First Monthly Writing Workshop!

Interested in the slam but not feeling confident enough to compete yet?

Been slamming for a while and wanting to push yourself to a new level or take a new approach?

Starting in October, the Peterborough Poetry Collective will be offering a workshop space on the second Thursday of the month from 5-7pm at the Spill.

We've talked about the need for this space for a long while, so we're stoked to finally be offering it. Bring your writing or just a blank notebook. The workshop will be spent on whatever participants need: writing exercises, practice on the mic, feedback on poems, performance tips. Let’s share our expertise and support one another in the challenge of writing for performance!

This month the workshop will be facilitated by Ziy.

The workshop will be followed by a Peterborough Spoken Word Collective meeting. All are invited to attend.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

5-7pm

The Spill Cafe

September Scores

Cumulative Scores After Two Rounds

The next slam is on Thursday, October 25th.

Thanks to everyone for participating!

1) Wes - 56.4

2) J. Reid - 54.4

3) Taro - 54.1

4) Caroline - 50.2

5) Jess - 47.8

And.... we're back!

Hey everyone!

It's been a while since we've posted here, but we're going to start posting regularly because we know not everyone is on facebook (or wants to be.)

The regular slam is back, the last Thursday of every month at the Spill Cafe in downtown Peterborough. Sign-up starts at 7:30 and the slam is at 8pm. Cost is $5 or PWYC. ALL are welcome.

We have lots of great features lined up for the season. We'll keep you posted month to month.

And we'll be posting scores here too.

If you do wanna connect at facebook, we're Peterborough Poetry Slam.

Hope to hear you on the mic soon,

-yer slam collective

Thurs.Feb.23rd Feature Poet: Dane Swan

#BlackHistoryMonth #DaneSwan #PyroFlys #DJMarioRoldan #PTBOPoetrySlam

With the success of the last Peterborough Slam, the Poetry Collective hopes to keep the ball rolling with a change of venue and theme. We encourage all poets to come showcase their material either in the open-mic or the slam format.

Sign-Up @ 7:30
Open-Mic/Slam @ 8:00
$5 or PWYC

This Black History Month edition of the Peterborough Poetry Slam will feature Toronto veteran Dane Swan who has featured in more than a dozen North American cities and competed in numerous poetry slams, including the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word (placing 2nd) and the Rust Belt Regional Slam (placing 3rd), with the Toronto Team. In addition to his live performances, Dane has published anthologies of his work and contributed to various CD projects.

The fiery battle of words will be followed by a fireshow presented by PyroFlys Circus which is certain to awe and amaze the audience.

To really give this slam a change of scene, we will be ending the night with some music and dancing with our good friend DJ Mario Roldan, so come give us what you got!

Normal slam rules will apply:

- two round slam

- no props, costumes, or music

- 3 minute 10 second time limit, per poem

- half-point deduction for every 10-seconds overtime

- 5 judges chosen at random from the audience

Indie Poetry Slam Championship Qualifying Slam - Featuring Johnny McRae

The latest instalment of the Peterborough Poetry Slam will determine who will be representing Peterborough at the 2nd Annual Vancouver International Poetry Festival and the 2nd Annual Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Championship on April 23rd through April 28th, 2012.

The position is open to anyone who has ever previously competed in a Peterborough Slam and currently lives in Peterborough. The victor will receive a $150.00 subsidy towards travel and expenses for the trip, as well as any additional fundraising, as well as the chance to win $2,450 in prize money.

To help celebrate this moment, Johnny Murdoch Macrae, the 2010 Vancouver Grand Slam Champion, a finalist at the inaugural Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Championship, and the first-ever winner of the Underground Individual Championship held in Toronto at the 2011 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, will be the feature poet.

"Although many of his poems focus on human relationships with the environment, Johnny writes about everything from riding public transit, to gender and sexuality, to the apocalypse, often shifting between funny and serious tones within the same poem. A strong believer that creative expression is self-empowering, Johnny has spent the last six years teaching improvised theatre and spoken word poetry in high schools around BC."

