Who are the dudes that push the Raving Poets to ever-higher planes of poetic coolness? Let’s meet the world-famous Raving Poets Band, shall we? You can also read about the Raving Poets Experience.
Thomas Trofimuk – Keys
Trofimuk, Thomas, writer, mountains, good wine, daughter, inspiration, the colour grey-in-all-its-shades, poems with no rhymes, novels with poems, “The 52nd Poem,” “Doubting Yourself to the Bone,” new one, BIG, deal, “WAITING for COLUMBUS,” Summer 2009, long wait, founding father, piano faker, piano fun, occasional whisky, single malt, mmmm, good, wife, good wife, mmmm good wife, mountains, important, community, giving back, writing, every day, making sense of the world, every day, need therapy, need therapy, every day, NOT Buddhist but work toward, That in not order necessarily, NOT necessarily in that order. thomastrofimuk.com
Mark Kozub – Bass
After numerous years of hosting the crazed literary lovefest that is the Raving Poets experience, Mark Kozub is content to just be bass player with The Raving Poets Band. Whenever he goes to a Raving Poets gig, he can be seen weeping softly and waxing sentimental about this beautiful scene he helped to create. Kozub is author of the new novel, The Uptown Browns (Dramatic Situations). markkozub.com
Mike Gravel – Host
Michael Gravel is a founder and the frontman of Edmonton’s Raving Poets. He is a poet, web designer, and professional presenter. In December 2007, his life was nearly ended by a pulmonary embolism. In response he authored the chapbook, The Fast Places. He lives in a wee house with his wife, stepdaughter, and two incorrigible hounds. He lives to write, code, and spend time with his family. michaelgravel.com
Gordon McRae – Drums
“Gord” to his friends, McRae was born of Anglo-Hungarian parentage in India, where his father worked for the Bangalore Forest Department. In his second year of classics studies, he was summarily ejected from Balliol College, Oxford, for breeding Nubian goats in his dormitory for the production of prophylactics. After extensive travel in the Balkans he joined The Times as a journalist in 1898. gordoncmcrae.com
Randall Edwards – Guitar, Beatbox, Samples, Programming
Each week, with every poet and every new performance, Edwards comes closer and closer to solving the eternal questions. How is it poetry and improvisational music can yield such a sublimely satisfying experience? Why does this synthesis work? Why is there no English counterpart for the French word declamer? Because he can’t get enough of the Raving Poets Experience, Edwards is producer of the critically acclaimed Live at the Kasbar podcast series at liveatthekasbar.com.