Next Open Mic

Thursday 5th July

Catalyst - Poetry for Dummies
since 2003

The rumours are true! It's the return of Unkle Travelling Kez and he means to shake up your winter lethargy with a veritable green curry of poetry. Come one, come all!

Open Mic - Images

As promised, in my dimly-remembered past entries, some images from recent Catalyst Open Mic nights at the glorious Wunderbar.

With thanks to those lovely poets featured here:

Cris Fulton in full swing

Helen Lowe

Ross Brighton

See! Looks like fun don't it? You should get along! Honestly it's great!

(They're the first Thursday of every month)

Next Catalyst Poetry Open Mic:

Thursday 3rd May, 8pm
Wunderbar, Lyttelton
featuring the one, the only - DOC DRUMHELLER!
Yes, he's back!

Poetry Open Mic for Open Minds

Yes indeedy - The Catalyst Open Mic is the first Thursday of every month at the ever-lovin' Wunderbar. Come one, come all!

Poetry loves you and wants to be your friend!

In fact there's one this week:

Thursday 5th April, 8pm
Wunderbar, Lyttelton (see the link in the sidebar)
BYO poetry (we'll supply the rest)

Canterbury Poets' Collective 2007

Canterbury Poets' Collective presents:
Autumn Readings 2007

Yes another year has gone by and it's time once again to revel in the plethora of poetry that's accumulating in Canterbury! Along with Catalyst's monthly open mics, during autumn you'll be able to see live poetry every week!

The CPC have announced their autumn season of readings to be held at Madras Cafe Books
(proud stockists of Catalyst!)

Canterbury Poets present Poetry in Performance Autumn Readings 2007
Open microphone and guest readers

Wednesdays 6.30pm (note new time)
Madras Café Bookshop, 165 Madras St – licensed and BYO.

$5 entry Win a $20 MCB voucher – audience vote for the best open mike poet each night

March 14 Tom Weston, Fiona Farrell

March 21 Emerging Poets: Gail Collier, Mary Fitzgerald, Helen Lowe,
Melissa Moore

March 28 David Gregory, Joanna Preston

April 4 Helen Bascand, Lynn Tara Austin, Jeffrey Paparoa Holman

April 11 Andrew Paul Wood, Andrew Bell

April 18 Poetry in Translation

April 25 Anzac Day - no reading

May 2 Helen Jacobs, James Norcliffe

Everyone most welcome

Open Mic - Open for Business

Next Catalyst Poetry Open Mic:
Thursday 8th March, 8pm
Wunderbar, Lyttelton

Bring yer poetry or other creative writing and share it with the world.
Or at least, the hearty souls who are listening...

yeah, I know we used this image before but I like it OK?

Catalyst Presents: Jim Christy

Jim Christy & Le Mot Cafe
LIVE at the Wunderbar
Saturday 17th February, 8pm door sales $10

Catalyst is proud to once again play host to one of North America's most entertaining & compelling performance poets Jim Christy.


Born in Philadelphia before hopping all round the continent, Jim Christy now lives in Canada. He is an established writer of poetry, feature articles, reviews and biographies with published volumes on Bukowski and Kerouac among others as well as books of his own poetry, several mystery novels, short story collections and travel writing. In 2002 he released a CD of spoken word/jazz called A Night in Grombalia. Also an established and successful visual artist, Christy has exhibited widely and has work in private collections throughout the world.


It's been a few years since Jim was last in NZ and we can't wait to hear his brash and brassy spoken word accompanied by the Le Mot Cafe (special edition) band at the Wunderbar.


A cover charge of $10 will apply and the evening will NOT feature an open mic.


Catalyst's next poetry open mic will be Thursday 8th March, 8pm

Happy New Year

Greetings to everyone, kia ora tatou! 2007 is upon us and we're looking forward to a new season of open mic nights, new books and general, all-round, literary arti-fartiness.

Stay tuned right here as always for updates on when, where and who (if not why).

But right now I can tell you that the first Catalyst Poetry open mic at the Wunderbar will be:

Thursday 1st February, 8pm.
bring yer stuff!