In addition to the spinning of fiery words, the Pyroflys, who featured at the 2011 Slammiversary, will be putting on their fire show during the Slam intermission to amaze and awe the audience and onlookers.

And with that exciting news being said, normal slam rules will apply:

two round slam

no props, costumes, or music

3 minute 10 second time limit

half-point deduction for every 10-seconds overtime

5 judges chosen at random from the audience

The Spill Cafe - 414 George St N

Sign-up at 7:30

Open Mic and SLAM at 8:00

$5 or PWYC

All Ages

THIS TUESDAY

URGENT:
At the Peterborough Poetry Slam Finals on Saturday, only three of our competing poets were able to commit to being part of the 2011 Peterborough Spoken Word Team travelling to the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Toronto in the fall!

The team so far consists of the brilliant:
Ziy
Danny Taro
Amy Jane Vosper

Want to compete for the team? THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE. There is one spot left on the team, and an alternate spot who also travels/practices/performs with the team.

To sign-up for the 8pm (SHARP!) slam, e-mail ptbopoetryslam@gmail.com before 7pm Tuesday May 31st. Or show up to the Cannery at 7:30 to sign-up. There will be a cap on how many spots available, so sign-up early!

Bring TWO poems to compete. Max. approx. 3 minutes each.

FOLLOWED BY THE AMAZING:

The Fugitives & Tanya Davis

Seriously. Don't miss this, folks. What a lovely thing to do on a Tuesday evening. $5-10/PWYC for our brilliant travelling Fugitives et al.

____________________________

Want to see us before you see us?

Check out some videos of us here:

Breaking Promises:

http://vimeo.com/groups/25909/videos/7170477

Haunted:

http://youtu.be/Yjgii_886RE

and meet the wonderful Tanya Davis here, in her "How to be alone" video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7X7sZzSXYs

and live, with her guitar: "Thesaurus"

http://youtu.be/wKHo-LuAGW8


//////////////////////////

About The Fugitives: www.fugitives.ca
......
The Fugitives are the combined talents of Vancouver artists Adrian Glynn, Barbara Adler, and Brendan McLeod. A group of multi-instrumentalists, songwriters, poets and novelists, each with their own burgeoning solo career, they’ve won individual accolades as diverse as the Canadian SLAM poetry championship, CBC poet laureate, and a place in the Peak performance songwriting series. But their primary focus lies in banding together to integrate their sensibilities into a dynamic mix of modern folk.

Formed five years ago on Vancouver’s East Side, The Fugitives have trod their instruments and words numerous times through Canada and Europe Performances that began in abandoned bank vaults and small vegetarian restaurants in England have turned into mainstage appearances on the Canadian folk festival circuit and sold out headlining shows at venues as diverse as the Vienna Literary Festival, the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, the Vancouver Jazz Festival, and the Chutzpah Dance Festival.

As the CBC has it, “whether you go for the poetry, the music, or both, this show is simply brilliant.”

“A hypnotic and swirling mix of voice and music that straddles the line between traditional songwriting and poetry” – Vue Weekly (Edmonton)

“Wildly talented” - Georgia Straight (Vancouver)

“The Fugitives are capable of achieving dizzying, Arcade Fire-ish crescendos, replete with parallel melodies, complex harmonies and brimming torrents of emotion.” – Uptown Magazine (Winnipeg)

“One of the best events we’ve ever had…right up there with Allen Ginsberg and Ken Kesey” – Executive Director, Dylan Thomas Festival (UK)

About Tanya Davis: www.tanyadavis.ca

Tanya Davis is a poet. She is a storyteller. She is a musician and a singer-songwriter and she fuses these elements together in a refreshing matrimony of language and sound, side-stepping genre and captivating audiences in the process. With the release of her third album, Clocks and Hearts Keep Going, in November 2010, she affirms her well-earned place in the ranks of thoughtful and hard-working Canadian Artists.

