David Bateman, always a fun & generous host (digging deep into his own book collection for trivia question prizes) put together a great line up of features for the April show at the Secret Handshake Gallery – at last I can say I did a feature in Kensington Market. It was a bright warm afternoon that gave me the opportunity to play dogem with strollers, cars, people on various devices, and photographers while enjoying a great bagel from NuBagel.
blue frames
First up was Lizzie Violet https://lizzieviolet.wordpress.com who cooled us down with some of her eerie pieces about zombies, gypsies & serial killers. ‘well worn cards of the future … choosing your lover of today,’ ‘trails of entrails,’ ‘how did I fall from grace into a chaotic blood vortex.’ Blood Vortex – a latte I’d order. Lizzie’s pics of the event: https://www.facebook.com/lizzie.violet.1/media_set?set=a.10155490776165725&type=3&l=356ec5fa21
snow bound chairs
Next up was Philip Cairns with his animated, invested and glittering verse. His pieces abound with diamonds, sapphires, rubies and emeralds. ‘a closet full of art and no buyers,’ ‘powder blue jag crashing into a red brick wall,’ ‘ashes to ashes dust bin to dust bin.’ At The Shrine of Saint Elizabeth we found ourselves resonantly om-ing ‘Elizabeth Taylor Elizabeth Taylor Elizabeth Taylor.’
After the break Dan Curtis Thompson did a section from “Consonance: A Stand Up Dramedy.” Although I’ve heard this piece before it remains fresh, emotional true and involving. ‘all I needed was a girl who likes the same video games as me to believe it’s real love.’ It’s always good to see a musician who doesn’t spend ten minutes tuning up. Check out his story telling series Mountains and Molehills!
danger ahead
I closed the show with my Born To Be Blown blast. It was a fun, energetic set of pieces to perform, pieces I’ve blogging about here on Wednesday this past month so look’em up. Heads were nodding to the rock, shoulders where jiving to the disco beat and by the end everyone wanted to ‘get head out on the highway.’
a piece that didn’t make the final cut for the Born To Be Blown set:
Saint Jim
Pere Lachaise
section six section seize
‘seize the moment in section six
you have to seize the moment
saiser l’instant’
Jim starts a new song
‘you have to seize the moment
in section six’
I can hear him shout
through stage fog strobe lights
teeny bopper girls rush the stage
police push them away
as he taunts flaunts teases pleases
scowler prowler
hurt lost shouting shaman
like those silly teeny boppers
I lust after that idol
I wonder what they saw
that day in Miami
if he did flash the iconic cock
I make my way though a light rain
everything is a line in a Saint Jim song
‘making my way
through cemetery rain’
I know he‘s here somewhere
I see mystic marks sprayed
mementos of worship
‘the blue bus stops near here’
the rain stops
and I am there
no monument
only a flat grey space
with a tombstone
his name wrong
James isn’t Jim
beneath my feet his bones
unless they’ve been stolen
relics in sacred altars
for those who think
they can petition this saint
a bunch of faded flowers
some used condom lizard skins
‘lizard skins drying in the sun
show we have seized the moment’
I hear birds
then dozens of people
hiss of cameras
posers smile lean over the tombstone
stoke his name then gone
left alone
I seize my moment
unzip
flash my cock
the only gesture of his I can duplicate
May 7 – Thursday – 8 pm – Judging – Hot Damn! It’s A Queer Slam Season 1 finals – Buddies in Bad Times Theatre – 12 Alexander St., Toronto –
https://www.facebook.com/events/726986450755918/permalink/726987687422461/
June 5-7 – attending – Capturing Fire – Washington DC
http://www.thedccenter.org/capturingfire/
( I’ve registered already 🙂 )
June 21-26 – attending – Rosemary Aubert’s Workshop: The Novelist’s Selfie – Loyalist – Belleville https://www.facebook.com/events/965611026782246/
( I’ve registered already 🙂 )
register now while there is room at the table
page 23 for details next page down for registration info
https://www.loyalistbanner.com/ceweb/doc/LoyalistSummerArts2015.pdf
June 27, Saturday – 7:00- Feature: Hot Summer Nights at Hirut, Hirut Restaurant, 2050 Danforth Ave., Toronto
September 3-6 – attending – Fan Expo
( I’ve registered already 🙂 )
October 18, Sunday – feature: Cabaret Noir: Inner Child Sacrifice
Like my pictures? I post lots on Tumblr
https://www.tumblr.com/blog/topoet
