Hasta La Vista

If you weren't at our very first Ruckus Reading, then you got some 'splaining to do, mister/missy/fellow human/goldfish. It was great. It was fantastic. It was better than The Dark Knight and featured 100% more craft beer.

So whaddaya do for an encore? Well, if you're anything like us, you leave the country to spend three weeks in Peru.*

This is going to be us pretty soon. Like, really soon. Like why 
are we still awake and writing this right now soon. 
Because alpacas are pretty cute is why.

Not the answer you were expecting? Tough luck, skippy. That's just how we roll. We do, however, have some excellent news for you in the meantime ― Ruckus Readings: Volume II (informally known as RR2: This Time It's Literary) will be held on Sunday, June 28th at The Only Cafe (972 Danforth Ave.). 

Keep your radio dial internet browser locked here for updates on who'll joining us to rattle your intellectual boxer-briefs this time around. Know that the updates may be a bit further between than we'd like, but they're coming ― and the second we find an alpaca with wifi, we're all yours. 

Can't wait for more/want to live vicariously through Katie Fewster-Yan's stellar photography? Check out our facebook page for a swell selection of snapshots from the evening. If nothing else, it'll help you get your brain in gear for the next session. We can't wait to see you there. 

*: Ruckus Readings does not necessarily recommend this strategy. For one thing, there is a significantly higher risk of dying in ancient Incan ruins than you would incur were you to stay in Toronto.

**: If you get any ideas and somehow find out where we live you'll be sorry to know that our apartment is protected by fire-breathing dragons and ferociously literary goldfish who will narrate your departure from this world as you exit it aflame. Also, judging by his stomping, the toddler upstairs could probably take you down.

THIS IS (almost) IT.

Twas the night before Ruckus, when all through Toronto

All the readers were rushing to get in bed, pronto.

Their writing was hung by the front door with care,

In hopes that tomorrow night soon would be there.

Jeremy was nestled all snug in his bed,

While robots and love games danced 'round in his head.

Andrew in his PJs, keyboard in his lap,

Was about to lay down for a long summer’s nap.

In Mattieu's bedroom, all the lights had been dimmed,

He read Dionne Brand, blankets tucked 'round his chin.

Jakub sat at his desk, though sleep was inviting,

Penning more dicks into the piece he was writing.

The thought on the tip of each of their brains

(The thrill for which they could hardly contain),

Was of the reading which drew very near,

Where there would be both great art and great beer.

(with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)

Check your calenders. Yeah, right now. I can wait.
...

Was there an enormous, frantic circle of red pen around June 15th? If not, put one there (I'll still be here when you get back). Because tomorrow, fellas and gals, is the first-ever RUCKUS READING. (And ya wouldn't wanna miss that, now wouldja?)

JEREMY HANSON-FINGER is taking you on a date.

ANDREW SHENKMAN has his keyboard slung over his shoulder.

JAKUB WASIKIEWICZ waxes poetic about time-travel and weird beliebers. 

MATTIEU DOMINIC RAMSAWAK bumbles his way into the most intellectual depths of your heart. 

& THE ONLY CAFE has 24 taps and a cask ready and rarin' to go. 

7 PM @ 972 DANFORTH AVE.

NO COVER (although we may pass a hat around). 

We'll see you there. 

We have one last event poster to post. Sad fact about our marketing skills/postering tactics? They are (thus far) rather poor. But we have learned some lessons. Public message boards? Maybe not the best place to advertise a reading series. Unless someone out there (You? No? You?!) saw a poster on the street and were sincerely persuaded that Ruckus Readings was the gig for you, in which case, your interest may convince us to reconsider this conclusion. Mostly it seems like they just disappeared too quickly and too far before the event. Too bad. It feels kind of like we decided to leave our children with a busy-handed babysitter who eats all your cheese and snack crackers and then tops it all off by stealing a few cans of your non-perishable canned goods. Sorry posters. We didn't mean to let you down.

Failures aside, we are totally stoked that our first event is creeping up on us like an innocuous spider in a party hat. We hope you've all had a chance to check out the interviews our readers have been generous enough to provide us all to satiate our curiosities.

