Monday, July 31, 2006

My brother

So my brother is in a new band -- The Red Hot Mamas. Vaudeville heavy metal. Click here.

Gotta love my bro, that Zappa-loving nutter.

Monday, July 24, 2006

Worth watching.

Thanks to Sachi for pointing this out. It's 45 minutes long, but it's worth the commitment. Try to ignore the hat and the personality defects.

here.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Fan friction out now

So our latest issue of Matrix addresses concerns raised by these films:

Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager
Troops

Evan Munday illustrated the cover. This guy is so talented it's scary. Check out the original artwork here. It was great to get to know Evan a little bit while I was in Toronto last week. It turns out we are both fans of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Sweet.

Friday, July 07, 2006

jpf at scream

Small Press Dating Game
Sunday, July 9, 2006 at 8:00 PM
The Boat Restaurant
158 Augusta Avenue Toronto, ON M5T 2L5, Canada (416) 593-9218

When the small presses get together, amazing things can happen. And sometimes … odd things. The collective forces of Coach House Books, ECW Press, and Mercury Press result have resulted in a perfect pre-High Park evening, called The Small Press Dating Game. Making one’s trade by the pen, it’s easy to become isolated, so this evening will give a few choice writers the chance to talk to each other about writing—style, theory, and tactics for overcoming that dreaded syndrome, writer’s block. Who will choose whom for the perfect literary date? Join host Nathaniel G. Moore, sitting in for Jim Lange, as he asks the tough questions.

Artists/ Performers:

* Bill Kennedy (ECW)
* James Grainger (ECW)
* Michael Knox (ECW)
* Judy Macdonald (Mercury)
* Mark Truscott (Mercury/CH)
* Gary Barwin (Mercury)
* Jon Paul Fiorentino (CH)
* Karen Hines (CH)
* Chris Eaton (Insomniac)
* Dani Couture (Pedlar)

Hosted by Nathaniel G. Moore (Conundrum Press)



14th Annual Scream In High Park
Monday, July 10, 2006 at 7:00 PM
CSC Dream Site Amphitheatre
High Park, Toronto
PWYC, $10 Suggested

The Scream is proud to present this year’s Scream in High Park lineup:

* Kevin Connolly is a Toronto poet, editor, and arts journalist. His most recent collection, drift, won the 2006 Trillium award for poetry.
* Afua Cooper is an award-winning author, historian, curator, performer, cultural worker, and recording artist. Her most recent non-fiction work, The Hanging of Angelique: Canada, Slavery and the Burning of Montréal (HarperCollins), was published in January. Her fifth book of poetry, Copper Woman and Other Poems, was published this spring by Natural Heritage.
* Jon Paul Fiorentino’s most recent book of poetry is The Theory of the Loser Class (Coach House, 2006). He lives in Montreal where he teaches writing at Concordia University and is the Managing Editor of Matrix magazine.
* Steven Heighton is a poet and fiction writer. His latest novel, Afterlands, was published by Random House in 2005. He lives in Kingston, Ontario.
* Helen Humphreys is the author of Leaving Earth, Afterimage, and the national bestseller The Lost Garden. Her latest novel, Wild Dogs, was awarded the prestigious annual Lambda Literary Award for Fiction in the US. She is also the author of four books of poetry. Humphreys lives in Kingston, Ontario.
* Ryan Knighton is the author of Cockeyed (Penguin, 2006), a memoir of his gradual descent into blindness. He is also the co-author of Cars (Coach House 2002) with George Bowering. He teaches English and Creative Writing at Capilano College in British Columbia.
* Maggie MacDonald is a Toronto writer, playwright, and musician with bands The Hidden Cameras and The Republic of Safety. In 2005, her graphic novel Kill the Robots was published by McGilligan Books. Her rock opera The Rat King debuted this January at Alchemy Theatre.
* Mindbender is a Toronto MC, promoter, and manager. Until its recent grand finale, Mindbender was host of In Divine Style, the city’s premiere monthly hip-hop event.
* Erin Moure is a poet and freelance translator. Her collection Little Theatres (Anansi, 2005) was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award and the Griffin Poetry Prize, and won the AJM Klein Prize. Her latest work, O Cadoiro (Anansi), will appear in 2007.
* Darren O'Donnell is a Toronto writer, director, designer, and the artistic director of Mammalian Diving Reflex. His shows include pppeeeaaaccceee, [boxhead], and White Rabbit. This spring, Coach House published Social Acupuncture, which includes the text of O’Donnell’s most recent show, A Suicide Site Guide to the City.
* a.rawlings is a multidisciplinary Toronto artist. Her poetry collection, Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists, was published this spring (Coach House). She is the co-founder of the influential lexiconjury reading series.
* Itah Sahu is an author and storyteller. She is the force behind A Different Booklist, Toronto’s premiere seller of literature from the African diaspora, the Caribbean, Asia and Latin America.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

From Russia with bed bugs

St. Petersburg was fantastic. SLS is a pretty impressive program made up of wonderful students, faculty and staff. Great to meet and get to know people like Peter Gizzi (whose knowledge of Canlit poetry blew me away), Margaret Sweatman (never met her in Winnipeg), and so many more. The city is outstanding. Bars open until 7am. I will be recovering for the rest of the summer.

Now I'm off to do the Scream Literary Festival. Click here.