reminded of a psychiatrist friend of mine, on another occasion, commenting on not being used to seeing so much healthy emotion in one place. As Kevin Matthews (who hosted with grace) said, the spoken word community is a family, and this was a family event, with everything that implied - laughter, tears, hugs, quietness, noise, and love. 

Bookended with Steve's poems "If I were you" and "If you were me," (the first a rousing tribute to the energy of what happens on stage, and the second a hilarious pean to "Steve Motherfucking Sauve," in which the word 'awesomosity' figures), the night featured performances of Steve's work by a wide range of poets, a deeply moving open mike, written tributes from those who couldn't make it, music, and a lot of memories. The great thing about it was that, as intended, it WAS a celebration, and a reaffirmation of all the things we've learned from Steve. I was touched and moved and proud to be even a peripheral part of this town's spoken word community.

It was cathartic and joyous and sorrowing, and illuminating, and encouraging, and grieving, and strengthening. Which is just what I think we'd all hoped it would be.

Steve will be missed: but Steve hasn't left us. 

Posted by Kathryn Hunt at 12:49 AM EST

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The Ottawa Citizen printed a nice article about Steve Sauve today. . . and Alan Neal plugged the tribute show this morning as well in his weekend roundup of local concerts and shows.

Posted by Kathryn Hunt at 11:58 AM EST

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Go to Capital Xtra's web page and download the free album of Ottawa's queer indie heroes! Do it quick before they take the page down! Free music, how can you go wrong! And happy 200th issue Xtra!

Also, the Steve Sauve Tribute Show is this Friday at 7:30 at the Mercury Lounge, featuring performances of Steve's work by some of the Capital Poetry Collective's greatest voices. Come on out and celebrate the life of another of Ottawa's heroes.  (And afterwards, head to Shanghai and slow dance - because remember, love is the main export of Stevesauvania... aaaand the main import.) If you're kinda shy, there are volunteer dancers, and if you're not, there's a roomload of people and slow songs all night long.

Posted by Kathryn Hunt at 9:17 PM EST

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February is packed. It's almost annoying - nearly every night that I have something I want to go see, there is at least one other thing I want to go to as well. The New Stalgica is back on Monday night. Friday the 13th is the Steve Sauve Tribute Show at the Mercury Lounge, followed by Slowdance Night at Shanghai. Sunday the 15th has Ritallin, Luna Allison and Amanda Earl at Talented Tongues. And that's not getting into the two nights of Writers Festival events on the 19th and 20th.

But the buses are running again! Which means I'm not bound by the weather... just by the annoying fact that there's only one of me.

Friday, though, was a bike ride. But worth it. The AB Series hosted Hear from Melbourne at the NAC Fourth Stage - four spoken word artists from Melbourne, Australia: Justin Ashworth, Alicia Sometimes, Sean M. Whelan and Emilie Zoey Baker. 

The NAC Fourth Stage is a great space (although I could wish they put the tables a little further apart - the cabaret-style seating around little tables is lovely and informal but it's really hard to get between the chairs to get to your table in the first place. But the audience is right up there with the performers. 

Max Middle and the Young Griot Collective opened up for the Aussies - Max did a drum-solo-like sound poetry piece (halfway through I started recognizing the drum riffs I was hearing and the returning motifs... if you've never heard sound poetry before, give it some time and the benefit of the doubt.) The Young Griot Collective were a little raw, owing to having had to restructure their show at the last minute apparently, but put out an impassioned and grounded set, with a singer I've not heard before: she had a gorgeous voice.

The Aussies were a diverse bunch - Justin Ashworth was much more abstract in his poetry. He's primarily a musician, so his poems were accompanied by a musical soundscape of fading static and electric feedback tones. Very moody stuff. The others were more in the slam vein - funny, for the most part, touching and striking where they were serious, and moving. Alicia Sometimes had an astronomical, microcosm/macrocosm sort of theme running through her work (she admitted to having a thing for Carl Sagan when she was a kid) and a streak of bawdy fun. Sean M. Whelan's surreal, funny, touching poems reminded me a lot of Stuart Ross. And Emilie Zoey Baker, probably the most stage-roaming of the bunch, was unnerving with "Bratz Camp" (which wasn't exactly 'about' cyberbullying) and hilarious with "Hells Bells" (a trailer-park-kid's eye view of the death of Bon Scott from AC/DC.) And she gave all the Canadians in the audience a quick lesson on why Australians smother a laugh at the word "fanny pack."

(Probably for the same reason my Australian eighth grade class, in Geelong, burst out in giggles when I mentioned "pussy willows" during a discussion on "signs of spring.")

They're on their way to the Festival Voix D'Ameriques in Montreal, and from there to the US and the Bowery. I wish they could have stuck around an extra day, though, because they're doing a documentary on the spoken word scene in North America, and they could have come to Capital Slam. Apparently it's an entirely different scene from Melbourne, where, according to Justin Ashworth, who did make it last night, "people just get drunk and heckle the poets." Ottawa's not like that. It's a really supportive, warm, fun scene, and I think Greg Frankson's enthusiasm and Danielle Gregoire's warmth had a lot to do with kicking that off, setting the foundation for the values of the community that exists now.

