Tongues of Fire

Tattoos of Heartache and Joy... Tristan De Plume

2011-05-25T22:16:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well ToF fans, we've reached the saddest part of spring - that time when Tongues of Fire goes on summer vacation! Of course, that means summer... so it can't be all that sad. Especially since we're having a big party before we say good-bye. Our last show of the season is gonna be a twofer featuring our very lovely own Megan Ann Ward, as well as VanCity's delightful Tristan De Plume - who was a member of the 2010 last chance Wild Card Team at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, and badassed the score cards right out of the judges' hands with their one minute poem at this year's VanSlam Finals (which you can watch here). We took a moment to have a lil' webular chitchat Tristan, which we share here now with you...

Let's slap a label on you: Poet? Performer? Spoken Word Artist? Slam Poet? And let's take that label off (cuz labels aren't nice): now who are you? How do you see yourself in the world?

Lets call me a poet. I even went to school for it, but I really hope you won't hold that against me. I went to school for lots of things and poetry is actually one of the more useful ones. Next after that was the air brake ticket (I used to be a garbage man). They say a law degree is useful. I'm not convinced. So far it has only been expensive and very unpleasant to earn.

If you were to tattoo a poem to your body, what poem (or excerpt) would it be?

If I were to tattoo a poem on my body it would be the first fourteen lines of the Prologue to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in Middle English. That's pretty much the most pretentious thing I can think of. There are some Latin maxims that would come a close second: Cava canem eretus auris.

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

I can't really remember my first mic. It was probably at a CUPE convention. I'm sure it felt just fine. I never really got the hang of stage fright. I do remember my first slam. I got a ten for my first poem and thought- well this is alright. Looking back I can't believe how cocky I was. I'm not an arrogant jerk. There is a reason I don't have Latin maxims tattooed all over myself.

What's the next poetry-related goal you want to fulfill?

Up next is this terrible little idea for a novel that I parked in 2000 when my thesis got in the way. I feel like I haven't really been able to write it until now. I'm not sure my evil boyfriend Law School is going to let me work on it though. When I'm writing I need to stay up late. That lifestyle doesn't really meet the 9am class very well.

Who is someone that really inspires you? Why?

Poets at the youth slam inspire me. Poets who are really risky and daring about their work inspire me. Religious people who take orders, or secular outreach workers who go into the service of others inspire me- but not for evangelism, for basic human service. It is such an antiquated idea but it used to be what all the younger sons did. Religious service is kind of the fate most of us escaped when the world changed. I really admire people who actually still do that.

Can you tell us about the poem you haven't written yet? And what are the subjects that are really engage you?

I haven't written many funny poems. Agony just comes. Comedy needs to be worked at and I'm sorry to admit that I am a pretty lazy poet. I write well about pain and loneliness and heart break and longing because they come so easily. I have the hardest time writing about joy. I feel like I don't know it very well and I get it sort of wrong when I put it down in text. Or faith. Those two cats are complicated. I feel like sadness is the easy way out. It takes real daring to write faith and joy. They make us so vulnerable.

We run your poetry through the ice-cream maker: what flavour do we get at the business end?

Strawberry with bits of typewriter.

The Warmest Heart in a Cold City... Mary Pinkoski

2011-05-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

Alright ToF fans! While we were grooving to the last show's open mic and feature performance, Mary Pinkoski was busy becoming the 2011 Grand Slam Champion of Edmonton - meaning she'll be leading this year's Edmonton Slam Team to the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Toronto. And while she may call Edmonton home, she lives in many of our hearts here in Victoria. So please welcome Mary Pinkoski to our digital couch...

Let's slap a label on you: Poet? Performer? Spoken Word Artist? Slam Poet?

Label makers are awesome things when you are moving or filing things or doing taxes or just generally organizing. I have a lot to organize, generally, that just generally needs organizing. Is this getting complicated? Labels are complicated, unless you are just looking for your toaster after a move.

I guess if I were moving, I would put myself in the spoken word poet box. Hopefully, someone would find me there...if they were looking.

And let's take that label off ('cuz labels aren't nice): now who are you? How do you see yourself in the world?

Well, my bio reads that I am spoken word poet from Edmonton, Alberta. So I guess at the simplest level, that is who I am. However, I like to think that each of us contains so many stories and mythologies of who we are and all of them contain truths about ourselves. And we are all doing our best to sort them out and make some sense of where we find ourselves in the world.

So I guess I just see myself as one more bee hive of a person in this world. And, with all these stories/memories buzzing around the apiary of me, I keep hoping that poetry will be my beekeeper and sort me out, pull the light and the memories out of me and make something sweet. And I am still learning that you can make honey out of more than one kind of flower.

Sorry, I kind of went off on a tangent there. I am spoken word poet from Edmonton.

Edmonton really hit the national stage running at last year's Canadian Festival of Spoken Word: What's the local scene looking like in your neck of the woods?

The Edmonton scene is growing and diversifying. It is an amazing thing. The Breath in Poetry Collective, spearheaded by Titilope Sonuga, is doing fantastic things here. We have great team to take to CFSW this year, with two returning members (myself and Ahmed Ali) and two new members (Colin Matty and Liam Coady). I am super excited to begin working with the new team and bring our best to Toronto for CFSW.

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

Oh wow! That was awhile ago. I read at a few open mics in 2004/2005, but if we are talking slam and competitions I didn't start doing that until 2006 and I did about one a year. Now I do things a bit more regularly. I hope I am getting better.

The first time I went to read was at a slam in Calgary and I drove all the way there from Edmonton and I got terrified and went back to my car and drove home. So the first time was a 'no go' haha. It was terrifying!

I guess what I am trying to say is that I understand and appreciate how much courage it takes to get up and read your poems or talk or share a story, and we should really honor that bravery because no matter what our first time story is, we have all been there. And then we should all move on from our first time gaffs, so we have the chance make 2nd and 3rd and 4th and 150th time mistakes because it all just about learning and growing.

What's the next poetry-related goal you want to fulfill?

I have so many things that I want to do. Most importantly, I hope to continue to put myself in situations that challenge me to expand my writing and grow as a writer. That being said, I would like to begin to work on a cohesive body of work that is thematically-based.

Who is someone that really inspires you? Why?

I have been so fortunate to have so many mentors in my life for writing. I really attribute my success to them. Can I just list a few here?

Sheri-D Wilson (Calgary) – I would be nowhere without her encouragement and mentorship and the opportunities for growth in my writing that she has given me.

Jack McCarthy (Seattle/Boston) – I met Jack at a poetry festival in Edmonton and we got on like prairie fire. He is so supportive and helped me get my first shows in the States. He is a master storyteller and I aspire to weave stories like him.

Regie Cabico (Washington, D.C./New York) – Regie is my constant and my encouragement. I would not be writing what I am writing today without the love and support of Regie.

Evalyn Parry (Toronto) – Evalyn taught me to breathe and defined open for me, in both performance and life. I am forever indebt and eternally grateful to Evalyn and her magical powers.

Those are some people that have been great to me. However, I try to learn a little bit from everyone I come across.

Can you tell us about the poem you haven't written yet?

Let me write an off-the-top of my head poem to answer this... (because free writes are always fun and it is good to expose people to your creative process and they are a nice thing to take away from written interviews...at least for the poet)

The poem I haven't written yet sits
like a weight on my chest, warning:
I could break you open at any moment

I get nervous with anticipation, itchy
with anxiety in my blood
when I think of this poem

The poem I haven't written yet waits
behind every corner, in every dark doorway
it is everything they told you not to talk to,
not to eat, not to touch, not to look at directly

This poem is a poster in a police office,
the face of the missing child in a mall,
an amber alert snapping the city into awareness

The poem I haven't written yet is buried
with the fossils of protozoa, stretched along
rock-pressed images of plankton, floating in
oil rivers under the sand

One can only hope that sand will turn itself
into a mirror, that rocks will excavate themselves,
and show me this poem I have yet to write

The poem I have yet to write lays sleeping
stretched out like a cat along
the sunshine hallway of my trachea
some days I think the cat will awake
and purr my vocal chords into vibrations
that actually say something

This poem longs to peel back the lazy sunblock lotion
of my fingers, wants to shine its light beams
all the way into my hands and hold them to the fire of the sun

It yells, "write me down." It runs through my blood writing,
"say me out loud."

This poem that I haven't written yet is there
It is always there, just beyond my reach
but I haven't stopped trying to grab it

What are the subjects that are really engage you?

I have a penchant for historical things and stories that make up our country. I work in a living history museum part-time, so I find the stories of people that are the fabric this country fascinating and something that should be shared.

I am also fascinated by the topic of light. Finally, is there any other poem than a love poem? Love, in all its forms, is always close to the tip of my tongue, the tip of my typing fingers, the tip of my pen.

We run your poetry through the ice-cream maker: what flavour do we get at the business end?

Hardest question ever! I would say you get the following: equal parts heart of a bird and love of a garden, with a dash of light. Hopefully it melts somewhere good.