Catalyst 5 Preview

Catalyst is 5 issues old/young and like any person, growing up can be a scary time with many questions and seemingly not enough answers to go around. This issue of Catalyst is brought to you in, and dedicated to, the spirit of Peace. In a time of perpetual war (and Orwellian prophecy come true) Poetry and Art must shoulder it's own perpetual burden - that of speaking truths, opening communication and allowing glimpses into what might be possible if we put down the guns.

The feature poet for Catalyst 5 is US poet and peace advocate Sam Hamill. We quote him in the editorial:

“One thing we as poets can do is build stronger intercultural bridges. The better we know and talk with one another, locally and internationally, the more difficult misunderstanding becomes.”

“Inasmuch as our work demands the reinvention of ourselves, we must also thereby reinvent our country. And the world. Imagine a world without war.”

-- Sam Hamill

Sam founded a significant movement called Poets Against War after refusing an invitation to attend a White House function to celebrate "Poetry and the American Voice". As a pacifist, Sam felt he could not in good faith attend in the light of the USA's 'shock and awe' invasion of Iraq and what he sees as poetry's mission to spread international understanding. But instead of merely avoiding a conflict of conscience, Sam called on fellow poets to "reconstitute a Poets Against the War movement like the one organized to speak out against the war in Vietnam...to speak up for the conscience of our country and lend your names to our petition against this war”

The 'accidental groundswell' begun by this has seen the establishment of a website and what is now the largest anthology ever published with more than 20,000 poems from every corner of the Earth represented.

Catalyst 5 has endeavoured to uphold this spirit of peaceful international dialogue with our most international issue to date. From the editorial by Doc Drumheller:

This landmark 5^th issue of Catalyst celebrates a United Nations of literature in its many forms. With poet and founder of Poets Against War Sam Hamill as feature writer, a haiku sequence from Ban’ya Natsuishi, the President of the World Haiku Association, a selection of Bengali Poets, including prominent Indian poet Prabal Kumar Basu and a special section of poetry from ten Cuban Poets. All this and work from more international writers, cross pollinated with established and emerging voices from all over New Zealand.

Last year I had the honor and great pleasure of participating in the Third Wellington International Poetry Festival with Sam, Ban’ya, Prabal and a cast of fine New Zealand and International poets. Experiencing the poets many voices in English and their native tongues was both stimulating and inspiring. The theme for the festival was Disarmament and Peaceful Dialogue. During the four days we heard many powerful, beautiful and at times extraordinary expressions of peace and poetry. One line that stuck with me was from the Irish poet John Deane, when he said the best way to write an anti war poem is to write a love poem.

So on Thursday 21st December, we at Neoismist Press are proud to present our small contribution to Peaceful Dialogue around the world with the range of voices represented in Catalyst 5. Sam Hamill again:

Poetry is an important bridge. Our poetry absolutely blossomed in the last century, in a very large part thanks to the influence of poetry from all over the world. That cross-pollination is essential to us and to our allied poets abroad. We need to know what every "they" have to say. We need to reaffirm ancient values and the practice of compassion. We need to remind people lost in materialist culture that, yes, poetry matters—just as it always has. Maybe even more, because it crosses boundaries more efficiently than ever before.”

- Sam Hamill

Catalyst volume 5: We Come in Peace

Stay tuned here for sneak previews of Catalyst volume 5, feature articles and other miscellany of an incredibly significant and interesting nature...

Announcing: Catalyst 5 Official Book Launch

Neoismist Press is unbelievably pleased (not to mention relieved) to announce the official launch date for Catalyst volume 5!

There will be a special launch function at the ever-lovin' Wunderbar in Lyttelton for all those located in the Christchurch vicinity on Thursday 21st December at 7pm. It will feature live readings from several poets and writers featured in this issue as well as the familiar ramblings and mellow tones of Catalyst's two editors Doc Drumheller and Ciaran Fox.

