Summary

In this episode, we reflect on the life of Kurtis Vanel, SFU's longtime audio engineer, and a fixture of Vancouver's music scene in his own right. Featuring archive recordings of Vanel, as well as an interview with SFU alumni Dr. Deanna Fong, we uncover the interesting relationship between the archive and those who helped build it.

Interviewee
Dr. Deanna Fong, postdoctoral fellow in English and History at Concordia University

Archival Recordings
Douglas Gyseman and Robert Denis, 1978, from the Simon Fraser University Archives

"The Valley Dansrs" from the album Past Eroticism by bill bissett

Show Notes

Previous mention of Kurtis Vanel in appears in this episode, and a full discussion of Vanel's work as an audio engineer can be found in this publication by Kate Moffatt, Kandice Sharren, and Michelle Levy, "Modeling the Audio Edition with Mavis Gallant’s 1984 Reading of 'Grippes and Poche'" (English Studies in Canada).

Check out John Mackie's article, "A hidden treasure of 1960s Vancouver recordings resurfaces" (Vancouver Sun) for more about Vanel's story plus cool photos.

For more on the ideas related to collection thinking explored in this episode, see this publication, Collection Thinking: Within and Without Libraries, Archives, and Museums(2023).

Sonic Lit: A SpokenWeb Radio Show is a bi-weekly radio show on CJLO, the campus radio station of Concordia University (Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, Canada). On air since September 2024, the show features “sound recordings from 1888 to the present that document times when people have whispered, spoken, howled and screamed literature out loud” (“Sonic Lit”). Co-hosted by us – Jason Camlot and Katherine McLeod – the radio show is an extension of our collaborative and creative research about “new sonic approaches in literary studies” (McLeod and Camlot). Prior to stepping into the booth, we had imagined the show as a curation of audio recordings as catalogued by SpokenWeb researchers working with various community and institutional holdings of literary audio across the network. However, as the show began, we had to sort out how the definition of “spoken word” as understood by regulatory bodies in Canadian radio intersects with “spoken word” as understood by poets and scholars of poetry recordings. Making audio for radio turned out to be a vastly different experience than making audio for podcasts such as this podcast, The SpokenWeb Podcast. We soon realized that our radio show was a performative exploration of a set of research questions relating to the affordances of radio for “literary listening” (Camlot). For example, what are the affordances of radio as compared to a podcast when it comes to sharing and discussing literary audio? How does spoken word poetry register in relation to other discursive forms on the radio? How do we as hosts perform "talk radio" in talking about poetry? And what is our sense of audience when on air? What does listening sound like on the radio? We produced this audio, "Listening on the Radio," as a radio-show-as-podcast-episode to answer these questions and others – out loud.

References

Camlot, Jason. “Toward a History of Literary Listening.” ESC: English Studies in Canada, vol. 46 271.2, 2020 (published in 2023), p. 263-271. https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/esc/article/view/17421

Camlot, Jason and Katherine McLeod. "Introduction: New Sonic Approaches in Literary Studies."

ESC: English Studies in Canada, vol. 46 no. 2, 2020 (published in 2023), p. 1-18. https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/esc/article/view/17412

“Sonic Lit: A SpokenWeb Radio Show.” CJLO 1690 AM, http://www.cjlo.com/shows/sonic-lit-spokenweb-radio-show

SHOW NOTES

The audio of "Listening on the Radio" is currently presented as part of the digital gallery of Poetry Off the Page, Around the Globe (University of Vienna) in June 2025.

Listen to the radio show Sonic Lit: A SpokenWeb Radio Show, on CJLO 1690 AM in Montreal on Mondays at 2pm EST, or check out past episodes online at cjlo.com.

Recordings played during “Listening on the Radio” include the voices of poets Tawhida Tanya Evanson (Cyano Sun Suite), Maxine Gadd (from SGW Poetry Series), David Antin (The Principle of Fit, II”), FYEAR (FYEAR), A.M Klein (Five Montreal Poets), bpNichol (Ear Rational: Sound Poems 1970 - 1980), Allen Ginsberg (from SGW Poetry Series), and P.K. Page (The Filled Pen).

