NOW Orchestra with Kedrick James - April 17

Dear Poetry Fans,

April is National Poetry Month and the Poetry Gabriola Society has a lot to celebrate! 

NEW Online Features!

Wreford of YesNode Creative and I have been working hard to add many new features to the Poetry Gabriola website, including this NEWSLETTER, a PGS BLOG, updated slideshows of events on the GALLERY PAGES, and most exciting of all, a brand new online MAGAZINE! This e-publication is called CORVUS - the Latin word for the genus that crows and ravens belong to, in honour of that little fellow who has come to be our mascot, and who is featured in the PGS logo. We all know our corvids and how talkative they can be so we thought this would be a great title for a raucus new magazine dedicated to the voices of our members! CORVUS will be a forum for Poetry Gabriola members to submit poems, songs, ideas, and images. Stay tuned for more information on this great development.

Big Poetry Concert Coming Up!

What better way to celebrate National Poetry Month than with a concert that combines the incendiary visions of spoken-word pioneer Kedrick James with the equally explosive music of Vancouver’s NOW Orchestra? The third concert in Poetry Gabriola’s Words & Music series takes place at the Haven on Saturday (April 17).

Those who caught James’ wild performance at the 2007 Poetry Gabriola Festival know that he’s both a shamanistic explorer of mythical worlds and—as his ecstatic “Miracle Is a Beach” aptly indicates—the more familiar terrain of the B.C. coast. Meanwhile, those who’ve been following the Vancouver jazz scene are equally aware that, under saxophonist Coat Cooke’s direction, the NOW Orchestra is an all-star “little big band” that embraces the city’s most adventurous musicians.

In fact, after its Gabriola appearance, NOW is changing its name to Orkestra Futura, the better to reflect the forward-thinking approach taken by Cooke, trombonist Brad Muirhead, trumpeter JP Carter, guitarist Chad MacQuarrie, bassist Tommy Babin, drummer Skye Brooks, and keyboardist/sound designer Patrick Pennefather.

“Let’s go for the excitement,” says Cooke, who notes that his bandmates are bringing fresh elements from rock, funk, and electronic music to NOW’s jazz-based approach. “Let’s go for learning new things and trying new things. It’s 2010: I don’t want to be playing bebop, I don’t want to be playing rockabilly, I want to be trying to find a new language that really reflects where we are at today.”

Saturday’s concert also continues the saxophonist’s 20-year collaboration with James, who’s thrilled to be combining “the ideas of the words with the energy of NOW’s sound”. “There are points of exquisite synchronicity taking place here,” says the charismatic poet, “and I really feel this is a wonderful group of people to work with.”

Tickets for the NOW Orchestra with Kedrick James here: http://www.poetrygabriola.com/words-music