So those details again, all nicely laid out for those of you who hate having to read the whole article just to get to the important details:

Catalyst volume 5
Official Launch
Thursday 21st December
7pm, Wunderbar - Lyttelton
(there will also be an open mic following the launchy-thing)

Don'tcha just love making books?

US poet Namaya @ the Wunderbar 26th November

GOD, SEX & POLITICS (f@$k yeah!)

A small but vocal audience came along on Sunday to see Namaya (and a spectacular sunset) at the Wunderbar. Ably warmed up by our own Doc Drumheller who encouraged the audience to yell "F*#k yeah!" every time the key words for the night: "God", "Sex" or "Politics" were mentioned. Like it or not, he'd created a beast that Namaya enjoyed wrestling with for the rest of the show. Rambling and improvising his way through a set of stories and poems ranging from fearsome Catholic nuns to post-mortem love affairs.

for more info on Namaya see www.vermontpoet.com

NAMAYA

Namaya - God Sex Politics - solo show world tour

"Namaya is the high wire performance artist of the spoken word scene." M. Horowitz.

Catalyst presents:

Namaya

GOD SEX POLITICS

world tour 2006

Sunday 26th November

Wunderbar, Lyttelton

doors open 7pm

tickets $10

Fresh from touring the US, Japan, Ireland and now New Zealand, Namaya will make one Christchurch appearance only at the Wunderbar in Lyttelton on Sunday 26th November. Described by The Aquarian as

“…One of the stellar voices of the spoken word scene with his outrageous, bawdy, sensuous stories and vibrant political satire.”

Namaya has performed in leading venues, universities, and clubs in New York and throughout the US since the l970’s.He has been a featured poet at the leading clubs in NYC - Nuyorican Cafe and Bowery Poetry Club, as well as with venues and colleges in the East Coast as a solo artist and with his band the Jazz Beat Blues Poetry Ensemble. He has been published in numerous magazines and has two collections of poetry to his credit: Eros to Godhead and the most recently published GOD SEX POLITICS.

Video and sound samples can be found at www.jazzbeatblues.com and www.vermontpoet.com.

Namaya & Jazz Beats completed a successful tour of Denmark, Holland, and England at the end of 2005. In 2006 he is taking his GOD SEX POLITICS solo show to various locations throughout the US, including NYC, and internationally to Ireland, Japan, & New Zealand. GOD SEX POLITICS is a mix of political satire, music and video: Amerika Uber Alles; Men of Enron; a bit of love/lust with Necrophilia Blue and Love Junkie; Land Mine Hop; Jazz Detective story, and a mix of other politically incorrect and wry works. Often the audience is astonished and bemused, but delighted. The show is a mix of music, guitar, improvisation and story telling.

October Catalyst Poetry Open Mic

Next open mic for all you live poetry junkies:

Thursday 26th October, 8pm
Wunderbar, Lyttelton

BYO yer poetry, prose, experimental writing, or other flotsam.

I know you want to...


P.S. Stay tuned for Catalyst 5 book launch - now scheduled for November 10 at the good ol' Wunderbar!

Sub-Real Urban Myths - Live Storytelling/Music

A.J. Coyle returns with more mythology from the male psyche. On tour in October, appearing at the Dunedin Fringe Festival and a special hometown show at the Harbourlight Theatre in Lyttelton on Sunday 8th October, 8pm.

Story telling and live music at the Dunedin Fringe Festival 2006. SUBREAL URBAN MYTHS is a collaboration between writer and story tellerAndrew Coyle, and the "Discontent" band assembled by younger brother James Coyle. Possesion, ambition, fear / fearlessness, intuition and Power are the generators of 5 male characters in Andrews latest creation for SUBREAL URBAN MYTHS.

"They are stories from under the surface of true life, concentrating on control and personality crystalised in any given thought or gesture, action or reaction" says Andrew citing influences such as David Lynch and William Burroughs in his subreallist storytelling, a concept for live performances he has been working on for four years. The Subreal element is born from improvisations adjacent to the narrative. "Living and writing in Christchurch means I can walk the streets in mystories, pulling out images and faces, tones and feelings." Perfoming with a full live band will embellish and challenge the moods and tone of Andrew's stories, "The intracacies of the sound-track will be improvised, at one moment building to a gut wrenching driving and dissonant industrial ambition and the next moment resolving with a simplistic groove based urban rapture."