Since bursting onto the Halifax music scene in 2006 with her debut, Make a List, Tanya has garnered praise from industry, audience, and peers, as well as multiple award nominations, including one for her sophomore release, Gorgeous Morning, for the 2009 ECMA Female Recording of the Year. She is a 2 time winner in the CBC National Poetry Face-off as well as the Canadian Winner of the 2008 Mountain Stage NewSong contest. In 2009, with support from Bravo, she collaborated with independent filmmaker Andrea Dorfman to produce a short videopoem entitled How to Be Alone; the short has since been featured at numerous film festivals, including The Vancouver Film Fest, The Worldwide Short Film Festival, and the VideoPoetry Festival (Berlin). It also has 1.8 million views on Youtube.

Clocks and Hearts Keep Going was produced in collaboration with celebrated Artist Jim Bryson. This album, like those before it, features strongly Tanya's unique and vulnerable style, full of poignant lyrics, catchy melodies, and expressive, if unconventional, arrangements. She also recently completed a feature-length show based in music and performance poetry, as funded by The Canada Council for the Arts; it will be debuted in 2011.

PETERBOROUGH POETRY SLAM FINALS
Sat. May 28, 7:30 signup, 8pm slam.
Featuring: Ritallin from Ottawa
Followed by Dub Trinity CD Release party

The whole show is $7 (with Dub Trinity CD!!) or PWYC

Slam is All-Ages!
(Please arrive before 9:30pm if you are under 19)

SATURDAY APRIL 30th!

THE NEXT ROUND OF PETERBOROUGH POETRY SLAM IS SATURDAY APRIL 30th at the The Cannery Art Centre (168 Hunter St. W.)

ALL AGES. $5 PWYC.

Final qualifying round for the May Finals for the Peterborough Spoken Word Team to attend the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Toronto October '11

FEATURING:
Barbara Adler (Fugitives, Vancouver BC)
& jazz trio Braveheart (Montreal QC)

Barbara Adler is a Vancouver-based spoken word artist, writer, and workshop facilitator. Known for her ability to mix intellectual poetics with entertaining observations about the quirkier moments of everyday life, Barbara has collaborated with composers, dancers, filmmakers and theatre artists, creating "smart, funny, and often deeply moving poetry around history, identity, and self-image" (Georgia Straight). She has been a CBC PGI Poetry Laureate (2007), a CBC Poetry Face Off Winner (Vancouver 2007), and a Canadian Team Slam Champion (2005). She is a founding member of the Canadian Folk Music Award-nominated band, The Fugitives. Her new works find her mashing together her words with a 120-button piano accordion. She is currently touring with jazz trio Braveheart, based in Montreal, QC, originally from Vermont and British Columbia.
http://www.myspace.com/barbaraadler
http://www.myspace.com/braveheartjazz
http://www.myspace.com/canadianfugitives

THE FINAL ROUND (before the final round):

The top-scoring performance poets will represent Peterborough at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Toronto in October 2011. Want to compete for the team? To qualify for the May finals, you need to have competed in at least one slam in the current Peterborough Poetry Slam season. April 30th is the last qualifying round. The May finals will decide the top five poets who form the official Peterborough Spoken Word Team.

Bring TWO poems to compete. Max. approx. 3 minutes each. Any and all styles encouraged. First-time performers welcome!

For more information about the competition, contact ptbopoetryslam@gmail.com

For those haven't been before, a poetry slam is a mock competition between poets. There are two rounds of 8-12 poets, who each perform a poem and are then given a score from 1.0 (meh) - 10.0 (fuck yeah!) by a panel of five randomly selected audience judges. Often emotionally and politically charged, the audience is expected and allowed to cheer and jeer the judges and the poets and each other. Expect any and all styles of poetry from folk ballads to hip-hop. And remember - the points aren't the point, the poetry is the point!

Many thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts for their support of the Peterborough Spoken Word Collective and Poetry Slam.