Main narration audio recorded by Jason Camlot and Katherine McLeod at the AMP Lab, Concordia University. Audio excerpts from Sonic Lit: A SpokenWeb Radio Show, The Tommy John Show, and 514-Core were recorded on air at CJLO’s studio at the Loyola Campus of Concordia University.

Mixing, mastering, and musical composition by Jason Camlot

Produced by Jason Camlot and Katherine McLeod

This podcast episode performs a sound-media meditation on a live event based on a collection of printed scholarly articles. In May 2023 a triple-issue of English Studies in Canada (ESC) was published on the topic of “New Sonic Approaches in Literary Studies.” Edited by Jason Camlot and Katherine McLeod. The issue, designed to explore how sound, literature, and critical methodologies intersect, included thirteen scholarly articles, and an interdisciplinary forum on the place of listening as a methodology in a wide range of scholarly and artistic fields.

As the editors considered what kind of “launch” would be best suited to this issue, they felt it should build on the printed scholarship, but also take it further – respond to it, sound it, and perform it. They asked, “What would this journal issue sound like as a chorus or collage of voices?” They proceeded to organize an event to enact the idea of sounding and performing a scholarly collection as a kind of poetic reading of criticism. Each contributor was invited to select an excerpt to perform, and the performances unfolded in sequence within the 4th Space research showcase venue at Concordia University, and through the virtual participation of some contributors on Zoom. The performance event was also the object of an experiment in the multi-track recording of a spoken word event, with microphones of different kinds situated throughout 4th Space, and even outside the venue itself.

The eight tracks of audio resulting from that recording session serve as the raw material, the bed tracks, for a podcast that playfully explores the affordances of sound design for the presentation of scholarly research about literary audio. Some of the simple yet profound possibilities of working in sound to think and argue about sound that are explored here are those of amplitude (playing with the relative loudness of sounds), temporality (the movement and mixing of historically-situated times), speed (the movement of sounds in time), space (the relationship of sounds to the places they happened), noise (the sounds we are supposed not to want to hear), intelligibility (the intention of sounding for meaning), positionality (from where and to whom one is sounding), timbre (the textural quality of sounds and what they do), among many others. The goal of this production has not been to deliver the content of the journal as one might grasp it from the print journal (read the special issue for that!), but to emphasize the possibilities and features of sound, sometimes apposite and sometimes in opposition to the intention and circumstances of the intended message. Archival voices and sounds haunt, taunt and disrupt the planned “Sounding New Sonic Approaches” event. Parallel temporal situations compete with each other. Time is sped and stretched. Speech and vocal timbre are mimicked and mutated by an occasional soundtrack scored for monotonic analogue synths. One mode of meaning is lost, while the potential for new kinds of meaning and feeling-making in sonic scholarly production are amplified for the listener’s consideration and pleasure.

In-person and online performers: Jason Camlot, Katherine McLeod, Annie Murray, Michael O’Discoll, Mathieu Aubin, Julia Polyck-O'Neill, Jason Wiens, Klara du Plessis, Kandice Sharren, Kelly Baron, Nina Sun Eidsheim, Juliette Bellocq, Kim Fox, Reem Elmaghraby, Daniel Martin, Kristen Smith, Kristin Moriah, Mara Mills, Andy Slater, and Ellen Waterman.

Live Recording Event produced by Jason Camlot, Katherine McLeod, James Healey, and Douglas Moffat.

Podcast and Sound Design by Jason Camlot.

A proprioception-enthusiast and a thespian walk into a podcast booth.

Together, they engage with scholars from three different fields outside of those traditionally working with and through the sense of proprioception. From spatial music mixing, to arts education, to English literature, our hosts learn how these scholars understand and apply the sense of proprioception for their work.

Through the engagement process, the proprioception-enthusiast and the thespian come to understand the affordances of proprioception for framing bodies in space and time and refigure how they understand the space between you and me.

