Thursday, Feb 16, 2012
The Prophouse Cafe
1636 Venables Ave @ Commercial
7pm- 12am
Suggested Cost: $10
On Feb 16th Pandora's Collective will be
hosting a 10th anniversary celebration/fundraiser for the long-running Twisted
Poets Literary Salon and the Collective featuring iconic East Van troubadours
C.R. Avery, Jess Hill and Geoff Berner.
As well as the musicians, Pandora’s
Collective top word maven and one of the organization’s founders, Bonnie Nish,
has asked a stellar line-up of writers to creatively pay tribute to an
organization which has supported authors over the years with regular events
like the Salon at the Prophouse and Word Whips at the Britannia Library - which
now has sister events in White Rock & the North Shore.
Pandora’s Collective also sends books and
school supplies to Africa and even hosts a full-on literary festival every
summer.
Many of Pandora’s top writers will be on hand
to toast the night and gorge on cake. The line up includes:Timothy Shay,
Taslim Jaffer, James McCann, Daniela Elza, Rob Taylor, Suzy Malcolm,
David Campbell, Chelsea Comeau, Stephen Karr, Ruth Kozak, Warren Dean Fulton,
Christy Hill, Kyle Hawke, Fran Bourassa, Johnny Frem, Eva Waldorf, Dennis E.
Bolen, Steve Duncan & Mary Duffy,
Co-hosted by Bonnie Nish, Sita Carboni,
Daniela Elza and Timothy Shay
There will also be door prizes and a 50/50
draw!
Read on for selected performer bios.
For more info, contact Bonnie Nish at blnish@pandorascollective.com
www.pandorascollective.com
Geoff Berner
That’s the goal of Vancouver
singer-songwriter-accordion player Geoff Berner.
“I want to make original
klezmer music that’s drunk, dirty, political and passionate. As a Jew of
eastern european descent, I feel I have a calling to make this music live, not
just preserve it under glass like something in a museum.”
This approach has earned him
rave reviews in publications in many countries.
“The Avenging Angel of
klezmer” — Canada’s Globe and Mail
“Geoff Berner might be
klezmer’s saviour.” — NOW Magazine
"5/6" — Oslo
Dagvisen
"Cherish him, cherish
him, for there really is no one
like him. Fantastic." —
Billy Bragg
His latest album, “Klemzer
Mongrels” released October 24 on the 9pm label, is the ultimate expression of
his aggressive kind of klezmer. It's a klezmer punk folk dance album about
mixed-breeds of all kinds.
“Today there's a cultural
battle going on between the boring forces of purity, fundamentalism and
monoculture, and the fun forces of mixed-up, messed-up diversity. This album is
a shot in favour of the mixed-up fun."
"I believe in this
approach, because at the height of its powers, this music, the folk music of
Eastern European Jews, was a constantly changing brew of Turkish music, sacred
Jewish music, Tango, jazz, and the music of whatever country the Jews were
living in at the time."
Berner's message is evident in
songs like "Half German Girlfriend", "Luck in Exile", and
the ironic "Authentic Klezmer Wedding Band". The music and lyrics are
a raw assault on purity that will make listeners, laugh, bang their heads, cry,
and feel absurd, all at the same time.
After numerous international
tours, festival appearances, airplay on national radio in 7 countries, and
slots on tour with artists such as Billy Bragg, Kaizers Orchestra, Balkan Beat
Box and the Be Good Tanyas (who covered his song "Light Enough to
Travel", selling over 100,000 copies), he's garnered critical acclaim and
a cult following for his sharp songwriting and cabaret performance style.
Berner bolstered his klezmer
knowledge with a research trip: In 2004, the trio of Berner, Diona Davies
(violin) and Wayne Adams (percussion) travelled to rural Romania to investigate
the roots of klezmer with their guide and klezmer guru, Bob Cohen, leader of
Budapest band Di Naye Kapelye. They returned with a deeper understanding of the
music, and quite a few stories to tell.
It would be tempting to paint
Berner as some kind of klezmer rebel, but he maintains that he is working
firmly in the tradition. “When we went to Romania, we found musicians who are
masterful, but can also play so passionately that pitch and meter are thrown to
the wind. And the words in the songs are full of drinking, politics and sex.
That’s my kind of tradition.
CR Avery
- ”Beatbox Poet
- Punk Piano Player
- String Quartet Raconteur
- Rock & Roll Matador
- Playwright
- Outlaw Hip-Hop Harmonica
Player
Whether performing to
thousands at the Royal Albert Hall or the lucky few who made it inside the
packed past capacity speakeasy, C.R. Avery is a unique, raw and dynamic
performer. His genius lies in many genres - blues, hip-hop, spoken word and
rock & roll. He is a one-man band, but one for this generation; with the
rare ability to sing poetic verse while beatboxing simultaneously while
pounding the piano and adding harmonica like a plot twist. A multi-talented
front man for his Legal Tender String Quartet; a crazed lead singer/harp player
for his rock & roll band The Special Interest Group; a lyrical dynamo &
the musical backbone of the spoken word trio Tons of Fun University.
From musical beginnings in his
late teens, C.R. Avery has recorded over fifteen albums as well as writing
& directing six hip-hop operas, which were mounted and performed from New
York’s Bowery to L.A.’s South Central. He has toured throughout Canada
(including almost every major folk festival) the USA and Europe (headlining or
opening for Billy Bragg, Buck 65, and Sage Francis) and garnered the attention
of music peers the likes of Tom Waits (“...he’s blowin’ my mind”); blues harp
trail blazer Charlie Musselwhite (“...no one plays harmonica like him… no
one…”); and folk legend Utah Phillips (“...raw talent”).
His incredible live
performances have been described as Bob Dylan in the body of Iggy Pop;
colliding with Little Walter, the Beastie Boys and Allen Ginsberg. Every show
is all or nothing and his fearless approach to all genres of music both on
stage and in the studio proves the longevity of this talented, astonishing
creator has so much more to come.
For more information – http://www.cravery.com/
cravery.com
www.cravery.com
C.R. Avery’s book “38 Bar
Blues” available now for $15.00 from Write Bloody Publishing. Download a free
pdf sample of this great book. Check out this Behind The Page video by Write
Bloody President Derrick Brown.
Jess Hill
is a unique singer-songwriter risen
from the talented denizens of East Vancouver. She is a storyteller whose
delicately constructed lyrical worlds captivate, standing firmly with her
blues-draped compositions. Her music will smash your heart, pinch you in your
sweetest nerves, give pause to the present and sing you to sleep all in one
gently fierce moment. Jess invites the audience into her realm, engaging them
with a voice like the sound of a well-rosined bow across your heartstrings,
telling tales over her skillfully crafted guitar playing. She can pull a room
of strangers into her palm, crushing them with stinging emotions and releasing
them reborn into the night.
Since releasing her debut album
Road in 2006, Jess Hill has been featured on CBC radio, performed at The
Vancouver Folk Festival, Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Artswells, and
numerous other festivals in BC, as well as becoming a much loved staple in the
arenas of the western Canadian music scene. She was a top 20 finalist in the
Peak Performance Project in 2010, Vancouver’s indie music showcase and contest
put on by The Peak 100.5FM. Her second full length album Orchard, recorded and
produced by the multi-talented Aaron Joyce, pushes away from the dock of her
folk roots, and onto the frontiers of new creative fires, delivering
arrangements sometimes slightly more electric in nature. The new album
showcases Hill’s signature sound but also shows her artistic growth by casting
a more ethereal and fantasy-tuned mood over the entirety of the recording.