NEXT ROUND(S):

Thursday, March 31 (DATE CHANGE)
Slam at 8pm at the Red Dog
followed by
...Beats 4 Justice 4 Levi http://www.justiceforlevi.org/

Saturday, April 30
Slam at 8pm at the Cannery
Featuring Barbara Adler http://www.myspace.com/barbaraadler
and Braveheart jazz trio www.myspace.com/braveheartjazz

The best performance poets in Peterborough will be representing at the national slam in Toronto next October. Want to compete for the team? You need to have competed in at least one slam in the current Peterborough Poetry Slam season. That means you have two chances left - March and April. The May slam will be the finals, in which the top five poets form the official Peterborough Slam Team for 2011. For more information about the competition, contact ptbopoetryslam@gmail.com

For those haven't been before, a poetry slam is a mock competition between poets. There are two rounds of 8-12 poets, who each perform a poem and are then given a score from 1.0 (meh) - 10.0 (fuck yeah!) by a panel of five randomly selected audience judges. Often emotionally and politically charged, the audience is expected and allowed to cheer and jeer the judges and the poets and each other. Expect any and all styles of poetry from folk ballads to hip-hop. And remember - the points aren't the point, the poetry is the point!

FEB 24 th SLAM with OPEN SECRET

Hi Slammers and Poetry Lovers, We've got a special treat for you this month - 2 time National Slam Champion, Open Secret!!! The Slam starts at 8, sign up is at 7:30, and don't forget if your thinking about going for the Slam Team this year you need to slam at least once between now and the finals in May. But even if you're not interested in the team, come out, sign up, and share. It's gonna be a good one! Ikenna “OpenSecret” Onyegbula has been a spoken word artist for a little more than three years now. In that time, he has been a 2-time Canadian National Slam Champion and a 3-time finalist at the national level. In April 2011, he will serve as Ottawa’s representative at the inaugural Canadian Individual Slam Poetry Finals in Vancouver, BC. As a member of the acclaimed four member spoken word troupe, The Recipe, Ikenna has performed extensively throughout Canada, touring and opening for K-OS and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, while sharing the stage with such spoken word heavyweights as Amir Sulaiman, Shihan and Black Ice. As an avid writer, he has self-published two chapbooks, Until and September, while working on his first full anthology of poetry and on a novel: a creative work of fiction, entitled Quietus, which he hopes to one day get professionally published. As a human being, he's pretty dope. And you want to get to know him. You just don't know it yet.

NEXT ROUND - DECEMBER 16th at OSSIA

The next round of the Peterborough Poetry Slam will happen December 16th at OSSIA (231 Hunter St. W.).

This month, we are happy to bring back the homegrown word wizardry of Macer, recent Toronto and Guelph slam champion who traveled to the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word this year as part of the Guelph Spoken Word team. A long-time area poet-in-residence, and founding poet of the slam, Macer has performed and published for bette...r than twenty years in the hinterlands of the world. Macer has grifted a unique poetic voice blending rustic rhythms with a playful spirit. His first novel, Three Red Herring, met with dismal success; his subsequent works are pending. He currently lives…

Come out to perform, be a randomly-selected audience judge, or just sit back and enjoy a couple hours of raucous, heart-breaking, brilliant words.

Bring two poems to compete on the stage. Approx. 3 minutes max. each.

Sign up at 7:30pm. Show at 8pm. $5/PWYC. Always all ages. Everyone welcome. New poets encouraged!

(For those haven't been before, a poetry slam is a mock competition between poets. There are two rounds of 8-12 poets, who each perform a poem and are then given a score from 1.0 (meh) - 10.0 (fuck yeah!) by a panel of five randomly selected audience judges. Often emotionally and politically charged, the audience is expected and allowed to cheer and jeer the judges and the poets and each other. Expect any and all styles of poetry from folk ballads to hip-hop. And remember - the points aren't the point, the poetry is the point!)

Many thanks to The Canada Council for the Arts for their generous support of the Peterborough Poetry Slam Series.

Thursday November 25th is the Third Annual Peterborough Poetry Slammiversary Cabaret and Ball!

