FFWD Weekly
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Bookends by Harry Vandervlist Forget the self-proclaimed "very independent" and "alternative" media out there peddling same-old, seen-it, know-just-what-they'll-say-next culture. There's actual independence unfolding off the screen, and just around the corner. Because what's more genuinely independent than a bunch of people in your city putting out fresh poetry and fiction and artwork for five whole years, without ever stopping, fueled entirely by imagination? Nothing. That's why it's worth celebrating along with the gas jockeys of filling station magazine, this Saturday, April 17 at the Carpenter's Union Hall (310 10th St. N.W.).Get the dead bugs squeegeed off your mental viewscreen, and get your live literature tank filled, with readings by Richard Harrison, Jeff Derksen, Suzette Mayr, tom muir, and Rob Moffat of SAGE Theatre. There's music by Shecky Forme, The Anne Loree Band, and Los Morenos – the guitar duo seen recently at Diablos and elsewhere. Gas Jockeys Unite is a licenced event, it starts at 7:30 p.m., and there's a cover of $8. Totally free information can be had from derek beaulieu (housepre@cadvision.com) or courtney thompson (cfthomps@cadvision.com). Remember when B.C. poet Billeh Nickerson read his poem at Beat Niq, asking "if you were on a plane with all the lovers you've ever known, what kind of plane would it be?" Nickerson picked something between a two-seater and a 747 (well, surprise) while mentioning something about sports team charter flights. It would probably take a LearJet, although not an Airbus, to hold all of the Calgary authors and publishers nominated for Alberta Book Awards. If Drumheller counts as "Calgary-area," then all the poets nominated for best poetry book are from hereabouts: Nicole Markotic, Richard Harrison and Drumheller's Monty Reid. Add Rajinderpal S. Pal's nomination for best first book and Calgary poets are doing well – but it seems strange that Sheri-D Wilson's The Sweet Taste of Lightning didn't strike the committee. (It was at her launch, in fact, that Nickerson read that diverting airplane poem). Jackie Flanagan's Grass Castles also gets a best first book nomination. Novelist Aritha van Herk (Restlessness), dramatist Greg Nelson (Spirit Wrestler), High River kid's author Martine Bates (The Taker's Key) and George Melnyk (The Literary History of Alberta) are all in the running. Ashis Gupta's Bayeux Arts Press is also nominated for Publisher of the Year. Want to be first to learn the winners? Call the Writer's Guild of Alberta (they sponsor the awards along with the Book Publisher's Association of Alberta) at 422-8174, and get a $45 ticket to the Awards Gala at the Edmonton Petroleum Club on April 24.

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