Hey poetry peeps!
Come join us for another night of poetry! As always, our event is in our hybrid live & online format. Bring your selves and your words to Community Pizza, 1191 Commercial Dr, or to the Van Slam zoom space.
A bit about them:
Al Mader’s persona is the court jester in our kingdom of privilege. He is standing in the shadows accompanying his verses with his washtub bass. The constant tremolo in his voice and the whacky images in his poems are almost funny, but we can’t laugh at his stories.
Mader tells stories in a talking blues style, asking why the fuck we continue and who will mourn our passing. The driving rhythm of the washtub bass and his forceful delivery push the piece out of the purely sentimental and into a realm more disturbing, more unsettling yet we are entertained by all of Mader’s performances.
Somewhere under the rain in East Vancouver, Al Mader is setting up his washtub bass. He is thumping out oracles, they are vaguely funny but mostly they are inexpressibly sad. The message seeps through our indifference. It lodges and percolates.
Like all the great jesters who live in the courts of mad kings, Al Mader is trying to save some lives. His own for sure, but also our own. He’s trying to distract the great and privileged and in a moment of inattention maybe a few of the underlings can flee to safety. Though it is unclear where flight may take them, they’ll live to fight (or flee) another day.
Masking Policy:
Masks are strongly encouraged, but the venue is a restaurant and members of the audience will be maskless.