An evening filled with the poetry, music, comedy, dance, burlesque, hip hop, and beat boxing of your Peterborough slam community and beyond.

Come see first-timers and favourites grace the stage of the Spill for a night of hilarity and heartbreak as we celebrate three years of poetry and community.
...
Proud to present your feature poets and hosts for the evening, the brilliant and talented 2 Dope Boys in a Cadillac all the way from the West Coast, shayne avec y grec and Johnny MacRae.

DOORS AT EIGHT. This will be floor-sitting room only!

$5-10/PWYC.

'More likely to be found trekking thru the woods than cruising the streets rockin' fly rims, 2 Dope Boys in a Cadillac are individually known as Johnny MacRae & shayne avec i grec. Collectively they have represented three slam teams, hiked the rockiest mountaintops, participated in The Banff Centre's Spoken Word Program, rocked the hottest microphones (it explains the burns on their lips), and look forward to tag-teaming you in an orgy of titillating spoken word and sounds… “shayne and Johnny and assorted other Buds are the spine of the scene in Victoria/Vancouver and terrific young poets. They push envelopes wherever they are!" ~Bob Holman"'

Many thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts for their support.

Fundraiser for the Peterborough Poetry Slam's operational costs & the Team's travel costs.

CALL OUT FOR PERFORMERS

On Thursday November 25th, the Peterborough Poetry Slam will be celebrating its THIRD ANNIVERSARY.

So we are going to do something a little bit different this month. And we need YOU to flaunt your stuff.

The Slammiversary Cabaret & Party needs your talents, whether they be spoken, musical, written, physical, lyrical, comedic, tragic, theatrical, beatboxtastic, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera... We are looking for your poetry, spoken word, dance, theatre, comedy, covers, improv, music, songs, collaborations and everything and all. No theme required, but this is going to be a celebration in every sense of the word.

Think awesome. Think unexpected. Think around 5 minutes (feel free to request longer and we'll figure it out). Think confident and celebratory.

E-mail ptbopoetryslam@gmail.com to sign-up with your act before November 20th. The sooner, the better!

ALSO: If you aren't necessarily the on-stage-type, but want to contribute through something like baking, or visual art, please e-mail and we can figure it out!

Rock on!

SEPTEMBER 23rd SLAM!!!!

What's up Poetry lovers. With lots of features and a bunch of special events coming up, we've got an amazing season planned for you. And it all starts on Thursday Sept 23rd with the Toronto Poetry Slam Team. They will be bringing teams pieces, personal pieces, comedic pieces, real, truthful, activist pieces, and a hell of a lot of love. If you never seen a Slam team before - or even if you have - it is definitely a unique and not to be missed experience.

So bring your poems. Bring your ears. Bring your fire. And remember poetry is not just what you read in textbooks. These Professional Oratorical Education Technicians are here to break the myth.... even if you know nothing about poetry, You are still the expert. Because this poetry is about life, and we all know what it means to live. So come out. Be a judge. Be wild. Be free. Or just be. But be present. Cuz it's gonna be ______ (you fill in the adjective,)!!!!

Sign up at 7:30. Show at 8. See you then.

Peterborough Slam Finals - TUESDAY JUNE 15

Heh Everyone,

We've got the P-Borough Slam Finals coming up: two weeks today... Tuesday June 15th. Of course it's going to be amazing.... the typically chill and welcoming Slam Scene, plus we have a possible feature in the works to add to the amazingness. But more on that later.

Calling all poets!!... The top four poets from the June Slam will qualify for the Peterborough Slam Team, which means, among other things you'll get to go to the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Ottawa this October. It's an amazing opportunity to get inspired, have fun, and be blown away be the wonderfully welcoming talent from across the country.!!

The Slam will proceed as usual two rounds of poetry.. Don't hesitate to re-perform old poems... We all like listening to songs more than once, so why not poems too, right???

HEADS UP!

