Antigone Books will continue its Other Voices Women’s Reading Series with two complex and talented female performers, including a Harvard-educated pianist and a bodybuilding 52-year-old.
De Vie, who has been playing piano since age 7 and studying classical music for years, majored in performance and composition at Harvard and graduated magna cum laude in 1999.
De Vie’s new CD, You Are A Dream demos, was produced by Craig Schumacher at the Wavelab Studio in downtown Tucson. Her influences include Jeff Buckley and Chris Cornell, as well as classical, experimental, avant-garde and spiritual music.
“”I usually start with poems,”” de Vie said. “”I write a lot of poetry, and then set it to music and change the poem into more a lyrical form. The miracle of life (inspires me,. life as a totally incredible miracle. The fact that I’m still alive, that I’m able to see every day and learn every day.””
She describes her music as “”alternative, moody desert rock, with some aspects of experimentalism.””
De Vie says the most difficult thing about creating music is the intensity and dealing with emotions.
“”It’s a really intense process, to really authentically create. Other artists might use formulas,”” she said. “”Authentic creation is like having a child. It’s very intense emotionally. So that’s the most challenging aspect, to be able to channel the emotions appropriately.
“” (Songwriting is) a really beautiful art form; it can connect people and synchronize people,”” de Vie said.
Another performer at the reading series, Paula Klein, discovered poetry at age 12 while living in Peoria, Ill.
“”I found (Adrienne Rich’s) ‘Leaflets.’ Rich is one of the great poets of our time. The language was so compelling. I started writing poetry after reading that book, just having the inspiration to start working with the craft,”” Klein said.
Since then, Klein has won the Gwendolyn Brooks Illinois Poet Laureate Award, and her poetry was shown in Whistling Shade, the Trinity Review and Iowa Woman. She also was involved at the Iowa Writers Workshop for two years.
Klein has also been in athletic training and is an avid body builder. Klein has put forth most of her energy over the last 30 years toward athletic training. She is currently on the Pima Community College West faculty as a personal trainer.
“”I’m not a working poet,”” Klein said. “”My first intention is not to write. My discipline and focus lie more in the area of weight training and running.””
“”I recently just did my first bodybuilding competitio,”” she said. “”If I had put that much discipline and focus into my poetry as I do in my athletic training I would have published 10 books by now.””
Klein uses life experiences as a base for her poetry.
“”Anything that sort of causes those small explosions of growth and awareness are times when I really need to write,”” she said. “”Some people might call it major poetry, because I use a lot of the natural world in my writing.””
Most of her poetry stems from happiness rather than negative emotions, she said.
“”In the culture of poetry, there’s an assumption that the best poetry is written out of pain and loss, and I don’t believe that has to be true,”” Klein said.
“”The voice that I have found since I turned 50 is actually more an understanding of the joy and expansion of the spirit, as we become more alive. It’s not about emotional pain but being alive in the world.””
“”Other Voices Women’s Reading Series”” is tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Antigone Books, 411 N. Fourth Ave., 792-3715. De Vie can be reached at www.myspace.com/yourdevie