Merrill, Gary. “Proprioception and Balance” from Our Intelligent Bodies. Rutgers University Press, 2021, De Gruyter academic publishing, pp. 68–89. https://doi-org.lib-ezproxy.concordia.ca/10.36019/9780813598550.

Noë, Alva. Action in Perception. MIT Press, 2004.

Oliveras, Pauline. “Rhythms (1996).” Deep Listening: A Composer’s Sound Practice, iUniverse, Inc., Lincoln, Nebraska, 2005, pp. 48–49.

Han, Jia, et al. “Assessing Proprioception: A Critical Review of Methods.” Journal of Sport and Health Science, vol. 5, no. 1, Mar. 2016, pp. 80–90. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2014.10.004.

Hickok, Gregory. The Myth of Mirror Neurons. W.W. Norton & Company, Incorporated, 2014.

Starr, Gabrielle G. “Multisensory Imagery.” Introduction to Cognitive Cultural Studies, edited by Lisa Zunshine. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.

Mechanical Buttons (DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel) by PixelProphecy -- https://freesound.org/s/497026/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

End Credits Music by vibritherabjit123 -- https://freesound.org/s/738579/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

Walk - Gravel.wav by 16FPanskaStochl_Frantisek -- https://freesound.org/s/499245/ -- License: Attribution 3.0

snare 2 SMALLer.wav by Logicogonist -- https://freesound.org/s/209884/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

right x small crash.wav by Logicogonist -- https://freesound.org/s/209870/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Magazine Rustle and Book Closing by Zott820 -- https://freesound.org/s/209577/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

End of 78 Record Gramaphone Running Down .WAV by trpete -- https://freesound.org/s/627419/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Ragtime – https://pixabay.com/music/vintage-ragtime-193535/ Liscence: CC0 License

relaxation music.mp3 by ZHRØ -- https://freesound.org/s/520673/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

celestial arp loop c 01.wav by CarlosCarty -- https://freesound.org/s/572560/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

165 bpm - Broken Beat - Guitar.wav by MuSiCjUnK -- https://freesound.org/s/320630/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Synth Lead by EX-AN -- https://freesound.org/s/561505/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Shopping theme (90bpm).wav by Pax11 -- https://freesound.org/s/444880/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 3.0

Sky Loop by FoolBoyMedia -- https://freesound.org/s/264295/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0

This month, the SpokenWeb Podcast is happy to showcase an episode from our sister podcast, the SoundBox Signals Podcast from SpokenWeb at UBC Okanagan. SoundBox Signals is hosted and co-produced by Karis Shearer.

In this episode, from Season 2, Episode 1 of the SoundBox Signals Podcast, University of Exeter undergraduates Sofie Drew and Emily Chircop carry out a close listening of a 1980 recording of Sharon Thesen reading from her first book Artemis Hates Romance at George and Angela Bowerings' house. Drew and Chircop's conversation focuses on the intimacy, sociality, and ambiguity of the recording, and how this shapes interpretation. The episode features multiple archival clips from the digitized cassette tape, alongside interview audio from Karis Shearer and George Bowering. “Sharon Thesen's Reading at the Bowerings’” was co-produced by Emily Chircop and Sofie Drew as part of the Press Play project. The SoundBox Collection is part of the SpokenWeb SSHRC Partnership Grant.

These readings helped inform the episode and/or may be of interest to listeners:

“Side A: Sharon Thesen's Reading at [George and Angela] Bowerings'” from Sharon Thesen fonds, nd. 2019.002.002, SoundBox Collection, AMP Lab at UBC Okanagan, Kelowna, B.C. https://soundbox.ok.ubc.ca/sharon-thesens-reading-at-bowerings/

Sharon Thesen’s “The Fire”: Studio Reading of “The Fire.” Ed. Amy Thiessen. https://sharonthesenthefire.omeka.net/reading

Thesen, Sharon. Artemis Hates Romance. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1980.

