Category Archives: Ariadne’s Notes

Ariadne’s Notes will update readers and participants on the World Poetry Site, special events, help needed and our goals for the future.

World Poetry Celebrates Bernice Lever!

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Ariadne’s Notes:

The World Poetry Cafe radio show  CFRO, 100.5 FM at 1:10 pm PST, December 5th welcomed the amazing Bernice Lever, well-known poet and member of the radio show from Canada once again to the show.

Also featured on the show were the well-known  Peaceathon E-poets Mahmood Jan, Afghanistan,  and Honey Novick Canada, Maki Starfield will be read next week. A lovely note of poetic thanks from Laura Tohe, Poet Laureate of the Navaho Nation, (https://www.lauratohe.com/)was received and read.   Special filmmaker Tomisin Adepeju called in at 1:35 pm PST to talk about his film I am Joseph.

Hosts Ariadne Sawyer and Diego Bastinutti with super tech Victor Schwartzman.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW HERE!

 

Bernice Lever was honoured by The Ontario Poetry Society in May, 2019 in a book of poems from their 10 Life Members, entitled Tenfold. 

 Now living on Bowen Island, near West Vancouver, BC, Bernice is also a Life Member of National Canadian Authors Assoc., and since 2000, a Life Member of  The League of Canadian Poets and active in the Federation of  BC Writers, North Shore Writers Association, and more. 

Although known for her 15 years of editing in Toronto for  York University’s 

“WAVES” , literary journal from 1972-1986, Bernice as read on 5 continents and been published internationally as she has 10 poetry books published – last 7 with Black Moss Press, Ontario –   in many large anthologies, journals and newspapers. Her 11th poetry book, “Ingredients for Peace “ is due in 2020.   

Bernice also has published some prose, mainly in “The Waiting Room” & edited, “Singing; anthology  of Canadian women prisoners with Highway Book Shop as  well as “In all directions”,  Fitzhenry & Whiteside,  CAA short story anthology and my own textbook “The Colour  of  Words”, Seneca College, Ontario. 

Her focus has been for “Peace & Justice”   poems for all People,& Living creatures worldwide &&& our natural environment: earth, air, and water! 

Since the 1960’s, she has given talks and workshops to classes and individuals as Bernice enjoys helping beginning poets to be published. 

      

World Poetry Celebrates Michael Mirolla !

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Ariadne’s Notes: 

The World Poetry Café Radio, CFRO, 100.5 FM on November 21 at 1:10 pm PST with hosts Ariadne Sawyer and Diego Bastianutti  was proud to present Michael Mirolla  in a wonderful show about his  term as the current Writer in Residence at the Historic Joy Kogawa House. English, Italian and Spanish poetry was also read. It was exciting to get a glimpse of his life as writer in residence as well as his readings and presentations.

For more information: http://www.michaelmirolla.com. He is also the publisher of Guernica Editions,  www.guernicaeditions.com

Also, calling in to the  at 1:30 pm PST is :  LGBTQ IA Filmmaker NEELU BHUMAN travelling somewhere in the world whose will have a separate feature about the team and the difference they are making in the world.

E-poem by the well known Ruth Kozak and a tribute to the Silent Ones, with a poem by Ariadne Sawyer called the Tortured One,  a story by Sharon Rowe  and a welcome back to  Victor along with great thanks to Kerry Buckner for taking over the controls while Victor was away.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW HERE!

http://www.coopradio.org/content/world-poetry-caf%C3%A9-66

Michael Mirolla is the current Writer in Residence at the Historic Joy Kogawa House. He is the author of a clutch of novels, poetry collections, short story collections and plays. He is a three-time winner of the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize. His novel Berlin was a finalist for the Indie and National Book Awards and has been translated into Latvian. The short story “A Theory of Discontinuous Existence” was selected for The Journey Prize Anthology and “The Sand Flea” was a Pushcart Prize nominee. His new novella, The Last News Vendor, was published by Quattro Books in November 2019. Born in Italy and raised in Montreal, Michael now lives in Hamilton, Ontario. For more information: http://www.michaelmirolla.com. He is also the publisher of Guernica Editions.

