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CURRENT EVENTS
274 Garry St. OPEN EMAIL
What people are saying: And Aqua Books, on Garry St., is one of the craziest, most amusing and well-ordered second-hand bookstores I have ever frequented. Upstairs, in what had been a Chinese restaurant (the panelling and the décor and the kitchen still there) the owner, Kelly Hughes, maintains three studios for writers-in-residence, and the old dining room, complete with stage and fainting couches, is reserved for readings. Walking tours are popular (and a good idea) in the city, and readers can pick up a brochure here for Hughes' BookWalk too. - Noah Richler, Toronto Star
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PAST STORE EVENTSMusic and WordsAqua Books is Western Canada's second-busiest arts and cultural venue (Banff is #1), seeing an audience of over ten thousand people at three hundred and fifty readings, book launches, meetings, workshops, concerts, plays, film screenings, lectures and shows every year. Unless noted, all events are free, take place at 123 Princess Street and are presided over by Margaret Laurence's Stone Angel (you'll know what I mean when you see it). For information on utilizing Winnipeg's Cultural City Hall (seats 110) or the Vicki Karon Francis events room (seats 27), contact Kelly Hughes at kelly@aquabooks.ca. MusicSunday, June 17/12 8pm $10 adv./$12 doorDevon Sproule
MusicSaturday, June 16/12 7pm-1am $5123.0 MusicSaturday, June 9/12 8pm $10/$5 studentsThe Nairobi Incident LitThursday, June 7/12 7pmManitoba Writers' Guild presents MusicWednesday, June 6/12 8pm $10/$5 students3 Winnipeg's newest power trio: Marco Castillo, Amber Nielsen and Lindsey White, playing the second-last show ever at 274 Garry Street!! TheatreSaturday, June 2/12 7pmPlaywrights Guild of Canada presents TheatreSaturday, June 2/12 5pmProfessional Association of Canadian Theatres presents MusicFriday, June 1/12 8pm $10/$5 studentsHollerin' Pines
JazzThursday, May 31/12 8pm $10/$5 studentsThe Lucas Sader Project, feat. Erin Propp
MusicWednesday, May 30/12 8pm $10/$5 studentsThe Amy Winehouse Songbook
JazzSunday, May 27/12 8pm $10/$5 studentsU of M Jazz Studies Class of 2012 Sextet
MusicSaturday, May 26/12 8pm $7/$10 with CDNic Dyson CD Release
Craft SaleSaturday, May 26/12 11am-5pmCrafty Minions
It's never the wrong time to pick up something completely unique and beautiful for yourself, and it's always the right time to support local artisans and crafters, and maybe even become inspired. Admission is free. MusicFriday, May 25/12 8pm $7Yes We Mystic
LatinThursday, May 24/12 8pm $12Amber Epp and the Argentine Collective
Amber Epp (voice, piano) Guillermo Ocejo (special guest: guitar) LitTuesday, May 22/12 7pmLibros Libertad Book Launch
Bake SaleFriday, May 18/12 10am-2pmManitoba Food Bloggers ComedyThursday, May 17/12 8pm $10/$5 studentsLive! with Reggie San Miguel
One of the city's top 3 talk shows will be returning on Thursday, May 17 at Aqua Books, and it will be better than ever, with some special guests. Jack Johnson. The Beatles. Adele. Justin Timberlake. These are just some of the people whose songs I'll be playing, along with Victor Lopez on guitar and Sean Burke on the bass. And you can expect a touch of Disney as well. Oh wait, there's more. I'll be talking to fellow host Dan Huen from Week Thus Far to talk about the joys and challenges of parenting, being constantly recognized on the street, and hosting a show. I hope you can drop by and catch some signature San Miguel arrangements and comedy bits that will leave you thinking "Wow, I'm really glad I DVR'd 30 Rock tonight." ComedyWednesday, May 16/12 7pmUnReserved (Winnipeg warm-up show)
TheatreTuesday, May 15/12 8pm $10Fusion Dance Theatre Fundraiser MusicSunday, May 13/12 7pm $10/$5 studentsJazz Machine VII
Spoken WordFriday, May 11/12 7pmWinnipeg International Storytelling Festival
BluegrassThursday, May 10/12 8pm $10/$5 studentsThe Devil Went Down to Aqua
JazzMonday, May 7/12 8pmNiall Bakkestad-Legare Third-Year Recital
MusicWednesday, May 2/12 8pm $10/$5 studentsWaywiser, with From Giants
JazzMonday, April 30/12 8pm $10Curtis Nowosad 4tet
JazzSunday, April 29/12 8pm $10/$5 studentsThe Cole Porter Songbook
TheatreApril 26-28/12 8pm $10The Marketplace Players present The Marketplace Players present the premier performance of Ending Better, an original one-act play by Denis Thornton. Strange encounters at a train station lead to a surprising revelation, but there's a twist in the tale. A spoof of the scary comedy genre, Ending Better presents the audience with some nice light comedy to enjoy. A nice after Winter tonic. MusicSunday, April 22/12 7pm $10 ($5 students)Beautiful Lies II An evening of original songs from singer-storytellers Rayannah Kroeker, Margaret Howison and Tim Elias. The intimate setting of the Aqua Books theatre is a perfect place to hear these musical stories play out. Each song is individual, personal, and equal part truth and lie.
FilmSunday, April 22/12 2pm $12Toronto International Flamenco Festival presents MusicSaturday, April 21/12 8pm $5JohNNy SiZZle Turns 40rty
Manitoba Book AwardsSaturday, April 21/12 4pmRoad to the Book Awards
WorkshopSaturday, April 21/12 11am-3:30pm $75From the Ground Up: Planning and Writing a Publishable Story WRITE THAT BOOK! Jake MacDonald's Fall/Winter writing workshop is a small group of busy beavers who will meet once a month to plan, brainstorm, and get to work on book-length writing projects - both nonfiction and fiction. Jake helps out with suggestions on story structure and creative brainstorming, and participants help each other with support, motivation and feedback. Classes are $75 each and it's okay to miss a class now and then. First meeting is on Saturday, October 1st, from 11am - 3:30. Roll up your sleeves and have a rough draft of your book finished by spring.
MusicFriday, April 20/12 8pm $54/20 at Aqua Books
Manitoba Book AwardsThursday, April 19/12 7pmRoad to the Book Awards
Manitoba Book AwardsTuesday, April 17/12 7pmRoad to the Book Awards
MusicMonday, April 16/12 8pm $10/$5 studentsJordan Klassen
MusicSunday, April 15/12 8pm $10The New Lightweights, with Red Moon Road
TheatreSunday, April 15/12 3pm $5Winnipeg Talking Radio Orchestra presents
Manitoba Book AwardsSaturday, April 14/12 4pmRoad to the Book Awards
JazzThursday, April 12/12 7pmU of M Jazz Program Student Ensembles World MusicSunday, April 1/12 7pm $10Amir Amiri, with Curtis Nowosad and Luke Sellick An exciting evening of improvised music with Persian Santur player Amir Amiri, bass player Luke Sellick and drummer Curtis Nowosad.
MusicFriday, March 30/12 8pm $8/$5 studentsThe Eardrums, with Waterfront Drive
JazzThursday, March 29/12 8pm $10Jazz Machine VI
TheatreTuesday, March 27/12 7pmManitoba Association of Playwrights presents JazzThursday, March 22/12 8pmJeffrey King Drum Recital
IdeasWednesday, March 21/12 7:30pmThe Science of the Soul Book Launch
Dr. Michael Likey is a teacher, transformational speaker, and motivational life coach. He also produces his own weekly internet radio show, The Science of the Soul. He maintains a private metaphysical practice on the west coast of Canada, where he resides with his wife, Susan,and their cat, Bella. IdeasTuesday, March 20/12 7:30pm $5United Jewish People's Order presents UJPO has invited noted historian and political activist Henry Heller to comment on current international events and the rise of resistance in the form of movements such as Occupy Wall Street and the 99% Movement. Come discuss this important issue and the implications of today’s events on our future. JazzFriday, March 16/12 8pm $10 ($5 students)Walle Larsson Band
JazzThursday, March 15/12 8pm $10 ($5 students)Anna-Lisa Kirby presents
Featuring performances by past students: Heitha Forsyth, Amber Epp, Sheena Rattai, Karly Epp, Grace Hrabi, Erin Propp, Rayannah Kroeker, and current students Joanna Majoko, Alie Clark, Brooke Van Ryssel, Jason Buchanan and Jenelle Salanguit. Music/Spoken WordWednesday, March 14/12 7:30pm $10In The Closet Productions presents
Books and CD will be available. A portion of all CD sales help to raise funds for more individual therapy sessions at the Laurel Centre. Your support helps women who have been through childhood sexual abuse and struggle with addiction. Ingrid D. Johnson is a local singer/songwriter, published poet, spoken word artist, and film maker. She is the founder and CEO of In The Closet Productions ... "A Voice for The Voiceless" which creates music, books, film, and produces live shows and events to help raise awareness and funding for important social issues, such as childhood sexual abuse. Since 2009, Johnson has has spoken and performed songs for The Canadian Red Cross RespectED: Violence and Abuse Prevention program, Voices Manitoba Youth In Care Network (MASSIVE workshop) The Manitoba Congress of Black Women, Klinic Community Health, The Laurel Center 25th Anniversary, Osborne House, The Spence Neighborhood Association and other organizations to help raise awareness and funding. Johnson is currently the spokesperson for the clients of The Laurel Center (a community resource center that counsels sexually abused women with addictions). In addition, on October.26th, 2011, Johnson was honored (along with 7 other artists) by the Manitoba Status of Women Minister, Jennifer Howard, for creating music for social change. MusicSunday, March 11/12 7pm $10 ($5 students)Mondo!Musica Sitarist, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Joshua Stanton teams up with Karl Kohut (bass) and Curtis Nowosad (drums) for a very special evening of music at Aqua Books. The concert will feature a fusion ...of traditional Hindustani music with a jazz aesthetic in a highly improvised context. Whether you are a fan of these stellar performers, eager to experience these exotic instruments in person, or simply intrigued by new musical possibilities, don't miss this concert!
Mondo!Poetry March 6-10/12A Celebration of the Life and Work of Anne SzumigalskiTheatreSaturday, March 10/12 7pm $5Readers' Theatre Production of Z: A Meditation on Oppression, Desire, and Freedom
WorkshopSaturday, March 10/12 11am-4pm $40 ($35 MEA members)YA Workshop: Finish The Water Granny
Offered in partnership with the Manitoba Editors' Association, this workshop will focus on the dos and don'ts of substantive editing, with a particular focus on juvenile and YA fiction. Award-winning YA writer and editor Anita Daher will facilitate.
FilmFriday, March 9/12 7pmMondo! Szumigalski Movie Night
Anne Szumigalski was fearless. And funny. A delightful harmonization of Brit and brat, her free-thinking, freedom-loving spirit was groomed in the proprieties of merry old England by a Pagan mother and an Anglican father before the Second World War. Anne, with a notable reputation in literary circles around the world, had a mind and vision as broad and open as the adopted prairie landscape she so loved. Rapture Of The Deep, Canadian Poet, Anne Szumigalski is a free-ranging portrait of this major Canadian poet, based largely on interviews in Saskatoon shot shortly before her death April 22, 1999, at the age of 77. In those interviews, Anne’s brilliance shines as she talks about poetry, compost, and ways she embarrassed her children. Her life’s accomplishments were many – publications, awards, notoriously outrageous dances – but what she did, though significant, pales beside the way she did things. Poet? Yes. Personality? In spades. Rapture Of The Deep, Canadian Poet, Anne Szumigalski is about an unforgettable woman’s epic passion and joy for life. The one hour documentary Rapture Of The Deep, Canadian Poet, Anne Szumigalski (Donna Caruso/Incandescent Films, 2000), will be joined by the book trailer for A Peeled Wand: Selected Poems of Anne Szumigalski (Signature Editions, 2011), which features recordings of Anne reading her poems.
Mondo!SzumigalskiThursday, March 8/12 7pmMark Abley's Anne Szumigalski Memorial Lecture
The Anne Szumigalski Memorial Lecture Series, proposed by Regina poet Paul Wilson in 2001 and approved by the League of Canadian Poets’ National Council the same year, commemorates the award-winning Saskatchewan poet, who died two years earlier. Szumigalski was a mentor to numerous prairie poets and much loved in the literary community, especially in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. She was a founder of the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild and of the literary magazine Grain. Her achievements inspired (and she personally aided) the founders of the Manitoba Writers' Guild and the publication that became Prairie Fire. The lecture is delivered every year at the LCP’s Annual General Meeting and is subsequently published in Prairie Fire.
Alison Calder's poetry collection, Wolf Tree, won two Manitoba book awards and was a finalist for the Gerald Lampert and the Pat Lowther awards. She teaches Canadian literature and creative writing in the Department of English, Film, and Theatre at the University of Manitoba. Mondo!SzumigalskiWednesday, March 7/12 7pm $5Anne and Me
The evening will feature readings by award-winning writers Mark Abley, Mari-Lou Rowley, and Anne Simpson. Each writer will evoke Anne by sharing a poem of hers that’s been important to her or him, and, in between each set, the Jeffrey King Trio will play. Light refreshments will be provided, courtesy of Brick Books, publishers of When Earth Leaps Up. In addition to drummer Jeffrey King, The Jeffrey King Trio features Simon Christie on trumpet and Karl Kohut on bass. Jeff King is a Winnipeg jazz drummer who identifies himself with the unrelenting and unapologetic swing of New York City jazz. Now in his final year in the University of Manitoba’s Jazz Studies Program, Jeff has had the privilege to study with such drummers as Quincy Davis and Kendrick Scott and to perform at venues like Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Trumpet player Simon Christie is a sought-after sideman in the Winnipeg jazz and soul scene. He has played at the Winnipeg Jazz Festival, Winnipeg Fringe Festival, and all of the finest clubs and venues. Bassist Karl Kohut has played for multiple-Grammy winning singer Petula Clark and Juno-award winner Amanda Falk, the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra, and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet as well as currently playing with Ron Paley and the Ron Paley Big Band.
Mondo!SzumigalskiTuesday, March 6/12 8pmLaunch of A Woman Clothed in Words
Please join Coteau Books and Mondo! Szumigalski for the launch of A Woman Clothed in Words. Light refreshments will follow the launch.
Mondo!SzumigalskiTuesday, March 6/12 7pmMarathon Reading of Anne Szumigalski's Risks
Anne Szumigalski's Risks: a poem (Red Deer College Press, 1983) is an exuberant play on words, a serious poem that reflects on life and the craft of poetry – Risks is these and more. It is the story of L – poet, critic, lover. His poignantly comic love affair with the creations of his own imagination, with the beguiling Crystal, with his own words, and finally with himself. In poetry ranging from the delicate and subtle to the sardonic and ironic, Anne Szumigalski has forged a style uniquely her own. Mark Abley is a writer and editor living in Montreal. As a young man in Saskatoon, he was deeply influenced by Anne Szumigalski, whose literary executor he would eventually become. He has written three collections of poetry, two books for children, and several non-fiction books. The best-known of them, Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages, was published internationally and translated into French, Spanish and Japanese. Abley is now preparing a volume of selected poems as well as a creative non-fiction book about Duncan Campbell Scott. Big BandSaturday, March 3/12 8pm $25 ($20 students)Special Venue: MTYP, 2 Forks Market RoadHello 123 For thirteen years, Aqua Books has been a hub of creativity and exploration for thousands of Winnipeggers. After a well-publicized near-death experience this fall, Aqua Books has been given a new lease... on life. With the announcement of our new location just days away, we're pretty stoked. When Leslee Silverman and our old friends at MTYP made their theatre available to us for a fundraiser for our new era, we knew we had to come up with something good. So we got our old friend (okay, he's just old) Al Rae from the Winnipeg Comedy Festival to host an evening of music and laughs (okay, mostly music) with our new friends, the Royal Canadian Navy Band of HMCS Chippawa. Throw in Fred Penner, and we're firing on all muskets! As Aqua Books heads into the new non-profit phase of our career (as opposed to the old no-profit phase), we're doing a number of fundraisers to help us continue to be Winnipeg's Cultural City Hall. And this is going to be our biggest and best yet. The guys and gals from Chippawa make up one of the finest Canadian Forces big bands in the country. So if you're looking for an evening of Broadway and jazz tunes played the way they were meant to be played - with lots of musicians - come on down. The show will also feature guest vocalists, and wait....could that be Bookstore Worker Kelly Hughes taking his cummerbund out of retirement for a song? Tickets are $25 ($20 for students) and are available at the old (okay, current) location of Aqua Books at 274 Garry Street. All proceeds will go towards Winnipeg's Cultural City Hall Inc., a registered Manitoba non-profit organization. Special thanks to Manitoba Theatre for Young People, the Royal Canadian Navy Band of HMCS Chippawa, the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, Leslee Silverman, James McKee, Al Rae and Julia Michaud. Craft SaleSaturday, March 3/12 11am-5pmCrafty Minions
It's never the wrong time to pick up something completely unique and beautiful for yourself, and it's always the right time to support local artisans and crafters, and maybe even become inspired. Admission is free. JazzFriday, March 2/12 8pm $25 w/CD, $20 w/MP3Farewell 274 Live CD Recording For the last two years, Aqua Books has filled a void in the Winnipeg music scene, quietly becoming one of the few places where musicians can perform their original jazz compositions. As things change, we're creating a musical time capsule. This recording will raise money for the new non-profit organization Winnipeg's Cultural City Hall, and will document the current theatre's great sound before it goes away. Most importantly, it will showcase some of the great musicians we have in our midst, and all of the interesting things that they’ve been up to. Come and be part of this historic show. Tickets for the show will be $20 (admission, plus mp3 download of the album) or $25 (admission, plus CD), and will be available at Aqua Books in advance or at the door. The CD is being produced by Curtis Nowosad, and engineered by acclaimed Winnipeg bassist/drummer/recording engineer Paul Yee, and will be ready in time for Christmas. This recording will not be possible without your support. We would love to see you out and hear you clapping and hollering on the recording. If you can’t make it, or you’d really like to support the project (including athank you in the CD liner notes), you can pledge to donate at any time in the next month and beyond. An extra donation of $10 makes you a Fan, $20 makes you a Roadie (without having to carry any gear), $50 will turn you into a Promoter, and $100 turns you into one of the Cats. If you'd like to donate to the project, please contact Kelly Hughes at kelly@aquabooks.ca or (204)943-7555; if you have any other inquiries you can contact Curtis Nowosad at curtis.nowosad@gmail.com or (204)294-9694. TheatreTuesday, February 28/12 7pmManitoba Association of Playwrights presents Five writers from the Wheat City, experienced and new, will present scenes from plays in progress: Craig Russell, whose teen novel Black Bottle Man, published by Great Plains, received a Gold Medal in the 2011 Moonbeam Awards, and finalist for McNally Robinson's Book for Young People Award. He lives in Brandon. Denise Lonechild is a Brandon playwright from the White Bear First Nation. Her play A Story to Storm Coming was produced at the 2009 Brief New Works Festival in Brandon. Kirsty Cameron's story River Stitched won second place in Prairie Fire's 2009 Creative Non-Fiction Contest. She lives in Brandon. Lyn Nightingale, and Tye Dandridge-Evancio are students at Brandon University. Host Dale Lakevold teaches English at Brandon University, lives in Minnedosa, and his most recent play, Aleta Day: A Rehearsal will be produced at the 2012 Mayworks Festival in Winnipeg. JazzSunday, February 26/12 8pm $10 ($5 students)Songs of the Civil Rights Movement
Also featuring a very special power-telling of Fahrenheit 451 to kick off Freedom to Read week. MusicFriday, February 24/12 8pm $5Shasta, with guests Co-bra and Ladybug the Rambler The night will be warmed up by the sultry and sly croonings of Co-bra with her well worn walking tunes, business-casual busking beats and angelic brutal honesty. And just added to the bill is the soulful Ladybug the Rambler!
JazzThursday, February 23/12 8pm $10 ($5 students)Jazz Machine V
MusicWednesday, February 22/12 8pm $8 ($5 students)Primrose, with Demetra
RootsFriday, February 17/12 8pm $10 ($5 students)Kayla Luky, with Tailwind
IdeasThursday, February 16/12 7:30pmFeeling Canadian: Television, Nationalism, and Affect Book Launch
With Canadian culture currently at the mercy of various election platforms and funding cuts, this timely and highly readable book asks us to take a closer look at some of our most dearly-held nationalist assumptions, and to imagine a Canadian television screen that embraces irony, hybridity and diversity. The proliferation of screens, the rise of social media and the ways in which audiences now move across platforms, open up, the author argues, opportunities for connection empathy, and activism, and the creation of new post-national narratives on and off the TV screen.