Out of the Shadows... Luke Maynard

2011-03-08T08:28:00.001-08:00

Have you had a chance to recover from the Victoria Spoken Word Festival yet? We hope so, because Tongues of Fire keeps rolling along strongly, with the long awaited return Luke Maynard to the ToF stage. Luke used to be a consistant force on the open mic, and returns now to feature in celebration of his new album "Desolation Sound." We had a chance to chat with him... here you go:

"At least one person has called you a modern day Leonard Cohen. What do you say to such a statement?"

I’d say it’s an incredibly generous comparison. I’m flattered by it, though a little bewildered, because Leonard's still alive and well, and more than capable of being his own modern-day version of himself.

What I’d take it to mean, maybe, is that the path my early career has taken shares some resonance with his. We’re both products of the academy, both university English majors, and I think that background shapes the material; we both straddle lines between poetry, song, and storytelling, and sometimes like to kick them down; and we’re both “late bloomers” as far as professional music goes. I don’t think Leonard was published, as a poet or songwriter, before he was thirty, and I’m not much ahead of that.

I think that kind of time horizon brings with it a meditative patience, and I’m most flattered by the comparison because it reassures me that I’m not too old to be reaching this point. It’s easy to look at all the Canadians whose careers take off in their mid-teens—Justin Bieber or Avril Lavigne—and say that if you haven’t made a place for yourself by twenty-five, you’re not going to. But Leonard’s older than Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, you know. He’s older than Superman, for that matter. He just took his time, took a different road, and every time I hear myself in connection with him, it reaffirms that the fast lane isn’t the only road to success. Sometimes it isn’t even the best way.

“Let's slap a label on you: Poet? Performer? Spoken Word Artist? Slam Poet?”

If I have to pick one, “performer” is as good as any, because whatever I choose to do in seclusion (what’s he building in there?), it’s the performing that activates it. I write poetry, songs, stories; I make up crazy ideas, and discover connections between things, between people. But it’s the performance that gives those things life: the act of sharing your work with people is the last step toward finishing it, I think.

Even when you put something on paper, it becomes a kind of performance as soon as you share it with another person. The difference between an amateur poet and a professional poet has nothing to do with “success,” however you choose to measure that: amateur poets are the ones who write it down, then slide it back under their mattress. Professionals are the ones who find a way to get it to people. By my logic, J.D. Salinger was one of the best writers in American history, but for the last forty-five years of his life he was an incredibly talented amateur. Whatever you decide to create in the world, sharing it is what makes it real. That’s why I’d say performer. Every other word describes a genre I work in, but not really what I’m trying to do there.

“And let's take that label off (cuz labels aren't nice): now who are you? How do you see yourself in the world?”

That’s a tough one; it’s hard to really define yourself without a label of one sort or another. That’s why we have labels, right? To describe what makes us different from one another? I guess without a label I’m just a passing observer. I’ve come here to take note of people and the world around me, figure out ways to understand them, come up with some ideas and reflections, and spit them back into the world that spawned them. That idea-charged spittle is my contribution to the world, and one of the ways I pay admission for the ride. I imagine most people are exactly the same—my ideas are just the kind that rhyme and sound best when sung.

“How did you feel the first time you stepped up a mic to read what you had written? How long ago was that?”

I couldn’t even remember. I’ve been an indie showbiz kid my whole life. My Dad was a working musician, and I grew up around stages, microphones, performers. I’ve never really had to deal with stage fright, and being in front of people feels like the most natural thing in the world. Poetry and music don’t come to me quite that naturally, or at least not without a degree of toil, work and refinement; but once all the hard work is done, putting more people in the room doesn’t make it any harder for me.

“What's the next poetry-related goal you want to fulfill?”

On a large scale, I’d like to put literary study and creative writing back together in a real and permanent way. I think everyone who writes poetry could benefit from reading more of it, thinking critically about it, studying the work of different periods, studying the language we write in. At the same time, writing creatively should be a sacred obligation for people like me who make their living researching and analyzing the work of others. Neglect either one of these, and your understanding of the other will suffer.

As academic disciplines, English literature and creative writing are a bit like an awkward senior prom couple: they invariably split up after high school, and seem to have little to do with each other after that. At some schools, they’re represented by different departments in different buildings, and the crosstalk between them is about as awkward as a supermarket conversation with an old ex. I’d really like to see that come to an end someday: one of my professional ambitions is to make a poet out of every scholar, and a scholar out of every poet.
On a smaller scale, in terms of future projects, I’d like to try my hand at collaborating a bit more, especially with local poets and musicians I really admire. Writing has always been a lonely process for me, and working in seclusion for the last year and change has made it more so. I’m fortunate enough to know some incredibly talented people, and I’d love to put our heads together on some material so that I can take partial credit for their brilliance.

“Can you tell us about the poem you haven't written yet?”

I could ruminate on the future—on the direction I might someday go in, or the ideas that haven’t yet come to me...but I imagine it’s more interesting (and accurate) to give you a snapshot of the work I’m trying to finish in the next day and a half: literally, I’m working on a Ginsberg-esque poem for this Thursday’s show on the advent of the big box megastore. Locally speaking, it’s timely because of all the construction at Uptown, but it’s less a critique of specific franchises or stores, and more a critique of the new ways we’re coming to think about commerce.

“What are the subjects that are really engage you?”

What engages me the most, and what I spend the most time writing on, is people, and specifically, what and how they think. We live in a time and place of unprecedented choice: people’s opinions, morals, and value systems are more diverse than they’ve ever been, and it’s getting harder and harder to understand other people unless you’re lucky enough to match their worldview yourself. Making sense of people to other people is one of the gifts that writing gives us, and I can’t think of many things more engaging than putting that to good use.

”We run your poetry through the ice-cream maker: what flavour do we get at the business end?”
That’s easy: Baskin-Robbins Banana Nut ice cream. Now before you accuse me of shilling a brand name, there are reasons for it:

First, it’s a composite mix of things. It’s not homogenous like chocolate or vanilla—it’s made up of all sorts of substances. Nuts. Fruit. The ice cream. The ripple. If all I ever wrote was haiku, vanilla might be a better fit.

Second, the flavour is discontinued—or if they sell it at all, it’s in tiny regional communities in out-of-the-way-places. My poetry feels (to me) like it has a discontinued oldness to it—it comes out antiqued, like a car you can’t buy parts for anymore. I polish my pieces, but even then they don’t come out looking shiny and clean like a spaceship from the new Star Wars movies. They come out looking like a spaceship from the original trilogy: beat-up, covered in dirt, scratched and just the way I like them.

Finally, there’s a famous story about Howard Hughes and Baskin-Robbins Banana Nut ice cream. It’s a beautiful tragedy in miniature, the way Hughes was a beautiful tragedy on a scale larger than life. Ask me about Howard Hughes sometime. I love to tell stories.

Fireside Chat with... Chris Gilpin!

2011-02-21T21:37:00.000-08:00

It's a big week for poetry in Victoria! The irrepressible Chris Gilpin features at ToF this Thursday, which also just happens to coincide with the Victoria Festival of Spoken Word which runs through to Saturday night, followed by an Achievers Agency show featuring Tanya Davis and Mary Pinkoski! So we sat down with Gilpin, cuz first things first, right?

Triple Threat match between Bob Barker, Happy Gilmore and yourself. Who would win?

Well, Bob Barker neutered my soul down at the crossroads, so I'd like to say I'd get my revenge in such a match, but there's something so damn mythical about that orange-skinned man. I believe he already belongs to the undead and would be unbeatable. Happy Gilmore would probably be too high to care. I'd feed him to Bob and flee.

Tell us a bit about the myriad collaborative projects you have on the go...?

I work with RC Weslowski and Brendan Mcleod in Awesome Face, a kids show for adults. It's a place where we put all our craziest ideas, some work, some don't, but it's never boring. We have big plans, nothing I can be too specific about right now.

RC and I also work with Spillious in a side project we call Iron Long John. It actually might be weirder than Awesome Face. Last time we did a show was centered around inter-species love, people having romantic and sexual relationships with objects.

There've also been numerous one-off collabs with other artists. I like working with other poets and musicians, and pushing beyond the slam. Speaking of which, does anyone know of a guitarist who could play porn-style funk guitar for one poem on Thursday?

Let's slap a label on you: Poet? Performer? Spoken Word Artist? Slam Poet?

I'm a strong proponent of the term Spoken Word, although I'm happily be referred to as simply a poet. A Slam Poet is still something that deep down I don't believe exists, just as I don't believe slam poetry exists, if you really think about it. Slam is a forum, not a genre.

Having said that, Slam Poet has a generally positive connotation these days. When teachers email me asking for slam poets, I know that they want exciting spoken word poets to come in and amaze their students. So if you call me a "Slam Poet", I'll take it as a compliment, while in my head, translating that comment to "poet-who-doesn't-suck".

And let's take that label off (cuz labels aren't nice): now who are you? How do you see yourself in the world?

I am Doctor WTF?! looking to trace the absurdities of the world around me.

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

I started performing in earnest in December 2005 at the Vancouver Poetry Slam. It was great. I was hooked right away.

What's the next poetry-related goal you want to fulfill?

I want to write something as good as Al Mader's "Problems in a Box"

Can you tell us about the poem you haven't written yet?

