Poetry Live August 11th @ Thirsty Dog

with guest musicians The Wicks

& guest poet Charis Boos

MC: Miriam

Koha entry - open Mic

The Wicks have been together for about two years. In that time they've released a single E.P. recorded in a night and mixed in a couple of days. Recently they've finally begun to record again and are releasing their new E.P. "Why Do People Walk". A constantly changing and mutating style makes The Wicks hard to pin down to a specific genre but Alex Anderson (bass) brushes aside their melodically dense and rhythmically twisted song writing as "alternative pop". Live, The Wicks are charming, grins are frequent and the energy they put into their songs is palpable. With an often manic song writer in guitarist and singer Matt Butcher each performance is different with new songs frequently being exposed for the first time and subsequently changing. If you have a chance The Wicks should definitely be on your must see bands list.

Charis Boos turned 30 this year and is trying not to panic about her biographical note. Some of her favourite poets are Charles Simic, James Tate, Anne Carson and Louise Glück. Hear her read from her collection, Places Where the Future Used to Be, which she wrote last year.

Charis was a member of The Literatti with me in 2007, we performed from Whangarei to Parihaka together, before she was lured away by the Modern Institute of Letters. I'm stoked that they have finally given her back.

The Wicks are a wicked band that I found on Myspace when I was arranging guest acts for Nikki Patin's NZ tour - the dates didn't align right for that, so they agreed to rock on up to Poetry Live instead. Lucky us.

See you all there.

Note: Submissions are now open for Live Lines #3. You can submit to Live Lines #3 if you read at Poetry Live during 2009. Submissions are open until September 30th. You can submit 3-5 poems in hard copy to Poetry Live on Tuesday nights or by posting them, for the moment, to 16 Millais Street, Grey Lynn. We no longer try to include a poem from everyone. Send your best work.

NB: And submissions for Side Stream 21 close on August 15th - the day after the Side Stream fundraiser, Bukowksi's Birthday Bash, at Thirsty Dog on the 14th - submissions can be sent to sidestreamnz@gmail.com with the issue you are submitting to in the subject line. You'll all be at the fundraiser though I just know it. No one would want to miss the opportunity to see Michael Morrissey take on a live improvised jazz band. It's $10 on the door and we're trying to get together enough mulah to pay the band and keep Side Stream flying off around the world for the rest of the year - it's not cheap. You can help by just spreading the word and making sure everyone knows about it.