The FINALS for the Peterborough Poetry Slam Spoken Word Team will be Tuesday June 15th at The Spill!

Keep watch for more information!

Next Slam This TUESDAY!

Remember it's Tuesday the 18th, not Thursday! We're switching it up for the summer. Luckily, Tuesdays are now $4 pint days at the Spill.

Bring two poems to compete, volunteer to be an audience "judge," or just sit back, get a drink and enjoy.

Sign-up will start at 7:30, with the show starting at 8. Actually. Show up between then to be an audience judge! It's fun, we promise.

Invite your friends! Come admire the artwork, drink beer or coffee or tea, read poetry into a mic for the first or fiftieth time, giggle in the corner (between poems, of course).

New poets are ALWAYS welcome and encouraged.

For those haven't been before, a poetry slam is a mock competition between poets. There are two rounds of 8-12 poets, who each perform a poem and are then given a score from 1.0 (meh) - 10.0 (fuck yeah!) by a panel of five randomly selected audience judges. Often emotionally and politically charged, the audience is expected and allowed to cheer and jeer the judges and the poets and each other. Expect any and all styles of poetry from folk ballads to hip-hop. And remember - the points aren't the point, the poetry is the point!

....

About Our Feature Poet:

Nathanaël Larochette is a 25 year old Ottawa-area spoken word poet and musician, director of Ottawa’s Capital Slam series, a four-time Capital Slam monthly champion, a three time finalist, a two-time competitor at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, a CBC poetry face-off regional champion, and a poetry workshop facilitator in schools across Ottawa. Nathanaël lives to create, hope, and dream because he believes these are the keys to the meaning of our being.
....

Want a chance to perform at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Ottawa with other Peterborough poets? C'mon...

This slam will be one of four operating as part of the selection process for the CFSW. Our lovely and (sometimes) humble poetry slam crowd will be sending a slam team to the festival! Be apart of the action. You don't have to be a seasoned pro to go to CFSW, but you might become one by the time you get back...

If you want to read your poem but not be considered for the slam team, that's totally acceptable. But if you've always wanted to challenge yourself a bit poetry-wise and work WITH other poets then now is the time to do it.

ANNOUNCEMENT: The Fugitives in Peterborough THIS Monday April 5th!

Holy crap!

The Fugitives are awesome! And they are coming all the way from the west coast to Peterborough for a last minute house show on Monday April 5th on their way to the east coast!

Come see the combined brilliant poetic musical magic stylings of Vancouver artists Adrian Glynn, Barbara Adler, Brendan McLeod, and Steve Charles. Poet/performer/storyteller Brendan McLeod graced the Peterborough Poetry Slam's stages earlier this year, but to see The Fugitives in full-awesome-band-form, you've had to go all the way to Toronto to try and get a seat at the Toronto Poetry Slam or sold out show!

Now we get to be up close and personal at a special acoustic set at 640 George St. (The good people at 640 George have been nice enough to host us at the last minute, so not too much tomfoolery, please!)

Donation of $5-10 pay-what-you-can will be recommended to keep the band on its merry way (and that is a STEAL for this show).

You HAVE to make it out to this, no matter what. They'll be driving from Sault Ste. Marie that day, so the show will start around 9pm.

Make sure to check out their myspace for tracks off the NEW ALBUM, Eccentrically We Love!

www.fugitives.ca
www.myspace.com/canadianfugitives

"This show is simply brilliant.”- CBC

“A hypnotic and swirling mix of voice and music that straddles the line between traditional songwriting and poetry” – Vue Weekly (Edmonton)

“Wildly talented” - Georgia Straight (Vancouver)

“The Fugitives are capable of achieving dizzying, Arcade Fire-ish crescendos, replete with parallel melodies, complex harmonies and brimming torrents of emotion.” – Uptown Magazine (Winnipeg)

“One of the best events we’ve ever had…right up there with Allen Ginsberg and Ken Kesey” – Executive Director, Dylan Thomas Festival (UK)