Thesen, Sharon. Refabulations: Selected Longer Poems. Ed. Erin Moure. Talonbooks, 2023. https://talonbooks.com/books/?refabulations

SpokenWeb Podcast Season 1 Episode 1 “Stories of Spoken Web”: https://spokenweb.ca/podcast/episodes/stories-of-spokenweb/

SpokenWeb Podcast Season 1 Episode 2 “Sound Recordings Are Weird”: https://spokenweb.ca/podcast/episodes/sound-recordings-are-weird/

The Capilano Review, The Sharon Thesen Issue. Spring 2008. https://thecapilanoreview.com/issues/spring-2008-the-sharon-these-issue/

Specifically, Thea Bowering’s article “Sharon Thesen: Poem in Memory, and growing up there”

https://journals.sfu.ca/capreview/index.php/capreview/article/view/2674/2674

Sharon Thesen was born in Tisdale, Saskatchewan. She spent spent most of her early years in Kamloops and Prince George, eventually moving to Vancouver to study and teach. In 2005 she joined UBC Okanagan where she is now Professor Emerita. Thesen is the author of 11 books of poetry including a number of chapbooks. Her books have been finalists for a number of prestigious awards including the Governor-General’s Award and the Dorothy Livesay Prize; her book of poems A Pair of Scissors won the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. She currently lives in Lake Country, BC.

SUMMARY

In this first episode of Season 6, producer Andrew Whiteman invites listeners to step into an arena of collaboration between poetry and sound. We all know it when we hear it, and we have mixed feelings about it. Why does the archaic meeting place of music and poem hit such a nerve? Is this art form literature or is it music? Surely, it’s not song, is it? And if poems already carry their prosodic intentions within themselves – why bother supplementing them with extraneous audio?" These questions are answered by Siren Recordings, a new digital-DIY sonic poetry label run by Kelly Baron and Andrew Whiteman.

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SHOW NOTES

Audio played in the episode

“Happy Birthday Ed Sanders Thank You!”, written and performed by Edward Sanders ( from "This is the Age of Investigation Poetry and Every Citizen Must Investigate” part of the “Totally Corrupt Dial-a-Poem Series by John Giorno. Found at https://www.ubu.com/sound/gps.html ) and Andrew Whiteman. Unreleased track.

Audio clips of Amiri Barak, Helen Adam, and the Four Horseman from Ron Mann’s 1980 film Poetry in Motion. found at https://vimeo.com/14191903.

“The Great Reigns” written and performed by Erica Hunt ( from Close Listening with Charles Bernstein at WPS1 Clocktower Studio, New York, June 20, 2005, available at https://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Hunt.php ), and Andrew Whiteman.

“#7” by Alice Notley and AroarA. Unreleased track. Text taken from Notley's book “In The Pines”, Penguin Books. 2007.

“ Pinbot” and “Abu Surveillance” by Anne Waldman and Andrew Whiteman. Unreleased track. Text taken from Waldman’s book “Iovis: the Trilogy”, Coffeehouse Press. 2011.

“How I wrote Certain of my Books” by David UU and the Avalettes. from the casette Very Sound (Sound Poems By David UU). Underwhich Audiographic Series, No.18. 1984.

"whn i first came to vancouvr” by bill bissett. from the cassette Sonic Horses. Underwhich Audiographic Series, No.19.1984.

"From The Life & Work Of Chapter 7 (For Steven Smith)” by Tekst. from the cassette "Unexpected Passage”.

Underwhich Audiographic Series – No. 15. 1982.

“ Canto One” by Andrew Whiteman featuring Robert Duncan, Ezra Pound, Richard Sieberth, Al Filreis. buried somewhere at Penn Sound. https://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/. Unreleased track.

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PRODUCER BIO

Andrew Whiteman is a founding member of the indie-rock collective Broken Social Scene, and a PhD student at Concordia University investigating the confluence of mythology and experimental poetics. He is a musician, producer and sound artist with special interest in Sonic Poetics, and has collaborated on recordings with Alice Notley (In The Pines, 2013) and Anne Waldman (IOVIS, 2023) among others. This work has led directly to the creation of Siren Recordings, a boutique sonic poetry label, hub and ever-growing archive he runs with Kelly Baron and Brandon Hocura. His divinatory practice is located at https://intarotgate.com.