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who are you mister ocean - j ocean dennie, writer
 j ocean dennie was a fixture on the Toronto spoken word scene from 1998 until 2004 before setting off on an extended pilgrimage through India. Since then, he has enjoyed living by the sea in places such as Sooke on Vancouver Island and locations in Mexico including Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Escondido. In 1998 he produced and hosted CHRY 105.5's The Poet Tree, at York University, a weekly spoken word radio show with a run of two years including notable guests such as bill bissett, Ken Babstock, and Priscilla Uppal. In November 1999, he was responsible for launching BITE, arguably one of the most exciting cabaret style open mic shows to have come along in Toronto spoken word in a long time. The show remained fresh and captivating for almost two years with featured readers such as Jill Battson, Dwayne Morgan and Nik Beat.

His poetry has been published in Inscribed (February 2008), Synergy Magazine (November 2007), Existere (September 2007), Jones Av. (2004), Surface & Symbol (2004), Hammered Out Vol. 3 and 4 (2004), Labour of Love (spanning 2000-2005), Strange Tongues Anthology (2003), Fire & Reason (2000), and the internationally acclaimed web anthology entitled Times New Roman (2003).

He has tracks featured on two spoken word CD's, Unheard of... by Tupperware Sandpiper Productions and ...Like a Diamond in the Sky by Labour of Love Productions. A spoken word piece entitled The Beat was also featured on CBC's alternative website, zed.cbc.ca.

A piece entitled 'annihilation uv p om' in tribute to bill bissett appears in radiant danse uv being (Nightwood Editions, 2006) featuring national luminaries including Margaret Atwood and Leonard Cohen.

Broken Pencil Magazine has described his work as “legitimate revolutionary slowburn” while noting his "great ability to notice the mundane and create a scene of drama and intrigue".

While wintering in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, j ocean dennie wrote articles for a local paper called The Gringo Gazette. He was also a correspondent for the Sooke News Mirror in British Columbia. Numerous editorial pieces appeared on the now defunct www.latchkey.net. A number of his book reviews are now collected on one website at www.shvoong.com. Articles, film and book reviews have appeared in the following publications:

  • The Catholic New Times (‘Doc depicts Castro behind the scenes’, April 6 2003),
    (and ‘Down the Road I Walk’, November 16, 2003)
  • Yoga and Health (UK) (‘Yoga and I’, April 2004)
  • Grey Borders and Crank Magazine (a review of Nik Beat’s Tyranny of Love, appeared in both publications in August and Spring 2004 respectively)

  • www.southernmostreview.com (a review of Myna Wallin's A Thousand Profane Pieces, November 2007)

j ocean dennie's earlier work consists of a book of poetry entitled Natural Machine and four chapbooks, all self-published. His chapbook, Beneath the Lotus, a collection of esoteric meditations, was widely distributed and highly regarded.

He was also the editor and publisher of a chapbook anthology entitled Revelation exploring the ethereal, the mystical, and the unknown, released in February 2004. (J.J. Steinfeld and Jacob Scheier were two of several contributors to this exciting collection).

The personal transformation following almost a year in India and a harrowing brush with death in 2004's tsunami led to the completion of two books: a book of poetry entitled once upon the on and on, and a stream of consciousness account of esoteric adventures in the sacred subcontinent, entitled blue sky mind stream. j ocean dennie followed that up with coastlines, an attempt to blend poetry and prophecy that was penned while listening to the waves. He is currently working on several simultaneous writing projects.
He has had several spoken word feature appearances throughout Toronto and environs:
• CIUT's Howl (three times) • CKLN’s In Other Words (twice) • Syntactic Sunday Reading Series (twice) • the Art Bar Reading Series • Strange Tongues • Nik Beat's Words and Music Series • We Still Got Words (twice) • Cryptic Chatter • Junction Arts Festival Greenpeace Benefit • Surburban Spoken Word Series (twice) • LiT LiVe (Hamilton) • RED Salon at the Lula Lounge • Limestone Poetry Series at the Bookstore Café (Camden East)

j ocean dennie also had the dubious honour of being the last featured reader to hit the stage at both the long standing Idler Pub Reading Series in Toronto and the Blue Angel Reading Series in Hamilton. He has also performed in front of audiences at the Nuyorican Cafe in New York, in Bombay, India and Chiang Mai, Thailand, and most recently, in Victoria, British Columbia.

j ocean dennie is also an accomplished conga drummer. He has provided percussive accompaniment to nationally reknowned poets including Nik Beat, nth digri, and Taylor Price. His percussion is featured behind the words of bill bissett and Jim Christy on tracks included on The Gwendolyn MacEwen Memorial Benefit CD released by Pteros Gallery in 2004.
Contact j ocean dennie at poetguy1974@hotmail.com and check out his website at www.ocean.wetpaint.com.



joceandennie
joceandennie 		Latest page update: made by joceandennie , Feb 16 2008, 2:09 PM EST (about this update About This Update joceandennie Edited by joceandennie


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