16 April 2005

Carnegie video clips

It's after midnight, but I finally got some (short) video clips up:
Can't help thinking I need more energy - the Friday show (at Windermere Secondary School) was full of zip, and hopefully I can get some clips of that up soon also.

Video clips and digital pics will be going up on the Images and Digital Clips page (www.plainsofabraham.ca > English > Tour > Images and Digital Clips).

Beautiful Revelstoke reached

Nice day of driving today, though by the end my spine had begun to press my internal organs against my ribcage. Apparently this is the car version of "Trans-Canada Butt," which I experienced on the GS850 last time round. We are now in Revelstoke; as I type, the CPR is chugging past the window, headed for Roger's Pass.


[Driving into Revelstoke]

The scenery here is utterly beautiful. We had the feeling of rising into the clouds as the altitude increased and the clouds stayed put. Everything is pine and cedar, seemingly, and the air is fresh (though wet). We had some fine sun in Kamloops (we went up that way by the Coquihalla, the finest highway in Canada), but up til Hope it rained and then again once we hit the mountains.


[Dave in car; kids, don't take pictures while you drive]

We do a lot of wondering about geography / climatology as we drive. Dave was speculating that the valley-oriented topography of the Interior of BC would definitely have made for a lot of quarrelling princedoms if, for some reason, Renaissance Italy had been transported hither. I guess that's why Europeans, like my friend Lidewijde, like taking trains through the Rockies: they're amazed there aren't dilapidated castles on every ridge. And there are a lot of ridges.


[The glorious Coquihalla highway]


True to my vow to note the music we've been listening to, I give the list of songs we had on Repeat (alphabetical like iTunes likes it - we're broadcasting from the iPod to the car radio):
  • A Whiter Shade of Pale - Procul Harum
  • Anarchy in the UK - Sex Pistols
  • Angel Baby - Rosie and the Originals
  • Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen - as we crossed the summit of the Coquihalla
  • Clocks - Coldplay
  • Come Together - The Beatles
  • Comes a Time - Neil Young
  • Copacabana - Barry Manilow - as we drove down into Kamloops
  • Creep - Radiohead
  • Enter Sandman - Metallica
  • Farewell to Nova Scotia - Various Artists
  • Four Strong Winds - Ian & Sylvia Tyson
  • Four Strong Winds - Neil Young (live)
  • God Save the Queen - Sex Pistols - we've been talking Charles, too . . . will he change his name?
  • Happy Together - Simple Plan - a great cover
  • Happy Together - The Turtles
  • Hey Hey My My - Neil Young & Crazy Horse
  • Hey Joe - Jimi Hendrix
  • Hey Jude - The Beatles
  • Home for a Rest - Spirit of the West
  • Hotel California - The Eagles
  • I Am a Child - Neil Young
  • I Love Rock & Roll - Joan Jett
  • Imagine - John Lennon - not very bloodthirsty
  • Marseillaise - Edith Piaf - quite bloodthirsty indeed
  • Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien - Edith Piaf
  • Northwest Passage - Stan Rogers - Dave and I sang along; we're sort of seeking a Southeast passage
  • Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison - made me think this is the ultimate rock and roll song
  • Roxanne - The Police - no Guinness to go with it, but heck
  • Soviet National Anthem - Russian Red Army Choir
  • Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
  • Steel Guitar - Fred Eaglesmith
  • Sunglasses at Night - Cory Heart - Dave and I agreed the man is a genius
  • White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane - several times, driving up into the mountains
  • Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Gordon Lightfoot - we know the words to this guy too

[The miracle of iTrip with iPod: easy iListening for iTravelers]

Farewell to Vancouver

I can't, alas, write as much as I'd like -- every blogger's excuse, and thank God for it -- because we are minutes away from stepping out the door and driving to Revelstoke. We've been staying at my Uncle Peter's apartment in the West End of Vancouver; a great spot, very central, and (we discovered) in range of some naive Samaritan's non-password-protected wireless station. What more could you ask?

There have been two shows since I last blogged. The first was at the Vancouver Museum, a very fine hall, where the Fraser Highlanders introduced me: both verbally and with marching bagpipers, everyone in full Highland uniform. (The Fraser uniform is interesting because it displays no insignia, medals, or anything of that sort, being a throwback to the semi-civilised costume worn when they were making the transition from clan warfare to 18th century-style drill fighting.) Jim Mair, who introduced me, very kindly lent me his Claymore (huge broadsword, which the Highlanders still used in those days as an alternative to the bayonet), which I will have with me for the rest of the Tour. The audience was small, but extremely appreciative, and it was wonderful to have the view out over English Bay towards the West End. (We are still working on video clips for upload, but those will come soon!)

The second show was at Windermere Secondary School, where I gave what was undoubtedly my best performance yet. There were about 250 Grade 9 students in the auditorium, and the poem definitely kept their attention for about 45 minutes. That, if I do say so myself, is no small feat. I never stumbled -- except for one point where I had to correct "the soldiers of the Eng--" to "--of the King of France" hastily, as you can't get a piece of info like that totally wrong -- and I think that is key. The poem really is internalised by now. I can pick and choose as I go which episodes to include, allowing myself the time for expansion when the audience is looking benevolent and speeding up the compression when I need something exciting right away. Everyone continues to express amazement at the feat of memory, and are less and less inclined to believe me when I assure them that it's not memory, just visualisation; but that is more and more the case. The "secondary reality" I'm trying to create has to start with me, and that's coming along pretty well! Also, as we had some wireless mic problems, I did the whole thing viva voce; nice to know that's still possible, even with the current length. Your lungs do feel a bit tired after 3/4 of an hour of projecting, though! How did the old orators do it?

