it’s really happening
May 14th, 2010our braided paths and solitary ways
– Freya Manfred
Postcard from Mistissini #3
March 18th, 2010Today was the final day of our radio workshop in Mistissini. Participating stations included Cini fm and JBCCS (Mistissini) as well as CHFB in Chisasibi and PETAAPIN in Oujé-Bougoumou. We produced a regional radio show featuring reports, interviews and new promos about Murray’s Lodge, Journey of Wellenss and the Offshore Islands Agreement Referendum. I’m really proud of the work everyone accomplished this week. We did a lot in a little time – congrats everyone and thanks to Iain Cook at the Cree Health Board and JBCCS for organizing the workshop!
This is the crew (Jeff and Luke missing in action) before the big show!
JBCCS production hotshot Jeff in the JBCCS studio
JBCCS whiz / announcer Stacy in the studio
Willy from Oujé-Bougoumou is editing his interview with an elder working on a moose hide. LISTEN HERE.
This is Mistissini from the hill on the edge of town
snowmobile trails everywhere
beautiful lake mistissini — the largest fresh water lake in Quebec!
Catherine Morrow lives in Mistissini.
Iain Cook also lives in Mistissini. This dog hanging out at the radio station fell in love with Iain.
Postcard from Mistissini #2
March 16th, 2010
A skull hanging in a tree at Murray’s Lodge (traditional camp).
A bush plane takes off outside our meeting room at the Lodge.
Marlene interviews a youth preparing a caribou at Murray’s Lodge
Anvil getting some clips from at the camp.
Willy models the headphones..
Some of the participants in the radio training: Anvil, Gordin, Willie, Marlene, Stacy, Leanne
What’s happening in Mistissini this week? Here’s what we’re covering for JBCCS Radio:
Cree Offshore Island Agreement
Wellness Journey and Traditional Teaching Camp
This training is brought to you by The Cree Health Board
Postcard from Mistissini #1
March 15th, 2010
Still here
March 13th, 2010“The radio station of the NIGHT SKY and the HOUSING CRISIS, of CRANBERRY HARVESTS and CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION, of LAZY SWIMS and HIGH-SPEED FERRIES, of CHILDREN BUILDING CASTLES ON THE BEACH and JUNKIES SHOOTING SKAG IN THE PARKING LOT, of BLUEBERRY BUSHES and BULL MARKETS.”
—Gregory Whitehead
WHY CHEAP ART?
January 31st, 2009
As Heard through an Air Shaft..
January 31st, 2009You get the full essence of Harlem in an air shaft. You hear fights, you smell dinner, you hear people making love. You hear intimate gossip floating down. You hear the radio. An air shaft is one great big loudspeaker. You see your neighbor’s laundry. You hear the janitor’s dogs. The man upstairs’ aerial falls down and breaks your window. You smell coffee. . . . An air shaft has got every contrast. . . . You hear people praying, fighting, snoring. . . . I tried to put all that in my Harlem Air Shaft.
– Duke Ellington, lifted from Vibration Society
Photographer Tony Hauser in Rwanda
November 25th, 2008
This SOUND COLLAGE about Tony’s Hauser’s day in Nyagatare, Rwanda recently aired on CBC Radio’s Sunday Edition.
How Do You Build A Village?
November 13th, 2008LISTEN to a story about Main-A-Dieu, Cape Breton I created for CBC Radio’s Maritime Magazine in October.
It features Sarah Forgeron and her pink-haired horse, Newf..
White Salt Moutain: A Gathering of Poets for John Thompson
November 6th, 2008
Peter Sanger reading at Bridge Street Cafe
I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I invited six poets and some musicians to Sackville to celebrate the spirit of the great poet, John Thompson (1938 – 1976). I mean — who really cares about poetry? Evidently a whole lot of people in Sackville.
Peter Sanger, Allan Cooper, Anita Lahey, Rob Winger, Amanda Jernigan and Harry Thurston were the featured poets of the day. The cafe readings at Bridge Street Cafe brought out about forty people. Sanger’s biographical lecture on Thompson, Winger’s talk on the Canadian ghazal and the Speak Easy at Struts Gallery also drew enthusiastic audiences. Gran Sassparilla, a fine all female old-timey group from Halifax and singer-songwriter Eric Fresia threw done some great tunes.
There was magic in the air at White Salt Mountain. I heard a few of the White Salt Mountain poets went out to Thompson’s grave in Jolicure and left him a nip of scotch.
The morning of the festival when I was going through my requisite, “Why am I doing this?” a couple of students approached me and said how excited they were about Thompson, how happy they were that White Salt Mountain was happening. I instantly forgot about the insanity of trying to organize from a thousand miles away – the promotion, pleading for funding, the scheduling. It really was incredible to see a diverse cross section of folks attending the readings and festival events – Thompson’s former colleagues at Mount Allison, poets, students and many others curious about the Thompson mythos. People were ready to celebrate Thompson 30 years after Stilt Jack was published.
As Douglas Lochhead wrote, “there is no forgetting John”.