JazzThursday, February 16/12 8pm $10 ($5 students)Quincy Davis & Promise
RootsWednesday, February 15/12 8pm $10 ($5 students)The Sweet Alibi
MusicSaturday, February 11/12 8pm $10 ($5 students)Kristopher Ulrich Band, with guests Eli Matas and Zack Kinahan
MusicThursday, February 9/12 8pm $6JohNNy SiZZle/Lloyd & Selleck Present A CKUW radio personality double whammy, featuring the legendary JohNNy SiZZle, of Winnipeg Arena IS on FIRE!, and Judith Light's nephews Lloyd & Selleck Light of Lloyd & Selleck's Local Lockdown. It's going to be funny and obscene and witty and beautiful...it's a guarantee! If you enjoy listening to CKUW, you should come out and support this. Proceeds of this pre-FunDrive will go to CKUW.
MusicWednesday, February 8/12 8pm $8 ($5 students)Beautiful Lies An evening of original songs from singer-storytellers Bean, Eagle Lake Owls and Kate Ferris. The intimate setting of the Aqua Books theatre is a perfect place to hear these musical stories play out. Each song is individual, personal, and equal part truth and lie.
MusicMonday, February 6/12 8pm $10 ($5 students)Balkan Folk Tales CD Launch
TheatreSunday, February 5/12 7:30pm $10ShawFest presents
Featuring Cory Wojcik as the Roastmaster, Ron Robinson as George Bernard Shaw and surprise guest appearances from luminaries of the Winnipeg theatre scene – including participants from this year's ShawFest shows. ShawPass or suggested donation: $10.00. As befits the roast of a man of GBS’s strong social conscience, all proceeds from this event will benefit the Actors’ Fund of Canada. CAEA, MAP, PGC Members: Pay What You Can MusicFriday, February 3/12 7pm $10 ($5 students)Too Much Info Tour 2012 Tim Elias solo in concert at Aqua Books, at 7pm so you can get to your Friday night gig. Tim is bringing all his instruments. See the banjo played in ways unimaginable. Lap steel that defies description. Mandolin tunes so odd your head will split open. The green Nicaraguan guitar with its own soul. Hi string piped through vintage Fenders. Its all unstable..... Tim'll laugh, you'll cry...
JazzThursday, February 2/12 8pm $10 ($5 students)Jazz Machine IV
MusicWednesday, February 1/12 8pm $8 ($5 students)Flat City Folk, with Virgil's Auntie and the Vigilantes
MusicTuesday, January 31/12 8pm $8 ($5 students)Bacca, with Holly Stratton
ShawFest 2012January 24-27/12 8pm admission by donationManitoba Association of Playwrights presents
MusicSaturday, January 21/12 8pm $5Nic Dyson and Friends
MusicFriday, January 20/12 7:30pm $517 and Crazy A collection of thought, song, and art created by the adolescent imagination; presented by Davis Plett and friends in collaboration with st. benedict’s table. “Youth is pre-eminently the period in which a man can be lyrical, fanatical, poetic.” - G.K. Chesterton. Join an eclectic mix of young people from the next generation of creatives as they attempt to be all three. In essence, 17 and Crazy is an evening of youthful musings on Life, the Universe, and, well, pretty much Everything. Featuring performances and presentations by Davis Plett, Nanau Loewen, Elyse Loewen, Nadine Plourde, Shayn Martens, Kaitlyn Malazdrewich, Noah Falk, Cale Plett, Jase Falk, Shaylyn Plett, and Emily Baron. To reserve tickets, contact info@stbenedictstable.ca. JazzThursday, January 19/12 8pm $5bluelight, with guests The Glenn Radley Trio featuring Jay Buchanan
DiscussionWednesday, January 18/12 7pmWinnipeg Children's Literature Roundtable MusicWednesday, January 18/12 8pm $10 ($5 students)Lady Troubadours IV
JazzSunday, January 15/12 8pm $10 ($5 students)Nineteen Sixties: A Tribute to the Miles Davis Quintet
MusicSaturday, January 14/12 8pm $10 ($5 students)Good Vs. Evil
May or may not bring about the apocalypse. JazzThursday, January 12/12 8pm $10 ($5 students)David Restivo Trio
MusicWednesday, January 4/12 9pm $7Sea of Mountains EP Release
Zoppa will open the night with their sedative space-folk. This collective project fronted by mastermind Micah Erenberg have become extremely popular throughout Winnipeg playing all sorts of shows with all sorts of arrangements. Each set is a unique and completely engaging experience. If you haven’t experienced Zoppa yet, they will be happy to deflower you. If you have, well then we need say no more. Also on the bill, Jamie Enns, crafter of extremely creative and mind-bending visuals. While Vela performs, including, of course, Sea Of Mountains in its entirety, Jamie will be editing and projecting visuals to give an entirely new dimension to the performance. All of this commotion for only $7, and (this evening only) the physical album will be available at a crazy discount price of $3 MusicTuesday, December 27/11 9pm $10 ($5 students)Pie: The Music of Cake
MusicWednesday, December 21/11 8pm $10 ($5 students)collage-à-trois
Over time, everyone collects songs they'll never forget, an autobiographical soundtrack. This project is a collage of our songs. Many genres, different instrumentations, creative arrangements and originals of our own. MusicTuesday, December 20/11 9pm $10 door/$7 advContrackt, with Josh Weiss
Talk ShowSaturday, December 17/11 8pm $10/$5 studentsLive with Reggie San Miguel
MusicFriday, December 16/11 7:30pm $10 or pay what you canhaLf man haLf eLf, with Cassie Hatcher and Sid Strange
JazzThursday, December 15/11 7pmU of M Jazz Program Student Ensembles MusicFriday, December 9/11 7:30pm $10Helen White's Singers Join us for a vocal extravaganza featuring some of Helen White's finest singers - Angela Wasyluk, Suzanne, Nora LaBossiere, Malissa Magorel, Gabrielle Ogilvie, Caitlin Wakeman, and Sam Rech. The singers are all coming together to raise funds for keeping Winnipeg's Cultural City Hall alive! Backed by Jonathan Alexiuk's band - Jon on keys, Chris Berti on bass and Glenn Lambert on drums - and special guests, this will be an evening featuring a plethora of different songs presented by different vocalists for this joyous occasion. There will be jazz standards, pop tunes, originals and even some Christmas songs! The evening will be hosted by Helen White. Keep music live! See you there! Craft SaleSaturday, December 3/11 11am-5pmCrafty Minions
Do all your holiday shopping without taking a step into the dreaded mall, it's never the wrong time to pick up something completely unique and beautiful for yourself, and it's always the right time to support local artisans and crafters, and maybe even become inspired yourself. Admission is free. JazzThursday, December 1/11 8pm $10Jazz Machine III
The Talking Heads were an American avant-garde band that was active from 1974 to 1991, with songs including Once In A Lifetime, Take Me To The River, Burning Down The House and Psycho Killer. The personnel for this show includes Paul De Gurse (arrangements/keyboards), Erin Propp (vocals), Neil Watson (sax), Lucas Sader (drums), and Mike Cann (bass). Projection design was provided by Ali Fulmyk LitWednesday, November 30/11 7:30pmCreComm Reading Series Red River College's Creative Communications program is the training ground for Manitoba's professional communicators. The CreComm Reading Series, curated by K.I. Press, brings writers of all genres to Winnipeg. Opening acts are current and former CreCommers with creative works-in-progress. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $20.1 million in writing and publishing throughout Canada.
MusicWednesday, November 30/11 8pm $10/$5 studentsThe Patti Smith Songbook
Patti Smith is an artist, poet, and the Godmother of Punk.
FolkSunday, November 27/11 8pm $10North of 50 Tim Elias (of Elias, Schritt and Bell), former Aqua Books songwriter-in-residence Marcel Desilets, and legendary singer-songwriter Bobby Stahr on the same bill for the first time. As Aqua Books reorganizes and rebuilds, many of Winnipeg's best artists are stepping up to help the magic continue. Since 1999, Aqua Books has been providing a place for young and emerging artists to cut their teeth, and working with established artists to create new work you won't see anywhere else.
JazzSaturday, November 26/11 8pm $10/$5 studentsAaron Shorr Trio, plus the Sabasch Collective
JazzFriday, November 25/11 8pm $20Kirby, Davis, Gardner and Cain Join four jazz titans for a one-time only gig of epic proportions, as Steve Kirby, Quincy Davis and Derrick Gardener from U of M step onto the bandstand with pianist Michael Cain from cross-province rival Brandon U. But when they get up there, all bets are off. As Steve Kirby says, "the bandstand is a sacred altar." Prepare yourself for some of the finest music you've ever heard. As Aqua Books reorganizes and rebuilds, many of Winnipeg's best artists are stepping up to help the magic continue. Since 1999, Aqua Books has been providing a place for young and emerging artists to cut their teeth, and working with established artists to create new work you won't see anywhere else.
Music/Spoken WordMonday, November 21/11 8pm $10Woven Borders
World MusicSaturday, November 19/11 8pm $10Casimiro Nhussi, with the Aaron Shorr Trio African drums meet modern jazz. Aaron Shorr on guitar, Luke Sellick on bass, Kelly Leveille on percussion, and Mozambique drummaster Casimiro Nhussi.
BluegrassFriday, November 18/11 8pm $5Spring Thaw
MusicThursday, November 17/11 8pm $10Canvas Pulse, with Keith Price
MusicWednesday, November 16/11 8pm $5Jason Maas and the Lower Companions
MusicTuesday, November 15/11 8pm $5Debra Lyn Neufeld, with Erin Jersak
MusicSaturday, November 12/11 8pm $10Red Moon Road
JazzThursday, November 10/11 8pm $10Jazz Machine II
The album, which was voted by Time magazine as the greatest album of the 20th century, will be re-imagined and re-interpretted by Nowosad and his highly-skilled associates. This is going to be a unique concert experience that is not to be missed!
StorytellingWednesday, November 9/11 7pm $10Stories of Light and Dark
StorytellingTuesday, November 8/11 6pm $6 kids/$8 adults/$20 familiesYAP Theatre (South Africa) and Aqua Books present Join us for the only public performance of Erik's wonderful show. KidsNovember 8-10/11 School ProgramYAP Theatre (South Africa) and Aqua Books present
South African Erik de Waal has enthralled children on five continents with his energetic story theatre productions featuring South African folktales. Experience an enchanted world of talking zebras, galumphing elephants and lying lions as traditional South African folktales come to vibrant life at the hands of a master storyteller and puppeteer. African Folktales with Erik de Waal features new stories written by de Waal each year and is directed by Marie Kruger, head of the University of Stellenbosch Theatre Department (South Africa). Due to its educational value, this production to is on the ArtStarts official roster in BC and has toured British Columbia since 2005. (ArtStarts is the organization that coordinates artists touring to schools throughout British Columbia.) Other destinations for African Folktales with Erik de Waal include Ireland (2003), England (2004), Turkey (2005), Mexico and Argentina (2006). In Mexico City, performances of African Folktales with Erik de Waal were hosted by, amongst others, the South African Embassy, the British Council and the Universidad de las Americas. An award winning children's theatre practitioner, de Waal, through his company, YAP Theatre Productions, tours extensively throughout South Africa. The tours include the townships, rural areas and cities. DiscussionMonday, November 7/11 7pmWhat’s Behind the Abolition of the Canadian Wheat Board? Hear activist Ken Kalturnyk discuss the political economy of Canadian agriculture and the class interests behind the abolition of the Canadian Wheat Board. TheatreNovember 3-5/11 8pm $10Marketplace Players present Is murder afoot on a quiet street? World MusicSaturday, October 29/11 8pm $10Amir Amiri, with the Curtis Nowosad Trio Curtis Nowosad on drums, Luke Sellick on bass and Niall Bakkestad-Legare on tenor saxophone. The trio will play an opening set and then they'll play an exciting set of improvised music with Persian Santur player Amir Amiri.
DiscussionFriday, October 28/11 7pm $10Accountable Development Works presents
Our special guests will be Muuxi Adam, a Somali-Canadian documentary filmmaker and advocate for refugees and Dr. Alex Zieba, an organic farmer, Coordinator of the Philosophy and Humanities Department at Heritage College in Gatineau, Quebec and ethics advisor on international agribusiness. MusicFriday, October 28/11 8pm $5Nicole Byblow, with Lindsey White
TechnologyWednesday, October 26/11 6pmWinnipeg Girl Geek Dinner
Girl Geek Dinners started in 2005 in London as a way for Girl Geeks (and their invited male friends) to get together, learn and talk about technology. All ages and fields (math, science, new media, graphic design, dev, tech, etc.) are encouraged to participate. (Guy geeks are welcome to attend as well, but the rule of thumb is to be invited by a girl attending. At many technical conventions, guys outnumber girls by about 10 to 1. Using this guideline ensures that at most the ratio will be 1 to 1.) For more information about Winnipeg Girl Geek Dinners, click here. MusicWednesday, October 26/11 8pm $10Bog River, with From Giants
TheatreTuesday, October 25/11 7pmManitoba Association of Playwrights presents MAP presents the first of its evenings with Manitoba playwrights at Aqua for the 2011-12 season with a Conversation with Jens Boutrup, Visiting Danish Director and Dramaturge, and Manitoba playwrights who took part in a unique seminar aiming at developing a new approach to play dramaturgy. Though aimed at playwrights, the approach would be of interest to all writers in dealing with issues in their work, and how to build a possible technique for development of one's work. WorkshopOctober 21 and 22/11 6-9pm, 10am-5pm $125Aqua U. presents Anita Daher, the very first Aqua Books Writer-in-Res (2008) has donated her time, and all course fees go towards the New Aqua Books! 
Take your vitamins and roll up your sleeves as author and editor Anita Daher shows you how to strengthen and further your teen or middle grade novel. This Friday evening, all day Saturday intensive is for authors with novels-in-progress, complete novels needing extra oomph, and even those with only ideas, uncertain how to progress. The focus will be on craft with exercises, individual advisement, writing time and workshopping. All proceeds to go to Winnipeg's Cultural City Hall. Bring a notebook, pen, your manuscript (e-copy is fine--bring your laptop).
MusicSaturday, October 22/11 8pm $5Nic Dyson and Friends
JazzFriday, October 21/11 8pm $10Propp, Sellick, and Roy Join Erin Propp, guitar legend Larry Roy and double bassist Luke Sellick for an acoustic evening of original songs, and fanciful covers.
TheatreSaturday, October 15/11 2pm $5 Winnipeg Talking Radio Orchestra presents
JazzSaturday, October 15/11 8pm $10/$5 studentsMichael Cain's EXTra Spaceman Band Award-winning jazzman Michael Cain on keyboards and bass, with former and current Brandon University music students: Shannon Chapman (sax); Kena Olson (trombone); Julian Beutel (trumpet); Josh Winestock (guitar); John Baron (bass); Cody Iwasiuk (drums); and Alanna Fast (keyboards).
StorytellingFriday, October 14/11 7:30pmStone Soup Storytellers
The long-running Winnipeg storytellers' group has been around since the early '80s. Since 2005, they have been meeting September through May at Aqua Books, now normally on the second Friday of the month. All sessions start at 7:30 pm, and are open to all (including children, although it's not really for the very young and squirmy.) Admission is free. MusicFriday, October 14/11 8pm $15Send Trio Bembe to the Yukon We’re heading to the Yukon for the Western Canadian Music Awards, but we need your help to get there. All the proceeds for this show will go towards our flights to the Yukon (anything extra goes towards dog sledding!). Book a reservation in the delicious EAT! bistro, and get first dibs on seats for the show.
MusicThursday, October 13/11 8pm $10Karl Kohut Project The Karl Kohut Project brings a collection of brand-new arrangements and original compositions to Aqua Books. The set list will include everything from a wild rendition of Maroon 5's Moves Like Jagger to a Gretchen Parlato cover that sounds like it's being sung by a heartbroken computer. Featuring Karl on vibraphone, vocoder, and various electronic manifestations along with the stellar musicianship of bassist Julian Bradford and drummer Curtis Nowosad.
ComedyWednesday, October 12/11 7pm $5Winnipeg Stand Up! PoetryTuesday, October 11/11 7pmMayWorks Presents New Festival Theory came to life with the release of Ron Romanowski’s fourth collection, the big book of canadian Poetry in the Spring of 2011. New Festival Theory’s goal is to instigate a more public focus on Canadian poetry through the spontaneous ignition of artistic festivals which celebrate the poetic spirit of the heart. To that end, an unlikely group of committed New Festival enthusiasts will combine to offer an evening exploring their unique approaches to finding the music in everyone’s heart – and where it comes from. Some are genuine musicians; some are poets who are as stirred by the rhythms and melodies they draw from the visual world around them as those who interpret aural reality through more traditional means. Appearing on the 11th will be harmonica player Sam Knacker, having listened to and interpreted with a practiced ear a lifetime of experience from his childhood in Romania to his later years in Winnipeg; Nurit Drory, about to celebrate the publication of a collection of her poetry inspired by the curious meanderings and unexpected music of a well-lived life; John H. Baillie, author of Midnight’s Delight and Destination Mutable, another poet who discovers his private soundtrack sometimes in the most unusual of places; the founder of New Festival Theory and the author of four acclaimed collections of poetry from Augustine Hand Press, Ron Romanowski, driving his writing life to the fullest from rock and roll to high opera; and to finish the evening, a rare collaborative musical performance by classically trained singer Liliana Romanowski with her father, guitarist Feruccio Moscarda, a mainstay on the Italian music scene in Winnipeg for many years. Behind the scenes, providing video support while marching to his own personal – and very loud – drummer, is Dylan Baillie. MusicSaturday, October 8/11 8pm $10Fire & Smoke, with singer-songwriter Demetra
TheatreSaturday, October 8/11 2pm $5 Winnipeg Talking Radio Orchestra presents
MusicFriday, October 7/11 8pm $10/$5 studentsAaron Shorr/Luke Sellick, with Aaron Sabasch, Luke Sellick and Niall Bakkestad-Legare Bassist Luke Sellick and guitarist Aaron Shorr have been playing together extensively for the last number of years. Having developed a strong musical rapport, their shared love for the music of Neil Young, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Pat Metheny and Lennon/McCartney is the inspiration for this first duo appearance at Aqua Books.
JazzThursday, October 6/11 8pm $10Will Bonness Trio, with Lucas Sader Quartet
MusicWednesday, October 5/11 8pm $10Bull Kelp, with Trouble and Strife
FilmTuesday, October 4/11 9pmThe Rock and Roll Draft
Chris Macalino is a painter, poet, and filmmaker. He was encouraged to join the ESL program, WAG Saturday School, and Catechism to grow out of his shell. He was assigned his first commission at the age of 16 which was a mural in The Wolseley Area. (A period was spent pooling talents in Winnipeg Film Group, WAG Advanced Drawing, and Drama Club.) In the millennium, he graduated as valedictorian in The North End with awards for English and Art. Success as a young artist earned him a place in The University Of Manitoba and Speaking Crow Reading Series. Studying multiple classes, he found the time to write part 1 to 4 of Throat Ocean, land a role in Sunday Best, while showing on radio and galleries to print as well as online media. Through six or seven years of performing at The Crow and finishing credits he graduated with a BFA from The School Of Art. After years of work experience and recovery from experimentation, Macalino was assigned to provide a small collection of paintings for a clinic in Florida and continue recording performances. He then celebrated Kulay which was a culmination of his painting advances in The Exchange. Needing more pictures in motion to the sphere he produced music videos, film poems, and footage of cultural event. The Rock & Roll Draft is the new celebration, and this time it will be a feature-length documentary. Since he invites everyone to see at least one of his shows, this screening will be a great time for sure. WorkshopSaturday, October 1/11 11am-3:30pm $75From the Ground Up: Planning and Writing a Publishable Story WRITE THAT BOOK! Jake MacDonald's Fall/Winter writing workshop is a small group of busy beavers who will meet once a month to plan, brainstorm, and get to work on book-length writing projects - both nonfiction and fiction. Jake helps out with suggestions on story structure and creative brainstorming, and participants help each other with support, motivation and feedback. Classes are $75 each and it's okay to miss a class now and then. First meeting is on Saturday, October 1st, from 11am - 3:30. Roll up your sleeves and have a rough draft of your book finished by spring.
