Meet Edward Nixon, the producer and host of livewords, a reading and performance series that features poetry and spoken word (the battle continues!) at the Concord Café every month. And yes, Edward, poets are artists!
Where did you grow up? Why?
Victoria, B.C. Because both sets of grandparents moved there in the 1920s and both my parents left and returned to have me – the only child of a second marriage.
How long have you been in Toronto?
Since 1984.
Toronto is…
Well I’d start with was, for me it was FILE Magazine, the Diodes, General Idea and the rumor of Queen Street West. It was also a place I visited and had some misadventure. But in ’84 I moved here and by ’89 it felt like home. So I’d say it’s home and I love it because, while no ‘living’ city ever is of course, Toronto in particular seems like it’s not even at an initial phase of feeling ‘finished’. Toronto doesn’t tell you who you are but invites a dialogue where you can be part of determining what this meeting place is.
What do you do for a living?
To ‘make a living’ I run a small consulting practice at the Centre for Social Innovation focused on stakeholder liaison, public consultation work, with a soupcon of government relations. To enjoy ‘a living’ I produce and host the monthly reading series livewords.
What keeps you busy?
The business, of course, and being a dad, volunteer projects, grassroots politics.
What was your favourite summer job?
Working at a cannery in Victoria. I made enough money to come to Toronto for the first time and waste it all.
Dream job? Why?
Frankly it’s pretty close to what I have now but I’d like some more non-profit clients who could afford for-profit fees (smile). I like to work and be busy but I hate 9 to 5 and I like the challenge of delivering for my clients but not the drudgery of an office and the serfdom of micromanagement.
What’s your passion?
Being a dad + trying to write readable poetry. Writing. & looking at and thinking about art, film, and theatre.
If I say jump?
I’d say I beg your pardon, I don’t think I heard you clearly.
What do you give back to the No Fly Zone?
Well, I bring you tales of the other downtown, like some visiting bard or some holidaying proconsul relating his adventures—yes Gadzooks there is civilized and sophisticated world between Yonge & the Don River. I live in St. Lawrence, in the heart of our original town site (our Old Town) and rub shoulders with the Distillery and Corktown. I like to think I bring that with me to Queen & Spadina where my office is! And of course livewords has been held at the Concord Café since it kicked off in January.
What can we do to make Toronto a "world class" city?
Stop asking the question.
Are you an artist?
Is a poet an artist?
How does art influence your life?
Without art there would be no therefore.
Hands or feet?
feet.
Worst public moment?
There have been so many but losing my temper to win an argument at a community meeting would have been one of them—of course the cause was just but I looked like an asshole.
Why do you live here?
10 minutes on foot from St. Lawrence Market, 3 minutes from the Distillery District, and 4 minutes from the heart of the original Town of York.
Two Beatles left: Ringo and Paul. Who wins in a smackdown?
With great reservation for even entertaining the question: Paul, at least he’s actually a musician.
Favourite public space?
Dundas Square (you wanna fight about it?) when the fountains are on and children are running through them. Tied with Courthouse Square (smile if you know where this is and I’ll buy you a beer at Betty’s) because it’s simple, elegant and thematically coherent.
Who are your favorite artists?
I am sorry I missed Laurie Anderson at Luminato (did anyone go – you know I want to be polite but wasn’t Luminato really a disappointment, I just couldn’t rouse myself . . .). Some quick hits: Jackson Pollock, Gerhard Richter, T.S. Elliot, Karen Solie, John Ashbery, Patti Smith, Billie Holiday, Leonard Cohen, William Carlos Williams, Wanda Koop, Betty Goodwin, Carl Beam, Nicole Brossard, Joseph Beuys, Jenny Holzer & Ararbella Campbell.
Who are your favourite Toronto artists?
Michael Ondaatje, Jack Bush, Joanne Todd, General Idea, Bruce Cockburn, Cowboy Junkies, Feist and the Broken Social Scene thing and its mutations, Great Lakes Swimmers caught my attention at the Feist concert, Paul Vemeersch (even though I respectfully disagree), Jane Bunnett, Robert Priest (because he doesn’t disappoint), a rawlings (because she takes a form I don’t love and permits me to enjoy it) and … everyone else I know whose name I did not mention but who knows I love their work.
Mon Chi Chi, My Little Pony, Barbie? discuss.
Huh? Lego. League of Super Heros. Spiderman, Memoirs of Montparnasse, Dylan Thomas. Childhood trips in the great big Merc.