Again, I have to say: when I'm working the door at a poetry show and I've got to turn people away because we're sold out; when there are people waiting downstairs in case someone leaves so they can get in; when people try to bribe me because their friend is performing and they've got to be inside; it's a strange but good feeling. Capital Slam sold out again last night. Twice the number of people wanted to slam than there were spaces for. Staff from the Mercury Lounge were standing downstairs so they could count when people left and let that many people in. And a lot of the slammers were brand new. Whatever wave the slam scene is riding, it's huge. 

They're doing a second slam this month to accommodate all the people who couldn't slam last night... in two weeks. Keep an eye on their website. 

Posted by Kathryn Hunt at 11:28 AM EST

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... so few transport options. On Day 51 of the strike, I find myself putting my hope and trust in the Harper government to give me back my artsy-fartsy, gala-going lifestyle.

How ironic is that?

Places I would be tonight if I could get there:

In/Words at 8:00 at their new location (the Montgomery Legion - tile floors and cinderblock, but bigger than the Avant Garde)

The launch of Ottawater 5.0 at Arts Court at 7:30 (you never know who's going to be reading... unless they air their pre-reading nerves on Facebook, *koff, koff* Amanda and Christine.)

Tomorrow night there's food, art, hairstyling, music, and generalized mayhem at Raw Sugar... thanks to Dharma Arts. Hey, the inimitable Jessica Ruano tells me she's getting her hair done live. And Raw Sugar serves Beau's Beer *big up!*

And of course Sunday there's the perhaps inevitable menage a series that's been brewing since Dusty Owl and Bywords started having readings on the same day at the same time... they're two great tastes that go great together. 2:00 PM - Bywords Warms the Night (ahem, afternoon) with the launch of their winter Quarterly and a fundraiser for Cornerstone, a shelter for homeless women.

Posted by Kathryn Hunt at 3:17 PM EST

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I just found out that Umi Cafe, the newest awesome small poetry venue in town, has run into financial trouble. Despite having a load of fans and patrons who have been crowding in for the slams and poetry shows, live music and their great vibe... the bus strike is taking its toll and some of their investors have pulled out. They need to raise about $5000 by the end of the week.

Go on down, have a cup of coffee, show some love. I'm sure some of the cafe's committed community will be doing what they can to save this space... keep an eye out for events. I'll try and keep track of them. 

Posted by Kathryn Hunt at 8:44 PM EST

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Raw Sugar last night was pretty empty when I walked in - a couple of people in the little back room, and a few scattered at the tables. But then, I was early.

As I pulled my hat off, though, Free Will, sitting at a back table with his fiancee and a scatter of notepaper and postcards, recognized me and got up to give me a hug. I grabbed a table near theirs and sat down to talk for a while, about poetry and farming and Steve Sauve. And while we were talking, another friend of mine arrived and took a chair, and I went to go pay up and get my stationery. The idea was that you paid $5. That got you a cup of coffee or tea and a couple of sheets of paper, an envelope, and a local stamp. And a pen if you needed one. And a little sheet of paper with some ideas on what or who to write and why letters matter. 

As I was settling in, Sean Zio arrived, along with a couple more friends, and our table was complete. Eventually, after a little more talking, we got started on our letters, and then the night became an interesting alternation between talking to each other, and falling into a few minutes of silence when we were all writing at once - or drawing sketches, or doodling on the envelopes. Later in the evening, Luna Allison (fresh from her cover shot on Capital Xtra) and Montreal poet Sherwin Tjia showed up, with invitations to the Slowdance Night at Shanghai on February 13th.

I used to write more letters. I used to draw my own stationery and write multi-page letters. I fell out of practice. Email has had a big part in that - when everyone in my family knows what I'm up to on a day-by-day basis, it's hard to think of what to say in a letter that they won't already know by the time they get it. I think the trick is to relearn the artistic letter. A letter isn't about conveying information anymore, it's about an experience, something physical you can pick up and hold, and that forces us to get over feeling like communication is the only reason for language between friends or family. If you can make a phone call without needing to convey a point, we decided at our table, why do we feel there needs to be a point to a letter?

So I tried not to worry about whether the letter I was writing was high art, or whether it had anything meaningful to say, and tried to remember that the meaning, mostly, was the act of writing and mailing it. 

And by the end of the night, I had written a letter to someone I don't think I had written to in years, which really just tried to give a sense of where I was physically and mentally while I was writing it, and I went home wanting to continue writing, by hand, in ink, on paper, just to be writing. 

Posted by Kathryn Hunt at 7:47 PM EST

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... well, not frightful, but makes it pretty hard to get around. But those who need to seem to manage somehow.

Last Sunday's Dusty Owl turned into an impromptu tribute to Steve Sauve: after the open mike the stage was turned over to those who wanted to say something, read a poem, or whatever. Some of Steve's poems were played (thanks Dog) and a few people who hadn't been lucky enough to know Steve got introduced to his work - and got a firsthand example of how deeply he's affected those of us that were lucky enough to know him.