TheatreSaturday, October 1/11 2pm $5 Winnipeg Talking Radio Orchestra presents
JazzSaturday, October 1/11 8pm $10Quincy Davis with Q-Factor
TheatreFriday, September 30/11 7pm $10Winnipeg Puppet Collective's Puppet Slam
JazzThursday, September 29/11 8pm $10Jazz Machine I
This concert will feature the album performed in its entirety, re-imagined specifically for this group with a collection of creative arrangements. It'll be a fresh take on Stevie's timeless classic - don't miss it!
RootsWednesday, September 28/11 8pm $5Tailwind, with Kayla Luky
MusicTuesday, September 27/11 8pm $10/$5 StudentsAmy Cunningham, with Nic Dyson
TheatreSaturday, September 24/11 2pm $5 Winnipeg Talking Radio Orchestra presents
JazzSaturday, September 24/11 8pm $10The Keith Price Quintet
THIN AIRSaturday, September 24/11 10:30pmTHIN AIR: The Winnipeg International Writers Festival We close out our fifteenth festival with a celebration of words in thin air. This year’s poets will take a minute on the mic and make some magic with our star musicians. Bring a poem and join the party!
FilmFriday, September 23/11 1:30pm/7pm $20MTS Winnipeg on Demand presents
Six great vaudeville acts ranging from Sarah Constible's comedic song stylings to Dean Gunnarson's death defying escapes will be featured in the hour long rejuvenated throwback of a program, which also showcases the music of The Owen Clark Jass Band. Come mingle with the cast and crew behind The Book of Vaudeville and eat cheese and drink wine. THIN AIRFriday, September 23/11 10:30pmTHIN AIR: The Winnipeg International Writers Festival Steven Ross Smith has wowed audiences all over the world with his solo and collaborative performances. This one’s not to be missed!
TechnologyThursday, September 22/11 7pmNew Media Manitoba's DemoCamp
For those that like to EAT! you can join us at EAT! bistro on the main floor of Aqua Books at 6pm. Several of us are going to gather for a bite of their delicious fare prior to the demos at 7pm. Devin Reimer, App Developer Extraordinaire, Almost Logical Software Devin will demo his new app MAZE MOVER, as well a few of his others, and talk about the challenges of Blackberry PlayBook app development and the hurdles to releasing on PlayBook’s App World store. http://blog.almostlogical.com/ Andrew Yankiwski, Partner, Precursor Productions Andrew will demo his recent sound design work creating character voices for the forthcoming video game Salvation Prophecy from Firedance Games. Andrew will touch on Precursor’s workflow, voice actor casting and directing, and the process that was developed to transform ordinary human voices into those of killer robots, cyborgs and ancient alien statues. http://www.precursorproductions.com/ Alec Holowka, video game developer, Infinite Ammo Alec will be demoing the game programming engine Unity(he’ll make a simple game in unity on the spot taking suggestions from the audience on what to add). He’ll talk about the newly formed Winnipeg Unity Users Group (WUUG) , a new game development community in Winnipeg that will cater to newbies, hobbyists and professionals working with the Unity. WUUG will encourage collaboration and creativity while sharing resources and knowledge. Membership is open to all including complete newcomers and even families. Anyone can learn how to make a game in Unity! And the basic Unity engine is FREE! MusicWednesday, September 21/11 8pm $10Paradigm Brass
MusicTuesday, September 20/11 8pm $10Slow Spirit, with Hilary Klassen
IdeasSaturday, September 17/11 11am-6pmSkeptiCamp Winnipeg
Hear presentations on these topics and many more at SkeptiCamp Winnipeg, a conference for the sharing of ideas. It is free and open to the public: anyone can attend and participate! Talks will be 15 minutes in length, followed by 10 minutes of discussion. Topics will include fallacies, polyamory, hypnotherapy, nutrition, and more! Come join us to disagree, discuss and question the world around you. MusicSaturday, September 17/11 8pm $10Monsieur Coccinel CD Launch
As you will witness, Monsieur Coccinel is somewhat eccentric. Their songs often tell stories that are sometimes metaphorical and occasionally border on the absurd. The group is active in the local francophone and anglophone scenes and performs in a variety of settings, from intimate cafés and bookstores to small outdoor venues and art openings, as well as music venues and festivals. Monsieur Coccinel's master plan is to spread both confusion and happiness through their music. They hope to elicit cries of "Wow! That was bizarre, but I liked it!" from audiences of every age. After all, confusion and happiness are basic emotions that transcend age and are thus accessible to everyone. FilmFriday, September 16/11 7:30pm $5Jonathan Ball's Spoony B and more A fundraiser for the Performing Arts Lodge
JazzThursday, September 15/11 8pm $10Ron Paley Trio
TheatreSaturday, September 10/11 8pm $10CLINIC
That's what CLINIC is. What are they thinking? Sitting in a waiting room, with such a heavy burden on a young person's life, it's all they can think about, and they've no idea what to do about it. CLINIC aims to be emotional and relateable to teens with similar problems, hopefully, to inspire them to seek help. From the 3-star CBC review: "All six performers have depth in their characters, and don't just crank it to 10 the whole time, which can happen with younger actors. It's refreshing. There are even light moments, which keep this show from being drenched in intensity the whole time" We'll be taking this play from the great success we had at Fringe this year, to high schools. So if you didn't catch CLINIC at Big Top Fringe, help us continue our journey by coming down to Aqua Books on Saturday and give us your support. Jazz/RootsThursday, September 8/11 8pm $5Kristopher Ulrich Band Come check out the Winnipeg premier of the Kristopher Ulrich Band at Aqua Books! The night will start with a set of Jazz (possibly with some special guests) and then close with the band's folk, country, blues blend of originals.
RootsWednesday, September 7/11 8pm $10None the Wiser, with Trouble and Strife
BBQ/Book SaleSaturday, September 3/11 11am-5pmThe Last BBQ/The Big Book Sell-off Today's sale sections are: Travel Guides, Hard Science, Medicine, Law, Computing, Sociology, Feminism, Atlases, Sports, Games, Autos, Hobbies, Literary Criticism, Literary Biography, Film, Rock'n'Roll/Pop Music, Dictionaries/Language, French, Foreign Languages, Pets.....and Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Our BBQs and sales have become a staple of the Winnipeg long weekend. Don't miss this one. As usual, we will shut down at 5pm, so our staff can enjoy the rest of the weekend. ComedyFriday, September 2/11 8pm $10Tazzy's Angels
MusicWednesday, August 31/11 8pm $10Sarah MacDougall, with Marcel Desilets
MusicTuesday, August 30/11 8pm $10Marijosée
Improv ComedySaturday, August 27/11 8pm $10Horrible Friends / Sensitive Lovers After a 4 star, Jenny-winning run at the 2011 Winnipeg Fringe Festival and after finally shedding the dead weight of Brent Hirose (Despite having a farewell show for him in October, 2010, only to have him show up at the Fringe, smelling of gin and demanding his "cut" . . . I digress), The Horrible Friends are back! Back to their old ways with a Fringe holdover show! Back with perennial Fringe favorites Improvision! That is right, folks. For one night only, come see both The Horrible Friends and Improvision for one low price! MusicWednesday, August 24/11 8pm $10Marc Ross, with Brian James
JazzTuesday, August 23/11 8pm $10Kevin Brown, Jimmy Greene, Karl Kohut and Curtis Nowosad
JazzSaturday, August 20/11 8pm $10George Colligan Farewell Show
LitThursday, August 18/11 7pmAn Unlikely Dozen: Twelve Years of Aqua Books
MusicWednesday, August 17/11 8pm $10Lady Troubadours III
MusicTuesday, August 16/11 8pm $10 ($5 students)collage-à-trois
Over time, everyone collects songs they'll never forget, an autobiographical soundtrack. This project is a collage of our songs. Many genres, different instrumentations, creative arrangements and originals of our own. Craft SaleSaturday, August 13/11 11am-5pmCrafty Minions
It's never too early to begin your holiday shopping, it's never the wrong time to pick up something completely unique and beautiful for yourself, and it's always the right time to support local artisans and crafters, and maybe even become inspired yourself. Admission is free. MusicFriday, August 12/11 8pm $5Landen Seesahai Quintet, plus Eagle Lake Owls
MusicThursday, August 11/11 8pm $10Dr. Hotbottom and the Soul Prescription
MusicWednesday, August 10/11 8pm $10Sol James
MusicTuesday, August 9/11 8pm $5Alie Clark and Friends, plus The Shuckers
SaleSaturday, August 6/11 11am-5pmBig Book Sale Book LaunchSaturday, August 6/11 2pmAfghan-Canadian Women's Association Cookbook Launch
PoetryFriday, August 5/11 7pmPersian Poetry
MusicThursday, August 4/11 8pm $10koralee
koralee has been compared to Grace Slick, Sarah McLachlan and has been called the Joan Armatrading of the 21st century. Her self-titled EP is available on iTunes and koraleemusic.com. "koralee is more than an artist, she’s an experience." - Eliot Sloan, Blessid Union of Souls "From her eclectic life experiences come songs of innocence, betrayal and independence sung by a distinct, unpretentious voice" – Rasheed Ali, One Tribe Many Voices. MusicWednesday, August 3/11 8pm $10Ainsley Friesen, with Flo and the Flo Soul Band
MusicFriday, July 29/11 8pm $10An Evening with David Lum and Marcel Desilets
MusicThursday, July 28/11 8pm $5Mr. Pine, with Gareth Williams
In 2006, they debuted their first CD, The Gift of Wolves. 2008 saw the release of Rewilding, which is, as Kevin puts it, "more of the same, but different" – in other words, a dizzying array of styles and influences. 2011 Winnipeg Fringe Theatre FestivalJuly 14-23/11
Theatre
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There's a refreshing sweetness about the work of Canadian songwriter Devon Sproule - there in her mellifluous vocals and poetic, freewheeling lyrics that, in the way of Bjork and Joanna Newsom, are more blank verse than rhyming schemes. Sproule's songs ooze the atmosphere of balmy Virginia days - she grew up in a commune in the state - and her sunny outlook is infectious. 
Inspired by the lake, campfires, outdoor living and kitchen party jams, Red Moon Road is a down-home, acoustic folk and roots band with the right mix of East Coast and Country charm. Red Moon Road is a Winnipeg-based, touring songwriters’ collective. The band is driven by the reckless abandon and soulful beauty of vocalist Sheena Rattai, the songwriting of power-house multi-instrumentalist Daniel Jordan, and the sweet harmonies and songs of banjo/mandolin player Daniel Peloquin-Hopfner. These musicians deliver songs that tell stories; songs you want to hear again; songs “frankly filled with images which evoke the life of the land, and its connection to the heart” (Rev. Bill Cliff).
Hollerin' Pines
Guitarist and songwriter Kristopher Ulrich has been making music since he was a child, and is now entering his second year in the Jazz Studies program at the University of Manitoba. When he’s not at school or performing in various Winnipeg venues with one of several bands, Ulrich can be found teaching and playing with inner city youth, helping them develop instrumental and song-writing skills. This past summer, he was one of a handful of musicians in the Manitoba Artists in Health Care program, which takes music to patients and staff at the Health Science Centre. Ulrich grew up in Lac du Bonnet and lives now in Winnipeg.
The Lucas Sader Project is a Winnipeg-based group committed to producing a fresh outlook on jazz music. Drummer, composer, and arranger Lucas Sader heads up the ensemble, which also features pianist Paul De Gurse, bassist Karl Kohut, and vocalist Erin Propp for this special performance. The group will explore the music of Robert Glasper, U2, Nirvana, Herbie Hancock, and more, as well as their own original compositions.
Four talented young singer-songwriters tackle the songbook of the late, and acclaimed songwriter Amy Winehouse.
Featuring original compositions and arrangements by the University of Manitoba Jazz Studies Class of 2012: Shannon Kristjanson (alto sax), Reggie San Miguel (flute), Landen Seesahai (trumpet), Paul De Gurse (piano), Luke Sellick (bass) and Jeff King (drums).
Nic Dyson plays music because he loves music. Music is his life, and everything he has gets put into it. He only started singing and writing a year ago, and it has all taken off from there. He has performed at his school's talent show 3 years in a row and at Springfield Chicken Days twice. And thats how far experience goes for him. He is influenced heavily by artists such as City and Colour, Neil Young, and Dave Matthews, and his playing and writing fully reflects that. This is only the beginning for Nic, and he has every desire to keep pushing and seeing where music will take him in the future.
One of Winnipeg's biggest indie craft sales features the city's hottest established and emerging crafty superstars including Papertrail Craft Co.,
Periwinkle Designs,
SoGa Soap and Cupfakery,
Mozy Rue,
Julrei,
Crushcraft,
Just the Goods,
Blue Star Studios,
Prairie Peasant,
DragonNerd,
CatHaus,
Inspyred Creations,
Dreaming Tree,
Pure Paper Extract, and more. Banish all thoughts of rows and rows of crocheted slippers or washcloths or ponybead keychains...think, instead, vintage-inspired handmade dresses, leather and ribbon wrist corsets, funky jewelery made of vintage silverware, tiny ceramic apartment buildings and octopus tentacles, retro aprons hand-embroidered with sassy 80s pop lyrics, handmade natural skincare luxuries, wall-art created from bass strings and recycled children's books, silk-screened courier bags and babywear, weird and wonderful stuffed animal-ish creations of all sorts, and much more. This is the new world of gorgeous guerilla DIY craft, right here at Aqua Books.
Five Winnipeg musicians join to bridge the gap between Canada and Argentina. The rythms of the chacarera, vidal, zamba, tango, and milonga, combined with jazz harmonies, create beautiful song and lively music. Hear the music of Mercedes Sosa, María Elena Walsh, Atahualpa Yupanqui and many more, performed by:
And we're back!
Join us on Wed. May 16th, 2012 at Aqua Books as Ryan McMahon prepares to tape a full, one hour, standup comedy special for CBC TV/Radio (June 1/2, 2012 in Calgary, AB). You're invited to come out laugh/celebrate with him at this ONE NIGHT ONLY warm up show right here in downtown Winnipeg, MB. He'll be doing a full 75 minute set in preparation for his taping but he'll also be working other material throughout the night - don't miss this!
Having strummed since the sixth grade on his grandfather’s guitar, Keith Price landed his first gig at age fifteen. First influenced by pop, punk and heavy metal, Price discovered jazz music through the intensity and spirituality of John Coltrane. At age 19, Price began his formal studies at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. Upon his return to Winnipeg, Price turned down a scholarship at New School University in New York City and opted instead to stay in Steve Kirby’s newly established jazz program at the University of Manitoba. Price released his debut album, Breakfast Of Champions, in the fall of 2009. The album reached #5 on both the earshot and chartattack jazz charts and he was nominated for the TD Grand Prix du Jazz and the Galaxie Rising Star award at this year's Montreal International Jazz Festival. 
Born and raised in Winnipeg, Alexa Dirks draws inspiration from the vast prairie space around her. She is perhaps best known for her work with The New Lightweights and Chic Gamine. Her husky, powerful voice, instinctive sense of melody and harmony, imbue every one of her vocal performances with breathtaking abandon.
Adventure, discovery, and joy culminate in the music of Amber Epp. All at once alluring and uplifting, Amber shares her joy for life and excitement in the undiscovered in each performance. With heartstrings pulled by the freedom of jazz and the rhythm of Latin music, she unites her favorite styles in a delightful way.
Nereo II has been active in the local spoken word and hip hop community since the early 2000s and has shared his performances across North America at events such as the 10th Annual Scribble Jam Hip Hop Festival, the 2nd and 3rd annual Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, The Toronto International Poetry Slam, the Speak Series in Halifax, Thin Air Winnipeg International Writers Festival and the 4th Annual Storytelling Festival. His work has appeared in the Filipino Journal, on CBC Radio’s Content Factory, and Branch Magazine. His performances have inspired, and touched many among the spoken word community. In May of 2008, Nereo won the Winnipeg CBC Poetry Face Off. Nereo is a renaissance man, who asides from writing and performing, is multi-disciplined in many different fields of art.
When he’s not performing his spoken word poetry, Kent Suss directs the Theatre School at Manitoba Theatre for Young People, where he also teaches acting. Since graduating from the U of W, he has performed on stages across Canada, designed and directed high school musicals, and designed puppet and mask plays and workshops for Artists in the Schools. Kent is currently preparing to perform his live show Three-letter Words at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival and the Aspire Theatre in Gimli this summer, and working on a book for an upcoming musical.
The WhizBang Shufflers are back, and these good old Mennonite boys won't go down again without a fight. Look out ol' Scratch.
If you enjoy bands like Alison Krauss and Union Station, Flatt and Scruggs, or the Del McCoury Band, you'll love Spring Thaw. This quickly rising new band of seasoned Manitoba bluegrass pickers delivers smooth, driving bluegrass with tight harmonies, solid rhythm and blistering Scruggs-style banjo and fiddle-oriented instrumentals. Aaron, Rob, Kelly, Eric and Tim guarantee to put a smile on your face and a spark in your soul. Check out Spring Thaw. 
Niall Bakkestad-Legare is a gifted young saxophone player who has been studying at the U of M's Jazz Studies program under sax master Jimmy Greene. A much sough-after player on the local scene, Niall's third-year recital will show that he is indeed ready for primetime.
Waywiser is the brand new project from Ben Wytinck and Marcel Desilets. A waywiser is also an instrument for measuring the distance which one has travelled on the road. And many a road they have travelled. Separately, Ben and Marcel have collected many miles performing their own music, as well as accompanying other artists. With all their experience, they now share the stage, as well as the road.
From Giants is a young Winnipeg band that creates rhythmic and experimental folk pop. Jaymie Friesen, the spirit behind From Giants, is joined by three friends, Gabriella Neufled, Nathan Krahn, and Charles Enns. Together they create a unique and playful sound using banjo, cello, percussion, guitars and soaring female vocals. Their sound could be considered experimental, sad, and sweet; often telling lyrical stories about nature and spirituality.
Curtis Nowosad has quickly become Winnipeg's go-to drummer. At twenty-two, he has already performed in big band and small group settings with some of New York’s finest jazz musicians, including Stefon Harris, Marcus Printup, Ted Nash, Steve Wilson, Miguel Zenón, and his teacher and mentor Steve Kirby.
Will Bonness has been an active member of the Winnipeg, Canadian and international jazz scenes since his teen years. At age 17, Will joined Maynard Ferguson’s Big Bop Nouveau Band for a year-long world tour which included performances at such venues as the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York and Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London. After leaving Maynard’s band in 2004, Will completed his music degree at the University of Manitoba and traveled to New York and Boston to continue his studies. In 2009, Will released his debut recording as a leader, Subtle Fire.
In the summer of 2003, Steve Kirby accepted the position as the Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Manitoba. Since then, Steve has overseen a full-fledged rejuvenation of the jazz scene in Winnipeg. Steve also performs locally with the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and his own critically acclaimed ensemble: The Oceanic Jazz Orchestra for which he composes and arranges all of the music.
Before coming to Winnipeg from New York, Professor Kirby established himself an enviable career as a double bass player, performing, recording, and touring with some of the biggest names in jazz, including Elvin Jones, Wynton Marsalis, Cyrus Chestnut, Abbey Lincoln, Steve Turre, James Carter, Stefon Harris, Joe Lovano, Kenny Barron, Kathleen battle and many others.
Jimmy Greene has performed at the Village Vanguard, Smalls, and Smoke in New York, and has performed at festivals and jazz venues worldwide, including tour dates throughout the US, Italy, Russia, Israel, Canada, Brazil, and Uruguay. As a sideman, Greene appears on 70 recordings, and has toured the world and recorded with the bands of Horace Silver, Freddie Hubbard, Harry Connick, Jr., and Avishai Cohen, among many others.
Alie Clark and the After Hours Band features burgeoning jazz talents in the Winnipeg scene, currently studying in the highly respected
University of Manitoba jazz program. The talent and skill of the instrumentalists are complemented by Alie's evocative and refined vocals that make for an altogether enjoyable listening experience. If there's still anyone out there who wonders why Winnipeg is on the jazz map, this should help clear that up.
Although vocalist Rayannah Kroeker is a recent grad of the U of M's Jazz Studies program, she has become a notable presence in other styles as well. While performing with the Ron Paley Big Band, the Oceanic Jazz Orchestra and the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra, she also did duo work with bassist Karl Kohut, gained fame with the Retro Rhythm Review, and formed collage-à-trois, a musical bricolage project with Jocelyn Goertzen and Shannon Kristjanson. Rayannah is now exploring solo performance using pedals to build dense music from her single voice. Her compositions are diverse and poignant, and full of story. During the years she spent as Co-Executive Director of Jazz for Humanity – a project which worked in partnership with the community of Kimironko (Rwanda) – Rayannah became passionate about the role music and art can play in driving social change.