Not really. But I will say that I've been brushing up on my iambic pentameter lately. For realsies.

What are the subjects that really engage you?

It changes, but lately the Culture Wars, and the dogma associated with them, on all sides, has been a recurrent subject.

We run your poetry through the ice-cream maker: what flavour do we get at the business end?

BeckettBerry.

Such Nice People, Really... Show Your Support!

2010-09-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

This weeks ToF show features the 2010 Victoria Slam Team! It’s a fundraiser to help send the team to Ottawa for the National Slam and if you were there for their show earlier this year, make sure you see them again on Thursday to pick up your exclusive Slam Team CD. The team is crazy-busy, so we only had time for a few questions…

So... Ottawa, CFSW2010 and the National Slam await. How ya feelin as a team?

Things are coming together! We’re working on team pieces, supporting each other and importantly there is no drama!

What can the ToF & CFSW audiences expect from the 2010 VicSlam team? We know you well as individual poets, of course, but as a team is there anything special you have planned?

You can expect us to bring it! Come to the show and you’ll be the first to see our new team pieces. We think our team is strong enough to surprise some people in Ottawa and add to Victoria's growing reputation as a performance poetry hotspot.

What's the next poetry-related goal you want to fulfill?

Jeremy needs to get his chapbook out (he’s been pushing the release date back for years!) and he’s going to be putting more time into the youth outreach side of things and organizing youth slams here in Victoria. Megan (and possibly Matthew) are working on CD compilations and working with musicians.

We run your poetry through the ice-cream maker: what flavour do we get at the business end?

Some kinda Neopolitan but with extra awesome-sauce!

2 Dope Boys In A Cadillac -- Season 6 of ToF!

2010-09-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

Tongues of Fire -- Season Six kicks off in September (Thursday the 9th, natch!) and we do so in epic poetic style with a DOUBLE TEAM of POETS! It's Johnny Murdoch Macrae and shayne avec i grec, touring as 2 Dope Boys In A Cadillac! These kids give good interview, check it out... and then make sure you're at the Solstice Cafe on Thursday night for the premiere!

* * * * *

You're both dope boys, been running your particular poetic games for years separately... what made you get into this here Cadillac together?

Johnny: The bond we formed working together at the Banff Centre.

Shayne: Sheri-D Wilson’s spoken word program there…

Johnny: I was looking at setting up a tour, and Shayne and I did a great deal of smoking and drinking together, and a day of hiking. After simultaneously yelling poems at Banff from the top of a mountain (Sleeping Buffalo) that overlooks the town, we realized we had something. Shayne said we should tour together. He then said we should tour together ASAP. I couldn't disagree. Pretty soon we were 2 Dope Boys in a Cadillac.

Shayne: All signs keep pointing to YES and this whole endeavor is inescapable, really!

What can the ToF audience (discerning folk that they be!) expect from a 2 Dope Boys show? Do you have a style? Or an anti-style, even?

Johnny: Psychedelic Rock Opera. Our style is founded upon a desire to blow minds with Aquemini designs, while remaining inarticulate.

Shayne: I'm hoping the ToF audience has somewhat working knowledge of the Multiverse (which I’m sure they must!), as they're going to be meeting the Johnny MacRae & shayne avec i grec of Earth Prime. Psychedelic and Anthropocalyptic are descriptors that have been used to describe 2 Dope Boys in the past (and future!) and i definitely don't feel a need to refute them, personally.

You claim to be influenced by Bob Holman's tequila, which we do not dispute. Like, at all. Any other influences?

Johnny: Bob Holman's Absinthe.

Shayne: That's like opening Pandora's Box! For me the eternal influences are obvious and have been referenced many times (Saul Williams, Allen Ginsberg and Leonard Cohen). Lately, it's been a wide spectrum…

Johnny: Phillips Skookum Cascadian Brown Ale. Marijuana. Central City Brewing.

Shayne: Jeff Andrew and O’Malley have been amazing musical cohorts along the way, and continually influence me in ways both obvious and not. Ira Lee is way up there for sure (we were hoping to do a show in Montreal with him in December, but he just moved to France), Evelyn Evelyn, Buddy Wakefield, RC Weslowski and Wax Mannequin also…

Johnny: Howe Sound Bailout Bitter. Driftwood Brewery's Crooked Coast. Northfield blues.

Shayne: The new Meatloaf album rocked my world on initial listen, also – so i look forward to some more time with that!

Johnny: … and Outkast.

How did you feel the first time you stepped up a mic to read what you had written? And how long ago was that?

Johnny: Like a fraud. I had to follow on the heels of the Svelte Ms. Spelt, and I'd never seen spoken word before. I was aware how unready I was, and seeing someone so polished and so confident go on stage before me freaked the shit out of me. I suppose I first read my writing about six years ago at an open mic in Montmartre (the night in question with Ms. Spelt), but for me the real first time was the Spillious Speak and Sing at Cottage Bistro, two and a half years ago. I'm like a born again virgin.

Shayne: The first time I read something I’d personally written into a microphone on-stage, I felt quite drunk, dropped the jug of beer I’d been drinking directly (who needs a glass!) and was nervous as all holy-shit! I was reading it as an opening for my friends' punk/metal band at the Canmore Hotel. Late '03 it must've been....

Ah, Canmore. Quite the town. What's the next poetry-related goal you want to fulfill?

Johnny: Creating a fringe show? The story of our early life growing up in the Cadillac Mountains has barely been told---I feel like more people need to know.

Shayne: Well, Johnny and I've discussed some way cool po(e)tential with this 2 Dope Boys project, and I personally look forward to working at it for awhile and seeing just how far we can go with fleshing out the mythos and ideas we have on-hand. I'd also love to do a Ghosts of the Highway reunion somewhere down the road... but not for some time, I’d imagine.

Can you tell us about the poem(s) you haven't written yet?

Johnny: Considering my longest-term goal with poetry is to stop writing poems (and only speak them), I don't know that I can. Apparently trees, environmental politics, and bicycles are big themes for me, so I suppose there'll be more of that.

Shayne: I’ve got a love letter/advice column to the police that's been percolating awhile. I'd also like to spend some time exploring the history of the Innisfail/Big Valley region of central Alberta – not sure if that'll be a single poem, or a cycle. And something about Prince. That has to happen.

What are the subjects/objects that really engage you?

Johnny: Trees, environmental politics, and bicycles. I grew up in a family dominated by feminists, so gender issues and the subject of male-female relations (to be heteronormative) often come up for me. Pretty much, fuck the patriarchy. One subject I'd really like to dig into is my heritage---not much is really known about the Gaelic Scots (and don't even begin talk

ing about Mel Gibson), and I feel the histories of my people is one I'd like to tell.

Shayne: Community, comic books, hip hop, independent touring musicians, history, the internet, trying to make things better, and trying to make really outlandish things actually work somehow...

We're pretty stoked to be the first stop on your (almost) randomized tour of Canadian (and American) poetry hot spots! Where ya heading after this?

Johnny: Back to Vancouver, sharing our work at Raw Canvas for the Art of Word night. After that... other places? This is just the beginning, though, our Cadillac’s got a lot of mileage to put in.

C’mon! “Other places…”?

Shayne: Well, the show at Raw Canvas is on Sept. 15, and then we’ve got Poetry in the Raw IV at the V.E.C. on Sept. 27, and possibly another show or two in Vancouver after that, and before Johnny heads off to

CFSW in Ottawa. So Victoria and Vancouver are basically playing host to the “trial run tour”, while the eastern North America tour starts in Peterborough on Nov. 25 and includes Ottawa, Montreal, New York, Indianapolis, Toronto as many points in-between as will have us (hopefully Chicago, Worcester, Boston, Washington DC, Hamilton, London, Burlington, Guelph, Syracuse, etc.)

We run your poetry through the ice-cream maker: what flavour do we get at the business end?

Shayne: The business end of the ice-cream maker? Or the business end of the whole equation? I think the answer to the latter is pretty obvious...

Johnny: Hemp beer!

Chris Masson by Way of Planet 10!

2010-05-24T00:07:00.000-07:00

To prepare Chris Masson for his upcoming feature at the final show of the ToF season, we subjected him to the usual drill...

Not sure what the "ToF drill" you are referring to is... sounds like the reason I avoid dentists.

Great questions! Here goes...

Rumour has it that you recently proposed marriage at the Van Slam Finals! Let us just say: that's some poetic stones you've got there! What was that experience like for you? And what did she say?

I don't remember ever being so nervous before a poem. Intense waves of negative self talk like "What are you thinking?! Who cares! You should have just written a GOOD poem and done this private act in PRIVATE." Add to that the usual jitters of debuting a very freshly written poem... And I was the last poet in the last round. I had all that time to sit and freak out. But it all went as well as I could have hoped it to. Better, actually. I'm surprised when I watch the video of it on youtube; I look mostly composed!

Let's slap a label on you: Poet? Performer? Spoken Word Artist? Slam Poet?

Slam poet is alright, but feels a bit limiting. Spoken word artist works too, though is a tad vague and even pretentious to some people. Poet is too navel gazing for me, and doesn't describe a whole other set of skills I utilize. So I like "Performance Poet". Though sometimes I feel like I have too many interests and pursuits to fill the potential of any giving discipline. I 've always got one foot in another arena and an eye on the next project.