If you haven't had a chance to check out these out, here, for you (and anyone else who forgets), is our official list of readers (in alphabetical order according to last name (we have no favorites (yet...))):

JEREMY HANSON-FINGER
MATTIEU DOMINIC RAMSAWAK
ANDREW SHENKMAN
JAKUB WASIKIEWICZ

We hope the multi-syllabic thunder of these authors designated denominating terms of reference get you as antsy for Saturday to arrive as we are. Learn them like chants. If you're into chanting, that is. They are names you'll want to keep in mind if you nurture a taste for great things. (And who doesn't like great things?!) Especially this coming Saturday when they'll be with us at The Only Cafe to rock your world. Word by word. Sound absurd? No sir. You'll concur. They won't slur. Just cause a stir. We're sure. ... And we'll stop now.

Alright here's the poster. Actually posters. Surprise! There are two left. Which is perhaps learned-lesson number two: keep better track of things.

Enjoy!

Interview Sessions: Volume 1.4

Meet Jakub Wasikiewicz.

After taking a quick poll, the experiences we feel are most similar to reading Jakub Wasikiewicz's writing are: 1. Getting socked in the gut with an aluminum baseball bat (in a good way); 2.Having someone loudly itemize all your private regrets in a public forum (in a good way); and 3. A romance between face and concrete (in a good way). There's a savage current to it, a sort of undertow that drags you under the tide of words and won't let you go. So, naturally, his name was one of the first on our minds when we started scrolling through our digital rolodexes for writers to call at three in the morning, begging and pleading, tears in our eyes... (But enough about us.)

Like his work, Jakub is a hard man to pin down. Never having been one to shy away from new artistic depths, Jakub has experimented with poetry, spoken word, short stories, blogs, haiku, and personal essays — and that's without saying anything about his visual works, which include photography and photo manipulation. Jakub's personal blog is a perfect showcase for the sheer magnitude of his portfolio — but unless you have a couple hours to fill, beware all ye who hyperlink here (it's like an all-you-can-read Jakub buffet). Along with a recent stint as a blogger for UTSC Pulse, you may have seen Jakub's work in Scarborough Fair or The Continuist. In an attempt to steel our minds for the thunder he's going to be bringing to The Only Cafe on the 15th, we sent him our patented Ruckus Readings Vol. I Questionnaire™ ("Guaranteed to give you pep!"). Here are his answers:

Let's start with something easy: Give me the cereal box break-down of your style — how would you describe it if you only had a blurb on the side of a Wheaties box to sell someone on what you do? (For bonus points, give me a cereal-style title for your body of work, a tagline, and/or some mock nutritional information.)

New Jakub's Works! It's the philosophically interested semi-sci-fi you love, now with more dicks!

Can you remember the first time an writer's work really reached out and grabbed you? If so, who were they, and what about their writing caught your attention?

Bukowski was the poet that really caught me when I was a teenager, he made pain and ugliness into its own brand of revered beauty that earned respect even when most people thought it shouldn't. Before that I was just reading a lot of scifi and scientific non-fiction about the nature of consciousness. Godel, Escher, Bach, and The Master and His Emissary are two books that I remember reading as a tween but I don't remember if I understood them or not. Probably not.

In your own work, are there any themes, images, or characters (etc.) that you find yourself drawn to, intentionally or otherwise? What are they? Why do you think they resonate with you?

I focus a lot on the sensations of being in the body (eg, itchiness, tightness, hot, wet, cold) because I don't really think most people are capable of properly evaluating their own thoughts. I often combine those sensations with computers and machinery to confound the sensations of being connected by technology and being present in technology with the actual sensations of being. I'm also a pervert, so cunts.

In the spirit of celebrating reading and writing, how do you like to read? Are you an out-louder? Do you prefer peace and quiet? What's the ideal set of conditions and location for you to read?

I think reading for me is mostly about how much energy I have. I'll do it anywhere I'm tired but alert (while walking, on a curb, on the train, in my room). Also, I like to read technical stuff like soda pop ingredients in an awful hip hop rhythm to annoy my friends.

Just for fun, give me a pairing: one of your favourite works/authors and one of your favourite beverages (alcoholic or not). Why do they go together? How do they complement one another?

Have you ever felt so thirsty outside during the Winter that breathing in the cold air feels like drinking water that never fills you up or satisfies you? That's what I feel like without Rainer Maria Rilke. Water and Rainer Maria Rilke are both refreshing, enlivening, and feel as though I wouldn't be able to live without them.