For the past three years, Margaret Howison has been quietly honing her craft and performing in select venues. A North End girl, she now helps kids in West Broadway to find their musical voice. Her songs are her testament of life in 'peg City, of love lost over king cans, of adult bullying, and of course, the elephant in the room. 
Tim Elias is co-founder of legendary '80s act Elias, Schritt and Bell, with John Schritt and Steve Bell. With over a hundred soundtracks, countless jingles and corporate theme songs under his belt, he has also shared the stage with The Pointer Sisters, Juice Newton, Leon Redbone, James Cotton, Valdy and Graham Shaw.
JohNNy SiZZle is an underground folk-punk pioneer who has also been a busboy, a drag queen and a cable access host. His indie hit I'm a Nerd was used as the theme for the shortlived Tech TV series Nerd Nation.
Sue Sorensen has published fiction and poetry and numerous scholarly articles. She has also edited a collection of essays on western Canadian literature, titled West of Eden. Her academic interests extend from nineteenth- and twentieth-century British literature to film adaptations of literature and the examination of popular song lyrics as poetry. A Large Harmonium is her first novel, and this is her first nomination.
Born in Alberta, Bob Armstrong studied journalism and history. Working in public relations, he served as Director of Public Affairs for the University of Manitoba, and is the speech writer for Manitoba’s Lieutenant Governor. A full-time freelance writer, playwright, and stay-at-home dad, Bob lives with his family in Winnipeg. Dadolescence is his first book.
M. A. Appleby grew up in Winnipeg, where she completed her Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in anthropology and psychology at the University of Winnipeg in 1980. She moved to Detroit in 1983, where she completed a Master of Arts degree in clinical psychology. She and her family currently live in Wolseley. Winnie the Bear is her first book.
Over the last twenty-five years Jake MacDonald has produced ten books of both fiction and non-fiction and hundreds of articles for many of North America’s leading newspapers and magazines. Six of his books have been optioned or developed by film producers and some were recognized with national awards. The memoir Houseboat Chronicles, for example, won three awards across Canada, including the Writers Trust of Canada prize for best non-fiction book 2002, and about twenty-five of his magazine stories have won writing awards. MacDonald divides his time between Winnipeg and Toronto and a rustic retreat in Minaki, Ontario.
Paige and The Psychics is Paige Drobot, Sean Dangerfield, Eric Bachmann, Jorden Hart, Cody Valentonis, Anatol Rennie and Walker Rogalsky. Treat your minds to some psychedelic space funk, and your ears to brand new compositions and arrangements of some tunes you will recognize.
Alison Preston was born and raised in Winnipeg. After trying on a number of other Canadian cities, she returned to her hometown, where she currently resides. All of her mysteries are set in the Norwood Flats area of Winnipeg. Many of her books have been nominated for awards, including her latest, The Girl in the Wall.
David Annandale was born in Winnipeg and has lived in Edmonton, Charlottetown, and Paris. He did his MA on the Marquis de Sade at the University of Manitoba and a PhD on horror fiction and film at the University of Alberta. Currently, he teaches English and film at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg where he lives with his wife and family.
John Toone's first collection of poetry, From Out of Nowhere, was published by Turnstone Press in spring 2009. He published two kids' books in fall 2009, Catch That Catfish! and Hope and the Walleye. His work also appears in the graphic novels of GMB Chomichuk, published by Alchemical Press. John is past president of the Manitoba Writers' Guild.
Susie Moloney is a (now) New York-based author of horror fiction. The film rights to her book, A Dry Spell, were purchased by Cruise/Wagner Productions in 1997. She is one of the most commercially successful writers to ever come out of Winnipeg
Bill Blaikie is an ordained minister of the United Church of Canada, who served as a Member of Parliament from 1979 to 2008 and as Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 2009 to 2011. He is currently serving with the Faculty of Theology of the University of Winnipeg. He has recently published The Blaikie Report: An Insider’s Look at Faith and Politics, nominated for this award.
David Camfield is an associate professor in labour studies at the University of Manitoba. Canadian Labour in Crisis is his first book.
Allan Levine is a diverse author who moves easily between popular non-fiction and fiction. He has written eleven books including Coming of Age: A History of the Jewish People of Manitoba (2009), The Devil in Babylon: Fear of Progress and the Birth of Modern Life(2005) and Scattered Among the Peoples: The Jewish Diaspora in Ten Portraits. He has also recently launched his second historical mystery series, The Charles St. Clair Chronicles. This is in addition to his trilogy of historical mysteries featuring his turn-of-the-century Winnipeg detective Sam Klein. King: William Lyon MacKenzie King: A Life Guided by the Hand of Destiny is the first major bio of King in over a decade.
Jordan Klassen makes music built out of pure imagination. A truly alluring voice, laid upon beds of shimmering strings, caressed guitar, and coaxing percussion. His latest work takes such a foundation, and continues to build?.
Born to translator parents, singer and multi-instrumentalist Claire Morrison has always known the power of language. This 19-year-old performer, driven by her love of music and fascination with words, is proving herself as an evocative and passionate songwriter. Producing songs in both English and French, she is garnering attention throughout Manitoba for her compelling lyrical content and attractive melodies. She most often takes the stage as half of folk and bluegrass duo Fire and Smoke, with the pair representing Manitoba at francophone music competition Chant’Ouest 2011 in Moose Jaw. Watch for the release of their first EP, Maiden Voyage, in September.
The New Lightweights is a collective, formed by veteran Winnipeg musicians Alexa Dirks, Ariel Posen, and Ryan Voth. Providing a meld of folk, pop and alt-country with a little peppering of soul for good measure, they show that when it comes down to it, music is really all about the beautiful subtleties.
The Winnipeg Talking Radio Orchestra presents live radio plays from the medium's Golden Age, performed by a great cast and a live foley artist. This week, seminal SciFi series X Minus One, plus classic thriller, The Third Man.
Esme Claire Keith was born in Toronto in 1964. Her librarian mother supervised weekly library visits while her father read exclusively from J.B. Priestly’s list of great novels. Her older sister began to study Latin at the age of ten. A natural contrarian, Esme gave herself to Mad magazine, Star Trek (the original series), and the holy trinity of glam, disco, and punk. At university she finally investigated the canon and saw that it was good. She has divided her attention ever since between high culture and pop. She currently lives in Winnipeg, where she has good access to both. Not Being on a Boat, her first novel, has been nominated for the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction.
Amir Amiri was born in Tehran, Iran, where he studied the santur, a 72-string hammer dulcimer. He specializes in the Radiff system of Persian classical music.
Luke Sellick is a Winnipeg-born double bassist and composer. Now 20, Luke has been performing professionally for six years. He has collaborated with some of Winnipeg’s best jazz artists, including Ron Paley, Will Bonness, Larry Roy, Michelle Grégoire, Walle Larsson, and Papa Mambo. Currently studying at the University of Manitoba, Luke is in his third year of the bachelor of jazz studies program, working closely with instructors Steve Kirby, Jimmy Greene, George Colligan, and Meredith Johnson.
Whatever anyone else is doing... that's the only thing The Eardrums won't do. The band consists of three singers, songwriters and
multi-instrumentalists -- fraternal twin brothers Tim and Grant
Partridge, plus childhood friend James MacLean. Proud proponents of
the DIY tradition, The Eardrums' homemade recordings demonstrate a
genuine love of music and a keen attention to detail, while their
raucous live shows reaffirm the value of originality and simplicity in
rock and roll. They continue to reinvent themselves, even mid-show,
but their signature sound, rooted in blues and classic punk, always
shines through the beautiful noise.
Waterfront Drive is four people who love to make music that feels good. To themselves. To others. Using dance beats, walking bass lines, synth solos, three part harmony, and heavy metal breakdowns (although only occasionally all at the same time). Why bother with genres and styles when you could be getting down with Waterfront Drive?
Jeffrey King is a Winnipeg jazz drummer who identifies himself with the unrelenting and unapologetic swing of New York City jazz and such luminaries as “Philly Joe” Jones and Art Blakey. Now in his final year in the University of Manitoba’s Jazz Studies Program, Jeff has worked hard to hone his craft locally in Winnipeg as well as through frequent trips to New York City. Jeff has had the privilege to study with such drummers as Quincy Davis, Terreon Gully, Alvin Atkinson Jr., and Kendrick Scott and perform for such venues as Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City and City Television in Winnipeg. Currently, Jeff performs around Winnipeg with a variety of jazz and blues artists and hosts SWINGIN’ Thursdays, a weekly jazz series and jam session at Sam’s Place Bookstore.
The Science of the Soul presents Dr. Michael Likey’s complete guide to pursuing and excelling at whatever task or goal you may choose. The potential of the human soul is
limitless, and Dr. Likey provides all of the psychological, metaphysical, and practical tools at his disposal to enable anyone to access this inner power or potential, sometimes referred to as one’s higher self. The wisdom offered in The Science of the Soul is designed not only for
studying and for practicing, but also for integrating into one’s everyday living. The ideas that Dr. Likey discusses have been tested over the years by many of the world’s greatest seers, teachers, authors, and coaches. Spiritual laws are merely metaphors for the natural laws; though unseen, they are always at work in the world around us. The Science of the Soul
offers a path for a deeper connection and the transformation of the soul.
Using the methods presented here, you can gain greater quality of life, deeper love, and inner peace, focused on your true life purposes.
Walle Larsson doesn't like waiting. His sax is always on the alert, tuming out a contemporary rhythm & blues-funk-pop-jazz of the most spirited kind. His Band responds with the blink of an eye, and audiences follow suit with feet a-tappin'. Inflammable music. The kind you listen to with care.
Since 2004, Anna-Lisa Kirby has been the Jazz Vocal Instructor for the University of Manitoba Jazz Studies Program. In that time she has worked with some great talents who have all gone on to do great things in the Jazz Capital of Canada and beyond! Her current crop of students is no exception. Prepare to be entertained and taken back on a trip through memory lane when Anna-Lisa Kirby showcases the current and past students of her U of M Jazz Vocal Studio!
A night of creativity, spoken word, poems, orginal music, hip-hop, jazz, blues and R&B: Music that shares my story of learning to overcome abuse, and that inspires.
Joshua Stanton, Winnipeg's premier sitarist, is a multi-instrumental vocalist, composer, and producer. He is also a fine artist, designer, and conceptual modelmaker. Joshua was born in Montreal in 1971, and studied under Ustad Irshad Khan, Canada's scion of the legendary Imdadkhani Gharana of sitar.
Bassist Karl Kohut’s virtuosity was recognized in 2006, when at the age of 20, he was named the Grand Prize Winner at the Canadian Youth Talent Competition for his solo rendition of Victor Wooten’s “A Show of Hands.” Since then, Karl has gone on to establish himself on the Winnipeg music scene with the ability to excel in a wide variety of musical genres and versatility on both double bass and electric bass. Karl has played for multiple-Grammy winning singer Petula Clark and Juno-award winner Amanda Falk, the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet as well as currently playing with Ron Paley and the Ron Paley Big Band.
Z: A Meditation on Oppression, Desire and Freedom (Signature, 2001) is an astonishing first stage play by the internationally acclaimed and award-winning poet Anne Szumigalski which explores the relationship between captive and captor and the terrible sacrifices human beings must make to survive. When the concentration camps were opened at the end of World War II, Anne Szumigalski worked with the survivors as a translator for the British Red Cross. “It made me look at life,” she says, “in a completely different way.” In Z, Szumigalski translates that profound and disturbing experience into an amazing theatrical event—a blend of drama, poetry and dance.
Anne Szumigalski published many books in her lifetime, including poetry and drama, but she left one book unfinished: a book of juvenile fiction called The Water Granny.
Anita Daher has written seven novels for young readers, with two more to be published in Europe this year. Among her titles: Racing for Diamonds, Two Foot Punch (Orca), and Spider's Song (Penguin) which was a finalist for the McNally Robinson Best Book for Kids and the Arthur Ellis Award, and was a Chapters/Indigo Junior Advisory Council Pick. Daher won the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Writer in 2007. She edits teen novels for Winnipeg’s Great Plains Publications and serves as regional representative for the Writers Union of Canada. When she's not word-wrangling she enjoys riding her horse. 
Anne Szumigalski’s daughter and granddaughter, Katherine and Frances, will be joined by Glen Sorestad, Saskatoon poet and colleague of Anne’s, for reminiscences on the Saskatoon writing and publishing community and Anne’s place within it.
Glen Sorestad is a Saskatoon poet who has published over 20 volumes of poetry, the latest of which are Road Apples (Rubicon, 2009) and What We Miss (Thistledown, 2010). His poems have appeared in over 50 anthologies and textbooks and have been published into a half-dozen languages. In late fall of this year, he will have a new collection of poems that will be published as a bilingual (English/Spanish) edition by Sand Crab Books. Sorestad is a Life Member of both the League of Canadian Poets and the Saskatchewan Writers Guild; he is a recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, and in 2010 was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada.
Mark Abley's talk will be followed by a panel discussion on aspects of Szumigalski's work with Mark Abley, Mari-Lou Rowley and Catherine Hunter, moderated by Alison Calder.
Mark Abley is a writer and editor living in Montreal. As a young man in Saskatoon, he was deeply influenced by Anne Szumigalski, whose literary executor he would eventually become. He has written three collections of poetry, two books for children, and several non-fiction books. The best-known of them, Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages, was published internationally and translated into French, Spanish and Japanese. Abley is now preparing a volume of selected poems as well as a creative non-fiction book about Duncan Campbell Scott. 
Poet and science writer Mari-Lou Rowley has published seven collections, including Suicide Psalms (Anvil Press), shortlisted for a Sask Book Award, CosmoSonnets (Jackpine Press) and Viral Suite (Anvil Press), which is on university curricula in North America and Europe. In 2010, she was one of twenty invited participants in the workshop Creative Writing in Mathematics and Science at the Banff International Research Station. Her first poem was published when she was eighteen, in the chapbook Saskatoon Poets, a collection of writing by the members of Anne Szumigalski’s poetry group. She moved back to Saskatoon in 2006.
Catherine Hunter teaches English and Creative Writing at the University of Winnipeg. For ten years she was the poetry editor of The Muses' Company Press. She is also the author of seven books, including the poetry collection Latent Heat (Signature Editions, 1997), which won the Manitoba Book of the Year Award in 1998. Her most recent work is the crime novel Queen of Diamonds (Turnstone Press, 2006).
Anne Szumigalski loved poetry. And she loved to dance. On the second night of Mondo!Szumigalski, we’re combining her two loves.
Anne Simpson was a winner of the 2004 Griffin Poetry Prize for Loop, her second poetry book. Is, her most recent book of poems, is structured around the proliferation and division of cells. She writes fiction and non-fiction as well. She has worked as a writer-in-residence at a number of universities and libraries across the country.
Anne Szumigalski was one of Canada’s most prominent poets. With her published works, as well as with her teaching and magnanimous guidance, she did much to put prairie Canadian poetry on the map. But Anne was more than a poet. She also wrote fiction, drama, literary non-fiction, and even a Prairie liturgy. A Woman Clothed in Words (Coteau Books, 2012) is a treasure trove of the best of the many literary faces of Anne Szumigalski.
Elizabeth Philips is the author of four collections of poetry. Her most recent collection, Torch River, was released by Brick Books in 2007. Her poetry has won two Saskatchewan Book awards and been nominated for other provincial and national awards. She has taught creative writing in various programs across Canada and is Director of the Banff Centre’s Writing with Style program. She works as a freelance editor and mentor. She lives in Saskatoon.
Featuring 32 of Winnipeg’s established and emerging poets, some surprise out of town guests, plus an introduction from Montreal writer Mark Abley, Anne’s literary executor.
Celebrate Black History Month at Aqua Books with songs of freedom. Music was an integral part of the American Civil Rights Movement of the '50s and '60s. It helped inspire those who strove for equal rights for all citizens. It helped bring together those of all races and religions for one common goal.
So come listen to original jazz arrangements by Anatol Rennie of important songs of the period. From Spirituals to Seeger, and Bob Dylan to Charles Mingus, there will be a whole range of Civil Rights music.
Shasta is Latin World Jazz Fusion comin' atcha! If you haven't experienced this honeysuckle trio yet, you don't want to miss this showcase. After only two months of shoveling nylon strings, saliva-ed reeds and goatskins under their belts, you are sure to be blown away by the cultured musicality and energy of this new band! Two awe-inspiring, multi-lingual, multi-instrumental creatrixes have joined forces with a man of wicked and wise beats to pierce you with melting buttascotch icecream harmonies, eyespy impressionism and dynamic dynamite style.
Aaron Shorr is one of Winnipeg's busiest guitar players. He has studied at Humber College in Toronto, the University of Manitoba, and has studied privately with the best musicians in the international jazz scene. In Winnipeg, Aaron has performed with Steve Kirby, Ron Paley, Papa Mambo, and Will Bonness. He can also be heard playing R and B and Soul with Sheena, and as a solo guitarist in Winnipeg Hospitals for Manitoba Artists in Healthcare.
Hailey Primrose is still under 20, and yet has been performing publicly for over 5 years. Currently rehearsing and recording an EP, Primrose has played in the Winnipeg Folk Festival Young Performer's Program twice. She was mentored at age 14 by Winnipeg native John K. Samson (of the Weakerthans), and at 17 by West End working man hero Greg Macpherson.
Demetra Penner is inspired by the wild soul of nature. Her songs are used as tools to chip away at the exterior of existence in search of the truth. Demetra is hot off the successful CD release of Lone Migration, which was accompanied by films she shot in Churchill.
Tailwind is a young group of roots rockers from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Singer/songwriter Kevin Kratsch has joined with multi-instrumentalist Kyle Bridges, bassist Brooks Waitt, and percussionist Daniel Bertnick to create a collection of tunes that range in style from soul-driven folk, to gritty Americana-esque country. Although a new project, this quartet is no stranger to writing, recording, and performing music, notably, Kratsch and Bridges are founding members of folk-country group, the Marquis. This new arrangement of young charismatic musicians is sure to please the crowds they play for. Kratsch’s raw songwriting ability is supported by a solid rhythmic foundation and cheesy, albeit golden, tasty electric guitar and banjo leads.
Kayla Luky's unique location gives her country sound absolute authenticity. Chock-full of well-crafted country and small-town stories, if you're hankering for some home cooking Kayla Luky's The Time It Takes will satisfy your hometown appetite. 
The author tracks the rise of nationalist content on Canadian television after the 1995 Quebec referendum, looking at how Canadian television works overtime to resolve the messy contradictions of nationhood. She closely examines the coverage of and aftermath to 9/11, when racial profiling became embedded in Canadian news.
Marusya Bociurkiw is an author, filmmaker, food blogger and professor. She is the author of five books, including Comfort Food for Breakups: The Memoir of a Hungry Girl, which received positive reviews in The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, Quill and Quire, Xtra! and many other publications and blogs. Her films have screened at festivals and cinemas on four continents. She is a professor of media theory at Ryerson University and lectures and publishes frequently on such topics as affect theory, feminist and queer media history, the archive, Canadian television and nationlism. Her latest book, Feeling Canadian: Television Nationalism and Affect, was published by Laurier Press in Spring 2011.
Acclaimed drummer and educator Quincy Davis believes that "hearing the execution of very intricate and challenging music, coupled with seeing myself play with the group could have a very strong and positive
impact on all who hear the band, particularly students." His new project is called Promise, and the band is made up entirely of University of Manitoba Jazz Studies program students. He calls it Promise because he believes in the promise of all of his U of M students, and all young, aspiring students in the city. The U of M Jazz Studies program is unique in Canada, for its combination of intensive study and ongoing public practicum. The opportunity to perform alongside world-class teacher-musicians is critical. Come see these young talents put their promise where their mouths (and hands) are.
Quincy Davis is a jazz drummer who has recorded with Tom Harrell, Vincent Gardner, Randy Napoleon, and others. Davis has played throughout the world in such prominent clubs as The Village Vanguard and The Blue Note in New York City; The Jazz Showcase in Chicago; New Morning Jazz Club in Paris; and The Jazz Bakery, Yoshi's, and Catalina Bar and Grill in California. He is currently assistant professor at U of M's Jazz Studies program.
Since their debut in the spring of 2009, The Sweet Alibi has been captivating audiences with their alluring blend of soulful melody and folk/roots tradition. A playful sense of lyricism and powerful vocal harmony set the stage for a performance which is up front and personal and instinctively compelling. The Sweet Alibi is Jessica Rae Ayre, Amber Neilson, and Michelle Anderson.
