Umi Cafe: Community Impulse

Greetings Brothers and Sisters

Much time has passed since our last update, our apologies as we will be updating regularily once again so keep checking in for some exciting updates. Umi is growing, changing and continously being self reflective, as any organization should strive to be. We have stabilized our organization and now are moving into the second phase of the creation of an alternative business model, unique to the community that nurtures the area around Somerset St. and Percy. The campaign to turn Umi into a social enterprise owned not only by the workers who maintain it, but by the community it serves, has begun. Keep checking in for ways to become a shareholder or be involved in different ways. Please don't hesitate to contact us at: info@umicafe.org

Now for the Upcoming Happenings at the UMI-Verse

Friday, November 13th 2009

Friday Night Open Mic & Freestyle Jam Sessions
7:30 Start Time
Hosted by: Nathaniel Larochette
$5 suggested

Artists of all disciplines are welcome to participate in an inviting open mic every friday night at Umi Cafe. This is your chance to be heard, regardless the medium and share with other extremely talented artists. It is the building blocks of a community with a local culture.
Join us after for a open freestyle jam session where musicians, singers and lyricists flex their improv skills and create live tapestries of music never before heard.

Saturday November 14th 2009

Shannon Moroney - Vernissage - November Artist
Meet Shannon at the Umi Cafe on Saturday, November 14th,
3 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Open to the public. Free.

Shannon Moroney (B.A., B.Ed., M.A.) was born and raised in Ontario, Canada, and worked full-time as a teacher, counsellor and social justice advocate for several years. At age thirty, Shannon's life was traumatically altered: without warning and while she was out of town, her husband committed several violent sexual assaults on two strangers. Following a two-and-a-half year court process he was declared a Dangerous Offender—sentenced to an indeterminate period of incarceration.

Now speaking publicly, Shannon gives a raw and honest account of the impact that her husband’s crimes had on her professional and community status, as well as on her relationships with others and herself. In detailing her heartbreaking story of grief, violence, judgment and stigma, she also tells the story of a journey filled with compassion, restoration, forgiveness and hope.


Ottawa New Music Series: Ann Walton and the Crooker Brothers
The Deathbed Pillowtalk Tour
8:00 PM Start Time
$5 Cover
www.myspace.com/annwalton
www.myspace.com/crookedbrothers

Umi continues its concert series showcasing some of the most innovative and newest coming the the capital city and all across Canada. This week we are happy to hows Ann Walton and the Crooker Brothers on their DeathBed PillowTalk Tour!

Crooked Brothers:
A trio of reputable players, including Matt Foster and Darwin Baker of SubCity and Jesse Matas, a solo artist, the Crooked Brothers engage the gloried tradition of bluegrass set to bloom alongside a forlorn rasp of blues and a nod to the prairie folk tradition. Devin Latimer, artistic director for the Trout Forest Music Festival, deemed the band "great musicians -- unique, creative and a great addition to this year's festival."

Recorded in a cabin on a frozen lake and in the cozy living rooms of the band's closest friends, Deathbed Pillowtalk melds lyrical fancy with simple, yet finely wrought melodic lines. "This record was borne of good food and the members wanting to try something new," says Matas. "Not to mention some beautiful drunken times in a mahogany dining room during the darkest time of the year."

Ann Walton: Ann Walton is a Canadian singer/songwriter who has been honing her craft for years. Growing up she wrote poetry and listened to old jazz greats like Sarah Vaughan, and her good ear meant picking out melodies on her parent's old upright piano. Since she first took the stage in her home town of Winnipeg, fans have been captivated by her seemingly effortless piano playing and her original poetry set to song. Since releasing her debut album in August '07, Ann has graced stages from Vancouver to Toronto and has performed at a variety of conferences, showcases and festivals, including the Winnipeg Folk Festival and Back Forty Folk Festival in 2008. She has also recently shared stages with Mark Berube, Danny Michel and Steve Forbert among others.

Friday November 20 2009

Friday night Open Mic w/ Special Guest
Salimah Valiani - New Book Reading: Letter Out: Letter In
LETTER OUT: LETTER IN
poems by Salimah Valiani
7:30 PM Start Time
$5 Suggested

Using post-Apartheid South Africa as a point from which to reflect on Canada and beyond, Letter Out : Letter In is a poetry collection of social commentary, political-economic analysis, and philosophical meditation. Historic and persisting structures of racism, sexism and economic inequality are explored, but also the nature of gender and ethnic divisions within and among oppressed groups. Moving from critique, Letter Out : Letter In further proposes love as an alternative to the binary of competition/solidarity so prevalent in Western thought. The Sufi notion of love is defined and redefined at recurring moments in the collection, making use of poetic subtlety to offer a new vision in a fractured world.

Praise for Valiani’s first book, breathing for breadth: ...The poems in Salimah Valiani’s first collection are mostly accessible, offering a mix of politics, observations and styles. ...The book is rife with cultural insights without being sanctimonious. ... There is a restlessness of spirit and mind in this book that shines through without succumbing to the usual romantic clichés.
—Ottawa Express

Salimah Valiani is a poet, an activist and a researcher. She has lived and worked on four continents, reflecting a history of migration in the recent and far past of her Shia Muslim community. Valiani has published widely in a range of milieux. Her analytical work in social and economic policy has appeared in institutional publications of the various organizations with which she has worked, particularly in Canada, India, and South Africa. Her poems have been published in feminist publications, literary journals, and political magazines. In 2005 her first collection of poetry, breathing for breadth, was published. Her poetry has also appeared in Sarah Husain’s politically-timely anthology, Voices of Resistance – Muslim Women Speak-out on War, Faith and Sexuality.