Wednesday Night (slight repost)
(THIS much of my recent
scottish_like entry is relevant to post here.)
Last night was...special. Updates are floating now, and you can get an idea of the range of activities based on the reports, like a puzzle you can piece together if you lay all the parts out face-up.
For my part, I read poems, DJed, karaoked and generaly split my sides all night. Some backstage pass stuff:
Mary Kim's Feature
Mary Kim blew into town under the radar from Savannah, and when she sent an email stating she was going to be at the night, I immediately shot her back an email asking her to feature. To my delight, she acquiesced and it was on.
I don't know how long it's been she did a feature, but MAN, was she all over it! Her confidence and stories and the way she flows from one theme to the next was simply magic. I wish I had control of it like that! Maybe if I spent a year in Korea I might get it. She was phenomenal, and her penis rant was the best.
Her intro about the WB had half the room in tears. Wusses.
The Slam
I won it, but barely! Gina was gunning for it this time. I think she's better when she thinks people aren't expecting anything from her and she feels like she has something to prove. Hey everybody: let's keep her in that space!
Ed is better than he lets on, and his comfort on the mic was clear. I guffawed at his stuff all night.
For the recor, I like using "gams" to descibe a woman's legs but I figure no one else gets the reference because it's like 80 years old. Ed whipped it out like nothing, to hell with what you know. Classic.
For the record, the poetry all around last night was great!
I read "Perseus" and "Why Your Houe Was Shaking Last Night" in the slam (tried to cut down on the silly body movements this time). I love that we don't use time limits for these fun slams; the poems get to breathe and you can use stuff that's not 3-minutes. I then read a Paley poem in the open at the end, "I Gave That Boy Away", which I love. Ed: did it fix her for you at all?
The Show
Vernell did another fine job, working tha good-sized crowd we had last night. Lots of new folks, which is ALWAYS nice. A couple of weeks ago we had a crew of folks in that came on the recommendation of one of their members who saw us at the Arts Festival...two years ago! He waited two years to show up, and he not only found us, but brought folks out to check it out. That's a great impression of how cool the show is, but TWO YEARS?! We could have been canceled in two years!
DJing
I sent Rachel - aka DJ FLG aka PacoFemme - an email askign fi she wanted to DJ. I never heard back, so I dragged my gear out and set up. She showed up with a bag of CDs she grabbed quick and said, "I tried to call you!" I've let my cellphone lapse this week so I could get some shit done, so we basically traded duties during the night.
This was really fun! I did the opening set and then she did most of the poets. I snuck one or two things in, and then did some later stuff, and she did the last piece. It was fun, going over the books with someone with similar music appreciation and a sense of humor. people are always cracking on us for some of the stuff we play, but last night we juggled them pretty good. It wasn't all "what the hell IS that?"; it was more "what the hell is THAT?!", which is wa better. She snuck a smoothed out Chico Debarge track on me into the mix. I was like, "Ah, I hate that dude! I can't believe she played a song I like by a dude I hate! He beat Janet Jackson!"
scottish_like entry is relevant to post here.)
Last night was...special. Updates are floating now, and you can get an idea of the range of activities based on the reports, like a puzzle you can piece together if you lay all the parts out face-up.
For my part, I read poems, DJed, karaoked and generaly split my sides all night. Some backstage pass stuff:
Mary Kim's Feature
Mary Kim blew into town under the radar from Savannah, and when she sent an email stating she was going to be at the night, I immediately shot her back an email asking her to feature. To my delight, she acquiesced and it was on.
I don't know how long it's been she did a feature, but MAN, was she all over it! Her confidence and stories and the way she flows from one theme to the next was simply magic. I wish I had control of it like that! Maybe if I spent a year in Korea I might get it. She was phenomenal, and her penis rant was the best.
Her intro about the WB had half the room in tears. Wusses.
The Slam
I won it, but barely! Gina was gunning for it this time. I think she's better when she thinks people aren't expecting anything from her and she feels like she has something to prove. Hey everybody: let's keep her in that space!
Ed is better than he lets on, and his comfort on the mic was clear. I guffawed at his stuff all night.
For the recor, I like using "gams" to descibe a woman's legs but I figure no one else gets the reference because it's like 80 years old. Ed whipped it out like nothing, to hell with what you know. Classic.
For the record, the poetry all around last night was great!
I read "Perseus" and "Why Your Houe Was Shaking Last Night" in the slam (tried to cut down on the silly body movements this time). I love that we don't use time limits for these fun slams; the poems get to breathe and you can use stuff that's not 3-minutes. I then read a Paley poem in the open at the end, "I Gave That Boy Away", which I love. Ed: did it fix her for you at all?
The Show
Vernell did another fine job, working tha good-sized crowd we had last night. Lots of new folks, which is ALWAYS nice. A couple of weeks ago we had a crew of folks in that came on the recommendation of one of their members who saw us at the Arts Festival...two years ago! He waited two years to show up, and he not only found us, but brought folks out to check it out. That's a great impression of how cool the show is, but TWO YEARS?! We could have been canceled in two years!
DJing
I sent Rachel - aka DJ FLG aka PacoFemme - an email askign fi she wanted to DJ. I never heard back, so I dragged my gear out and set up. She showed up with a bag of CDs she grabbed quick and said, "I tried to call you!" I've let my cellphone lapse this week so I could get some shit done, so we basically traded duties during the night.
This was really fun! I did the opening set and then she did most of the poets. I snuck one or two things in, and then did some later stuff, and she did the last piece. It was fun, going over the books with someone with similar music appreciation and a sense of humor. people are always cracking on us for some of the stuff we play, but last night we juggled them pretty good. It wasn't all "what the hell IS that?"; it was more "what the hell is THAT?!", which is wa better. She snuck a smoothed out Chico Debarge track on me into the mix. I was like, "Ah, I hate that dude! I can't believe she played a song I like by a dude I hate! He beat Janet Jackson!"