And let's take that label off (cuz labels aren't nice): now who are you? How do you see yourself in the world?

I bring light. I stimulate. I educate. I heal. I learn. I create; I share; I inspire (I hope).

How'd ya get so funny? Something in the water when you were growing up, maybe?

Who knows. Youngest of four kids growing up in the country, maybe? Good water, yes. Helps brain work.

Funny mom. Punny dad. People listen more when you can make them laugh though. Spoonful of sugar and all that.

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

Grade 5. I asked the principal if I could read a poem about war that I wrote at The Remembrance Day assembly. The first lines went "Sometimes the pink/ Really makes me think/ About our lives/ And about our wives/ Who we leave behind/ When we give in to war." 16 years later, and now you are finally publishing that poem. I think a lot of my poems from that period had the words "pink" in them. I think I was heavily influenced by my older brother who was heavily influenced by getting high and watching The Wall.

What's the next poetry-related goal you want to fulfill?

To debut parts of my new long poem, "When the Shift Hits the Fan" at ToF. I'm writing it now. Hopefully I'll have a new chapbook to go with it.

Can you tell us about the poem you haven't written yet?

As a general rule, no. But that is a rule that I generally break. The Shift piece is a work of poetic fiction about how one guy loses himself and eventually finds inner peace after being convinced that the Earth is going to tilt on its axis in the next couple of years. Which it is, so it's a timely piece! I hope. I mean, I don't hope. But I believe.

What are the subjects that really engage you? Other than cosmic disaster as predicted by the Mayans...

Health and healing, geopolitics, being good to each other, the way we speak to each other, harmony, cat videos on youtube. And lately, the giant planet that is transiting our solar system, causing earthquakes and electromagnetic disturbances of all sorts, making the Earth wobble on its axis, and will eventually turn our planet on its side. And the cover up in place to distort the facts... Who doesn't love a good conspiracy? It's something that we need to be able to laugh at. That's sort of the point of the piece: if we can laugh at impending disaster, accept our place within it, we'll be at peace.

You've got Niburu on the brain and we like it! But let's say we run your poetry through the ice-cream maker: what flavour do we get at the business end?

Butter chicken in a naan bread cone!

Making Change with Seven Dollar Bill!

2010-05-12T12:48:00.000-07:00

Chris Gilpin and Sean McGarragle are Seven Dollar Bill and also our feature performers at Tongues of Fire this Thursday May 13! You should know that both fellahs have sexy telephone voices. Here's a little interview action ta whet yer whistles...

Chris, Sean. "Seven Dollar Bill". No such monetary unit exists, please explain yourselves...

CG: Incorrect!

Gah! Foiled!

CG: Actually the Molson Bank of Canada distributed seven dollar bills in the 1850s. If you're asking why in the province of Canada before Confederation our master brewer was also our monetary steward, my answer is: those were heady days.

You've both been a huge part of the Vancouver poetry landscape for quite a while. What changes have you seen? Speak to us of evolution; personally, professionally, artistically...

SM: As the community (both audience and poet base) we've gotten a lot more diverse and Grown in numbers. The first poet I saw do spoken word well was Shane Koyczan and I think along with C.R. Avery, Cass King, Babara Adler et all poets now see spoken word as a viable art form to invest their time in. I think our audience has grown also confident in spoken word as an art form and thus worth their time and money.

CG: I went to my first poetry slam at Café Deux Soleils in September 2005. The first poet I ever saw slam was Mike McGee. I was immediately hooked. There's a silly human tendency to always think things werE better back in the day, but I think the scene has only become richer, in poetic talent and diversity. And Mike remains an awesome fixture, sort of like Norm on Cheers, only with more rock star radness.

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

SM: I think I started reading my work at open mics back in 2004 but didn't migrate to our rather infamous poetry slam until the next year. Even then I only performed on occasion. I guess I really started to get into it in 2006 when I ended up being the alternate on the Van Slam team and got a chance to perform in Austin Texas for the National Poetry Slam down there. Those first times, much like today, I felt nervous...which I think is healthy.

CG: After seeing Mike in '05, I immediately turned to the other writers at my table and said "Two months from now, we have to do this!". They chickened out, but in December 2005, I slammed for the first time and came in third.

Chris, can you tell us a little bit about your WordPlay program?

Sure thing. It's our poetry in schools program, which was started as a pilot project back in 2004, and grown greatly since. We have a team of the best spoken word poets in Vancouver that we draw upon, sending poets in pairs to do workshops and performances in schools. We've worked with every grade level from one through twelve, sending poets from Squamish to Chilliwack and all points in-between.

The goal of the program is to make poetry come alive for students. Too often they have preconception of poetry being boring, but one good spoken word poet can change all that, real fast.

You can find out more by going to our website at: http://vancouverpoetryhouse.com/word-play

What's the next poetry-related goal you want to fulfill? As individual artists? As Seven Dollar Bill?

CG: I want to build a yacht out of haiku.

SM: I would really like to tour Europe next summer and put on The Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Championships in April or 2011. That... and breathe...

Can you tell us about the poem you haven't written yet?

CG: Yes, of course, it's a found poem, composed out of dirty Latin limericks passed between archbishops when the Pope is droning on and on.

SM: I would like to write a poem about our cat Zani... from Zani's perspective but thus far I am determined not to have it in translation... which makes it rather difficult.

What are the subjects that really engage you?

CG: Canadian identity. The absurdity of existence. Cheese.

SM: I'll echo Chris's statement here. Canadian identity, politics, interpersonal relationships.

Are y'all sick of Victoria yet?

Not by a long shot!!!

We run your poetry through the ice-cream machine: what flavour are we enjoying once the smoke clears?

Marmalade Benzine!

Hyper-Chakra Balancing with Nathanael Larochette!

2010-04-21T22:40:00.000-07:00

Nathanael's an Ontario poet who is so keen to perform for the ToF audience, that he came over to the Island two days early to hang out and grok our town! And answer a few question for the blog! Come check out his transcendent and transformative performance this Thursday April 22 at the Solstice Cafe...

One burning question we wanna get outta the way right off the bat: what's it like working with Raffi?

I actually didn't get to work for him, I just opened for him at a conference. When I finished, I sat down, felt a hand on my back, looked up, and there he was. He put out his hand and said "I'm Raffi"

Damn! Raffi! You do a lot of work with students and youth in Ottawa, introducing them to spoken word. What draws you to the kids and what do they take away from the experience?

I'm drawn to the raw potential they hold and I hope that they learn to express it creatively and honestly after the workshop.

Let's slap a label on you: Poet? Performer? Spoken Word Artist? Slam Poet?

How about, "Full-time Human being"...

Even better! And let's take that label off (cuz labels aren't nice): now who are you? How do you see yourself in the world?

I'm a person with gifts that I enjoy cultivating and sharing. I see myself as a mystical minstrel in a world full of magic.

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

I felt nervous, I think. That's probably right. Nervous excitement is usually the feeling. It was about... 5 years ago I'd say.

What's the next poetry-related goal you want to fulfill?

Perform a feature set at Tongues of Fire!

Done and done! Can you tell us about the poem you haven't written yet?

You mean the one that will change the consciousness of the entire world? It's a life-long work in progress.

Nice. What are the subjects that really engage you?

I really enjoy poems that stick with you for years. Ones that have amazing lines that are able to illuminate everything when you hear them.

We run your poetry through the ice-cream maker: what flavour do we get at the business end?

Enlighten-mint!

Shakin' Steve Miller's Tree...

2010-04-06T14:00:00.000-07:00

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!

ToF at the M Awards = WIN!

2010-03-31T10:15:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't heard or have been living in a cave/under a rock/at the bottom of the sea (ooh! we like that last option!) the M Awards is the annual Victoria arts community showcase/recognition ceremony put on by esteemed local weekly, Monday Magazine. Nominations and winners are decided by the public and last night, at a raucous and random gong-show of an awards night, Tongues of Fire took home the award for Favourite Performance/Cabaret Series!

Tongues of Fire has been putting on shows since 2005, so this recognition, this honour, is to be shared by all who've participated in making ToF what it is today. Thanks to all our audience(s), our poets (local and from elsewhere), our crazy volunteers (some degree of insanity is a pre-requisite for that gig, lemmetellya!) and of course the Solstice Cafe for being our home for so long.

"One for poetry, two for joy..."*

2010-03-19T16:22:00.000-07:00

Victoria's own (we love saying that!) Magpie Ulysses is our very special feature atTongues of Fire next Thursday (March 25th for those keeping score)... a stellar poet and a powerhouse performer, who knew she also gave really good interview?

We're used to stage names or 'poetic' names and they're usually pretty obvious and self-explanatory. Not so yours! For those who don't know, or have perhaps forgotten, what's going on with your stage name: a bird and the heroic Greek figure?