World Poetry Celebrates Ezra Weiss!

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Ariadne’s Notes:

The World Poetry Cafe radio show,  CFRO, 100.5 FM on November 14, 1:30 pm PST,celebrated Ezra Weiss with his new CD We Limit Not the Truth of God.

Featuring a brilliant 17-piece big band that includes such distinctive soloists as saxophonists John Nastos, Rob Davis, Renato Caranto and Mieke Bruggeman; trumpeters Farnell Newton, Derek Sims and Thomas Barber; trombonists Stan Bock and Jeff Uusitalo; and flutist John Savage, the album was recorded live in the resonant Alberta Abbey, a historic church turned performance space in Weiss’ hometown of Portland, Oregon.

Weiss tries to make sense of a divided world on this stirring and impassioned suite addressed to his young children. It’s a heartbreakingly confessional work that’s both a loving message passed down from father to children as well as a profound and deeply felt plea for togetherness and empathy. I found this CD fascinating since it also contains Ezra doing spoken word which adds to the depth of the CD.

https://ezraweiss.com/

E-poets, Bozena Helena Mazur-Nowak, Poland and England and Pieter-Joris Morssink , Australia, and a new story by Sharon Rowe called Big Bessie Ends the Strike. A capsule of the Brain Bulletin Series plus news completed the show.

LISTEN NOW TO THE SHOW!

 

New CD!

We Limit Not the Truth of God 

Composer/pianist Ezra Weiss is “a bold, inspired figure in the contemporary jazz arranging scene.” (DownBeat)  He has released six albums as a bandleader:  The Five A.M. Strut (2003), Persephone (2005), Get Happy (2007), The Shirley Horn Suite (2010), Our Path To This Moment (2012), and Before You Know It [Live in Portland] (2014).  All of these CD’s have received substantial national and international acclaim from the press, and have spent significant time on the JazzWeek Radio Charts.

Additionally, Ezra composed the music for the Portland Jazz Composer’s Ensemble’s multimedia concert and recording, From Maxville To Vanport (2018).  He also wrote the big band arrangements for Derek Hines’ recording The Long Journey Home (2017), which led to the formation of the Ezra Weiss Big Band.

Ezra currently leads his own big band and sextet, performing at major jazz festivals and clubs throughout the U.S., including Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Smalls, the 55 Bar, and Tonic in NYC; Ryles in Boston; Nighttown in Cleveland; Chris’ Jazz Cafe in Philadelphia; The Triple Door in Seattle; Jimmy Mak’s in Portland; and the Catalina Bar and Grill in Los Angeles.  His bands have featured such luminaries as trumpeters Michael Philip Mossman, Peter Evans, and Farnell Newton; saxophonists Antonio Hart, Vincent Herring, Mark Gross, and Dayna Stephens; bassists Corcoran Holt, Ameen Saleem, and Curtis Lundy; and drummers Kassa Overall, Steve Williams, Jason Brown, and Billy Hart (for whom Ezra also served as arranger), among others. He also co-led the Courtney Bryan/Ezra Weiss Jazz Orchestra in New York City.

Further, Ezra has composed music and lyrics to three children’s musicals: Alice in Wonderland: a Jazz Musical (2009) Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (2010), and Cinderella (2013). All of these musicals were designed to expose young children to jazz. Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella were each named one of the Top 10 Cast Albums of 2009 and 2013 respectively by Talkin Broadway.com.

Ezra has won the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award three times and has been listed in DownBeat Critics Polls in the Rising Star Arranger category.  He holds a Bachelors in Jazz Composition from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a Masters in Jazz Piano Performance from Queens College. His teachers have included Wendell Logan, Neal Creque, and Bruce Barth. He currently lives with his wife and two sons in Portland, Oregon, where he teaches at Portland State University. Source: Braitewaite and Katz with thanks.