May 02, 2009 21:56
We have seen a lot of slams... no, a LOT of Slams... hundreds and hundreds of 'em. The 2009 Oakland Slam Team Finals show was definitely in the top 1%. Absolutely the best show that we've thrown at The Oasis if not ever. It was so DOPE it was ridiculous! The caliber of the writing was incredible. The passion in the performance was off the scale. And the game - the game was played beautifully.
These poets came ready to Slam! In the first round the list is randomized. The poets gave the audience their first taste in this order: Prentice, D.Dra, "i", Leigh Ann, Joyce, Stephen, D. Silence and Chaz. The first spot is hard for anybody so we do our damnedest to vet the judges and make sure that the scores don't creep higher and higher over the evening. We make sure they not only take judging seriously but mean the number they throw up and stand behind it - no matter how loud the crowd boos them. Our direction worked because these five folks stuck to their guns.
Prentice, up first, ripped a piece on "niggas" and managed to pull down only a 24.2 from the stingy judges. You could see his fans in the crowd visibly worried until Deaidre, "i" & Leigh Ann followed and only managed to bump the score by a point or so with poems about male / female relationships, skeletons (the kind you find in your closet) and sobriety. It wasn't until Joyce hit the stage talking about stalking that the judges were impressed and showed it in the scores. D. Silence brought the energy to an even higher level as the Rev. Aint That a B*. Still though the high score for the round was only a 27.9 - so there was plenty of room for a come back.
In the second round the poet with the highest score reads first and the low score last. D Silence lost his edge with a love poem - always risky in the Slam. Joyce came right behind and locked up the pole position going into the last rotation by besting the previous high score by more than a full point. "i" followed with a lullaby to a lost loved one and Stephen roared around the crowd raving about Lions. It wasn't until Prentice rocked the mic again that the standings changed. P vaulted from 7th to 2nd in the 2nd. Chas was the final poet in the round but his deep words and more subdued delivery style suffered for following previous champs D Silence & Prentice in successive rotations.
In the 3rd (& final) round we change up again and go from (cumulative) low score to high. Leigh Ann opened the round with a story about a queer open-mic that had some in the crowd squirming in their seats. Chas followed with a reminder that words often hurt worse than sticks and stones. D.dra related what it's like to be the center of attention but couldn't quite crack the top 5. D Silence wondered in verse how the FBI managed to survail luminaries like Biggie & MLK but still miss who shot 'em. Stephen brought the final frontier to the Oasis but couldn't hold his ground and slipped a spot. "i" locked up hers with another serious piece. Prentice mesmerized the crowd with a poem about poets and his love/hate relationship with slam and it got him the only perfect score of the evening - a 30. He would have needed another couple of rounds to catch Joyce though. She told us about ass whuppins as she gave one - running away with the whole thing and ended up winning the Slam by more than 2 points.
So, the $64K question - who's on the 2009 Oakland Poetry Slam Team??? Well, we don't quite know yet. There's a couple of poets in Berkeley Finals on Wednesday and others with major commitments outside of Slam. We have to all sit down and see what's what - so stay tuned!! Regardless of who ends up making the trip to W. Palm beach though Oakland is gonna have a squad to be reckoned with...
(right now the 2009 Oakland Slam Team is Joyce, Prentice, "i" & D Silence w/ Stephen and D.dra as alternates)
Full Scores by Round:
Round 1
Prentice 7.3/7.3/8.0/8.9/9.0 - 24.2
D.dra 7.8/7.9/8.1/8.2/8.3 - 24.2
"i" 7.8/7.8/8.3/9.2/9.5 - 25.4
Leigh Ann 7.4/7.7/8.2/8.6/9.1 - 24.3
joyce 8.0/8.6/9.0/9.7/9.9 - 27.3
Stephen 6.4/7.8/8.2/8.6/8.8 - 24.6
D Silence 8.7/9.2/9.4/9.8/10 - 27.9 (28.4-.5/time penalty)
Chas 7.3/7.4/7.8/8.1/9.4 - 23.3
Round 2
D Silence 6.9/7.4/7.6/8.7/8.8 - 23.7 (51.6)
Joyce 8.8/9.2/9.8/10/10 - 29 (56.3)
"i" 8.3/8.9/8.9/10/10 - 27.3 (52.7) (27.8-.5/time)
Stephen 8.8/9.2/9.3/9.3/9.5 - 27.8 (52.4)
Leigh Ann 6.9/7.3/7.8/8.6/9.1 - 23.7 (48.2)
D.dra 7.5/8.7/9.1/9.4/9.6 - 27.2 (51.4)
Prentice 9.3/9.5/9.7/10/10 - 29.2 (53.4)
Chaz 7.7/9.1/9.4/9.6/10 - 28.1 (51.4)
Round 3
Leigh Ann 7.1/7.6/9.4/9.5/10 - 26.4 (74.6) - 8
Chaz 9.0/9.0/9.3/9.5/10 - 27.8 (79.2) - 7
D.dra 8.9/9.4/10/10/10 - 29.4 (80.8) - 6
D Silence 9.5/9.6/9.8/10/10 - 29.4 (81.0) - 3
Stephen 8.9/9.0/9.7/9.8/10 - 28.5 (80.9) - 5
"i" 8.7/9.3/9.7/9.7/9.9 - 28.3 (81.0) - 3
Prentice 9.1/10/10/10/10 - 30 (83.4) - 2
Joyce 9.6/9.7/9.7/10/10 - 29.4 (85.7) -1