True story...people read this blog.

After reading my weblog, Stephen Morrissey, a "Vehicule poet" back in the day, sent me an email this morning to send his best wishes and also a recommended reading: a short story by Miriam Waddington's husband, Patrick, called "The Street that got Mislaid", 'which could be about some little street in the Plateau,' according to Mr. Morrissey. Sounds interesting. Consider this a mental note to look for this story. (By the way, Mr. Morrissey's web site is one of the cleanest and well organized web sites I have have ever seen. It is designed by Stephen's son, Jake. Worth reading: his bio and his selected poems offered online.)

As you probably know, poet Miriam Waddington passed away this March and a stanza from one of her poems now appears on the 2004 Canadian one hundred dollar bank note. Come to think of it, I have not even had possession of a $100 dollar bill in about 20 years, old or new. A hundred dollars for a stanza of poetry?! And when you think of it, each bill is a 'limited' edition, numbered copy, each one unique thanks to the serial number. Do retailers even accept bills in this denomination? Alas! This is another topic entirely.

In any event, to those who missed the Vehicule Poetry cabaret this past April in Montréal--you surely missed quite an entertaining musical retrospective. Cabaret Vehicule was performed by Step Dans Fuego directed by Liz Valdez Here is a group photo I took of the Vehicule poets, minus Artie Gold. Sitting in for Mr. Gold was Ruth Taylor--sitting, appropriately enough, front row first on left. A Canadian Vehicule Poet road show could be (re)started, perhaps? If this does not happen any time soon, you can always purchase a couple of books about the Vehicule poets here and here. Music not included. Reading is fun! Enjoy!

June 1st Update: After hearing from Stephen Morrissey, Vehicule poet vet Claudia Lapp also contacted me to send her 'smiles from the lush and flowery Willamette Valley.' Unfortunately, she was looking away during the group photo (above) I took. However, her husband got a couple of shots of this brief moment after the cabaret. It's nice to see there is some great communication among this diversely talented group of poets. This post leaves me wondering if anyone else has something to say about the event? I have seen a few articles online promoting the event but none reviewing the performance.