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June 6th, 2015 videos of feature John B. Lee and 19 open mic readers (scroll down for play list).

8/20/2015

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On June 6th, 2015, the last event of London Open Mic Poetry Night’s third season, a lively audience of 53 turned out to hear featured poet John B. Lee and the largest open mic section we’ve ever had: 22 very creative poets.  

Click here:
Video playlist of feature John B. Lee 
and 19 open mic readers 

John Tyndall, in introducing John B. Lee, said Lee is Canada’s best living poet. I have no way of vouching for that but I can truly say that his poetry, and his reading of it, was very inspiring.

As Lee said in our interview with him, “I want to write poetry, to be in the midst of the thrilling impossibility of doing the thing we do when we surrender.” As was evidenced by the poems he read. They were not neat square boxes, measured, sawed and hammered. They were inspirations, hovering in the air around us. But they were also very available, written and delivered in such a way that we could receive them. Kevin Heslop, who read a lot of Lee’s work before interviewing him, not only gained an appreciation of his writing in the process, but said of his reading on the stage, “His lines, compact on the page, opened up when spoken, reminiscent of Dylan Thomas. Mellifluous. You can see Thomas' influence. Or rather hear it.” Our video of Lee’s reading will be up soon.

You can read Lee’s bio, four of his poems, and Heslop’s interview of him

Now, at the end of three seasons, it is becoming obvious that we have something special going on here. Not only is the average attendance at London Open Mic, about fifty, quite large for a poetry event, but it tends to encompass all ages, genres and genders. By comparison, the much larger city of Toronto has many more reading series but each is far more specialized and attended by far fewer people. It would seem then that the main reason for the wide interest in our event is that there is no other such inclusive event in London in which poets and poetry lovers can participate. Well, good, if that’s what it takes to get this kind of magic. It’s just one more reason, if you need one, to love living in a smaller city!

After three seasons, each of which has outperformed the previous one, it would seem that London Open Mic Poetry Night is becoming an institution here. The question is, will it be able to keep itself going indefinitely as an amateur, grassroots, totally voluntary organization. So far, it’s relied mostly on the efforts of one individual, me, at first totally, but increasingly less so as other volunteers joined and began sharing the workload. I’ll be organizing for a maximum of two more seasons, but I’m confident that by the end of season five the group will be able to keep it going without needing one individual to run it.

But indefinitely? Well, I’ve noticed that at every open mic there are people in the audience who have never attended before. If that keeps up, and I see no reason why it shouldn’t, then there will always be enough young, excited newcomers on the scene to replenish the group and keep the open mic going.

We now are (in alphabetical order, of course) Stan Burfield, Joan Clayton, Frank Davey, Shelly Harder, Kevin Heslop, Carl Lapp, and our newest member: videographer Sebastian Rydzewski. And of course my lovely wife Linda.

One more peek into the future: On the last day of January, I became 65, which was a big surprise to me. It was a surprise because in order to not lose any income I was forced to cut back on my hours of work! As odd as that may seem. And I suddenly found myself with the time to pursue an idea I had had some time ago, to try and persuade the city to stamp poems in the fresh cement when they repair sidewalks. St. Paul, Minnesota, is doing this, with huge success. Each year they have a contest to pick the next year’s batch of poems to be installed, and so many people have been writing and submitting their work that the city had to set up a committee of seven judges to go through them all! In other words, poetry could become fashionable again.

Stan Burfield, organizer of London Open Mic Poetry Night
Click video above for all videos in sequence, or video playlist to choose from.
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May 6th, 2015: Videos of featured poet Laurie D Graham and 5 open mic readers

5/25/2015

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On one of the first truly warm evenings of this very late Spring, poets and poetry lovers gathered at the May 6th, 2015, London Open Mic at Mykonos Restaurant as sunlight and fresh air streamed in the back of the terrace.

Click here: 
Video playlist of feature Laurie D Graham 
and 5 open mic readers 

The previous day’s Alberta election was still as fresh as prairie air on the minds of many in the audience of thirty, an election in which the Alberta NDP shockingly booted the PCs out of the province in one of the most stunning upsets in Canadian history. By glorious coincidence, the featured poet for the evening was Laurie D Graham, who had just moved to London from Alberta, and who read poems about the province - its land, people and history - from her collection, “Rove”. Graham’s grandparents and great grandparents had homesteaded in Alberta, just as had my (Organizer Stan’s) father, and his parents. In memory of which, I wore my father’s old 1930‘s tweed cap and read at the open mic his (and partly my) poem of homesteading in the dust bowl and of finally escaping to log-cabin country in the north in 1931.

The West wafted strongly through the Mykonos terrace, but so did the essences of many other places and people, as fourteen very diverse open mic poets read their creations to warm applause.


