March 15, 2012
I like stories. Nay, I need stories. I’ve always known the power of the written word, and I read fiction voraciously, and I think I would wither away if deprived of books. But I never recognized the power of the spoken word until The March Hare came to Corner Brook.
March Hare host Randy Maggs with Irishman Karl Parkinson, who left Bill gobsmacked.
The March Hare is a “gathering” of writers, poets, musicians and tale tellers, mostly from Newfoundland, who speak or play over three days at a couple of locations in town. This gathering has been going on for twenty-four years, and while it may have originally been started to give poets a chance to read aloud and maybe find an audience, it has expanded way beyond that. There were about 35 participants this year and for a second time Theatre Newfoundland Labrador also put on a play one afternoon, so it looks as if another art has been added.
Poet Elizabeth Bachinsky signing the last copy of "god of missed connections" for Bill
Talk about using words powerfully, I was absolutely gobsmacked by Karl Parkinson from Ireland. He didn’t just read his poetry. He gave a performance at a tremendous volume with his Irish brogue. It was modern, hip and referenced everything from Ezra Pound to Jay Z and “ Beyonsleazy.” If this was the poetry I had taken in high school instead of the Romantic poets (“I fall upon the thorns of life/I bleed”) maybe I would like poetry more than I do. Or maybe I had to have heard poetry recited with this passion the way Pauline did at her grandfather’s knee (“The Bell of Atri” and “The Inchcape Rock”).
Two other poets who gave readings that I liked were Elizabeth Bachinsky from Vancouver and American Leslie Vryenhoek now living in St. John’s. I bought their books too. God bless poets trying to make a living anywhere, I think, but especially in Canada.
Authors Alexander MacLeod and Donna Morrissey. Both read from their works. Powerful writers, powerful readers too.
I got to meet and talk to one of my favorite Newfoundland authors, Donna Morrissey. Her four novels gave me great insight into Newfoundland history and culture when I first lived here three years ago. Is she feisty! She talked of growing up in an outport of twelve houses, with six she couldn’t visit, though, (wrong religion) and “escaping” at sixteen. On the train out west she met an American from the south who asked if there were any tourists in Newfoundland. Between his accent and hers, thinking he said turrs (a Newfoundland bird) she said, “Yes, Daddy shot six last week!”
She told of her ex husband calling to speak to the kids and as soon as words like “Jerk”, or worse, started flying around, the kids would relieve her of the phone, knowing it was for them. Still, twenty years later, when she needed to find the “voice” of the oil riggers for What They Wanted (a novel dealing with Newfoundlanders going to Alberta), she called her ex, buried the hatchet, and got the “talk” right for the novel. And can she read! She read from that novel, another sad Newfoundland tale, as so many of the novels and songs here are sad, it seems. Tough is what they know well, here. She told me her new novel will be out in September. Sign me up.
Alexander MacLeod read from his Giller Prize finalist, Light Lifting. (This was also a Globe and Mail book of the year.) It’s his first work and the reading was as powerful as the writing. I now know that if my eyes go, I can listen to stories and still be happy. Alexander is the son of Alistair MacLeod of No Great Mischief fame, the Canadian masterpiece. (Pauline’s note: If you only read one Canadian novel in your life, make it No Great Mischief.)
Not everything was deep at The March Hare. Recitalist Dave Paddon is an Air Canada pilot, and on flights where he has five hours on automatic pilot, he composes and memorizes long, long rhyming poetic yarns that are a cross between Dr. Seuss and Paul Bunyan. The audience loved him.
That's Andrew James O'Brien leaning forward. His Mom makes him announce that his CD is for sale at the back of the room, every concert. NL male artist of the year, best newcomer! He's good.
We had Andrew James O’Brien, a Newfoundland musician who picked up three Newfoundland awards this year, including best newcomer and male artist of the year. He’s sort of a cross between Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. Bought his CD, he was that good, and again, if poets have it tough, I think beginning musicians are fighting it out one CD at a time. Andrew says his Mom makes him tell everyone at every gig that he has a CD for sale at the back of the hall.
Most of the other music over the three days was “traditional” but too much of this Irish/ Celtic/Newfoundland music at one time starts to wear on you, and we had already heard an evening of Kim Stockwood doing traditional songs earlier in the weekend. One of these sad traditional songs surprised me though. Since I live within sight of Brock’s monument, why did I have to come to Newfoundland to hear Mathew Byrne sing “Not One in Ten Thousand Knows Your Name” about the soldier lying dead next to General Brock on Queenston Heights?
One different group was the Nuala Kennedy Trio from New York, originally from Ireland. I was electrified with a “progressive” piece where a loud flute dominated an electric guitar and violin. This piece left Pauline cold, however, and she is the real musician in the family. What they did get a standing ovation for, a never-ending reel or jig, left me cold so there’s no accounting for taste.
While this is not my usual exciting adventure story, this “adventure” certainly is out of the ordinary for me. I couldn’t see myself going to poetry readings at home, there’s just too much else to do. Although, then again, I would drive a hundred miles to hear Karl Parkinson once more. This is what it must have been like when the “beat” poets burst on the scene in the 50’s, mesmerizing, challenging, electrifying. Long live the spoken word. It’s alive and well in Newfoundland.
Bill and Pauline's Excellent Adventures 