Shakin' Steve Miller's Tree...

The Space Cowboy hisself touches down in Victoria this Thursday night! The man promises to get unruly for y'all and gives unruly interview tah boot... observe...

Labels suck, but if you had to label yourself as an artist, what would it be? Poet? Performer? Spoken Word Artist? Slam Poet? Why?

Oooo! Labels! Sweet... here goes. HELLO! my name is: urban space cowboy queer carpenter poet hand crafted vocally narcissistic heartsmith ....shit I need more room on my label, can I have 2 please?

Sure.

HELLO! My name is: Steve Miller, baby! What's yours? ... I mean ... shit can I have another one?

Yup.

HELLO! My name is: spoken word slam poet performance artist... damn! ... ok ok one more ... this is fun!!

Last one, mang!

HELLO! My name is: WHY NOT!!!

Well, it's apparent by now that you're a wacky fellow. But you're also a carpenter by trade, right? Care to speak to the similarities (if any) between crafting wood and crafting words?

I prefer Jack of all trades master of none, but yeah I call myself a carpenter, too. I do mostly exterior carpentry, cedar fencing,decks, patios, gazebos (haven't actually built one yet but love the word...GA-ZEE-BO...hehehe), backyard playgrounds... it's hard work that rewards only when I put all of myself into it completely but gives back tenfold when I see the looks on peoples faces at what I've created for them. And chicks dig a man who's good with his hands, mouth, and brain!

It's true! How did you feel the first time you stepped up to a mic to read what you had written? How long ago was that?

Like a giant vibrator hooked up to the Hoover Dam during a flood. This was in Calgary, almost exactly 2 years ago at a slam for my first time...

My mom and a couple of the ladies from my parents church were there and one of the lines in the piece I was doing is "Giddyup mother fucker it's time to fly!" Never swore in front of my mom before, was more nervous about that than going up... no, thats a lie I was shitting bricks, but I had friends and family there supporting me, and I blasted it off the stage like a Baptist preacher high on God the whole time, never before had I felt such a rush... I walked off stage and hugged my mom, sat down and one of the ladies from her church leaned over and said "Wow! I never thought I'd hear little Steven Miller say fuck my mother but besides that it was really good"... I looked at my mom and said "Sorry Mom, love you" and she said "I love you too son, but I don't always like what you do, I'm proud of you though, you mother beeper!"

Awww! Moms are nice. You were here in Vic for the 2009 edition of the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word... what did you think of that experience? Are you looking forward to a Victoria audience?

This was my first year on a team so I got to go to the NPS in West Palm Beach and it was fun and I learned a lot but it was very, very competitive and although every one was nice and we had a blast it was really hard to get on stage anywhere due to the massive amount of poets. Then I got to go to the IWPS in Berkely and it was more fun in my opinion because it was a smaller group that felt more intimate... CFSW in Victoria (HAIL VICTORIA for all your work and a killer job!) had that intimate community family feel right from start to finish, so much love, so much fun, so much slam, so much art, soo many friends, sooo much Canada... too much Reggie Cabbeecco!

I actually wrote a piece with my friend Sonya on a breakfast napkin about the festival called soo much sky...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDr5AssXzz0 ... I am really excited about being in Victoria again for my first paid out of town gig! You guys rock over there and make me feel at home which makes me wanna take my clothes off and run around on stage. Let's have some fun!

Yoiks! What's the next poetry or performance related goal you want to fulfill?

I've started working on workshops for high and middle schools, receive amazing feedback from the kids and teachers! Now I'm trying to get grants to tour Canada's high schools doing shows; one day to get them excited about poetry and then workshops on the next day... and if I can do feature shows at slams and open mics at the same time that would be cool, too...

What is the poem you haven't written yet?

The one to myself that simply says: "your worth... it's a work in progress"

What are the subjects that really inspire you?

People, usually the ones close to me. Which depending on what the pen does gets me kisses or kicks in the balls!

If your poetry was a Western movie, which one would it be?

SILVERADO or the "Trinity" trinity... either or all!