iWPS in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Oh Canada. I'm at the Individual World Poetry Slam

Well, my long national nightmare is over. At 2 PM yesterday, I picked up my passport (a reissue) because I had yet to get the first finished one from Houston, TX and we headed up north. Daemond Arrindel and JW Baz were above accomodating and waited for me, delaying their trip by three hours as I waited for the bureaucracy to do its thing. It did and I'm writing this from Canada. Of course, they didn't even look at my passport at the border. Maybe they will when I try and get back in?

Other than a short stint as a kid, which I don't remember, and a short run to Palomas, Mexico for Tequila and a teeth cleaning, this is my first foray into non-America. Vancouver is stunning, surrounded by beautiful snow capped mountains the weather is quite seasonable and I caught a ride to Commercial Drive for the First Nations Slam and Last Chance Slam. It was a small Italian restaurant amid a "Nob Hill" like display of cool storefronts. Found a burrito place and dared to have one. Good, tasty, then wound my way through the crowded, over capacity venue, to listen to the poetry.

Okay, I was tired, I'd been up since 6 AM and stressed by bureaucratic hoops, couldn't really get excited. Cuffee, who is Montauk, took it and is competing. To not be rude, I left before the Last Chance even started, but found out later that Anis Mogjani won and is in the competition this week. Should be fun.

Esme showed up with Cuffee and Jazz and though she assured me she had a place to stay woke up this morning with Esme sleeping on the bed to next to Jazz (Cuffee's wife) and Cuffee on the floor. Told Cuffee to get on my bed went back to sleep. Yes, two men can sleep on the same bed. Its the poetry slam for God sake.

Will update tomorrow. Hope the weather in ABQ finds you well.

Comments

Peregrinating the Albuquerque Bosque

The Map. Overview: Starting in the San Juans in Colorado, the Rio Grande "is the twenty-second longest river in the world and the fourth or fifth longest in North America" ( Texas State Historical Society ). While the river is characterized by the area it flows through, the river from Elephant Butte Dam to the south to Cochiti Dam in the north is called the Middle Rio Grande. And in the middle of the middle Rio Grande is the roughly 20 plus miles that flows through Albuquerque. From an airplane, the Rio Grande is a brown ribbon bordered a green ribbon. That green ribbon is the Bosque . I've always been fascinated really exploring an area, getting a sort of overview of an area then drilling down to really get it. It's led to me hiking the Sandias from end to end and then hiking outlying trails multiple times, biking all the trails in the Cedro Peak area because someone put them on a map, trying different routes to get to ...

Peregrinating the Albuquerque Bosque-the Autumnal Equinox edition

Overview: In June, around the Summer Solstice, my wife, my dog, and I set out to hike the Albuquerque Bosque from end to end over two days . It was well over a hundred degrees and after starting later than expected we didn't make it as far the first day as we hoped. But we did make it. Now, three months later, around the Autumnal Equinox, we set out to do it again. Our route was slightly different and, with the weather being a lot more pleasant, broke the day into a thirteen mile day and a five mile day: eighteen total miles from Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge to the Alameda Bridge right on the border between Albuquerque and Corrales. The things we wanted to do differently this time were pretty straightforward: 1) don't get lost at the south terminus and get into the bosque sooner, and 2) walk even more on the westside. So, the route was a follows: we'd walk on the east side from Valle de Oro to the Rio Bravo Bridge, cro...

Top 10 Jazz Albums

So, Mindy and I have been on a Jazz kick for the better part of 3 months now. At first, it was just listening to what we knew and then it moved into just kinda cherry picking, but finally, it was just too overwhelming, so I broke down and bought The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . So, after using the book and listening, I assigned a homework assignment. What are your Top 10 Jazz Albums of all time (so far)? As much as possible try and pick albums and avoid picking compilations or "best of" albums because they are more often than not just compilations of singles and not complete works of art on their own like a good album tries to be. So here's my list: 1. In a Special Way -Miles Davis. There really is no words to describe how awesome this album is. Though the critics define it as "Fusion," it really was "Fusion" before people knew what that was. And while it was recorded ensemble (unlike a lot recording whe...

Confessions of a Human Nerve Ending

Search This Blog