Thursday APRIL 26, 2007
8:30 start at It’s Not a Deli 986 Queen St West (near Ossington)
featuring
SHARON SINGER
and
STEVEN MICHAEL BERZENSKY (MICK BURRS)
SHARON SINGER
is a performance poet, a wordsinger who has worked as an arts journalist and film distributor. She programmed and hosted the Words in Concert poetry reading series at Free Times Café and served on the board of the Art Bar Reading Series at the Victory Café. Her poem suite, “The Names of Water” was set to classical music by Ottawa composer Colin Mack and sung by soprano Doreen Taylor-Claxton in her first CD of Canadian Art Song, HAIL. Sharon’s original lyrics are featured on the music CD, SUNRISE produced by Hamilton composer Marko Lukac. She is currently completing a third CD featuring her vibrant spoken word performances in collaboration with renowned jazz saxophonist Bob Mover (of New York City).
Among Sharon’s published works are FIRE RIDER (1996), a book of poetry, and her chapbooks, THE LAST YEARS OF THE NATURAL WORLD (2002), and her just released MOSES (2007).
STEVEN MICHAEL BERZENSKY (MICK BURRS)
was born in Los Angeles and has lived in Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Yorkton, and now Toronto. He did not become a dedicated poet until he moved to Canada during the Vietnam War. So far, Mick has over 750 published poems, six books, and 28 chapbooks. His most recent collection is THE NAMES LEAVE THE STONES: POEMS NEW AND SELECTED (Coteau Books), and his latest chapbook is MEMORIES OF A BEE-HIVE BOY (Waking Image Press). He is a former editor of Grain literary magazine and founder of the Annual Short Grain Contest.
Mick is also renewing his folk singing experience, which, for him, always consisted of three dynamic elements: “Rough Guitar/ SereneVoice/ Imaginative Songs.” He is reissuing GOLD RAYS, on which he performs a dozen of his tunes accompanied by Rob Penner, concert violinist. This poet’s pencil paintings and miniature tiles or “luminosities” have served as covers for books, chapbooks, and CDs.