As I say, video clips and pictures coming soon. We had sushi last night to celebrate; also saw "Ocean's Twelve," an enjoyable flick.

Now, back to the open road!

14 April 2005

Vanity Strikes (egad!)

Forgive another pic upload (from yesterday's Carnegie Centre show) -- I'm not used to looking kind of cool in photographs, and can't resist . . . This shows the three things I'm using in performance: facial expression, gesture, rhabdos.

13 April 2005

First Public Show


This has been something of a blog of firsts, so far: first performance, first Tour performance -- and now first public performance. This evening I performed at the Carnegie Community Centre ,at Hastings and Main in Vancouver. I'm pretty wrecked and don't have the strength to give it a good description; in brief, it was a marvelous audience (who literally didn't move a muscle during the whole 45-minute show: more confirmation of my meter theory, extremely appreciative of literature. One only has to spend a few hours in that beautiful building to see how much it means to the community there -- and there really is a strong and friendly sense of community, such as one does not meet every day.

As to the show itself, it featured a great deal of impromptu description and even an impromptu lament (for Wolfe, by a Highland soldier). I have been working on some Highland material for future shows, when I may have the privilege of performing in front of officers and men of Highland regiments, but I hadn't internalised it. The moment came, and I decided I would try it: total improvisation. Frankly, I'm amazed I didn't have a paralytic stroke, but though it was fairly rough I think it worked decently. I'm mulling over the idea of improvisation, as a concept, quite a lot, and will doubtless post at length about it later -- a key issue.

The filmmaker took a great deal of footage, I believe -- I rather dread watching it: if one's voice sounds weird on an answering machine, how much weirder must one look in front of a camera? -- and he says it's good stuff. Also on hand was the great Bill Richardson, making an audio recording and finally seeing the poem in performance; I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by him yesterday evening. I think I will feature in some way in a Bunny Watson segment in a few weeks' time. (If you don't know Bunny Watson, you really should listen in: this is creative radio like you've never heard before.)

For the life of me, I can't remember what I said in the interview . . . I know I couldn't remember any Sanskrit verse to recite, which was embarassing; but then there are probably more fluent speakers of Sanskrit in Canada than there are fluent speakers of Latin worldwide, and God knows how much contemptuous mail CBC would get if they heard me mispronounce my velar consonants.



Anyway, here are some images of myself in performance at the Carnegie Centre:


On the front steps, after the performance.




Probably invoking the "immortal angel" at this point (my modernisation of the Muse).


And, for that Photoshop fetishist in all of us, a little paranormal rhapsodising . . .

12 April 2005

First shows of Epic Tour 2005 - Mulgrave School

Just got back to downtown Vancouver from West Van, where I performed the poem three times for Grade 6 students at Mulgrave School. It went quite well, if I do say so myself. The students there are extremely bright and asked interesting questions, and at least two of the shows kept their interest for the full 1/2-hour. That's maybe a tribute to the poem, or to Mulgrave students, or to both. There were about 15 students in the audience for the first show, about 30 for the second, and 15 again for the third. Our host, John O'Flynn, was superbly welcoming, and gave the filmmaker an interview. What an excellent teacher.

This was performance with a vengeance, I may say: and I think the shows got progressively better. Cutting it down to half length on the fly is becoming easier. When in doubt, include something, and ponder how to shorten what is coming! Composition-in-performance -- that key concept of Homeric poetics -- is clearly an exercise in "the tongue swore, but the mind did not"; that is, in being able to think through what will follow on the line(s) currently being spoken, as something else is being spoken. But perhaps that goes for all performance.

Regarding meter: the audience clearly felt "a tremor in the Force" when the meter faltered (as it did a couple of times); there is no doubt that meter has a physiological effect, and two extra syllables, when included by accident, are disorienting. Also, the poet must never stumble, as I did once or twice today, as this immediately breaks the mimetic spell. Grade 6 students are good proof of this, being so honest in their gestures: when I did stumble, several would immediately yawn; if I did not, they remained fixed in the story.

Overall, if future performances go as well as these ones did, the Tour will succeed very well! Tomorrow I head for the other end of the socio-economic spectrum with the performance at the Carnegie Community Centre at the corner of Hastings and Main -- the poorest postal code in Canada, where the Carnegie is a real pillar of community (we stopped in yesterday to check it out). I am so much looking forward to it.

11 April 2005

Tomorrow, the Tour Begins


Well, the last tracks are being laid, and the train approaches. Tomorrow is the big day! We have three morning performances scheduled for the Mulgrave School in West Vancouver. Dave (my brother, who is making the documentary film about the Tour) was here in Vancouver this weekend while I jetted off to North Carolina; and he has collected the gorgeous Tour Brochures the Dominion Institute has sent us. (Also the page proofs of my young adult novel, The Roman Conspiracy -- it never rains but it pours, as they say in Vancouver quite often.)

UNC Chapel Hill is beautiful; and Classics is flourishing there. It was a wonderful conference, and my paper had to keep pace with a great number of quality presentations by archaeologists and philologists alike; my hosts, Sean and Amanda, were extremely welcoming. But I ended up flying eighth class both ways -- a category reserved for those people who sit in the single seat immediately in front of the emergency exit above the wing. What can I say? My mouse booked the seat online; my spine did not.

Today we are tying up loose ends; and preparing for the solemn ceremony of heading down to English Bay to scoop up a bottle of Pacific water, which I will eventually (inshallah) dump into the Atlantic. I did the reverse on Rhapsodic Tour 2000 -- discovering that seawater has a fairly short shelflife, in terms of smell. But how's an Ontario lad to know that?