Because we're all insatiably curious little bastards, can you give us a little taste of what you think you'll be reading come June 15th?

I'm going to be reading gross sci fi about having sex with yourself.

Last question: give us a short (less than 75 words) third-person bio blurb about yourself which covers any awards/distinctions you're proud of and what you're tackling right now.

Jakub is a foundling artist who used to go to school and write for a blog, UTSC Pulse, his old boss said he liked working with him.

Interview Sessions: Volume 1.3

Meet Mattieu Dominic Ramsawak.

Self-proclaimed "bumbling romantic" (see picture), Mattieu Dominic Ramsawak is more importantly an up-and-coming poet to reckon with. Hailing from Trinidad and Tobago, he has been gracing the Canadian literary scene with his effervescent wit and attacks of his maddeningly fantastic assonance since 2007, when he began his HBA at the University of Toronto. Most recently, Mattieu's poem "Schumpeter’s Gale, or The Joker Must Have Read Marx" has been shortlisted as a finalist for the Poem of the Year contest, run by a lesser-known backwater literary rag called Arc Poetry Magazine (in case it's unclear, that was sarcasm), the results of which are still pending. He also dabbles from time to time in the blogosphere. If you feel like checking it out, you can read Mattieu's sage advice on how to be a hero* or allow him to enlighten you about the meaning of the words irrelephant, quark and bumfuzzle, to mention only a few.

In case you're not yet sold, you should know that Mattieu is also just a generally rad dude. Over the last few years he's been the Arts Editor of the campus paper at U of T Scarbrough, he's coordinated Xpression Against Oppression — a social justice initiative raising awareness about racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of oppression, as well as the fund for people who combat them — and has helped complete a research project culminating in the production of a groundwater system in rural Ethiopia. ...Right? He also enjoys cricket and the sound of rain and unicorns. 

Here's what he had to say to us:

Let's start with something easy: Give me the cereal box break-down of your style — how would you describe it if you only had a blurb on the side of a Wheaties box to sell someone on what you do? (For bonus points, give me a cereal-style title for your body of work, a tagline, and/or some mock nutritional information.)

Mattieu’s Goo-Goo-Ga-Joobs

Intoxicate your taste-buds with this mostly-digestible something-ness; words you can eat with a big spoon!

Nutritional Value:

“Eating words has never given me indigestion” - Winston Churchill

Semi-Valuable Epigraphs - 19 g (36%)
Obscure pop-culture references - 21 grams (UB40%)

Misused punctuation mark’s - 18 g! (3;2 %)
Unicorn Tears - varies (seasonal)
Doubt - 11 g (2%)...?
Caribbean English-Creole words and phrases - a lil nks

Can you remember the first time an writer's work really reached out and grabbed you? If so, who were they, and what about their writing caught your attention?

I’ve always been a huge fan Dionne Brand’s work. I share much of her cultural heritage, and was moved when I first read No Language is Neutral, her Governor General’s Award-nominated collection. Her words are raw, powerful and genuine, and her writing has definitely influenced my own.

As a 'part 2' to that question: now that you've grown a little as a writer, are there any writers who inspire you, or whose work really makes you want to work harder/better/faster/stronger? Are there any qualities you can point to specifically in their work which stick out to you?

Recently I have been infatuated with the work of Stewart Cole (Questions in Bed). I love the powerful and often romantic images he employs as he explores the restlessness and doubt that plague young adulthood. I’ve also been digging the written work of Saul Williams. His notions of youth reclaiming language and religious ideals are pretty cool.

In your own work, are there any themes, images, or characters (etc.) that you find yourself drawn to, intentionally or otherwise? What are they? Why do you think they resonate with you?

I’d say that I generally try to be as diverse as possible with my subject matter. Lately I’ve been working on stuff related to social science. I think poetry is a great avenue towards thoughtful discussions about some of the most pressing social issues of our time. I’m also a bumbling romantic (a very polite “fuck you!” if you think that’s cliché :p). I often write candidly about the usually very awkward romantic moments that I encounter in my own life.

In the spirit of celebrating reading and writing, how do you like to read? Are you an out-louder? Do you prefer peace and quiet? What's the ideal set of conditions and location for you to read?