Marcel Desilets has blended folk, rythym and poetry into one to provide a unique listening experience for the thinking ear. Some of his songs are humorous, some sweet, and some downright cosmic, but all of them are loving celebrations of life. Marcel adds to his poetic sense of lyric just a beautiful touch on guitar, giving way to original songs that come with over thirty-five years of writing.
Silky-voiced Ben Wytinck got his start at age nine, playing drums in his father's band at a rural Manitoba bar. He moved to Winnipeg in 2001, to play what he calls Bluegrazz (Bluegrass and Jazz). His eponymous debut CD contains ten of his finest self-penned songs.
For half of their lives now, Eli Matas and Zack Kinahan have been writing music together as None the Wiser. The acoustic guitar duo has an original catalog with over 140 songs, and counting, in styles that vary, while maintaining a distinct sound. The style focuses on lyrics and character, with a distinct guitar weaving presence. The songs are laced with stories of the life of a prairie musician, politics from a manitoban perspective, social thought, personal struggle and poetry, but like they say, 'talking about music is like dancing about architecture.'
Lloyd & Selleck Light like electronics, science, music and art. ALL electronics, ALL science, ALL music and ALL art. They also like the paranormal and extraordinary. They play in a band together called Ghostbabies. Selleck is a really good drummer and Lloyd sings the songs. This show is dedicated to their older brother Buddy who was kidnapped (missing since 1958). He is missed.
Songwriter/storyteller/insomniac Kate Ferris is – whether she likes it or not – becoming one of the elders of the Manitoba music community. She’s played at concerts and festivals across Canada, sung on lanais in Hawai`i, pubs in the UK, and for an appreciative crowd in Puerto Rico. She’s performed with groups as diverse as the Blarney Band, Critter Family, Rodeo Riders, Canadian Content Theatre and Small Rooms, and has opened for Ritchie Havens. A long-time member of the Artists in the Schools program, she’s conducted workshops in over 200 schools, has appeared on television, CBC Radio and as a guest artist on various recordings. She is presently in the studio, finally getting around to recording the album she quit teaching 25 years ago to make.
Eagle Lake Owls is the work of songwriter/singer Andy Cole, blending indie rock with the raw plaintive spirit of folk and country. Channeling icy prairie Winters and the slow thaw of the northern Spring, Eagle Lake Owls' music is a product of years spent on a winding trail through Canada with little time to grow roots: Memories of small towns experienced through dusty car windows; cold winter drives to unfamiliar cities; the desolate edges of urban sprawl, and the deep isolation of northern Winters.
Dana Bean grew up in small town Manitoba, starting music at a young age. She showed an immediate interest in the piano, often teaching herself her favorite melodies by ear. She started songwriting at age 11 and has been honing her craft since. Bean began to experiment with her live show, introducing backup tracks and live looping, giving her an interesting edge. Recent accomplishments include writing, performing and recording the music for the documentary Waging Peace airing on over 130 ABC-TV stations in the U.S., with planned airings in Canada in early 2012. Dana Bean’s first released single Secret Holiday was chosen as one of CBC Scene’s top 10 songs for 2011. Look for Bean’s first CD release in 2012.
Dejan Rafajlovic Trio step into the Canadian jazz spotlight with their debut album Balkan Folk Tales. A former guitarist with Montreal’s Juno-nominated Les Gitans de Sarajevo, Rafajlovic teams up with his long time university colleagues Julian Bradford and Curtis Nowosad, arguably Winnipeg’s finest and most versatile rhythm section, to finally document his musical ideas and voice that is as much part of his Balkan roots as it is of the Canadian cultural milieu he finds himself in today.
Come hear some of the most entertaining – and otherwise fascinating – excerpts from critical reviews, personal correspondence and essays by Shaw himself, as well as criticism written about Shaw by his contemporaries, all served up Celebrity Roast-style!
The Karl Kohut Electric Quartet takes on one of the most challenging pop records of the past decade: Radiohead's Kid A. The 4tet will be performing Kid A in its entirety, drawing from jazz, hip-hop, R&B and rock to put their own creative spin on each song. The debut performance of this newly-formed quartet promises to be an exciting evening of music, don't miss it! The Karl Kohut Electric Quartet is Karl Kohut (vocoder), Will Bonness (keyboards), Julian Bradford (electric bass), and Curtis Nowosad (drums).
Virgil's Auntie and the Vigilantes is three budding young musicians who are quite literally coming out of the woodwork to perform. The trio is based out of an off-the-grid turn-of-the-century log home in Marchand, MB. Youth and talent combined with a ragtag collection of home made clothing, instruments and music all contribute to their storybook feel.
Flat City Folk is the result of three longtime friends getting together, and doing what they love. With guitar, ukulele, mandolin, and double bass, the music is reminiscent of old time string bands. Inspired by a wide range of music, songs stretch across genres and are defined by the instrument choices.
Bacca - those gals who bring you that wild, sassy, gypsy grass sound - are back to get your feet up as well as your drinks ups. So get your dancing shoes on 'cause it'll be a hoot. Bacca is Callandra-May Hart, Carly Dow, Heitha Forsyth, Janna Barkman, Kristie Latta and Nicole Jowett.
Holly Stratton has been in an open relationship with music since the moment she expressed passion - so shortly after birth. She has studied piano for sixteen years, and is a member of Mogley and the Woodland Creatures. Influenced by everything from classical to funk to hiphop to Joni Mitchell, Holly also sings and plays guitar with a guileless honesty you won't be able to resist.
She acted in three of his plays. They went for bicycle rides together. He told her she was his “best and dearest love.” And then it was over. What happened between Florence Farr and George Bernard Shaw?
Now, things have gone topsy turvy. Florence has come back to Shaw's home after his death. She is conducting a seance, reading from his plays and reminiscing, hoping to invoke the spirit of George Bernard.
In a collage of historical fiction, Florence is finally going to tell it all.
Nic Dyson plays music because he loves music. Music is his life, and everything he has gets put into it. He only started singing and writing a year ago, and it has all taken off from there. He has performed at his school's talent show 3 years in a row and at Springfield Chicken Days twice. And thats how far experience goes for him. He is influenced heavily by artists such as City and Colour, Neil Young, and Dave Matthews, and his playing and writing fully reflects that. This is only the beginning for Nic, and he has every desire to keep pushing and seeing where music will take him in the future.
bluelight plays standards from the thirties to the seventies, focusing on the American Songbook - Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Errol Garner, with a little Beatles, Fats Walter, The Champs and Nat King Cole. Tonight's performance will also feature the music of Rogers and Hart, Jerome Kern, Sammy Cahn, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Lerner and Low and others. bluelight is Barry Dunford, Al Popowich, Randy Joyce, Bob Parker and Dan Rosin.
Drummer Glenn Radley began his jazz career playing small-time gigs in high school, anywhere that would have him. Since then, he's been paying his dues and is now studying under Quincy Davis in the University of Manitoba's Jazz Studies program. Not content to play it safe, Glenn is now leader of his own group that's coming off a hot New Year's Eve 2012 show out of town. This young drummer is one to watch, and his Glenn Radley Trio is hot and ready to serve. 
Carly Dow writes songs that draw you in. Whether it is her warm, smoky voice or insightful lyrics, her songwriting will leave you full of the prairie charm and genuine passion that she has become known for as a solo artist or as member of Winnipeg-based roots trio, Bog River. With guitar, harmonica or banjo in hand, she has been privileged to perform with talented upcoming and renowned artists from all across the country, particularly through four years of performing with the Winnipeg Folk Festival’s Young Performer’s Program, and at the 2011 Canada Winter Games with the National Artist Program.
The Lucas Sader Quintet features Derrick Gardner on trumpet, Niall Bakkestad-Legare on tenor saxophone, Will Bonness on piano, Karl Kohut on bass and Lucas Sader on drums.
Delve into the epic battle of good vs. evil as the saintly Brendan Jowett and Taylor Burgess take on scoundrels Dan Falloon and Steve Basham as each represents his side with a solo set.
Dave Restivo is one of Canada's most respected and influential jazz artists. A pianist, percussionist and composer,
he is a 3-time winner of the National Jazz Awards' Keyboardist of the Year Award, and is listed in the current edition
of Canadian Who's Who. He is well known for his work with Rob McConnell's Boss Brass and Tentet, the Mike
Murley Quintet, and legendary songwriter Marc Jordan. He has also performed and recorded with Dave Holland, Jon
Hendricks, Kenny Wheeler, Mel Torme, the Woody Herman Orchestra, Pat
LaBarbera, Carla Bley, Grace Kelly, Howard Johnson, Ingrid Jensen, Christine Jensen, Kevin
Mahogany, Randy Bachman, Molly Johnson, Moe Koffman, Joe
LaBarbera, Mark Whitfield, Marcus Belgrave, Joey Baron, Curtis Fuller, Jane Bunnett, Jeff Healy, Jeff Hamilton, Alex Acuna, Gene Bertoncini, Joe Lovano, Sheila Jordan, Metalwood, Norman Marshall Villeneuve, Memo Acevedo, and many others. Dave has served on the music
faculty at the Banff Centre for the Arts, St. Francis Xavier University, Humber College, University of Toronto, and University of Manitoba.
Vela is excited to announce that they will finally be releasing their debut EP Sea Of Mountains on Wednesday January 4th 2012.
Celebrating the music of the most underrated band of your generation.
collage-à-trois is our three voices, each different, each with its own story. We grew up waiting by the radio to hit the red record button, belting Disney in front of the mirror, memorizing Handel excerpts, putting on full-scale basement musicals and plays for patient parents and neighbors, mimicking Michael Jackson moves, rocking out on a cardboard guitar, transcribing Coltrane and singing French-Canadian folksongs over and over.
Aaron "Contrackt" Trachtenberg is a rapper from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He released two self-produced full length albums between 2007 and 2008, before moving to the UK to complete his PhD in neurology. Fresh off a 3 year stint at the University of Oxford, he is overjoyed to be back performing in his hometown. Josh Weiss is a singer-songwriter from Ottawa, Ontario. He is currently recording his first full-length album, available in early 2012. Together, Josh and Aaron have created a dynamic two-man show combining Contrackt's slick lyrics with Josh's versatile musicianship. Get ready for a night of fist-pumping excitement, thought-provoking R.A.P., and unforgettable original tunes!
Live with Reggie San Miguel has been called "Winnipeg's other live talk show" by critics and fans alike. It will be making its Aqua Books debut with it's first holiday episode that will have everything a late night talk show should have, including a bright, charming, and slightly delusional Filipino and an open bar. Musical guest will be Bean, and expect a whole lot of Christmas spirit too!
Founded in 2006, haLf man haLf eLf is a collective of diverse musicians whose genre preferences range from Classical, Progressive Rock, Bluegrass, Folk, Postpunk, New Wave, Fantasy Fiction, and Philosophy, producing a unique brand of music that may be described as melodically catchy, structurally complicated, instrument-rich, lyrically philosophical, and distortion-less. Listening to their songs, one can hear influences from Gentle Giant; Emerson, Lake and Palmer; The Wild Swans; The Waterboys; Depeche Mode; Mozart; and Bach. Current members are Christine Mazur (violin/cello), Bert Nicanor (drumkit/ percussion), Dave Lababovich (acoustic guitar / banjo / mandolin), Janice Bamforth (percussion), and aLfie vera mella (vocalist/keyboards/percussion). The band is currently finishing an album, entitled Tales from a Half Forgotten Era.
Paul De Gurse joins with top jazz players to present a concert reimagining the Talking Heads' seminal 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense.
Saleema Nawaz was born in Ottawa and completed her M.A. in English Literature at the University
of Manitoba. Her short-story collection, Mother Superior, was published by Freehand Books in Fall
2008, and her short story My Three Girls was the winner of the 2008 Writers’ Trust of Canada /
McClelland and Stewart Journey Prize. Her first novel will be published by House of Anansi Press in
Fall 2012. She lives and writes in Montreal.
Five powerful singer-songwiters perform together in a one-time only exploration of the songbook of Patti Smith.
A once closeted singer-songwriter, Rio Bare is slowly making her way onto the local music scene. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Rio has been writing and playing the guitar since the age of 13. Her love for music has given her the opportunity to work with Winnipeg Folk Festival mentors in mentoring inner-city youth, eventually writing and recording a song with them for CBC in March. Although she is sternly focused on getting her filmmaking degree from the University of Winnipeg, Rio is planning on recording an EP in the near future.
Lyzie Burtis a singer/songwriter from Selkirk. She is classically trained on piano, although due to not enjoying classical piano at all, quit at a young age and forgot almost everything she knew. Inspired to pick it up again, she now plays out a bit and is recording her third album.
Haley Carr
Kristen Berkel was born with her ears turned towards music. Her hungry fingers have managed to collect and become skilled on a variety of instruments, including the piano, accordion, guitar, and banjo. Piano tuner by trade, the sensitivity she has for sound shows itself in her careful search for the exact right tone, texture, or note. With a voice delicate and compelling, Kristen draws on jazz, country, and old-timey influences to create a sound both familiar and unique.
Tim Elias is co-founder of legendary '80s act Elias, Schritt and Bell, with John Schritt and Steve Bell. With over a hundred soundtracks, countless jingles and corporate theme songs under his belt, he has also shared the stage with The Pointer Sisters, Juice Newton, Leon Redbone, James Cotton, Valdy and Graham Shaw.
Bobby Stahr formed the Incandescant Saffron Jug Band in 1967 and played has been a fixture in the Winnipeg music scene ever since. In 1997, he was honoured with a tribute show at the West End Cultural Centre, featuring thirty players and fifteen of his best songs.
He currently performs with Scott Anderson on the Chapman stick, primarily as a bass instrument, and when she is available, Joanna Miller on drums and percussion.
Aaron Shorr is one of Winnipeg's busiest guitar players. He has studied at Humber College in Toronto, the University of Manitoba, and has studied privately with the best musicians in the international jazz scene. In Winnipeg, Aaron has performed with Steve Kirby, Ron Paley, Papa Mambo, and Will Bonness. He can also be heard playing R and B and Soul with Sheena, and as a solo guitarist in Winnipeg Hospitals for Manitoba Artists in Healthcare.
Aaron Sabasch was born and raised in Calgary. In 2010, he moved to Winnipeg and began studying jazz drums at the University of Manitoba. Now 19, Aaron is currently in his second year of the bachelor of jazz studies program and is a regular at several venues throughout the city. 
Derrick Gardner is a jazz trumpeter who has played with the Count Basie Orchestra, Harry Connick, Jr.'s Big Band, Dizzy Gillespie, George Benson, and Tony Bennett. Born in Chicago, he is currently teaching at the U of M's Jazz Studies program.
For the last 20 years, Michael Cain has mostly been known as a New York-based pianist, keyboardist, and producer, working with artists such as Jack DeJohnette, Meshell NdegeOcello, Pat Metheny, Ravi Coltrane, and Dave Holland, among others. Cain now lives in Brandon, MB, teaching at Brandon University. Michael Cain's EXTra Spaceman Band has him on keyboards and electric bass, and features a lineup of former and current Brandon University music students with him. The band's music is written by Cain and contains his usual eclectic sensibilities, combining elements of jazz, rock, funk, afrobeat, and folk music into a unique blend of very personable, danceable, and satisfying music.
Amir Amiri and Moe Clark come together for this intimate journey into performance that crosses borders with woven sound. Journeying between circle song, poetry and vocal looping, Métis artist Moe Clark invites audiences into a sonic landscape rich with embodied narratives. Her work employs a looping pedal to create poetic songs that resonate with the power to connect with authentic purpose. Amir Amiri’s compositions are internationally renowned for their sophistication and intense dynamism. While he is classically trained in santour, Amir’s manipulates music with fervent precision and passion to extend beyond classical limitation. In collaborating on the same stage for the first time, this evening will be one to remember as a defined yet fluid sound tapestry is woven.
Casimiro Nhussi is a professional African dancer, choreographer, dance instructor and musician from Mozambique. Starting his career as a dancer, Casimiro then became the principal dancer, and then the Artistic Director of the Mozambique National Song and Dance Company. Currently Casimiro is the Artistic Director and Founder of Winnipeg only African contemporary dance company, NAfro Dance Productions.
Influenced by the music of John Zorn, Dave Douglas, Avishai Cohen and local group the Duhks, Canvas Pulse is a new group on the Winnipeg scene. The group consists of Phil Collins on trumpet, Sam Little on upright and electric bass and Mike DeGroot on percussion and didgeridoo. They deliberately omitted the use of harmonic instruments in favour of the exploration of textures and timbres not normally heard in contemporary music. The repertoire of Canvas Pulse is rooted in the jazz tradition (as evidenced by the previous influences) but draws upon the influence of hip hop music and pop artists like Bjork and Portishead.
Jason Maas and the Lower Companions is where the former front man for rock band The Monty Yanks landed after the band called it quits in 2008. Jason saw the break up as an opportunity to start performing material that
did not fit the Yank's frenzied, hard rock style. He put together a group
of musicians with a wealth of performing experience. The Lower Companions
play a mix of wildly divergent musical styles, ranging from folk to
sock-hop rock, from pop to faux-gospel. Their debut album Clean is now
available for sale online and in stores.
Sixteen years ago, Debra Lyn Neufeld picked up a guitar, learned three chords and got herself a gig. Today, with two albums of original material to her credit, she's considered Winnipeg's reigning Queen of the Blues.
Erin Jersak was born and raised in Winnipeg and began playing music at a
young age. Learning piano as a young child from family members and family
friends, the love of music grew into a passion for music. With music
consuming her life, she decided to branch out and learn a new instrument. A
guitar was placed in her lap and the rest is history. Writing songs and
covering songs from a happy place to a broken heart,
her music is always written from the heart. Love 'em or hate 'em, they are
works that she considers reveal-able into the person she is.
Inspired by the lake, campfires, outdoor living and kitchen party jams, Red Moon Road is a down-home, acoustic folk and roots band with the right mix of East Coast and Country charm. Red Moon Road is a Winnipeg-based, touring songwriters’ collective. The band is driven by the reckless abandon and soulful beauty of vocalist Sheena Rattai, the songwriting of power-house multi-instrumentalist Daniel Jordan, and the sweet harmonies and songs of banjo/mandolin player Daniel Peloquin-Hopfner. These musicians deliver songs that tell stories; songs you want to hear again; songs “frankly filled with images which evoke the life of the land, and its connection to the heart” (Rev. Bill Cliff). With a powerful and honest live delivery, the band has been winning hearts and fans at festivals (Trout Forest, Fire N’ Water, Harvest Moon), house concerts, and venues (Times Change(d) High and Lonesome Club, West End Cultural Centre, Jazz on the Rooftop at the Winnipeg Art Gallery) throughout Manitoba and Ontario since its 2010 inception. With more songs to be written, shows to be played, kitchens to jam in and campfires to trade songs around, the band continues to grow its library of adventures. Look for their full length release early 2012 with Juno Award winners Murray Pulver and Don Benedictson.
The Curtis Nowosad Quartet will be performing Bob Marley and The Wailers' roots reggae masterpiece, Exodus, in its entirety.
Julian Bradford has played with Moses Mayes, Iskwe Emme, Flo, Keith Price, and Chantal Kreviazuk, and opened for The Roots at the 2010 Jazz Winnipeg Festival. Julian recently played bass on two tracks for Kenny G's upcoming album.
Patrick Ryan has worked as a teacher and professional storyteller for over thirty years. He regularly tours Britain, Europe and the US performing, lecturing and conducting a variety of workshops. Patrick has written for the BBC and has also actively participated in several major storytelling projects. He is currently Storyteller-in-Residence at the University of Manitoba's Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture.
South African Erik de Waal is a critically acclaimed dramatic artist both at home and abroad. He has performed his solo story theatre productions for more than 200,000 people in South Africa, Canada, England, Ireland, Argentina, Mexico and Turkey. “Sensual and evocative" and "epic and intimate" are just some of the accolades awarded him by critics in South Africa and Canada. This multi-talented actor, storyteller, writer and singer is best known for blending the myriad cultures of South Africa to create intense, memorable theatrical experiences.
150,000 kids on 5 continents can't be wrong!
Grab a pint and join us for a lively discussion about global inequality and the ethics that guide our response. Accountable Development Works is kicking off its Global Issues Conference with a lecture open to the public at 7 pm at Aqua Books on October 28.
Nicole Byblow writes and performs indie piano pop. She has won the Fred Sherratt Award (presented annually by CARAS and the Juno Awards), and shared stages with C.R. Avery and Juno Award winner Stephen Fearing. She recently performed at the 2011 Juno Awards Dinner and Gala, where she performed k.d. Lang's Constant Craving in front of Neil Young, Arcade Fire, and 1800 other members of the Canadian music industry. 
