Music and Beasts
February 24, 2015 by Elee
Poet Kate Braid will be our guest on Feb 26, sharing her book of poetry, A Well-Mannered Storm, about musician Glenn Gould. In preparation for that, here is Glenn Gould singing to animals. And if you leave the link open it will roll over to his Goldberg Variations! http://youtu.be/57kR6RsV2iA
Reunion
February 5, 2015 by Elee
Hello everyone! We’re set to begin the first class of our eighth year on February 12, 2015. We’ll be completing our writing for the Voice to Voice Project and collaborating with the composers and performers who have set 12 of our poems as songs. First things first: our visit with Katherine Swarthile, the daughter of Anahareo, will take… Continue reading Reunion
Voice to Voice Match Up
January 20, 2015 by Elee
We have heard from all six composers about which of the 60 submissions they will turn into artsong original musical pieces. Two composers committed to doing three songs. Another person is tackling two. Most of the composers are each doing one. This means we have 11 poems that will become artsongs. Composer Brian Topp has… Continue reading Voice to Voice Match Up
Happy Winter Break
December 17, 2014 by Elee
We return on Feb 12 to our regular sessions at Carnegie from 2-4pm. Right now the composers are busy reading 60 submissions to the Voice to Voice project, listing their three picks of texts they would like to set to music. Each submission has a spark, an edge and a connection to the community. In… Continue reading Happy Winter Break
Two Part Poem
December 9, 2014 by Elee
Last week we played with the song Baby, It’s Cold Outside. Gilles Cyrenne played around with the lyrics and came up with this duet. It’s in pdf form and you can click here: Gilles’ Wolf & Mouse Song
Holiday Jingle
December 5, 2014 by Elee
A little fruit from yesterday’s class where we wordsquatted in the song lyrics of Baby, It’s Cold Outside. Laura Barron reimagined lyrics to We Three Kings! An Anti-Christmas Carol (to the tune of We Three Kings) Video games and flat screen TV’s. (Nights on my own with a book, if you please). Nike, Armani, and… Continue reading Holiday Jingle
Our Heart of the City Reading of Bud Osborn
November 21, 2014 by Elee
Many thanks to the Heart of the City Festival for inviting us to pay tribute to DTES Bud Osborn and the impact he has had on writing the neighbourhood. Here are a few photos from our afternoon at the Interurban Gallery. Thank you, Tom Quirk, for shooting these.
Some thoughts on John Asfour
November 14, 2014 by Elee
It has been difficult to know what to post here regarding the news of our friend, mentor and editor’s passing. Dr John Mikhail Asfour died on November 2, 2014 in Montreal General Hospital. John came to Vancouver in 2008 as the inaugural writer in residence at Joy Kogawa House. At a reading from our first… Continue reading Some thoughts on John Asfour
Halloween Surprise
October 31, 2014 by Elee
Our opening prompt today was “scary song.” Roger Stewart wrote this horror/love song: It was the night before Hallowed Eve and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a Faust. Mephistopheles was there with his dead pickled toad stare, the voodoo dolls hung low, a black and deathly crow. You… Continue reading Halloween Surprise
Heart of the City Festival
October 25, 2014 by Elee
We’d like to invite you to an event Thursdays Writing Collective is doing as part of the Heart of the City Festival. It’s a reading of work by and related to the Downtown Eastside’s Bud Osborn, a poet and activist who died this May. Here is a memory of Bud by Am Johal. Jean Swanson… Continue reading Heart of the City Festival
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