The feature, Michelle Butler Hallett, had this situation sort of sprung on her, and handled it wonderfully. (I also caught her laughing out loud at Steve's poems.) She was also a great reader, reading pieces from her three books so far with style, warmth, and shifting voices. I was actually pretty creeped out by the narrator of her first novel Double-blind, but in a good way. I'm very much looking forward to having a chance to dig into her latest book, Sky Waves, although I've also got a ton of stuff (yes, including some YA fiction about a boy wizard whose name is not Harry) to read for the Writers Festival... which is coming on faster than you'd think! 

And there are more things for me to find ways of getting to (it's a long long walk down Bank Street to downtown, but I'm tough!)

Tomorrow night, Raw Sugar (692 Somerset) is having a letter-writing night. I love this idea. They provide stationery, envelopes - they'll even mail your letter for you. Just show up, have a snack or a drink, and bring the address of someone you've been meaning to write a real letter to. I'm going to try to make it. 

Saturday is Messagio Galore Take VI at the AB Series. There's already a carpooling discussion board on their Facebook page in case you really want to make it and don't have wheels... They've been planning and rehearsing for this one for ages now. This is going to be wonderful and bizarre and astonishing, if what I've seen at previous installments is a clue. 

Monday night you don't have to go out necessarily - John Akpata's Monday Night Scribes (10:00 PM, 89.1 FM) is having a tribute show to Steve Sauve, playing his work and taking calls from across the country from people who have been touched by Steve's life.

And are you as sick of the strike as I am? Sign Ecology Ottawa's petition to end the strike, and go to the protest on the Hill on Monday at noon. I don't know about you, but I could plan to go to a lot more shows if I didn't have to rely on someone else with a car going as well.

Posted by Kathryn Hunt at 12:35 PM EST

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I know this poem has been making the rounds but I thought it was worth posting, because I've been hearing lines from it in my mind for the last 24 hours or so, ever since I heard the news about Steve Sauve.

What I've learned from Steve is that cynicism is for wimps, laughter is beauty, beauty is everywhere, and joy is the point. One of my mother's favorite hymns has the line "Teach us now to laugh and praise You," and I think of that hymn when I think of Steve. 

This poem was performed in 2005, and it became one of Steve's best-loved pieces, and one, I think, that inspired more people than any other. In case you haven't heard it, or read it, I'm going to post it.

Heart

(by Steve Sauve)

i almost died last year
spent over three months in the hospital
in which time they had to repair my heart twice
it was by far the most horrible experience of my life
some of my fellow poets have been urging me
to write a poem capturing these events
a serious piece about mortality
but i don't want to write a poem that brings everybody down
see, the reason most of my poems are comedic
is not that it's all i'm capable of writing
it's that i want to use my time on stage to uplift people
if you walk out of here with a smile
then i feel like, in some tiny way
i've improved the quality of your life
and that means more to me
than winning some competition ever could
so if i'm going to write a serious poem
it's sure as fuck not going to be about pain and suffering

know what tomorrow is?
tomorrow is the one year anniversary (This was performed at the semi-finals in 2005)
of the day i got out of the hospital
they may have carried me in on a stretcher
but i walked out on my own two goddamn feet
stronger and wiser from the experience

i've heard it said that you should like your life
as if each day might be your last
what the fuck kind of morbid bullshit is that?
now, i've got a two foot scar down the middle of my chest
that says i probably know more about these matters than you
so take it from me:
the secret of life is to live every day
as if it were your first

when every day is your first
you free yourself from all the cynicism you've built up over the
years
you allow yourself to see beauty in all its forms
and trust me, it's fucking everywhere
from the hurried commuter pausing to hold a door open for a
stranger
to the room full of people who spent ten dollars on a friday
night to see a poetry show
that's beautiful


every day
i awake to the sun hitting my face for the first time
i breathe my first breath and it's intoxicating
every day
i walk out into a world where no one has ever judged me
i look up at the sky and remember how fascinating clouds are
and every day
someone will be the most beautiful woman i've ever seen

when every day is your first
love has never let you down
you've never been rejected or abused
and you realized that love has got to be
the most ridiculous fucking thing to be afraid of that there is

i'm not afraid anymore
death tried to take me and i kicked its ass
i'll be damned if love is gonna finish me off

once you allow yourself to love and be loved
to love who you are 'cause (heh we've already covered this)
you're all beautiful
it's like flipping a switch:
everything changes instantly
it changes from a matter of “if”
to a matter of time

see, love is a commodity that's in constant demand
and there's an infinite supply
all you've gotta do is learn how to manage it

i'm sure to some of you this sounds like preachy nonsense
that you'll immediately dismiss:
“oh shit, steve's gone all new age-y on us”
but if you take nothing else away from this poem
then at least take this:
don't run from love
and smile
you're so beautiful when you smile

Steve: I'm smiling. Even if it's hard to smile right now.

Posted by Kathryn Hunt at 1:50 PM EST

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