Over the last ten years, Lindsey White has been quietly making a name for herself all over Western Canada with a unique brand of music that has been referred to as 'groovy folk-rock with a heavy blues influence.' Carefully penned lyrics and well crafted melodies have always been an integral part of her songs and solo performances. Now backed by a stellar rhythm section which includes Alasdair Dunlop (bass) and Mitch Dorge (drums), the trio has been performing regularly at venues all over Winnipeg while working on a full length album.
Aqua Books is proud to be the home of the Winnipeg Girl Geek Dinner at EAT! bistro. The action begins with dinner at 6pm in the restaurant (you order off the menu and pay for your own dinner), and then moves upstairs. 
Bog River was formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, when three songwriters (Ben Hadaller, Carly Dow, Dave Barchyn) collaborated to create a new and passionate folk/bluegrass project. Since releasing their debut EP in 2010, the trio continues to develop a unique and haunting sound, which includes influences of Dixieland, old-tyme, bluegrass, and contemporary folk genres. Huddled around a single condenser mic, Bog River’s live shows are heartfelt and energetic. Whether they draw a stomp from your foot or a tear from your eye, Bog River combines the old with the new to make you feel as good about music as they do.
Nic Dyson plays music because he loves music. Music is his life, and everything he has gets put into it. He only started singing and writing a year ago, and it has all taken off from there. He has performed at his school's talent show 3 years in a row and at Springfield Chicken Days twice. And thats how far experience goes for him. He is influenced heavily by artists such as City and Colour, Neil Young, and Dave Matthews, and his playing and writing fully reflects that. This is only the beginning for Nic, and he has every desire to keep pushing and seeing where music will take him in the future.
A recent graduate of the U of M Jazz Studies Program, Erin Propp has been steadily rising in the Canadian music scene, to much critical acclaim. With high artistry and heart-breaking honesty, Erin delivers concert after concert of unforgettable music. The lead singer for local folk/roots band, Red Moon Road, Erin has also shared the stage with many of Winnipeg’s best jazz musicians, and is emerging as a favourite of audiences and musicians alike.
Over the last two decades, Larry Roy has established himself on the Canadian jazz scene as an artist, composer, producer and sought-after professor. As well as teaching jazz at the University of Manitoba, this versatile musician writes film scores and performs all over Europe and North America. Roy and long-time musical partner Steve Kirby recently released the album Wicked Grin.
People in all times and places have told stories. Stone Soup storytelling happens in the round, with the participants passing the talking stick around. If you want to tell a story, keep the stick. If you just want
to listen, pass it along. Stone Soup has some very experienced tellers, but amateurs and listeners are always welcome.
The brush of palm leaves, the whispering waves, the salt in the air. You reach the end of the beach, and feel a steady beat. A little closer and you hear the strum of a guitar. Just as you arrive, a voice rings out strong and clear. This isn’t a dream. It’s 
Fire & Smoke was born by the flickering light and inviting warmth of a Winnipeg Folk Fest campground jam. Claire Morrison's dark, rich voice and Daniel Péloquin-Hopfner's feel-them-in-your-bones harmonies will charm you. Accompanied by an ever-evolving assortment of instruments, the pair offer up their own take on what makes a young girl cry, a grown man sigh, and what’s really going on behind the eyes of the lone old-timer at the dive bar. With their bluegrass- and folk-inspired numbers, Fire & Smoke’s haunting style and boldly intimate storytelling will leave you with an ache in your soul, a song in your heart, and a knowing twinkle in your eye.
Bull Kelp is Taylor Ashton and Zoe Guigueno, two members of the WCMA-nominated band Fish and Bird. They intend to woo you with two voices, upright bass, acoustic guitar, and a handful of beautiful original songs.
Trouble and Strife
The Rock and Roll Draft: A graduate explores the music world with a camera and encounters real stars. Creating video, theatrics, and unheard of magic; the mission of self discovery multiplies into the most adorable exhibit of all time. Get ready for some unbelievable leap of faith by Chris Macalino with province-side rollercoaster themes which surround a nucleus. Come witness the angel de...scend from a pile of friend requests, land way to term... This is rockumentary soylent made that seeks to thrill you and spell better like honey.
Puppet Slams are evenings of short puppet plays for adults performed by different artists. The Winnipeg Puppet Slam is the first major Puppet Slam in Canada. In addition to fantastic local performers, the Winnipeg Puppet Slam has had international guests like Heather Henson and Marsian. The Winnipeg Puppet Slam at Aqua Books will feature performances by the Secondhandpants, Adhere and Deny, 6, the Wishweweres and more. Come see puppet history in the making and experience puppetry that's like nothing you've ever seen before! 
The Karl Kohut Trio teams up with soulful songstress Sheena Rattai to pay tribute to one of the most revered albums in pop music - Stevie Wonder's Innervisions.
Nic Dyson plays music because he loves music. Music is his life, and everything he has gets put into it. He only started singing and writing a year ago, and it has all taken off from there. He has preformed at his schools talent show 3 years in a row and at Springfield Chicken Days twice. And thats how far experience goes for him. He is influenced heavily by artists such as City and Colour, Neil Young, and Dave Matthews, and his playing and writing fully reflects that. This is only the beginning, and has every desire to keep pushing and seeing where music will take him in the future.
Guitarist and songwriter Kristopher Ulrich has been making music since he was a child, and is now entering his second year in the Jazz Studies program at the University of Manitoba. When he’s not at school or performing in various Winnipeg venues with one of several bands, Ulrich can be found teaching and playing with inner city youth, helping them develop instrumental and song-writing skills. This past summer, he was one of a handful of musicians in the Manitoba Artists in Health Care program, which takes music to patients and staff at the Health Science Centre. Ulrich grew up in Lac du Bonnet and lives now in Winnipeg.
As a special fundraiser for the Performing Arts Lodge of Winnipeg, we are pleased to present the premiere of John Barnard's film, The Book of Vaudeville.
Steven Ross Smith has been creating and performing poetry and sound poetry for over three decades, and has shared his work in England, Holland, Russia, Portugal, USA, and Canada. He has published a dozen books, including Transient Light; Pliny’s Knickers, winner of the bpNichol chapbook award; and the multi-book fluttertongue series. Fluttertongue 3: disarray won the 2005 Saskatchewan Book of the Year Award. This spring, Turnstone released Fluttertongue 5: everything appears to shine with mossy splendor. Smith was the Executive Director of the Sage Hill Writing Experience for almost two decades, and is now the Director of Literary Arts at The Banff Centre. He lives in Banff.
DemoCamp is a forum for developers, designers, CEO’s and others to be proud of their work, get feedback from their peers, and possibly find other people who are interested in helping them.
Paradigm Brass is a new model of brass band, presenting a hybrid of styles designed to create a distinct sound and reach a broader range of listeners.
Slow Spirit, formerly the Eric Roberts Quintet, was born in the dead of a prairie winter -- five close friends plugged into the walls of a basement rehearsal room at Brandon University, and have been exploring a genreless plane of music ever since. While the jazz studies program at BU fed these young musicians’ hungry fascination of bebop, blues, and standard form, the band’s original compositions, fluid group dynamic and brave outlook on sound fuel the creative drive of a generation raised on hip hop, dance beats, electronic sound and digital sharing.
Hilary Klassen was a member of the beloved (and late) folk/country group Howls in the Family, a favourite of the Manitoba festival scene. Although her background is in piano, these days she totes an acoustic guitar, a soft smokey voice, and a collection of originals and covers to charm and entertain you.
Can there really be a perpetual motion machine? How good are
charities, really? Can you trust what the media says about science?
What is free will, and do we have it?
How Spoony B Got His Ho Back is a silent Chaplinesque comedy with a dash of Dolemite. It’s not easy being the Pimp King of Winnipeg! In an attempt to bankrupt him, an evil villain kidnaps Spoony B’s best ho, forcing Spoony to save the girl before the bank forecloses on his Cadillac. Check your sense of moral decency at the door!
Pianist, electric bassist, and composer Ron Paley formed the Ron Paley Big Band in 1976 after playing with the big bands of Buddy Rich and Woody Herman, with whom he recorded two CDs and played on a Frank Sinatra album. He has recorded two big band albums, one trio album, and is completing work on a big band musical.
CLINIC follows the stories of six teenagers. Each has a problem they would rather not talk about...not to their friends, not to their parents. We've all been in waiting rooms, at the doctors, a hospital, the dentist. A famous Seinfeld moment about waiting rooms puts it perfectly..."I wonder what he's got?"
None the Wiser was born in 1999, with the teen songwriting team of Eli Matas and Zack Kinahan. Joined by the hot rhythm section of Sam Little and Alan Nagelberg, the acoustic guitar duo has an original catalogue with hundreds of songs. Their unique sound is deep on lyrics and character, with a distinct guitar-weaving presence. The stories range from the personal to the political, but like they say, 'talking about music is like dancing about architecture.'
Join us for our last-ever EAT! bistro BBQ, plus the start of our book liquidation sale. Thousands of books will be 50% off until October 15, and one special section will also be half price for this day only. (The section will be announced Saturday morning.)
After being named 2010 Best of Fest, Tazzy's Angels returned for the 2011 Winnipeg Fringe Festival, with Big Daddy Tazz hosting this unique comedy showcase which features three of Winnipeg’s top female comedians.
Sarah MacDougall is a rising star on the Canadian Folk Music scene with her dynamite songs, blistering guitar chops and astounding voice. She has been earning rave reviews and topping major music writers top ten album of the year lists as a songwriter with her official debut album Across the Atlantic (2009), all the while producing and engineering her own music. Her new full-length release is The Greatest Ones Alive.
Marijosée was born with music tumbling in her soul. Even as she sleeps, melody wants to cascade from her lips. As a former member of the female percussionist ensemble Insisto, her nervous tics have since transformed themselves into polyrhythm that she plays on anything she can get her hands on. Marijosée’s first EP, Rebondir, puts forth a strong sexy voice, playful melodies, lots of rhythm, subtle touches of jazz and tons of talent.
Chicago-based fretless guitarist Kevin Brown returns home to perform with some of Winnipeg's finest musicians. The group will perform a variety of original material and a couple of Coltrane tunes. Come hear some new music that has been developing in the Chicago jazz community!
George Colligan is a New York-based jazz pianist, organist, drummer, trumpet player, educator, composer and bandleader. He was on the faculty of the Julliard School for two years, and just finished his term as Assistant Professor for the U of M's Jazz Studies program.
What was supposed to be a week of celebrating our twelve years of existence now has a slightly different taste to it. Join former Writers- and Artists-in-Residence Marcel Desilets, Keith Cadieux, Anita Daher, Julia Michaud, Bowen Smyth, Tim Higgins, Kerry Ryan, Rob Fordyce, Chadwick Ginther and hannah_g as they read, sing, entertain and reflect on their tenure at Winnipeg's Cultural City Hall.
collage-à-trois is our three voices, each different, each with its own story. We grew up waiting by the radio to hit the red record button, belting Disney in front of the mirror, memorizing Handel excerpts, putting on full-scale basement musicals and plays for patient parents and neighbors, mimicking Michael Jackson moves, rocking out on a cardboard guitar, transcribing Coltrane and singing French-Canadian folksongs over and over.
The Landen Seesahai Quintet features trumpeter Landen Seesahai and his league of extraordinary talent from the University of Manitoba Jazz Program. The quintet includes Paul De Gurse on piano, Luke Sellick on Bass, Allan Suban on drums and Niall Bakkestad-Legare on tenor sax. Exploring a variety of jazz styles including hard bop, blues, latin, funk and hip hop, this quintet is surely not one to disappoint!
Dr. Hotbottom and the Soul Prescription is the Doogie Howser of soul music.
Sol James is quickly breaking onto the Music scene as a force to be reckoned with. Tapping into her experience in the genres of Jazz, Soul, R&B and Funk, Sol is a dynamic and entertaining performer with the ability to truly grip an audience. Her music is honest and relatable, and she interprets it with a voice that is wonderfully unique. Nicknamed "The Aretha Franklin of Country" there is no doubt that Sol James is an artist who will make her mark.
The Shuckers are Dan and J-J, two Winnipeg musicians that came together for a love of acoustic music. Blending the sounds of guitars, mandolin, harmonica, and rich vocal harmonies, The Shuckers draw on the long history of folk music while injecting some modern influences to create a unique brand of dynamic acoustic music. Inspired by the sounds of country singers and bluegrass pickers such as Gram Parsons, Doc Watson, Bob Dylan, and Ronie McCoury, their original works range from dark ballads to light hearted fiddle tunes. While Dan and J-J are often busy playing in other groups around Winnipeg, they continue to bring their musicality and experience together in the acoustic duo format to play folk music the way it was meant to be, with simple elegance, grit, and joy.
Musa Hazara is a musician from Urazagan, Central Afghanistan, who plays Hazaragi songs on his dambora. With only 2 strings, the dambora (or dombura) has an amazingly wide and beautiful tonal range. Of his music, Musa says, ”it is my gift to Canada.”
Persian literature is one of the great literatures of the world, spanning 2500 years. The poems and stories are also among the world's most beautiful tales. If you want to recite a poem, please contact Mrs. Shemirani at 261-5852.
Winnipeg born-and-bred singer-songwriter koralee has lived everywhere from Vancouver to London, England to Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. She’s done everything from radio to film to theatre performance, starred in commercials for Scope and Lee Jeans and appears in the long running instructional Yoga TV series 
Ainsley Friesen is not afraid of making mistakes. On stage or off, she takes musical risks with a humorous perspective and a sense of humility. Her lyrics speak of lapses in judgment and emotional twists, yet wind their way to resolution. There is no mistaking, however, Ainsley’s natural abilities and talents when it comes to writing and playing. Years of classical studies in piano and voice juxtaposed with self-taught guitar skills have bred a polished musician willing to break the rules she has learned. After the release of her debut album Scattered…Inspired in 1998, she toured eastern Canada with her dog and her K-car, moved to Halifax for four years of art school, fell in love too many times to count but somehow always wound up back in Winnipeg. Her most recent project is the new EP, Doucement.
Flo is a Canadian R & B phenomenon from Winnipeg. She’s graced the stage at many a festival and concert with the likes of Boys II Men, 112, Burton Cummings and this May, opened for superstar songstress, Lauryn Hill. Firmly rooted in R & B, with infusions of jazz, soul, and pop, she sings in a style reminiscent of the great voices of our times. She evokes velvety-sensitive forthrightness, integrity and social awareness in every recording and performance. Embodying a pure desire to write, to sing, and to inspire, Flo travels into realms of soul that some artists never tap into. Her strong and intelligent, chocolate-honey alto can be heard on her first self-titled debut album, Flo and her much anticipated second album. Visit www.flosoul.com for more information on this dynamic artist who is nothing short of emotion and truth juxtaposed.
Born and raised in Vancouver, David Lum began his musical career as an instrumentalist for other artists and has developed into a gifted songwriter in his own right. Compassionate and spiritual, his intimate voice will draw you into his world, filled with tales of quiet desperation, longing and the triumph of the human spirit.
In 2003, Matt McLennan of the Winnipeg band Cone Five met Kevin Scott who was serving as Music Director and DJ at local University station UMFM. They had many discussions about music, both being interested in varying styles, and decided to start a recording project under the name Mr. Pine. As Matt was on the brink of leaving for Ottawa to pursue a master’s degree, the work would be conceived largely via mail, with recording sessions taking place on Matt’s frequent visits home. 
Venue 20 Returns!
Tailwind is a young group of roots rockers from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Singer/songwriter Kevin Kratsch has joined with multi-instrumentalist Kyle Bridges, bassist Brooks Waitt, and percussionist Daniel Bertnick to create a collection of tunes that range in style from soul-driven folk, to gritty Americana-esque country. Although a new project, this quartet is no stranger to writing, recording, and performing music, notably, Kratsch and Bridges are founding members of folk-country group, the Marquis. This new arrangement of young charismatic musicians is sure to please the crowds they play for. Kratsch’s raw songwriting ability is supported by a solid rhythmic foundation and cheesy, albeit golden, tasty electric guitar and banjo leads.
The Wonder Brass Quintet has been brass quinteting since 2008 playing at various churches, halls, schools and other venues around the city of Winnipeg. As avid fans of all varieties of brass quintet music, they are constantly checking out what is new and how it can be integrated into the Wonder Brass. That being said, nothing beats a good ol' piece of music from Samuel Scheidt. 
Jasper Sloan Yip’s career began in the summer of 2007 with the release of his solo debut White Elephant. Recorded at home with a single broken microphone, White Elephant is short and rough, but honest and imaginative. After the release, Jasper spent the next year traveling and writing what became 2010’s Every Day and All at Once. The album’s first single, Kiddo, began receiving frequent play on CBC Radio 3 just weeks after studio work had wrapped, which led to several invitations for the band to play live on the CBC. By the time the album was released in March 2010, Jasper and his band had performed live on CBC Radio 1 twice and even recorded a seven-song session for CBC Radio 3. Jasper’s next single, Slowly, spent 10 weeks on the CBC Radio 3 top 30, climbing up to number 4. Jasper’s last accomplishment for 2010 was having his song Today featured in an episode of ABC’s Brothers and Sisters. Since then, Jasper and his band have opened for acts such as Said the Whale, the Dudes, and Library Voices and showcased at festivals like Break Out West and Canada Music Week. Currently, Jasper and his band are hard at work preparing for a new release and their first Canadian tour, which will include performances at the Vancouver Jazz Festival and Calgary’s Sled Island.
After years of shuffling, tangling and realigning, the Vancouver-born Behind Sapphire – Grant Cassell (vocals), Matthew Mazankowski (guitar), Steven Ward (drums), Lindsay Sjoberg (guitar) and Brayden Pichor (bass) – have formed a creative cauldron from which has emerged the release of their debut album in 2010, a spot in the Peak Performance Project’s Top 20 the same year, two cross-Canada tours including stops at festivals all over the country, and the Space Cadets – the band’s costumed street team which orbits their shows, occasionally touching down unannounced.
Recently, Behind Sapphire released a music video for Oh My, What A Fine Day featuring Twilight actress Jodelle Ferland before embarking on their Oh My, What A Fine Tour - a three month, cross-country adventure that brought the mythical world of their album to stage. Populated by beanstalks, tugboat towns, traffic jams, crazy critters, and yellow chalk fish, the album’s lyrical flights of fantasy capture the West Coast of the imagination – one half-lived and half-dreamed.
Chadwick Ginther would enjoy Can-Lit so much more if it included even one dragon or robot. His story “First Light” is forthcoming from On Spec, the premier Canadian magazine of speculative fiction, and his reviews have appeared in Quill and Quire, Prairie Books NOW and The Winnipeg Review. A bookseller for ten years, when Chadwick’s not writing his own books, he’s selling everyone else’s. He has twice been nominated for the Harper Collins Handselling Award, winning in 2008. He lives and writes in Winnipeg.
Texting Mackenzie is a Guelph-based pop/rock band that are "delightfully eclectic" (musician Jean-Paul de Roover) and "a live band to see" (CHUO FM Ottawa).
Having travelled both the west and east of Canada in the DIY fashion, Texting Mackenzie is celebrating their new LP Karateka featuring their singles Indier than Thou, End of the World, and Kiddo, which makes a wonderful addition to their fast-growing discography (2009's Quoi de Neuf? and appearances on both Local Rabbits and Joel Plaskett tribute albums).
Twenty years ago Anthony Hopkins was silencing lambs, the US
was warring with Iraq and REM lost their religion. More importantly, The Jenny Revue rolled off
the presses for the first time!
Colin Linden
Helen White and Friends
Robert Glasper
Owen Clark Jass Band
Nowosad/Bradford/Bonness
Chess Club
Kellylee Evans
Steve and Anna-Lisa Kirby and Friends
Mark McLean
Jimmy Greene
The Lost Fingers
Son of Dave
Karl Kohut/Rayannah Kroeker
Glenn Patscha
All Winds
Bert Johnson/Daniel Jordan Quintet
A west end Winnipeg boy, transplanted to the prairies of southern Manitoba, Bill Dowling has had a love of stories in song since the days of the Ting Tea Room and the fledgling Winnipeg Folk Festival. Bill sings his heartfelt stories of all sorts of people, past and present, with honesty, humor, and a musical nod to the rich folk music tradition. That, and a little bit of rock and roll. His debut CD, In The Wood, recorded with Dan Donahue, was released in 2008.
Daniel Péloquin-Hopfner is a multi-instrumentalist who is best known for his work with hot roots acts Red Moon Road, and Fire and Smoke. Mandolin, banjo and sweet harmonies are his specialty.