The "Discontent" Band are seven Wellington musicians involved in numerous other projects, and are coming together for this event in Dunedin. SUBREAL URBAN MYTHS will be performed over three nights at three differentvenues.

Tues Oct 3rd, at Backstage Bar, 9.30pm
Wed Oct 4th, at Arc Cafe, 9.30pm
Thur Oct 5th, at Refuel, 10.30pm
Sun Oct 8th, at Harbourlight Theatre, Lyttelton, 8pm
All shows will be $7 unwgaed, $10 waged.

Discontent Band Members, and other projects:
Hamish Cardwell (the Night Show)
Willy McClennen (the Night Show)
Ryan Prebble (Spartacus R, Safari, Fly my Pretties, the Ascension Band)
James Coyle (Hikoikoi Reserve, Safari)
Michael Kane (Spartacus R)

Next Catalyst Poetry Open Mic

the mic awaits...

Catalyst Poetry Open Mic

Thursday 5th October, 8pm

Wunderbar, Lyttelton

BYO poetry or performance piece or just hang out with da poets.

(please)

Inaugural New Zealand Book Month Launched

We LOVE books. We really do, and not in a sick, perverted way either, so we're proud to support the brand, spanking new NZ Book Month which runs from September 18th to October 15th.

Modelled on the highly successful NZ Music Month which has helped markedly increase the sales of homegrown NZ music, the Book Month version is spearheaded by Booksellers NZ.

From the NZ Book Month website:

We want to celebrate and showcase the brilliant writing talent we have, to support new and upcoming writers in our country, to tap into the pride we feel in our literary landscape and show you that whatever your taste, there’s a fantastic New Zealand book for you. We envisage NZ Book Month to be an annual event, which will grow over time to be a nation-wide festival involving everyone from local communities to the Prime Minister.

We've added a link to the official NZ Book Month website so check it out to see what kind of events are planned and happening all around these shaky isles to celebrate this wonderfully archaic form of mass communication we call books. Actual paper n' stuff, quaint eh?

P.S. We're doing our bit to celebrate NZ books too - by making one! Catalyst 5 is scheduled for release in late October. Showcasing amazing writing and art from around New Zealand and the entire world and published right here in Aotearoa.

The Other Idol - Christchurch Writers Festival 2006 - Poetry Idol Special Report

As part of the Christchurch Writers Festival 2006, a biannual event sponsored by The Press, a special one-night-only Poetry Idol event was held. Riding the surge in interest in performance poetry the 'Festival Idol' was held upstairs in the De Lux Lounge at the Dux de Lux in Christchurch's Arts Centre on Sunday 10th September. This event differed in format from the annual Poetry Idol that Catalyst hosts at the Wunderbar in that it would be run over three rounds in the one night. 12 poets to be judged by special guest judges would diminish to just 3 in the final round to be judged solely by the audience. A preliminary workshop/audition was held on the Saturday by host Hot Pink, NZ's internationally recognised comic poet, to whittle the 25 entrants down to the starting dozen. The all-important judging panel consisted of Iggy McGovern, Ishle Yi Park and our very own Doc Drumheller. The judges were instructed by MC Hot Pink to make 'positive' comments on each of the poet's performances. So Kiwi. The 'wordy dozen' was as varied as the poetry on offer - the eldest contestant was 91, the youngest in their 20's. The poets performed one poem per round only and were given a 3 minute time limit - 'overstayers' would be cut-off, mid-metaphor. The running order was drawn from a hat. Poetry ensued. From bush ballads to rap to rugby the poets ran the gamut from angst to rhyme to scatological musings. Heart break, husbands and horrendous body odour. The packed-out De Lux Lounge was left reeling by the end of the 1st round. Several poets were let down by their seeming aversion to the microphone - either by accident or design - it was a mistake as being heard by the audience is kinda the idea when performing spoken word. (We at Catalyst pride ourselves on providing poets with valuable "on-mic' experience & training at our regular open mics, but enough about that!) Following each round the audience were to be treated to some exhibition performances by the extremely experienced judges. Round 1 saw Doc Drumheller serve up some "Peace a la Carte" with a little side salad from forthcoming book The Reality Myth. And then the dozen was halved. The six remaining poets were announced by Hot Pink and the order for the next round drawn from a hat. Seemingly age was beating beauty, but only just as the 6 performed their next poems. The judges came in for some unexpected interaction and the audience started to work out their favourites... Ishle Yi Park stunned the audience with an incredible performance of one of her pieces and was given a rapturous ovation. Next, our hard-working MC announced the final 3 poets who were to progress to the final, audience-judged round. Pleasing from our point of view, two of the finalists were previous Catalyst Poetry Idols - Lindon 'Zimmerman' McCormack and Cris Fulton. The third poet was Colin 'Banjo' Patterson. So it was to be country limericking versus super fast Scottish wit versus wistful yet funny lyricism. The audience made their choice by pencil and slip of paper and as the organisers counted the vote, Iggy McGovern described Irish poetry slams in humourously dubious rhyme. Hot Pink at last took the microphone to announce the placings to an enthusiatic audience who stayed the distance and seemed to enjoy every minute. And the winner is:

