For more information, check the media page for press releases or the schedule page for up-to-date times and locations.
The Beat Thing: A Tribute to the Beats
On the evening of May 9, there will be a gala concert at St. John the Divine Church. San Fracisco Beat poets Michael Rothenberg and David Meltzer from San Francisco will perform as well as Jim Christy, Holland’s Hans Plomp, and the poetry collective Speakeasy. Music will be provided by Noah Becker on sax and the band Light Sweet Crude.
Joanne Kyger sends her regrets. She was scheduled to appear but can't make it due to a dental emergency.
Church of St John the Divine, 1611 Quadra Street
Saturday, May 9, 7:30pm-10pm
$5.00 admission.
David
Meltzer was born in Rochester, New York. Meltzer came to prominence
with inclusion of his work in the anthology The New American Poetry 1945-1960.
One of the key poets of the Beat generation, Meltzer is also a jazz guitarist
and Cabalist scholar and the author of more than 50 books of poetry and prose.
2005 saw the publication of David’s Copy: The Selected Poems of David
Meltzer, which provides a current “overview” of Meltzer’s
work. Meltzer’s Beat Thing (La Alameda Press) is his epic poem on the
Beat generation. His other books include No Eyes, poems on Lester Young,
and a book of interviews, San Francisco Beat: Talking with the Poets
(City Lights Books). Meltzer teaches at the New College of California in the
Poetics Program which was originally founded by Robert Duncan. He lives in the
San Francisco Bay Area.Check these out: http://www.vimeo.com/3917480
http://www.myspace.com/tinaanddavidmeltzer
http://www.youtube.com
Michael
Rothenberg is an American poet, songwriter, editor, and active environmentalist
in the San Francisco Bay Area. Born in Miami Beach, Florida, he moved to California
in 1976, where, in 1989, Rothenberg and artist Nancy Davis began Big Bridge
Press, a fine print literary press, publishing works by Jim Harrison, Joanne
Kyger, Allen Ginsberg, Philip Whalen and others. Rothenberg is editor of Big
Bridge, a webzine of poetry.
He is also co-editor and co-founder of Jack Magazine and editor for the Penguin
Poet series. His books include Unhurried Vision, Paris Journals, What The Fish
Saw, Nightmare Of The Violins, Man/Woman, a collaboration with Joanne Kyger,
and Favorite Songs. His songs have appeared in the films Shadowhunter and Black
Day, Blue Night.Check this out: http://www.vimeo.com/3942853
Hans
Plomp was born in Amsterdam in 1944. After his studies he became a
teacher, but he gave up regular jobs for good when his first novel De Ondertrouw
(The Banns Are Up) was successful. He took an active part in the playful
Dutch Provo Revolution of the Sixties, which made Amsterdam one of the hippest
places on the planet. Hans Plomp has traveled extensively, especially in India,
where he spent five years. In 1982 he toured the U.S. with a group of Dutch
poets, performing with Anne Waldman, Diana di Prima, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory
Corso, Amiri Baraka, Ira Cohen and many other kindred artists. He has published
novels, short stories, poetry and essays. His book Tantric Picnic: Tales
of India is being launched at the Pacific Festival of the Book. 
Jim
Christy is a writer, artist and tireless traveller. The author of twenty
books, including poetry, short stories, novels, travel and biography, Christy
has been praised by writers as diverse as Charles Bukowski and Sparkle Hayter.
His travels have taken him from the Yukon to the Amazon, Greenland to Cambodia.
He has covered wars and exhibited his art internationally. Raised in inner-city
Philadelphia, he moved to Toronto when he was twenty-three years old and became
a Canadian citizen at the first opportunity. A resident of British Columbia’s
Sunshine Coast for many years, he currently resides in Toronto.
Light
Sweet Crude is a folk rock band who perform songs written by Canadian
poets Leonard Cohen and Linda Rogers. Their new album Ruin and Beauty features
songswith lyrics by Linda Rogers, music by Chris Trygg. Band members are Chris
Trygg, vocals, Jake Glabraith, bass and pedal steel, Rick van Krugel, mandolin,
Andy Graffiti, drums, and Richard Baker, lead guitar.Speakeasy is a Victoria-based poetry collective committed to the art of spoken word/performance poetry among other forms of literature.
Noah
Becker is a multi talented visual artist and jazz saxophonist. Mr.
Becker appears on numerous recordings and exhibits his art internationally in
galleries and museums. His art was featured in "How Soon is Now" opening
in Feb. 2009 at the Vancouver Art Gallery. HOME | ABOUT | PRESENTERS | PERFORMANCES | WORKSHOPS | EXHIBITORS
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