Waubgeshig Rice is a broadcast journalist and writer who lives in Ottawa. He grew up in Wasauksing, an Anishinaabe community on the shores of Georgian Bay. His articles, essays and columns have been published in national newspapers and magazines, and as a television journalist he has filed reports from across Canada. Midnight Sweatlodge is his first published work of fiction.
Rosanna Deerchild is Cree from South Indian Lake, Manitoba. Her poetry has appeared in a number of literary magazines including Prairie Fire and CV2. She is the co-founder and remains a member of the Aboriginal Writers Collective, established in 1999. Rosanna currently works a broadcaster with the CBC. This is a small northern town, Deerchild's long-awaited full-length collection of poems, won the 2009 Aqua Books Lansdowne Prize for Poetry.
Duncan Mercredi is a Cree/Metis writer/storyteller, originally from Misipawistik (Grand Rapids, MB). In addition to his four books of poetry, he has had his work featured in three anthologies of Native writings and in other periodicals such as Prairie Fire and CV2. He is a winner of the Ross Charles Award, and is a long-time member of Manitoba’s Aboriginal Writers Collective. He also hosts Friday Midnight Blues on NCI radio. 
When Dan De Jaeger and Melanie Dahling first started reading "No Fear Shakespeare", a website/book series that helps students by putting Shakespeare into modern English, it was to work on an audition. As they read the paraphrased version of Romeo and Juliet, they realized how absurdly hilarious Shakespeare verses become when they are "de-flowered". Being two enthusiastic people with many talented friends, they decided to stage a reading of this stripped down version of Romeo and Juliet. They hope to eventually cover the whole "No Fear Shakespeare" series. 
WTRO's first-ever original radio drama is written by Nicholas Burns and produced by Jeff Skinner. All proceeds go to support Winnipeg's Performing Arts Lodge.
Richard Moody was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and blends classical viola and jazz technique with a soulful connection to folk, roots and jazz. Together they create a sound that will be new to world music ears.
Pepper Laing and The Lonestar Killers is an ass-kicking bluegrass band that works a mix of traditional bluegrass, new grass and roots music into a musical layer-cake of old-timey goodness.
Gateway Express, a Winnipeg based bluegrass band, has been performing since November, 2007. They are quickly becoming known around Manitoba for their traditional bluegrass style patterned after the old masters, Bill Munroe, Flatt and Scruggs, Jimmie Martin, Stanley Brothers and the Carter Family.
Feed the Birds was born from musical growth. After years as a solo artist, following years in a family band, Rheanna Mwlnick invited two of her friends to join the nest. Enter Neil Goebel on bass and Steve Pennicook on drums.
Feed the Birds' indie pop songwriting leans on folk traditions all the while kicking out a rock and roll swagger. Lyrical fragility combined with rhythmic sense; creates a dynamic live performance which transitions beautifully in all settings.
Justin Lacroix has been singing his songs and picking his guitar on various Canadian stages since 2003. Though he claims influences of many genres and styles from blues to rock to country to latin, Justin describes his music as home-grown, groovy roots-rock for your body, heart and soul". Having been compared to Dave Matthews, Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Jeff Buckley, and even a young Bruce Cockburn, you begin to see which musical category Lacroix may be classified under. Regardless of the genre he steps in and out of, it's Justin Lacroix's smooth, powerful voice, funky guitar style and genuine passion for what he does that make him a unique and timeless talent on this day's music scene.
Carly Dow and Dave Barchyn have been actively involved in Winnipeg's bustling music scene for several years, each as solo artists and most notably with local roots band, Bog River. Both have been accepted into the Winnipeg Folk Festival's Young Performer's Program on numerous occasions, having the chance to interact with some of Canada's most promising musicians. With influences ranging from Radiohead to Old Crow Medicine Show, the two have created a unique, charming style with clever lyrics and haunting harmonies.
At 20 years of age, Lucas Sader has already begun to assert himself in the Winnipeg music scene. He currently leads his own Quintet and Trio and is also active as an Instructor (privately), Journalist (with Dig! Magazine), Accompanist (with Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet) and Clinician (with the Pembina Trails School Division). As a student in the University of Manitoba Jazz Studies Program, Lucas has had the opportunity to study and play with many amazing musicians including Quincy Davis, George Colligan, Steve Kirby, Jimmy Greene, Terreon Gully, E.J. Strickland, Rudy Royston and Jauvon Gilliam.
Pop songstress Bean is an up and coming creative force, who takes pride in doing things a little differently. The classically-trained pianist started out learning her favourite melodies by ear, and then began writing her own music at age eleven.
In the studio, Bean has been tapping into her quirky yet accessible style, as she works on her upcoming EP with producers Carlin Hiebert and Los Angeles-based Adrian Bradford. Hear Bean live – and be exposed to catchy melodies, clever lyrics, and innovative accompaniment.
Reggie San Miguel is an above average Filipino/jazz flautist who is a 4th year student finishing up his jazz studies degree at the University of Manitoba. In high school, he played at New York's Lincoln Center as a finalist in the Essentially Ellington Festival. He has also played with local names such as Amber Epp, Retro Rhythm Review, and artists such as John Pizzarelli. Reggie has studied with Ken Gold, Jimmy Greene, and Larry Roy. Described by his mom as “special”, he is lead to believe that he is in fact “above average”.
Monika Loewen Wall’s Indie Cabaret is a new sound that doesn’t seem to fit an obvious category. Not surprising, considering the songs are inspired by jazz, folk, spirituals, even classical music. An award winning singer, she has sung in Canada, USA and Europe.
Currently Monika is recording her first CD of her own songs, Parallel Mondo. It considers the existence of parallel worlds and realities all around us, through thoughtful words and contagious sounds. Inspired through the realization that, having sung for five years in Europe, upon returning to Winnipeg, she was forever lost between two worlds.
Tomson Highway is an internationally renowned Cree dramatist, novelist and cabaret performer who is currently teaching a course on Cree Literature at the University of Manitoba.
SHEENA has been igniting dance floors across Winnipeg with their unique brand of modern R&B and classic funk. Now, it’s your chance to experience this powerhouse band in a brand-new setting. An intimate, personal concert experience – it’s SHEENA: Live at Aqua Books!
It’s an opportunity for the group to stretch out as they showcase brand-new original compositions, extended arrangements and sensual slow jams. It’s about being in the moment – and we want to share it with you!
The Craig and Ash Band invite you into their world of refreshing folk and country melodies. Their self-titled EP was produced by Jaxon Haldane and Grant Siemens, two mainstays of Winnipeg's folk scene. You will be captivated by these four musicians' energetic live show depicting the stories of modern cowboys.
The JD Edwards Band is an electric five-piece folk-rock extravaganza experience and other times it is a laid back acoustic group that is quickly becoming a staple in the Canadian music scene. Through incessant gigging and innovative groovy song-writing, the JD Edwards Band is breaking through the barriers of mediocrity and giving Canadian listeners something to dance about. The sound is a synthesis of Blind Melon’s funk and The Black Crowes’ blues, while JD sings with the stoned sexiness of Van Morrison and the wild outbursts of Ben Harper. They manage to musically acknowledge their influences without compromising their ingenuity or principle; The JD Edwards Band will take you on a new adventure in a familiar place every time.
Keith Cadieux lives and writes in Winnipeg, where he grew up. His first published work was the novella Gaze which was released by Quattro Books in 2010. He holds a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from the University of Manitoba where he also received the Robert Kroetsch Creative MA Thesis Prize. Keith teaches English at the University of Winnipeg and will be working on a new collection of short stories while serving as Aqua Books’ Writer in Residence from May to August, 2011.
Barbara Nickel’s second collection of poetry, Domain (House of Anansi), was listed in Quill and Quire’s Best Books of 2007. Her previous collection of poetry, The Gladys Elegies, won the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. Her work has appeared in numerous literary magazines and anthologies, including Notre Dame Review, Prairie Schooner, Poetry Ireland Review, The Malahat Review, The New Canon: An Anthology of Canadian Poetry, and The Walrus, and she is a winner of The Malahat Review Long Poem Prize. Barbara is also an award-winning author of books for children; her novel Hannah Waters and the Daughter of Johann Sebastian Bach was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award and won the B.C. Book Prize. A new picture book in verse is forthcoming in 2013. She lives and writes in Yarrow, B.C.
Lindsey Childs has studied writing at The University of Winnipeg and at Canadian Mennonite University where she took Barbara Nickel’s poetry class. Lindsey has published in Juice and her poem, Predator, which recently tied for first place in the Winnipeg Free Press/Writers Collective Poetry Contest, will soon appear in The Collective Consciousness. Lindsey is a current member of the Board of Directors for both Prairie Fire Magazine and The Writers Collective of Manitoba. Lindsey is currently looking for a publisher for a poetry chapbook called Fractured and a novel titled Avery.
Dave Margoshes is a Saskatoon-area poet and fiction writer whose stories and poems are widely published in literary magazines and anthologies throughout North America, including six times in the Best Canadian Stories volumes. In 2009, he was a finalist for the Journey Prize. His Bix's Trumpet and Other Stories was named Book of the Year at the 2007 Saskatchewan Book Awards. He published two new books of poetry in the last two years: The Horse Knows the Way (BuschekBooks, 2009) and Dimensions of an Orchard (Black Moss Press, 2010), which won the Anne Szumigalski Poetry Prize at the 2010 Saskatchewan Book Awards. He’s given numerous workshops and taught creative writing in a number of settings, for writers at varying levels of experience. He was writer in residence in Winnipeg in 1995-96.
Barbara Schott lives in Winnipeg. Her work as a fashion stylist frequently takes her to Asia. She is the authour of two books of poetry, The Waterlily Pickers (Turnstone Press) and Memoirs of an Almost Expedition (Brick Books). She is also one of the poetry editors for Prairie Fire Magazine.
Rebecca Hiebert is a member of Stone Soup Storytellers of Winnipeg. She has performed at the Winnipeg International Storytelling Festival, the SUNDOG storytelling festival, the national storytelling conference, in schools, at the Manitoba Museum, and at other events throughout Winnipeg. Rebecca is a lively and energetic teller who knows how to connect with an audience.
Margaret McKenty is a longtime member of Hinode Taiko on flute and
percussion, performing from Thunder Bay to Tokyo and many places in
between (and all around Winnipeg, of course.) She will provide Monkey
with sounds and music as needed, beginning with the Divine Boulder
splitting open and giving birth to a stone Monkey.
Dr. Susan Close will be discussing the concept of gendered space as it relates to the photographic work of Clementina Howarden (1822-1865). Lady Howarden is one the earliest significant examples of a woman photographer making photographs of interior spaces. Her images feature her adult daughters and reflect the private, domestic lives of Victorian women. Dr. Close will be entering into a discussion of how Howarden’s images may be understood as cultural artifacts that have the potential to reveal attitudes and practices related to gendered space in Victorian Britain.
ImproVision is the duke of dulcet Alan MacKenzie, pharaoh of falsetto George McRobb and mistress of monotone, stage manager Audra Lesosky.
ImproVision has performed in every Winnipeg Fringe Festival since 2002; the 2009 Edmonton Fringe Festival; the Winnipeg Comedy Festival; the Winnipeg Improv Festival; and Gimli Theatre Festival, as well as many private shows for corporations, charities and even a couple of weddings.
Cowlicks and Rooster Tails is a group that originated from an impromptu billing at the 2010 Jazz Winnipeg Festival. The group delivers an exciting performance of musical diversity. The unique instrumentation (traditional banjo, flattop guitar, alto sax and upright bass) evokes a natural blending of jazz and Appalachian styles. Spearheaded by Adam Young and Neil Watson, the idea of the group is to compose and arrange within the idiomatic aspects of the instruments and the styles of the musicians.
Sidura Ludwig was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and has lived in Toronto, Ottawa and Birmingham, UK. Her short fiction has appeared in several magazines and anthologies in Canada and the UK, and she is the recipient of the Canadian Author and Bookman Prize for Most Promising Writer. Her non-fiction work has appeared on CBC radio, and in Canadian newspapers and magazines. She has led creative writing workshops in Winnipeg, Toronto, Birmingham and Boston. Sidura lives in Thornhill, Ontario, with her husband, Jason, and their two children, Nachmani Boaz and Dalya Rivka. She is currently working on a new novel. For more information, visit her website: http://www.sidura.com.
Daria Salamon is a Winnipeg writer who is madly working on her second novel - a painful endeavor. Who said this was supposed to be easier the second time round? Lies. Daria's first novel, The Prairie Bridesmaid won the Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book. She was also nominated for the Margaret Lawrence Award for Fiction and the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award, but sadly lost out to better writers. She's written articles and stories for Prairie Fire, The Globe and Mail and the Winnipeg Free Press. She is supported, more emotionally than financially, by her husband Rob and regularly abused by her young children Oskar and Isla.
Deborah Schnitzer is co-editor of the award-winning collection, The Madwoman in the Academy: 43 Women Boldly Take on the Ivory Tower, whose creative writing includes the long poem, lovinggertrudestein, Loving Gertrude, the novel gertrude unmanageable, and most recently, An Unexpected Break in the Weather, winner of the 2010 Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction. She has collaborated with Shelagh Carter on three short experimental films, rifting/blue, resolve, and Canoe, and with River on the Run North, an eco-arts collective examining environmental challenges to Lake Winnipeg. Deborah is currently at work landscaping a new novel, the woman who swallowed West Hawk Lake and the long poem, water^woman.
Ismaila Alfa was born in Nigeria to a Nigerian father and Canadian mother. He completed his early school years in Edmonton, then moved to Winnipeg. After starting a civil engineering degree at the University of Manitoba, he followed his musical dreams and spent eight years touring North America as a hip hop musician. Magnum KI, a band he formed in 2005 with DJ Michael Arnone, opened for the legendary band The Roots at this year’s TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival. When he’s not on a stage tangling with words, he is an audio technician, jingle writer, and traffic reporter for CBC Radio.
Keith Cadieux lives and writes in Winnipeg, where he grew up. His first published work was the novella Gaze which was released by Quattro Books in 2010. He holds a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from the University of Manitoba where he also received the Robert Kroetsch Creative MA Thesis Prize. Keith teaches English at the University of Winnipeg and will be working on a new collection of short stories while serving as Aqua Books’ Writer in Residence from May to August, 2011.
Ariel Gordon is a writer whose first book of poetry, Hump, was published in spring 2010. How to Prepare for Flooding, a collaboration with designer Julia Michaud, is forthcoming from JackPine Press in 2011. When not being bookish, Ariel likes tromping through the woods and taking macro photographs of mushrooms.
Sheila McClarty's stories have appeared in various magazines, including Grain, The Antigonish Review and The Fiddlehead. Her first collection of short stories, High Speed Crow, published by Oberon Press was released in November of 2010. She lives outside of Oakbank, Manitoba with her husband, two teenage children and a herd of horses.
Craig Russell grew up on what may be the flattest half-section of land on the planet, six miles north of Carman. Now a lawyer in Brandon, along with wife Janet, Craig has spent the past twenty-two years restoring 1906 Victorian home, The Johnson House. Ten years ago, Craig began to study acting in his spare time. He believes that live theatre is a great training ground for a writer’s ear because it teaches you to recognize effective dialogue. Black Bottle Man, a YA fable released by Great Plains Publishing is his first novel.
Bowen Smyth is happily paying off three degrees that are still rolled up in their original cardboard tubes. He has been hired to write about the need for arts facilities in Ontario, social innovation in the non-profit sector, and anal sexual health for Manitoba’s queer communities. As the drag persona Owen Head, Smyth shared a Winnipeg stage with trans writer and activist Kate Bornstein. He is delighted to have a writers’ residency in Winnipeg at the same time as Ivan E. Coyote. Beware of the transgender takeover!
Born in Vancouver, Bren Simmers studied writing at the University of Victoria and has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from The University of British Columbia. Winner of the Arc Poem of the Year Award and shortlisted for the Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award, her poetry has been published in The Antigonish Review, CV2, Event, The Fiddlehead, Prairie Fire, and Prism International. Night Gears (Wolsak and Wynn, 2010) is her first collection of poetry.
Jenny Berkel’s deep, resonant voice and truly poetic lyrics have been garnering fans ever since she started performing with her guitar three years ago. In that time, she has played with bands The Wandering Goose and Lady o’Lakes, toured across Canada, busked on the streets of Paris and Belfast, and been nominated for two music awards. This summer she released her first solo recording, Gather Your Bones. Jenny’s songs are both haunting and starkly honest, drawing their substance from personal experience and collective history, free of the all-too-easy cliché of folk lyrics. Her voice is also unique—deep and smoky, broad as the Manitoba prairie where she now lives.
Michelle Elrick is a poet and fiction writer from British Columbia and Manitoba. Growing up on a mountain overlooking the Fraser Valley contributed to a sense of perspective that has continued to develop in her writing. Now on Canada’s great plain, she lives in an attic overlooking the rooftops of Winnipeg. Her first book, a collection of poems titled To Speak, was published by The Muses’ Company in 2010. In addition, her work has appeared in The Fiddlehead, Canadian Literature, Event and other magazines, and performed at festivals and events in Vancouver, Winnipeg, London, Kingston and Belfast. She is currently deep in a second draft of her novel, Dust House, surfacing on occasion to play the banjo and walk the dog.
Michael Petkau Falk is the frontman and songwriter for Winnipeg pop/rock band, Les Jupes. He also runs Head In The Sand Records (Royal Canoe, Liptonians), produced the Record Of The Week Club, and is the Artistic Director at the West End Cultural Centre. Mike is a well-known local music producer, and has been nominated twice for Recording Engineer of The Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards.
David Arnason is an acclaimed novelist, a writer of short fiction, and an editor of Turnstone Press since 1975. Very much in touch with his Icelandic heritage, Arnason has taught at the University of Manitoba since 1972, serving as Acting Head of the Department of Icelandic Studies from 1998 to 2006, and as head of the Department of English from 1997 to 2006. His novel King Jerry, published by Turnstone Press, was a finalist for the 2002 Stephen Leacock Award. Currently, Arnason lives and writes in Gimli, MB. His latest novel, Baldur's Song: A Saga is a fictional account of his grandfather's life growing up in Gimli and early twentieth-century Winnipeg.
David Bergen is the author of five novels and a collection of short stories. A Year of Lesser was a New York Times Notable Book and The Case of Lena S., a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. In 2005, he won the Giller Prize for The Time In Between. Bergen is the winner of the 2009 Writers’ Trust Notable Author Award.
Dora Dueck is a Winnipeg writer and editor. She is the author of two novels (most recently This Hidden Thing), two contract non-fiction books, and many articles and stories. Her short fiction has appeared in Prairie Fire, Rhubarb, Room, and other journals, and on CBC Radio. She has also worked as associate editor and editor at a national Mennonite church magazine.
Patti Grayson’s short fiction collection, Core Samples (Turnstone Press, 2004), garnered nominations for the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer and the Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book. Patti has worked as a school librarian, advertising copywriter, puppeteer, and actor. She lives near Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her recently-released first novel, Autumn, One Spring, follows Autumn Greene as she returns to her home town after a six-year's absence to attend her sister's wedding - uninvited.
Rayannah Kroeker
Jonathan Garfinkel is the author of a book of poetry, Glass Psalms, (Turnstone Press, 2005) and several plays, including Walking to Russia, The Trials of John Demjanjuk: A Holocaust Cabaret and House of Many Tongues. His memoir, Ambivalence: Crossing the Israel/Palestine Divide (Penguin Canada 2007), has been published in five countries, and his plays have been produced across Canada and
Germany. He is the recipient of numerous residencies, including a
year-long fellowship at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart,
Germany. He also won the KM Hunter Award for Emerging Artists in 2008.
Jonathan currently divides his time between Toronto and Berlin.
Daniella Ponticelli is a first-year Creative Communications student at Red River College. Aside from writing courses at university, most of her writing comes from late night inspirations and Sunday afternoon surprises. Visit her blog Cre.ature Feed, where she posts poetry, fiction, and quirky insights.
The Winnipeg Talking Radio Orchestra presents live radio plays from the medium's Golden Age, performed by a great cast and a live foley artist. The Lone Ranger returns, with Tonto in tow, followed by the adventures of the mysterious Black Ace.
Jenny Berkel’s deep, resonant voice and truly poetic lyrics have been garnering fans ever since she started performing with her guitar three years ago. In that time, she has played with bands The Wandering Goose and Lady o’Lakes, toured across Canada, busked on the streets of Paris and Belfast, and been nominated for two music awards. This summer she released her first solo recording, Gather Your Bones. Jenny’s songs are both haunting and starkly honest, drawing their substance from personal experience and collective history, free of the all-too-easy cliché of folk lyrics. Her voice is also unique—deep and smoky, broad as the Manitoba prairie where she now lives.