1st place: Colin Patterson

2nd place: Lindon Zimmerman

3rd place: Cris Fulton

The prizes included cash and also hospitality vouchers from the Dux de Lux as well as books from Catalyst and Iggy McGovern.

In the words of some great bard: ah, it was a game of three halves and poetry was definitely up there at the end of the day...

Catalyst Poetry Idol GRAND FINAL - images

Catalyst Poetry Idol 2006

Rebecca Reider

Runner Up 2006: Marissa Johnpillai

3rd place: Sam Warland

4th: Tim Wildermoth

5th: Ricky Madibela

There Can Be Only One...

Poetry Idol 2006 The Grand Final lived up to it's name with standing room only in the Wunderbar. (Perhaps that horse called poetry we've been flogging ain't quite dead?) As the anticipation built among the audience, the five finalists gathered before the stage for the traditional salute with a shot of Jagermeister and the draw to decide the order of the first set. As per the custom of Poetry Idol's Grand Final the poets would perform their first 3 poems and then after a break (wherein the hardworking audience of judges could quench their thirst) the poets would return in reverse order and perform their second set of 3 poems. A fabulous array of prizes awaited the poets - no-one would go home empty-handed. All finalists had already won $50 bar tabs from the Wunderbar for winning their heats (handy for impoverished poets to celebrate in style) and a poem to be included in Catalyst 6. As a special surprise they were also given a year's subscription to Catalyst. This year Poetry Idol received the coveted (and ever changing) Poetry Idol trophy, a $50 grocery voucher from Lyttelton Super Value as well as another $50 bar tab. Runner up received a $20 book voucher from Scorpio Books and a $20 voucher from Lyttelton Super Value. Third Place received an interesting bottle of wine courtesy of the Wunderbar A six pack for 4th (a beer for each poem!) and 5th received an industrial sized can of whole tomatoes and a small straw... all courtesy of the Wunderbar

Fabulous Prizes!

The poetry ran the gamut from epic diatribes, acapella song, political rant, new age symbolism to rap and feminism. And speaking of epic feminism a word must be said about the dynamic duo of co-hosts (us) who did their best to whip the audience into a frenzy of bloodlusting, poet-burning fervour. Alas, no poets were harmed in the making of Poetry Idol but do we know how to waffle on or what?!! Making a meal fit for a giant can of tomatoes, Doc and Kez announced the results after a vibrant open mic consisting of last years runner up, calypso singing and some earlier Idol contestants. And now, drum roll please...

The Results

Poetry Idol 2006 - Rebecca Reider

Runner Up - Marissa Johnpillai

3rd Place - Sam Warland

4th - Tim Wildermoth

5th - Ricky Madibela

Photos to follow!