Southwestern Ontario Spoken Word Festival

Friday, April 16 & Saturday, April 17 Friday Night @ London Music Club Saturday Afternoon @ The Arts Project Saturday Night @ Rum Runners Festival passes are now on sale @ the London Fringe office during regular office hours (cash only; student passes available at the door only)

Friday, April 16

An evening with the 2009 Spoken Word Canada Poets of Honour:

Andrea Thompson &
C.R. Avery

London Music Club (470 Colborne St.)
8pm (doors @ 7:30)

$10 (or buy an all-inclusive pass and save –$15 for both evening shows)

$7 with student I.D. (or buy an all-inclusive pass and save –$12 for both evening shows)

Andrea Thompson has performed her work across North America, and is the host of season two of the television series, Heart of a Poet. Her CD, One, was nominated for a Canadian Urban Music Award. Andrea’s writing has been included in magazines, literary journals and anthologies across Canada. Her collection, Eating the Seed has been featured on the reading list at the University of Toronto, and at the Ontario College of Art and Design. Andrea is currently collaborating on Other Tongues: Mixed Race Women Speak Out, an anthology set to be published by Innana Publications later this year. (this project is accepting submissions until May 15. Please see www.andreathompson.ca for more info.)

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C.R. Avery began playing music professionally at the age of 17 when he toured from the nation’s capitol to the far interior of Vancouver Island. Fifteen albums and seven operas later smoke stack lightening is the eternal horizon.   In the past four years, Avery has played almost every major Canadian folk festival.   This year he headlined his own tour across France and opened on two major tours for Billy Bragg and BUCK 65.  He has performed extensively throughout North America and Europe as a beat-box poet, punk piano player and outlaw harmonica player of hip-hop with his rock & roll band the Boomchasers or fronting the indescribable Legal Tender String Quartet.
C.R. has also paid his rent as a sideman for such acts as Po’ Girl, Tons of Fun University, Sage Francis, and Tom Waits.   He received accolades as a songwriter in 2007 when Los Angeles-based songstress Jolie Holland, formerly of the Be Good Tanyas, covered his song “Crazy Dreams” for her album Springtime Can Kill You released by Anti-Records.   Songwriters and poets have been stealing his best lines for years, which has never bothered Avery.   His well is deep and unearthly.
He is never afraid to experiment. Early 2010 will see the premier of Eric Mandelbaum’s film Uncertain Terms, filmed on location in New York City, in which Avery co-stars.
What it all comes down to is his live act.   Each one is all or nothing.   CBC radio described it best by saying, “when he hits the stage, look out.” No live show could go without Avery’s recontextualization of the Delta Blues.   His signature beat-box harmonica had Tom Waits growling, “he’s blowin’ my mind.”

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Saturday, April 17

Afternoon shows & workshops (Free)

4 Feature Poets, 2 Workshops, 2 Open Mics, and a Youth Slam + Guerilla Poetry

The Arts Project, 203 Dundas St.

11:00-12:00 Performance workshop with Amanda Hiebert
12:00-12:30 Opening and Poet #1: Fraser McDonald
12:30-1:00 Poet #2: Amanda Hiebert
1:00-2:00 Open Mic #1 and Concurrent writing workshop with Andrea Thompson
2:00-3:30 Youth Slam!
3:30-4:00 Live music
4:00-4:30 Poet #3: Taqralik Partridge
4:30-5:00 Poet #4: White Noise Machine
5:00-5:30 Open Mic #2
-Concurrent:  Guerilla Poetry on Dundas

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Perhaps best known for the raw energy and incessant nature of his freestyles, Fraser McDonald has performed in a variety of venues, speaking on matters of the heart, politics, activism, and spirituality. Along with the ability to spit insightful lyrics, Fraser has also entered into the world of Spoken Word Poetry, representing his team at the 2008 Nationals. Fraser has freestyled and made music with a wide range of artists, from hip hop heads, to concert flutists, jam bands, singer song writers, and even Sufi musicians in the slums of Rajastan, India. “To flow isn’t just about rhyming over a beat; it’s about catching the rhythm of life.” With this conception in mind, Fraser has always striven for honest expression, treating hip hop as an opportunity to engage with the community and learn about oneself. “In the immortal words of Dead Prez, it truly is ‘bigger than hip hop.’ It’s just a question of how big you want to make it.”

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As a spoken word poet, Amanda Hiebert has been on the Toronto Poetry Slam Team six years running. As part of the Toronto Poetry Slam Team, she has toured across Canada and the United States performing in high school’s, libraries and live music venues. Since 2003, she has performed over a hundred shows in the Greater Toronto Area. She has also been featured on CBC’s ‘Wordbeat’ and CBC’s Metro Morning Newes alongside Robert Priest. Her publishing credits include; Mic Check: An Anthology of Spoken Word in Canada, Strong Words 2008 annual anthology and the Canadian Play Wrights Guild for publishing the play ‘ Confessions of a Girl Next Door’.
As a playwright, Amanda has written and produced two full length plays. The first of these titled ‘Definitely Dead’ was brought to the Havana Theatre in Vancouver for a two week sold out run with a cast of ten and rave reviews in the ‘Georgia Straight’. Her second play, a one woman production titled ‘Confessions of a Girl Next Door’ was also staged at the Havana Theatre again to sold out audiences and outstanding reviews. As an actor, Amanda has worked on various film, television and theatre projects including the recently released; Blindness.

Taqralik Partridge is a spoken word performer, Inuit throatsinger and writer originally from Kuujjuaq, Nunavik (Northern Quebec). She has performed on stages from Toronto to Iqaluit to the UK and Norway. Her work communicates a mix of influences from hip-hop to Inuit story-telling. Taqralik has toured with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Kent Nagano, and she is one of the featured emerging artists in the CBC’s Next! series.
Her amazing talents can be heard on everything from the soundtrack of the BBC’s Billy Connolly – Journey to the Edge of the World, to ads in Inuktitut, French and English for the Government of Canada. Some of Taqralik’s work can be found on CBC Radio Two’s Concerts On Demand site and on her myspace page, featuring music by multi-talented musicians Guido del Fabbro and Philippe Brault.

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Profane, profound, political – White Noise Machine‘s poetry swings between baroque and bombastic. He is not afraid to question crooked cops; he makes his voice heard in print and on the web, and can often be found on his bike in Kensington Market. In fact, there is very little The White Noise Machine shies away from, and he brings these experiences to his commanding presence when he takes the stage. 4-time member of the Toronto Poetry Slam team, White Noise Machine has published in the Canadian Anthology Mic Check, and is a columnist for Toronto’s NOW Magazine.

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Saturday, April 17 Evening show

London Poetry Slam Finals

A smackdown between London Poetry Slam’s top 13 poets, to determine who will represent London at Spoken Word Canada.
Followed by an afterparty featuring DJ Media Frenzy

Rum Runners (178 Dundas St.)
Doors at 7, show at 8

Cover: $10 (or buy an all-inclusive pass and save –$15 for both evening shows)

Students $7  (or buy an all-inclusive pass and save –$12 for both evening shows)

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