I collect a lot of things. As a result I was once called a Human Magpie by an Irish friend of a friend after showing him my collections. The Ulysses came from a bar chat with a bunch of poets after I mentioned that I was thinking about a stage name... On the "academic" side of things... the name represents the kind of juxtapositions that all good poetry should have. A trickster bird who loves shiny stuff, and a strong leader on the quest for self. But mostly, I thought it was funny because I am a recovering Hippie. Everyone seems to change their name when they move to the west coast and so I started signing up as such. Most people at first thought it was a joke. Some people said I might regret the stage name. It may be a tad schizophrenic once in a while but I love it. Magpie has her own life, she likes it that way.

Let's slap a label on you: Poet? Performer? Spoken Word Artist? Slam Poet?

Performance Poet. I started performing long before I ever knew that poetry slams or "spoken word" existed outside of hiphop.

And let's take that label off (cuz labels aren't nice): now who are you? How do you see yourself in the world?

Seriously? Can I really answer this question in a paragraph? This is why I write. I'll sort it out one day.

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

The first time!? I was 17. How long ago? I don't know, I'm a writer, not a mathematician!

I grew up in Alberta, and used to read at this super sweet poetry open mic at an awesome cafe on 17th Ave that I can never remember the name of. The owner, Peter, used to make everyone come in the back. He'd lock the front door and pack the cafe two Saturday night's a month. You had to be invited because (as he said) that way when the boys in blue showed up and asked what the hell was going on he could say that we were all his friends. Every reader was given 15 minutes, there would be three readers and then a 15 min break. It was an amazing time. I met a lot of writers, and was given some very profound positive feedback including an invitation to publish (one I never took).

The first time I was ever paid for poetry was when I was 19. I started a spoken word organization, one that still exists, in Lethbridge Alberta called Most Vocal, and was pushed and mentored by my friend (a local performance poet) Jac DePeuter, to perform my poetry and not just read it off a page. He said "you put too much time into writing the damn thing, to not put the time into reading it as well."

It inspired a whole world for me. I wrote some a'capella songs, and still remember my first performance poems. I did a full set for the first time at South Country fair in Ft. McLeod, Alberta. Everyone sat on the ground. I was sunburnt and stoned. It went over pretty well. I made friends who have lasted.

What's the next poetry-related goal you want to fulfill?

I need to put out a full length CD. It has been five years since I started performing in Vancouver (and elsewhere) on a regular basis. I would love to create something that has a unified flow from beginning to end. Poems that hold on their own, but also string together as one long story. Like a really great instrumental album with few pauses in between poems. Perhaps I will include music, but more likely many voices. I like to think of the spoken voice as an instrument. It would be fun to work with that.

Can you tell us about the poem you haven't written yet?

It's about falling in love with a three year old, and I mean really, not just thinking he's rad because all kids are rad, but we really fell in love with each other. It's about having many types of soul mates. It's mostly about friendship, the language we have and don't use to express these things, and about longing.

What are the subjects that really engage you?

I am always inspired by all the unspoken things in our lives. The things that don't get talked about. I love words, so finding fascinating ways to express these inner most quiet experiences tend to be my goal. At the moment, I am very inspired to write things that hold light within them. Things can get really dark when you start to look at unspoken thoughts and inaction, so I am really excited to be writing about these things and finding light and humour within all of our "darkest" places.

We run your poetry through the ice-cream maker: what flavour do we get at the business end?

Likely Pistachio with a hint of cayenne. It is sweet and smooth and earthy tasting at the core, but gives you a little jab at the end that remains to sting... but not for too long.

* adapted from an old nursery rhyme bout magpies...

photography by Patrick Shannon

Michael McCarthy Interview...

2010-03-02T08:39:00.000-08:00

For the fourth and final show in our Aboriginal Showcase series, we're happy to introduce poet, storyteller and musician Michael McCarthy! Before the game on Sunday, we sat down for a coffee with Michael, just to prep him for the awesomeness that is the Tongues of Fire experience and ask him a few questions 'bout his life and art...

You grew up in Ucluelet and are of Nuu-chah-nulth ancestry. Tell us about your Nuu-chal-nulth name and what it means, both culturally and to yourself personally...

So my name, Chees Qualth, means "one who gathers wealth". It was my fathers first name and he passed it on to me before he passed away (going home). What it means to me is living up to his name and life.

In your professional life, you're deeply involved with addictions counseling and building cross-cultural bonds through communication and awareness. Does storytelling play a part in that and how?

Stories are tools that teach without teaching and they help me deal with the most basic aspects of communication. Stories help me realize that we are all the same at the end of the day.

We've been told your poetry is "non-traditional". While we're all for being surprised at ToF, we're wondering if you can tell us what you mean by that?

They're non-traditional in the in the way that the most common voice in the Indian world is focused on addictions, death, and suicide, among others, including managing poverty. I wanted my poetry to reflect love, happiness and compassion.

You're an artist of diverse talents; poet, storyteller, photographer... do you identify more strongly with one mode of expression over another?

Years ago I thought 'if I only did one what would it be?'; then I knew I could not do just one because I get creative in many ways and am inspired by many events and those effect me on different levels.

Is there a poem you haven't written yet? One that you aspire to write?

I think about writing poetry based on dreams I've had that have been life changing for me; most of them you could say were not dreams but a higher state of consciousness.

What are the subjects that really engage you?

They are all within happiness!

If your poetry was a flavour of ice cream, what would it be?

Blue cheese! Full of flavour and body.

Announcing the ToF LOGO DESIGN CONTEST for Season Six!

2010-03-01T12:22:00.000-08:00

What do you love?

Poetry?
A good scotch?
Perhaps playin around with graphic design in the quiet moments?

Sure, who doesn't? Well, maybe not everyone does. But everyone loves sweet prizes! And for the ToF Logo Design Contest, we've set y'all up with the sweetest!

We're looking for a new logo (cuz that Celtic dragon has breathed his brim-stoney last!) and want you to help us git branded for Season Six. So let your imagination run wild! And though we can't tell you what to do, we'd appreciate it if you relegated things like "microphones" and "actual fire/smoke" to the graphical back-burner. See? It's actually quite a challenge! But we know you're good for it.

Post your design ideas to the Wall of this event. Or send them to toflogodesigncontest@gmail.com. Or just bring hardcopy to one of our amiable hosts at a Tongues of Fire show between now and the show on April 22! We'll take everything from super-complex photoshop genius bombs to something you doodled on a napkin in a fit of inspiration. We'll pick a winner from the submissions. Don't worry, we'll know it when we see it.

Oh yeah. The sweet prize. Ready?

Seasons Pass to Season Six of Tongues of Fire. That's almost Twenty (20) Shows of awesome local poetry and spoken word. For FREE.

Yeah. Good deal!

The Future!!! (Or At Least the Next 3 Months...)

2010-02-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

It's difficult to grok, we know, but consider: after Shannon Rayne refreshes the Solstice next Thursday, there's only THREE MONTHS LEFT of Tongues of Fire Season Five! That's only six shows before the poetic dry spell that is a Victoria summer (though we're working on other things to make that period palatable)... so here's a little preview of the features that will be taking us to the inevitable climax. So to speak.

March 11: local storyteller and musician Michael J McCarthy will be joining us for the last installment of our Aboriginal Showcase Series. Michael is Nuu-chah-nulth from Ucluelet. His Nuu-chah-nulth name is Chees Qualth and he will be bringing us his flute, his non-traditional poetry, and stories about his gramma.

March 25: Magpie Ulysses. You know what's awesome? We can type out her name and that's pretty much all we need do. Magpie Ulysses. Magpie Ulysses! Magpie Ulysses!!

April 8: the Space Cowboy will be touching down in Victoria this day... Steve Miller. Bring sunscreen, 's gonna get bright in here.

April 22: Nathanael Larochette, all the way from Eastern Canada. A legend.

May 13: this is the penultimate ToF show. We know who's featuring but we're gonna keep it under wraps for now due to it's potent sweetness.

May 27: FINAL SHOW! See listing for May 13, then multiply by ten. This one's not under wraps, it's in a lead-lined box at the bottom of the Inner Harbour. Excitement!

Gettin' Busy with Shannon Rayne!

2010-02-17T07:43:00.000-08:00

February 25th will see Shannon Rayne entertaining us from the Solstice Stage. So we here at ToF ran her through the standard boilerplate and got some seriously non-standard answers...

ToF: So... what's with all the sex in your poetry?

The less sex I seem to actually have in my life, the more I write about it!

Seriously, the erotic poetry started out as a joke. For an erotic themed slam, I set out to write the most anti-erotic thing I could think of – scrubbing dirty dishes (because I thought erotica was silly). I had so much fun writing the Dirty Dishes Poem the metaphor ran away on me. I ended up with a both a political and a sexy poem!

ToF: Have you always been this racy and how do you feel this serves the feminist aspect of your poetry?

For me, the desire to celebrate, ask for and receive great sex is a feminist act because you first have to recognize that you are worth it, and celebrate your own body and unique desires.

Almost all of my sensual poems are women focused. When I set out to write an Ode to Cunnilingus I was shocked that it didn’t already exist on the internet. There are countless (mostly bad poems) about giving head to men, but none that celebrated one of the biggest sexual pleasures in a woman’s life, the ‘Southern Kiss’.

ToF: So, it's about time! Nice. Please tell us a little about dinosaurs and why they make the best subjects for racy poems...