“A surprising auditory experience blending elements of bluegrass, jazz, folk and spoken word. They are new age pioneers, unabashedly forging a new sound, and exploring new mediums to do so.” – Uniter (Winnipeg)

About the Album

In late 2009, The Fugitives released a short EP, Find Me, which tracked extreme examples of people living in isolation: a park ranger suffering from cabin fever, a woman trapped in an unforgiving marriage, and a man whose death went unnoticed for seven years. Maybe the band’s just getting old and morbid, but the songs made them uneasy. Not to mention neurotic. After a brief spell where they walked around telling everyone, “who cares, nothing matters, we’re all going to die alone,” they decided this response was boring, and headed back into the studio.

Eccentrically We Love, The Fugitives’ newest full-length, takes anxiety and isolation as its starting point. As it turns out, the band thinks anxiety is good. They are also fans of: frustration, discontent, being overworked, and living in broken down houses with noisy roommates. It’s not that they’ve suddenly developed a pessimistic worldview – the album is primarily about gratitude, but it avoids clichés by centering on topics we’re normally not appreciative of. The album opener, ‘Snail Shell’ revels in the everyday annoyance of hearing your neighbor’s love life through the walls (and sometimes ceiling). The title track celebrates human relationships at their most exasperating, and ‘All this Trouble’ is an affectionate list of life’s sand-papery frustrations. In a sense, these are all songs about love and affection, but they aren’t offering anyone bouquets of flowers. If Find Me was about people lost to isolation, Eccentrically We Love chronicles the beautiful itchiness of being close. It’s about getting irritated, angered and distraught, and the exhilarating necessity of feeling this way.

The secret to the theme of this album might lie in how it was made. Immediately upon their return from a seven-week Canadian tour to support Find Me, the band locked themselves in North Vancouver’s Neighbourhood studios and embarked upon a month of recording. After 1,536 hours in each other’s company (yes, they were counting), the group decided that they still liked each other. More than that, they realized that their different musical backgrounds and lyrical approaches actually brought them closer, and made them a better band. Eccentrically We Love is the result of co-writing, co-editing, and co-performance – a true collaboration that balances eclecticism with the kind of unity a band earns by spending days and days in each other’s company.

Featuring co-production by Leo-Award winning producer\composer Matthew Rogers, guidance from Canadian art-rock icon Veda Hille, as well as guest appearances by Jesse Zubot and Rod Murray, Eccentrically We Love expands on the “top notch” vocal harmonies established in Find Me (ChartAttack) and the tight composition of their Canadian Folk Music Award nominated debut. The album will be supported by a cross-Canada tour in April 2010, a brief stint to Europe in the fall, and a request for fans and friends to send ‘small troubles’ to their website. These daily annoyances are to be funny, poignant, or heartfelt. Hopefully, when all is done, a quick survey of the amalgamated catalogue will make one feel grateful (and normal) for the beautiful, unavoidable difficulties in life.

March Slam 2010

Oh, what a slam. What a mighty good slam.

For all of you who missed it. We had our very first tie for first. That's right. Dana and Braydon squared off for an impromptu final, which ended a great night bolstered by a wide variety of poems, and of course, the chilling, supportive peterborough crowd.

There was a confession of love to economists, there was a poignant observation that contrary to the prevailing opinion, strands of grass that appear to be trampled flat by boots may actually be drunk from drinking too much sun light. We also were blessed with a great piece seeking to expand our concepts of sexual identity, culminating in a shot out to the spill for it's non-gender specific washrooms.

And oh yes, the Spill. Get out and support this wonderful hot bead of local art and activism: if you haven't heard, bills are piling up, and we are in jeopardy of losing this essential cultural centre piece. There is a donation jar, and a whole bunch of taste treats, along with the continual parade of great performances.

Next Slam: April 15, 2010. Sign up at 7:30. And just a reminder, we will be holding our finals in May, which will give you a chance to go to the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Ottawa, plus other super fun poetry extravaganza's. Yep, Extravaganzas.

See you in April,

Fr