I’m mostly a quiet reader. I like to read to people so I don’t mind reading out loud if I have a willing audience, but for the most part I prefer to bury myself silently into whatever world I’m reading about.

(One important exception: I’m a huge fan of Pearls Before Swine, a comic strip by Stephen Pastis. I always read that out loud, even if I’m on public transit. It has the kind of dialogue that’s funnier when read aloud, and I almost always laugh out even louder than I read!)

Just for fun, give me a pairing: one of your favourite works/authors and one of your favourite beverages (alcoholic or not). Why do they go together? How do they complement one another?

I’d definitely have to go with Michael Robbins and Absinthe. His poems are pretty zany as they are; I can only imagine how trippy they would be if he were on a bad Absinthe trip when writing them. That would be incredible!

Because we're all insatiably curious little bastards, can you give us a little taste of what you think you'll be reading come June 15th?

Words and lines and some more words. I will swear at least twice. If you want more, you’re just going to have to come to the reading!

Last question: give us a short (less than 75 words) third-person bio blurb about yourself which covers any awards/distinctions you're proud of and what you're tackling right now.

Mattieu Dominic Ramsawak is a young poet whose work appears in several not-well-known-but-very-high-quality creative writing publications. Recently, one of his poems has been shortlisted in the Arc Poetry Magazine’s Poem of the Year Contest finals. He is headed to the UK in the Fall to pursue a Masters of Environmental Development Policy, and hopes to write lots of poems (and drink many pints) while he is there.


* Note: We should clarify that in this blog post, Mattieu doesn't actually promise to make anyone into a hero, only to make them feel like a hero. Actually he doesn't make any promises whatsoever about the generation of said feeling anywhere. Which is to say don't hold him accountable for any disappointment, if, for some reason, you happen to incur any after reading said blog post. If you're really bent out of shape about it you can talk to him about it on the 15th, when he will be reading at our event at The Only Cafe, but be aware that only civil negotiations will be permitted on the premises. 

We've officially put up all of our posters about town. In doing so, we have also discovered that public message boards are a strange species. You can find our designs amongst various ads for weight loss, weight loss, weight loss via deep freeze, hey-guys!-guys!-come-to-our-totally-awesome-club event posters, dubious calls for 'HOT' male models,' more ads for weight loss, and occasionally, side by side with a notice or two about another interesting show or event (sorry, club enthusiasts).

(Sidenote: We did learn that Steamwhistle has a find-the-gold-dipped-bottle-opener! contest going on with their 12-packs, but we're not sure whether or not it grants you entrance into a magical factory through which an enchanted beer river flows —  if you find one, please let us know. Steamwhistle is a pretty cool Toronto gig. We have been on a tour of their brewery —  some of us more than once. We recommend it. They bestow upon you knowledge and beer for a very reasonable fee. They also produce comics.)

(Another sidenote: Actually we also found out there's an African Film and Music Festival happening in a couple weeks. They're even offering drumming workshops. Toronto is a cool place.)

But back to Ruckus business. If you do see our posters around, maybe say hello or give them a sporting high five. They have enjoyed a life of relative privilege to this point and are probably feeling very abandoned and confused about the new and probably significantly less friendly company we assume they now keep. Alternatively, you could stop and tear away one of their legs. Don't worry, they like it.

Anyway, we now present you another two, that's right, two posters. Because it's Wednesday. And we're impatient and it's hard to leave a sucking candy in your mouth right until the end when it gradually, actually, finally dissolves without breaking down first and just chomping on it. And also because we're adults and we can do what we please.

Interview Sessions: Volume 1.2

Meet Andrew Shenkman.

If it can be done, there is a good chance that Andrew Shenkman is better than you at it. 

As a musician, he makes up one fifth (a particularly atmospheric and keyboard-y fifth, in fact) of the folk-pop-indie-and-just-generally-exceptional Crowns for Convoy. If you haven't heard of them, well... we won't tell your friends, just so long as you promise to check out their website here. (A handy tip: have a few old plastic bags close by for when your brain blows out of your ears.) C4C, as they are known to those of us who get charged by the word, have played Toronto's famous NXNE festival, and have been described as "Perfect late-night music for drinking with a few friends" (Open 'til Midnight), "Infectiously upbeat and warm, [...] rollicking energy, topped off with a little splash of sunshine" (Lonely Vegabond), and "BlargjhadsfkhjOHMYGOD" (anyone seeing their live set for the first time). 