Pianist Bert Johnson has performed at the Winnipeg Jazz Festival, both with saxophonist Neil Watson, and also with the Bert Johnson and Daniel Jordan Quintet. He also performs with Steve Kirby's Jazz On Wheels. His first CD is Calm and Collected.
From Brazil's musical capital, Rio de Janeiro, Marco Castillo has an impressive background in many styles of music. He arrived in Winnipeg in 2006 and rapidly became one of the city's busiest musicians. He is currently the leader of the Brazilian Beats band. Marco has performed with the top jazz artists in town and has influenced many musicians, breathing new life into the local Latin Music scene.
The Winnipeg Talking Radio Orchestra presents live radio plays from the medium's Golden Age, performed by a great cast and a live foley artist. This week, two classic comedies: The Bickerons, plus Groucho and Chico Marx's radio series about a disreputable lawyer and his unethical assistant, Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel.
Thirty years before grunge music put Seattle on the map, late 1960s groups like Black on White Affair, The Soul Swingers, and Cold, Bold and Together filled airwaves and packed clubs every night of the week. Many groups started to receive widespread attention with invitations to perform on national television and collaborate with mainstream acts. Just as many of the groups were on the verge of breaking out, the fickle public turned its ear to disco, and Seattle’s soul scene slipped into obscurity.
A special programme of works by A. A. MILNE – the renowned author and World War I veteran best-known as the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh.
Michael Nathanson’s Governor General Award-nominated play, Talk, opened the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre’s 2007-2008 season and was a critically acclaimed production in Toronto in March 2010. Michael’s plays have been seen in New York, Dallas and at festivals across Canada.
Michael is the Artistic Producer of 
Alix Sobler is a writer and performer, originally from New York who is living out every little girl's dream to grow up and move to Winnipeg to try and make it big. Her Jewish humour can often be heard on CBC One’s Definitely Not The Opera. In 2010, she performed her solo show Jason Neufeld is Impotent at the Minneapolis Jewish Humor Festival, and her comedy Some Things You Keep premiered at the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre the same year. She is definitely Jewish, and apparently funny, and happy to be in such good company.
Marco Castillo's Brazilian Jazz Trio is composed of three of the city's top musicians. Marco, Gilles and Scott have been making contagious and uplifting Latin grooves together since 2007. Their perfect onstage chemistry will spirit you off to Rio in no time.
Armin Wiebe is celebrated for his beloved, lexicon expanding Gutenthal novels The Salvation of Yasch Siemens, Murder in Gutenthal and The Second Coming of Yeeat Schpanst. He is also the winner of the McNally Robinson Manitoba Book of the Year Award and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction for his novel Tatsea. Armin's play, The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz, will premiere in April as a part of Theatre Projects Manitoba's 2010-2011 season.
Talia Pura is a veteran of dozens of stage productions and films. She's also an accomplished aerial dancer.
Veralyn Warkentin has enjoyed the rush of making people laugh since she learned to talk. (were they laughing with her or...?) She has worn a veritable milliners worth of hats: writer, director, playwright, producer, prof, mascot, crime fighter, blogger, yada yada yada. Basically, she doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up; she refuses to grow up, and at 5'2" stands little chance of so doing.
Born in the Autumn of 2009, from an urgency mingling equal parts controversy and good ol' prairie gumption, Last Ditch on the Left was a necessary consequence from the determined bent of Kerri Woelke and Brent Warren. A collaboration rife with as much genuine ease as disdainful tension, the varied musical backgrounds and influences lend to impart a sort of present-day-nostalgic sensibility. Old and new. Easy though difficult. Sweet but sour. What exploits lay in the road for this young partnership will be deterred only by law and couth.
The Winnipeg Talking Radio Orchestra presents live radio plays from the medium's Golden Age, performed by a great cast and a live foley artist. This week, another great episode of X Minus One, plus an adaptation of the classic horror fable Frankenstein.
Doug Edmond started out as a classically trained on flute but taught himself to play piano in his teens. Over the years, he focused his attention on songwriting which led to the formation of the Doug Edmond band, the release of the CD Between the Shadows and the Light, and a showcase performance in Nashville in 2009. Doug and his band (which includes Crash Test Dummy Mitch Dorge) are currently working on his sophomore album.
Josée Vaillancourt has studied with Phyllis Thompson, Ingrid Attrot, Nancy Argenta, Daniel Taylor, Robert Holliston, Benjamin Butterfield, and British Baroque orchestra conductor Laurence Cummings. She has performed as a soloist in the oratorio Judas Maccabeus by Haendel with members of the Victoria Symphony Orchestra and a 25-voice choir. Josée is a lyrical soprano with a wide vocal range, pure sound, good tone, and full resonance. She specializes in early music and contemporary chamber music.
Brian Richardson was recently Richard in MTC’s production of The Seafarer by Conor McPherson. Before that, he performed with Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko; published his own poetry; interpreted local history through theatre at The Forks, Riding Mountain, Churchill, and Fort Gibraltar; played in the (Manitoba) Blarney Band; hosted the Winnipeg Folk Festival; performed Music Hall in Ireland; busked on the Cliffs of Moher; and portrayed such historical figures as Simon McTavish, Prince Rupert, Ernest Thmpson Seton, and Thomas Scott. There’s other stuff too. Ask him some time.
Laurent Poliquin poursuit des études doctorales à l’Université du Manitoba portant la littérature pour la jeunesse au Canada français. Il est l’auteur de quatre recueils de poésie, dont le plus récent, La Métisse filante, est paru l’an dernier aux Éditions de l’Harmattan, à Paris. Ses poèmes ont aussi été publiés dans plusieurs revues et anthologies au Canada, au Québec, en France et en Italie. Il est membre du comité de rédaction de la revue de poésie Contemporary Verse 2. Depuis 2003, il est aussi éditeur aux Éditions des Plaines.
In the small community of Whylah Falls, young Lyla Cromwell
sees and elegant an handsome stranger arrive into town. In a
heartbeat, Lyla is infatuated. But she’s nothing like the object
of her affection, Hank Johnson. She’s a small-town romantic
who writes beautiful poetry. He’s an illiterate, arrogant
smooth-talker looking for easy women and easier money.
Hank scoffs at the local men and their dangerous, low-paying
work in the nearby mine. Against her family’s warnings, Lyla
falls in love with Hank. And when the young couple runs
away to the city, Hank is confident he’ll get a high-paying
job. But his dreams are shattered, and he finds cold comfort
in the arms of another woman. Lyla goes back home, but
there’s no escape from her fate. She’s taken in and cared for
by her doting Uncle Hud. Still, she can’t forget Hank. And
when her lover returns, Uncle Hud’s obsession with his niece
leads to catastrophe. 
George Elliott Clarke was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, a seventh-generation Africadian. He is a poet, playwright, novelist, and critic, with a Governor General’s Award for Poetry and a Martin Luther King Achievement Award among his many honours. His works include several acclaimed collections of poetry, including Whylah Falls and Execution Poems, the libretto for the jazz opera Beatrice Chancy, the novel George and Rue, and several plays. Clarke lives in Toronto where he is the EJ Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at University of Toronto.
Beatrice Chancyis a 1999 Canadian opera. The libretto was written by George Elliott Clarke, and the music by James Rolfe. Based on Percy Bysshe Shelley's play The Cenci, the opera transplants the story from 16th century Italy to the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia in the 19th century. In this adapation, Beatrice is the multiracial daughter of Francis Chancy, a brutish white slave owner, and Mafa, a Guinean slave woman who was raped by Francis. After Francis forces Beatrice into an incestuous encounter in a monastery, Beatrice and Mafa conspire to murder him.
George Elliott Clarke was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, a seventh-generation Africadian. He is a poet, playwright, novelist, and critic, with a Governor General’s Award for Poetry and a Martin Luther King Achievement Award among his many honours. His works include several acclaimed collections of poetry, including Whylah Falls and Execution Poems, the libretto for the jazz opera Beatrice Chancy, the novel George and Rue, and several plays. Clarke lives in Toronto where he is the EJ Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at University of Toronto.
George Elliott Clarke was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, a seventh-generation Africadian. He is a poet, playwright, novelist, and critic, with a Governor General’s Award for Poetry and a Martin Luther King Achievement Award among his many honours. His works include several acclaimed collections of poetry, including Whylah Falls and Execution Poems, the libretto for the jazz opera Beatrice Chancy, the novel George and Rue, and several plays. Clarke lives in Toronto where he is the EJ Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at University of Toronto.
Africville was an unincorporated Nova Scotia township, settled in about the 1840s by people from the Black Refugee communities of Hammonds Plains and Preston. Although geographically a part of the City of Halifax, Africville was always a separate community, with a largely African-Nova Scotian population. Africville struggled for survival throughout its 125-year history. It was divided by railway tracks and encroached upon by factories, sewage disposal pits, slaughter houses, and other non-residential development. In the early 1960s, the Halifax government ordered the settlement destroyed; In early January 1970 the City bulldozed the building of the last Africville resident, who reluctantly agreed to sell his property to avoid expropriation.
George Elliott Clarke was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, a seventh-generation Africadian. He is a poet, playwright, novelist, and critic, with a Governor General’s Award for Poetry and a Martin Luther King Achievement Award among his many honours. His works include several acclaimed collections of poetry, including Whylah Falls and Execution Poems, the libretto for the jazz opera Beatrice Chancy, the novel George and Rue, and several plays. Clarke lives in Toronto where he is the EJ Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at University of Toronto.
George Elliott Clarke was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, a seventh-generation Africadian. He is a poet, playwright, novelist, and critic, with a Governor General’s Award for Poetry and a Martin Luther King Achievement Award among his many honours. His works include several acclaimed collections of poetry, including Whylah Falls and Execution Poems, the libretto for the jazz opera Beatrice Chancy, the novel George and Rue, and several plays. Clarke lives in Toronto where he is the EJ Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at University of Toronto.
Vanessa Moeller’s poems and short stories have appeared in numerous periodicals including The Fiddlehead, Prism International, The Antigonish Review, CV2, The Pottersfield Portfolio and Qwerty, and have won several awards including the WFNS’s 2002 Atlantic Poetry Prize. She completed her MA in creative writing at the University of New Brunswick and now lives in Fredericton. Our Extraordinary Monsters is her debut poetry collection.
The Winnipeg Talking Radio Orchestra presents live radio plays from the medium's Golden Age, performed by a great cast and a live foley artist. This week, the mysterious avenger known as The Shadow, plus history's greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes, are brought to life by a talented cast of working actors, including Winnipeg's own Betty White - Doreen Brownstone.
Michael Van Rooy, the great crime writer and gentle giant pillar of Winnipeg’s writing community, offered up this one-liner life lesson. We like it, but in our grief at Michael’s sudden passing, and in celebration of his life, we’re switching it around.
Vanessa Kuzina's picks and pen have carried her across the Nation. A member of country-roots femmes fatales, Oh My Darling, she is stirring up some dust as a solo artist. Not for the bashful, this country belle will ask you to two-step then break your heart with three chords and the truth.
Julie Wilson is a professional publishing fan, writer and blogger. The literary voyeur behind the SeenReading.com and the editor of BookMadam.com, she thinks reading looks good on you. She's also the author of Truly, Madly, Deadly: The Unofficial True Blood Companion (ECW Press) written as Becca Wilcott. Follow Julie on Twitter: @BookMadam @SeenReading
Jason Booth is a graduate of the Creative Communications program. His poetry has been published in The Collective Consciousness, the quarterly journal of The Manitoba Writer’s Collective and the Winnipeg Free Press. He resides in Winnipeg with his wife and percolator.
Swing Girls is a 2004 comedy film co-written and directed by Japanese filmmaker Shinobu Yaguchi about the efforts of a group of high school girls to form a jazz band.
Swing Girls is set in rural Yamagata prefecture, in northern Japan, and the characters often use the local Yamagata-ben dialect for comic effect. The film ranked 8th at the Japanese box office in 2004, and won seven prizes at the 2005 Japanese Academy Awards, including Most Popular Film and Newcomer of the Year awards for Yu-ta Hiraoka and Juri Ueno.
Pianist and composer Michelle Grégoire's music has been described as “ingenious”, “elegant”, “balanced”, and “original with great depth and imagination”. She has toured across Canada with her quintet and appeared at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal and the Ottawa Jazz Festival in 2010 in support of her new CD Diversity. Grégoire's music is heard regularly on XM Radio and Galaxie satellite jazz programs. Her performances have been recorded and aired nationally on various CBC programs. In 2009, Grégoire's quintet opened for the Branford Marsalis Quartet at the Jazz Winnipeg Festival.
Matt Duggan graduated from Churchill High School and yet he is delighted to be visiting Winnipeg to read from his most recent novel Cherry Electra. His previous novel, The Royal Woods, is a tall tale for children set in a new suburban subdivision of a prairie city. It was nominated for The Moonbeam Award and the Silver Birch Award. Cherry Electra is about a dirty cottage weekend that culminates in murder. Quill and Quire call it “a satisfying bit of cottage-country gothic”, and the Toronto Star says it “has the delirious quality of a wreck recollected”, and claims that “it’s rare to come across something that is both so sadly astute and so infectiously, vibrantly witty.” The Globe and Mail depicts the novel as “a drug fuelled fratricide” and listed it as one of the Top One Hundred Books of 2010. An anonymous blogger on Amazon call it “one of the most un-Canadian novels I have ever read.” The Winnipeg Free Press didn’t seem to care for the book at all. Cherry Electra is essentially a love story. Matt Duggan teaches high school in Toronto and writes in his basement.
Born in Saskatchewan, Greg Berg is an aspiring writer and full-time communications student currently upgrading his skills for the working world. He’s writing a YA novel called, OurGlass, for his Independent Professional Project at Red River College, and if all goes well, he hopes to have it published before the end of 2011.
Cowlicks and Rooster Tails is a group that originated from an impromptu billing at the 2010 Jazz Winnipeg Festival. The group delivers an exciting performance of musical diversity. The unique instrumentation (traditional banjo, flattop guitar, alto sax and upright bass) evokes a natural blending of jazz and Appalachian styles. Spearheaded by Adam Young and Neil Watson, the idea of the group is to compose and arrange within the idiomatic aspects of the instruments and the styles of the musicians.
David Jón Fuller, Aqua Books Emerging Writer-in-Residence for
January, was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. As an actor he has
been in multiple held-over plays at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, and
performed with two orchestras, including excerpts from Shakespeare for
the world-renowned Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra before an audience of
1600. In addition to writing hundreds of newspaper articles, he has
had fiction published online in The Harrow and in the bestselling
chapbook anthology Ten Best Pages. He’s been the editor of North
America’s oldest surviving ethnic newspaper, Lögbgerg-Heimskringla,
and currently works as a copy editor for the Winnipeg Free Press.
The Winnipeg Talking Radio Orchestra presents live radio plays from the medium's Golden Age, performed by a great cast and a live foley artist. This week, acclaimed SciFi series X Minus One is paired with the truly awful The Planet Man.
Kerry Politzer studied classical piano for fourteen years, before studying with jazz guru Charlie Banacos. Inspired to begin composing, she graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Piano Performance.
In 1996, she discovered a brand-new love, Brazilian music, which began to inform her jazz compositions. She has performed and competed throughout North America. Kerry's latest album is Blue in Blue.
Paul Balcain is a former student of Jazz legend Bob Brookmeyer. He has recorded for several artists including Moses Mayes, Mark Reeves, The Wyrd Sisters, Scott Nolan, The Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra, and many other independent projects. He currently has a Chair in the WJO and is a part time extra for the WSO. Paul also plays in the Scott Nolan Band and The Danny Kramer Event Band, and is writing for his first solo recording.
Miss Juliet at the Gates shows us what might have happened had Strindberg come to Winnipeg to present Miss Julie with his company of actors, nursemaids, etc., in tow. Invited by a newly rich Winnipeg couple, who had seen a performance of Miss Julie while doing the grand European tour, Strindberg and company find themselves in what could be called a culture clash. Winnipeg playwright Ross McMillan examines what the audience expects, and what artists expect in return...
The third iteration in the Focal Point series will offer a rare curatorial lecture by well-known photo-based artist Rosalie Favell. PLATFORM engaged Favell in a guest-curator role for the exhibition, Acting Up!: Performing the Indian which is being presented in partnership with Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years. This lecture will offer Favell a space to discuss her research at the Doctoral level regarding portraiture and its function in indigenous communities and by indigenous contemporary practitioners.
Rosalie Favell is an artist, born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Drawing inspiration from her family history and Métis (Cree/English) heritage, she uses a variety of sources, from family albums to popular culture, to present a complex self-portrait of her experiences as a contemporary aboriginal woman. Her work has appeared in numerous solo exhibitions and group exhibitions in national and international venues. A graduate of Ryerson Polytechnic Institute in Toronto, Rosalie holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. She has studied and taught extensively at the post-graduate level.
The Winnipeg Talking Radio Orchestra presents live radio plays from the medium's Golden Age, performed by a great cast and a live foley artist. This week, the ultimate classic western serial - The Lone Ranger Plus an American look at life in Canada with Sgt. Preston of the Yukon.
Steve Bell is the best-known Christian musician in Canada. Before embarking on his solo career he was a long-time member of the group Elias, Schritt, and Bell. He has sixteen albums and two Junos under his belt.
And then there is Ben Caplan. The big bearded minstrel on guitar, banjo, melodica and keyboard. His songs are well constructed, executed with full infusion of the band, the songs are passionate and often intense. Ben plays with passion and sings out with a voice like no other. His singing has been compared to everything from Freddy Mercury to Tom Waits. 
Tyler Del Pino played principle trumpet in the U of M Symphony Orchestra, and founded the rock group The Vinyl Penguins. He's hard at work on a demo for his new solo project.
Before moving to Winnipeg in 2003, Anna-Lisa Kirby established her professional career as a jazz vocalist in New York City. She has had the privilege of sharing the stage with many world-class jazz artists including Wynton Marsalis, Cyrus Chestnut, Ted Nash, and Stefon Harris. Anna-Lisa is featured on the Larry Roy and Steve Kirby 2008 CD release Wicked Grin and is the vocalist for Steve Kirby’s acclaimed Oceanic Jazz Orchestra. Mrs. Kirby made her debut with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in January 2010 and continues to be a favourite feature performer with the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra. Currently, Mrs. Kirby is the Jazz Program coordinator and jazz vocal instructor at the University of Manitoba Marcel A. Desautels Faculty of Music.
Heiða Forsyth is a gifted jazz vocalist who is quickly becoming a favourite of Winnipeg audiences. She is a member of Steve Kirby's Oceanic Jazz Orchestra and has been featured by the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra, the University of Manitoba Jazz Orchestra, the Ron Paley Big Band, and Papa Mambo. Performing at several Icelandic festivals, she was a late-night headliner for both the 2007 and 2008 Jazz Winnipeg Festivals. Recently she opened with the Oceanic Jazz Orchestra for Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra and has also opened for several international jazz musicians including Kenny Barron, Cedar Walton, Christian McBride and Houston Person.
Inspired by the lake, campfires, outdoor living and kitchen party jams, Red Moon Road is a down-home, acoustic folk and roots band with the right mix of East Coast and Country charm. Red Moon Road is a Winnipeg-based, touring songwriters’ collective. The band is driven by the reckless abandon and disarming beauty of vocalist Erin Propp, the songwriting of power-house multi-instrumentalist Daniel Jordan and the sweet harmonies, banjo and mandolin playing of Daniel Peloquin-Hopfner. These musicians deliver songs that tell stories; songs you want to hear again; songs “frankly filled with images which evoke the life of the land, and its connection to the heart” (Rev. Bill Cliff). With a powerful and honest live delivery, the band has been winning hearts and fans at festivals (Trout Forest, Fire N’ Water, Harvest Moon), house concerts, and venues (Times Change(d) High and Lonesome Club, West End Cultural Centre) throughout Manitoba and Ontario since its 2010 inception. With more songs to be written, shows to be played, kitchens to jam in and campfires to trade songs around, the band continues to grow its library of adventures.
Since releasing two critically-acclaimed albums, jazz chanteuse Jodie Borlé's irrestible, funky, and heavily pop-infused spin on jazz has drawn inevitable comparisons to Diana Krall, and for good reason. Borle's quest to expand the jazz songbook has the same potential to reach a broader audience as her famous contemporary. Her debut, 2005's and then I did, showcases Borlé's sultry, powerful pipes and innovative arrangments. When not performing with the likes of the Winnipeg Singers or Camerata Nova, Borlé is working on her third album.