Dinosaurs were huge, large, primitive, savage….does this not cry out ‘sexy’?!

Seriously, Ferno House Press did a call out for ‘Dinosaur Porn Poems’ for a new anthology. They envisioned ‘dinosaur’ to be either the large prehistoric animal, or the *idea* of being extinct, not adapting well to change or being enormous in size. I wrote about the latter: primitive desires, outdated ways of thinking about sex, and of course what one can do with something unwieldy in size! Three of my poems appear in anthology.

ToF: If you had to label yourself as an artist, what would it be? Poet? Performer? Spoken Word Artist? Slam Poet? Why?

My new favorite term is creative literary artist! But I usually call myself a performance poet.

I AM ABSOLUTELY NOT A SLAM POET! A slam is an event. In my eyes, there is no such thing as a slam poet. I am a poet that participates in the slam.

ToF: Aha! Good answer. The right answer!

My poems (even the ones you will hear on a slam stage) appear in literary journals, in video poems, in a fun DJ track, and in text based mixed media art installations in an art gallery. Once, I even turned a long poem into a character driven monologue that interrupted a Shamanic ritual as part of performance art event. The term slam boxes performance poets in. I don’t like boxes.

I like to be different, and I enjoy exposing different audiences to poetry in unexpected ways.

ToF: How did you feel the first time you stepped up a mic to read what you had written? How long ago was that?

I was so terrified I asked every musician friend I had to join me on stage to play behind the poem. That was about 4 years ago.

ToF: You were a member of the Winnipeg Slam Team in 2007. What lessons did you pull from that experience?

**Believe** in yourself, in your own art and unique way of artistic expression (especially if you do not sound like the popular poets) because if you don’t love your own voice and poetry why would anyone else.

ToF: Last time you featured at ToF was during our 07/08 season... how have you changed since then?

I think my two posters say it all! My first one featured a dial from a 1950s oven, claiming that I was ‘Winnipeg’s softer, gentler slam poet’. This year’s poster features a bikini clad, warrior woman firing an arrow at a growling triceratops!!

The first time I was the soft spoken girl from the prairies that had little experience on a stage. Since moving to Vancouver, I’ve been exposed to larger raucous audiences hunger for stronger voices.

Unlike the dinosaur, I have adapted well to the change in my environments!

ToF: What's the next poetry-related goal you want to fulfill?

I’d like to perform poetry with a musically inclined group and I would like to have a book of poems published in the next five years.

ToF: What is the poem you haven't written yet? You know, the poem that you aspire to write.

When sex goes wrong.

33 % of all women will experience at least one episode of sexual pain or discomfort during intercourse at some point in their life (I used to be a women’s health researcher).

I want to write a poem for those women, to expose their secret suffering, to inspires them to seek help, to understand their own bodies and to demand responsible and timely health care and understanding from their partners because the psychological and physical pain can be managed, transformed and even celebrated.

I like a big but worthy challenge, I guess.

ToF: What are the subjects that are really inspire / engage you?

I still got a thing for kitchens, domestic work, and the silent distance between people, but it has expanded now to uncertainty, escapism and the unspoken.

ToF: We'll forgo the standard "poetry as ice cream flavour" question and just go for the gusto: if your poetry was a fornicating dinosaur, what dinosaur would it be and in what position?

A Therizinosaurus (because it looks unlike the others) trying out everything until she and her lover are mutually satisfied!

A Few Questions for John Akpata...

2010-02-05T13:21:00.000-08:00

John Akpata will be raising the temperature at the Solstice Cafe next week on his first visit to the West Coast. It promises to be an uncompromising evening so in that spirit, we asked him a few probing questions...

ToF: Nobody likes labels, but if you had to label yourself as an artist, what would it be? Poet? Performer? Spoken Word Artist? Slam Poet? Why?

I consider myself first and foremost to be a poet. A poet that is a performer, spoken word artist, and musician. It is my words that have driven my artistic machine; musicians work with me because of my words; it is my words that have the most amount of power.

ToF: You've traveled to the DR and Jamaica and Nigeria in the last year. Tell us what forms spoken word is taking there and how your travels have influenced your work.

Nigeria / Jamaica showed me the roots of the tradition up close and personal. DR showed me the same but in Spanish. I am following the tradition of the Griot, not just an entertainer. All of my travels have given me more fire, more vision, and more reach.

ToF: As a member of the Marijuana Party of Canada, you've run in three federal elections so far. What place does poetry, and your poetry specifically, hold in the political arena?

Politicians are terrified of me because I speak the truth. I do research, I have facts and statistics, I make a few jokes, and I drop some poetry (powerful word play and speech) whenever and wherever I can. In the last election I wrote a poem for the Marijuana Party TV commercial, which was a success.

ToF: What's the next poetry-related goal you want to fulfill?

My next goal is to 'arrive' internationally. Opening for Linton Kwesi Johnson in Scotland will be a huge moment for me. I hope to launch my own website, finish my live CD, and start being a successful artist, as opposed to a starving artist.

ToF: What is the poem you haven't written yet? You know, the poem that you aspire to write.

The poems that I have not yet written are words for my mother and father - I do not think they are ready yet, but I will have to do that as quickly as I can.

ToF: What are the subjects that are really inspire / engage you?

Politics and the war against fuckry are what keeps me going. That and love.

ToF: And now the (obligatory) ice-cream question: what flavour is your poetry?

My poetry is fire flavour. Spicy with a hint of sweet - but never bitter.

John Akpata at Tongues of Fire Feb 11!

2010-02-04T07:27:00.000-08:00

Following close on the heels of Vic Slam on the 9th, Tongues of Fire presents John Akpata on his debut visit to the westiest of coasts! Here's the facebook event...

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=286220126268#!/ical/event.php?eid=286220126268

... and watch this space for an interview with the man himself.

Speak Your Space

2009-11-25T09:34:00.000-08:00

You may not know but Tongues of Fire has a mandate. A central axiom that we strive to live, and well, do shows by. It is:

Tongues of Fire strives to make poetry more inclusive, accessible and entertaining.

Pretty simple, and it has helped us create our three rules (especially 'Leave your hate - at the gate) and build shows that expand the definition of spoken word like Poetry in the Raw.

So now we're teaming up with the Positive Space Network to bring you a new one-time-only, special fundraising show: Speak Your Space, December 3 at the Solstice Cafe.

But wait- who is the Positive Space Network?

Glad you asked. We sat down with Tongues of Fire regular and Positive Space Network to get the answers straight from them. Here's ToF with Pamela Brown:

ToF: Who is the Positive Space Network? What's the goal of the organization?

Pamela Brown: The Positive Space Network is a visible network of students, faculty, staff and alumni who are working to make the University of Victoria a safer and more inclusive space for people of all genders and sexualities.

ToF: Why did you decide to do a evening of spoken word as a fundraiser? What about the art form appeals to creating positive space?

PB: It's not just spoken word... it's the community that gathers around it - esp. around ToF and Solstice Cafe! An inclusive space where people can share their creativity and stories with an attentive and respectful audience is powerful and empowering. It's also a hell of a lot of fun.

ToF: Who are the features? What are their styles of performing? What can we expect?

PB: The feature presenters represent students, staff and faculty at UVic. Paula Johanson is staff at UVic who also writes speculative fiction for youth, Lyn Davies is a faculty member and a poet, Sherrie-Ellen Silman is a writing student at UVic. They all bring something different - I've never seen any of them perform (I'm still new in town, remember) but I think it's going to be a great show.

To find out more about the Positive Space Network or to get involved email psn@uvic.ca or visit their website for more details.

Vic Slam Team Brings the Verse

2009-10-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

So all summer long the Victoria Slam Team: Dave Morris, Skawt Chonzz, Matthew Christopher Davidson and Me (Missie Peters) have been rocking the mic for various causes like anarchism, the Pacific, Solstice Cafe and among others.

And now we want to bring it home- we can't wait to perform for you- our Tongues of Fire family. And it's our last opportunity to just have some fun before this sh*t get serious and we compete in the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word November 10-14.

I've really enjoyed being part the team this year, especially because we've practiced together so much, traveled to Vancouver to compete and generally had fun challenging each other.

So if you want a taste of CFSW, come and check us out on October 22 at Solstice Cafe!

Missie Peters

1/5 of the Victoria Slam Team

2009-10-01T10:10:00.000-07:00

The sky is turning dark, the wind is howling, so why not get cozy and find out more about our next feature, Vancouver's Matt Rader?

ToF: You're mostly a page poet. How do you describe the difference between poetry for the page, and poetry for the stage? Or do you see a difference?

MR: The only difference I see between performance poets and page poets and visual poets is emphasis of particular tools. He likes the nail gun, he likes the hammer, he likes bashing it in with a rock. I think of myself as the emissary of the poem.

When I read and when I write, the poem is the performance.

ToF: According to your website you ran your own publishing company, Mosquito Press. What life lessons did you learn from entering the world of publishing?

MR: That it can be done. That it can be fun. And when it's not fun it's done.

ToF: Who are the poets that have most influenced your work? Why?

