Team Rock Can Roll Are Triumphant!

Team Rock Can Roll have won their first round in the World Telekinesis Competition , held at Open Space gallery in Victoria, BC, hosted by Noxious Sector and Deluge Contemporary Art. The image above shows the official gameboard from the competition. As you can clearly see from the wax distribution on the board Team Rock Can Roll were victorious! Team members Anthony Brenton, Brigggs and Ron Anonsen (with familiar Clementine) cite deep breathing techniques and extremely remote influence as their strengths in competition.

Team Rock Can Roll defeated competitors Team Xirony who put up a valiant fight in a round that has been described as "no cakewalk." Next week they will go up against the infamous London United Psychic Club. From Rock Can Roll Headquarters in St. John's the team's manager, Liz Solo, had this to say about next week's round:

"The London United Psychic Club is a powerful group but our team members are not intimidated by the competitors reputation, nor are they allowing their recent victory go to their heads. They are keeping their focus. Everyone here at Rock Can Roll has full confidence in them. We want to bring that trophy home to Newfoundland. "

Team Rock Can Roll are the only Newfoundlander's representing after the defeat of Monster Psionics League in last weekend's competition. They will be competing next Sunday, May 25 at 4:30 P.M. Newfoundland time. Stay tuned for results.

To find out more about the World Telekinesis Competition and the people who sponsor it please visit Noxious Sector

Monster Psionics League Suffers Defeat

Monster Psionics League gave it their all but were defeated by Team Psychobirds in the first round of matches in the World Telekinesis Competition. Liz Solo, Burt Everest and Peter Duchemin/Gzorak the Alien Beard are pictured above focusing their powers. The labyrinth was built for this competition out of native Newfoundland stone.

"Monster Psionics League have been training for weeks," said a spokesperson for the group, "They are still trying to assess what happened and determine what went wrong."

The theory is that their defense was not as strong as their offense. They employed a barrage of techniques, including using their telekinetic "power blast" and creating folds in the fourth dimension. They were "perhaps a little overconfident" the spokesperson said. The team also noticed that several cats appeared on the property during the event.



"Possibly agents of the Psychobirds, we can't be sure", their spokesperson said. "A brilliant tactic, actually, using animal familiars. Wish we had thought of that. What ever the case team Psychobirds won fair and square, and they are to be congratulated."

All hopes are now pinned on Team Rock Can Roll, the other Newfoundland contenders, representing tomorrow, going up against Team Xirony.

Spring has Sprung!

J.E.N. Skywalker soon to release debut album - a.k.a. the soundtrack to her new play ERSA, "This Time My Place". Can't wait! Touring to Ontario the first three weeks of May. With songs composed in Newfoundland. Costumes and props are all collected! Need a storefront and some lights and presto! THE SHOW MUST GO ON! See you there.

World Telekinesis Competition

We are thrilled to announce that two Newfoundland based teams have been accepted as contestants in the first annual World Telekinesis Competition. The World Telekinesis Competition is a project of the Noxious Sector Artists Collective and Deluge Contemporary Art based in Victoria, B.C.

Two NF Teams are very busy with preparations and training. The Monster Psionics League and Team Rock Can Roll will both be telekinetically representing the island in this contest. These teams of three will compete with other teams around the world to psychically influence the behavior of a candle lit in a remote location.
To read more about the competition Guidelines and Competitors Please visit the Official WTC Website.

Team Rock Can Roll will be represented by the infamous Brigggs, who will be utilizing his power over electrical currents as well as his remote drawing talents in the competition. Master of sound and vibration, telekinetic superpower Ron Anonsen has also joined the team.
Rounding out the Rock Can Roll Trio is Anthony Brenton. Anthony has been working with the paranormal since experimenting with pyro-kenetics as a child and is busy poring over dictionaries and books of Satanism to prepare for competition.

The Monster Psionics League are also deep in preparation. The MSL can often be found touring their traveling medicine show around the coves and inlets of Newfoundland. Many do not know that this collective is actually a powerful think tank who's telekinetic abilities were forged in an alien laboratory. Liz Solo, Burt Everest and Gzorak's Alien Beard are looking forward to competition and are currently immersed in an intensive training regimen involving complex drinking games and mental exercising. Stay tuned here for news on our teams and watch the Official WTC Website for progress of the project, competition times and results.

Happy World Theatre Day

Happy World Theatre Day from Liz, Mike Steve, Jenny and all of us at I AM CO-OP. Image above from the Downstairs Mix-up taken by Meghan Solo.

World Theatre Day was created in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute (ITI). It is celebrated annually on March 27th by ITI Centres and the international theatre community. Many events take place around the world to celebrate WTD. One of the most important of these is the circulation of the World Theatre Day International Message. A theatre practitioner of world stature is asked for his or her reflections on the theme of Theatre and a Culture of Peace.

This year's message is very inspiring and resonates strongly with those of us pursuing new frontiers in performance. It comes from the Canadian theatre artist Robert LePage:

"There are a number of hypotheses on the origins of theatre but the one I find the most thought-provoking takes the form of a fable:

One night, at the dawn of time, a group of people were gathered together in a quarry to warm themselves around a fire and tell stories. All of a sudden, one of them had the idea to stand up and use his shadow to illustrate his tale. Using the light from the flames he made characters appear, larger than life, on the walls of the quarry. Amazed, the others recognized in turn the strong and the weak, the oppressor and the oppressed, the god and the mortal.

Nowadays, the light of projectors has replaced the original bonfire, and stage machinery, the walls of the quarry. And with all due deference to certain purists, this fable reminds us that technology is at the very beginnings of theatre and that it should not be perceived as a threat but as a uniting element.

The survival of the art of theatre depends on its capacity to reinvent itself by embracing new tools and new languages. For how could the theatre continue to bear witness to the great issues of its epoch and promote understanding between peoples without having, itself, a spirit of openness? How could it pride itself on offering solutions to the problems of intolerance, exclusion and racism if, in its own practice, it resisted any fusion and integration ?

In order to represent the world in all its complexity, the artist must bring forth new forms and ideas, and trust in the intelligence of the spectator, who is capable of distinguishing the silhouette of humanity within this perpetual play of light and shadow.

It is true that by playing too much with fire, we take a risk, but we also take a chance: we might get burned, but we might also amaze and enlighten."

Robert Lepage
Quebec, 17th February 2008

To read more about World Theatre Day please visit the International Theatre Institute site.

Euro Story for I AM COOP

Anthony Brenton, Liz Solo and the I AM CO-OP Project are featured in the Paris based Euro webzine Cafe Babel. Marco Riciputi, the reporter for this piece, has been visiting the I AM CO-OP parcel on Second Life and documenting some of what we have been doing (see "Reject Room" stories below). See the Article here:
Liz Solo - art on Second Life
See more documentation from the I AM CO-OP Project from Marc on this page
Marc Riciputi's Flickr Pages

Reject Room

This is Anthony Brenton reading from his new chapbook 'Daybreak Saint City' at the grand opening of 'The Reject Room' in St.John's, Newfoundland, CANADA and SECOND LIFE. Photo taken by J.E.N.Skywalker. 25/01/08.


Anthony Brenton cooling his throat post reading. Moment captured by Steve Abbott. 25/01/08

Here is Liz Solo reading from her work 'REVENGE' at the 'The Reject Room' in St.John's, Newfoundland, CANADA and SECOND LIFE. Photo taken by J.E.N.Skywalker. 25/01/08

Live From the Reject Room was co-presented of the I Am Coop Project and Roles 4 Women.