Playlist and Two Features at AB Series

Steven Ross Smith in performances of March 5, 2011 AB Series. Here he’s reading sound poetry snippets and throwing them.
He also read from earlier books in his series. He’s reading from his poetry collection, fluttertongue book 5 today at 2 at Gallery 101 at 301 Bank St.

Sandra Ridley read from her upcoming collection Post-Apothecary (Pedlar Press, Fall 2011) and from new work. She reads again with Christine (soon to be a BookThug author) McNair March 9th, 9 pm at VERSeFest.

During Playback different members of Ridley’s sound troupe stepped forward to do parts. Here Christine McNair does.

In the opening piece Grant (pictured) did a base set of sounds and each of the others spoke or made sounds into it from around the room. Voices from different directions and depths, multiple voices picking up the sentence mid-way (to hocket?) and continuing in one voice yet multiple voices. That too was beautifully done, hard to photograph, hard to describe, great to experience live.

In the closing piece a numbering off with voices stepping in and out to the baseline words of Glenn Nuotio, foreground. Background in this shot are: Sean Moreland (reading at Dusty Owl today at 5 at the Carleton Tavern with Call Me Katie who play the Atomic Rooster March 13), Carmel Purkis and Grant Wilkins.
That picture was towards the middle of the group performance of Playlist.

The troupe together in the end with Michèle Provost’s who made Playlist. The exhibition closes this evening at the Dale Smith Gallery.

The book table and lesson from wisdom of listening to crowds? A few people said they wanted to buy the CD or Sandra Ridley’s last book Fallout but didn’t want to be greedy since there was at that time one and three respectively. How many have to be in the stack before someone says, it’s safe to buy one without costing someone else. These considerate bend-over backwards Canadians.
VerseFest officially starts Tuesday.