MR: Hard question actually. Hard to know when the influences are on me as a man or on my work.

Certainly Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley. Then Louis MacNeice, Auden, Yeats, Thomas Hardy. Then Keats, Herbert, Shakespeare. Virgil. Horace. It's kind of like the sweater that unravels if you pull one strand. What's a Heaney sonnet without a Yeats sonnet without Keats sonnet without a Shakespeare sonnet without a Dante sonnet, etc.

Lately it's been an Irishman named John Ennis. Perhaps the most underrated poet of his generation. I'd like to mention a few of my contemporaries in Canada though and a few older poets who made my work possible. Patrick Lane and Don McKay. Russell Thornton. Ken Babstock. David O'Meara. Elise Partridge. Elizabeth Bachinsky. Chris Hutchinson. All poets who I can feel elbowing me line by line.

Also, Matthew Hooton, who is my longest serving writing friend. Knowing he's out there has made all the difference. The work is what it is because of the relationship it has to both tradition and to community. That's how we make meaning: against what surrounds us.

ToF: What are the subjects that are really inspiring or engaging you right now?

MR: Dutch immigration to Canada. The body in pain. The trickster. Getting up in the morning.

ToF: On a lighter note, if your poetry was a flavour of icecream, what flavour would it be?

MR: Red cedar. Go ahead, think about it.

To check out Matt's many published works (and to see more photos!) visit http://www.mattrader.com/

Head in the Clouds... It's Brendan McLeod

2009-09-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

September is for Fugitives as Tongues of Fire bringing you another member of the hit Canadian Storytelling Rock group The Fugitives - Brendan McLeod!

And hey- did you know The Fugitives will be rocking the stage late night at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word http://www.cfsw09.com/

Here's a taste of Brendan, for the whole meal deal come out to ToF this Thursday at 7:30:

http://www.myspace.com/brendanmcleod

September is the month for Fugitives

2009-08-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

The Fugitives that is. As in Barbara Adler and Brendan McLeod!

That's right, on September 10th we're bringing you the tall half of the Fugitives as Barbara rocks the mic at Tongues of Fire.

Here's a quick preview of her awesomeness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh6J8iOHJ7c

Text Poetry -Eyes Closed

2009-08-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

At our first show of the season an interesting theme emerged- poets kept asking the audience to close their eyes or refer to 'eyes closed' sooooo....

We solicited text message poems based on the theme! This is what the ToF audience came up with:

"An eye closed sees only the entire interior Universe."

"eyes closed
dream of integrated hope
a democracy of idealistic joys
built by our better effort"

"In the darkness
Away from the lives of the world
I hide from the ruling blue.

"I want to paint eye balls on my lids so that I can see everything when I nap."

"If my eyes open when the sun
takes its daily trip across the sky
I will never feel the texture of blood
on my tongue again."

"Drfiting in and out.
Flashing colors across the eyelid screen
as my other senses yawn
and wake up."

"When I close my eyes
I shut out the other
and am only
myself."

"Crashed, collided iris at iris
beyond the final insertion
beyond the least connection
beyond..."

Season Line-Up

2009-08-11T11:11:00.000-07:00

There's no need to keep it a secret - we've got awesome features coming this Fall season and you'll want to clear your schedule so that you can hear them.

Here's Who's Rocking the Mic in '09:
August 13 - Elyse Maltin (Ontario)
August 27 - Janet Rogers (Gulf Islands)

Sept 10 - Barbara Adler (Vancouver)
Sept 24 - Brendan McLeod (Vancouver)

Oct 8 - Chris Gilpin & Sean McGarragle (Vancouver)
Oct 22 - Victoria Slam Team (Local)

Nov 10-14 -Canadian Festival of Spoken Word (Slam @ VEC)
Nov 26 - Nathaniel Larochette (Ottawa)

Dec 10 - Jeremy Loveday (Korea)

Exclusive Chat with ToF feature Elyse Maltin

2009-08-06T11:57:00.000-07:00

She's got hair most people would kill for, a voice that everyone stops to listen to, and more things to say than a monk coming off of a vow of silence - it's Ontario's Elyse Maltin.

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

E: i usually use the term "spoken word poet" or "spoken word artist" when asked, but i'm not really sure how i arrived at that--probably because i don't feel like "poet" adequately captures the performance aspect, and because i don't like it when people use the terms "slam poet" or "slam poetry". i know there is a sort of a style that we associated with slam, but i think that using those terms confuses people that don't understand that a poetry slam is just a very particular type of spoken word poetry competition.

ToF: How did you feel the first time you stepped up a mic to read what you had written? How long ago was that?

E: the first time i stepped to a mic, i was terrified and shaking. it was in nov 2007. i had been devouring hours of def poetry jam online every day, after a friend introduced me to it, and decided "i can do that!". a week later, i saw a poster for a slam at school, and entered. unlike in a "real" slam, the judges were all from the english department, and they told me that with my feminist rant, my politics overwhelmed my art. so i started my own slam!

ToF: Ok- let's get a little 'Dating Game' here: if your poetry was a flavor of icecream what kind would it be?

E: if my poetry was a flavour of ice cream, i think it would probably be ginger--a little bit spicy, a little bit sweet, and makes you think.

ToF: You're organizing slam in your hometown and touring now, what's next on the list?

E: i hadn't really thought about my next poetry-related goal. i guess there are a few. the biggest two that come to mind are starting to write more consistently, and getting the london slam to a place where i can confidently hand it over to other members of the community.

ToF: What's the next poetry-related goal you want to fulfill? What is the poem you haven't written yet? You know, the poem that you aspire to write.

E: the poem i haven't written yet is the one about my mom's illness. my best friend is always encouraging me to get more personal with my writing, and i've tried starting that poem, but i haven't been able to delve deep enough to continue or finish it.

ToF: Are you excited to be coming back for the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in November?

E: i'm SO pumped to be getting to visit victoria twice in one year, and to get the chance to be at CFSW again. i'm also very excited that we will be flying this year--driving out to calgary with 5 poets in one crowded an was the experience of a lifetime, but i'm looking forward to a more relaxed travel plan this time around.

Check out Elyse online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSgcl8zRwVM

OMG- We're Back!

2009-08-05T13:56:00.001-07:00

ToF is coming back early this year, with our first show of the new season August 13th.

(wild cheering from the teeming hordes)

Yes, we missed you too. What say we get together, share our summer poetry, have a cup of tea or joe and kick back to a refreshing feature?

First feature of the year is Ontario's Elyse Maltin. She's rocking and resplendent and radical. And other R words too.

See you there!

Thank You to Everyone

2009-06-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know that sounds pretty cheesy, but it's true that Tongues of Fire is an entirely volunteer organization and only happens because people like you come to the show, help set-up, make posters, bring their friends, get up on the open mic for the first time, make friends, do sound, host for the first time, be a friend... you get the idea?

We've built something beautiful (I know - cheesy) together, and we're not finished. Check out the Slam Team at the Festival of the Folk on June 25 for a start. Plus, we're back in August with summer shows, and of course, CFSW in November!

I have really enjoyed getting to know you this year (yes you!) and I hope to see you again soon.

Thank you,

Everyone.

Missie

Summertime and the poetry is easy...

2009-06-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

Sigh. Tongues of Fire.

We know, we miss it too. That's why we're bringing you the third annual Spoken Word Night at the Solstice Festival of the Folk.

It's even on a Thursday.

This will be a star-studded night with performances from:
Victoria's own Joe McDougall

Victoria Slam Team (Skawt Chonnz, Matthew Chistopher Davidson, Davis Morris, Jane Bee and Missie Peters)

All the way from Van, it's Awesome Face (RC Weslowski, and Chris Gilpin)

So put on your summer flip flops and head on down to the Solstice for a night of sizzlin' poetry!

June 25 7-10pm Solstice Cafe
$15 @ the door

ToF Wrap Up Party!

2009-05-21T10:55:00.001-07:00

Yep. It's been a long and glorious year for Tongues of Fire.

We've had fantastic features, both new and returning, added new friends to our family, and now breaking -only for the summer- to plan next year's Poetry in the Raw and the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word.

There's a lot to celebrate. So bring some libations to 16 Howe St. on May 30 for our Wind-Up Wrap-Up party!

See Facebook event for details:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2352786239#/event.php?eid=96889142585

ps- you look good.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Mighty Mike McGee

2009-05-08T16:04:00.000-07:00

ToF is going out with a bang for the 08/09 season with our biggest feature EVER: Mike McGee.

With a love of pudding, a history of getting into eating contests with Death and a carnal knowledge of puppets, Mike McGee is the best time you can have sitting down.

Here's a little taste to whet your appetite:

See you at Solstice Cafe May 28!

Mighty Mike MeGee May 28!

2009-04-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

This year, as our finale we have (drum roll please)....

Mighty Mike MeGee!

This is one show you will NOT want to be late for. Bring your friends, and your lovers, this is a our last show of the season, and we don't need a reason to pull out all the stops!

Don't worry- we'll be back in August for another great year.

ToF Performance Workshop

2009-04-06T10:01:00.001-07:00

Hey ToF wants to build our community skills. That's why we are offering a special performance workshop with improviser and storyteller Dave Morris.