Interview with feature Laurie D Graham, and some of her poems.
Of the 14 open mic readers, those who gave us permission to videotape them were Martin Hayter, Andreas Gripp, David Stones, Brydon McGhee, and Paul Branton.,  Click video above for all videos in sequence, or video playlist to choose from.
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Feb. 4th, 2015: Videos of feature Gary Barwin and 13 open mic readers

2/13/2015

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On one of this winter's harshest evenings, an audience of nearly thirty ventured out to Mykonos Restaurant just to listen to poetry! Gary Barwin, Western's Writer-in-Residence was the featured poet. He also led a great discussion during his longer-than-normal Q&A. Barwin was followed by thirteen open mic readers.  
Of the 13 open mic readers, those who gave us permission to videotape them were Andreas Gripp, Stan Burfield, Wayne Ray, Kevin Heslop, Shelly Harder, Martin Hayter, Elizabeth Russell-Minda, Andy Verboom, John Nyman, and Michael O'Connor. Their videos are all on our YouTube channel.
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Dec. 3rd, 2014: Feature Debbie Okun Hill and 18 open mic readers

12/19/2014

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Scroll down for videos

The 3rd event of the 3rd season of London Open Mic Poetry Night was a rousing success with 48 in the audience to experience Sarnia's Debbie Okun Hill read her poetry and listen to all 18 open mic readers.

Fran Figge, current president of The Ontario Poets Society (TOPS), introduced Hill, who has long been on the executive of the large Ontario association herself. Hill's reading received huge applause, as did her responses to questions that followed. (You can hear all of it in this video, courtesy of Kenny Khoo.)

Dec. 3rd was an experiment in one sense. We've always had live music at our events, in the half hour before the poetry begins and during the intermission. However, we've had complaints that the music is so loud as to make it difficult for audience members to converse. Since part of the reason for London Open Mic's existence is to provide a space for London's poets to get together and to get to know each other, we decided to try an event with only the restaurant's piped-in music. A poll after the intermission showed that many more appreciated the quietude than wanted the music restored. So from now on that's the way it will be.

Another change: We have normally limited our open mic readers to 15, who finish reading between 9:00 and 9:30. But since we consistently have more than 15 who want to read, and since Mykonos stays open till 11:00, we have decided to change our policy and let everyone who wants to read do so. However, we will make sure they understand that anyone who signs up after the first 15 slots are filled will be reading to a reduced audience of only those who can keep going that late. In other words, it's still best to get there early enough to sign up in the first 15. This time we had 18 readers.


Of the 18 open mic readers, those who gave us permission to videotape them were Fran Figge, Stan Burfield, Paul Stones, Chantelle Cressman, Michael Goodliffe, Shelly Harder, Jim Kogelheide, Andreas Grippe, Kevin Heslop, Martin Hayter, and Michael O'Connor. Their videos are all on our YouTube channel.


Videography by Kenny Khoo. www.kennykhoo.com
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Oct. 1, 2014:  Roy McDonald & Open Mic at Mykonos Restaurant, London ON

10/7/2014

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Videography by Kenny Khoo. www.kennykhoo.com

Featured Poet, Roy McDonald

0:00 London Town Crier Bill Paul introduces featured poet Roy McDonald
6:28 Featured poet Roy McDonald
27:28 Q&A begins, with host Joan Clayton
28:00 What were the outhouses like at the Woodstock Music Festival?
29:38  Who were the main people who influenced your poetry?
31:31  What are your favourite stories about hanging out with Ronnie Hawkins and with The Band?
33:07  You have such a wonderful memory and you’re so inclusive!
33:48  Since you’ve been walking the streets so many decades, have you noticed any changes over the years?


Singer & Guitarist Jef-something



The Open Mic Poets

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    Our volunteer videographer, 
    Sebastian Rydzewski 

    Sebastian Rydzewski's family moved to Canada in 1991, and has lived in London Ontario ever since. His passion is digital media and computers, and has taken Computer Science studies at Fanshawe College.

    He is a self employed computer, media, and technology specialist and offers a variety of services to the general public of London and surrounding area. From web design to custom software solutions, video-graphing events/weddings to making your very own video DVD's, even home theatre design and setup, he can get the job done at most affordable rates.

    For a more in-depth look at the offered services, visit his website or give him a shout at the provided information bellow.

    Contact:
    srydzewski1@yahoo.ca
    Website: www.customprojectslondon.com (srydzewski@customprojectslondon.com)
    Phone: (519) 878-9395

    Sebastian is also a co-founder of the web-academic institute of "Academics Today". Their main goal: "Our goal is to make higher education available to everyone on the planet."
    How: "Using the internet, students sign up for free, with video lectures, peer reviewed assignments, online tests, and optional certificate for course completion. Instructors are able to create their own courses for free, and provide them to the community. We call this structure neutron learning, as it is learning, without charge."

    Their website is in Beta testing, you can visit them at www.academicstoday.ca 

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