As a solo artist, Shenkman has also accrued an impressive body of work, including having written scores for City of Words' Get Ready for the Real: The Total Recall Poems DVD, Sven Jurshevski's The Dope Men Gotta Get Paid, and "a non-existent videogame about William H. Macy fighting evil robots" (seriously — check out "bossfight" on his personal blog here). 

And perhaps most pertinently, to put it bluntly, he's a real darn dandy writer. As comfortable writing cinematic science fiction as he is writing intimate, touching portraits of life's stranger corners, his work never fails to surprise and entice. His 2011 piece, "Saltwater," won the This Magazine Great Canadian Literary Hunt for that year, and can be found in all its heart-twisting glory here. 

In exchange for digging him out from underneath a heap of work related to the Masters program he is currently completing, Shenkman graciously agreed to both answer a few questions for us, and to grace us with his presence/dreamy reading voice on June 15th. The interview is available below, but to see Shenkman in person (along with the frustratingly handsome and talented Jeremy Hanson-Finger), you'll have to join us at the Only Cafe on the fifteenth. (So be there.)

Let's start with something easy: Give us the cereal box break-down of your style — how would you describe it if you only had a blurb on the side of a Wheaties box to sell someone on what you do? (For bonus points, give us a cereal-style title for your body of work, a tagline, and/or some mock nutritional information.)

I'm having a hard time with this one! I don't think it exactly describes my 'style', but no matter what I'm writing I always like trying to make something funny in places that it shouldn't be.

Can you remember the first time an writer's work really reached out and grabbed you? If so, who were they, and what about their writing caught your attention?

I remember reading Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut when I was in grade five. Even back then I was always shoving books down my face, but I was more of an Animorphs type of reader at the time. I think a lot of that book was lost on me, but I could tell that it was darker and funnier and more touching than anything I had read before that. Like many other folks I was a Vonnegut lifer after that.

As a 'Part 2' to that question: now that you've grown a little as a writer, are there any writers who inspire you, or whose work really makes you want to work harder/better/faster/stronger? Are there any qualities you can point to specifically in their work which stick out to you?

First thing that comes to mind about writers currently making me want to be better is Vince Gilligan and the rest of the Breaking Bad writing staff. They are so 100% loyal to the story and fearless about going wherever that takes them. I know its TV, but it's totally inspiring.

In your own work,are there any themes, images, or characters (etc.) that you find yourself drawn to, intentionally or otherwise? What are they? Why do you think they resonate with you?

I've noticed that I've returned a lot to characters whose experience of the world is kind of fractured. It's a thread that's manifested as mental illness or neurological disorders or narcotic use and one time as really bad food poisoning. I have no idea why!

In the spirit of celebrating reading and writing, how do you like to read? Are you an out-louder? Do you prefer peace and quiet? What's the ideal set of conditions and location for you to read?

If I'm really into a book I can read it anywhere under pretty much any condition. You could be poking me in the ear with a fork and firing off strobe lights and I'll barely notice. It's kind of a mania.
Just for fun, give us a pairing: one of your favourite works/authors and one of your favourite beverages (alcoholic or not). Why do they go together? How do they compliment one another?

How about Mike Mignola and Guinness? That's the first thing that came to my mind.

Because we're all insatiably curious little bastards, can you give us a little taste of what you think you'll be reading come June 15th? 

I'm just working on it now actually. It's kind of non-fictiony, so that'll be different!

Last question: give us a short (less than 75 words) third-person bio blurb about yourself which covers any awards/distinctions you're proud of and what you're tackling right now.

Andrew Shenkman is a writer, as well as a musician and film-maker. He won the 2011 This Magazine Great Canadian Lit Hunt for his short story "Saltwater." He admits that the movie Prometheus had a lot of flaws but is still confused at how negative folks were about that movie.

Yo listen to a story all about how we got another poster up around town, and if you're bored of where you are and just sittin' right there take a friend out, find a poster, and just give a tab a tear. 

... Do, doo, do, do.