This is a great opportunity to find your style, learn your tells and hone your performance.

Thursday, April 30

Belvagor Studios

$50.00 for 4 hours. Bursaries are available.

To register email iamthemissing@gmail.com.

Check out the Facebook event:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=75822566227

Why Snap?

2009-03-27T10:56:00.000-07:00

A poet forgets their line, and into the silence comes a chorus of snaps...

A performer says something heavy on the mic, and is answered by approving snaps...

What is this snap thing we do anyway?

Well. I guess you could say it goes all the way back to the beat poets, with their berets and smokey lounges. But I think there are some good reasons to snap instead of clap at a poetry reading.

First, when a poet forgets a line, it's a sign of encouragement, and a way to fill the dead air with something while they remember. Snapping is support without interruption.

Second, when a poet says something that really resonates with you, you can snap your approval instead of clapping, again, this shows support without interruption.

So snap away baby! The power is in your fingers.

Who Do You Want to See?

2009-03-24T11:38:00.000-07:00

Well it's that time again, grant writing time. What it means is we get to put together a wishlist of who we want to see in next year.

So who did you love this year? Who do you want to see again? Who have we never had, but should? Let's get a list of awesomeness going, so that next year will be, well, awesome!

Add your ideas as comments.

A Taste of... Marla O'Marla!

2009-03-23T11:55:00.000-07:00

Marla O'Marla will be featuring at ToF along with GLuke this Thursday March 26 at Solstice Cafe. Here's a little something to get you stoked:

Victoria Poetry Slam - March 19th

2009-03-19T15:51:00.001-07:00

Come down and check out the Victoria Poetry Slam tonight for a 2-for-1 special at the door! More information here.

March 12, 2009 - Tongues of Fire featuring Joe McDougall and Sasha Mann

2009-03-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

Interested in having piping hot poetry poured into your ears by two of Victoria's finest young maverick poets?

It's locals month at Tongues of Fire and we're bringing you a very special, very fresh double header: the combined poetic talents of Joe McDougall and Sasha Mann.

McDougall's poetry is rich in character and narrative and Mann's poetry is up front and unapologetic. Enjoy them both for only $5!

Open Mic starts at 7:30, but show up earlier if you're looking to take to the stage. Hosted by Solstice Cafe, at 529 Pandora St, downtown Victoria.

Updated Poetry Slam Scores

2009-03-09T22:58:00.000-07:00

Just a quick heads up to everyone: the standing scores for the Victoria Poetry Slam season so far have been posted over at the Victoria Poetry Slam blog! Go check them out! Now! I'm running out of exclamation marks!

ToF: Building Our Community

2009-03-05T16:22:00.000-08:00

Almost twenty people showed up on Monday night to discuss the accomplishments of Tongues of Fire and to dream about the coming year. And boy, is it going to be a big one!

The great news is, that thanks to our grant, this is one poetry scene that is actually breaking even. Thanks to Janice our amazing treasurer.

ToF is hosting the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word (CFSW) so all extra funds will go to putting that event on. Also, we plan to use Poetry in the Raw as a fundraiser.

ToF usually takes a break in the summer, but with the festival coming up, we voted to take a shorter break and come back full swing in August. There will be a show in June as part of the Festival of the Folk and Full shows in August. Now you'll get poetry in the summer too!

We ended the meeting with a lively discussion of where to go with Tongues of Fire next year. We still have several months after the festival to plan extra shows and build our capacity. We voted to make a new workshop director, who will bring requests forward and make extra shows and workshops happen. So if you have an idea- let us know!

Finally, thanks to all the volunteers who raised a hand and are now going to be helping out. Interested? There's always room for more- we need door people, sound, grant writers etc. Just ask the host at any ToF show.

Sound exciting? We certainly think so. 2009 is the Year of the Fire. Tongues of Fire, that is.

Victoria Poetry Slam Tonight!

2009-03-05T13:30:00.001-08:00

Come on down to the Solstice Cafe (529 Pandora Ave) at 7:30 pm tonight to get your weekly fix of microphone magic as Victoria's slam poets go head-to-head at this month's first Victoria Poetry Slam. $5 at the door, and show up early if you want to compete!

Follow the Victoria Slam at our blog here.

Facebook event here.

Calendar of Upcoming Events - March

2009-03-01T18:27:00.000-08:00

Alright folks, looks like we've got an event-packed month coming up, with something to fill those blank spots on your calendars every Thursday this month and our Annual General Meeting tonight (March 2nd, 2009).

Monday, March 2nd, 2009 - It's our Annual General Meeting tonight, so meet us at the Belvagor Studios, at 562 Yates St in downtown Victoria, to take part. Runs from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm.

Thursday, March 5th - Our first local Poetry Slam of the month, starting up at 7:30 pm at the Solstice Cafe at 529 Pandora St in downtown Victoria. $5 at the door. Make sure to show up at 7:00 pm for sign-ups if you'd like to compete. For more information, follow us at our Victoria Poetry Slam Blog.

Thursday, March 12 - Come for the searing open mic and stay for the local flavour double feature at our first Tongues of Fire of the month, featuring Joe McDougall and Sasha Mann. Open mic starts at 7:30 pm, show up early to sign up. Hosted by the Solstice Cafe at 529 Pandora St, downtown Victoria. $5 at the door.

Thursday, March 19 - Our second slam of the month, at the Solstice Cafe at 529 Pandora St, downtown Victoria. Starts at 7:30 pm, but make sure to show up earlier if you'd like to sign up. For more information, follow us at our Victoria Poetry Slam Blog.

Thursday, March 26 - More local poets take to the stage for another double feature with our second Tongues of Fire of March, featuring GLuke and Marla O'Marla. Open mic starts at 7:30 pm, show up early to sign up. Hosted by the Solstice Cafe at 529 Pandora St, downtown Victoria. $5 at the door.

Tongues of Fire Annual General Meeting - Monday, March 2nd, 2009

2009-03-01T11:04:00.000-08:00

Come down to Belvagor Studios (at 562 Yates St, downtown Victoria) on Monday, March 2nd, for our Annual General Meeting for the Tongues of Fire poetry community. This is your chance to learn about what's happened this year, say where you want Tongues of Fire to go, find out how you can get involved and learn about all the exciting things we have in store for the coming season.

And yes, there will be snacks.

If you have ever got on the mic, come to a show, helped out, performed, thought about getting involved, you should come to this meeting. Tongues of Fire is about community and community is you!

Follow here for updates or check out the Facebook event.

Freeby!

2009-01-18T23:37:00.000-08:00

Looking forward to another great show this Thursday with the amazing Ivan E. Coyote. In the meantime to hold the fans over here's a free wallpaper for your computer to show your Tongues of Fire love.

Here's a link to the high resolution version.

2009-01-06T15:57:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that the latest edition of Sparks should be out at Tongues of Fire on Thursday. It's a steal at only $5! Yes, that's right...for only $10 you can get into an amazing kick-ass show featuring Chris Gilpin and also get a beautiful locally made chapbook! Support your local poets and please submit to future editions by e-mailing your beautiful heartwarming poem about your cat to sparkssubmissions@gmail.com. (Non-cat related poetry also accepted. Begrudgingly accepted.) Sparks also has a sparkling new blog which you should check it out! That is all.

Update

2008-12-29T15:44:00.000-08:00

As it turns out...R.C. Weslowski will be unable to join us on the eighth. Nonetheless, Chris Gilpin promises you, the Tongues of Fire audience, that he will rock the mic at least twice as hard to make up for it. If that doesn't convince you, perhaps this poster will.

It's going to be so great!

Happy New Year!

2008-12-28T20:24:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the new Tongues of Fire blog! Better bookmark this baby because you'll want to be able to reference this quickly. We'll be updating it with info on upcoming shows, features, special events and nude photos of Steven J. Thompson.

The first half of the season has gone off without a hitch. We've had some amazing features and consistently impressive open mics. We'll be kicking off our second 'semester' with a mind-blowing double feature. Those of you who made it to the last show of '08 will already be well familiar with the delightful work of Mr. R.C. Weslowski. He will be returning sans Brendan McLeod but avec Chris Gilpin. If you weren't impressed enough with him already perhaps you will be after learning that R.C. had been on the Vancouver Slam Team, FIVE effing times! (That's a lot!) He was also one of the poets of honour at this years Canadian Festival for Spoken Word and has done a lot of other stuff you would probably find impressive but we think his work speaks for itself so check out the fabulous absurdity of it all on his MySpace.

What's that? You're wondering who this "Chris Gilpin" character is? Well, you may remember him from last year under his dearly departed stage alias "Faust Mackenzie" or you may have no idea who he is. If you haven't had the pleasure of seeing Chris perform you better make sure you're at the Solstice Cafe on January 8th for the first show of 2009. If you want to check out Chris's work in the meantime so you can yell out requests and make him feel like he has a fan base in Victoria you can go to his MySpace. (Yes, all us poets still use MySpace-- it's so vintage, makes you feel like you're back in 2006!)

Well, that's about all the updates for now but please check back regularly for info on future shows as well as the Slams which will be taking place on the third Thursday of every month at Solstice.